Grumpy child…Very Grumpy Old Man

__________________________

     One of the Hallmarks of a spoiled child is that he / she may have been last born.   Frequently, the eldest child becomes an aunt / uncle-in-law because they "are older and more reliable" than the younger children who need more supervision and are, frankly, ignorant and self-involved.   The youngest can, if not correctly directed, be waited upon, hand over foot, and pampered to the extreme.   These last born children are, without a doubt, almost always demanding, petulant, and accustomed to pampered treatment and deference.

     This writer has done extensive study and analysis concerning this Cosmic phenomena and the rule of: "Those who are last will demand preferential treatment from birth until the end of Eternity".  We have drawn many observations and reliable conclusions about this phenomena over the years.  These conclusions have been developed into what  is now known in the Hebraic, Islamic, and Christian writings as the "Rule of Joseph", and is translated from the Bungumbi language of the Trans-oceanic races of the East as "What have you done for me lately?"

     We vigorously reject any notion that this writer has a predilection or a prejudice for his own race or social position or sibling position.  After all, it is no fault of mine that I was last born.   It was necessary to be close to my parents at a time such as that.

    During my trek through life various things have come to my attention and require either abolition or considerable reconstruction.  For instance:

    (1)   While enduring televised material, there are advertisements that include the informative parenthetical, "…and your in-room manure-spreader can be yours for the low, low price of  $239.99 if your order now…this is a never before offered discount of over 50%!!!    AND if you call with the next 1,600 seconds, we'll throw in another in-home manure spreader ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!  THAT'S RIGHT, ABSOLUTELY FREE, (just pay extra fee)."

Yes, Virginia those on top are
nearing graduation at a major
Ivy League University.  The
frame below is the last
 graduating class.
_________________

    Putting this is the most delicate terms possible, whomsoever falls for that spiel…a spiel that is frequently broadcast apparently to college and high school educated Zombis...is essentially aimed at dolts who are certifiably non compos mentis.  The vendor could much more easily propose the purchase of one indoor dung slinger for 239.99 or two for 449.99…a good discount and a relief of storage problem for the vendor.   No lies, no trickster tricks, just a good deal for the buyer and the seller.

     Of course, when El Gringo Viejo is put in charge of everything, out of respect for free speech and artistic license, I shall imprison anyone who buys anything that is presented as free and then advised that "the following extra fees are required".

     All those who are arrested will be placed in zoos where they will be put in charge of "display sanitation", cleaning the cages and precincts of major mammals.   They will learn and love the anthem from Chairman Mao, "Oh! How I Love to Carry Dung to the Dung Heap for Chairman Mao" (that was an actual song for children in primary to start the morning).

     For our superior Dung Carriers, we shall provide professional improvement programmes including travelling to Russia, where the participants will learn on their familiarisation walk that..."It's a Long Way to Vladivostok, When It's Forty Below."

___________________

(2)     CROSS OVER THE BRIDGE:

     Many folks might wonder why we have not brought forward pictures and/or news of our place down in NoWhere, Mexico and so forth.   Oddly enough, we continue in the same bucket of bureaucratic mud that leaves us in a position of not being able to go down because there is no reasonable assurance that I can return without impediment.
     After about two or three weeks of traffic over the bridges on the Texas - Mexican Frontier with a count of 100 or 200 per crossing-point PER DAY…just to-day there were official reports of "wait-time" (a common service by especially AM Radio stations on the Border) back up to the one to two hours for a majority of the international crossing points.   That would mean, for instance, at the McAllen - Hidalgo - Reynosa bridge two or three thousand or four thousand vehicles would be crossing back and forth, and the lines were long again, and the time consumed to cross was interminable.

