Homage to My Consuegro

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     As the OROGs know, my fellow father-in-law and I share the fact that we both spent much of our professional time during this life in Mexico.  We did not go down to have a good time and play on the beach, so much, as we actually did our work there and performed our studies, services, contemplations, business, planning, and execution.

     In my case it was a matter of routing, hotel reservations by the hundreds, fifty and sixty day weeks, and my wife's holding down the fort in my absence, as well as doing all of the accounting and administration back in McAllen, Texas.   We carried, and accompanied, many thousands of clients…on excursions of from three to fifteen days…my wife carried two tiny children, frequently huge amounts of Mexican and American cash, and a baby bag, driving a five-speed manual sports car (fancy, top-end,  Toyota Celica coupe), sometimes five or ten Canadian passports, sometimes Original Naturalisation Parchment Documents of people who had obtained American citizenship (back when such documents were akin to the Two Tablets), along with scores and hundreds of standard applications for the relatively perfunctory Mexican Tourist Visa…so as to have the Mexican Tourist Visas ready for the next group.

    That required going over to Reynosa, sometimes at night, and picking up the Visas also a night or on a Saturday, and dumping off another 200 or so new applications for Visas.  In the meantime, I would be "working" at very low voltage…but 20 hours per day…or more.  The Boss was putting in about the same length of time because she also had a full-time job in the real world…and for most of that time we owned and maintained in excellent condition a moderately large coin-laundromat.

    She also had to be one of three or four people in McAllen back in 1989 who had to co-ordinate Rush Limbaugh's Rush to Excellence (while dragging along my mother - As an aside, my mother was not aware at that stage of life that she was Rush's first cousin…twice removed).   We paid one-fourth the freight to bring him down, but I was on the road at that time.   He jammed the Civic Centre with over 3, 000 people.

     To consider the nature of our Excursions, please understand that Mexico is a nation fully three times the size of the Republic of Texas.  Also, in those days, travel was…let us say…interesting.  While many of the highways were "good to excellent" others were "adequate…or almost adequate". Thankfully, by that time, there were at least numerous adequate restaurants with clean restrooms and decent to excellent forage for the tourists.

And it came to pass:

    Little girls and boys grow up and displace other realities.  My daughter and my Consuegro's son ran across each other at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) and the rest is now history.  Before long they were littering the landscape with children everywhere.
   They have two daughters…both beauties and both really…and strangely…massively complex and intelligent.   Not because they are mine…they pertain to four strains of very complex and accomplished blood and genetic lines.

NOW TO THE POINT:

    My fellow father-in-law developed a talent and capability that was rare.  Perhaps some of it came from his service in the United States Navy, perhaps some of it came from a "Grand Tour" of Mexico with his Mom,  back when he was a young lad.  To go to the root, suffice it to say that my Consuegro arrived at the point of being an expert in the dangerous business of "pressure while storing oil, natural gas, and / or gasoline".  

     These matters also pertain to pipelines, about which he also is a qualified commentator, but the big deal was the huge storage tanques the Mexican company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) built and maintained during the years of almost insane expansions in terms of oil, gas, and above all, storage.

     One can readily assume that all Mexicans are dull, stupid, and incapable.  That is a comfortable intellectual hiding place, but it is also the first cousin to fool's gold.   In a way, our  friend Mr. Trump suffers a bit from that disorder.  He would be surprised to learn that Mexican engineers are, in their 75 per cent, excellent…many are brilliant and consult in Europe and the United States, and elsewhere.
      Our neighbour at the Hacienda de La Vega has an engineering degree awarded by the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM)…aka - Monterrey Tech. This is the Hallmark University in Latin America…absolutely the finest, and most difficult.  It includes  about 15 per cent of its students from foreign countries and is the pride of Mexico among the normal intellectual class.

     One can look at the foreground in the photograph to the left, in the middle of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.   The scene is primarily the campus of the ITESM, although not in its entirety.    The great geo-emblem of Monterrey…the Cerro de La Silla (Saddle Back Mountain), lies in the background.   The ITESM has satellite campus facilities in various cities throughout Mexico. 
     It is not an easy school to enter, but once in, one becomes an ambassador for the institution throughout the Planet.   Our neighbour and his son are both graduates…both are brilliant…both are extremely "upper-case" although, like me, ruralists.   Many Americans attend the Nuevo Leon State School of Medicine, as well as the homologue, the Medical University of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara.   There are several other medical schools that are recommendable as well.

