Now comes the time for weeding...

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APOLOGIA

     Yesterday, pushed forward by hubris and haste, this writer committed a factual error.  Failing to find someone to blame, it became apparent that only one person was guilty for the error.  I found him in the bathroom cowering before the mirror.

     It was stated, by me, in the blog of yesterday that the Speaker of the House and her minions managed to siphon off 75,000,000 dollars in the assault against the exchequer of the United States Treasury…for something I thought was for the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts or some such thing.  I was wrong…that amount was actually only 25,000,000 dollars…urgently needed because it is rarely used for any worthwhile purpose, and much of the plumbing no longer functions.

    The 75,000,000 dollars was for the National Endowment for the Arts, which, we are informed has contributed over 800 BILLION dollars to the collective good since Father Lyndon Baines Johnson gave us the War on Poverty in 1965 and thereby made the World safe for democratic socialism for all.   We remember Lyndon well, especially his morning dips in the White House pool, swimming au natural in front of the press corps, including the female members…real class…Thank the Lord he won that war in Viet Nam for us.

     Therefore, we apologise for failing to point out to the American populous that Miss Nancy sponged up 100,000,000 dollars for something that should and must be privately funded, and not paid for by shaking out the working class and middle class Americans of their pocket change, bonus pay, investment gains, etc.  It is not your money, Miz Nancy…

     Your attention to this correction is heartily appreciated.

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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SOME PREAMBULATORY REMARKS:

     One thing that is forgotten by city folks…and through no fault of their own…is that once a crop is planted and risen up to see the sky, a critical set of  manoeuvres must take place. Almost every type of vegetation that pops through the surface will have "little friends" who come along for the ride.
   Those friends are known as "weeds" and they must be carefully eliminated with a V-blade plow, or better yet, hand-hoe'd by an intelligent and deft hoe - wielder.   The photograph to the left shows the work being done correctly and deftly by experts.
     Leaving the weeds will result in the diminishment of vitality of the main plant of interest…(the one that will go to market)…and in many cases, the weeds can choke the main plant of interest to death.
    So, as they say in The South sometimes, "…there just ain't no good reason to keep weeds around 'cept to be feed'n the mules…".



     A slightly less accurate, and perhaps quicker and cheaper in the long run is the V-blade cultivator.   That device is mounted on a one,  two, or a times a three bar "tree" and dragged through the pertinent field, carefully avoiding the invasion of any given row of "growies".  It also requires very precise placement, and the maintenance of such placement for seemingly un-ending lengths of time.  The longer the row, the more the driver sweats…because just a five or ten second lapse of attention can cut out 10 to 20 feet of plant root and stalk…not a good statement about the tractor operator.  Oddly enough, before the time of tractors having enclosed cabins and/or roofs over the operator's head, my Father would drive the tractor standing up, sidewise to the row, watching back to the left and forward to the right as he went.  
     One of our Mexican workers had fashioned a rear view mirror from an old wrecked auto, and during his spare time, he welded it onto the body of the John Deere.  There were many "adaptations" in those days.  Now such things are called accessories or options.   Perhaps this piece of writing is the preamble to my coming point…which might be called…"Different good ways to do similar things".    One of the Hallmarks of the American Experience is that the parties who decide to "do things their own way" are the ones who have led America into self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
     One of the things that cause the retrocession of independence and then cause the establishment of public assistance, welfare, food-fare, and rental subsidy magic shows, along with the concept of "free" this and that…is that certain notion that if the Central Government grants money to the disadvantaged or the downtrodden or the sullen, resentful malcontents those grants will quickly become permanent entitlements.

     The cold-blooded move to transfer massive numbers of one or another ethnic or racial group by baiting said members of such groupings with public assistance and Aid to Families With Dependent Children - type (AFDC) programmes, was truly a cold-blooded manoeuvre.  It was simply the effort by people of the ilk of the Southern Poverty Law Centre types to establish hostility and isolation among the hostages of those programmes. 

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ILLOGICAL, INCOHERENT, SELF-ABSORBED:

   My mother, and many others, admonished me to "be not judgemental".  Perhaps, my mother would say, perhaps…you have the same mote in your eye that you say your neighbour has…

     To any and all of that, I plead nolo contendere'…although it is very

Please do not show this picture to
small children.

