Tuesday 24 December 2019

Various folks have asked for this account of times past in McAllen, and "Why the name 'Nolana'" (transferred from our Facebook submissions)


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   Sometime back, long ago, we published a response to the question, "…How did Nolana Boulevard (in McAllen, Texas) get its name?".


     This condensed missive will attempt to explain how it happened.   Nolana was named for my mother.   Back when McAllen, Texas was in fairly rapid expansion the poobahs and shamans of city management tried to stay ahead of planning necessities.   As they platted the possible / probable extension of the city, especially north and south (the only alternatives), it was necessary to do mundane things like naming the streets in order to keep to the theme of "alphabetised east-west streets and numerical for north and south streets". 

     They wanted to avoid the disaster that occurred with the naming of La Vista through to Harvey Drive… four east-west streets that were foolishly named in a heater-skelter manner in north McAllen.   Some lazy-boned City poobahs failed to think ahead to find really good alphabetised trees that could   
be used for the X,Y, and Z streets.

     So anyway…one day, while at the barber shop, the City Manager, Bill Schupp,  was jawing about the the problem of the "streets straddling North Tenth" when their number for naming would come up.  Northern expansion was inevitable for the City.  As they went it had been planned that the naming in this stretch had to be of flowers, while always  being mindful to name the streets alphabetically when their number came up.  As they went, when it came to the "N-word", and the flower's name had been chosen to be "narcissus".

    During those days, the far north of McAllen still lay in county domain.  The street that would be named "narcissus" was still a gravel road, under the maintenance of the County of Hidalgo.  The commissioner of that area was the horribly horrible Commissioner Charlie Curtis.

    Mr. Schupp inferred to all that the naming that particular conduit would need a military name or something very neutral because it was something very big since it was slated to become a major East - West corridor through near-north McAllen.

     Supposedly, all these important menprofessional barbers, businessmen, high city officials, Latin and Anglo, commence to jaw and speculate for a long while.   Finally the barber shop's Bootblack, a Mr. Henry Wright (blacker than an 8-ball on a pool table), says, "You all are trying' to make somethin' really easy into somethin' really complicated." (Henry is talking while going about his regular duties, sweeping up hair on the floor, arranging the last used chair, etc. and generally keeping the place looking clean, businesslike, and pleasant.)
     "You all need to think. there's a lady who sits on the City's Traffic and Safety Commission...she ran the March of Dimes for the County...she did most of the last Census for the County...she's the past President of the McAllen Parents and Teachers Association, she volunteers at the Episcopal Church up on Tenth Street,  she works at the Electric Power company now,  she's raised up three boys, she helped her husband in their big grove care business for 20 years, an' that's Mrs. Newton."

    And the City Manager responded,"Then we name the street 'Newton', as in Sir Isaac Newton?" somewhat dismissively.
   My older brother and I held our tongues because Mr. Schupp, the City Manager, was a very highly regarded figure in McAllen.


NOW HERE WE DIVERGE A BIT:

      Henry White was easily in the top five or ten personalities in McAllen; it was neither because of his Black African ancestry nor in spite of it.    He was, simply stated, just a truly good man, husband, father, friend, and community member.   He backed down from no one, and he helped anyone.   Besides working at the barber shoppe, he and his wife owned and operated a janitorial service.   They had essentially permanent contracts with the Methodist Church, the First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the McAllen State Bank, and several other top-drawer businesses.

     Henry and his wife had the keys to all the above, and several others.   It was such that when there was a need to enter one of the above buildings due to a possible breach during the wee-early morning hours, the Police would come to Mr. Henry to have him open up the facility under concern.

     So now, back to the main story.   He started, "Well, now Mr. Manager, there is a plant or a palm, I don't know which, but it will serve the purpose.   Miz Hendricks says it be a palm, but Mr. Knops says it might be a purslane or a moss rose that grows under the citrus after an irrigation.   But it is called a Nolana flower and you gentlemen could kill two big birds with one little stone if you would just name the street, "Nolana".   We could make a small honour to Miz Nola, and a small, classy change for McAllen, if you would just call your fancy new street of the future, "Nolana".

