Rio Grande Valley is unusually quiet as Southwest border crossings drop to lowest point in at least 17 years

     It is not exactly true that all the "refugees" and "migrants" come North under the control by the "cartels".  The exodus that the folks saw take place during the Summer of 2015, for instance, was caused specifically because of the interruption by the Mexican Army and the Mexican Naval Infantry.   having significantly beaten down and organizationally disorganized, the "cartels" in the east of Mexico had degenerated into disparate groups of semi-organized, inefficient gangs.  They began to look and act more like racketeers.   During these moments, most of the people arriving at the edge of the Rio Grande, then crossing into Texas, almost immediately began to demand (in their great majority) first, to be arrested, and second, to be transported to a place of their choice elsewhere in the United States, "where we have relatives working".   They had been taught that by "religious workers" back in the home country, and then reinforced in that mode of thinking by Catholic Charities workers here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (McAllen / Brownsville area).
     The Border Patrol agent was either wrong in making that statement or was trying to find out if the respondent would stay on top of her story. If anything, the vast majority of the people who arrived before, during the past three years, went through a "beating line" (running the gamut) of several local gangs on their way up, but only within a day's foot or train or hitching journey from the Guatemalan border.    After the city of  Vera Cruz, their ride was frequently on a first-class bus (not deluxe), or a similar, but not quite as fancy and more of an "all-stops" 2nd Class bus.  But it was a comfortable run, not a "chicken and goat bus" as is normally depicted in American movies.  As the "migrants" and "refugees" came North, they would encounter information from others who were heading back South.

La Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre

     I live in Mexico on a bit more than part-time.   Our family has been active 

 in business in Mexico since the 1880s.  We own an adobe home that we built in a beautiful,

 remote area about 220 miles into the interior of Mexico.   We use it as a family retreat.

   We also receive visitors who come to enjoy the bird and animal watching, the tranquility,

 and the beer, margaritas, meals, and the attentions we normally provide.

     It must be understood that, of the females, at least three-fourths who came up, between the ages of 12 - 40 were pregnant. When they presented "dependent children", perhaps half of the time the children pertained to the woman presenting them as her off-spring. People in Honduras, especially, essentially rent or sell their children to accompany the north-bound woman, in an excercise of symbiotic convenience.

     People, normally women and very young children, would arrive at water's edge on the Rio Grande in the Mission - Sharyland - McAllen area and engage a "chalan" or some semblance of a watercraft that is normally hand paddled or paddle paddled over to the Texas side of the Riio Grande.   The "cruceros" then return to the other side as quickly as possible, and it is there where they might have to face the music from the cartel slugs.  Those individuals show up after the "cruceros" have been paid, and the cartel guys will take all or a significant part. 

     The cartel people are much more well organised, but one must recognise during these days that they take immense losses to the Mexican military (dead, wounded, and loss of merchandise) and on the "other side" mules being detained and arrested and their cargo confiscated.   The cartel operations cross in small boats, jet-skis, inner-tubes, etc. large amounts of drugs and marijuana. That is their business. The women coming with tales of abusive husbands, terror caused by gangs, and all the horrible things....are telling the truth to some extent...albeit minor. Most of the "refugees" are coming to find the Fountain of Plenty....AFDC, Section 8, food stamps, Medicaid, and a score of other special programmes they receive...because once a "refugee" whelps on American soil, she cannot be deported because she is the only support for her baby, and the baby is an "American Citizen" even if in name only. He cannot be deported, and the mother is his/her only source of sustenance. That is the game.  Please do not doubt this.   These are not the Mexicans (legal and otherwise) of the 1930s - 1960s who were almost totally benign or positive aggregates to the general population.

     The sad thing is, these women are quickly caught up in the MS13 mess....and the other minor-league Central American cobwebs of drugs-prostitution-money laundering-murder-extortion-and chaotic social non-adaptation. They are in no wise "refugees" nor "immigrants". It is simply a shake-down of Uncle Sam and what the Democrats think will be a well-spring of votes in short order. The Republicans speak in muffled tones because of where their heads are anatomically placed. So nothing is done.

      Mexican "self-deportation" has worked to the extent that more adult non-American citizen Mexicans have returned to Mexico without prompting than have "gone North" during the past 12 months, especially if their visitors' or work visas have lapsed. Mexico has a pronounced labour shortage. Three to five time minimum wage with benefits is not uncommon at these moments for semi-skilled and especially "skilled" blue-collar people.