     Were I to cross over from Mexico to Texas, the federal officers are required to ask about my immunity papers with reference to the new coronavirus problem, especially knowing that I had been to the interior of Mexico.  The officers at the crossing point can tell because my vehicle's windshield will have a Mexican sticker in the upper centre of the windshield that declares the vehicle a Texas vehicle, and it is a legally introduced and operated vehicle in Mexico.  Mexico has a similar procedure.
     So, then the officer will ask, "Do you have your immunity certificate?"   One runs the risk both ways of being an un-dotted "i" or a misspelled word.   The Mexican officers are a little more lax or indulgent, although if the wife was horsey and complaining at supper last night, the inspection officer might be a bit grumpy and picky.
     One can run, for instance, the chance of being interned and quarantined for two weeks,   where, in Texas, I do not know.  It is an American federal officer's decision.   I might be turned back…relegated to a hotel in downtown Reynosa which is pleasant enough, but a lot of wasted time and money for no good reason.
    Over the years, I have been over and across the border literally thousands of times.   Our excursion company had, besides my humble self, various employees who served as tour escorts or guides, and we carried to the interior of Mexico and back many thousands of clients…all with an incredibly minuscule amount of molestation or incompetence on the part of the authorities.

     So, there we are.  Having been totally familiar with this, and that, and the other in terms of crossing over, and crossing back, and visiting, or living in, or being a business counsellor,  or owning property and a home that we built in Mexico…suddenly I am leery of my new landscape…on both sides of the Rio Grande (aka: Rio Bravo del Norte).   On the other hand, the Methuselah  Effect might save me…"Look at that old Geezer.   He's been coming and going here since my grandfather was a Customs Officer…I'll bet the Old Geezer has a little Gold Mine down there the Mexican outback."
     It has all become terribly confusing.

_________________________

We shall more, very quickly if at all possible.

EL GRINGO VIEJO

__________________________

I come to identify and describe Nancy, not to praise her

_________________________________

   Our previous submission to the attention of the OROG community and the world in general concerned a bit of background on the Trump - line of continuum from Germany to America. We also dabbled a bit in foreign affairs of these moments as well my estimate of the incumbent President.  My Consuegro (in Spanish - He, the father-in-law of my daughter and I, the father-in-law of his son) after reviewing my quick-clic summary about things Trump, suggested in his own inimitable way that I had not done anything about the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, 2nd pretender to the Presidency and titular known as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America.

Nancy Patricia A'lesandro Pelosi 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and 
second in line to the Presidency of the United States

____________________________________

     She is a troubled work in progress, regress, and distress it seems at all times.   She recently has managed to undergo some kind of new facial intervention that has placed her eyebrows about eight inches above her eyes.  That kind of work has to be admired.   We include a less recent image of Madame Speaker so that folks might be able to recall what she used to look like when her eyebrows were only five inches above her pupils.   

     The Honourable Speaker is one of those classic Democrats who weeps before the crowds and cameras when the plight of the poor and the neglected people are overlooked.  But, when showing her modest home in Oakland, she seems to have stone ear-drums, babbling without taking a breathe for several minutes (seemingly) about her 12,000 dollar ice-cream maintainer and her scores and scores of pints and quarts of 10 to 20 dollar per container, imported and mainly French (apparently) product.   She seemed to take on the fervour of a very young child speaking over the visiting reporter's questions and turning her back frequently while the cameraman was trying to make "worthwhile" images of one of the most powerful people in the American government.

 

Even the leftwing, late night people could not resist
 a bit of fun at the Speaker's expense.
___________________________________

  We have a "cleaned-up" version of Speaker Nancy's presentation of the inner workings of her refrigerator - freezer.  This is because we do not wish to diminish the fact that her generosity in exposing the inner workings of her home and the secrets of her inner-most desires in terms of food choices.

     It amazes us that Madam Speaker can make ends meet in terms of keeping her nice but understated home in Oakland, California.    Her Speaker's salary is presently $223,500 and certain expenses.  Of course, some of this salary, being far from adequate for a person of such importance is buffered a bit by her net worth totalling near $240,000,000 United States Dollars including Nancy's and her husband's net worth is something in excess of that, I am given to understand.  The recent jiggle in the economic situation may have had some negative impact on

Paul and Nancy Pelosi
2019 

______________________

the Pelosi's estate, but I am relatively certain that they will not have to chew on leather in order to abate their hunger.
     Mr. Pelosi, while surely a likeable fellow has established an interesting record of dabbling in almost everything from being a vintner to a Triple A baseball magnate, and a Triple A football magnate and just generally being around at the right time and at the right place to make a buck or two.

