OH, WELL, SCRATCH FAMILY FROM GOD, FAMILY, AND COUNTRY

Birds of a feather...

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

"U.S. Representative Mayra Flores issued a statement on her divorce. On June 9, 2025, she posted on X (formerly Twitter) stating that her 'divorce was finalized earlier this year' and that it would be their 'final public comment on the matter.

"She also emphasized their continued commitment to their children's well-being and requested privacy."

"Our divorce was finalized earlier this year and this will be our final public comment on the matter. Throughout this process, our commitment to our wonderful children has remained unwavering. We kindly ask for privacy as we focus on what matters most—their well-being and future.

"To address any misconceptions, our separation is due to irreconcilable differences. Our marriage was built on mutual respect, which continues as we move forward into this new chapter of our lives.

"Our faith remains a central part of who we are, guiding us with hope and grace. We are deeply grateful for the love and support we have received and respectfully ask for privacy as our family navigates this transition."

TODAY, AT 7:30 A.M. WE BROKE 16 MILLION ALL-TIME READERS!

 

THE NEALE HOUSE: ANOTHER MONUMENT TO SLAVERS LIKE STILLMAN?

By Juan Montoya

Remember the reconstruction of the Charles Stillman Laureles Ranch House that cost the city thousands to move from Corpus Christi where its carcass had ben shunted to a desolate corner of that city's historical museum property?

In fact, despite claims from the family and their supporters that they had the original plans for the structure, there was no existing proof that the ranch house had ever been built to specifications and all that remained was one central section of the structure. In fact, when it arrived in Brownsville no one could believe that it could be restored and looked like an eyesore.  

(The Corpus Christi folks, no fools they, wanted to get rid of the hulk so badly, they gladfully "donated" it to the Brownsville rubes.)

First, the city signed a "Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Transporting Charles Stillman House" through then-City Manager Charlie Cabler and Brownsville Historical Association Director Priscilla Ann Rodriguez on Nov. 9, 2012 that stated that "the city has been given a house once occupied by Charles Stillman known as Los Laureles Ranch House..."

Under the terms of the MOU, the city estimated that the cost of moving the house from Corpus Christi would be about $65,000.

"Because of the historical, educational, and general public importance of having the home of the founder of Brownsville in the city he founded, City is willing to contribute $25,000 to the BHA to (solely and exclusively) assist in relocating the house to Brownsville," the MOU stated.

About three months later, during a presentation by then-Assistant City

Manager for Finance Pete Gonzalez he disclosed that the city had already spent $39,000 without bothering to go to the city commissioner for approval of the funds although it had gone over the $35,000 discretionary limit. 

That money was part of the $3 million awarded to the city from its share of a settlement with American Electric Power Texas Central Co. And – perhaps more importantly – there had been no  item on a city agenda asking the commissioners to approve the outlay from those funds.

Well, the city is up to its bad habit again of spending money on dilapidated homes of the former city "founder," who used legal chicanery with his lawyer friend Samuel Belden to steal the land from its land-grant holders, and now intends to use $190,000 to move a house and restore it for William Neale, a former mayor who was an officer in the confederacy who supported slavery and gained a reputation for being a good hunter of runaway slaves who escaped into Mexico.

It, too, is a rotting hulk of old timber that has undergone countless "renovations" as the city's Art League museum, the American Legion Hall and canteen, and now occupies a space in a dead-end street in front of a section of the border wall built by the Department of Homeland Security against the wishes of the now-defunct University of Texas-Brownsville-Texas Southmost College    

  

But there is a twist to this structure. Even though descendants of the Stillman family pitched in to pay for some of the charges, the bulk of the cost was borne by the taxpayers of the city. The result was a palatial ranch house that looks nothing like the original structure. 

The only difference between the descendants of Charles Stillman and the William Neale is that now the latter's occupy positions of power and politics which will allow the citizens again to carry he financial load of glorifying their family's "legacy." 

John Cowen is now the city's mayor and the Cowens – , Phil, Ralph, etc. – wear the "heritage" of their ancestors on their sleeve. During his campaign, mayor Cowen wrote that "two of my ancestors, William Neale and John S. Ford, served as Mayors of Brownsville in the mid-1800s during the early formation of our city. We are proud of their service and other members of my family that have served in various elected positions."

But idols have been found to have their feet of clay. Neale, for example, made a lucrative living chasing runaway slaves into Mexico and returning them to their owners. His dubious claim to fame is  outlined in "The Twin Cities of the Border," by Lt. W. H. Charfield written in 1893.

According to Chatfield, the captured runaway slaves "in most cases, however, they were glad to return, when their masters followed them to their lairs: and offered to take take them back to the "Old Cabin Home." Oh, yeah, sure.

