A Trip Around the Brownsville Blogosphere: Redux
By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon
In the last incarnation of this blog, I posted a traveler's guide to the local blogosphere. Within the last few months, the landscape has changed, and I'd figured I'd do something that Hollywood has started doing with more and more frequency. I figured I'd reboot the post and give you all the new updates to the local blogosphere.
With the local daily newspaper no longer local, and the local television stations content to focus all their attention on the Upper Valley, people have turned to the blogosphere for their news, information, and entertainment. Again, I present you a brief rundown of the local blogging landscape.
The two premier blogs in town are still El Rrun Rrun and The McHale Report. Juan Montoya and Jerry McHale still publish arguably the two most read and most acclaimed Brownsville Blogs. Montoya still displays his investigative journalist prowess with in-depth articles that seem to be researched and backed up with credible sources. McHale's blog is an amalgam of news articles, satire, poetry, prose, and comedy. I still stand by my original assessment — McHale is a little too rough around the edges for my taste. You have to have a thick skin if you're ever in his crosshairs. He'll come at you with the tenacity and ferocity of the Tazmanian Devil, often times leaving a trail of scorched earth in his wake. Montoya gives it to you PG-13 style. McHale has absolutely no problem going full-frontal XXX. I still visit both of these blogs before I start my day.
Jim Barton runs The Brownsville Observer. In Montoya and McHale tradition, Barton is also more of a legitimate journalist than someone like me pretends to be. Barton attends several events around town and writes several articles dealing with local politics. However, as I previously mentioned, his blog has turned into The Brownsville Observer Light. It seems Barton has taken a semi-sabbatical from the blog while he attends to his life as a newlywed. The recent nuptials between Jim and Mrs. Ana Barton have completely enveloped the blog. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but the Observer is a far cry from the flamethrowing Barton put out in the past.
Next on the list is a blog/Facebook page combo. Frank Mar's NoMoreCheezmeh blog is perhaps one of the most controversial in town. He focuses his writings on one major topic — he has appointed himself the 24/7/365 watchdog dedicated to the comings and goings of local BISD trustee Erasmo Castro. His editorials are scathing criticisms of Castro and his lack of fitness to serve as a local elected official. When he isn't posting about local issues with Castro, you can often times read posts on his page having to do with local folk tales, scary stories (like the local legend of Camp Lula Sams), and the like. His blog is entertaining and controversial, to say the least.
In The Walking Dead/The Talking Dead fashion, now it's time to talk about the blogs that have passed on to the afterlife. Someone on Facebook was posting under the name "Juan Garcia" and running a blog called El Politico Brownsville. The last post on his blog was back in April 2019. I don't know if the blog will be resurrected for the next round of elections, but for the time being, it lies dormant. Another blog that has "ceased publication" is Duardo Paz-Martinez's Brownsville Republic. The blogger who seemed to have nothing but disdain and contempt for Brownsville has stopped publishing his McAllen-based blog. It is my understanding he was a professional journalist who wrote for several different publications, but apparently Mr. Paz-Martinez has chosen to move on to other things.
And now we turn our attention to everyone's favorite conspiracy theorist and his pseudo-blog. Bobby Wrightman is still churning out his conspiracy theory laced articles over at The Brownsville Voice. He still claims to have mountains of articles and all kinds of Deep Throat-esque sources who are chomping at the bit to reveal all kinds of salacious information on everybody in the city and county government. The disbarred attorney continues working on legal cases and offering people legal advice despite the fact that he isn't supposed to be doing that anymore. He'll write a complimentary article about you one minute, then delete it and write a scathing rebuke of you and your actions in the next article. He rails about politicians censoring him and blocking him from social media pages, yet he will refuse to publish comments on his blog. Anybody who dares disagree with him must be on one of his many enemies' payrolls, or is just a "troll." His blog is nothing more than a conspiracy theorist comedy. I still read his nonsensical ramblings solely for their ability to make me laugh. If you want a glimpse into the mind of a Quixotic fool tilting at windmills, give The Brownsville Voice a read.
That's the landscape of the blogosphere as seen through my eye. All I can say is the blogosphere here in town is definitely not static — it's a constantly evolving, dynamic place. Let's see what 2020 has in store for our local bloggers.