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probable that my mother and my various advisers were and are correct about this weakness as well as many others left to discretion at this point.   The problem left on the table is that I am not the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America.    That position is held by the least qualified person to have ever held the office, and there have been many imbeciles who have preceded her, but not to her level of…excellence, so to speak.
   She is the master of mendacity, but fails in the sense that she thinks her wandering from the paths of truth and reality is unseen by the "masses".  She becomes more bold as she wades deeper into the barge-loads of garbage-blab during her amazing "press conferences".   Said press sessions are almost always replete with zombies who ask dumbo set-up questions and who are all successful graduates of the Hillary University School of Frontalobatomy.

   Her Excellence notified everyone, just before the beginning of the ratification of the legislation that this would begin a frightful but wondrous journey through the maze of regulations and law relating to the funding of the Recovery.
     This past Friday, Speaker Pelosi reminded everyone present that she had managed to convert Trump's Businessmens' Subsidies and Secret Republican Siphoning Act into a Working Person's Manifesto of Liberty and Free Money!  When she waited for the applause line from her body of lackeys in the Lower Chamber, there were perhaps three or four people who air-clapping, embarrassed by the ridiculous "welcoming statement" by her majesty.

Extra  personnel is called in to control the hordes
of visitors and events-attendees at the
Kennedy Centre


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     She will have to wait until sometime down the road before she can pass the law that requires that all underaged girls will be required to attend classes at Planned Parenthood about "The Happy Wonders of Abortion"…but at least she did manage to save the economy by globbing on useless millions and millions of other peoples' money to do something for the Kennedy Skate-0-Rama and Ice Hockey Stadium…or something like that.
     And we beg the indulgence of the reader…but if anyone thinks that the Kennedy Centre was considered…it's a sham rumour…don't be silly. Even  Politico referred to the event as something akin to the harvesting of windmills!!!  The taxpayers were kneecapped to the tune of  75,000,000  Greenbacks to placate Nancy.

     It's nice for Nancy and her team had the magnanimous natural instinct to provide a place of recreation for the poor…such as the Kennedy Centre because everyone knows that it is one of the few places where people can play mid-night basketball at no charge…neither to the players nor the people in the stands (seats?).   And it's all Free because the government pays for it. (?)

      Returning to matters of seriousness,  it will reasonably seem that this writer, a completely unreconstructed rightwing budget-balancer, should be howling at the moon over this new budget manoeuvre.    In truth, I am not overjoyed, elated, or even somewhat pleased with it.   It is recognised by your humble servant, in any regard, that much of this relocation, translocation, location, and dislocation of funds and funding is actually going in a circular direction in almost all cases.
     There is considerable recovery, and much much of the "family oriented" money is going into banks, checking accounts, purchases to make up for what was neglected during the "Wuhan inconvenience".   Wealth recovery and significant long-term elaboration of things, places, and military goodies are heavily represented in this "controlled madness".  And, essentially it will possibly help put a "disc-brake of reason" in the near and next-generational layout of debt service and budgetary considerations.
     If there is a "disc-brake of reason", and I believe there will be at least a  variation of such a thing…the productive power of the American disposition to produce and produce quality will take up some of the slack caused by over-spending.   We have been doing it, recently, for the past 20 years, and for much of the previous century.

I told you I wanted two slices of cheese on my
Arafatburger…and I want it now!!!

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     That such a tawdry analysis might further be explained, please remember that there are several score…or hundred nations who are practicing Magic Deficit Accounting at a pace even more destructive than the Gringos.   Even the Japanese have painted themselves into the Deficit Closet.   The Red Chinese, truth be known, are in a terrible financial quandary, and every nation in South and Central America is nearly in ruin…. Ecuador and especially Venezuela are close to total implosion…Cuba hasn't existed as a viable entity for the past 40 years…and every time it sinks lower, things start to sink even lower.   Venezuela cannot make it to 2022 with Maduro, for instance.  He has already arranged three or four places in Europe where he

will "vacation" and where he will be able to count his money in various banks that accommodate slobs who shovel money into foreign banks in order to have a nice "retirement". 
     Imagine that slob that looked like a horse fly who murdered thousands of his own people…not the scumbag Saddam Hussein…I refer to Yasir Arafat…the man who looked for all the world like a human fly.
     Blowhards and analysts could