      The reason I bring up this matter about the ITESM is not to impress folks with my knowledge of Mexican cultural details.   It is place here to cast light on my Consuegro (fellow father-in-law).   We passively solicited information about some of his previous activities.  He had been forthcoming about some of his work in Mexico…usually in difficult places, difficult engineering problems, off in the boon-docks where replacement parts and master welders, etc. were in short supply.
     But then, one time some time back, he let loose with a bunch of stuff that flabbergasted this listener / writer of this screed.   The fact is that he was called in, somewhat frequently, to evaluate and to "recommend" (read - "order") repairs, replacements, and procedures to improve oil and gasoline products for the massive company known as PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos, SA de CV).

     Mexican engineers of the highest category were given contracts to hire nationals and foreigners at the drop of a hat for any serious structural or mechanical problem affecting storage, processing, or transmission of PEMEX products.  PEMEX products ranged and range from mediocre to extremely high quality.   PEMEX was and is the fourth leading operator in such products and is in the same category in terms of innovation and adaptation…(environmental, for instance, was solved in its 70 per cent by chemists and engineers from Mexico. in terms of the grand improvement of the air quality in Mexico City).

      I pre-ambulate all of this so that the reader will know and understand that any Joe Gringo does not walk into the main office of PEMEX and say, "Gee, fellows…let me show you how to make gasoline out of water."  For various reasons, all good, my Consuegro became famous for being able to detect problems and how to solve them.  True enough, much was under the auspices of the private Mexican engineering firms that are respected World Wide who required…nay, at times, demanded…the presence of my Consuegro before storage tanques and other accoutrements of PEMEX properties would be repaired or replaced.

     My Consuegro was so integral in much of this "oil and gas stuff" that a motion of his hand or a paragraph at a meeting of Grand Poobahs (who were real Poobahs) would cause action in favour of his recommendation.   My hearing…and at times provoking deeper response…andhis tales keyed too securely into his stories about "travelling in Mexico" and "working on some projects" down there.   Before many months of our association I was all but humiliated that this "Navy Guy" had had more impact on Mexico than I, this "Army Guy" with generational contact with Mexico (we are roughly the same age).

      My Consuergro would, at times, open up quite a bit…then go for another cup of coffee or a beer (he and I only drink Mexican beer…another interesting fact)…and not mention another word about this or that adventure.   He was "put-up" in homes of the highest, highest, elements of Mexican aristocracy…both industrial and social.  He adapted to the roughest conditions while trying to do the best for his family and for Mexico…thence the United States.   He went into areas of Mexico where the indigenous did not speak Spanish…and still made himself understood.

     El Gringo Viejo puts these words into his "defence" because they come from his pen.   A bit of definition is entered below so as to lubricate the readers' understanding of this thing about "Legally working in Mexico"…many are called…few are chosen…my Consuegro and I were two of those who were chosen…

     Some necessary orientation points:

(1)   Minatitlan - major transportation and control point for the huge refinery at Coatzacoalcos that represented 50% of the Mexican oil industry.

(2)  Sub-comandante Marcos - a Sandinista inspired communist activist who decided, after finishing medical school, to establish armed military resistance in the hopelessly poor State of Chiapas.

(3)     Black Police -  "All Mexican Cops are corrupt"…except when you had these fellows during the time of the insurrection of "sub-Comandante Marcos"…the "Black Police".  They had a very good record of escorting people in an area of Chiapas that was made unstable by United Nations, Mrs. Mitterrand, George Soros, and other marxist money fountains, backing "sub-Comandante Marcos".

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   (WARNING: EVERYTHING IN BLUE PRINT IS MY CONSUEGRO'S.  the interruptions are my commentary in red print.  This advisory is placed here because some people think that I inflate or fabricate facts…they almost always wind up saying, "Well, now I understand that you are telling the truth, but I thought you were joking before.  My Consuegro does not have to invent adventures and heroics.)

Here begins the content  of my Consuegro:
    

My limited experience with the Mexican Navy, Army,  and Marines. Yes! and all in a 5 day period!