     I could go on forever. But reporters and the anti-Mexican commentators, and the anti-American commentators, on the screeds of the Obsolete Press and their acolytes, just sadden and bore me. The inability to do critical thinking is a cancer that has defeated the American....and Mexican....ethos. The folks at the LA Times send reporters down who magnet onto the Frida leftist movement, and declare American attitudes, free enterprise, and capitalism is at fault for everything.              
   Another form of passive Imperialism, for instance, frequently intoning the shibboleth  "just look at what the "blockade" did to Cuba and its people!" they declare without regard to the falsity of the argument.   They send back bilge to print in their magazines and newspapers, which are less and less frequently read, but with which they have accord, because they are of the same anti-normalcy, anti-American, anti-"rich people" mentality that are now being vomited out of to-day's marxist and "liberation theology" colleges and universities, public and private.

    God help you all.   I am your friend.  Since my father was in the Horse Cavalry (Headquarters Squadron, 12th Regiment (mounted), Ist Cavalry Division, serving primarily on the frontier between Mexico and the Texas) I feel obliged, willingly, to oppose the stupid wall proposed by Trump. There are many better ways to secure the border.
     Also, please be advised, that if you stop by our little adobe hut you will be well treated. But...what you see about any and all of this issue in the modern "press"  is goat vomit. I am an ultra-rightwing, Republican since 1952, grandfather, father, inter-ethnic marriage (English-Spanish), college graduate, Honourably Discharged, traditionalist Episcopalian, losing blood relatives on both side of the War Between the States, bi-lingual curmudgeon....the classic un-complicated man.

   I would pray that you would be led into a true reportage of the matters facing the border, America, Mexico, and Canada, and humanity.   We thank you for your time and patience.
El Gringo Viejo.

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The Ancient Mexican Way.....and commentary. Trump, the Lunacy of the Obsolete Press, and San Jacinto

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The Ancient Mexican Way.  To wit:

Buen día David..

               Me encuentro con mi familia aquí y recordamos tu día onomástico; Queremos desearte muchos años mas de vida y que la pases muy bien acompañado de tus seres queridos.

               Recibe un sincero abrazo de parte de todos..Feliz cumpleaños!!

Enviado desde mi iPad

Good day, David:

     I find myself with my family here (Cd. Victoria and/or Hacienda de la Vega adjacent to the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre) and we remember your Saint's day (Saint David);   We wish for you many years more of vide and that you should pass time well-accompanied by your loved ones.

     Receive a sincere hug on our part...Happy Birthday!!

(Sent from my iPad)

    This is a fairly common format for best wishes between family members and/or very closest friends of the family.  One Christmas, early on in our occupation of our adobe home,  they brought me a 90 dollar fruit, cheese, and wine basket (we still use the basket) which I was obliged to receive and appreciate, but I told Don Rafael that it was up to him to provide money to the advantage of his son, and not to me.   He actually seemed affronted, but he (and the family) acquiesced, although Don Rafael still dotes on the Old Goat (El Gringo Viejo) and brings "necessaries and notions" out with him when he comes out from  home-base in Cd. Victoria.

     We return the favour by bringing things down from Gringolandia that are asked for, and that can be purchased at much lower prices and imported into Mexico legally, without duty.

     OK...I'll admit it....I also buy a certain type of coffee from the socialist, pro-abortion Starbucks that pleases Don Rafael, as well, when he suggests that he is running low.

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Trump:

     Please remember.  True, real-live, Texian / Confederate, and / of Constitutional Conservatives are puzzled by the idea that Trump is regarded as a Conservative.   His inability to draw up a broad -brush budget and submit it to the Majority Leader in the Senate, and especially to the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, leaves me a bit stunned.

      The only reason for his not having done this is because he is desirous of having a sledge-hammer that he can wield against.....against....against whom?  The Republicans in Congress.

       And, as usual, the Republicans fell into the quicksand-tarpit.   As soon as the bargaining began concerning the forensic vivisection of the Obama Socialised Medicine Initiative (OSMI), Lord Donald evaporated so as to have a better vantage to watch the Liberal Republicans, the Moderate Republicans, and the Right Wing Crazy, Wascally Republicans immediately begin to order Elephant Steak (very rare), and start eating it right in front of the crowd coming out from the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway after viewing "Hamilton".

