Think before you jump.....

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     We were listening right now to the fact that Mr. Cruz has advised the Real Elephant Union that Carla Fiorina (aka - Annette Funicello) has been selected as that individual who will stand "one heartbeat from the Presidency".   Wise move, wise choice, wise strategy, wise tactic, and beneficial to the American concept of normalcy.  

       

     We would also suggest that there was a time when parting the seas with a staff, flying a single engine airplane to Le Gran France, and placing a man on the Moon were all considered laughable.

     However, consider the lessons of Baseball....the Great Catechism Instructor of Real Life.   It reads as follows:

      But neither of these two collapses can hold a candle to the events of May 23, 1901. The newly formed American League was in it's inaugural season and Washington was visiting Cleveland. Lefty Casey Patten, who eventually would win 18 games that season, took the mound for Washington. He was opposed by 30-year old William "the Wizard" Hoffer. Hoffer had enjoyed huge success as part of the Baltimore dynasty in the National League in the late 1890's. Over his first three seasons(1895-1897) he had compiled a record of 77-25 and twice led the N.L. in winning percentage, posting 30 wins as a rookie in 1895. But although 1901 would be Hoffer's first season in the American League, it would soon prove to be his last in the major leagues.

      Washington's offense struck early and often against Hoffer in tallying 14 hits to build up a 13-5 lead after 8 1/2 innings. And when Patten quickly retired the first two Cleveland batters to begin the bottom of the ninth, a Washington victory looked certain. After all, the bases were empty, there were already two outs and Washington was ahead by 8 runs. Down to its' final out, Cleveland slowly and methodically began accumulating baserunners. Three straight singles by Jack McCarthy, Bill Bradley and Candy LaChance produced the first Cleveland run of the inning. When the next batter, catcher Bob Wood, was hit by a pitch to load the bases, things were still a long way from settled. Cleveland shortstop Frank Scheibeck doubled home two more runs and centerfielder Frank Genins drove in another to narrow Washington's lead to 13-9. At this point, Washington manager Jimmy Manning had apparently seen enough and he pulled Patten and replaced him with reliever Watty Lee. 

      Lee promptly walked the first batter he faced to re-load the bases. Cleveland sent up pinch-hitter Erve Beck to bat for the pitcher Hoffer, who had made the first out of the inning. Beck cleared the bases with a three-run double to cut the margin to 13-12. The next batter, righfielder Ollie Pickering, drove in Beck from second with a single to tie the score, sending the frenzied fans streaming out on to the field at League Park in a premature celebration. When the field was finally cleared of revelers, McCarthy, who'd begun the rally with the first hit of the inning, returned to the plate. But Lee immediately compounded the problem for Washington by letting Pickering advance to second base on a wild pitch. McCarthy's second single of the inning was Cleveland's 20th hit of the game and drove Pickering home with the winning run for a 14-13 victory.

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     Were Ted Cruz and his supporters to pull out any form of victory in Indiana, it would be something akin to that great scene where Rhett Butler tells Scarlett, "....frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."   You can win all the Yankee States  you want,  Don.    But, the problem is, whether we win or lose, we shall fight on and win.

      It is fairly recognisable that "the Donald" cannot withstand any sense of 'losing'.   If our guy and his forces pull out a victory, "the" Donald will have a meltdown, and show himself for the 12-year old, spoil't child that he is.

     This is not the time to be  jumping out of upper floor windows.  This is the time to circle the opposing army with our own light cavalry and shame him before his greatest admirers.  He is a shill, a provocateur, and a snake-0il salesman.   But, I think....with the "New York Values" State Prosecutor, unless he is paid off, will make life un-comfortable, to say the least, for "the" Donald.

More later.   We appreciate, most sincerely, the time and attention you all have given this page.

El Gringo Viejo

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Sir Edmund Hillary, Duchess of Fort Marcy Park, Queen of the Universe, Eternal Goddess of All Universes

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     We await that moment when (Sir Edmund) Hillary will receive at least the treatment Charles Colson received when the FBI found that Charles Colson had one (1) FBI personal raw data file in his desk, still sealed and unopened.  He went to prison for three years.   Or, mayhaps, that which befell Gen. Petraeus, for having one unauthorized file in his private possession, a having discussed that file with his "biographer" mistress.

     Stories are spilling out like bubbling broth from the caldron, and the fire is spitting and hissing with whispers about how the FBI will have a barracks uprising if Loretta Lynch does not move on (Sir Edmund) Hillary Corkscrew.  While it might be (please forgive) a pleasant sight to see Her Highness sitting in the stocks, bedecked in orange, it is very, very improbable that such will ever happen.   In all probability Huma is calling people everywhere around Washington, D.C. and Little Rock, Arkansas to remind them that she has their files and that her "friends" know where their grandchildren and daughters of potential witnesses play and hang out, and what primary schools they attend.

     In other words, let us not hold our breath.

