MAYOR EXPRESSES GRAVE CONCERNS

MAYOR TREY MENDEZ: "Reality check: The numbers are not going down and they are not going down anytime soon. Memorial Day, graduations, protests. Now Father's Day. And the Island packed every weekend. When does it end?"

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Where does it end? asks the mayor. For many, in the grave. Much like the BISD is about economics and not education, Coronavirus has now become an economic issue rather than a health issue although cases are spiking in Texas and the numbers remain grim: Brownsville, 10 deaths and 500 cases; Cameron County, 42 deaths and 1000 cases; Texas, 1,900 deaths and 80,000 cases; United States, 113,000 deaths and 2 million cases. With the reopening of businesses and few if any restrictions on masks and social distancing required, our perverted president and money-grubbing governor have decided to throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may. Besides harping that the mainstream media is false news, Trump is declaiming that the false news is printing false numbers and that the pandemic is exaggerated. Since he failed to meet the challenge in the beginning, he has to distract the public into believing that the death figures are little more than meaningless stats when the economy is at stake; therefore, he is going to roll the dice and gamble for the best. In his defense, did Trump have any alternatives to reopening the economy? Though the majority of Americans have no trust in Trump, they know that they can't quarantine forever, particularly if they are living week-to-week on paychecks. What is frightening, however, is that people aren't taking precautions. The days are sunny, the pool is cool and the restaurants are open. There is a sentiment that COVID-19 doesn't really exist. If it does, there are many individuals who have convinced themselves that they won't fall victims to the virus. If they do, they reason further, it won't be any worse than a mild case of the flu. Many are buying into the argument that via sickness we will be healthier because a herd immunity is the ultimate solution until vaccines are available. The mayor, nevertheless, is shaking his head; he's got a bad feeling in his bones. While his Dodici Pizza & Wine has curbside service, he and his partners have refrained from opening the restaurant to seated customers. He is one of the few entrepreneurs who hasn't reopened. He also knows that across the river in Matamoros that Coronavirus is taking a heavy toll on the population with regular traffic leaving Mexico and entering Brownsville on a daily basis. At The McHale Report we have not returned to our office in historic downtown. Managing Editor Scott Steinbeck mans the fort from eight to five and restricts the number of writers in the locale at one time although regular contributors Estanislao Contreras, the controversial poet of Chicano Fuck Songs, Jack O'Connell, the great unpublished novelist, Annie Gunn, the señorita of spring and song, Max Maxwell, the dean of the RGV sportswriters, Mort Heinman, Brownsville's only uncircumcised Jew and the Baker Boys, the famed investigative duo, haven't been at their desks for more than two months as they operate from their homes. We have far more trust in the mayor's leadership than we do in the president or the governor's, but Mendez is helpless if the head honchos have determined that the situation is hopeless and making money is more important than remaining healthy, no matter the price we have to pay. They have decided that the survival of the economy is the lesser of two evils in the long run because though the weak will fall, the strong will assure us that a bright future awaits us if we patiently endure a bleak present. But what happens if the strong start falling? Therein lies the rub. For the mayor, he isn't so sure that sacrificing the present portends a prosperous future. He fears, and with good reason, that sacrificing the present will culminate in sacrificing the future. It's like we're all sitting in a long hospital corridor waiting for the doctor to deliver us the news: Is he going to live or is he going to die? We agree with the mayor. At this juncture there is little cause for optimism, particularly with a president drunk with power behind the wheel who is driving us crazy with his ignorance and stupidity.)