    Please understand that my wife and I are in what might be "comfortable condition" economically (primarily due to to the Boss,  not me).  We do not sneer with jealousy nor resentment at those who have much.   We do look down on those who have benefitted politically from their wealth, and then simultaneously have benefitted in terms of wealth due to their political positioning.
     This is the somewhat convoluted manner of thinking by an Old Confederate type who believes in some variation of natural social assignment.  As well, I am democratic enough to applaud people of lesser resources who legally and morally work and invest to the extent that they become "comfortable" and financially well endowed.

     Frankly, while it is recognised that manoeuvring politically in order to gain the best results for one's party during Congressional combat, it seems that Madame Speaker is disposed to bring writs of impeachment against a President for the high crimes and misdemeanours such as (a) being President, and (b) having been elected President, and (c) having orange hair.
     She is also disposed to keep the Lower House of Congress somewhere outside of Washington, D.C. when there are important matter to discuss, debate, and prosecute, especially when there is significant urgency attached to the need to decide and move said Acts and Legislative processes to their necessary conclusions.    We Republicans to do those things, she would set up a howl that would raise the dead in the middle of the Sahara.  However, when she does it, it is something like Joe Biden trying to explain himself.  The Speaker makes so many hand, fingers, and arm thrashings it is if she is being attacked by a million invisible hornets.   I have often wondered, if there were a face-to-face between Old Auntie Nancy and Old Uncle Joe which one would land the first and final accidental knock-out punch.

     Finally, I present the evidence against this Speaker of the House concerning hubris.  She was brought up in grand style, her daddy I believe was Mayor of Baltimore at one time, and she attended the finest Roman Catholic schools one could possibly hope for;  truly excellent institutions.   One would consider that, once obtaining an audience with the Bishop of Rome (as he is known to us of the Anglican order) she went in to the Papal precincts and had her tete-a-tete with the Holy Father,  she apparently got her blows in, according to her accounting upon departure from the papal inner sanctum.  When asked about her impressions about meeting up with one of the most intelligent students of the Roman Catholic religion and several score other denominations and other religious institutions around the world, she gave answers that were tepid and pointless. Towards the end of her "holding court" at the gates that give entrance to the Basilica of SaintPeter, she declared that she had advised the Pope that his views concerning abortion were not something or another and a woman's right to choose was things that sometimes can be other things but everybody's rights must be protected because of the things that can be one way here and upside down, maybe over there…sometimes.

    We beg the indulgence of the readers because it must be understood that I tried my best to try to understand what in that name of Beelzebub the poor bat-crazy woman was trying to say but it was genuinely not understandable.   She had just had a meeting with the Pontiff and apparently, according to her, told him how the cow ate the Latin Bible.   She then addressed the group of pinko reporters and essentially advised them that she had advised the Pope that abortion is a woman's right, and religion has nothing to do with her choice.  So there.

It has been said that the above depiction is of a
a nation that is the smallest on Earth and perhaps the
most powerful…It is Vatican City.
________________________________

     There I shall rest my case and my points.   The contention is not resolvable.   If a Roman Catholic wishes to approve of abortion on demand for women, then I cannot resolve the dichotomy of the issue.   It is required that that Roman Catholic depart the church and find a new religious home.   Or a bunch of people who want to call themselves "Roman Catholics Who Favour Abortions" must charge into the Vatican's precincts and go hand to hand against the Swiss Guards, grasp the Pope, and drag him to the Adriatic Sea and throw him to the sharks.

     Then Mrs. Pelosi could be made Popess by Divine Acclamation and Planned Parenthood could establish a "sensible and accessible" women's needs clinic on the campus of Vatican City and have  the various governments in the world pay taxes into the operation so that all abortions can be free.   It is very improbable that any of the above solutions could be put into effect with any reasonable outcome.

After trying to re-assemble the Holy Roman Empire, it was decided best

for all to allow the Swiss Guards to put Humpty back together again.

I am certainly not the person indicated to re-establish Earthly Order.

We appreciate the attention of all, and we shall be back in the saddle

 to-morrow, trying our best to stamp out Socialism, whatever stripe

 it might be wearing at that time.

As usual, there will be more later.

Good Order, Gentlemen…stand at ease!

EL GRINGO VIEJO

________________________________

This needs to be addressed

___________________

     We have no idea why this relatively out of order previous submission has appeared from the past.  Peculiar things have been happening within the innards of my computer arrangements, and this "re-run" seemed to wish to be here at this time.