Just learned that Tunisia has filed charges for
fraud of her husband's stolen money…

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never agree the extent of Arafat's extortion and theft of moneys-not-his.   He did have people who would inter money with certain banks under various names.   His horribly arrogant and hideous wife flopped into Paris and lived off some of that fat for a bit…we have not heard about or from her for quite a while…perhaps she DID have something to do with the manipulation of deposits and so forth after Yasser died.   The Tunisian government, which is actually somewhat dependable in these matters, declares that the widow of Arafat was more interested in the money he left behind in multiple places, and less concerned about Yasser having a happy eternity.

 To the left we find people who like people…are the most wonderful people in the world…People, people who love people…

     OH!!! Excuse me, I was distracted for a moment.   It does seem to be a great moment in the history of the stars and the people who make things work.

    To the left one can take note of the wine-taster for Uncle Yasser, next from left to right, is fellow Oxford Alum who helps Yasser with certain difficult words and phrases and other things such as helping Yasser shave and bathe every six weeks or so (back in the day).   The harem girls to the right are happy to be at Yasser's children's Forth of July Christmas Party.

    But, returning to the serious side of things, our finances and shadow-boxing
on the theatre of international finance and fighting the Democrats on taxation imperatives they hold so dear, will all shake out in our favour.   Once the green begins to flow…to families, businesses, to financial institutions, to projects of a capital nature, like the restructuring of Boeing and the up-grading of our military…things will fall into place simply because of the positive inertia and activity for which Americans are famous.

We shall have more commentary in a bit.
EL GRINGO VIEJO

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An Assembly of Thoughts, Notions, and Matters of Interest

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An Assembly of Thoughts and Notions

     We are here because I cannot be there.  Our neighbour down in NoWhere, Mexico is there because he cannot be here.

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Matter of the  Going and Coming by Bridge:

The Reynosa - Hidalgo - McAllen
 International Bridge at normal light
operation levels
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    We can now inform people in the real world that going and coming across the United States of America and the Estados Unidos Mexicanos international boundary is no longer a zip and a clip and a chocolate chip cookie.

     And, yes Virginia, El Gringo Viejo just happened to be in McAllen when suddenly the rumours materialised into certain certainty.   As had the Canadians, just a few days before, the Mexicans and

Americans came to an accord to

 suspend discretionary border crossing,

 especially by private motorcar.

     It seemed such an impossibility after having been born, lived in, and pertained to the McAllen area for several hundred years (more or less).   Heretofore, in my recollection, this bridge, pictured herein, closed only once.   That would be the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States, 22 November 1963 - 25 November 1963.

Over four million souls reside in the
 Regiomontano, aka - The
 Mountainous Kingdom
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   There have been various, infrequent halts for a few minutes or an hour or two to address minor problems at various bridges.  Normally, however, while the process is relatively slow coming into the United States of America, we have never seen an auto with a skeleton sitting behind the steering wheel.

    One must consider that the County of Hidalgo, Texas has a population right at the 1,000,000 person mark.   Interestingly, the Municipio (County) of Reynosa also has a population very close to 1,000,o00 souls.   Of further interest would be that the lower picture is the access to the expressway to Monterrey,
Nuevo Leon which lies 140 miles to the west.

The metroplex of Monterrey and its satellite towns and cities, its industries, and other attractions, has a population of around 4,500,000 people.  The Monterrey - San Pedro de Garza Garcia people refer to the highway between McAllen and Monterrey as "…our private driveway", and in a sense it is true.  That metroplex in the heart of Nuevo Leon State has nine per cent of all the population of Mexico.

No traffic coming into the Anzalduas Bridge
 during this period of a semi-close-down of the
bridges from El Paso to Brownsville

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     Concerning production, it produces almost thirty (30) per cent of the overall industrial and commercial output of the Republic of Mexico.   One can consider how this stacks up when Guatemala, Honduras, British Honduras (Belize), El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama', with a population of slightly less than 50,000,000 souls… and, lamentably, that number of Central Americans does not produce the same value added or GNP as the 4.5 million Regiomontanos…even remotely.

