Bound for the South: Some Notions About Current Events and Other Matters of Concern

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Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez 
I promise you free medical care, like in Cuba,
 where the wealthy bureaucrats get to fly to
 Mexico or Spain if they want real medical
 services.  (Please don't tell the peons)
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    We are heading down South again…our poor charge d'affairs has been there by himself in the main for the better part of a month.  During the holidays, Alvaro and the Maestra (a neighbourhood major personality) and their friends and relatives alway seem to wait until the last moment and then ask about the possibility of "using the Gringo's house" or "the Maestra's (professor or advanced teacher) house for a couple of nights.
     We are caught in the fact that we can neither charge them even our normally low rates, nor can we allow them free passage because of the fact that we have to wash and sterilise,  mop and polish, and so forth after any trip.  It usually takes two or three days to prepare our facilities to a level that is acceptable to people who desire quality…(such as el gringo viejo).

     We have all of that to put back together, and then the inventory of plants and sprouts, and our "wild" herbs and spices and pepper bring us many opportunities to work on details until the sun sets…for several days in row.
     Due to Al Gore having brought on Polar Melt, Global Warming, increased earthquakes, the New Ice Age,  and several hundred other types of inescapable nightmares, we have to be prepared for everything and everyone…just in case.   Doing the inventory of the larder is also necessary, and in these matters Alvaro and the Hacendado of the Hacienda de La Vega, which is adjacent to the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre.
    And it has been uncommonly cold, chilly, damp, and close to miserable.  There have been no great rains, but there have been five or six days of cold dristy mizzle separated by a couple of typical tropical days and then another episode of three or more days of light rain and temperatures in the upper 30s to the mid 50s.   So this was not the Christmas or Winter that one might fantasise about, but it could have been the perfect place for doing some binge SKY television, football, etc. and book reading.  That is what I am going into to-morrow.

    Next, we have the continuing issue about "The Wall" and the "Caravanas" and the incessant bleating by the stupidest intelligentsia on the Obsolete Media Channels.  It amazes me how, by 04:00 hours in the morning every spokesman, all the barbie sheet-

readers, all the commentators, and certainly all the parasitic Democrat "spokespersons for the disenfranchised" can trot out, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and repeat the same key words and phrases that identify Donald Trump as the uncle of Satan. 

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CONCERNING THE NEW PRESIDENT OF MEXICO, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

     We have had to step back a bit and scratch our collective heads here in these quarters.   The fellow who "broke the back" of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Vicente Fox Quesada, a certifiable conservative, anti-socialist, private sector type has spent the last five or six years acting like an anti-American, Mexican university college professor.   He has become foul mouthed (in live English or Spanish) on news channels that are associated with the "television in the kitchen", and also either in Mexico or the United States.   He has become a one-man Jorge Ramos.

As described by Wikipedia:

Jorge Gilberto Ramos Ávalos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxoɾxe ˈramos]; born March 16, 1958) is a Mexican-born American journalist and author. Regarded as the best-known Spanish-language news anchor in the United States of America,^[4] he has been referred to as "The Walter Cronkite of Latin America".^[5][6] Currently based in Miami, Florida, he anchors the Univision news television program Noticiero Univision, the Univision Sunday-morning political news program Al Punto, and the Fusion TV English-language program America with Jorge Ramos. He has covered five wars, and events ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall^[7] to the War in Afghanistan.^[8]

Ramos has won eight Emmy Awards and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for excellence in journalism.^[9][10] He has also been included on Time magazine's list of "The World's Most Influential People".

Wow…the Walter Crankcase of Latin America…These are the guys who bring us Rigoberta Menchu', Fidel Castro Ruz, the Ortega Brothers, and all those nice guys.   It was Walter Crankcase whose career was not damaged in the least when he was caught  off-guard after a break, saying,"…well,  at least here's one were winning…".  Of course he was referring to some congressional race in Peoria or Bolling Green or Montrose, Pennsylvania.   Reagan was winning the rest of the board.
     We have followed Jorge's career, and it has been a steady and not too slow chase to the Left.   He long ago dropped any pretence of being fair-handed, and blossomed into a full-fledge marxist propagandist and Gringo-hater.   He especially despises Conservative Mexicans and other such Latins.

     Vicente Fox Quezada, was a fairly good President, but he set about two or three years ago…perhaps earlier …bursting forth with all nature of gerontological Turret's syndrome.   He began to sound like a radical American Democrat , not only with his foul mouth among children and ladies, but also in hatred for anything normal.  It occurred to me that he might have been taking a cue from the above pictured Jorge Ramos, the chief spokesman for the Frida Kahlo / Leon Trotsky / Fidel Castro Ruz crowd.  (yes, I know.  They are all dead, but they still have their "crowd".)