It is also worth noting that his son, William Peter Neale, was one of the men that Juan Nepomuceno "Cheno" Cortina, had on his hit list when he and 75 followers took over Brownsville in September 1859. According to a pronunciamento, the younger Neale had wantonly killed innocent Mexicans and walked around free with impunity.  When Cortina's raiders found him, he was sleeping at his father's home and took a bullet through a window when he woke suddenly to the sound of gunfire and sat bolt upright in his bed. What remains of the original building is now the Neale House.

And John "Rip" Ford, who was also served as mayor, was an officer in the Confederate States of America, later – as a member of the so-called Golden Circle of seditionists – attempted to establish a separate republic made up of sections of seized northern Mexican states where southern sympathizers could go and slavery would be legal. He said the new republic would then establish an extradition treaty with Texas that would allow them to return runaway slaves to their masters.

In fact, the Cowens have extolled the virtues of these men, especially William Neale, that they convinced the city commission to set aside $190,000 to restore the dilapidated Neale home and set it up in a prominent public place where people can admire and revere the runaway slave catcher's memory.

If the city is true to form, it's going to sink cash into making the slummy-looking carcass of the building look like the Taj Mahal just as they did with the carcass of Charles Stillman's love crib – another slave owner – Laureles Ranch "house."

(That's the 1860 Census of Cameron and Hidalgo counties at right showing Stillman "owned" a female slave.)

In fact, other studies have pegged the entire cost of restoration of what's left of the Neale house closer to $900,000 and the city's planning department recommended three places where it could be moved, including a space in the Linear Park where his fellow slaver Stillman's ranch house now stands.

William Neale arrived in Matamoros in 1834 and began a stage route from the landing at Puerto Bagdad, Tamaulipas, where ocean-going ships had to unload freight and passengers, to the river port of Matamoros. 

When Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexican army under Gen. Pedro Ampudia in May 1846 , his stages or "hacks" were used to remove the Mexican wounded after the Battle of Palo Alto. 

Neale and his family were part of the frantic congestion of civilians and fleeing Mexican soldiers trying to cross the Rio Grande after the defeat of Mexican troops at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. In other words, he had allegiance to Mexico. He switched allegiances as often as a working girl her skivvies.

During his years on the Mexican border Neale made money locating runaway slaves (referred to as "property") from upstate Texas and the confederate states, and when steamboats began going directly to Matamoros, Neale discontinued his Bagdad stage line and established a mercantile business at a steamboat landing twenty-five miles upriver from Brownsville at Nealeville (also called Santa Maria).

When the federal troops occupied Brownsville – Neale, a second lieutenant in the Third Texas Infantry Regiment for the Confederacy in 1863 – returned to Matamoros to live. He finally settled in Brownsville in 1865 after the Union prevailed, took an oath to the USA, (another change of undies) and then went on to serve as mayor from 1858–59, and then again from 1866 to 1869. 

He died in Brownsville on April 6, 1896, and his home was given to the Brownsville Art League in 1950 and was moved to a location south of the United States Customs House. 

The Cowens have ridden that tired historical nag into the ground and embellished the settler narrative  even more. In a Brownsville Herald article some years ago, Philip Cowen, a former Brownsville Independent School District board member, also claims to be a direct descendant to John "Rip" Ford, one of the confederacy's "heroes" and champions of slavery. 

He credits his ancestor as the founder of the murderous Texas Rangers, whose indiscriminate genocide of Mexicans and Mexican-American citizens in South Texas has long been covered up in Texas history.

Cowen lauds his ancestor, his great great grandfather Ford for starting the Texas Rangers, and thrashing the yankees at Palmito Hill in what is hailed as the last battle of the Civil War even though the rebel surrender had happened more than a month earlier.

Cowen, however, credits his ancestor with signing a truce six months later with two union generals to "end the war." 

Wasn't some guy named Ulysses S. Grant and some other guy named Robert E. Lee involved in signing some kind of document at a place called the Appomattox Court House, in Virginia that ended the Civil War?

Now, after regaining a seat on the city commission, former commissioner Nurith Galonsky – who championed the Neale House restoration – is back for more. 

If the city stays true to form in its history of  moving and restoration of historical buildings, the house will probably be converted to some fantasized version that is nothing like the original structure. The Neale House served as the canteen for the American Legion where vets told lies and drank the night away.

The Cowens' continued efforts to keep the glorious memories of the "Lost Cause" alive stretch across the centuries. One of the descendants – city commissioner and now mayor John Ford Cowen – bears the confederate officer's name. Now, did Cowen vote to award the $190,000 in public money to restore the home of one of his family's ancestors? 

Look at how the city got the Stillman shack and – after pouring thousands into the restoration – how it looks now. The same will probably happen to the Neal structure, which is literally rotting where it stands.