    Please enjoy this blast from the past.   There will be no extra charge.

_______________________

     Many reasonable readers of the Old Gringo's blogging oppose, support, and do not care about his opinion of Donald John Trump.  My impressions and attitude about him are herein revealed.   They are the same impressions that El Gringo Viejo had about the fellow from the beginning of awareness that such a person,  in fact,  existed.

     He presence first gave us the impression of a film-flam man.  Our natural instinct was to withdraw from his orbit so as to not allow his contamination of the Gringo Viejo's orbit.   As our mutual orbits aged, becoming more like "mutual obits" not much about our understanding of the man had changed.

     My character and personality is somewhat similar…self-centre'd, passive when action is needed, urgent when caution is required, skeptical about everything but believer in ghosts and extraterrestrials and things that go bump in the night (or daytime).

Friederich Trump

1870 - 1919

______________________

      El Gringo Viejo is a self-styled authority about everything except what does not interest him.   And even then, he still has a solid opinion about something that has never been considered or studied.   We could go on forever.   Trump has done his things and El Gringo Viejo has done his.  Now, my turn has come to opine and elucidate.

     Mr. Trump is a grandson of a man from Bavaria, the largest of the minor ancient Teutonic regencies, now a province in southwestern Germany.   That grandfather was quite an operator.  He truly wanted to go to North America and make his fortune, removed from the standard stodgy shackles of the aristocratic and royal autocrats and stuffed shirts.
   The original Mr. Frederich Trump as an American (or North American) phenomena came about back in the early 1870s, being close to his mother at a time such as that (birth), in a Germanic zone as the Kingdom of the Platinate, a very small Regency indeed.  To-day, Bavaria is a state within the German Republic, with the honour of being the largest such sub-division in the nation.
     The Trumps were neither wealthy nor poor.  They were involved at various levels in the business of the vintners in a very top-flight wine producing area. Freder sent to trade school to become a barber, and complied.  He came back to his home grounds of Kallstadt, to cut hair, but the town really was not big enough to make a man rich.  So he went and obtained a permit and passport to emigrate to the United States where he had blood relatives.

     He landed, passing by the newly installed Statue of Liberty, and went looking for his family.   He began cutting hair again, while also purchasing buildings, homes, and other such structures, fixing them up, and then "turning" them.   While still a young man, he set out to the American Pacific Coast and began dealing  in accommodations, restaurant service, saloon and dining hospitality, and certain other social services that the Reverend Mr.  Billy Graham and his family would not approve.   After forming a partnership and then selling his assets out at considerable gain, he and his partner went  "North, to Alaska" and  western Canada where he found a real live Gold Rush was, as rumoured, taking place.

This is the nature of a gold rush.
As usual, 20% make some or a lot of money,  and 75% make
 nothing or less.  And 5% make real money by owning and
 running hotels, saloons, hardware and necessaries stores,
 and 'entertainment' alternatives.
__________________________________

     We called it "The Alaskan Gold Rush" and the Canadians called it, "I say, what is all the noise?".    The Indians around there called it "Toi pikli toi cala" which in Eskimo means, "Well, there goes the neighbourhood.".

     And Friedrich Trump set about to make the area as nice a place as a place in the middle of nowhere, with a growing season measured in hours instead months, could be.
      Mr. Trump utilised his real estate and construction experience to build a couple of saloons, supposedly one a bit more discriminating than the other, and the other a bit more comfortable for rustics and rowdies.

     There were a couple of hotels, along with a couple of facilities for public

Another view of the Goldrush
Among those thousands who crossed over Chilkoot
Pass, searching the path to Golden Reward

______________________________

women and their wiles.   Through hard work, and honest dealing, Trump kept true to his quest to return to Queens with a pot full of shekels, and marrying his intended.   After a couple of years arguing with his partner and trying to keep him sober, Trump sold out his share, raking in a considerable net profit.

     Trump returned to New York City in good order, began immediately to scheme and try to edify buildings and homesteads and apartments on that island that stands between the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River.   but something gnawed at his guts and his soul.   Trump still had a thought about returning to Germany and restoring his citizenship.

