THE DIATRIBALIST SPEAKS

THE MERCURIAL RISE OF VICENTE DE LA GENTE  IN  THE U.S. CONGRESS Though the tenure of Vicente Gonzalez in Congress has spanned only 5 years of his career, at last count he was 168th on the wealth list in the House of Representatives.  With 435 House members, it may be said that this young man has quickly climbed the ladder of establishment enrichment. It has been said that much can be learned from the company one keeps. By the same token, it may also be said that much may be inferred from a politician's major donors.  Claiming the 2nd spot on Vicente de la Gente's honor roll of donors is the LHC Group, which is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. Specializing in home health care,  LHC has assets in the range of $250,000,000. Several coporations operating in this area of the economy have made the news by running afoul of fedederal regulations intended to protect the public from unscrupulous home health care operations. Little wonder, then, that a company like LHC with its ass

IS VICENTE REALLY FOR LA GENTE?  IS GONZALEZ REALLY A TRUE  TEXAN? For Texans surveying the damage wrought by a runaway leftist regime, the only feasible explanation is insanity.  For those of us living in an energy state, it makes no sense to shut down what amounted to our energy independence. Looking back a year ago, there was an abundance of jobs in building and maintaining pipelines. Fracking was going full speed ahead in places like Carrizo Springs. Our refineries were processing oil at a rapid pace, and we were selling oil and gas abroad. Now, thanks to Marxists who wish to bring our great state to its knees, Joe, with hat in hand, is beseeching Saudis and Russians to please spare us some oil. How pitiful! How demeaning! And now Putin has Europe on his hook, because of its dependence on Russian oil. Sensing weakness, our adveraries now have their eyes focused on such places as the Ukraine and Taiwan.  Furthermore, the botched Afghanistan retreat and the heinous betrayal of Afghan

   LOCAL DAILY SHOWS LACK OF JOURNALISTIC BASICS IN MAJOR OMISSION It has been many a moon since one has observed anything resembling outstanding journalism at the Brownsville Herald.  One would hate to estimate the number of its regular readers and subscribers, but if the present quality of articles and writing are brought into the equation, certainly those numbers would not approach those of the 1980's and 1990's. In many ways, our local environment would be an ideal habitat for muckrakers.  With so many local characters and politicos who like to walk on the seamy side of the street, there is much muck that could stand raking.   The hallmark of of good journalism is good research, which  seems to be missing in our day and age.  In both print and visual media, those called "journalists," who in reality are propagandizers, greatly outnumber those who "want the facts and nothing but the facts" and are willing to do the hard work of research. Perhaps it is jus

  DESPITE DISTANCE, THE BORDER IS NEVER FAR AWAY During the past week, your news release editor has been in an environment quite different from South Texas. Surrounded by ringing church bells, 16th, 17th,  & 18th century architecture, stimulating people who appreciate his lectures, exciting field trips to archaeological sites, and colleagues whom he loves dearly, his attention has momentarily & fortunately been diverted from the chaos and tragedy which now characterize our southern border with Mexico. Nevertheless, I am unable to rid myself of a gnawing pain in the deepest part of my gut when any mention of la Frontera is made. Yes, for those Texans living in proximity to our southern border, this human and political travesty is an ever present disaster.  Rapes, murders, pedophilia, an unobstructed flow of drugs, MS-13 criminals and malefactors from innumerable foreign origins continue to stream into our country by the hundreds of thousands. It does not demand a high level  o