Polyester tarpaulins have been draped over the holes on the roof and the patio overhead has caved in, requiring a complete restoration at a considerable cost to the local taxpayer who have no ties whatsoever to this obscure racist. 

We have glorified the men who stole the land from their rightful owners (Stillman and Belden) by naming one a founder and restoring his ranch whore house, the other by naming a bike and hike trail  after him. 

This, ironically, on the very land they stole and where descendants of their dispossessed victims still live.

And now we are spending $190,000 (and eventually close to $1 million) to praise the memory of a traitor to his country, a man who profited by denying human beings their freedom for money, and making him out to be a spiritual and historical pillar of our community.

Let the rotting structure, treason, white supremacy, slavery, and the confederacy and robber barons stay where they belong: in the dust bin of history.

HE CALLED ME. CALLED HIM NOT. HE CALLED ME. CALLED HIM NOT...

By Peter Burgess

From Quora

Xi won’t be calling Trump. Trump has lost his trade war and China holds all the cards. it’s Trump who is now begging to talk. China has officially responded to the Trump Administration’s pleas to talk by saying, “that any negotiations would require some preconditions to be met.” 

Chinese officials said, “The tariff and trade war was unilaterally initiated by the US, and if it wants to negotiate, it must demonstrate genuine sincerity — that includes being prepared to correct its wrongdoings and cancel its unilateral tariff hikes,” the spokesperson said. “China’s position remains consistent: If it’s a fight, we will see it through to the end. If it’s talk, the door is open.”

In case you haven’t noticed the United States under Trump has completely isolated itself. By failing to either respect former allies or live up to its own economic agreements the U.S. is left standing alone. The rest of the world is turning toward China. For whatever else it is, China is a reliable trading partner.
China has been preparing for this since Trump’s last stint in office. China holds all the cards. It has the experience of thousands of years of history, a population tempered by past hardship, and a leadership that never bankrupted a casino. 

China has a long memory and it pays the long game. China hasn’t forgotten the “century of humiliation” that it suffered at the hands of the Western powers, including the United States in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. You may have forgotten the Opium Wars and the military intervention of the United States during the Boxer Rebellion, or never knew about it, but China hasn’t forgotten. China won’t be backing down in this century. 

The only person who will bending a knee in this conflict is Trump.

If you want to know who’s feeling the most pain look at these images of marine traffic (at right). 

The green arrows are cargo ships in motion. The circles are ships anchored or docked. The screenshots are Shanghai and Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is completely dormant. 

Shanghai is booming.

IS MACIAS THE COB POTHOLE PATRONA, OR BACHE BABE?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Coming off her cameo performance as the Queen of the Potholes after her tag-team performance with fellow city commissioner Pedro Cardenas to patch a crater on private property in his district, commissioner Linda Macias announced she had followed up with a deafening victory over another car-eating crater in her own District 2.

That District 4 pothole was on private property located behind the McDonalds Restaurant across the parking lot from Academy on Morrison Road and was fixed by city street crews using public equipment and materials on the eve of the June 7 runoff election between Cardenas and Daisy Zamora. 

Cardenas, after very publicly vanquishing the pothole, then had a smooth road to victory. 

(To her credit, Macias echoed Mayor John Cowen's assertions that the cost of labor and materials used in covering the pothole would be charged against the developer. " I just wanted to inform you that today, during the building standards committee, they voted to file a line/fine against MCD LLC or current owner to recuperate the monies that were utilise (sic) to fix the pothole on McDonalds and Academy.) 

This time the offending sinkhole was spotted near the Chic-Fil-A restaurant in her District 2, and – after hearing from her pothole-shattered constituents – announced that it, too, had ben vanquished with city crews and materials.

"Pothole on 802 by Chick Fil a has been covered," Macias announced.

"That is a Brownsville national park, our Grand Canyon," wrote a poster named Kelsey Ballesteros.

"That one is a bigger problem, especially to Brownsville visitors that drive through there for the first time," she wrote.

It also elicited political support for Macias' pothole crusade from others.

"Ese es commissioner, no chingaderas," wrote Beto Cordova. (That's a commissioner, not B.S.)

And: "Linda, your caring heart for the citizens of Brownsville is so heartwarming," wrote a couple who identified themselves as Charlie-Rosalinda Cabler.

Macias, whose term will expire May 2027, has made no secret that she will be running for re-election and her role as the parade majorette of the Pothole Patrol has obviously given her the spotlight in the ongoing battle against the notorious Brownsville potholes. And she promises more. This time, bomb-cratered Dana Road, a work in progress in District 2, is in her sights.

Pothole-R-Us? Y aún hay mas!

QUE ASCO! IS THERE A NOBEL PEACE PRICE FOR DEBAUCHERY?

