Thank God we're saved!
We have just learned that two members of the advisory board of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Strike Force to Open Texas are from South Texas.
The strike force is made up of a team of nationally recognized medical experts and private and public leaders who will advise the Governor on safely and strategically reopening the state of Texas.
Among the board advising the force are none other than Alonzo Cantú, a multimillionaire developer from MCallen who has been a heavy contributor to Democratic Party presidential candidates like Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.Another is Brownsville attorney David Oliveira, cousin to disgraced former state representative Rene Oliveira. Now, the Oliveiras are what are known as yellow dog democrats, and their ancestors - especially Gloria - must be turning over in the ground in their eternal place of rest.
Why Cantu?
Well, we can see where he'd want construction to open and open now so he can get on with the business of making more money. So if there's a worker or two coming down with a fever, a dry cough and headaches, well, that's the price of "putting bread on the table," as Trumpies like to say when they're slaughtering endangered blue-fin (wicked) tuna or hungry alligators in the Louisiana swamps.
This effort is like sending canaries inside the coal mine and hoping none will drop from poisonous gases lurking unseen in the air. Much like the COVID-19 virus, don't you think?
And the last time that Oliviera was in the news he was huffing and puffing about the Texas Southmost College board turning down the offer from his alma mater - the University of Texas System - to take away all the assets of the community college on whose board he sat, and for TSC to keep just the debt.
Poor David was laughed out of office and the new boards set about making TSC independent and lowered tuition and fees to a community - not a university - level. It is now enjoying record enrollment.
"We have enough welders," he told a Brownsville Herald editorial writer. "We have enough plumbers. What we need is more people with higher degrees," he averred while industry leaders decried the lack of skilled trade jobs.
Given this record, we should not be surprised if Oliveira would propose to protect the health of TSC students who share a campus with UTRGV-Brownsville by having the UT System annex the community college under the guise of protecting them from the virus.
After all, they would be the recipients of the fine attentions from the UT Public Health School, for a slight fee, of course.
What would that be? Oliveira might be the last guy to ask when the people can return to work, never having worked a day in his life. Like his cousin Rene, he has led a charmed existence and hasn't sullied his brow with an honest day's work.
This strike force may be a bit premature as COVID-19 positive cases zoom in the state. But the Trump kamikaze boosters asking for the "liberation" of Minnesota, Michigan, and other swing states necessary to reelect Trump will make it seem like you're discriminating against good 'Mericans who just "wanna put food on the table," and those damn Democrats just want to sit on their ass.
So what if a few workers die? Who cares, as long as the economy is ginned enough to put positive number before November, we're good.