     In 1994, I traveled by car from Minatitlan to Juchitan de Zaragoza, to Salina Cruz To Oaxaca and returned.   This was the period of time that Rebels, led by Sub-comandante Marcos.  

The trip going we "hooked up with "the Black Police" Every one was afraid of them but they were traveling to reinforce the station in Oaxaca. We had no problems--- it was an extremely fast trip, top speed all the way.    There would be no more escorts until the return.

     My first stop was Salina Cruz. This was and is Mexico's largest export oil terminal.  I was there to inspect some of the oil storage tanques.  Most were in the 300 foot diameter size (a Texan should probably not say anything about this, but 300 feet…only in Mexico…and they did it "better  than Belgium"as it was said).  At that time, these were huge in comparison to US tanks. Everyone asked if we ran into any problems with Marcos. We said no, but we gave no details.

      Later we were given a tour of the Naval Base.  This base protects the in-coming and out-going oil tankers. We were invited to Lunch in the Officers Mess.  I was taken to see the fuel storage area.

The base was on high alert because of Marcos. I doubt if there was any real concern but it was good training.  (Such an invitation is very, very, very rare.  Normally, people are denied access, and cannot take pictures of any kind.)

     While in Oaxaca we were directed to the Military's locations, they said that if we wanted to go to Acayucan we could join a caravan going through Marcos territory. It was a military convoy taking troops and support vehicles back to Minatitlan.

    We were part of the convoy, but only five vehicles were in line with numerous military vehicles.   We went with them, and it was slower but very secure…just another of the various adventures we had in the refineries, tank-farms, and transmission stations.

This is a relatively old picture of the Coatsocoalcos
refinery…quite near the control city of Minatitlan.

     We place this disclaimer to the above remarks and postulations.  The movement of "capitalists swine" and "foreign invaders" in that core area of Chiapas State in Mexico (adjacent to Guatemala), supposedly under the control of "sub-comandante Marcos", an errant, deranged cultural - political maniac whose family is/was extreme upper-middle class in Tampico, with some blue blood mixed into the mix, was an area that could not be depended upon, in terms of social calm.  The various Indian groups…be they Mixtec, Zapotecs, and the more numerous Maya- Lacandona and their smaller groupings…could not be depended upon even by Marcos to remain subdued during times of "peace talks".

     These Indian sub-divisions would fight their allies if it seemed correct by a moon stage or a shaman's directive.  I would like to say this is an exaggeration, but it is not.

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    One thing is certain…whether a person wishes to admit it or not…in those days it was a dangerous journey, if for no other reason being that there was no way to predict what some shaman would wake up after a night of snops, or how "sub-Comandante Marcos" (world's greatest lackey for the Ortega brothers of Nicaragua) after a night with his favourite girls and a load of cannabis…would want to begin a new offensive against the Gringo Oppressors.

My "first place" for the most despised
person in the Universe. Hated Negroes
and Mexicans and Americans and yet
is revered by the "professorial class"
throughout Academia.

     By the time my Consuegro was there, Ernest (Che) Guevara had long since gone to slumber in the arms of the agents of Satan.  It is estimated  that he slaughtered  over 1,000 Indians during his incursion into the northern part of South America.  For this he is revered on almost every major college campus, (especially in the northeast and California and the West Coast). A stupid and compliant press is always helpful when it is necessary to advance and promulgate pointless rewards and praise…especially from a likes of a murderous thug such as Ernesto.

     My Consuegro laboured to provide fuel, natural gas, and employment at excellent wages and benefits provided for, as one should know, by the income provided by the Company, PEMEX.
  The work was hard, but rewarding…and the employment and benefits package offered to him was happily something that my Consuegro could look forward to.

     He made a good living at it….for himself, his family, and for everyone with whom he had contact.   He is a pleasure for me to have known and to have associated.  It is a bit of a comedown for me…but not much…when the Hacendado of the Hacienda de La Vega comes over to the Quinta at my return and he does not ask about my trials and tribulations…first, he always asks about my Consuegro, John.

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We shall be publishing various and sundry articles that relate to the "migrants" and to the political situation in Texas, the United States, and Mexico (and yes, even Canada).   Pray for our people in South Texas, in South Carolina, in Central Texas, and in the Republic of Texas in general.