     His married, also a German from the same area, although well adjusted to New York City. But, not long after the wedding, she began to become homesick for her old familiar places. They took a ship to Brussels and then the train to their old haunts in Bavaria.   This suited  Friedrich because he wanted to deal with the citizenship issue.
     He visited various offices to see about having his citizenship restored, but the door was slammed in his face at each stop.   He was branded a coward for having neatly avoided the conscription and for that reason he was no longer eligible for citizenship as a true German.

Elizabeth Christ Trump
paternal grandmother of Donald

1880   -   1966

_______________________

     Having been denied, and having exhausted all possible appeals  to higher authority with both aristocratic and judicial powers, he took his new bride, hopped on the next  ship west-bound and returned to New York City…passing by the nice lady in the harbour once more.
    Mrs. Trump  settled in and raised a good family, including one who would become the father of the United States of America.
    Lamentably, Mr. Trump was not a long-life type person.  He died in 1919 at the ripe old age of 49, apparently, while overwhelmed by a galloping onset of the Spanish Flu.
     That flu epidemic was much worse than to-day's assault by the coronavirus epidemic, killing millions and million over a 32 month period which included most of 1917, the end of World War I in late 1918, and a portion of 1919.

    We have given the previous brief caption of the nature of origins of  Donald Trump's biological make-up as well as his intellectual and "drive" factors.  All of the bloodline stuff and all of the details about the personality are a bit deceptive…almost.

     It is impossible to discount the strength of The Donald's work ethic and vision.  These things are a matter of historical record.  The three marriages and the rough edged, blustering, drive to success and maintenance of success  are things that at least the majority of the literate classes have some recognition.   My effort here is to explain my thoughts and impressions about the fellow and his past, present, and future.

     Some might think that since we have voted Republican at every opportunity since 1969, and have served as an operative, campaigner helper, GOP behind-the-scenes "source", and formal candidate for elective office as well as a member of three delegations to the Texas State Republican Convention that my mind is closed to openness.  During my high school years I served as President of the McAllen Teenaged Republican Club…which was the largest such organisation in the United States at that time (1961 - 1964)

    We should also point out that my Boss-lady has also voted in the same manner and has served as an Officer of the Hidalgo County Republican Party.

She and I also were one of four parties who sponsored the Rush to Excellence Tour to McAllen, Texas in 1989…which was attended at the McAllen Civic Centre to the tune of standing room only…many thousands.

     But…the OROGs need to be aware that El Gringo Viejo is not the world's biggest fan of Donald Trump.   I am leery of the fact that he was a Democrat of Convenience, and then a Republican of Convenience.   He has the tendency to be uselessly crass and overly willing to engage in pointless contention.

     One of the things that drives this particular observer to the point of pulling his last seven hairs out of his head is Trump's compulsive need to say "I" when "We" is in order.  He has the addiction to the word "my" instead of "our".   He drones on for hours without saying much more than literary confetti and pointing out necessary weaknesses of the leftists and latter-day Bolshies He does this without making points with strength.  He should not rely on  jab lines of a burlesque comic.

Kim Jung Il (r) and sister Kim Yo Jong (l)
aka: The Kimsey Twins

___________________________

     It is all this writer can do to remain calm and comfortable in my straight-jacket they give me down at the home when Trump refers to Kim Jung Un, that paragon of human goodness, as if he is an old college chum.   Kim is a dull, murderous thug  who will probably murder his beautiful but witch-like sister just as he murdered his older brother a couple of years ago in order to seal his hold on the "reins of power.   The "fat boy" is aware that too many close relatives and generals hanging around spoil the broth…and spoil the spoils of dictatorship, as well.  This is someone that should not be given any pleasantry or latitude, especially by the President of the United States.

     And we continue, in the same vein, we have the President going out of his way to say kind things, do good and valuable favours for, and accommodate in many ways, the hideous President of Red China and that thug's minions.  Just recently, special Red Chinese thugs have entered Hong Kong and revelled in the battery and vicious beating of Hong Kong citizens.  Also, an anti-religious campaign has been renewed in Red China under the instructions of Xi Jinping, whom our President apparently regards as a human being worthy of some kind of special deference.   We have noted the brutality and violence that has been dealt to the Chinese people for celebrating Christian rites, or adhering to old and revered adherents to Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, and numerous other peoples who see matters in spiritual ways.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

recent victor in the religious war against those who

continued to practice Christianity, and / or other religions

that will not be tolerated by strict Communist rules.  Many

people have been either killed or injured, and houses, as

as churches and home chapels.