     In any regard, we move along marking time while trying to figure out when criss-crossing the border will be the same old, dull and boring chore.   For right now, however, my friend down at the Hacienda de la Vega and I will have to put up with the reality of a significantly restricted use of the international bridges and crossing points.

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The Matter of the Petulant Politicians:     

Charlie is enumerating the various charges he
 will take before the judge after the deputies put
 the leg irons on - Clockwise from the top,
 Curly, Larry, and Moe

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    Moving on to more mundane things, we have been but slightly humoured by the shenanigans of the Democrat leadership (?) during the "budget battle". It is something like the folly of the stupidly executed "impeachment" of the President, but even more inept and devious.   Of course, when one finds the command group supervising a degenerate plan of falsehoods and baseless rumours, such as the trio of Pelosi and Schumer and Schiff almost any plumbing of the lower elements can be expected.

     The Democrat political party has almost perfected the art of being wholly misdirecting and self-serving, arrogant and illogical, as any political body in the four different centuries our Republic has experienced.  It is right on up there with the German National Socialist Labour Party in the sense that whatever point the Democrats are trying to make they must frame it by means of mendacity.

      The Southern Poverty Law Centre and the firm of Pelosi, Schumer, and Schiff know that their cheering section is devoid of the ability to excercise critical thought processes.   After two or three generations of producing people who think they have the right to steal, murder, destroy, and generally cause mayhem…the present-day Democrat Hierarchy is satisfied that they can lead the Army of the Illogical, those who are dependent on AFDC, selling dope, using dope, and committing mayhem upon the society and its culture.

     Somehow, according to the Pelosistas, some people just need to steal, frighten, murder, denigrate, and generally degenerate.   The threesome and their allies in the political and popular culture set will almost always draw an invisible iron circle around  The Oppressed and explain away all nature of degeneracy and self-indulgence and criminality.   Thereby, they essentially give the degenerate and criminal element a hall pass…that says "Hands Off!! Privileged Oppressed Victim!!!"

     The routine pulled off by the team of Pelosi and Schumer is something similar to the jackass who has stuck a match into the area between the sole and the top of a shoe of some poor sap.   He who then proceeds to light the match plugged into the shoe…letting it burn down to where the wearer of said shoe will experience the classic "hotfoot" and begin to howl in pain.   The delinquent thinks that he has won a great victory…perhaps even gaining a gaggle of laughs from those near the event, while he, himself will howl with glee the loudest.

      That was something like the trick of the "negotiations" between the Democrats and the Republicans during these most current interactions concerning how to proceed with adapting to America under attack by Red Chinese ambient poisoning.  The Democrat apparatchiks think that each understanding and agreement with the Republicans being sacrificed is a Great Victory.   Their secondary objective, that being forcing the Republicans to fund Planned Parenthood with public money is that shadow in the back of the room, in the dim light.

     In short, the Democrat Socialist team is a depraved, self-consumed, arrogant unit.  It stands devoid of the willingness to get out of the way and allow America to return to prosper…morally, physically, and financially.

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Of Malaria and other Pleasant Thoughts:

Not an uncommon sight in the
 Lower Rio Grande Valley
still to this day.

     We have borne witness to the comings and goings with reference to the Coronavirus problem and the variation of the French malaria medicine.    Many thousands of years ago, when my father was still a young man, heresigned a position in the Army, and set out to feed the world.
     He became a farmer  of sorts, in that his first objective was to line up scores of smallholders who had citrus orchards of three, five, and ten acres.   Over the years, he and my mother cared for 3,000 and a little more acres of these "dreamer's orchards".    They were so named because the Yankees would come to Winter and Myrtle would swoon at the beautiful groves, and the exotic Mexican caretakers, and the fruit itself, and the blossom set during the appropriate times… 

     

     They were good and noble folks…salt of the Earth in all truth and seriousness.  But, their lot was to push up wheat, corn,  and other dull products;  things that are necessary but not very "romantic".  Others were retired or veteran military, while some were bankers, retailers, and such.   We had them all during that time between Thanksgiving and the 15th of March.
     We would have to admonish them rarely, especially when one might find a "Winter Visitor couple" picking fruit while lugging a five-gallon bucket.   The workers would run and look for my father to advise him that the rustlers were active.   When our men were working sans supervision at tracts ten miles over there and six miles over here, they themselves would exact justice, by charging one or two dollars, depending on how many pounds of Valencia oranges had been "borrowed".   Very few of the "Yankees" borrowed oranges.