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    We shall await the "coming-any-time-now" pronouncement

 from the Department of Justice.

     "Federal Bureau of Investigation files for indictments against Sir Edmund Hillary:   Multiple charges, including solicitation of murder in the first degree, a capital crime, and over 1,439 felonies associated with other violent crimes and death, and election fraud, and the handling of ultra-sensitive FBI files and other documents deigned to be far beyond the reach of any person's personal recovery authority.....and the use thereof to the detriment of active personnel in the National Defense and the effort of National Security.

And Furthermore:

     The Federal Bureau of Investigation admits to collusion in the Travelgate disaster, and to the cover-up of the Mt. Carmel disaster, engineered by Janet Reno and Sir Edmund Hillary, along with the failure to investigate adequately the "Pardons for Pesos" shame that Sir Edmund Hillary and Billy Jeff Blythe and Eric Holder and the brothers of Sir Edmund Hillary and Billy Jeff and such slime brought upon the  office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

      The following indictments against (Sir Edmund) Hillary, Perpetual Queen of All Universes and Pantsuits, are too numerous to list.  We recommend that she be shot into the nether, sealed in the next available rocket-conveyance.   Once 'up-there' , she can seek out others of her type and have a wonderful time with her equals....such as Caligula, all those who call themselves 'Progressives' in America and elsewhere, and all members of that class of human  who wish to inflict 'democratic socialism and income equality' on the populace, Pol Pot, Adolph, Karl, Uncle Joe, Uncle Ho, Fidel and Raul, the Ortegas, Fernandez de Kirchner, and all "socialist reformers".

     Please forgive us.  Signed.....the FBI.
    (And to Richard Jewell - deceased and his mother, also RIP)....we knew that you were a hero, but we just did not want to let you have the credit for something we should have done, but did not do.  So....you understand....we had to defame and essentially convict you in public opinion, and that is not really, really nice.   But, perhaps you can take solace from the fact that we really celebrated with ''high-fives''  and long, long, happy hours at our favourite saloons.  You were such a fat, lower-middle class slob!!!!  Hahahaha.   Everybody knows your name, but nobody can name the guy we finally caught....Hahahahhaha....sorry, Rich....nothing personal!
      It's great when we have fat, no glamour, nobodies that we can slide off on America's public now-a-days.  The American public has an attention span of 2 seconds, and a critical thinking factor of 00.ooo1.   Have a nice day.   We have more important people to protect by covering up their felonious iniquity."

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Pardon the ire.  We now return to our other pursuits.

El Gringo Viejo

Matters of Perception - Texas at the cusp of Ruin or Liberty - Lessons

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Building upon the previous two posts, we would like to delve just a bit longer into the matters pertaining to 1836 in Texas.   Some of this arises from the birthday celebrations a few days ago in the area where we have our little adobe hut.  The incessant obsession with Donald Trump by those in attendance brought this observer to the point where he made various observations and suggestions:

     (1)     The people were advised to not obsess concerning Trump.

  Such condemnation and posturing we have seen amongst the Mexican populace, the beating of Trump pinatas at children's birthday parties, the "injury" suffered by having to listen to a politician say ill-considered things just does not justify the effort.   Vincent Fox Quezada, the first non-government party President of Mexico....a National Action Party conservative....made a fool of himself by sputtering things as bad or worse about Trump than did Trump himself.   Fox-Quesada's  be-fouling of the American airways with the worst of profanity, twice, on live American television was astonishing.

     Towards the end of Fox-Quesada's term as President of Mexico (2001 - 2007 inclusive) he also became a typical RINO by trying to be compassionate and caring....."reaching out" across the aisle in Congress, etc. etc.   The opposition, in large part, spit in his face.   Small inroads 0f "understanding" and "working together" were made, but all were quickly tossed aside upon the end of his term.   He also did little to nothing to assist in the campaign to elect his successor, allowing the National Action Party candidate to swim rough seas with no life jacket, essentially.   In spite of his pioneering victory, he has become a "sideliner" in Mexican political, cultural, and  social affairs.

     El Gringo Viejo played a bit of a dirty trick on the guests assembled.   He reminded the folks that during the late 1820s early to mid 1830s,  the vast majority of the "anglosaxones" who came into Texas came under contract in return for land.....large land tracts.   These contracts would be enforced by the various "empresarios" who obtained the grants and authority to issue land patents, where farms and small to middle-sized ranches could be set up.

    Colonisers  were required to learn the Spanish language, become practicing Roman Catholics, and to improve their lands within seven years, paying all levies and consideration required of all Mexicans.  They were also required to guarantee that they would neither introduce nor maintain an enslaved person.

   In exchange, they essentially received citizenship, plus the requirement to form join militias in order to guard against the marauding Apache, Comanche, Kickapoo, and  Kiowa nations.   In other words, they wanted to use the "anglosaxones" as bullet and arrow catchers so as to blunt the Indians who made annual, sometimes seasonal, "visits" deep into Mexico....at times as far South as San Luis Potosi.