     It is very necessary to understand that Mr. Henry Wright, was a black man where there were very few (less than 1% of the local population).  He was already famous as the father of sons who were commissioned and non-commissioned  officers in the United States Army, and of two daughters who were Registered Nurses.  When younger, these children helped in the janitorial business without complaint, and later, one-by-one, joined the ranks of responsible professionals because of that discipline and investment by their parents.

     Once again we state that Mr. Wright and his wife were easily among the top ten couples of distinction in the city of McAllen at that time.   They were something along the lines of "Uncle Bill" Whalenone of McAllen's most important businessmen.


IN QUICK ORDER:

 
A bedding of Nolana flowers in full bloom
   In fairly quick and due course my mother was summoned to the Ordinary Session of  the City Council, about a month after the get-together at the barber shop.  Mr. Dillard Dean, businessman and Gasoline Station owner (10th and Pecan, southwest corner) had the gavel and called all to order.

   He then called my mother to the "big table" and advised her that the City of McAllen was changing the designation of the name of the gravel road temporarily designated as N - street.    It had been determined that the designation of the name of the street would be a name that would honour both the person who inspired the naming and the attractive flower, the Nolana.

    That much, that session, I can attest to because I was present when it occurredas a somewhat bored, somewhat interested eleven year old "pre-delinquent".  My mother feigned distress about the whole matter being done without her previous knowledge.  She said it wasn't fair and one thing or another, to which Mr. Shoup and Mr. Dean told her to be quiet and accept the accolades that she certainly deserved.   They also agreed that the recommendation had originated with one Henry Wright, great citizen, McAllen, Texas.

     And that, Virginia, is the whole story of the naming of what is now one of McAllen's main boulevards.
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     In 1966, seven years after all the above and 24 years after buying and building a farmstead on the property, the family sold their 22 acres at what is now the Southeast corner of 10th Street and Nolana, and moved to Austin, Texas.  There my father established himself as a professional psychologist and where I took a degree at what was then Southwest Texas State University in nearby San Marcos, Texas.   It was also where my mother continued her activity and service as a Robin at St. David's Hospital and as the manager of St. David's Church (Episcopal) "Next to New" shoppe in downtown Austin.

    And yes, I still remember running up and down the gravel road out front of our rambling house in the country, with my cats chasing after me and our dogs chasing after our cats and rabbits.  It was a wondrous time.

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    • Jo Ann Able Castro thanks for the details
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    • George Stearns David, I recall that his name was Henry Wright and not White. He was as fine a man as I ever knew, as was his Edinburg counterpart Otis Bell. I heard more than once that Henry might have been the only man who could have walked into either McAllen bank and borrowed money on just his signature. He was shining shoes in Jack Hale's barbershop on Main where I got my very first haircut from a real barber.
      3
    • David Christian Newton We challenged Henry White / Wright several times about that. He said, (speaking to my brother Norman and me) you boys just don't worry about White or Wright, or Black or Back. Just vote Republican and root for the Brooklyn Dodgers." and then he woSee more

Monday 2 December 2019

Heading down to the Adobe Hut…a few observations...

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     The following "stream of consciousness" posting is a series of lamentations, celebrations, and observations that follow me around when driving long distances or when staying fairly alone and in an isolated environment.

(1)   TO BEGIN -  When "FREE" is not "FREE"

     A very small nuisance that is very frequently visited upon my feeble ears is the breathless statement by an announcer or other type of spokesman that the sale of this or that product has the nicety of providing shipping of the purchased product…."Absolutely Free".
     Such a jackassinine statement is grating at best, and insulting at worst.   Any fool would know that the "Absolutely Free" assignment to any service or product is false upon arrival.   The correct way of phrasing the matter is to declare that,"… and...your nuclear-powered hair-piece that guarantees the growth of new hair at the rate of four inches per day also includes the cost of delivery to your address."

     Every time an announcer or announcerette declares that he or she is giving me something 'FOR FREE', I want to declare a small World War III or have a temper-transome (a word I made up), or retire to a cave and wait for the final millennium.  It must be declared to be "included in the price posted" or it is a lieit is not "FREE!!!!"