                _____________________________

    

     My reservation as it pertains to my soul and selection and preference is to never regard people like Xi and the "Kimsey Twins" as anything human.   That is one mark I bear that cannot be erased…Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Ho, Pol Pot…and I do not believe that Xi and the "Kimsey Twins" can be brought up to the rail for a "…come to Jesus moment" or any such similar purification.

     So,  therefore, the OROGs and perhaps some newcomers know my inner thoughts and feelings about our president.  I shall vote for him…as soon as early voting begins, because I am a geezer, and it would be really terrible if Michelle O'bamaham would gain the Presidency simply because Texas missed by one vote giving the Electoral College selection to the panel representing the Democrats.   I will not say, "Well, I voted for the lesser of two evils," or any other such rot.  Donald Trump is decidedly better than anything the Democrat  - Socialist Labour Party can drag into the fray.

We shall retire from the field of battle and return after the smoke is settled in order to more accurately pursue the enemy.
EL GRINGO VIEJO

_____________________

We continue with this horrible scenario...

We have had a series of peculiar "incidents" while trying to complete and post the previous submission and this one.  Sudden disappearances of text, words being re-misspelled, or if written in Spanish, being converted into other words of English origen.  We appreciate the attention of our readers, and as always appreciate your comments and suggestions.  I equally appreciate your willingness to put up with my lack of diagnostic ability in terms of disciplining an old computer.

We return to the battleground…

____________________________

     Those who are not in the fifth column of the marxists, frequently are members of hideously violent organised young men between the ages of 13 to 25, and who are well-trained in the art of torture, killing by knife and/or firearms, theft of both large and small scale, and especially assaults on girls and women.  With certainty they scoff at and despise everything about the peculiar institution of Americanism and the American Way.

From the 1990s, the "Ejercito Zapatista de la Liberation
Nacional (EZLN).You all will remember"Sub-comandante
 Marcos"a white Mexican from the North of Mexico,
 with two University degrees and a hatred for his
 horribly upper middle class, white Mexican family.
___________________________

     Twenty or thirty years ago, or seventy years  ago, or run it up to 100 or more years ago and then some, we did have Mexican ruffians who would come across illegally and begin or maintain a life of crime.   They were not the "noble wetback" or a legal temporary-labour person.   This first named grouping of "bad" Mexicans were something of a parallel to Bonnie and Clyde, the James and Donaldson Boys, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. is now laughably dwarfed by the several hundreds of thousands of miscreants and gang-members who have come up from certain parts of northern South America, and the Central American nations of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.   These people are a menace to the society and the culture of the Republic.

Please be certain.  I was born on a farm north of McAllen, as we have written many times.  We have stated in our various letters, editorial comments, and in this blog that my parents employed hundreds upon hundreds of temporary agricultural workers, especially from the State of Guanajuato, followed by Michoacan, Vera Cruz, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon.

Rafael Sebastian Guile Vicente

aka: Sub-Comandante Marcos, who styled
 himself as a communist liberator of the
 enslaved Mayan Indians of the Mexican
 State of Chiapas.
He was active as a "marxist revolutionary"
during the 1990s.   He finally left in the
 early 2000s to Nicaragua.  He now
 circulates in whatever marxist kitchen
 will feed him.
_________________________

     Our old farmstead (it was new back then) had a good amount of acreage, a relatively huge orchard of Valencia orange, and the centre of operations, repairs, and storage for my parent's Grove Care business.   Our rambling 16 room three-piece homestead, with a really nice interior patio and elegant carpet grass and floral and forever blooming bushes were almost always present.

     But after all those years, and all those different men my father would point out that we never missed a watch, a fifty cent piece, or anything.   And our rambling house had no locks on the doors (except the bathrooms).   It is just the way it was; no PollyAnna, no false "defending the poor". It was just the way it was.
   My parents had the same men, or children and brothers of the same men, who came and went  as it was convenient for them and my parents.  In all those years, according to my parents and brothers, and as I saw the men while I was growing up mixed among them, never did I witness any dishonesty or depravity.