     These conditions prevailed until the Conservatives took over the government in Mexico and suspended, then abolished, the Constitution of 1824 (very similar to the American Constitution), and then established an organic law Centralist government, expressly committed to cancelling any form of sovereignty for the States of the Mexican union.   A War commenced, almost a forerunner of the American War Between the States, in which at least one per cent of the Mexican population died.   A demagogue arose from the disorders surrounding these events of the early to mid-1830s by the name of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and it would be he who would torment and embarrass Mexico for the next 30 years.

     Lopez de Santa Anna was neither a Conservidor nor a Liberal.  He was first and foremost (and only) a Santa Annista.   Because the Texians were, in the main, Federalists and States' Righters, they presented a problem to the Centralist government.   Zacatecas, Coahuila, the entire Yucatan Peninsula, San Luis Potosi, most of Nuevo Leon, and Jalisco States were all substantially anti-Centralist.

     One floating phantom played a strategic problem for Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.  The stories of his victories over mediocre to even well-prepared and competent adversaries in the field went before him as he invaded Texas.   This would make his pacification of the Federalists (Liberals) and their silly defense of the Mexican tricolour with the numeral 1 8 2 4 emblazoned upon the vertical Green, White, and Red background quite easy he thought, except for that pesky strategic problem.   What was that little impediment?

     Because of the fact that the Mexican autocrats, oligarchs, democrats, Republicans, Clerical class, and wealthy landowners, and industrialists all had their ideas about how to arrange society and governance of said society, they spent much of their political time in Mexico City arguing about everything except that which mattered.  Texas....even Coahuila....was like something on the moon.  For most people, many leguas and varas and hectareas of distance that might even stretch to Canada or beyond, there were better things to argue and bluster about in and around Mexico City.

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    (2)    The United States and Texas learned from the Mistakes of the 1836 period in Mexico.   They learned but it was probably also too late.

     During the period from around 1831 through to the first quarter of 1836, it is true what some historians and Mexican nationalists assert.   They declare that "scores of thousands" of "illegal aliens" poured into Texas more for the purpose of establishing slavery, law offices, commercial enterprises including illegal importation of refined and manufactured goods, and general business practices.   Most of these....essentially all....were from the United States, with a preponderance coming from what would later become "The Confederacy".

     The numbers were not so great, but they were significant.   The American-like cohort of the population quickly outdistanced the combined numbers of Spanish/Mexican ancestry and Indian ancestry very shortly after the beginning of the "colonisation" programme.   According to official and reliable sources, we find:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/.../ulc0..Texas State Historical Association

The colonization period of 1821–35 brought many settlers; the population was estimated

at 20,000 in 1831. In 1834 Juan N. Almonte, after a visit to Texas, placed the population

at 24,700, including slaves. In 1836 there were probably 5,000 blacks, 30,000

Anglo-Americans, 3,470 Hispanics, and 14,200 Indians in Texas.
(El Gringo Viejo suggests that the terms "Hispanic" and "Anglo" are very loose, even somewhat accurate)

We submit that Juan N. Almonte was a reliable source, and also a military officer of considerable position and respect.  Included in his reports to Mexico City was the frightening admission that the baby they had birthed in 1821 with Moses Austin and later his son, Stephen Austin, to bring a few "anglosaxones" into Texas had turned into a monster Goliath, dwarfing the Spanish/Mexican population and the native Indian altogether. The Indians counted were mainly among the Alabama, Coushatta, and Caddo....various types of the Chickasaw, Cherokee. and Creek Nations.  He also reported that there were numerous Negroes, and generally assumed they were all slaves, although he was told by the settlers that the Black Folks were actually manumitted, or in the process of manumission.   I was not there, and do not know which or who was slave or manumitted Negro.

     Almonte was also concerned with the fact that many of the settlers, nominally Mexican nationals, had had experience in the militias in the land of origin.   David Crockett, who would arrive late, and stay on this Earth only briefly after arrival, for instance, had been a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee militia and had seen vigorous combat during the Indian Wars.  Almonte was also alarmed that the 50 per cent growth rate was fueled by people who had not entered with the intention of learning Spanish, of being loyal to a government as distant as Washington D.C. in many ways, or of being compliant with the labyrinthine complexities of Mexican commercial law.   They were, essentially, illegal aliens.  Few of the latter arrivals intended to push cotton up out of muddy soil, or round up wild cattle in the western stretches of what defined as colonisable territory in Texas.