     If a person has to payincluding the price of shipmentit simply is not "FREE..!!!!!"
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(2)   AND THEN, WHEN FOOLS CONTRADICT REALITY

     There is a certain grating of the fingernails on the blackboard when a fool or a blathering idiot, who has somehow managed to crawl into a position that requires discretion and protocol, also requires that a superior member of humanity must smile quietly and suffer any insult or abuse so as not to cause a scene.

The Basilica of Saint Peter
     For instance…aud it is a powerful instance…we review the episode of when when the bat-crazy, wild-eyed, bonker-nuts commie-lite, majestySister Nancy Pelosi...came out at the Basilica, after a lengthy private meeting with the Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church…(Diocese of the Whole, so to speak)…and then explain in halting gibberish how the cow ate the whole bag of marshmallows.
     With all the Roman falderal and majesty of Saint Peter's Basilica behind her, and fresh from an "audience" with the Holy Father, her Bat-crazy Highness  addressed the assembled fellow commies in the press corps and declared that the Pope is a nice man, perhaps, but he is very weak on matters that are important, such as abortion, and women's rights, and poverty, and hunger and on and on and on.  She managed to finish with a flourish by declaring that she and the legion of women who are active as women are more educated about such matters that are important to "women's issues".

     It was absolutely slam-staggering to watch this horrid womana socialist, speak with authority about morality and duty and such matters …while denigrating a person widely considered to be among the very most learned persons concerning Judeo - Christianic history and tradition, among the most brilliant authorities concerning matters pertaining to the development and spread of Christianity and the orthodox complexities, and a myriad of other points.
     And  remember, this writer is perhaps the worst to deal with for a Roman Catholic, in that El Gringo Viejo  is an old-line, unreconstructed Anglican of the Catholic predisposition.  I am an exponent of the 1556 original Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Englandand one who lamented the untimely death of the Book of Common Prayer when the humanist-liberal (read "pinko") theologians "improved" the Episcopal "prayer book" with watered-down bilge-speak and meaningless ink spilled on vapid paper.
     So, the OROGs and new visitors to this island in the sea of madness, will understand that a follower of Henry the VIIIth is not especially disposed to follow all of the precepts and positions of the Roman Catholic communion.   Great similarities yes, but identical…not so much.

     HOWEVER, in a "guess who is coming to dinner" moment, the reader can be assured that El Gringo Viejo would not think very long about whether to have a nice supper with the precious Bishop of Rome (the Pope), or Lady Bat-crazy Nancy.   And yes, I know that the Bishop of Rome, when Nancy was doing her "press-conference", is no longer in Office.   There is a lesser man…a veritable fountain of humanist philosophy…serving now as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church…lamentably. 


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(3)   AND THEN, ANOTHER GRUMPWORTHY WHINEY COMPLAINT:

     And now, a last note, neither lengthy nor short…the avalanche of notifications and advertisements that deal with the need to engage an attorney because some person's grandmother had venereal disease and it was aggravated by George Bush because she couldn't get out of the way of an AMTRAK running at 88 m.p.h. and a dinosaur vomited on her windshield because her father molested her and stole her bag of meth.  Bring on the Attorney Brigade.

     Folksespecially you young whippersnappers who are under 60 years of age…there was a time when attorneys and doctors of medicine, etc did not advertise on the radio or television, or in the periodicals.   Medical practice and Legal practice has not improved since such advertising became '' de jour" tour"!
Fairly typical work by "dumb"
 Mexican Tarascan Indians
 who work in Texas with
 papers.
 The cantera work above can
 be readily found somewhere
 in the new-antique Austin,
 Texas area.
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       In all of our dealings in the last few thousand years, we remember Dr. Munal coming out to the house…way out in the country…to treat a common "wetback" who had suffered a moderately messy injury.  The Mexican was a workaholic who required of himself to accomplish everything perfectly and totally on-time.   My father was somewhat angry with him for "over-working" because these Mexicans from the Tarascan Indian group…even if diluted with Caucasian blood to a degree...were famous for fixing perfectly small and medium sized mechanical problems.
     For instance, they are still recognised as profound masters in the shaping, finishing, laying, and mounting-for-permanence massive slabs of cantera stone.   As well, the tiny detail work, with smalls slabs and chinksthey are all in the work of the day.