Once or twice a year, depending
 on conditions, the bloom
 set shows off

    My father would also plant, plow, and harvest plots ten to fifty acres, he and his workers, planting cotton, corn, and tomatoes…even okra.   Normally he would encounter a friend or acquaintance who needed an "advance" in order to plant and harvest another property, and my father would give the petitioner a sum, and then use that same person's land to plant, harvest, and market, all to his own account.   A bit old fashioned, but welcome to Texas.   My parents were very proud that neither lender nor borrower ever lost a farthing among our friends nor within our family.


     The main business was the grove care and the tonnage produced by the strikingly beautiful orchards, augmented a bit by farming cotton…planting in February and hoping for "America's First Bale" in late May or early June.
     It was all very noble.  My eldest brother, born in May of 1936, was driving tractors and "working" like a real hand by the age of 10.    I was a big help by staying out of the way, although my greatest desire was to be allowed to drive the tractors.  But a five year old did not pick up jobs like that in those times.

     Now we have the two brothers and the father.   The father, after leaving the Army (mounted cavalry), began his farming career, but after about a year he was greeted with a case of full blown Malaria.  He had the kind that would cause welts, especially around the waist and lower back.  This was in 1935, and my mother had to literally run the farm, and then also make her first run at birthing a baby…(May, 1936).

Preparing for the Harvest

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     A youngish doctor working out of his own clinic in San Juan, Texas about twelve miles east of our farmstead  came out and found a fevered, sweaty, weak man, feeling guilty because he was not out with his Mexican crew throwing sulphur under the orange trees.    The fever was 103…the sweats were profound…the aches were very pronounced.
     Compounding this was persistent abdominal cramps and vomiting and trying to stand up would result in a stiff round of vertigo so bad that my father could not stand up without support.   The youngish doctor was not alarmed, but he was concerned.  "How long has this been going on?"
       My mother and Augustin the foreman informed that it had started the day before yesterday, and become worse yesterday.   The doctor excused himself and said that he would be back in two hours.   And he left, late in the afternoon.   The destination?   Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  Remember that this is 1935…and the "highway" to Reynosa, nine miles away to the South, was a thump-thump, thumpity thump concrete highway, and there were no lights beyond the headlights.
     The young doctor had allowed my Father's overseer to accompany the journey across the Rio Grande…it would be a pleasant adventure.  There was a 'Farmacia'  just one door off of the main Plaza, quite a fine place…even with a ceiling fan.  The Doctor asked the Farmacista if there was any "chloroquine?".
     The farmacista declare, "Por supuesto que si!!  How many pills?"
     Our doctor thought about it, and suggested "Seis?"
     "Es algo serio?" inquired the farmacista.
     "Si…definitivamente"
      The pharmacist sorted out six pills of chloroquine and declared "Seis pesos o cincuenta centavos Americanos,"   (six pesos or fifty American cents)  "Buena surety, informame como reaccione su paciente."

A bit misleading, although effective
The actual measure is 300 mg, not 125

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     Then it was off to the house just north of McAllen, with the medicine in which the American Doctor and the Mexican Pharmacist had so much faith.  On the way back, the Mayordomo was fairly quiet, but he did screw up enough stuffing to ask the young Doctor, "Do you think something might go wrong with El Señor?"
     "I have used these pills on Black folks, Mexican folks, old folks, toddlers, rich folks, poor folks, Anglo folks…and they have all come out fine."