      Trump is now explaining how he will make up for the short-fall in funding the necessary functions of the central government by taxing the comings and going of people to and from Mexico and the United States, especially Texas, legally.
       He is also planning to revise the extent of his proposed "tax-cuts", while trying to figure out how to "squeeze the balloon."    The American people, after having attended the Universities and other institutions of higher learning during the period of 1999 - 2017, have in their majority concluded that money comes from a printing press in the basement of the White House.

     So, Uncle Donald is going to declare, ".....in order to have this tax reduction we are giving the common slob millionaires and middle class, we going to raise taxes on everyone, especially the common slob millionaires and the middle class."   He seems willing enough to take the hit himself, but, as a matter of fact, he will not....nor do I think he should.  The American tax structure is designed to punish the rich for having too much.

    Especially aggravating is the notion that someone (Trump ) is going to charge 20 USD for a person to come in and 20 USD go back over an international bridge or terrestrial access between Mexico and the United States...and perhaps between Canada and the United States.   It is madness.  One must live here on the border to understand.

     Allow me to state,   and once again since we have made this explanation at least 15 times, there are over 1,000,000 Mexicans who cross into the United States and Texas every day legally.   On all days the return from the United States and Texas of Mexicans to Mexico is more or less equal to the number who crossed into the United States earlier.   The bridges in Texas are already charging 3 or 4 yankee dollars to cross into Mexico, and the private and public bridges from Mexico, going into Texas, are charging nearly 3.00 USD,  plus or minus.

     Please maintain any pressure normally exerted upon your representatives and senators at the Central Government level (Washington D.C.)

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     And now we deal with the Lunacy of the Obsolete Press.   Allow us to simply state that this truly is the moment of most definite journalistic disassembly.   Considering that 96% of the political contributions during the last presidential campaign, made by those working in the televised and newspaper and wire service press went to the Democrat candidate, one would think that the members of that Fifth Column of subversives and radicals would be a bit more discreet in revealing their ire.  Their journalistic sins of omission and commission have moved well beyond "Noticeable" and are now in the red zone of "Hyperventilating,  Red-faced, Respiratory Arrest Warning".....Nurse, bring the pads!!!!
     It is very similar to witnessing a child throw himself onto the floor in the restaurant while having a seizure-like tantrum.

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SAN JACINTO,  21 APRIL 1836:

     Finally, we are combing over our research and readings.  We have continued to study during the year, and have been comparing notes from texts and writings we read long ago.  As thoughts come into focus, in my own manner of processing, we shall write up another analysis and reportage about the Battle of San Jacinto with Pertinent Secondary Thoughts and Observations.   It is with some humility that I advise that it might be worth the copying and putting into important paper for your families, if you are serious about being a Texian.   We shall attempt to have a concise three or four page synopsis that your children, grandchildren, and / or interested visitors might wish to read.  
     This is more than somewhat presumptuous on my part, but at this stage of life I have certain prerogatives as well as certain obligations.  Among those obligations is to utilise and show the purpose of a liberal arts education.  Such academic pursuits are taken not so much to find employment as they are to simply broaden, deepen, and extend the comprehension of of our past, present, and future.   We promise a relatively short, deep, and authoritative synopsis of the most important military engagement on Texas soil ever. 

More later....To-morrow we shall be heading to extreme Central Texas to count grandchildren, dogs, cats, and our children and Consuegros.
El Gringo Viejo

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Burning Issues Begging for Commentary

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(1)    We return to the point about the need for identification for people who intend to vote in Texas elections.  We are told by the "leaders"  and "experts" in such matters that Negroes and Mexicans are too stupid to figure out how to obtain a personal identification card or document that includes a picture.
     A radical judge, representing the Central Government, has decided that she is the one who can decide exactly how stupid people of Black African ancestry are, and the extent of mental retardation that exists among those generally lumped into what is vogue to call "Hispanic".
     We assume that her crystal ball is more powerful than that of mental processes of the lower order such as the 15, 015, 700 of us, in Texas,  who did manage to stumble down, slobbering, and dully putting our X where the old white woman with the name badge told us to sign our X.   About 80 per cent of those who signed up voted in the past General Elections.   We all had to show a passport or DL to approach the voting booth.