UNANIMOUS BISD BOARD APPOINTS NEIDA RUTH SOTO-GRANTLAND

Special to El Rrun-Rrun 

A unanimous board of the Brownsville Independent School District Tuesday voted to appoint retired district administrator Neida Ruth Soto-Grantland to the vacancy in the board left by the late Erasmo Castro.

The school board met on Tuesday to interview 11 applicants for nearly six hours before selecting Soto-Grantland.

The decision to appoint Soto-Grantland was unanimous. After she is sworn in, she will hold the position on the school board until the November 2025 school board election.

EARLY ISRAELI SUSPICIONS ABOUT IRAN'S NUKE PROGRAM

 

POTHOLE POLITICS? HOW CITY MATERIALS AND WORKFORCE WERE USED TO FIX A ROAD ON PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHT BEFORE CITY ELECTION

   

By Juan Montoya

It all started as a pretentious claim on social media last April by pompous influence peddler Arturo "Turi" Treviño that a pothole on a private property at the shopping mall was "quite disturbing" and that – regardless of where it was, he would take it upon himself to "fix" it.

By the time it was all over in June, City of Brownsville road crews using city equipment and materials

had entered the property inside the private mall behind the McDonald's restaurant. A sign facing Morrison Road clearly states that the street's maintenance is not the city's responsibility (left).

The "fixing" of the pothole elicited congratulations from at least two city commissioners – Linda Macias and Pedro Cardenas – in a video posted on Facebook. 

And it also signaled the cozy relationship between commissioner Cardenas and Treviño, a political ally who dished himself and Cardenas goodies (grants) while he was on the board of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC). Both are St. Joseph graduates and have businesses in Brownsville and family links to Matamoros.

The road preparation and asphalt work was done before and came as Cardenas was locked in a  runoff election with Daisy Zamora, who had coincidentally made potholes a campaign issue against him.  

"I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors across District 4, and everywhere I go, the story is the same: potholes, speeding cars, and trash piling up alongside overgrown lots that plague our neighborhoods."

(That's Zamora sitting in a man-sized pothole at right in District 4 in a promotional video during her campaign.) 

Cardenas eventually went on to beat Zamora in the June 7 election. 

With city crews working on the pothole as a backdrop, both commissioners signed off on a video where they posted "RIP to McDonald’s & Academy’s Pothole. A big shout out to City Manager Helen Ramirez, City Commission, and city staff who got it done!"

So how did the city administration justify using public employees, equipment and materials to fix a street inside a private shopping center that everyone – including mayor John Cowen, who was supporting Zamora in the District 4 race against Cardenas –  agreed was private property?

The private ownership of the land n question was confirmed by local land developer Reba Cardenas McNair, who posted that:

                                                  

No one is saying how this was justified, or why, and commissioner Cardenas would only say in the video that "by talking to the owner and looking at some easements, we were able to get it done."

Also, no one knows what it cost the city in labor and materials, whether the city administration has ever gone with the agreement (?) before the city commission for approval, whether the private land owner will reimburse the public, and whether this precedent signals a slippery slope where the city will be ready to use public resources to address similar issues on private property. 

For his part, Mayor Cowen said that the city entered the property and performed the road work based on the fact that the Brownsville Public Utility Board has an easement under the street and that PUB conducted tests to determine whether there was a leak causing the erosion. He said one was not found. The road work was done in the interest of public safety, he said, adding that a small car could easily have fallen into the hole.

"PUB went in there and dug a hole to see if there was any leakage and there wasn't," he said. "I'm going to be pushing for the developer to pay for it," Cowen said. "It wasn't a ton of money, but I'm going to push for the city to be paid."

That raises yet another question. If it was a PUB issue, shouldn't it have been the utility's crews and equipment being used, and not the city's? And was there even a  PUB work order issued? In this case, it seems that the formal complaint process wasn't followed. We will be making public information requests from both the the city and PUB to determine who made the decision to send in the city crews.

But going into private property with city workers and equipment is already being questioned by some residents.

But as far as "Turi" Treviño is concerned, it is yet another feather in his cap and he is crowing about his monumental feat on his social page that "they all follow my page" and that he is ready to help when others won't and shows that he has the ear of the mayor. And is it mere coincidence that the work on the road might have been done to aid the political fortunes of his buddy Pedro?

Is it possible that in Brownsville it is the political tail wagging the dog? 

THE MASK COMES OFF: SUPPORT DROPS FOR TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION TACTICS

Newsweek

Wider national polls reveal a steep slide. An Echelon Insights survey found that in May, 53 percent of Americans approved of Trump's handling of immigration, compared to 45 percent who disapproved—a net approval of +8 percent. By June, approval had fallen to 47 percent, with disapproval climbing to 51 percent, flipping the net rating to -4 percent. That marks a 12-point drop in just one month.

