El Zorro observes and opines - very much worth the reading

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   We received a missive from El Zorro who is having the joys of dealing with Agent Orange overdoses during two tours in a place called Vietnam.   He has been resting up and feeling useless, so he caught us up on the comings and goings.  Most of the information was private medical stuff, but then he went on to cover his most recent outing with his wife:

 

 

 

     Yesterday, xxxxxxx and I went to Jack County where xxxxx have 360 acres and about 30 head of longhorn cattle.  I took one of my newest acquisitions, a WWII M1 Garand I purchased at an online auction.  A younger couple we know were spending the weekend at the ranch and the fellow who is just getting started collecting wanted to see the rifle.  (you might like to see some of his and his wife’s work at Goode Photography on Facebook.)

    We had several other collector war surplus rifles we were sighting in and generally making a lot of noise and the subject, between rounds of making brass, got around to McAllen and the border issues.  Back in the day, I had a British Enfield 303 that you and I used to take with us as well as your SW 38 spl w/6 inch barrel (if I remember correctly) when we toured the river.  I especially remember the nights we heard voices, in Spanish, e.g. “Ven p’ca, silencio hombres” etc.  Also there were gun shots, not ours.  All the regular paths leading up to from the south and on from the river heading north where the illegals and drug runners used to cross were everywhere.

    And we were approached by Border Patrol and Fish and Game officials regularly.  It was a cacophony of activity even that long ago.  Unfortunately, as I discussed the situation with xxxxx,  he said, “It’s not my problem.  I’ll be gone before it affects me.”  And, unfortunately that is the problem with most of the legal population.  A “comprehensive” plan is the most ridiculous idea of all.  We do not have any direction for this problem.(emphasis underlining from El Gringo Viejo)  There are no adults in the room.

 

     I am in agreement that the border needs to be enforced because without a border there is not a country.  However, we can have a reasonable solution and it is really simple.  Work with the Mexican Government, and I think it is possible, to enforce immigration both ways at the organized crossings and use police and military to catch and prosecute criminals by the law in the long stretches of unpopulated land.  We have the technology to locate and assist in apprehension.  Satellite, drone, camera fitted aircraft, ground radar, etc. is all available and used together should be able to catch 90% of the illegals.  Then there has to be a program of identification and processing each individual to determine penalty or return and, in some instances possibly, release.  Use extradition as necessary and reinstitute the Bracero program all along the border.  In other words, respect the Mexican government and work together to enforce the laws we have and institute international policies as necessary on both sides of the border to enhance elimination of illegal crossings.  If Mexico needs assistance at their southern border and along the coast, that would not be a waste of foreign aid.

    A serious campaign of information to the rest of the world that “We will catch you, you cannot stay, and there is no free stuff here for you here.  You will be dealt with.”  Employers who hire illegals will be prosecuted.  Individuals who harbor illegals will be prosecuted.  Those who are already here illegally cannot be immediately rounded up but as they come in contact with the authorities, they could and would be dealt with at that time.  They will be subjugated to the “shadows” that do not exist today.  Common sense can go a long way toward a solution.  There may never be a perfect one but getting rid of the political hacks that are not interested in solving the problem is, and should be, the number one priority.

 

Why is this so difficult (rhetorical)?  We need conservative leadership in November.

 

Your blog is much appreciated.  I just wish there was a way to get it out to more readers, not in disregard of your other excellent articles and observations, especially your business activities at your southern home.

 

Give Diana my best.

 

    While some folks might scoff about the idea of the Mexican governmental authority being a worthy adjunct to any activity such as control of the border, there are a few surprises (for most folks) that would back up El Zorro's point.  For one, the Mexican record on extradition of Mexicans wanted for crimes in the United States, starting in about the year 1997, began to change radically in terms of extradition.  They began to move with increasing efficiency and rapidity concerning these matters.  In these days, compliance with a request for extradition is commonplace to the point of not being comment-worthy.   Also, during the Bush administration, Mexican military co-ordination with American police agencies concerning trafficking of minors and drug cartel activity moved very close to a "hand in glove" relationship.  Obama's relationship with Mexico is very much like his handling of the Muslim Brotherhood vs. The Egyptian Military situation.   In other words, "If you Mexicans aren't going to elect a marxist (Lopez Obrador) or a Muslim extremist, I really don't see any need to talk about much".
 