In the last incarnation of this blog, I posted a traveler's guide to the local blogosphere. Within the last few months, the landscape has changed, and I'd figured I'd do something that Hollywood has started doing with more and more frequency. I figured I'd reboot the post and give you all the new updates to the local blogosphere.
With the local daily newspaper no longer local, and the local television stations content to focus all their attention on the Upper Valley, people have turned to the blogosphere for their news, information, and entertainment. Again, I present you a brief rundown of the local blogging landscape.
The two premier blogs in town are still El Rrun Rrun and The McHale Report. Juan Montoya and Jerry McHale still publish arguably the two most read and most acclaimed Brownsville Blogs. Montoya still displays his investigative journalist prowess with in-depth articles that seem to be researched and backed up with credible sources. McHale's blog is an amalgam of news articles, satire, poetry, prose, and comedy. I still stand by my original assessment — McHale is a little too rough around the edges for my taste. You have to have a thick skin if you're ever in his crosshairs. He'll come at you with the tenacity and ferocity of the Tazmanian Devil, often times leaving a trail of scorched earth in his wake. Montoya gives it to you PG-13 style. McHale has absolutely no problem going full-frontal XXX. I still visit both of these blogs before I start my day.
Jim Barton runs The Brownsville Observer. In Montoya and McHale tradition, Barton is also more of a legitimate journalist than someone like me pretends to be. Barton attends several events around town and writes several articles dealing with local politics. However, as I previously mentioned, his blog has turned into The Brownsville Observer Light. It seems Barton has taken a semi-sabbatical from the blog while he attends to his life as a newlywed. The recent nuptials between Jim and Mrs. Ana Barton have completely enveloped the blog. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but the Observer is a far cry from the flamethrowing Barton put out in the past.
Next on the list is a blog/Facebook page combo. Frank Mar's NoMoreCheezmeh blog is perhaps one of the most controversial in town. He focuses his writings on one major topic — he has appointed himself the 24/7/365 watchdog dedicated to the comings and goings of local BISD trustee Erasmo Castro. His editorials are scathing criticisms of Castro and his lack of fitness to serve as a local elected official. When he isn't posting about local issues with Castro, you can often times read posts on his page having to do with local folk tales, scary stories (like the local legend of Camp Lula Sams), and the like. His blog is entertaining and controversial, to say the least.
In The Walking Dead/The Talking Dead fashion, now it's time to talk about the blogs that have passed on to the afterlife. Someone on Facebook was posting under the name "Juan Garcia" and running a blog called El Politico Brownsville. The last post on his blog was back in April 2019. I don't know if the blog will be resurrected for the next round of elections, but for the time being, it lies dormant. Another blog that has "ceased publication" is Duardo Paz-Martinez's Brownsville Republic. The blogger who seemed to have nothing but disdain and contempt for Brownsville has stopped publishing his McAllen-based blog. It is my understanding he was a professional journalist who wrote for several different publications, but apparently Mr. Paz-Martinez has chosen to move on to other things.
And now we turn our attention to everyone's favorite conspiracy theorist and his pseudo-blog. Bobby Wrightman is still churning out his conspiracy theory laced articles over at The Brownsville Voice. He still claims to have mountains of articles and all kinds of Deep Throat-esque sources who are chomping at the bit to reveal all kinds of salacious information on everybody in the city and county government. The disbarred attorney continues working on legal cases and offering people legal advice despite the fact that he isn't supposed to be doing that anymore. He'll write a complimentary article about you one minute, then delete it and write a scathing rebuke of you and your actions in the next article. He rails about politicians censoring him and blocking him from social media pages, yet he will refuse to publish comments on his blog. Anybody who dares disagree with him must be on one of his many enemies' payrolls, or is just a "troll." His blog is nothing more than a conspiracy theorist comedy. I still read his nonsensical ramblings solely for their ability to make me laugh. If you want a glimpse into the mind of a Quixotic fool tilting at windmills, give The Brownsville Voice a read.
That's the landscape of the blogosphere as seen through my eye. All I can say is the blogosphere here in town is definitely not static — it's a constantly evolving, dynamic place. Let's see what 2020 has in store for our local bloggers.
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