The Ipsos/Reuters poll recorded a comparable shift. In May, Trump's net approval stood at +2 percent (47 percent approve, 45 percent disapprove). In the latest poll, only 44 percent approved while 49 percent disapproved, dropping him to -5 percent.

Similarly, the YouGov/Economist poll shows that Trump's immigration approval rating fell by 10 points in just one week. Last week, 49 percent approved and 45 percent disapproved of his handling of immigration – a +2 percent net rating. In the latest results, approval dropped to 44 percent, and disapproval rose to 52 percent, turning his net approval to -8 percent.

THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE: DONALD TRUMP'S APPROVAL TANKS

Greatest President?:

1) George Washington "I cannot tell a lie."
Donald Trump "I cannot tell the truth."

2) Harry Truman "The buck stops here." 

Donald Trump "It's everyone else's fault, not mine"

3) John F. Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Donald Trump "I'll give you everything you want at the expense of those you hate if you vote for me"

4) Abraham Lincoln "A house divided cannot stand."

Donald Trump "Half the country is infected like vermin with evil Democrat values. I am your retribution!"

5) Franklin D. Roosevelt "All we have to fear is fear itself." 

Donald Trump "Immigrants are going to replace you. Democrats want to steal your money. I'll stop them if you vote for me."

6) Dwight Eisenhower “Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America."

Donald Trump "America sucks, I alone can fix it. Only I can Make America Great Again! After all, who could be smarter than ME?"

BLAKE FARENTHOLD, FORMER U.S. REP. FOR D-27, DIED TODAY

(Ed.'s Note: Blake Farenthold, formerly the District 27 U.S., Representative for South Txas, died today.

Sources close to the family said he died in Corpus Christi. He was 63.Farenthold served as U.S. Rep. from 2011 until his resignation in April 2018 in the wake of reports he used public funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit. The 1980 redistricting after the 2020 Census redrew the boundaries to exclude the Rio Grande Valley.

He succeeded Solomon Ortiz to the position and was succeeded after the redistricting by Michael Cloud, of Victoria.

PROOF IN THE PUDDING: THE BURRO'S REAL GRADES AT FORDHAM; AND HE'S LECTURING THE CHAIR OF THE FED?

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday knocked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for what he expected would be a decision not to lower interest rates and said the man he put in the role during his last term had done a poor job.
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, mused about appointing himself to lead the U.S. central bank, based on his dissatisfaction with Powell.
"Maybe I should go to the Fed," Trump said. "Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed? I'd do a much better job than these people."

Trump has long criticized Powell and sparked market concern earlier this year when he suggested the central bank chief's termination couldn't come fast enough. Trump has since walked back from that rhetoric, saying he would not fire Powell before his term as chair ends next year, but he has not held back on his broader criticism and has made clear that he will not ask Powell to stay on as the central bank's leader.

"What I'm going to do is, you know, he gets out in about nine months, he has to, he gets fortunately terminated ... I would have never reappointed him, (President Joe) Biden reappointed him. I don't know why that is, but I guess maybe he was a Democrat... he's done a poor job," Trump said.

(Apart from having failing grades, Trump also has a short memory because it was he who appointed Powell to the Fed in 2017. Biden kept him. Photo at right.)

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday as its policymakers weigh signs of a cooling economy, the risk of higher inflation from U.S. import tariffs, and the escalating crisis in the Middle East.

Trump expressed disappointment in advance of the decision and underscored his belief that the Fed had been too late at cutting rates.

"I call him 'too late Powell' because he's always too late. I mean, if you look at him, every time I did this I was right 100 percent, he was wrong," Trump said.

TOOK A WHILE LONGER FOR BLACK FREEDOM TO REACH TEXAS

  By Juan Montoya

Freedom took a little longer to arrive in Texas.

Even though President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1863, slavery wasn't outlawed in Texas until June 18, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy  the state on behalf of the federal government.

By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas.

On June 19, standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read aloud the contents of "General Order No. 3", announcing the total emancipation of of slaves:

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

There has been a debate about how many slaves lived in South Texas. Because of the proximity to the Rio Grande (and freedom in Mexico where the peculiar institution was prohibited), few slaves were kept along the border.

In fact, the 1860 Census indicates that seven slaves were registered in Cameron County and one in Hidalgo. The proximity to the Rio Grande - and freedom - prevented slavery from flourishing here as in other parts of the confederacy. However, it's instructive to see that Brownsville "founder" Charles Stillman listed a slave as his property. ( Click on graphic at right to enlarge.)

What there was, however, was an active Underground Railroad helping slaves to escape to Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande.

And of course, where there is human bondage there will always be buzzards trying to make a dollar. William Neale was one. He was one of the most recognized runaway slave hunters in Brownsville. Now the city is honoring his memory by allotting $190,000 to restore his house, which, by the way, is par for the course. The slave owner's (Stillman) Laurel Ranch whore house is planned to be in the same park in memory of that pioneer slaver.