     The American Right dismisses and oversimplifies the Mexican issue at its own peril.   Many speak with great authority without having any understanding of the past or present of Mexico.   Louie Gohmer...one of my guys....made a typical misstatement when he pointed out that Woodrow Wilson flooded the border with troops in the Lower Rio Grande Valley to fight off Pancho Villa.   Wilson did not understand things well either, but he sent over 100,000 mounted cavalry and infantry into the McAllen area in the 1915 - 1916 period because of depredations committed by primarily Venustiano Carranza's troops and deserters, and agent provocateurs.
    Carranza was essentially a tyrant with communist leanings.  He was also an arch-enemy of Pancho Villa. Carranza conducted many assaults on American soil even as President of Mexico during the World War I period.   Villa's most famous assault on anything American was the  Columbus, New Mexico attack,  after Wilson demonically changed American loyalty from Villa to Carranza after Villa had supported American interests, somewhat clumsily, much moreso than Carranza.  Many students of the Columbus event think to this day the Columbus attack was a sham conducted by Carranza to defame his greatest detractor, Villa.
   

       This diversion from the issue is placed to show how complicated the Mexican issue was, is, and forever will be.  It is not a game Obama, for instance, can play well even to his own ends.  His dealings with Mexico and Central America will wind up looking something like his backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and his "line in the sand" positions against Assad in Syria.

      And we should include his abrupt departure from Iraq....and his naming of the time, place, minute, hour, day, month, and year of our departure from Afghanistan.

    So, what many might even want to dismiss as folly that....the development of a working relationship with Mexico concerning the imperative of the United States having control over who comes in and who is prevented from coming in to the country....can be achieved.  Anyone who believes to the contrary overlooks various periods when the frontier had relative to total order.  Even to-day, over 99% of the crossings into and out of the United States by Mexicans and Canadians number in the millions weekly.   So, it can be done.  The root of the problem now is the notion that we must "do something" about immigration reform.   The answer is to seal the border....permit no ingress or egress save at official ports of entry....allow only people with correct documentation to come and go.   It is what Mexico should and must do at their southern border with Belize and Guatemala, tout suite!

     El Zorro and I have a lot of common experiences, common notions about this issue.  But, be certain.  No one has the right to simply barge into the kitchen without being given the right to enter the home.  If Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala do not and can not provide a theatre upon which their citizens can prosper and have some reasonable degree of public tranquillity, it is not incumbent upon us to provide it.  Were we to go there and impose such a thing, we would certainly be called invaders imposing our exploitation and subjugation upon the people.  Obama is a demonic instrument for using this old tactic, so injurious both to the Central Americans and to the Americans....and especially to the Texians. 

More later

El Gringo Viejo

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Verdance

This is a view of what a rainy Summer causes our
approach to look like.  The flamboyan trees have
finished their first bloom, and are starting a rare
second bloom.  In front, and to the left, one can see
the famous esperanza with the yellow blossoms,
which bloom almost years round.
(Please forgive the wrong date.  El Gringo
Viejo cannot figure out how to change the
dating on his camera.  Can't even see the
stupid little buttons or the words that
come up after a person pushes the
derned things.  The picture was
taken about four days age.)

The political / cultural full court press

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     We are trying to put the train back on the tracks after being out for a month or so.   One of those actions required is to check on family matters, do some bookwork, get a bit of rest, and review mail, contributors, columns of interest, and of course, feed the cats.

 

     This submission is a fairly simple one.  It is profound for its simplicity, not for its burning intelligence or perception.  While reading my secular vicar's blog about Anglican, Episcopal, and Orthodox matters he paints out the extent of rigor mortis / decomposition that is the Protestant Episcopal Church of America.  The Presiding Bishopess of the Church is a dedicated modernist, at best an agnostic, and certainly a secular humanist progressive.  She and her allies are dedicated to making the Church more relevant and capable of relating to the "new paradigm" of cultural reality in the post-Christian world.  She and her cohort, who now control the previously Orthodox bastion, are the kind of enlightened people who recognise that myths and phony history made up by mystics have no place in the Real World.  In other words, Merry Solstice to All.