El Gringo Viejo

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When real men are in charge of their gardens...

This first entry comes from Gunterius Hildebrant, (a nom de plume)…who decided to frame up three stealthy invaders.  The trio sought and found refuge, apparently, in the semi-disciplined reaches of a man's type of garden.
    Mother Cat is probably out trying to steal whatever half-hamburger was left out when the eater ran in to answer the telephone.
     The task for Gunterius is to find dummies who can fall for the cute kittens and get rid of them before they turn into ugly old tomcats.   It should also be pointed out that Gunterius is actually from one of the old, highly respected "original" families of McAllen.  He is an accomplished person, and interestestingly is a first-cousin once removed of the legendary Irene Garza, my eldest brother's classmate and buddy, who was murdered by a priest back in April of 1960 in McAllen.   It is something that still stuns and emotionally stresses all of the "old timers" of the County of Hidalgo, and especially McAllen.   She, and her extended family were highly, highly regarded…respected…modest and intelligent and competent people.

    Here is our Majordomo's efforts…the man we call Sargento Mayor Alvaro…because he truly is the man in charge of the operation of the physical plant of the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre.  At times he has to serve as the hotelier as well, when El Gringo Viejo cannot be on site to attend to the clients.

    These plants to the left have many names, you…the OROG  (Order of the Readers of the Old Gringo) and any visitor can look up the name, here misnomered as crisantimo.   This is the one plant that comes in first place among the ladies of our village.   Second place is the Hoya vine that publishes really impressive hot-pink multi-petalled, waxed basket like flowers.

    Because of the nature and diversity of our very irregular gardens, we have two to five people or clusters come by every week asking for cuttings or for advice concerning "plagas (plagues)", and diets for their plants, and other advice.

    These red-balls of attraction for hummingbirds and other smaller birds and bees are not as delicate as one might think.  They can last for up to three months, although six to eight weeks is considered normal.  They come from bulbs, so one must put up with occupying major pots (one to three gallon) that essentially lies dormant for nine months of the year.

    To the left here, one can see a certain similarity between the semi-disciplined paradise for kittens that Gunterius has produced and the bramble corner part of our upper precincts of the Quinta.  This is my particular effort that attempts to provide different types of cover for a diverse universe of winged visitors.

     We try to maintain some thick clusters of safety for the many, many birds of literally 100s of species who frequent our precincts.   This occurs on a daily as well a seasonal basis, depending upon the species, of course.

      We also, as frequently stated, have huge migrations of Monarch and Sulphur Butterflies who come by…both in their going down and their coming forth in their travels between Mexico and Canada.   They seem to appreciate our orderly disorder as well. 

Thanks for your attention,
El Gringo Viejo

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Concerning inter-military contact and such events on the Mexican / American border...

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      Donald Trump and various rightwing / conservative publications are blustering and huffing and puffing about the "invasion" of the United States by armed Mexican Army soldiers who "disarmed" two American soldiers in the United States and then ran away.   Trump, knowing nothing, spoke with great authority.   Like an amiable dumbo…more or less as usual.

            We remember some time back when a couple of guys went across to Matamoros and tried to take out a permit to drive across Mexico to go to Costa Rica.  The problem was that one of the fellows had a bolt-action .410 shotgun that was not declared.  Somehow he did not ask, inquire, or do any diligence concerning the importation of such a firearm into Mexico.   Such a process must begin in the United States at a Mexican Consulate in the United States.  Then, the documents are to be processed by a Mexican Army general, usually a retired person, with all the stamps and rubrics.

     Then, the foreigner can go into Mexico with his documents…always close at hand… without any problem.   On this occasion  the vacationing American Corporal became surly and threatening to the customs officers…females and males…and finally the somewhat bellicose corporal was detained.

     Bill O'Reilly, another blowhard without authority, expounded and pounded about this "great transgression" and demanded the release of the forlorn, innocent Corporal.  O'Reilly had an aggravating and ignorant problem in that he always referred to President Enrique Pena Nieto as Mr. Nieto.   The problem, of course, is that O'Reilly might be intelligent, but he is also ignorant and arrogant.
     The President of Mexico at that time would be called Mr. Pena.  The last - names of folks in Mexico have the paternal surname first and the maternal surname last in the construct of a formal and legal name.