      SoDr. Munal would come out to anywhere where there were "Wetbacks" (Mexicans without papers) or Braceros.  The latter group were Mexicans (with papers) for 180 days up to 1,000 days with "semi-permanent" residency.   The clock did not have hands, he would say.   He was also the only Doctor of record for 99% of all ailments pertaining to the Newton family. He and his nurses stabbed many holes in my hide from my age 2 through 17 years, (1949 - 1965).

     But now we have Medicaid, Medicare, exceptional care, Insurance Unkown, Inc., Reverse Intro-reinsertional Devaluative Insurance, along with  Combined Amalgamated Insurance, Bonzo interference Receptors systems insurance.  Thank the Lord God Yahweh that He saw fit to intervene in the affairs of His human creations.

   Too much politicstoo much upper and lower houses of Congress trying to buy votes with the dollars of the voters.

More later.  We shall be out and about in our little hideaway in NoWhere, Mexico for the next few days.   Give us a shout out and we shall return your emails upon return.  Old fashionedbut it works

EL GRINGO VIEJO
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Wednesday 20 November 2019

A Survey of Autopsies of an Event…After much ado about something…the bad guys wound up in last place, again…Does a turn towards normalcy await…? (Amended - 16:05 hours, Wednesday, 20 November 2019)


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THE GREAT PYRAMID OF THE SUN CAN BE SEEN
TO THE UPPER - LEFT OF THE ABOVE SCENE
This is an unadulterated image of the Archeological Site of Teotihuecan.
  It is so ancient that it scared the be-jillies out of the people who came to be
 known as the "AZTECS" who wandered down from around the Arizona area
 of to-day.   The Aztecs (aka - Nahua) arrived in the Valley of Mexico around 1345
 and were overthrown by the Spanish and their Indian allies in 1521. This
 arrangementwas attributed to the Toltec Nation which occupied a California
sized area for 1,000 years, leaving for the East around 600 A.D. to meld and
inter-relate with the Northern  Maya.
   The architecture above influenced the Aztecs greatly.  
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      The following is a bit of reporting by a brave journalist for the Laredo Morning Times.   While the Obsolete media ignores, does not analyse, and generally refuses to report anything that does not forward the Obsolete Media's notion of what the American culture should be as a Peoples' Socialist Democracy with (Sir Edmund) Hillary Rodham and the Chappaqua - Hyannis Port nexus  and  so as to reflect the formation of a society that was predicted in Orwell's 1984 tome.

    The journalist Cesar Rodriquez exposed himself to considerable risk to report the good, the bad, and the ugly.   He was the reporter of record for the Laredo (Texas)  Morning Times who produced much of this narrative.  It follows
     Five "suspected" gunmen died Tuesday night in a firefight with armed forces in northwest Nuevo Laredo, adding the death toll to 12 in the last couple days in the city, according to Tamaulipas authorities.   
READ MORE:
     A government official said gunmen attacked the Mexican army regiment in Nuevo Laredo. Soldiers returned fire, killing five people. Authorities said the suspected gunmen were dressed in military uniforms and were armed with high-powered rifles. They were on board of an armored pickup, authorities said.
     Prior to this firefight, gunmen ambushed state police officers at a gasoline station in Nuevo Laredo. Two cops sustained non life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
     At about 10 p.m., more than 100 people, including children, arrived at the Colón Plaza hotel on Avenida César López de Lara and Paseo Colón, where state police officers are housed.   The group protested "police abuse." They too tried to prevent the entrance and exit of police units.   Authorities dispersed the crowd with tear gas and used a tactical unit to crash into parked vehicles blocking the pathway, Mexican media reported.   (These people are frequently drawn from those who are trying to gain entry into the United States although they have no documents, papers,  or anything such stuff,  much less a visitor's visa or entrance visa.   The cucarachas essentially use these people under threat of death or beatings and/or the sale of children ostensibly belonging to parents who form part of the human tidal wave of unqualified entry people.)   It is well that the authorities used tear gas and "wrecker" type vehicles from the Army that can do a lot of damage to autos being thrown around the "protesters" forming a "corral" of humanity.   
     Earlier in the day Tuesday, seven gunmen died in a clash with Tamaulipas state police officers in West Nuevo Laredo.
READ MORE:
     Personnel of the Special Operations Group of the Tamaulipas Analysis, Information, and Studies Center said they returned fire after gunmen attacked them near the airport by Colonia 150 Aniversario.   This group is almost Brittanic and ever-dry, emotionless Joe Friday combination…"Just the facts, ma'am"
   "Holmes!!!  I'm giving you fair warning…this is Her Majesty's case and not yours!!!"