Researchers have found that along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County lay the Jackson Ranch once owned by Nathaniel Jackson, a loyal Unionist during the Civil War. 

They write that in the 1850’s, Jackson left Alabama with his African-American wife Matilda Hicks, his son Eli, and other adult children. They hoped to escape the intolerance of inter-racial marriage they had known in the South. Accompanying the Jacksons were eleven African-American freedmen. 

In 1857, Jackson founded his ranch on a former Spanish grant. His property is said to have become a refuge for runaway slaves from Texas and the Deep South. Today, many people know about the Underground Railroad that shepherded enslaved people to freedom in the northern states and Canada, but few know about the route to freedom in Mexico. 

The Jackson Ranch lay near the Military Highway between Fort Ringgold and Fort Brown, and would have been visited by Confederate and Union troops as they fought for control of the Lower Valley in 1863 and 1864. Jackson died in 1865, the same year that his son Eli established the family cemetery where members of the clan now rest. Nathaniel Jackson’s grave is unmarked.

Several African-American and bi-racially mixed families settled in South Texas including the Webber family.

John F. Webber was an Anglo who lived south of Austin, Texas. Originally from Vermont,  Webber was born around 1786. In the War of 1812 he served as a private in Capt. S. Dickinson's company, Thirty-first United States Infantry, from May 23, 1813, to May 31, 1814, during which time he fought in the battle of Shadage Woods.

He was in Austin's colony as early as 1826 and received a headright on June 22, 1832. Webber purchased a slave, Silvia Hector, and her son.

They fell in love and married, causing an uproar in their community. After their son was barred from school, and the tutor Webber had hired to teach the boy had been threatened, the Webber family moved near Donna, Texas. 

In 1853 Webber purchased nearly 9,000 acres of land near Donna and established the Webber Ranch with his wife and 11 children.

Weber's story has been documented by his numerous progeny and speak of a man who remained loyal to his black wife and children who in turn intermarried with local Mexican-Americans. The Webber clan is numerous and a recent family reunion included descendants from throughout the country. Below, one of her descendants sent us this bill of sale where Sally Hector was sold before she married Webber.

In her excellent paper on the underground railroad, Georgia Redonet, a teacher at Long Middle School, in Houston, states that "When Stephen F. Austin brought American settlers to Mexico in 1822, Mexican law stated that there could be – neither sale nor purchase of slaves who are brought to the empire; their children born in the empire shall be free at the age of 14."

Mexico had outlawed slavery but made this concession for Texas in its desire to populate the northern province. It put the new immigrants on notice that slavery was to be a temporary institution. In regards to the American slaveholders immigrating to Mexican Texas, Article 21 of the Law of October 14th, 1823 stated – 'foreigners who bring slaves with them, shall obey the laws established upon the matter, or which shall hereafter be established.'"

As clear as the prohibition was in Mexican law, the government was persuaded to give the newly-arrived settlers exemptions in order to keep them as a buffer between raiding Comanches and Apache Indians and the French encroaching from the east.

"From 1830 to 1860 there was a continual movement of runaway slaves into Mexico and although not as publicized, it was just as common as the movement of runaways into free northern territory and Canada. While there are no reliable estimates as to the number of fugitive slaves escaping to Mexico during this time period, it is safe to say – that the movement was considerable enough to have caused great irritation and financial hardships on Texas slave-owners...

"During the Texas Revolution, Jose Maria Tornel, Mexican Secretary of War, – denounced slavery and called attention to the astonishment of the civilized world at the support given to the maintenance of the institution by the United States. By contrast, he said, – Mexico considered all men brothers, created by our common father.

"Mexico refused to return any fugitive slaves after the revolt and based part of its refusal to recognize Texas independence on the slavery question. Knowledge of the Mexican attitude towards slavery probably encouraged Negroes to escape.

"In early 1846 Texas was formally admitted to the Union as a slave state. According to the first official Texas state census in 1847, the state‘s population counted 38,753 slaves and 102,961 whites. The plantations along the lower Colorado and Brazos rivers and those scattered throughout East Texas held the largest concentrations of enslaved persons. Runaway slaves had been a continual problem throughout the duration of the Republic and the new state sought to write laws aimed at curbing the exodus.

"In 1848 laws were passed by the state legislature aimed at punishing those who might help escaping slaves. Anyone helping slaves plan a rebellion would be punished with death. Ship captains assisting runaways would receive from two to ten years in the penitentiary. Anyone who would steal or entice away a slave from his or her owner would receive three to fifteen years of hard labor. Free persons of color who aided a slave in escaping would receive from three to five years in the penitentiary."