     In the Anglican Curmudgeon's last two very, very thorough analyses of the activities of the modernists, he spins a couple of lines that may become truly profound in the coming days.   Why?  Because they "tie it all together" in an understandable way.  The succinctness of the literary stroke belies the fact that the lines are within two very lengthy, intricate legal arguments that totally dismantle the moral and legal authority of the present governance of the Episcopal Church of America.

    One main point that invalidates their regime is the illegal abandonment of established Canonical Law.  Another main point is corruption, in that the Presiding Bishopess's "Chancellor" (chief legal officer) for the Episcopal Church of America employs his own legal firm, and charges handsomely for its service to the "relevant Church" in the continuous and on-going war against the traditionalist Diocese and Parishes.   Mr. Haley, my Chancellor, writes the following,

       "More than anyone else in the history of ECUSA, Katharine Jefferts Schori has infused the Church with a lawlessness -- a pervading disrespect for the duly enacted laws by which we Episcopalians all agreed to be governed -- that is matched only by the current Obama administration (and that is no small achievement on the part of 815). The more lawless she becomes, the greater the obligation upon her to repent."

     Lawlessness and Intent.  No anchors, no tradition save a dedication to defile and destroy anything that should be left constant with barrages of demagoguery of the worst order.  It ties the Universities (especially Roman Catholic and many other previously religiously based institutions), the Obsolete Press, the Progressive movement, and the previous standard for religious centrism and acceptance, the Episcopal Church into the morass of culture with man-made rules and standards that can change from one minute to the next.  It all requires that the rule of law be cancelled and that the rudders be removed from every craft afloat.
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    While we would recommend linking on to the last two (and any others) submissions of Alex Haley in his running commentary concerning Law and Religion and the American Condition, the OROG will need patience.   This is not because the writing is bad, or even hard to understand, but rather because his work is methodical even when passionate.  So, therefore his writing, unlike mine, is meticulous and orderly.  It builds steadily to unarguable conclusions.   It usually takes me three readings for the progression of reasoning, and almost forensic case-building, to sink into El Gringo Viejo's "little grey cells".    Worth the read, but this time it will be at least 20 minutes...perhaps 22.  
El Gringo Viejo  

Observation and Comment Concerning the Border Invasion

     The issue about the invasion by illegal aliens onto Texas soil is confused with many sub-plots, philosophical observations, general confusion, and purposeful misunderstanding.   It seems that every person has a slightly different belief or feeling about what should be done and why, about the hordes of mainly parasitic people coming across at this time.

    My prejudices and experiences,  my understandings and knowledge of the issues lead me to certain positions that I feel to be totally accurate and supported by reason and fact.   My experiences are anchored into considerable reading and study of Mexico and Latin America, including a degree in Sociology with an general studies emphasis on historical, social, anthropological, archaeological, geographical, political, industrial, commercial, and religious matters pertaining to especially Mexico.

     My family has been active in and around Mexico since the 1880s, with my great-grandfather having been an active rancher in central Vera Cruz State, with a tropical, mountain Bali Hi - type tropical fruit and coffee operation in the mid-piedmont parts of the Sierra Madre Oriental.   His operation was approximately 600 hectareas, or about 1,400 acres.   He prospered there until that area was hit by three hard freezes in four years, complete with snow, sleet, and brutally freezing temperatures.

     My father and mother conducted complicated and diversified agricultural activities ranging from a large citrus grove care operation, as well as cotton and vegetable farming in and around McAllen, Texas for thirty years.  My father served in the mounted,  1st Cavalry Division, 12th Regiment, Headquarters Squadron at various places in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and the Big Bend area of Texas.

     My wife and I owned and operated a very classy excursion service, for over 20 years, carrying several thousand people on deluxe tours throughout Mexico.  I have worked with some success as a "hired gun" business representative and negotiator and advisor representing businesses wishing to buy or sell in Mexico.   We have a small, but very pleasant little place in Mexico that we use as a permanent residence, retirement place, Bed and Brunch place, wildlife and birdwatching paradise, and a place to feed three dogs and three cats upon their demand.