     One might notice that without the intervention of leftist do-gooders, Al Sharpton, or much of anything beyond the making of a joyful unto the Lord God Yahweh.....people, even at early age, can learn how to learn.   And they can learn how to fend for and provide for themselves.   It does not take a village.....it takes parents....a mother.....a father....a choir of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.....all tired from working a 60 - 90 hour week, celebrating family, friends, and neighbours.

     Pardon the never ending tendency of the writer to always point out the obvious.   The obvious is something that must be destroyed by political correctness, and the truth must run the gauntlet of judgement by people who "know better".   There are, apparently, still those who have learned that they must have "safe zones" but visitors to any given campus with "safe zones" must be aware that the visitor or speaker will be menaced and shouted down and threatened with all order of injury and damage......by the same people who want safe zones for the reverse-retransgendered whose parents were late in sending the pre-paid with 10,000 dollars of "comfort power" for the rest of the semester.

(2)   We would also like to point out that "stupid Mexicans" managed to enroll themselves in Mexico to the tune of 77, 600, 000 adults aged 18 to 102 years.    The credential below has 13 markers that many say is 99.99999999% impenetrable and secure.  It is accepted in Texas as identification over the almost equally protected Mexican Passport.   It is accepted in Mexico in lieu of the Passport or other excellent documents (military discharge, etc.).   At the voting precinct, when the voter appears, he/she will encounter a magazine of electors...and therein will be another picture, equal to the one on the Credencial Federal Electoral.....along with the address, ss number, telephone, etc. Therefore, if 90% of all eligible Mexicans can go and stand in line for a couple of hours in order to obtain the key to having a voice in their new, functioning, democratic republican epoch, certainly people in the United States of America can do the same.    Or can we? Is this just another issue the "social democrats", "progressives", people who "care", wish to flog until Hell freezes over?   It is already known that we have 2,000,000 illegally registered voters who are not citizens.  The Democrats and ACORN refugees admit to that.  They say it is the fault of the Republicans.  -?-

      When does the saying, "A pox on all your houses!!" become appropriate?   When are we going to re-take the public and private universities?   When are we going to stop hiding from the race and ethnic baiters and bullies?????   We do no favours when we swerve to avoid "offending" the unqualified.  It is the qualified who pay.  If all understood what it took in order to become an American citizen in the times of my pre-juvenile delinquency.....years, years, tonnes of dollars, the passing of several tests, the mastery of the English language.....the guarantee that the new citizen will not become a ward of the state or a user of public assistance.....It was a different time.  The Ghosts of the Decaying Smoke Over Rome beckons.......

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NOW WE MOVE ON....BUT NOT .ORG -

     We are mildly entertained by Donald Trump.   You all know that your humble servant was and is a Cruz supporter.  As an habitual and studied GOP voter since 1968, I have always, always been a supporter of the clarion call of free enterprise and the American Way.  Many of the Trumpers who came to his flag because they saw him as someone who hated people from "somewhere else", are in for a rude awakening.   Those who came hoping for tax relief for Prince and Pauper, are in for a rude awakening.

      Donald Trump is a typical New York Republicrat.....or Demopublican....depending of how the OROG wishes.    Trump ridiculed Ted Cruz because, during the Republican primaries counting down from the number of aspirants drawn from the extras from a Cecil B. DeMilles Epic Motion Picture, Cruz had used the term "New York Values" in a disparaging way.  But one notes, after all was said and done, all the votes in the "Republican Primary Super Tuesday" with 10 States in the Northeast  put together  in the Republican Primaries did not come up to the margin by which Ted Cruz had won the Texas primary alone.....sorry, Steve Douci and Fox and Friends....but you all are not Charlie the Tuna even. 

      And New York values continue to be represented, daily, hourly, and by the minute, when one recognises that the present mayor, who is a marxist by his own declaration, and the city council by their own preference and selection....maintain that New York City is a "Sanctuary City".  It is a city and State awash in taxes.  In all the urban areas, there are entire sections that are combat zones where control of any corner might be settled over a two month period that will include a dozen dead and wounded.   The local poobahs say it is because of the availability of guns....the conservative sociologists say it is because there are no fathers.....one more aspect of New York City values....repeated in 500 cities throughout the Republic.
     There is no solution to this problem.  Not new housing programmes, not free lunch service, not baby-sitting service (free) for junior high school girls, not free lottery tickets....nothing will work.  If it is done by bureaucrats and "elected officials", it will not work.  Until we have a complete generation brought up in traditional nuclear families, and brought up with some reasonable catechism and other instruction concerning ethics and morality, the rot, killing, promiscuity, thieving, corruption, and degeneration will steadily continue.