    I sent the family in Florida a message telling them that I would be glad to intervene to the extent possible at no charge, and that I had had considerable success with such efforts without the need to pay anyone anything.

     They never responded.  But, after the father arrived in Brownsville after a few days and went over to the nearby Customs and Immigration in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico to check on their son, there was a surprisingly quick resolution to the issue.  Their son was declared personna non grata, never to cross the border again due to his abusive and threatening deportment…backed up by video and audio and by their son's confession to his parents that he had been off his meds or something.

     The boy's travelling buddy never seemed to have a negative word to say, but of course, he had not threatened anyone on the Mexican Customs and Immigration apron.  BTW,  there are VERY LARGE SIGNS place over the approaches, by the Texas Department of Transportation that declare "No Guns or Ammunition Can Be Taken Into Mexico -  Penalty - Prison!"

   This was shortly followed up by an American Sergeant who had a bed-load of guns, ammunition, and militaria in his pick-up.  This time it was in California…where this poor Sergeant became confused trying to leave the "chaotic" parking areas near the border, and this after his third visit there on the border.  This was from whence he had walked over to nice joints…restaurants, saloons, diners…all decent and clean…and conviviated with Mexicans and American walk-overs or regular tourists…in the really nice diners and bars.

     The problem was that since he was "lost" he drove into Mexico, still carrying USArmy ordnance, and a fellow just cain't do that nohow without no bad outcome.   Your humble servant did not attempt to intervene in this matter, although I would have been more than willing.

     To shorten the story, this Sergeant might or might not have had a mental. emotional, or meds  problem.  He was a difficult person to detain.  They moved him from the holding cell in the jail in Tijuana and sent him to a dingy Federal Prison in Mexicali.   Bill O'Reilly moaned and threatened and did all the things that a substantially ignorant blowhard does…and then suddenly went quiet.   The Sergeant was eventually released after several months, although had he been a Mexican, doing the same thing, he would have been on "extended vacation" in a Mexican Federal Prison for five or six years…easily. (with or without bribes).

     Now comes the President that El Gringo Viejo is forced by reality to endorse and support.  He knows nothing about what happened at the place where the American and Mexican soldiers had their encounter.   Everybody knows that the Mexican Soldiers were on the wrong side of the border…or do they know?…or were they?    Has anyone reading this screed or listening to the experts and pontificators on the television and radio been in the Land of Beto or the land of Pancho Villa or anything?  Probably not.

 

The Rio Grande has many personalities…what would you do/?

   The American soldiers who were on the correct side of the line, so to speak, did the right thing by rendering their sidearms to the platoon-level group of Mexican Army…two competent  soldiers against  against forty battle-hardened strike force Mexican Infantry?  Don't become heroic or bellicose.

  And, the Mexicans were following protocol, as did the Americans. When the Mexican officer (a captain?) in charge took possession of the pistol(s), and then took them over to the Americans' military vehicle (that had no markings or official designations) and put the Americans' pistols in the front cab, and in so  he was complying with Mexican rules of engagement with a friendly force.  

     Then they entered into a not-unfriendly conversation about where the actual international boundary was to be found.  During these moments, it is probable that Elephant Butte Dam (140 miles to the north in New Mexico) is not releasing water into the Rio Grande.  Therefore the riverbed will be mostly if not totally dry.   It begins again with a steady flow another 277 miles downstream, where the Rio Conchos comes in from Mexico, and generally maintains a steady to at times turbulent flow to the Rio Grande.

Where one comes out after rafting 12 miles while paddling
 along with a trio of grannies. The Mexican boys who
 helped us asked five dollars each. It was worth 100 dollars
 for the quality of service and civility and honesty.
  All of my junk was still in Boquillas at the end of the row.
  Nothing was missing.  The family even had cactus and
 scrambled eggs and tripe stew waiting for us. It was
 delicious. 

     Further down on the Rio Grande, we have long been accustomed to the fluctuations of the level of the Rio.  One of the last places where there is little or no water in the Rio for periods of 12 to 36 hours is around El Paso, especially downstream.
   Once really further downstream (200 miles), there are places where people can actually take rafting trips through the Santa Helena Canyon complex…perhaps the most beautiful place in North America.

