The Brownsville Beacon

Here's the Brownsville joke of the day. Elon Musk walks into a bar and sees Brownsville sitting at the bar. He walks up to her and says, "Excuse me, would you have sex with me for 30 million dollars?" "Sure!" Brownsville excitedly exclaims. "Would you have sex with me for 30 dollars?" Replies Musk. Disgusted, Brownsville scoffs at him and says, "Absolutely not! What do you think I am?" "Well, we've established that already," says Musk. "Now, we're just negotiating price."

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon A robber baron is defined as a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices — originally with reference to prominent US businessmen in the late 19th century. Most school aged children learn about the business practices of men like Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller. There are those who will say we have entered a new age of robber barons, only this time their names are Gates, Bezos, and Zuckerberg. And Musk. With a net worth of over 155 billion dollars, the man behind Tesla and SpaceX seems to be making a play to buy himself his own, private Space Town, U.S.A. Earlier in the month, Musk Tweeted he was "creating the city of Starbase, Texas." According to reports, Musk is trying to get the wheels in motion and coordinating with county leaders to incorporate his very own city. When Musk announced he would be building a launch platform close to Boca Chica beach, local community

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Eric Garza promised change during his campaign for Cameron County Sheriff. He said the old guard spearheaded by former Sheriff Omar Lucio and the Reyna brothers was too complacent; too set in the South Texas compadrismo system, and if he was able to defeat Lucio in the primary and John Chambers in the general election, the spoils system would end in the Cameron County Sheriff's office. Depending on who you ask, that promise seems to have been a questionable one. Ask any one person well versed in the sheriff's department drama and they'll say Garza is either cleaning house and shaking up the sheriff's department by getting rid of people who haven't been pulling their weight for a long time, or he is getting rid of good deputies and administrators to make room for his cronies and people who donated large sums of money to his campaign. In any event, it's safe to say the lines have been drawn and the

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Lucy Van Pelt turns to Charlie Brown and asks him to kick a football that she'll hold up for him. Charlie Brown says no, because she'll pull the ball away at the last second, causing Charlie Brown to fall on his rear end. Lucy promises not to do that this time. She eventually convinces Chuck to wind up and come charging at the ball. He has a full head of steam as he bears down on the ball. At the last second, Lucy pulls the ball away and Charlie Brown falls on his butt. Again and again. Brownsville is Charlie Brown, and businesses saying they'll come and invest are Lucy. You'd think we'd learn by now, but we don't. We keep enticing these pie-in-the-sky businesses to come down, they promise money and jobs and a long term investment in the community only to change their business model or pull out completely. Anova LNG is the most recent company to pull their tent stakes out of the ground, roll up t

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Looks like Republicans are going to try to take a page from the Democrat's playbook. Take a young, relatively inexperienced candidate, dress thrm up in some fancy clothes, have them regurgitate all the traditional party bullet points, and get elected to the United States House of Representatives. It worked in New York, maybe it'll work in Deep South Texas. It looks like we may have our very own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running for Filemon Vela's seat in the 34th Congressional District. Only this time, the political newcomer won't be spewing progressive or left-wing party issues. She's a Republican. Mayra Flores is a Republican trying to get elected to Filemon Vela's seat. Vela released a statement yesterday saying he would not seek reelection to Congress. He will continue working with the Democratic National Committee to help get Democrats elected around the country. Flores was born in Mexico and

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Filemon Vela Jr., son of former Brownsville Mayor Blanca Vela, and the 34th Texas Congressional District's member of the United States House of Representatives, will remove his Member of Congress pin from his lapel and put it in his jewelry box for safe keeping for the last time at the end of the House session in 2022. Vela, a Democrat who has served his South Texas constituents since 2013, announced he will not seek reelection after his current term expires in 2022. The Brownsville Herald posted the story on its online mashup of the Herald , the Valley Morning Star , and the Monitor , MyRGV late Monday morning. According to the article, Congressman Vela will continue to work to make sure worthy Democrats fill the seat for years to come through the work he will do with the Democratic National Committee. President Biden has tapped Vela and his wife, Rose, to serve in the Democratic National Committee and the Presid

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon On the heels of the "Brownsville being the 12th most miserable city in the United States" article, I went into a deeper dive thinking about why we have the perception of being one of the most miserable cities in the United States. After some thought, it's apparent local politics and political corruption play an important part in why people are so quick to think Brownsville is a backwards, bleak place to live. One can easily blame our politicians and shake their fists and shake their heads in disgust thinking about some of the people who hold office, as well as those who seek to hold elected office. Brownsville is notorious for recycling politicians at the different levels of local government. In back to back election cycles, it isn't at all uncommon to see the same names pop up for different local offices. You'll often times see someone run for a seat on the local school board, be defeated, then seek a seat on

  By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon I am not the most positive person in the world. Some would call me a realist while others would say I'm on the pessimist side of the spectrum. Regardless, optimism is something I'm rarely accused of. That said, I know where to assign blame for anything and everything, particularly misery. I have not been in the best of spirits for the past few years. You can take your pick. From my declining health, to the woman i believed was the love of my life abandoning me, to the loss of family members and friends, or to the general dismay and negativity from the current social and political climate, I know I am sad and yes, at times, miserable. But that sure as hell isn't Brownsville's fault.  Some time ago, a coworker gave me some valuable advice. I carry it with me to this day. He told me to never kid myself. Whatever you are; whatever you choose to be — own it . And I do. I know I'm not the ray of sunshine I used to b