     As an aside, I frequently point out that our men did not want their pay to carry home.   They would leave, take a bus from Reynosa, and bounce and bump and grind all the way to Guanajuato, and from there disperse to their hamlets…where frequently there were more citizenry that spoke Purepecha (also known as Tarascan) than Spanish. My mother and  I (as  a very young child 4 or 5 years old), and at times my eldest brother and I would go to the Telegrafos y Telefonos de Mexico in downtown Reynosa with two or three thousand dollars in cash.
   There my "elder" official (brother Milton) would present the Mexican telegrapher with a stack of Mexican names and data, along with that citizen's official "numero calificado del portador" (qualified number of the bearer).   Then there were the most flourishing elegant signatures of authorisation (frequently by a retired Mexican Army General) and the telegrapher would begin sending the remittances to "Jose Garcia y/o Maria Cisneros de Garcia" et. al.
    The men preferred to send their money to the real boss of the house, thereby leaving behind the urge to liven up a cantina or play cards or dice in the back of the bus…jeopardising their hard earned lucre meant for Maria and the children.  Our men were decidedly void of impulses that would cost money uselessly.



    We are leaving the two above paragraphs as a vignette to illustrate to our readers the nature of things back then.   Now we have almost constant war,  constant invasion, and constant concern about who will be the next among us…we ourselves…our readers…our relatives…our workaday associates…the folks in general…to be involved as victims of violent crime?
     I am old and unnecessary, but the civilisation needs its onward march of people being born,  training themselves up, producing, and birthing out and raising their progeny, so that they continue the march into the future.   

     What sincerely concerns me is that we have a return to catechism…a re-establishment of a standard code of predictable conduct…a willingness to require compliance and concurrence with realistic social values and codes of financial and cultural interaction.   As spoiled and soiled as I was as a pre-adult, it would be certain that much, very much, of the conduct we see in public to-day would never have passed muster by any reasonable person's standard during those times.

Irene Garza

1936  -  1960

May she forever rest in peace
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     And yes, times back then and before were never perfect…those times were made by human personalities as well.   We had a Roman Catholic priest in our McAllen community had trouble with women, back in the "sainted 1950s and early 1960s.  Finally, one night, at services commonly offered and attended by a large congregation of a highly respected and admired parish…by almost everyone in the City and County.   Confessions were also heard during the late afternoon until around 8:00 pm at  that particular large and well run Church.

     A young, very attractive and very accomplished and well-known member of the community went to mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church one evening, and even with 200 parishioners clanking beads, clicking out in high heels after the service, calling some over to others about going out for a bite, etc…one of the most accomplished and attractive single young women in South Texas…just did not come home that night.  She had been seen, she had spoken with several of the parishioners.   It was a distance of four blocks, twixt Church and Home.
     Lamentably, several days later, her body was recovered, bobbing in the large irrigation canal known as the Second Street Main.   There was a grate over the undertake running under Highway 83, McAllen's central east-west thoroughfare, and that had stopped her northward drift from where she had been discarded about five blocks to the South on 2nd Street.
      To shorten the story, the entire City of McAllen all but stopped.   Parents who could kept their children home or near did so.   Police from all over converged, including Department of Public Safety from Austin, along with the Texas Rangers…and, of course, lawyers and ranking diocesan ecclesiastics from the Diocese…to assure everyone that the priest at mass that night had nothing to do with nuttin'.

Just a nice picture of our place down in
NoWhere, Mexico where we have a little
adobe hut at a very nice setting.

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    He, unfortunately, had had a bit of an episode because of manhandling another young woman over in nearly adjacent Edinburg (the County Seat), where this particular priest also was on staff.   That episode was an afternoon matter, and was quickly swept under all available rugs.   Before two days had gone by the entire southern third of South Texas new all about the matter (there are no real secrets in the 'Magic Valley').  It preceded the previously mentioned incident by about two months.