      Friday's, '' Just the facts, ma'am" is becoming the new procedural approach of the Mexican Military's and the Constabulary's analysis of events pertaining to these encounters.   What choices we must make, and what risks we must take, in order to move Mexico to the point where it should be.
RETURNING TO THE ISSUE AT HAND:
     Those cucaracha suspects were also wearing imitation military uniforms, authorities said.
     In total, authorities said 12 sicarios (bad guys) died in the gun battles. Those gunmen are suspected to be part of the "Tropa del Inferno" (Troop from Hell).     That group allegedly carried out the recent attacks of police officer's setting up an inspection point on the Nuevo Laredo - Piedras Negras Highway and shooting up another hotel on the edge of Nuevo Laredo, where a state cop died. 
     Late Tuesday (12 October, 2019), Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca tweeted that he sent a letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
It read:
       "I am requesting an appointment with President (López Obrador). I do not see the support from federal security forces to face organized crime in Tamaulipas. It is the state police who are fighting them," Cabeza de Vaca said on Twitter.
   This urgent message was sent from the Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, the above-mentioned Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca.   He further stated in the letter,
   "We are observing with concern recent violent incursions that aim to take control of routes and plazas (important social and commercial zones). The cases of the municipalities (counties) of Miguel Aleman and Nuevo Laredo are a direct challenge to the three levels of government. This is the evidence that criminals will take advantage of any gap or void left by authorities."
READ MORE:
      Seven gunmen dead, and several cartel "soldiers" were wounded and/or arrested by  after attacking Tamaulipas police near Nuevo Laredo airport .   It is essentially a major victory in a local sense because among the police officers, only one was slightly woundedthis is the report of everyonecitizens, doctors at the Muguerza Hospital (one of several very fine hospitals in Nuevo Laredo, it is a private / Roman Catholic / with a wealthy family's endowment), the police, and the despaduchines (ruffians) who were arrested and put into the "Gran Hotel Los Rechezados".  (Deluxe Hotel of the Refuse, {State/Federal Prison}).
   And yes, Virginia, I have great confidence in the word of Cesar G. Rodriguez…he is a true  "worker bee".  

     Our point is…we are having the same problems in Texas and the United States.   The deaths and wounded, on a per capita basis, are roughly the same, one to the other, in terms of Texas and/or the United States as compared to Mexico.   As I contemplated the message this screed was going to render up to an ever expanding audience.
     I thought,…There are those who think that we need to strip everyone of their guns…because..."they are like little boys playing "Cowboys and Indians".
     The fact is, we need more people who have catechism, a moral bearing, who can bear arms with discernment and good judgement, especially in Mexico.    

     César G. Rodriguez is a reporter for the Laredo, Texas Morning Times.   I have great confidence in his accounts and casualty reports that show that the bad guys really cannot stand up to even the common policemen when the people back up the copslong known  to have slight armaments, almost nothing automatic, and almost nothing in terms of offensive weaponspistols, revolvers, semi-automatic 40s and 45s.   The Army and Naval Infantry of the Mexican military   
     The nice thing is that the cucarachas (cockroaches) have fancy guns, but they do not maintain themand any rifle or pistol user knows that the life and the usefulness of a good firearm depends upon the holder to keep it "fed, bedded, and wedded".