 

     Many OROGs already know much about these things.   But the new readers probably do not.  Sometimes the new readers do not click onto things like the access to the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre, or read about El Gringo Viejo's vitae curricula found in the right panel.  My Texian mentality comes from being here for a good while, making my grandchildren 7th generation people by my side, and 15th generation on my wife's side, Texian.   My wife is a slight bit further to the right than her husband.

 

    This summary is included so as to qualify this witness as something a bit more than an opinion factory.   Blowhard, yes....but something a bit more than an opinion factory.

 

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     Yesterday, I drove up about 225 miles from our place up against the mountains in Mexico and crossed back over into Texas and went through my recovery ceremony.  To-day, my wife made certain that I would mow my mother-in-law's yard....in the morning....during my somnambulance.   It did help to clear my thought processes and commitment to this effort now.

 

      There is quite a bit of misunderstanding about what is going on concerning the Central American refugees currently inundating the Lower Rio Grande Valley's Border Patrol district.   Well over 90% of all the Central Americans coming in to the United States cross here.  It is more convenient as they advance to the north, through the Mexican States of Chiapas and Oaxaca, and through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec that connects the Pacific Basin to the Atlantic Basin.   Some ride a somewhat daily freight train (all locomotives in that area are called "Bestias", or beasts).  There are no passenger cars, so one can imagine.   But, listening to Hannity or O'Reilly....or reading almost any Obsolete Press reports, Americans are led to understand that the Central Americans come up riding atop and holding on alongside freight trains, while at the same time being herded up by "coyote - cartel" people who charge 7,000 USD to conduct said Central Americans to some point in the United States.   Such is not the case.  Lamentably, even Rush made reference to the "illegals riding a train up from Guatemala to Texas"...but that is not what happens.

     The soon-to-be illegal aliens ride the train to an area between the large and important cities of Minatitlan - Coatzacoalcos and Vera Cruz on the Mexican Gulf Coast.   But fewer than 20% even do that.   But by that point, 100% make their way to or near the City of Vera Cruz.   They will walk, take busses, or hitch rides.  Measuring their money and girding their loins, they will hope to buy a ticket on the fairly nice, second-class bus service that, with some comfort and efficiency....not much, but some....will be delivered up through Tuxpan, Tampico, San Fernando, and Reynosa.  It is quite a ride.  It is high adventure for a pregnant woman with two children in two seats, and perhaps 200 dollars left in her purse and having no idea what lies ahead.

     It should be noted that almost 80% of the first time "adventure tourists" have never seen such luxury as they are encountering in Mexico.  The highways, the busses, the food and selections, the industry and abundance all will amaze them.  They will also notice that the people become more and more Caucasian as they move to the north, and fewer and fewer have the Indian features to which they are accustomed.  People from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala and the surrounding area...save for very few...will have never seen any such economic activity as they are encountering in Mexico.

     For the repeating illegal aliens, they are already familiar.  But they must think, "If this can be in Mexico, why not in Honduras?"

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    Governor Perry, although he has taken some active measures within his existing authority...and may take more...gave Hannity a good ride, and delivered a lot of information.   Much of the information was accurate, but 900 horsepower gunboats running up and down the Rio Grande has no significant impact on any of the issues affecting the Rio Grande or the illegal Central American alien inundation. The twin - 50s machine runs really aren't the best way to handle the issue.   People just wait until the gunboats flash past at 60 knots and then continue about their business.

 

     It is true however that the Texas Department of Public Safety has had some positive effect in backing up local authority in the pursuit and detention of criminal and other types of illegal aliens who use the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a trampoline.  There have been special helicopter and fixed-wing assets, along with increased Texas Ranger presence and special operations units of the Texas DPS.

 

     Where Governor Perry is incorrect, terribly incorrect, is in the notion that this inundation could be turned around with the deployment of 1,000 National Guard to work "in co-ordination" with Immigration and Customs and with the Border Patrol.   A mix of highly trained National Guard and Regular Army infantry units numbering perhaps 50,000 would be a minimum to have any impact on the 1,000 miles of the Rio Grande as it pertains to Texas.   There are simply too many miles with sparse-to-no population.   And there are urban complexities that make the presence of 1,000 NGs pretty much a useless deployment.