     After about 25 minutes, they turned down the gravel road to the east and drove the 200 feet and pulled into the rainbow shaped driveway.   With a bit of haste, the twosome went to the door and passed on to the main bedroom.  The Doctor told my mother that this medium-sized pill will solve the problem. And further, there were five more pills to be taken by 7:00 am for the next five mornings.
     My mother offered our maid's room, quite a nice room on the second floor overlooking our patio, and McAllen to the distant south.   The Young Doctor decided that would be a good idea…and so Agustin the Mayordomo, the Doctor, and my mother sitting by my father in bed, began the vigil.   The Young Doctor had confided that my Father was afflicted with a type of Malaria, but the medicine would win the fight.

This is a standard 250 dosage, but its marked 
260…It's a wonderland out there.

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     And…True enough.   In the morning the Young Doctor enjoyed his coffee after watching my father swallow Pill Number Two, noting that the dizziness seemed to be almost gone, along with the abdominal cramps.   He left the remain "magic pills" and mixing his Spanish and English between my mother and our Mayordomo, strict orders and guidances were left.   "Call if there is any change to the worse!" he called as he headed back to San Juan.
     My mother had arranged for a housekeeper from near Puebla in the centre of Mexico.   And, as if by magic, she showed up in a taxi at around 10:00, introduced herself to all, and went up to what would be her room for the next twenty years, four days per week, every week.   She also immediately took over nursing duties and every sort of domestic requirement.

     With the Chloroquine Phosphate, my father was back on the tractor in three days.    Ten years later, when my eldest brother was arriving at his tenth birthday, the same thing hit him, knocking him for a loop.  Without delay, my father went over to Reynosa and bought the 250 mg. Chloroquine from the same pharmacist.

      And while my middle brother missed the fun and games of having malaria, he did get to have measles and scarlet fever at the same time.  He had to be hospitalised…for four nights.  He was born in March of 1942…and endured a three week period of weakness and listlessness during the early summer of 1947, only a few months after my own appearance on the Planet, April, 1947.

     So as not to be left out, while the middle brother had the double whammy that was absolutely no fun, I am sure, my gift that kept on giving was my father's and eldest brother…and it hit in 1952 when I was a child of five years. And it was the Malaria…which I carried for almost 22 years…having a bout every two or three years, thinking each time would be the last time.  When I was drafted for the service, my blood draw revealed that the malaria was still wandering around in my gizzard…making me less desirable as a soldier.

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More later, perhaps to-morrow if things become more heated.

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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Rolling Right Along…why this Plague is loaded with more questions than answers

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Welcome, O ye who are members of the Order of Readers of the Old Gringo…(OROGs)!!

   It is well taken that the Old Gringo is a bit given to strong opinion, but it is my genuine belief…or even certain knowledge, that the Red Chinese were up to something during the past five years, pertaining to chemical and/or medical weaponry.   And, essentially that "something" failed them badly.

This is definitly not your best friend

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   This Nation and several others have paid the price and continue to pay the price for the ineptitude or the intention or both of the Chinese Communist government in this matter of the release of the corona virus respiratory poison.
     My understanding is that they had started manipulating the structure of other viruses and the whole programme was one that was kept "top secret" until the matter began to be rumoured in various alleys and corners around the spy-community world.   But to whatever end, it is well to consider a few things pertaining to this matter.

     First of all, almost all of the deaths related to this new menace have been suffered by people who have very seriously challenged immune system disorders, chronic serious health complications, or were of advanced age with serious compromises with heart / lung disease or other such debilitations.
      Where there have been significant congregations of morbidity such as at the one Old Folks Home in Washington State where 17 or 18 died of probable corona virus…almost all in late January, February, and early March of this year.

     What is peculiar is that the leftist political and "journalistic" element resents the notion that somehow Trump is being overlooked as the culpable party here, while the ever so pure of motive Chinese Communists are innocent of any malfeasance or criminality.

      These mid-day "press conferences" hosted by Trump during the past few days have been a torture for this observer because the interrogators are so similar to crazed dogs.  They look for some way to shred the cloth and flesh of the President by asking that final, terminal question, like, "Mr. President, why did you personally go out at night and inject corona virus material into peoples' homes and vehicles?"   It is Joy Bahar Lobotomy Week…banal questions…all leading…all coy and so very "intelligent", designed to trap the President into making a stupid remark or error in stats or memory.