     Now, El Gringo Viejo moves the merry-go-'round at breakneck speed.   During the ending PRI days in the late 1990s…the populace began to stretch out their muscles of influence.  Substantial, but not total  reforms took place, step by step, under the rule of President Fox, President Calderon Hinojosa, and even the recently departed Pena-Nieto.   The greatest fear that we had from the middle and the conservative block was Andres Lopez…more commonly known as AMLO.
     "

"But, gee whiz Sergeant Carter! That Mexkin, Mr. AMLO is just surprisin' everybody."   He's a'stoppin' those caravans, and sendin' troops to the frontier with Guatemala and Belize…and he's buildin' a big new fast train in the Yucatan, you'd think he be a Republican or something."

     While Gomer might be overstating things just a bit, it's not by much.  There is even some thought that this militarisation of the Southern Frontier of Mexico might be one way AMLO and the Mexican poobahs are "paying for the wall" in real terms.
      One must remember that there are 2,200,000 people from Central American who have come to Mexico's home to roost because of the relative prosperity presents to Central Americans.   These people are working at low skill jobs and finding niches here and there where their work can provide some improvement for both them and the Mexican totality.

     Also, just before we were too deep into the weekend here on the Texas Frontier we learned that two Cartel grouping had gotten together near the city of Miguel Aleman, across the Rio Grande from Roma,  Texas…and before it was all over, there were 21 dead "soldiers" of the Gulf Cartel remnants and the old Zeta group.
     The next day there was an engagement by the Mexican Army with the remnants of both of the opposing interests, and the Army inflicted more damage on those interests.   Originally, one soldier was reported as having been mortally wounded, but that information apparently was in error.   Supposedly he had been transported to McAllen, patched up,  and then taken over to Reynosa, Tamaulipas (McAllen' sister city on the Rio Grande).   So there is a lot happening, the military is as involved as before…perhaps even mores…and business continues to boom in Texas and Mexico by almost any reasonable measure.

      Suffice to say that much of AMLO's cabinet is considered to be moderately conservative to even hard-core conservative (as is your humble servant).   So, we shall see.  Adolfo Lopez Mateos had a motto during his presidency of Mexico (1958 - 1964) which was, "Left, but within the Constitution!"…and he named the very conservative Gustavo Diaz Ordaz to be elected as President (1964 - 1970).

We shall see…a report of events upon my return from the Quinta.  As always, your attention and time is certainly appreciated.
El Gringo Viejo

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A Little Housecleaning and thoughts in the dead of Winter

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 This is the silently famous cat who patrolled the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra 
Madre.  She was very similar to another cat we had during my infancy 
(1947 - 1963), who lived to a very advanced age (21 years) and who was
 considered to be human.

Lamentably,  the cat pictured only had  the name of "Kitty-kitty". She was
 very demanding, very compliant, and was a friend to dogs of honour and
 cats of all kinds.  She always slept inside, and during cold times,she and
 her sister and another 00spare cat…would sleep intertwined twixt the
 three, and sometimes with a stinky dog!

DO NOT EVER BECOME ENAMOURED OF CATS…
It will be only another profound sadness should you outlive them.
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     All this present day disorder is uncalming to an old Confederate…so he retreats to his calm area, as would any self-respecting antique snowflake, and mopes.  He might remember the loss of the kitten his wife ordered him to take to the house, after she had fallen off of the roof of the Doctor's office where my boss was employed.

     The kitten was terribly small, almost nothing but ears and scrawny skin…bulging eyes…and yet with all the conceit of a cat, very demanding of immediate attention…NOW!!!

    So, as ordered,  I gathered up the kitten; as ordered and took her to the house.  She immediately went to the bathroom where apparently she smelled the water dripping from the shower-head in the main bathroom…and sniffed the one drop-per-second or so.

     I determined that the first priority was going to have to be that she have water.  El Gringo Viejo put her up on the top of the toilet tank with an tiny ironstone saucer with distilled water.  Obviously, after falling from a roof, she had no further fear of heights and she set about re-hydrating.

     She evacuated that saucer almost instantly…and it was refilled.   Within seconds that amount of  H2O was evacuated, and the saucer was refilled again.  While she worked on that saucer-full, I went to the refrigerator and took out and then shredded a bit of roasted chicken from yesterday, and placed it on a sheet of newspaper, folded in quarters.