    With reference to Obama's contention that the border has never been so secure and that there has never been any time that had more "boot on the ground" protecting the frontier is ludicrous.  In the period of the disorders associated with the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1917, Hidalgo County of Texas (McAllen area) alone had over 100,000  Regular Army and National Guard mounted and infantry.   Such a silly, ignorant, arrogant, lying jackass.   Please disregard anything he says, because his motives are simply to destroy the country by large and small efforts.

 

     Much is said about the cartels.  Cartel, cartel, cartel...the invincible, all powerful cartels.   Evil and vile, yes.  All powerful, no.  And now for some real news, the OROGs should know that one of the reasons the people from Central America are coming through Tamaulipas and to McAllen is because of the general pacification, especially of the excesses of the cartel activity in the State.  Earlier this year, when the Mexican central government deployed several additional regiments of highly trained Mexican Army and Naval Infantry into the State (essentially bringing Tamaulipas into a martial law situation) there were numerous sweeps and in-force investigations.  Cartel activity and even the extortion rackets and drug and alien smuggling has been severely crippled.  Leaders of ever smaller cells of what are essentially gangs are less and less competent and present fewer and fewer menaces to people.   That is why the Central American illegal aliens were coming across the Rio Grande with their children and searching out Border Patrol vans and patrol units and officers on patrol, so as to allow themselves to be arrested and detained.  Most were coming across without the aid of any coyote....and I mean the huge majority.

     The problem there is that MS-13 animals are mixed in with these people.  Usually, the MS-13 member is a "re-entry" just going back to his base gang in Houston or Chicago or some appropriate place.   But they are trying to avoid contact with the Mexican military and the new Federal Civil Police, because that will mean certain incarceration in Mexico now, just for having the MS-13 tattoos.

    The Army liberated 160 or so people just a couple of days ago from a house in Reynosa, across from McAllen, acting on community provided information.  That was interesting because it was the first time in a couple of months that such a thing had happened, and people commented about how good it was that it was becoming rare.....finally.

     The Mexican military is also becoming more active, on its own, in the apprehension and deportation (under the auspices  of the Secretaria de Gobernacion) of increasing numbers of illegal entrants.  More on that later. 

 

Perhaps to-morrow we shall continue with this matter.    Suffice to say that there is no need for "immigration reform", especially when, like "hope and change" such un-defined terms are meaningless....phoney fodder for focus groups.   Until the frontier is reasonably and solidly sealed, permitting only legal interaction, tourism, and business there should be only enforcement, deportation, and penal detention for repeat illegal entrants and illegal entrant criminals.

El Gringo Viejo

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Please Stay Away, Barry



This is a scene from our corridor looking
towards the Rio Corona, showing the tier
effect of our plantings.   

     The stay down at our adobe hideaway was pleasant enough, but it was a bit exasperating to listen to my side's pundits and commentators at times.  It is simply disappointing to think that there is still  anyone who can say something like, "Why can't Obama see that his measures are hurting America?".    Or,  Saints preserve us, "Obama needs to go to the Rio Grande Valley and see this crisis with The Children."

     Once again, Conservatives in all 57 States, and every member of the Marine Corpse must remember that every single move made by Obama and his minions has been made deliberately.   Every single move, programme, and measure has been made specifically and purposely to diminish, disable, and degrade the grandeur and prosperity of the American Republic.   It is called Fundamental Transformation.

     We have seen the disabling of the Department of Justice.   All successes by the military in two relatively small but costly wars have been squandered by purposeful sabotage of the stand-down procedure.  Major private industrial projects are snidely shelved for "environmental reasons" related to a non-existent climate emergency.
     One of the reasons the Mexican President Pen~a Nieto has been slow to intervene in the case of the Marine being detained in Tecate, Baja California is because Obama has never addressed the culpability of the ATF and E in the matter of the Fast and Furious disaster.  Eric Holder snidely assured the Congress that he was working on finding answers about the programme, when, in fact, nothing has been done.  Hillary would not address the issue, nor has Secretary John Kerry Munster.