     For everyone who was alive and there, anyone over the age of 10 or so, they have never forgotten that episode in their lives.   McAllen had about 30,000 people…a busy place…and growing.  Hidalgo County had about 165,000 folks, and a lively business and farming member of the 254 county membership of the Republic of Texas.   Back then it was the 9th largest in population in the State.   Now, approaching 1,000,000 people it ranks sixth with that count. 
     During these times, the main newspaper of record, the McAllen Monitor, will report from 25 to 40 homicides, attempted homicides, armed robberies, and felony assaults per week for the County of Hidalgo.  That means, being generous, our home county will have had over 1,500 serious felonies committed…not including burglary, embezzlements, and other non-violent crimes.   For the four county "Lower Rio Grande Valley" community…we are looking at almost 3,000 per year now.
     In 1960, there might have been three or 150 such "serious violent crimes", with one fifth the population.   That means a per capita increase in violent crime of twenty times the rate per capita now from sixty years ago.  Twenty times more violent crimes per capita than before.  And mind well, this does not include the weekly publication of some great embezzlement by some major entity and/or personality.

    Things are not "just like they always were".

While this photo was taken in 1916 in Rio Grande City's Fort
Ringgold, it was also a principal place of service by my father
from 1929 to just before 1934.  And, yes Virginia, this photo
was colourised.  I'm sorry.

   At times…a long time ago…things really were worse than in the 1950s and early 1960s.   Cross border banditry from the 1912 - 1926 period was like a plague.   Inter-ethnic friction led to various types of regrets as well as loss of life and/or property.  But things kept improving, in spite of the foibles and weaknesses of the soul of various personalities.   Below the reader can take in a "muster" of heavy cavalry at Fort Ringgold in 1916 moving out to feign a dash at the nearby border (the Rio Grande is only about 1/2 mile from the muster) before making a flanking to the right (upstream) to cut off a group of Mexican bandits who were primarily deserters from Venustiano Carranza's exhausted army, mixed with Gringo rustler/gunslinger types.

     Long, long, long interethnic business friendships, intermarriage entanglements forged a "race" of people…primarily Spanish, Hebraic Spanish, Anglo, and Germanic people formed up what was the backbone of what was good about the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  Goodly numbers of Jewish merchants and Czech and Polish farmers blended into the mix as well.
   But people of lesser degree tormented the area off and on, for a long time.  Some were bandits, others were "businessmen" of shallow commitment to the "win - win" code of commerce, and there were always the drifters and shysters.  

     El Gringo Viejo does not see our situation here improving, and much is because of the lack of catechism, of Sunday School attendance, of pursuits involving self-improvement, and of family bonding.   With the much larger population, certainly we have numerous folks who "live the old-fashioned way".   But with the "immigration reform" of the late 1980s and the near open-borders we had during the 1990s through President Bush and then the ghastly record of the O'bama years, we were literally inundated with scores of thousands of people unprepared to meet the complexities of life in Texas and / or the United States of America.
     The main theme of a broad majority of people who came up were, in fact, of Mexican origin and were about 50 / 50 in their orientation towards being self-sufficient.   Currently slightly less than all juveniles in Hidalgo County are supported by food stamps…and slightly more than 40% of all families are in those ranks.  Years ago, there was a thing called the surplus commodities distribution programme.  The percentage of the population taking advantage of that programme, from 1961 and before, was around 7.5%…mainly older people or handicapped in some manner.

     The biggest problem we have now…and now we circle back to the previous issue, the previous posting…is the fact that this area as well a scores, and scores of neighbourhoods, smalls towns, cities of all sizes, and even rural areas have become the stomping grounds of the Mara Salvatrucha  13 (MS - 13) of Honduras and the Callejon 18 based in Guatemala.   To a lesser extent, fellow Central American countries and neighbours El Salvador and Nicaragua are very involved with the trafficking of people to the United States, essentially to birth babies and obtain AFDC, stamps, etc. as they settle into incomprehensible quarters and pay the "tax" to the gang-member for the "stamps and apartment" his group provided.
     One need only to think about every dark alley, every dingy overcrowded, noisy, dangerous place in some backwater corner of some run-down city that has more people on welfare than on the productive workers' payrolls.

We shall take a bit of a breather and resume to-morrow, trying to make a little sense and to explain things the way I have come to understand them.   Keep the emails and comments coming in, we always respond…sometimes slowly…but we respond.

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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