DONALD TRUMP

What are we going to do to China? Trump's rich friends sold out the American worker decades ago to the Chinese for cheaper wages. Ross Perot chided the American industrialists that we were cutting our own throats by outsourcing the manufacturing of our basic products--shoes, shirts, pants, etc.--instead of keeping our own people employed. But the rich told the working class to go and fuck themselves. The Chinese have us by the gonads because Trump's billionaire friends put their profits over our people. We can threaten China all we want and they will laugh at our empty words. They've been around 5,000 years. In their ancient eyes, we're still toddlers. They play the long game. In baseball terms, they slap a single, steal second, move to third on a grounder to the right side and score on a sacrifice fly. They score four or five runs a game in this manner. We choose the spectacle of the home run, but the accompanying strikes outs as we are always swinging for the fences r...

  he McHale Report's managing editor Scott Steinbeck was working at his desk in historic downtown when Max Maxwell, dean of the RGV sportswriters, approached him. "Don't you like Jason Moody, the BISD's new public information officer?" asked Maxwell. "He's neither here nor there for me. He seems like a pleasant enough fellow to me. Why?" "How did 'The Jackal' occur to you as a nickname?" "It's always fun to welcome a new face with a nickname. It makes him or her nervous because they lose sleep trying to ascertain the implications of being branded." "Then why 'The Jackal' for Moody?" "I have a predilection for alliteration and Jason and Jackal seemed to flow. I was thinking on the fly. Why. Do you have something better?" "It fits within your alliteration style. Call him Jason 'La Monarca' Moody." "I can go with that. Any particular reason on your part of that designatio...

  I briefly met the girl of my dreams in Porto. It was a dark bar and I had been drinking when this beautiful young lady suddenly came bounding into my presence. "My name is Candy Rue," she said. "What is your name?" "My name is Jerry. By your accent, I'm going to say that you are from Australia." "Really? Is it that obvious?" "Your accent instantly gives you away, but there is something unmistakable in your appearance that brands you an Aussie." Unfortunately, the girl of my dreams quickly turned into a nightmare as most these relationships do when two persons' journeys intersect for a few days. Nevertheless, I'm glad we spent time together. Short trysts have less pernicious effects in the long run. I'll soon be back on the border. The weather is changing as we enter our tropical season before the first norther arrives in October. The bloggers have continued to raise havoc during my absence and I will do my best to add ...

We were preoccupied about him because he has the heart of an adventurer. We worried that he might have followed the lead of the great California short story writer Ambrose Bierce and disappeared into Mexico in search of the truth about the cartels. Bierce never survived the Mexican Revolution and we feared the same fate might befall out audacious amigo. He possesses the same bravado as the Texas Rangers John Ford and we have no doubts that he would have ventured into Llano Estacado in search of kidnapped white women captured and brutally and repeatedly raped by Comanches in those days when West Texas was a no-man's land. Nor would we be surprised if his ancestors hadn't ridden under U.S. Major Samuel Heintzelman in pursuit of revolutionary Juan Cortina along the Rio Grande in the early 1860s and chased the iconic military figure back into Mexico but with scores of his patriots lying dead along the sandy river beds in his wake. And we don't know if there is any truth to this...

 We were preoccupied about him because he has the heart of an adventurer. We worried that he might have followed the lead of the great California short story writer Ambrose Bierce and disappeared into Mexico in search of the truth about the cartels. Bierce never survived the Mexican Revolution and we feared the same fate might befall out audacious amigo. He possesses the same bravado as the Texas Rangers John Ford and we have no doubts that he would have ventured into Llano Estacado in search of kidnapped white women captured and brutally and repeatedly raped by Comanches in those days when West Texas was a no-man's land. Nor would we be surprised if his ancestors hadn't ridden under U.S. Major Samuel Heintzelman in pursuit of revolutionary Juan Cortina along the Rio Grande in the early 1860s and chased the iconic military figure back into Mexico but with scores of his patriots lying dead along the sandy river beds in his wake. And we don't know if there is any truth to thi...

I'm sitting in the Austin home of my number two son Joaquin. I am speaking strictly in chronological order. Number one son Carlos is taking a shower and number three son Michael is finally stirring. We are eating lunch at Lucy's. It's fried chicken is a part of our Austin pilgrimage.  Afterwards, we are clearing our fuzzy brains by diving into the bracing waters of Barton Springs. Besides another major meal in the evening copiously accompanied by alcohol, we are strictly in spontaneous mode. There's plenty of money to squeeze the most from the moments. It's not often that a father and his three son are united and you can never count on the future to assure other reunions. Life is too fragile. We have to mine the moment for all its golden memories. Since my blog and Facebook are economically beneficial to me, I must maintain a steady activity. With the publication of my new book Guatemala, I thought I would present a short resume of my past works in order to entertai...

I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for my father.  Never underestimate the impact  of a word  or a gesture  showing that you care.  Happy Father's Day  t o all the men and women  who play that role to their children,  grandchildren, nieces and nephews,  siblings, stepchildren, dogs and cats!