     Frankly, as a Texian, it is THE most beautiful place in North America because of the violence and gentleness that the site provides, strictly by the hands of the angels.  Floating down at low flow, or as un-trained dumboes shooting down the channel with 50,000 cubic feet per second flow, the Canyon  forgives a visitor.
       And, yes, Virginia, El Gringo Viejo did it twice…once in the wild ride at 25 miles per hour, and the last time in the poofy-float at 2 miles per hour.   Back in the 1967 period.  It was…interesting…and never forgotten.
     My father did a cavalry manoeuvre back in the early 1930s, involving several hundred soldiers and perhaps 500 horses on a rail / trek / return project that took about six weeks, from Brownsville to Lajitas / Boquillas and back.  That training exercise and the recovery of the non-Global Warming - Climate Change hurricane of 1933 that hit Brownsville were two of the more interesting episodes in my father's mounted cavalry service (the mouth of the Rio Grande ran 100 miles wide a a result of the flooding rains of the Rio Grande drainage area - 250.000 square miles).

    I throw out the Ace of Spades on this commentary.

   Donald Trump does not know, does not understand, does not care what is going on in Mexico.  To his senses, Mexico is a punching bag to blame for anything that seems to be bothering him.   His understandings and his movements to the pro or con of any issue with "the Mexicans" is already rusted out both intellectually and morally.  The Mexicans as an official body, have no particular moral high-ground, but the people are not totally morally corrupt.  Even much of the various governmental institutions are not "totally" corrupt.  Much functions as it should.  Improvement is always desirable…but since Echeveria Alvarez and Jose Lopez Portillo (1970 - 1982 which was the really low point of blatant corruption on a grand scale) things have steadily improved.  President Trump has had many apertures where he could have had a significant operative advantage, but he has blown it each time.

    We do advise, however, for the ignorant and the stupid, that as recently as three or four years ago, Mexican military was cleared by American authority to assault a place Near Salineno, Texas in the western part of Starr County, Texas due to the fact that the home and ranch's set of transmission towers and known collaboration with drug and human smuggling was guilty of causing scores of deaths and tonnes of transport of drugs and slaves.
    The local news people went ape-crazy over the information…seeing Mexican helicopters and Special Forces sliding down the ropes to assault the persons and the property…IN TEXAS and on TEXAS SOIL!!!!   Oh!! Main Gott!!! We are all going to die.
       There were several arrests that resulted from this military manoeuvre and various were important to the ongoing cause.

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   My Consuegro and I witnessed, a couple of years ago, the Mexican Naval Infantry assault a bodega (rural warehouse) within sight of our place in NoWhere, Mexico.   My Consuegro and I marvelled at the military precision of the infantrymen downscaling the ropes extending from the lumbering helicopter.  From a quarter mile's distance…across the Rio Corona…well into the Municipal de Guemez…we could see the effects.  The bad guys did not know what hit them.

     Both my Consuegro and the host of our visit who is also a cherished neighbour admonished me to not gesture or approve or disapprove!!!!  No No No, que los dejan!!!!! (Leave them alone).  

The next day there was a quick and blunt story in the Victoria newspaper about the successful raid  on a place where there were two or three "hostages" being held for ransom.  Such matters frequently do not really end well.   In this case it ended very well.

   The people were set free. Two individuals guarding the victims were sent to prison, and they spilled the beans on a matrix of Central American and Mexican criminals that would curl a person's hair.   It was almost like being in the United States.  That is when a person really and truly begins to relish the "military option" and the competence of the Mexican military.   In all sincerity, my feelings towards the Mexican military and the feelings of the vast, vast, vast majority of Mexican and foreign residents is 96% approval.  The Mexican military complex is not an institution of saints, but they have demonstrated over and over again during the past 20 years especially that they are the keepers of or the restorers of order and legal process.

       True enough, about ten years ago, there were two generals and some other officers in Sonora, adjacent to Arizona, in the very far north of Mexico who were thoroughly corrupt.  There were some agents inserted and some eavesdropping by electronic devices, and the two generals and their lackeys were arrested, flown to Mexico City, and then placed into prison.   This the 65th Battalion of Infantry, known back then among the populace as the "narcobattalion".