To read the rest of the Redonet paper on the South Texas Underground Railroad, click on link:
http://www.uh.edu/honors/Programs-Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/pdfs/2003/african-american-slavery/redonet-03-slavery.pdf

WHAT IS IT ABOUT A - - HOLE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, WHITEY?

 

HOME IS THE SAILOR...SERVICES SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 27

By Stefany Rosales

krgv.com

Various Sources

Funeral services have been scheduled for a U.S. Navy sailor who was found dead near her Naval station in Virginia.

The Brownsville native sailor, Angelina Resendiz, will be laid to rest on June 27. Her funeral services are open to the public.

The 21-yar old was found dead two weeks after she went missing from the naval station in Norfolk, Virginia. The Navy says a sailor is in custody in connection with her death

(Resendiz, who served in the U.S. Navy as a culinary specialist aboard the USS James E. Williams, went missing on May 29. She was last seen at her barracks, Miller Hall, at Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Five days later, Virginia State Police issued a “critically issuing adult alert)” for Resendiz, saying she had last been seen at her barracks at 10 a.m. on May 29.

A week later, officials discovered Resendiz’s body. A day later, NCIS announced it had arrested a person in connection with Resendiz’s death but declined to release any other information, including the person’s name, gender, relationship to Resendiz, or possible charges against them. That lack of information has frustrated Resendiz’s grieving family, who have called upon the military and law enforcement to be more transparent with the investigation into her death.)

Funeral services will occur at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 114 East Price Road.

The viewing will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with the funeral service to follow at 5 p.m. Attendees will have a chance to mingle with the family with light refreshments and share memories of Angelina at 6:30 p.m.

A candlelight vigil for Angelina and to honor all those lost to such violence will be held at 7:15 p.m.

WERE REPUBLICANS PLAYED IN CITY ELECTION BY SUGAR MAMA LAMANTIA AS SHE SEEKS LOST D-27 SENATOR'S POSITION?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

When they say that politics makes for strange bedfellows, they could have been talking about the City of Brownsville and Cameron County.

After MAGA Republicans Susan Rubalcava and Deborah Bell campaigned and took credit for ALL the City of Brownsville elected officials' wins in those non-partisan races, as soon as last night's swearing in of Pedro Cardenas and Nurith Galonsky, Morgan LaMantia had reservations at Toscafinos to hand out assignments (and checks?) for a run against District 27 Senator Adam Hinojosa, who defeated her last year.

Brownsville Navigation District Chair Steve Guerra and Cameron County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez were not at city hall for Cardenas' and Galonsky's swearing-in, but showed up for the LaMantia fest at Toscafino's.  So it's a far reach to say this was a spur of the moment coincidence. This was obviously planned to get everyone on the campaign (and payroll) to support LaMantia again. 

Garza Perez specifically denied any such arrangement and said she and Guerra just happened to be there.

Curiously, Bell, the Cameron County Republican Party chair, was cheering on and campaigning for Cardenas and Galonsky in the city races. Did she know that Cardenas would be a willing participant in the LaMantia camp, a Democrat? Was the newby played?

And even though LaMantia's followers say she want to run against Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, state senator for District 20 in Hidalgo County, it is becoming apparent that she wants her old position back.

It gets curiouser and curiouser. Garza-Perez quickly denied the gathering was planned and said that "it was nothing planned" and that "we just happened" to be at the same place.

Actually, it seemed if the gang at Toscafino's was more like they were showing support for LaMantia's ample bank account. It just so happens that she is making her run again with the help of perennial (and notorious) influence peddler Ruben O'Bell, now employed with UTRGV after his benefactors – Eddie Lucio Jr., and Lucio III – were thrown out of their political positions. O'Bell, as usual, has a nose for money and is now LaMantia's personal political handler here.

O'Bell  actually presented Cardenas with a gavel said to have been used by the late A. R. “Babe” Schwartz, who represented Galveston County in the Texas legislature. What Cardenas – holding municipal office – has do with the state legislature wasn't clearly explained. 

And if you take a close look, even BISD's pariah board member Carlos Elizondo was there with his better half. 

Can you count how many elected officials are up for reelection in the top picture?

Que revoltura! Por eso estamos como estamos.

IN NORTHFIELD, HISTORY IS GOLD; IN BROWNSVILLE, WE BURY IT

 

By Juan Montoya

On September 1876, the James-Younger Gang headed for Minnesota fleeing the law after their depredations in the South.

The gang consisted of brothers Jesse and Frank James; brothers Bob, Jim, and Cole Younger; Clell Miller; Charlie Pitts; and Bill Stiles. 

Upon arriving in the state, the gang divided into scouting parties of two, three, and four men. Looking for possible sites to execute their plans, they considered banks in Minneapolis, Red Wing, St. Peter, and St. Paul, as well as Madelia, Mankato, Lake Crystal, St. James, Garden City, and Northfield.