We have a nice crop of avocados coming
off, probably in late August.

    Mexican potentates have their flaws and foibles....usually including arrogance....and they are particularly grumpy when the American presidency indirectly manages to get a couple of thousand Mexican innocents killed  and wounded by automatic weapons being fed into the country.   Of course American sensibilities are offended by many Mexican excesses and offences, too numerous to mention.   But resolution of issues will never be on any agenda drawn up by Obama.   It is a wonder relations are as good as they are, and the cause might be the good fortune of benign neglect.
     Pointless overhaul of the medical industry was, is, and will continue to be a disaster for the economy and the culture.  The Obama Socialised Medicine Initiative will be the crowning Pamper in the Parking Lot of his administration.   Thoroughly corrupt and corrupting.   It really must be overturned, rescinded, and repealed.

Alvaro finishes the repair of the main central
support beam.  We installed a steel pipe as a
"tip" piece on both ends.  The old extension
had been damaged by exposure to weather
but the beams on the inside are in perfect
order.

     The ridiculous becomes sublime when an Army deserter can be raised  to the level of honourable victim....even giving him rank when, at best he was AWOL and at worst was an enemy combatant, a deserter, and a traitor.   And to imagine trading five leading elements in the panoply of  Islamic extremists for a deserter.    At each turn in the ever-changing explanations about the conditions, Obama lied and his lackeys lied. 

     The Benghazi affair continues to putrefy and the stench has spilled into the collapse of the Syria - Iraq - Middle Eastern disintegration.   It could not have been co-ordinated better by the White House to demoralise and denigrate the American military and America's cultural and commercial interests.   I assure the readers that the general sentiment of the military personnel who served through the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars is very broadly negative.  The reaction of the West Point graduates to Obama's absurd graduation address represents a good measure of how the rest of the military feels about Our Favourite Manchurian.

     This entire "sudden crisis" of illegal aliens pouring into the country is something that was not at all sudden.  It has been building from Central America, especially over the past three years.  Anchor-babying, the ill, the retarded,  the criminal,  and the indolence that is coming upon us has been all but recruited by carefully executed, illegal changes to the detention orders and procedures put into place by Obama and his ogres. 
     One could listen to Guatemalan radio coming out of Guatemala City, wherein talk programmes would openly discuss how to make it into the United States and "evaporate" by not reporting for a deportation hearing before an administrative judge.   "Just don't report for your hearing date.  And do not remain in the city or place where your hearing is."   It is like orientation and training lectures.  Many of these last batches of several thousand came to the Rio Grande on their own, with no "coyotes" as guides and organisers.  They negotiated the Rio Grande on their own, and literally flagged down Border Patrol agents and turned themselves in.
      Because of the sheer numbers, and the abnormally high number of children, the system clogged-up and the Border Patrol had no place to store the people.   The illegals were given permission papers and were allowed to leave under a promise to appear at a later date.   It helped if the person had a family member or friend somewhere in the United States who could forward bus fare, and then the Border Patrol would take the aliens and dependents to the McAllen Bus Terminal.   Churches in the area and the Salvation Army have helped with food, clothing, and in some cases boarding the aliens briefly and providing money, transportation, and baby supplies

     It is a mess, and it was all done purposely.  The 2011 assertion by Obama that "The border is secure.   The border has never been more secure," which is frequently repeated by Homeland Security Obama-lackeys  is just another Obama act of arrogant mendacity.   So, Barry....Please stay away. 

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     In other news,  the drive up was mainly accomplished in a moderate to heavy rain.   It was  also the case that the militarisation of the State of Tamaulipas has been fully implemented.  There were at  least 5,000 Federal Civil Police, Army, and Naval Infantry, by a fairly careful count.   There were five check-points, all in good order and functioning professionally.   Throughout the State there are a couple of score thousand effectives at this time.
El Gringo Viejo

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He's baaaaccckkkkkk

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      We finished our drive through the rain and arrived back in the Magic Lower Rio Grande Valley during the early afternoon hours.  We anticipate drafting some remarks and observations before midnight.   Thanks for staying with us.

 

El Gringo Viejo

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