       My understanding is that one of the generals died while incarcerated and the other served his time and was essentially exiled to Spain.   What is certain is that since the military is made up of human beings, there will be fault and failure.  But…please be aware…and I address this to people who say, "Well, everybody knows that the Mexican Army is giving protection to the cartels"  is a braying, mentally-retarded jackass.   The Mexican military is, morally, very similar to the American military.   Their service against the cartels and other elements of social and cultural disorder has been incredibly noble.

We shall have more to post in the coming days.  Please stand by.
El Gringo Viejo

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Please forgive…but I must dump on (Sir Edmund) Hillary

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Right to the various points…please take your blood pressure medicine before reading:

(1)     (Sir Edmund)Hillary had a sit-down over the week-end with a convenient lackey who served as something less important than the kiddos who retrieve tennis balls when some Goliath drills a 160 mph tennis ball into the net.  It was magnificently revelatory.

When Satan informed (Sir Edmund) Hillary that
 she had just won the Presidential election in 2016

     Her Royal Pontificance blubbered about collusion…and the decency required for a person to be able to govern as President of the USA.  She had, let us say, a considerable presence on the screen.  Her designer outfit looked like it was arranged by a deranged Andy Warhol Gorilla French Weekend Protestor…ideal for a psychopathic has-been, was-be, egomaniacal, washed-up old…uh…person, liberally speaking .  She held forth that it was obvious that, as never before in the history of all 57 States of this Union, a President had obviously disgraced his office and shamed the traditions and nobility of office unlike any other President by blatantly trying to bribe Russians to throw the American elections in favour of the present pseudo-incumbent.

     She made certain to make the point that what Donald Trump had done was even worse than what Richard Nixon had done which was worse than what Donald Trump had done, etc.

As an aside, these facts presented below are not made in jest, and they are…factual

     (a)    Chuck Colson, an in-house and official aide to President Nixon,  went to prison for having one FBI raw data personnel file - still unopenned - in his desk in the White House.  He went into the Federal Penitentiary for three years.
   (Sir Edmund) Hillary had 1,300 raw data personnel files (because she demanded them) that "disappeared" and then suddenly "reappeared" after being AWOL for 20 months, inside the White House…all files having been openned and left askew.
   A  White House Hillary lackey "found" the files on a table outside the entrance to the residential part of the White House.   Nobody had thought to look there.
  

       (b)   But (Sir Edmund) Hillary also managed to sell off 20 per cent of the uranium reserves of the United States of America to…The Russians!!!  This after various Russian "investors" had made sizeable contributions to the "Clinton Foundation" and to Billy Jeff Blythe for giving inspiring talks about very important things that the little people could not ever fathom.   Like when one of the children of one of these two blights upon humanity wound up being given 2% of the shares of stock during the formation of a gold mining concern in Haiti after their environmental disaster some years back.   That particular child had no understanding of anything involving the production of gold ore or its further marketting value.

   This was being done around the same time that British leftist counter-intelligence people were orchestrating a construct that would infer that Donald Trump was "colluding" with the Russians.   Remember…it is marxist - leftist canon…always blame your hapless right-wing enemy for doing exactly what the socialist - marxist - left is actually and truly doing.

  By the way, it is known that there are sizeable reserves of the glittering metal in Haiti…but not for the common citizens…they can eat cake…the gold belongs to (Sir Edmund) Hillary and Billy Jeff Blythe.

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  (2)   (Sir Edmund) Hillary droned on, oblivious (or uncaring) to the fact that every citation she made to frame the horrors of Donald Trump paled to her own nefariousness.   The off-campus e-mail system and other electronic gear installed in her bathroom (shudder) proved to be  convenient for easy destruction with hammers and chemicals so that no hard-drive could be analysed.  This act by itself would warrant a sentence of nearly 30 years.  It is the truest form of "obstruction" because:

     (a)   …the machinery was not to be deployed off-campus from the Department of State.  (Sir Edmund) Hillary was the head of that entire Secretariat at that time. She had full and total knowledge and control of the system, and was aware that her actions were felonious.

      (b)   ...That fact,  along with being AWOL along with Barry Soetoro (who was in Las Vegas at the time doing a fund-raiser) while Benghazi burned, would be enough to send them all to Leavenworth to make license plates for a long, long time.