     We are arriving at the point now where colleges and universities have essentially turned into Citizen Courts as in the French Revolution....already, it is accepted that, due to any flimsy and/or false reason, authorities are expected to allow the "offended parties" to destroy glass fronts, buildings, and even major parts of whole cities, as in Ferguson, Missouri.   If this continues much longer, I will assert with confidence, that we are only three turns of the anthropological screw before the guillotines are hauled out.

     None of what Mr. Trump is offering the adoring Make America Great gang will solve any problems.  The idea that we will have a tax cut, but make up for it with a border tax and a reworking of deductions to disallow charitable contribution, is exactly the same thing as squeezing a balloon that is filled with water.  It is a fool's game made to entertain imbeciles and / or people who are hoping that guy's ox is gored and that his own ox is spared.   Lunacy.
      No Plan.  Nothing to put before the committees.  On purpose, so that he can blame the committees and then strike a deal with "reasonable Democrats and moderate Republicans" so that we can play a few more strains of "And the Band Played On".

Nuff sed, More Later.
El Gringo Viejo

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Milton Finch shared Northern Plains Anglicans's post.

7 hrs · 

Northern Plains Anglicans

9 hrs · 

Monday in Holy Week

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:

      Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the

way of life and 

peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who 

liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, 

for ever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

El Gringo Viejo, via the desk of Milton Finch and the Northern Plains Anglicans

Our Traditional Potpourri of Notions, Thoughts, and Curmudgeonry

     (1)    We still become grumpy when it is stated, "And if you buy these things right now, we will throw in the reverse illuminated, dog-carrier, frying pan, automatic spray-painting machine, ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!!"   If a person has to pay this in order to obtain that, then it is not free.  I tire of allowing for the dissolution of the American and English language.   We refuse to witness without protest the steady reduction of our language into a grouping of gruntings and snortings as are the various Teutonic dialects.

     (2)     What to do?  We are used having rolling cannons on the deck during the storm.  After all, we are Confederates.  Who else would decide to fight a war against the 5th most industrialised nation in the world, and howl about States' Rights until all the stars and the Man in the Moon tire of listening to the explanations about "The Cause"?

     However, now cometh the strange creature, from Alsace, to the Yukon, back to Deutschland, and finally back to America, and finally grandfathering a Loose Cannon, the likes of whom has never or rarely ever been seen.   It is interesting to watch, but not comfortable to be within the range of close contact.   It is, as you know, the Abominable Trumpman....aka- Trumpsquatch.  Some refer to him as Trump Kong.  

      He opposes "wild intervention" in the affairs of other nations, but at the first opportunity, bombs the slop out of an installation in a 12th World dump, led by a renown ophthalmological surgeon who decided to be a cad.

        He is accused by the Nouveaux Illuminati (the Obsolete Press) of being a consort of Vladamir Putin.   During the past hours our "Loose Cannon" just blew up the fondest hopes of Mr. Vlad and his ophthalmological comrade.  The Obama cohort of the Washington D.C. - West Coast - New York - Ivy League set must have been choking on the Savouringon Bleuphotepew Scorescion  127 year old wine......when the Tomahawks destroyed a significant part of Syria's weapons of mass destruction.

       This now swings over to my disgust with the Bushes and King George II in particular.  Cheney also deserves some blame.   It is known that just before the Second Iraqi War, large convoys of triple rear-axle, semi-tractor trailer rigs were seen lumbering through Iraqi / Syrian border check-points.  They were filmed.  They were, supposedly, carrying chemical, biological, and almost certainly,  ingredients for atomic-application stuff.
       BUT BUSH NEVER BROUGHT THIS UP, NOR DID CHENEY as is required in the theatre of American politics...it is necessary to repeat over, and over, and over again....it is a VERY necessary thing in when it is required in order to convince and influence an increasingly self-consumed and geo-politically ignorant country.   Bush would only very occasion give an 19 minute, dried-toast speech, saying the same thing he did six months before, and then sign off and go back to the residence section of the White House.  This makes me think that they were either too small or too timid to fight back against  the Anti-Flyover Country Cartel.