     The point?   Mexico and the rest of the world should well understand why large segments of the population of the United States would want to seal a porous border.   Because Mexico slept at the switch, for instance, during the 1830s, a population built up that chafed at the thought of the arbitrariness  of organic law as opposed to common law.  It also suddenly became strong in terms of production and had small but very potent militia capacity.  Because of the further error by the Mexicans of placing 110% of the authority to conduct governmental business and military operation into the hands and contorted mind of one megalomaniac, Mexico lost its most valuable asset.   The present path of the United States is pictured by those errors and those of the Romans who paid and cajoled the plebeian classes with massive public entertainment and citizenship status when such classes, in those days, were in no way prepared for citizenship.

     One of the people with whom we were speaking told your humble servant that I would well advised to run seminars for the National Action Party so that they would campaign on those principals.   As much as the Mexican population is "down on Trump", they also have the problem, once again, of not sealing down their own southern border.   Now, several million people of Central American nationality (excepting only Costa Rica and Panama') are "in the shadows" in Mexico.  Although it might be hard for the OROG to believe, once a Centroamericano arrives into Mexico, he/she can be a bit overwhelmed at the wealth, prosperity, and abundance of product and food.  Sadly, they are also surprised at how much more "functional" the police and military are, and how the corruption is not as abusive.  I know, it sounds sadly humorous, but it is true.
      The problem?   The interior rot that the Central American gangs inject into already unstable parts of the urban Mexican situation.   It is a gangrenous condition that will, as in American, lead to cultural debilitation of the most grievous level.

There you all have it.   Have to make supper for the better half and me.  Perhaps I can talk her into taking me out to the Whataburger.
El Gringo Viejo

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Repost: A Review of the Times of San Jacinto....the Battle that brought Texas her Independence

General Vicente Filisola

     The gentleman pictured above was many things.   He was a Spaniard with an Italian name.  He was a veteran of the Napoleanic Wars, and a distinguished Spanish soldier.   He came to New Spain late in the colonial period and served during the transition from Spanish to Mexican control of that area which now would include all of Mexico, Central America, western Canada, and most of what would become the western half of the United States of America.    For a brief period during the rule of Emperor Agustin de Iturbide I of the Mexican Empire 1821 - 1823, General Vicente Filisola served his Emperor as Governor of Central America.

      The good General served only briefly, however, due to the overthrow of the Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Mexico in 1824.   He did provide for an orderly transition from Mexican control to local governance and order, and withdrew his Imperial Army back into Mexico and joined the re-organised Army as a brigadier.

      It is said that Filisola was probably the one who inspired Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to think of himself as...."The Napoleon of the West"....because of Lopez de Santa Anna's fascination with Napoleon Bonaparte and the legends associated with that Corsican.   Filisola was one of the few people in anyones army who had officer level dealings on a Napoleonic field of battle.

    Vicente Filisola is important to Texans because he was one of those Generals immediately under the command of the all important, self-consumed, pompous Generalissimo Presidente Lopez de Santa Anna.    Along with Filisola, and Perfecto de Cos, the Presidente's brother-in-law, and old Castrillon, and Ramirez y Sesma....all Spaniards  by birth and world view, there was also Brigadier Jose' Urrea, the Indian Fighter, a Davy Crockett figure, at once both rough-cut, and aristocratic, and oddly one of only two  Mexican general officers fighting in the Texas War of Independence who were born Mexicans.

    The commander in chief Lopez de Santa Anna, and the lowest ranking general officer were Mexicans.   Lopez de Santa Anna had moved three large elements from all parts of the country from January up to mid-February to do battle against a crafty bunch of scrappers in a place called "nowhere" by some and Texas by others.   Urrea moved a third of the Army along the Texas Coast, aiming to unify with the main body of the Army around a place called San Jacinto.   Urrea also moved quickly, like an early form of blitzkrieg, although he had five major battles against Texian units numbering from 100 to 500 combatants in each case, and several significant skirmishes which tested his 2,400 effectives severely.   He is best remembered, however, as the Mexican general who left orders to deal fairly and well with the Texian Colonel Fannin and the 440 Texian prisoners, only to have his orders countermanded by the Generalissimo Presidente.   So while Urrea had moved up to Victoria del Rio Guadalupe a few miles from Goliad, his subordinate received orders underlining the existing orders from the High Command that all found holding arms against the government would be executed for treason.

     Here, El Gringo Viejo enters a well-documented but rather neglected fact about the the issues of personality, strategy, tactics, honour, and the business of war that the Mexicans were undergoing even as they were winning, fairly easily against the insurrectionists.  To wit:

Gen. Jose' Urrea

"I was unable, therefore, to carry out the good intentions dictated by my feelings, overcome by the difficult circumstances that surrounded me. I authorized the execution, of thirty adventurers taken prisoners, and setting free those who were colonists or Mexicans      "These orders always seemed to me harsh, but they were the inevitable result of the barbarous and inhuman decree which declared outlaws those whom it wished to convert into citizens of the republic,  I wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility.       "They doubtlessly surrendered confident that Mexican generosity would not make their surrender useless, for under any other circumstances they would have sold their lives dearly, fighting to the last. I had due regard for the motives that induced them to surrender, and for this reason I used my influence with the general-in-chief to save them, if possible, from being butchered." Diary of the Military Operations of the Division which under the Command of General José Urrea Campaigned in Texas February to March 1836 Translation from Carlos Casteñeda's The Mexican Side  of the Texan Revolution (Some headings added by  current editor, WLM) For Biographies, Search  Handbook of Texas Online Extract from the Diary of Col. Nicolás de la Portilla In a Letter Portilla to Urrea....."I feel much distressed at what has occurred here; a scene enacted in cold blood having passed before my eyes which has filled me with horror. All I can say is, that my duty as a soldier, and what I owe to my country, must be my guaranty...." March 26. At seven in the evening I received orders from General Santa Anna by special messenger, instructing me to execute at once all prisoners taken by force of arms agreeable to the general orders on the subject. (I have the original order in my possession.) I kept the matter secret and no one knew of it except Col. Garay, to whom I communicated the order. At eight o'clock, on the same night, I received a communication from Gen. Urrea by special messenger in which among other things he says, "Treat the prisoners well, especially Fannin. Keep them busy rebuilding the town and erecting a fort. Feed them with the cattle you will receive from Refugio." What a cruel contrast in these opposite instructions! I spent a restless night. sdct March 27. At daybreak, I decided to carry out the orders of the general-in-chief because I considered them superior. I assembled the whole garrison and ordered the prisoners, who were still sleeping, to be awaked. There were 445. (The eighty that had just been taken at Cópano and had, consequently, not borne arms against the government, were set aside.) The prisoners were divided into three groups and each was placed in charge of an adequate guard, the first under Agustin Alcerrica, the second under Capt. Luis Balderas, and the third under Capt. Antonio Ramírez. I gave instructions to these officers to carry out the orders of the supreme government and the general-in-chief. This was immediately done. There was a great contrast in the feelings of the officers and the men. Silence prevailed. Sad at heart I wrote to Gen. Urrea expressing my regret at having been concerned in so painful an affair. I also sent an official account of what I had done, to the general-in-chief. [Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 26 1836 and Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 27, 1836] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      El Gringo Viejo and many old timey Texans know these stories, but they are not well known any longer.   Newly arriving people with Mexican backgrounds assume they know all and newly arriving people from the United States and elsewhere have seen Davy Crockett on Disney or some variation, and are certain in their knowledge of the issues involved with the period from 1829 through 1846 and the Texas situation.      This is not said with any particular arrogance.   It is known that what El Gringo Viejo knows from his own research is now useless information.  Nothing matters in the course of human conduct that cannot be compressed into a six-word phrase to put on a bumper sticker.   What is past is no longer prologue, but rather simply useless white-noise on the left side of the time line.       But as an enemy the man pictured below is known among the old, last remaining Texans who know what Texas really was, as an honorable enemy....a good and patriotic man involved in a grisly profession.    Something like Rommel, perhaps. Manuel Fernández Castrillón (?–1836) Fought Texians both at the Battle of the Alamo and at the Battle of San Jacinto

     Castrillon was Santa Anna's ally through much of their working relationship, but Castrillón often took exception to Santa Anna's decisions during the Texas Revolution. He opposed the hurried assault on the Alamo. Yet when he received his orders to lead the battle's first column of troops, he did so with expert efficiency.

A humane and honorable soldier, Castrillón also pleaded clemency on behalf of the seven Texian fighters who survived the Alamo siege. Castrillón's arguments for mercy were ignored, and the men were executed. Castrillón again stated his protest when Santa Anna ordered the execution of the Goliad prisoners.

Castrillón's compassion was a sign of kindness, not weakness. When the Texians roused Mexican forces from their afternoon siesta on 21 April 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, he was one of the few Mexican officers to stand his ground. 

His bravery was recorded in the memoirs of Texian second lieutentant Walter Paye Lane: 

"As we charged into them the General commanding the Tampico Battalion (their best troops) tried to rally his men, but could not. He drew himself up, faced us, and said in Spanish: 'I have been in forty battles and never showed my back; I am too old to do it now.' 

He continues: "Gen. Rusk hallooed to his men: 'don't shoot him,' and knocked up some to their guns; but others ran around and riddled him with balls. I was sorry for him. He was an old Castilian gentleman, Gen. Castrillo."

Honored on both sides of the Texas Revolution—except by Santa Anna, who blamed the loss at San Jacinto in part on Castrillón—he was even buried in the family graveyard of Lorenzo de Zavala, the vice-president of Texas.