The gang decided to abort the first choice for the robbery and headed for its second choice, Northfield. Little did the gang members know that this decision would end all of their careers as outlaws and result in the deaths of three gang members and two Northfield citizens.

There is nothing particularly special about Northfield. The lazy Cannon River snakes its way through town and its population is dwarfed by Minneapolis-St. Paul, 15 to 20 miles to the north. However, the important thing to the gang was that it had a healthy bank, the  Northfield First National Bank.

On September 7, 1876, eight bandits rode into Northfield to rob the bank. The desperadoes ordered the three bank employees to open the safe, but were told that the door was locked and couldn’t be opened. Meanwhile, local citizens on the street began to arm themselves after a merchant discovered the robbery in progress and shouted, “Get your guns, boys — they’re robbing the bank!”

Upon this discovery, two gang members sprang to their saddles and began firing their pistols and yelling for everyone to leave the area or be shot. This forced the remaining robbers to enter the fray. The first to fall was a Swedish immigrant named Nicholas Gustafson. He was wounded in the head and died several days later.

When it was over after just seven minutes, two robbers were dead in the street and two more were badly wounded. 

The remaining six outlaws fled southwest, triggering the largest manhunt in U.S. history. Frank and Jesse James were not caught after the failed raid, but the Younger brothers were captured, and Charlie Pitts was killed two weeks later during a furious gunfight near Madelia.

This claim to fame for this small Minnesota town has been turned into a hugely profitable annual celebration which has placed Northfield on the tourist map. Each year, thousands flock to see a reenactment of the James-Younger attempted robbery of the bank.

Do you now that the greatest cultural event held there yearly has become a source of tourism from which the town derives its greatest economic shot in the arm? Would you believe a three-day-long reenactment of the James bank robbery? 

Northfield has no international border, no nearby sea, and nowhere near Brownsville's ties to major historical, social, and political figures and upheavals. Yet, they have achieved success with one chance encounter with history. (We do have Charro Days, a purely commercial enterprise which had its beginning as a merchants' ploy to attract customers to the city.)

In contrast to Northfield, we seem to be content to have our history carted off to collections in distant university data bases while we continue to ignore it here. Outsourcing of our manufacturing base has not worked out well for our country. Outsourcing our city's past is an even worse strategy.

Brownsville has all those qualities and more. But we seem content to hide our history, to deny events that have had international repercussions happened here. 

July 13 is the 166th anniversary of the day that Juan Cortina shot sheriff Robert Shears and carted off his ranch worker which ignited the turbulent Cortina Wars and, later in the year, in September, he rode into town with some 70 to 80 followers and sought out his enemies.

In Northfield, the bank robbery lasted all but seven minutes. Historians say that Cortina held Brownsville for the better part of 13 hours before he left. 

Why do we ignore the role that Juan Cortina played in the turbulent era following the inclusion of this area into the United States?

Think of a Cortina raid reenactment. All the elements are there. Good vs. bad, whichever way you see it. A daring act, and plenty of drama that took place right in the heart of the city. And a Mexican Army asked to come into the U.S. to protect Americans.   

In fact, the city's leaders begged a foreign army, the Mexican military in Matamoros, to invade the United States to defend them against Cortina, an American citizen naturalized after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. When else has that happened in U.S. history?

And try the city's most vital historical and genealogical documents lie locked in Market Square under the care of the myopic and dormant Brownsville Historical Association.

Could it be that the good citizens of little Northfield were prescient to see that a criminal act – the robbing of the bank – could turn out to be a gold mine while we in Brownsville are sitting on a treasure trove of historical proportions which we continually ignore? 

TRUMP'S PARADE A BUST, FODDER FOR NEWS CARTOONISTS

An advance look at “On Parade,” David Plunkert’s cover for next week's issue. #NewYorkerCovers


Sharla Parkhurst

Put a pacifier in his mouth and diapers on his butt, then good to go!

Janice Barr
Oh look! He’s wearing a dunce cap!!

Maggie Liebergesell
That extra long tie might get tangled up in the gears

Phil White
Who has the quarters for the machine to keep his tank going?

Kathy Herrick Ely
My first impression: empty suit.

Susan DiJohnson
Would be funnier if his tie got caught in the wheels...

Jill Frazee Lerner
Is that his toy tank?

John Phippa

You’ve got to hand it to #47 for not letting his bone spurs hold him back….after all, #47 has always held our troops in such high regard

Luis E. Lopez
This guy is a laughing stock

John Cicchetti

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five-star general and Supreme Commander during WWII, reportedly viewed military parades—particularly those emphasizing raw dis

play of force—as something unbecoming of a confident, democratic nation. His belief was that strong nations demonstrate power through stability, values, and readiness, not through theatrical displays.