   Surprise, surprise when the kitten showed up in the kitchen…nose twitching…and finally running over to the folded paper towel with perhaps a couple of ounces of mixed dark and white meat of chicken.  This was a little more challenging, but this cat demonstrated that her forte' was to be found in her challenges.  And she liked "The Colonel".  

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AND THEN:

    This cat later was taken up and brought to our little adobe hut and our lot that faces onto the the Rio Corona in the middle of NoWhere, Mexico.  She strode about, investigating every corner of the house and checking out the entire property.  She decided that being the Queen of a property such as this was not all that bad.  Better being Queen of England than President of an Unknown Universe.  So she took over the house.

     One of her favourite "tricks" was to take the seat of a chair at the supper table, while my clients would be eating supper.  She would then put her chin on the table, while sitting in the extra chair.  I kept a supply of moist corn-kernels in the refrigerator and would place a couple of kernels in front of her nose, and she would very, very discreetly pop up and take her "dessert".  I would provide explanations and respond to questions concerning birds, and the trek of the day.
     She (the cat) would almost request permission for her absence before and after and eat her "dessert".   Then she would pop up again…the clients were totally charmed.  A man who had always "hated" cats wound up bringing cat treats for this cat when he and his boss (wife) were drinking margaritas on the corridor and reviewing their birdwatching books for the names of recently first-seen birds ("lifers", in the idiom of real birdwatchers).

     This cat and her sister, whom I brought down a bit later, grew and became adult cats, unfortunately, and they had a double marriage with Tom Cats of the community.  These mother cats had two litters, totalling five kittens…all of whom were male cats.   Odds?  Buy a lottery ticket, although I have never bought one nor shall I buy one.   Five kittens born of two mothers, and all males is really off the scale.

    Moving quickly, let us change the tone and topic:   One of those kittens at the age of 10 weeks was taken by some reliable people to the innards of the very pleasant Capital City of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas.  A couple of months passed by and all five kittens were invested with good families.  Imagine the confusion when on the same day, the people who took one of the cats, and who named the poor beast "Wendall", had been scared away from his place.  Next door were some degenerate people, unqualified for residence in the neighbourhood.

     There were several fighting dogs owned by a character who had "peculiar" orbit of "friends".  The dogs would go crazy at the merest scent of the tomcat.   So it turned out that the cat managed to escape and begin a one month retrace back to the place of his birth.   The people from Cd. Victoria arrived one day, shortly after the arrival of "Wendell".  They were more than nearly tearful about having lost "Wendell"…and they informed me that they would like to have another cat like "Wendell".

(Long, long pause…."Bueno…saben Ustedes que los gatos y los perros frequentamente traten de regresar a sus lugares nativos?  Espcialmente cuando han sido espantados por otros animales?"
Well, okay, but you all need to be aware that cats and dogs try to return to their places of birth, especially when they have been frightened by other animals".)

    Everyone in the family nodded and verbally agreed…seemingly contrite for having done nothing wrong.   In the parlour…and out of the sight of the folks from the downtown, rich-folks area, Cd. Victoria down about 18 miles southeast of your Adobe Hut…t(he famous Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre)…there came a loud "meeeeooooowwww", and the children and the wife said "He's here!!!  He's here!!!!"   I openned the front door and out rushed Wendell…trotting and padding the Saltillo tile as if the baked tiles were Persian woven carpets, meoowwwing with glee and rubbing up the legs and ankles of the people who had cared for him.
     The last I heard…and this was 10 years ago or more…Wendell became very selective about his "novias" (girl-friends), and he liked lounging around in the lower range of the upper-class of the professional city-folk…sleeping and making up his Santa's list for next Christmas.  

     Sadly, and this is for the girls and women who need a good, soft cry…the mother  of Wendell began to go into very quick decline.  She was twenty years old, and had raised a family, protected El Gringo Viejo, Alvaro, the dogs and pertinences of The Property, and was exhausted with life.   While I was speaking to the very woman who saved her life...my boss…I placed the receiver part of the telephone to the cat's ear and upon hearing the voice of my boss, my wife…who had saved the noble cat's life…the noble cat made running motions with her lower legs and feet, and then... took flight with the Angels.


It was an event to forever remember.

More later,
All honour to those who remember honour. And all honour to those who have fallen…..
El Gringo Viejo

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Concerning Trump's call to arms, or thinking inside and outside the box

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Buenos Dias, Consuegro!

He said about what I expected, just speaking to the  choir.

He did not fully discuss the problems that the border states face.

Then " Chuck & Nancy" spent 10 minutes NOT covering any of the issues.

What a waste of an evening!