     So, all these major footnotes are added into the blog in order to celebrate the victory tomorrow, the 21st day of April, 1836 of the Battle of San Jacinto.   Normally creditted to the efforts of Gen. Sam Houston, who truly was a bigger than life figure, the truth is that Houston was painfully wounded at the beginning of the battle, by a musket ball to the right foot.   It was Gen. Somervell, commanding, and the surprize rush of the limited cavalry of the Texian force of a bit fewer than 700 men.....attacking on a Sunday morning.   The head of the cavalry was Capt. Juan Seguin, an arch-enemy of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.   The resolve of the Texian force to gain Independence, avenge the atrocities of Goliad and the Alamo allowed the inferior force to pin into a peninsula surrounded by a snake infested bayou, and then essentially destroy the effective force of an Army of 2,500 with superior munitions, armament, artillery, cavalry, stores, and so forth.

     Going back to Gen. Vicente Filisola, it was he who took control of the Mexican Army as it withdrew from San Jacinto.   Lopez de Santa Anna remained under arrest and would later be tranferred to Washington D.C. as an oddity and war-trophy of sorts.   He had been the best general in the field, but also the one most prone to err through arrogance and hubris.   Some say his membership in the Mason Scottish Rite order saved him from a rough and ready gallows at San Jacinto, since Houston and Somervell were both brother Masons.

     Filisola was met with his columns by Urrea, who forced control from Filisola, and took command of the withdrawal.   The two men would argue and write accusations against one another, and each would write interesting, if self-serving accounts of their experiences during the War.   It is the opinion of El Gringo Viejo that Urrea was the better soldier and was truthful concerning his wishes for the good treatment of the Goliad prisoners of war.

      Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna blamed both of them for everything;  Urrea for arriving too late to San Jacinto, Filisola for not mucking through the mud with cannons and stores any faster (he actually moved 2,000 men, animals, and stores faster than Santa Anna had moved his Army away from San Antonio in pursuit of Houston's Army.)   Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a lot like Obama in his ability to blame everything on everybody but himself.

Committed to the dull truth, which always seems to wind up being far more interesting than the false legends or any fiction.....El Gringo Viejo resigns the evening and promises to return to more tales that interest him, and he hopes, the OROGs everywhere.

El Gringo Viejo

FOX News circles the bowl.....

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     The breathless, hyperventilated exultation of and by FOX News and others of the Obsolete Press concerning the Great Victory of Donnie Boy can be readily tempered when considered, as it is said, "in context".  While the Trump people and their apologists point out the "unfair rules" and other such GOP defects and obstacles Trump has had to endure, they are elated over their Great Victory.

(1)   To begin, all of New York's electorate, totalling right at 10,000,000 registered  electors managed to pour out to endorse Donnie Boy, The Deal-Maker.....except for the facts that (a) 30% of the electorate could not vote, because only those registered as Democrats or Republicans could vote, excluding all those registered as Independents and (b) fewer than one million people bothered to vote in the Republican Primary because in New York, who cares what the Republicans do? , and (c) one might ask,  who wants to vote in a "rigged primary" where there is little or no proportional division of the vote in terms of delegate assignment?

     File the above paragraph under, "I will whine, accuse, bully, and  generally throw a typical spoiled child's tantrum if anything offends me about another candidate's gaining of delegates, but whatever I receive is mine and good.   So shut up."

(2)     FOX News was pointing out that Ted Cruz won only 48.5%  of the Texas Republican Primary vote back in March, while Donnie Boy took over 60% of the New York total.   FOX News and any other Obsolete Media outlet conveniently leave out that  (a) when Cruz was running in the Texas Republican Primary, all 16 GOP candidates for nomination were, by law, still listed on the ballot.   Kasich and Dr. Carson were still active in the campaign.   Rubio had only shortly before had been active.....and for instance Carla Fiorina and Rand Paul picked up 3% of the overall vote, as inactive candidates.

     Donnie Boy had an abbreviated candidate list of three candidates last night, and was a favourite son.   Donnie Boy and the Obsolete Press and FOX News also failed to point out that Ted Cruz's vote total in the Texas GOP Primary (1,300,000) essentially dwarfed the entire vote total in the New York contest (900,000), and was almost triple what Donnie Boy picked up last night.

     Donnie Boy was awarded forty-some odd delegates by his showing in the Texas primary, while New York rules gave Ted Cruz none of theirs.   One does not see Cruz nor his posse moaning, whining, and/or threatening others about this "rigged, crooked election" reality.   Kasich with over a quarter of the vote was awarded only five or six delegates.

(3)     To sum up, it does not really matter what the Republicans do in their primary in New York, because the hideous combination of consumer and abuser interests in that State, housed almost entirely under the Democrat tent, will prevail in any General Election....rendering all their Electoral College votes to the forces of socialism, government dependence for "minorities", and constant collusion with mafia-like business and labour interests.

     FOX News and the Obsolete Press have begun the predictable "Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over" song.   They are anxiously hoping to have the two very worst, most morally and ethically detestable, corrupt persons possible facing off for the November Event.   They gotta be proud of their spawn.