     And on, and on, and on.   One cannot mention the number of dead bodies and frightened women…but I digress…

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Thanks for your patience…but during life's course there are some people one encounters who must be degraded, discounted, and despised.
El Gringo Viejo

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Study this photographic study and the Lord will reward you...

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AT first we thought she was praying to the Coca-cola god.  Then we noticed that the store personnel had had the audacity to put Christian regalia and ornamentation up for a bit of Celebration of the Resurrection.

Her mother, supposedly came upon her, and listened before she swooped up her daughter.  Why?   Because she was praying to Jesus.

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Please read the bottom third of this submission, after reading the first two-thirds

The OROG and other visitors are asked to read the American Research Group, Inc. data first, and then catch our commentary at the end of the page.   Thanks.

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__________________________________ April 22, 2019 Trump Overall Job Approval Slips A total of 39% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 57% say they disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. In March, 41% approved and 55% disapproved. When it comes to Trump's handling of the economy, 41% of Americans approve and 53% disapprove. In March, 43% approved and 52% disapproved. Among Americans registered to vote, 40% approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president and 57% disapprove. On Trump's handling of the economy 42% of registered voters approve and 53% disapprove. Of the 39% saying they approve of the way Trump is handling his job, 91% say the national economy is getting better, 72% say they expect the national economy to be better in a year, 58% say the financial situations in their households are getting better, and 68% say they expect the financial situations in their households will be better in a year. Of the 57% saying they disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job, less than 1% say the national economy is getting better, 4% say they expect the national economy to be better in a year, 2% say the financial situations in their households are getting better, and 8% say they expect the financial situations in their households will be better in a year. The results presented here are based on 1,100 completed interviews conducted among a nationwide random sample of adults April 17 through 20, 2019. The theoretical margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time, on questions where opinion is evenly split. Overall, 39% of Americans say that they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, 57% disapprove, and 4% are undecided.

Trump job approval	Approve	Disapprove	Undecided
Apr 2019	39%	57%	4%
Mar 2019	41%	55%	4%
Feb 2019	44%	53%	3%
Jan 2019	41%	54%	5%
Dec 2018	40%	57%	3%
Nov 2018	42%	55%	3%
Oct 2018	42%	55%	3%
Sep 2018	37%	59%	4%
Aug 2018	36%	59%	5%
Jul 2018	37%	57%	6%
Jun 2018	40%	54%	6%
May 2018	37%	58%	5%
Apr 2018	38%	56%	6%

About this Survey:

Survey Sponsor: American Research Group, Inc.

The American Research Group has been conducting national surveys of

consumers since 1985.

Sample Size: 1,100 completed interviews among a random sample of all adults

age 18 and older living in households in the continental United States

(see methodology for details).

There were 249 Republicans, 350 Democrats, 394 independents, and 10

non-voters in the sample.

Sample Dates: April 17-20, 2019

Margin of Error: ± 3 percentage points, 95% of the time, on questions where

opinion is evenly split.

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    Of El Gringo Viejo's few above-average capabilities is demographic analysis.

My eldest brother, the middle brother to a large extent, and I all were descended

from people who studied in the area of agronomy, archeology, religious history,

anthropology, sociology, and industrial and cultural history.  All four of

the three brothers' grandparents were drawn out from the above menu.

     We would like to point out why this opinion poll is a classic Trojan Mule,

designed to lull the stupid, the undiscerning, and the overly busy into ingesting

knowledge that is as dangerous as it is wrong.   It is the method by which

almost all political polling operations work.  In our not so humble

opinion the Rasmussen operation and oddly, the LATimes polling

group are the ones who actually try to establish a demographic

research pool that correctly represents the demographic pool to

be researched.

     The OROG and the visitor will note what El Gringo Viejo dragged

out of the fine print of the American Research Group "explanation"

of their investigation and interpretation procedures.  The sample includes

essentially a composition of 23% Republicans, 32% Democrats, 35%

Independents, and 10% "non-voters".    These percentages are rough

but fair, and point out that there is an inherent bias caused by the inequity

of sample groups.   The sample calls for about nine per cent more

Democrats as well as ten per cent "non-voters".

     There is also a high probability that the Democrat sample had been

filtered and analysed before telephone calls or direct contact interviews

were officially conducted or initiated.

     Were I to be grading this poll and its engineers, the grade would be a D - at best.

El Gringo Viejo

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