This is a small detachment of Mexican Army Infantry.  Bullets
bounce off of the tires, the soldiers are well-trained and disciplined.
The Comunis Populis does not flee from the Army or Naval Infantry
but rather,  if there are no detonations, they tend to feel as though
their "tax dollars at work" are pesos are  actually working and they
seek closeness to the Military and Cops they know from experience
who are "Okay"….
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     The Mexican Army performed bravely and effectively on this occasion.      Such a response is not uncommon at all.  In this matter, one soldier was lost.  A couple were wounded, but not seriously.   The final count of sicarios (unlawful ones)who burned two busses, two transport trucks, and various motorcars of the common populace (rich, poor, middle)some snazzy and up-scale, others "still running" , amounting to, as best I can tell, eight such privately held vehicles was nearly 22 dead, and 19 seriously wounded and imprisoned and 20 taken directly to arraignment and "incarcelacion" (imprisonment to await a judge).
   And, after all was said and done, other responsible analysts declared that 18 cucarachas had been killed, and nineteen were slurping up Pesos of public funds (money) while being given plasma, blood, medical services, fluids, food, communication to mommy, while the Mexicans and the tourists pay the freight.  It was of interest to this observer that there was so much coverage and precision…and that the numbers of dead, wounded, and so forth carried though without much deviation.   It is becoming something more akin to the television programmes about Forensics, and process, and investigations.  

THE AMERICAN COUNSEL:
     Useless.
   "Four days ago there was an incident in which there..blah, blah, blah.therefore we are issuing travel-warning…..blah, blah, blah…" although from Reynosa (for instance), every day, over 250 busses leave the terminal from Reynosa to Mexico City, Poza Rica (VeraCruz), Monterrey, Mazatlan, San Luis Potosi…and scores of other destinations, every day with 25 or 35 or more passengers per departure, etc.
  Many millions of passenger miles are logged from just that one departure point…and 99.99999999999% of the people who ride the bus…quite nice busses….survive and arrive at their destinations after having had decent rest-stops…much improved servicios sanitarios  (rest-rooms)…and even edible, tasty food and cold soft drinks and beer.   There are even departures with the fancy Mexican Autobusses  that depart from McAllen.
     We recommend for long trips, the service ETN.  Folksdo not believe any negative or positive news from the American Embassy or Counsel, or from the Obsolete Press.  Even if their reporting is somewhat accurate, it is frequently really, really out of date.  If not out of date, the Obsolete Press, the various counsels and the Embassy-issued "warnings" and "advisories" that are oblique, opaque, foggy, wrong, and impossible to interpret.
     We are not condemning the English, but the context which frequently would serve for someone trying to use the instructions to go to Bangladesh by way of the Moon in a hot-air balloon.  

BREAKING NEWS:(less than 12 hours ago)

   GASOLINE CONVOY LIBERATED BY  MEXICAN ARMY TROOPS FROM THE HANDS OF CUCARACHAS WHO HAD COMMANDEERED A LONG CONVOY OF GASOLINE TANKER TRUCKS!!

   Mexican Army "neutralises" forty sicarios (thugs)…4,000,000 Dollar theft of regular and supreme fuel…"interrupted"!!!   Cartel gunmen in "military style" uniforms all captured, wounded, with several killed.

   (We separate the mentions of the two wounded because we do not wish to include their names or presence in the same paragraph as those who are sicarios).  Two Mexican Army soldiers were wounded and are recovering.

     This event occurred in an unreleased location in Northern Mexico.   The gasoline had been bought and paid for from a large PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos) operation that has accommodations for tanker trucks.  The tanker trucks were carrying gasoline to a zone of mines in an area that is famous for gold, silver, and copper.  There are also large deposits of other valuable minerals used in industry throughout North America and Texas. it was a moment of celebrationguardedbut a celebration in many homes, saloons, restaurants,  beauty parlours, schools, etc.etc.etc.

     It would appear, based upon these announcements, radio and television interruptions for a "news update", and the sudden quickening of the pulse of the organised classes of Mexicans who have some or considerable catechism and patriotism,  we might be awakening from the "Abrazos y no Balazos" (hugs and not slugs - bullets).
    Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) might ought to be considering a re-thinking about bullets and hugs, perhaps taking a long vacation in Cancun, and letting the better elements of the Mexican Army and Naval infantry take charge for 24 months with an imposition of martial administration.   It is my sincerest hope.

     Your humble servant and his Consuegro are trapped in this corner of reality.   We watch blips, pieces, and clips about stories dealing with the violence in Mexico…which is terribly real.  BUT, the overstatements, the analysis from the ignorant fog up the American and the world-wide understanding about what is going on.   It is both simple and complex.  Some day…hopefully soon…my Consuegro and I will be able to explain the simplicity and complexity of Mexico.

More later,
EL GRINGO VIEJO
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