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    We need to remember that the enemy is both the Republican Party and the Forces of Mindless Blather.   Robert Taft was denied the Republican nomination in 1952 because he was "too conservative", and the "establishment" blue-blood, northeastern Republican king-makers recruited General Dwight David Eisenhower to run against Taft for the Republican nomination.   They even recruited a "right-wing" hero, Richard Milhous Nixon to serve as Vice-President to the General.   A slight consolation prise for the conservatives turned out to be that Eisenhower generally governed as a hands-off, laissez faire executive, with few exceptions.   He said, when asked about his greatest regret during his two-terms of service, that....".....the appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice to the Supreme Court was the damnedest fool mistake I ever made."   It was hard to hold a grudge against "IKE" after that.
     So, what does multiple balloting look like after a lot of floor fights and strong-arming?  Please behold, below:

Presidential Balloting, RNC 1952
Contender: Ballot	1st Before Shifts	1st After Shifts
General Dwight D. Eisenhower	595	845
Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft	500	280
Governor Earl Warren of California	81	77
former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen	20	0
General Douglas MacArthur	10	4

     The Republican Poobahs and Shamans also engineered the theft of the 1976 nomination, holding in for Gerald Ford....in lieu of allowing the far more popular Ronald Wilson Reagan is another example.

   The record of the "Enlightened Ones" of the eastern seaboard aristocrats is almost perfect in recent times.   Building upon Herbert Hoover, they gave us during the Latter Days, King George the First in 1992, Bob (ADA) Dole, (Sen. and Col.) John McCain, and the Rev. Mr. Mitt Romney.  Now by their own clumsiness and "benign arrogance" they have produced the Spawn from Heck, Little Donnie Boy......so..."....laissez les bons temps rouler!!"

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     We now return to our previous themes to be published later the morning.  Those refer to our recent stay and activities at our hideaway on the face of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nowhere, Mexico.

Potpourri of Observations, Notions, Comments, and Up-dates.....

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We have been out for a couple of weeks and things happen in our absence, as well as in our presence.   This entry in our blog will try to succinctly summaries various major and minor points and events during these past few days.

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(1)    Celebrations and gradual returning to some form of normalcy:

     We were involved over the period with the confusion of birthdays of "important people" of the locale where the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre is situated.   Among those people is the Gringo Viejo.   Another is a major personality in the Ejido and in the Capital City - Cd. Victoria as well as in the State government and private sector.
     It was decided and then put into  force by the various powers that be that we were, in fact, going to celebrate the birth of a relatively useless, anachronistic, out-of-place, Quixotic, eccentric, semi-hermitic curmudgeon and a seriously important personality of some value to the State of Tamaulipas.
     And we did.  Several score people gathered at the rather elegant home of the "Maestra" (ranking teacher-professor) which is situated about 300 yards from our Quinta.   The majordomo of Gringo Viejo and Quinta Tesoro de la  Sierra Madre served as the chef d'event and the number 1 Man-Friday of the Maestra served as his assistant.  The sister of the Gringo Viejo's majordomo handled the entirety of the kitchen duties, prepping, and back-up.  All three are very competent, and then some.

      The guest list was primarily relatives, relatives of relatives, and/or friends of the Maestra from many years of State service.  A few were people from the Gringo Viejo's posse.  
   Many were also doctors of medicine of various specialties....including general practice and surgery.  It was a convocation, as those things at that social level normally are, of extreme upper-middle class and low/mid-range wealthy/upper income people.  They are world-wise and a bit arrogant, as well as generous, friendly, sincere, suspicious, and civilised.  
   They arrived in toned-down motor-cars, as I have tried to make them and others like them understand, to drive older, less attractive, smaller, even beat-up vehicles.   This is so as to avoid scrutiny by cartel gangs who are looking for Escalades and Suburbans to use as battle-wagons and troop transports.
     So while the "activity" truly has diminished during the past two or three years, it is still a good idea to stand aside and allow the Army, Naval Infantry, and new Federal Civil Police to do the excising of cockroaches from the body politic.   One way to "stand aside" is to drive old beat-up, but perfectly running, autos.
     A good time was had by all.....and most, almost all...left in the darkness to return to Cd. Victoria on a lonely, paved farm-to-market back road, largely without concern about the "cucarachas".   Why?   Because, among other good reasons, many had passed through the  new Army check-point upon leaving Victoria earlier in the afternoon and had learned that the check-point would be in-place for the next 30 days, if not longer.   Part of the interesting times in which we live......

     Among other points, we had several people waiting in line to use the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre for a few nights in order to re-live old memories or make new ones.  Another couple had taken a room at the venerable Hacienda de Santa Engracia, and more may have opted for that alternative after our place was absorbed by close relatives of "La Maestra".   We understand that two relative pairs were staying at the elegant home of "La Maestra" after the first of those possible stay-overs opted to use our Quinta.  An honour, one must assume, since the Maestra's place is really quite elaborate and elegant.   Ours is rustic and purposefully out-of-date....something out of the 1880 - 1935 period....but comfortable and perhaps even hypnotically enchanting.