I spent the evening realizing that we are 2 separate countries.

I now know that our policies will never change. 

IF WE HAD POLITICIANS WITH ANY GUTS, WE COULD PASS REASONABLE,  AND ENFORCEABLE, IMMIGRATION LAWS!!!

I noticed that Chuck and  Nancy kept talking about "Mexicans", not the hordes of people from the south.

As a side note:   Our cleaning lady and her family, whom we've had for 10 years, arrived back in the US after being on a family vacation to their home in Honduras ( They had all the proper documents).

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   This is a brief analysis of a tempest and a tea pot and a healthy lament shared by two teen-aged geezers.  As the OROG community knows,  EL GRINGO VIEJO can tend to be quite wordy…sometimes it is necessary when reporting on complicated historical matters and/or genealogies and such.  And…he is quite wordy almost all the time anyway.

     My Consuegro, as you can detect above, does not worry about being wordy.   He just says in a paragraph what takes me the equivalent of six chapters out of Gone With the Wind.  Consuegro is an antiquated word (making a comeback in these times) in Spanish which means, "This man is the Father-in-Law of my (son)(daughter)".

     My deceased brother, Dr. Milton, asked me to review and correct anything in his doctoral dissertation…and that was a great complement.  Over the years I tried to employ his academic prose characteristics…at times with a bit of success, but usually never to my own satisfaction.  In any regard, this man who wrote the quick note which is included above, exactly duplicated my feelings about the whole issue concerning migratory and immigration problems in Texas.

World Famous Archaeological Site of Tikal
situated in the north country of Guatemala

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     When the Democrats blatantly lie about the situation, it is to assuage their own guilt in the affair of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens coming into the United States each year.   It is all but incomprehensible.   Remember, my Consuegro and I have almost 100 years combined of dealing in, around, about, up, and down in Mexico…all in completely legal, compliant, and win / win business dealings.
     Mark my words, please.  In the coming years, "colonies" will expand in size…with each subgroup and/or national grouping (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador) forming and expanding.  Pandillas (gangs) are working hand in glove with the international drug, prostitution, and slave trade.  There will be turf wars that will make Chicago and Baltimore look like a Cotillion Ball.  Even in Houston, the black hand of gang violence has become commonplace.
    The regular folks of those nations are, lamentably, incapable of directing and controlling

A scene from the shore of Lake Peten Itza, quite near
the Tikal Archaeological site

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their own affairs either in their own country or in this country.  It will take many, many generations before those people can rise up out of the bog.  These words truly pain me, as they do my fellow Consuegro, because most of the Central Americans we know or have met or have had dealings with are marvellous people. 

     There are slices of population here and there, and there are thousands of beauty marks throughout the northern four Central American nations that prove the area can be liveable and enjoyable.  There is even a considerable number of Americans and other foreigners who live in that area of the world on a permanent basis and who enjoy it immensely.  It is nowhere near the several million Americans who live in Mexico.  On a per capita basis Mexico, by any measure, is the mega-bohemoth in terms of retirement living or just hanging around.
     We hope the best for those folks.  But we are fighting the negative forces of those who pretend to

be "helping" the broadest swaths of the populations there.  UNESCO and, lamentably, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, and the previously cited and mentioned "foundations" that are dedicated to "social democracy"are doing everything possible to drive thousands, scores of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions into the United States in order to cripple the economy and culture of the American nation.  They have done something similar to Europe and the United Kingdom with the inundation of essentially hostile Islamists sectioning off great swaths of cities and towns in those countries that are known to be "no-go zones".   We neglect these facts at our own jeopardy.

Another View of Peten Itza Lake

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     Better enforcement, interdiction, patrol, technology, and yes…various forms of restraining walls are all urgently needed.  The removal of "sacred birthright" for women who come to Texas and the United States either pregnant or intending to become pregnant, as illegal aliens is urgently needed.
  The isolation and destruction of any organised criminal individuals or collection of such individuals as the Mara Salvatrucha XIII, the Callejon XVIII, or similar groups or affiliates must become an urgent national priority.  Texas has made some significant efforts in this direction, but we are failing, in my opinion, to realise that a cultural tsunami is rolling upon us, and quite literally could collapse America as we know it.
     I am not an alarmist.  I am a realist.  We presently have over 40 per cent of the Nation that believes that the source of money is a government printing press.  That same number feels as though they are entitled to "Free" benefits and services as part of a Constitutionally protected right.  The constructionist and conservative element within the population will have to strap on  their battle gear and prepare to wage a long, long resistance to the forces of socialism.

More later
El Gringo Viejo

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