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      The President may be rough-hewn, boorish, overly blunt, etc. but he is not stupid.   The President is not my cup of tea (I am a Cruz - type fellow), but I am willing to put up with some of his old liberal proclivities and tendencies in order to keep the hordes of wharf rats from taking over the White House.

     It is with little sense of guilt or concern that I suggest that the proposals being forged on the floor of Congress are ill conceived.   Within the offices of the White House much fluster is being made concerning "pump-priming" a recovery from this infirmity shock set upon the World by the Red Chinese…will have more problems than solution in the medium to long run.

 

A "ward" (warehouse) being used to house
 Naval sailors in 1918, all with Spanish flu
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   We remind the readers and the community that the Panic of 1896, due to many reasons, was not solved by "pump priming" the Treasury, but rather by the Spanish - American War, (1898 - 1899). That war gave us the Philippine Insurrection, (1899 - 1903) and hung us with Puerto Rico, Guam, and great adventures like the Panama' Canal…an albatross we finally have to give away to the "Panamanians" (at the hands of John Wayne and Jimmy Carter)…it has been quite a ride.
     Woodrow Wilson, who would not shake hands with Booker Tecumseh Washington, also became a doddering fool, apparently suffering from early on-set of a form of Alzheimer's.   He back Villa in the civil war in Mexico, and then suddenly ordered his extinction in favour of the pro-marxist Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregon (both corrupt leftists maniac…both were assassinated by fellow nut-cases).   It is said that Mrs. Wilson actually ran affairs in the White House, especially for the last two years.
      The Spanish Flu beset Mexico and the United States and many other countries during the immediate post - World War I, leaving millions dead.   In the United States, as in most parts of the known world at that time, the Spanish Flu was devastating…demographically destructive to the roots of almost every race and culture.  To wit:

 …..and among members of the U.S. Navy, this number reached up to 40% disabled and 5% dead, possibly due to the flu and the compounding conditions of serving at sea. The flu had killed 200,000 Americans by the end of October 1918, and Bristow claims that the pandemic killed over 675,000 Americans in total during the 1918 - 1919 period. The impact on the population was so severe that in 1918, American life expectancy was reduced by 12 years. 

     Bodies piled up to such an extent that cemeteries were overwhelmed and families had to dig graves for their relatives. The deaths created a shortage of farmworkers, which affected the late summer harvest. As in Britain, a lack of staff and resources put other services, such as waste collection, under pressure.

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    The population of the United States at that time was 104,000,000.   A similar event occurred in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon during the early 1890s, when a flu swept through that major city and its surrounding towns and villages.  From a combined population of approximately 200,000 souls, a total of 25,000 died from that plague (to-day's population of that same metroplex is right at 4,500,000).

     We move on to the Great Depression…blamed on Herbert Hoover…and all credit given to Franklin Delano Roosevelt for having "saved America" from the Depression.    The problem, of course, is that inconvenient fact that the thing that dragged America out of the Depression…finally…was the starting and ending of World War II.   You all know,  it's a convenient way to achieve "full employment" and to move money around for the benefit of all.
     Of course the killed and wounded did not have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labour, but…the War ended the Depression.

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     To sum it up, this writer does not have total faith in the idea that we can throw one or two trillion dollars at a situation that is in flux, that requires the overview of fifteen or twenty central government bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.    It is a matter of certainty that the "necessary horse-trading" that will be conducted will guarantee that Shumer, Pelosi, and Schiff will carry off as much vote-buying sludge as possible.

    O'bama's "pump-priming", rebuilding the Minneapolis bridge, etc. mire the American economy for eight years,  Roosevelt's dumping billions into the Chasm of No Return, and all such efforts…fail, and fail profoundly.

Thanks to one and all…it's good to see so many returning, judging by the enumerator.
El Gringo Viejo

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Busy, Spinning Wheels, Working a lot…or a little

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     We have been "off the saddle" for a bit…lots of details, large and small…things that need attention…things that want attention.  It all makes life interesting.  We can start from the end and work backwards…I am substantially left-handed…

     During the past few weeks, we have gone and come back to-and-from our place in NoWhere, Mexico three or four times.   The normal stay is usually nine to sixteen days, each time.   Since our little adobe hut is a structure that is either a small, huge place or a huge small place all projects are either meticulously detailed, or something that requires substantial effort.