     All of this is in keeping with the very gradual improvement in the national and local perception of security conditions, even as a new outbreak by dis0rganised gangs of cartel veterans has brought headlines again concerning  violence and brutality.  To wit:   on the way back up yesterday, over a three hour period, we encountered 62 first-class or deluxe busses heading south....those being busses of normal, scheduled departure, going medium to very long distance destinations in Mexico, having departed Reynosa or Matamoros, Tamaulipas on the border.

     We could go on, but there are other issues, and we shall leave something for commentary about these above-described events for a later moment.

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(2)    The Not-so-messy Issue of Immigration, Executive Exemption and Exception, and Supreme Courts and other shiny stuff:

     While we leave the above topics specifically, we are guided by the above events and experiences to at least touch upon the Trump issue.   This group above is composed of people generally capable of critical thinking.  But, hysterical and nationalistic emotions and thinking, however shallow, by otherwise reasonable and intelligent Mexican observers, concerning the "Trump" are almost as bad as the zombie-like march of the dull, bumper-sticker attention-span thinkers in the United States who support Trump, (Sir Edmund) Hillary, and Bernie the Bolshie.

     It was easy for this writer to avoid conflict with the group of Saturday night celebrations because I could simply and quickly state that Trump was not an option for me or the vast majority (some 70%) of Republicans, both in the 'Republic of Texas' and the United States.   They seemed surprised at that, and they were warned by this writer about listening to either their own or the American media concerning the issue.

     We advised that it was necessary to put things into a reasonable context.  For instance, it was pointed out that Mexico had people coming into the United States for a good while...people who came and went, as well as people who came under the legal resident aliens to citizen path....who were in fact good producers for themselves as well as Mexico and the United States.   We reminded the gathered group that, whether we liked it or not, even at the expense of offending, the combination of the Great Society social welfare programmes of Lyndon Johnson and the Democrat Party and the Amnesty of 1988 for illegal aliens had caused the development of a dependent class of people who now only know the government dole and crime as preferred ways of making a living.

     It was also pointed out that the United States, and especially Texas were also being expected by the Obama administration to accept hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who had no intent of adapting to American or Texan norms and citizenship standards, and that almost all of them whom had poured across the Rio Bravo illegally, intentionally, and essentially at the invitation of the Obama administration.   As an adjunct, we reminded them that this whole matter is and was a part of the overall plan to import people into an American Dream that might become a nightmare, especially considering that it includes the entry, eventually of as many as 400,000 Muslim "refugees" and "migrants" dislocated by wars in their countries.

     We advised them that numerous conservative thinkers thought that the issue of a "Wall"  is a red herring....almost a burlesque even....of the notion of international boundary control.   We have the technology, if applied correctly, to hermitically seal the frontier from penetration by illegal, unqualified, undocumented, and criminal entrants.   It has not been used because, as it is said, Democrats was the votes of dependent people and Republican business people want low-wage workers.  I was quick to point out that it was not my opinion that Republican business people want low-wage workers, and that most of the employers who hire truly work-seeking illegal aliens are not paid poorly by the small and medium-sized businesses in America.   The abusive wage situation is generally practiced by Chinese businesses against their own illegal Red Chinese aliens, who some suspect are actually "moles" waiting for orders from some Red Chinese official.  (Something like the Germans did before WWII).

     We also recognised that the Mexican military had done much more than the Obama administration nor the Obsolete American (and Mexican) press would give credit for in terms of trying to stem the flow of people from Central America.   The irony of the Central Americans taking advantage of the Mexican military's substantially restoring control over the eastern sectors of was recognised by this writer.  lt has been generally agreed by reasonable observers that the Central Americans came up because the fear of being sequestered or otherwise taken advantage of by Cartel people or corrupt police officials had been substantially abated.  Hence, last Summer's McAllen Invasion of the "Catch and Release" Mommys and their dependent minor children.   All OROGs should be aware that the Mexican general populace has not had a very good impression of the Central Americans, although their mistreatment is lamented.   The footprint of the Mara Salvatrucha 13 and similar through Mexico has left plenty of negative response. 

     Some asked about the settlement of the issues before the Supreme Court.  I advised them that the Court would likely vote 4 - 4, which would mean that the case would return to the lower court in Brownsville, and exemption from deportation would be denied.   It would, in effect, suspend the President's executive order to allow people otherwise illegally in the United States, to remain so long as they keep their noses clean (definition unknown).

    I finished the "round-table" with the confession that we were supporting "....the Mexican from Cuba who was born in Canada...." along with 70% of the rest of the Republicans.  That brought considerable, and I think, sincere laughter.

We need to post this to-night....to-morrow there will be a Volume II, revising and expanding our remarks and observations.   Some very interesting stuff, to be sure.
El Gringo Viejo

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