       The Russians' hierarchy, almost all of whom are born without souls, assured Father Obamaham that Russia would bring Assad, dictator of Syria, into the 17th Century.   Father Obamaham waved his scepter and declared, "That's another great victory in the Quest for Hope and Change!"   And it all resulted in a pre-planned disaster.....much to the joy of the perpetrators. All the reasonable leaders in the Middle East were left without a "big brother" for the past eight years, so at the very least there might be a kind of regrouping of slightly similar mentalities as it relates to tyrants, rogue regimes, and such realities in that part of the world.

     Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain, and a few other countries can be cobbled together to bring some kind of predictable order to the mess left behind by Hope and Change.  We shall see as the hours and days go by now.  Buckle your seat belts....the ride should be interesting.

More Later,
El Gringo Viejo

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Presidential Largesse: A Few Examples.....

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   In recent days it was learned that Donald Trump is accepting his Presidential salary only,  so as to be able to cast the lucre towards things that might need the money and that fit his and the general public's fancy.   He chose, I believe the National Park System.   His various family members who are labouring on behalf of the nation are actually working pro bono within the White House administrative structure.   Their projects seem laudable enough, even if Ivanka thinks that Equal Pay for Women is anything more than a very heavy bell with no clapper.

     There was a bit of a dust up over the issue, and a very interesting fellow...man about town...very adept at various businesses, pursuits, and interests, commented that Trump was the only President to give away his salary.   This fellow is a member of one of the Spanish colonial families in the Hidalgo Country area, and....like I say....a very interesting and positive personality...well-known and widely respected.   I consider him a favoured close acquaintance.
     Without a minute to waste there were commentators, your almost-humble servant included.  It was a flag thrown on the football field, with no penalty, however.  Those of us who are pompous and stuffy like to show that, in spite of a general lack of any justification for using natural resources, at least I can still pontificate and bluster.  I wrote:

          Hector's point is in almost all cases correct. The points about John F. Kennedy and Hebert Hoover are correct....as well.   It is also of interest that John F. Kennedy did not have any reservations about dispatching his brother Robert to the Halls of the Department of Justice, as Secretary of said portfolio.  It was probably a good appointment anyway. 

   It is little known, but Jefferson Davis was another American President who eschewed his Constitutionally prescribed salary.....25,000 dollars / annum for his six year term, and accepted only the Grey House....a modest mansion in Richmond, Virginia which served almost exclusively as a home for the Davis family.
   Also, Davis and his brother Joseph left the entirety of their sizable, back-to-back plantations in Mississippi in the hands of General Manager, Ben Montgomery, who happened to be a slave. He kept perfect records, had good labour relations with both free and slave, and oversaw the activity of numerous white employees.  
    On top of that, Davis was the only President until the last one to have children of Black African Ancestry.   How did this come about?    His wife and several ladies were horrified one day to see a Negro, who was also a slave owner whipping a frail young black boy with a cane in full public view, and without relent in downtown Richmond. The ladies, black and white, came over to the scene and began arguing with the Negro man. He declared that the boy was a slave of his, and that he owned various slaves, and required their submission and adherence to his orders.
    Mrs. Davis sought legal relief for the boy, Jim Limber, and was told by a judge that Virginia did not have adoption, but she could file for him as ward (essentially adoption at that time), and a suit could be filed for admonishment and quitting of the man's ownership of the the boy. She did so, with the ladies bearing witness in court, and the judge awarded the boy to the Davis family.
  While there, he was "table'd with the Davis Children", and the oldest Davis boy and Jim became quite bonded. Union troops, during the evacuation of the family from Richmond towards Montgomery, Alabama at the end of the War, made it their highest priority to find Jim Limber.  The Union military finally found him outside of Montgomery.
    From there he was probably taken and sent to British islands off Florida or in the eastern Caribbean. His name and presence were generally erased from history although much has been studied and published about the boy.
   It should be noted also that George Washington supposedly used almost all of his salary for eleemosynary activities especially concerning adapting the "coloured freemen" to the general society. Washington was assumed to be the richest man in America at the time, although most of his wealth was based upon the estate and wealth of Martha Custis, his wife.

     The stories will all fade.  Ten thousand years from now almost nothing will be known of those days or these.   But somehow, it seems to me, ornery so-and-so's will be arguing about Davis, Lee, Lincoln, and Grant & Co.  and the whole stupid War.   The smoke will never clear, and I am just as guilty as anyone for perpetuating its ghosts.

El Gringo Viejo

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