     A medium-sized cypress branch fell from about 120 feet up, down by the river's bank and rendered a glancing blow, off the crown of my head.  It struck the very crown of my bald dome.   Everything seemed to be fine, although my dog, "Prieto" (Blackie) kept looking at me strangely as we returned from our little constitutional amongst the towering cypresses, and I thought he was concerned about something, or perhaps he wanted a treat for being a good dog.

Noble "Prieto"
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     Coming in, I noticed in one of the window panes of our corridor that my right shoulder and right side of my head were covered with someone's blood…and it turned out to be mine, of course. The stuff was moist still, so I hosed myself down, rinsed the white T-shirt so as to be white again, and then patched up the substantial, but minor, wound.  Prieto stayed with me, close by,  the rest of the day.

     As as aside, I allow Prieto inside the house while, when our majordomo is en campus, he would not, will not, never, never allow Prieto or any other dog into the house.   Since I (and my boss…my wife) am only the owner, it is necessary to defer to the majordomo's orders.     
    
    In any regard, a couple of weeks later, while lugging firewood into the house, a trio of hard to grasp and control logs decided to jump out of my grasp.   One medium-sized, 18-inch long and 8-inch thick log decided to fall on the tip of my big toe of the left foot.  Once again, time and effort was dedicated to cleaning up blood and, in a very gingerly manner, bandaging up the end of my big toe.
     These attempts at self-destruction have self-cured, and nothing of similar nature has occurred since.

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The Cordilleras of the
land of the Pena Nevada
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     The Winter was fairly tough on the area.  Not far from our place, we could take note of three separate snow events in the mountains…just three or four miles to the west of our little mud house. Such events are not that rare…nor are they that common.   One thing that was certain until the last two nights before the writing of these words…precipitation had been quite a rare commodity, whether rain or the little snow dustings.

     The image to the left is an example of our view to the west…it is what my clients see, and what my adjacent neighbour - the owner of the Hacienda de la Vega and I see every day…and sometimes during the light of the full moon, even at night.

     We always like this image because it shows the massive, silver and gold laden mountains…impenetrable in their 90 per cent…ranging at their crests from 4,000 fasl all the way up to over 13,000 fasl.   The mountains' complexity is enhanced by the fact that there are essentially six parallel cordilleras running north and south that developed these various ridge by ridge increases…each increasing in height from east to west.   The length of the cordilleras range from 40 to 100 miles.
     The highest peak is the Cerro de la Pena Nevada (Snowy Peak), and it lies about 30 miles due west of our place and the compound that is the Hacienda de la Vega, our neighbours.  To make the trip by a relative straight line, even by motor vehicle, it would take a minimum of a week.   On a round-about approach, one can make the drive of a circuitous distance amounting to about ninety miles in a little less than two hours.

     The orchard in front of the mountains is a result of a planting less than three and more than two years ago.   The lime orchard pictured replaced an 80 year old Valencia Orange orchard that produced well for those times, but finally began to give up the ghost.   Our neighbour determined that it would be better to take advantage of the burgeoning lime demand, especially with the improved quality of the limes and the increasing demand from Europe and the United States and Canada…and to a degree, Japan.  So, the old Valencias were literally bulldozed out, and a new "Super Lime" arrived to start a new dawning in the Mexican citrus industry. 
     The trees pictured above are between 10 and 12 feet high now, showing a precociousness that surprised everyone, except perhaps Don Rafael and your humble servant.   Below we are including the infant plant that genuinely was planted right at 30 months ago.

This little squirt is the same one seen  in the

photo above closest to the camera's view.  From

a foot and a half to 12 feet seemingly overnight.

   Notice the underground irrigation leads, just

 installed 30 months ago.

     

   We cannot even estimate what the value of the crops will be when the entire green carpet of these newfangled sour wonders are well into the galloping pace of the Lone Ranger's horse, Trigger.

This particular topic will be continued to-morrow.

El Gringo Viejo

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