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Commentary this week covered cancer screening, congressional vacations and changes in educational choices, among other themes. Letters dealt with workforce training, military morale, campaign topics and other concerns.
We welcome contributions to our public forum, and thank those who have offered their views.
Supervised work training
The Rio Grande Valley is expanding workforce development through programs that connect education to real jobs. South Texas College’s current catalog highlights workforce partnerships and registered apprenticeship, while regional healthcare training is designed around employer demand.
That learn-by-doing structure matters as AI changes entry-level work. Stanford Digital Economy Lab’s August update found that the employment shortfall for workers ages 22–25 in highly AI-exposed occupations widened from 15% in the July 2025 data vintage to 19% by June 2026.
Valley employers should borrow a lesson from clinical training: supervised practice before independent responsibility. When AI handles routine preparation, newer workers should still review outputs, compare recommendations with real conditions, identify exceptions and explain decisions to an experienced supervisor.
A manager should sign off as the worker demonstrates competence at each level, just as professional training moves people from observation to guided practice to independent work.
The Valley needs productivity, but it also needs a durable pipeline of capable local workers. AI should reduce repetitive labor while increasing the amount of meaningful, coached practice available to the people entering their careers.
Gleb Tsipursky
CEO
Disaster Avoidance Experts
Columbus, Ohio
Our military disrespected
Our president has found a new justification for his gilded ballroom: a “massive” complex, according to Donald Trump, requested by the military. But many military men and women, stationed stateside and around the world, would rather see that money used to relieve the hardships facing their brothers and sisters aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, our aircraft carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf for more than 270 days.
While the president focuses on vanity projects, the men and women aboard the Lincoln are reportedly dealing with supply shortages, contaminated water, plumbing problems and inconsistent mail and Wi-Fi access. Retired Navy Capt. Armen Kurdian, who once served on the Lincoln, describes the “depressing impact” of sailors living in close quarters, with junior enlisted personnel sleeping in open bay barracks.
The launching and recovery of aircraft require a high level of precision and focus, both in the air and on deck. Those responsibilities are difficult enough without an atmosphere of distraction, uncertainty and declining mental health.
When asked about the conditions aboard the Lincoln and the challenges of an extended deployment, the commander-in-chief, Trump, commented, “Not nearly long enough.” Trump has a long history of disrespecting the military. This is one more sad example.
Just another “loser and sucker.”
Doss Kornegay
Harlingen
Banished for lifetime
I am a longtime employee of the public sector. What I am about to share with you may not sit well with some who try their best to follow rules and regulations in the public sector (i.e., school districts, county offices, etc.).
Several years ago, a friend of mine told me he walked into an icebox to put away a perishable item. Then, as I was told, he was called into the office and his bosses immediately banned him from entering that same icebox ever again.
Then, about a year ago, the same friend told me when a fellow worker asked for his help moving an object in the same freezer, he said he would get someone nearby to help because he was banned from setting foot in there.
Afterward, according to my friend, he had to explain everything in detail of his banishment to the same co-worker who then understood why he couldn’t fulfill that request. Thankfully, everyone got along just fine.
The point to this situation is that lifetime banishments that are handed down to employees don’t work out in the public sector at all. Those same “regulations” conducted by management can cause alienation among many workers and can hamper the daily functions of a productive workplace, especially in the long run.
You have to ask yourself a few questions. Do lifetime banishments deliver justice in the workplace? If so, will they come at the cost of unfair employee dismissals in large numbers? Are they worth destroying an individual’s pursuit of the American dream known as retirement?
Think about it.
Roberto Lopez
McAllen
Why vote?
Why vote?
Ask yourself a few simple questions.
Are you paying more for groceries?
Are you paying more for gas?
Are you feeling safer?
Are your public schools being fully funded?
Since Donald Trump returned to office, everyday essentials have climbed in price, squeezing families across the Valley. Communities are dealing with harsher ICE enforcement and state‑driven immigration crackdowns that create fear without delivering real solutions.
Are your kids getting more opportunities? Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s voucher push, Texas public schools are losing funding, teachers and stability, while private institutions pocket tax dollars with no obligation to serve every child.
If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then the next answer is clear: You need to vote.
We vote because groceries shouldn’t break a paycheck. We vote because families deserve safety, not political theater. We vote because public schools are the backbone of Texas, and they’re being weakened by policies that favor private operators over our children’s futures.
We vote because silence is surrender.
Check your voter registration status now at votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/index.html
Early Voting is from Oct. 19-30, the best and easiest/fastest time to vote.
General election is Nov. 3.
Vote — and take someone with you.
Diane Teter
Edinburg
Something good from Ken Paxton
I never thought I’d see anything good come from Ken Paxton and his run for the Senate, but I found something. He is such a controversial candidate that many lifelong Republicans are reevaluating their allegiance and seriously considering a Democratic vote.
The notion of voting for a person and not a party is something we all should take to heart. There are good people with good ideas in both parties. There are also bad ones. We should not feel compelled to vote for a candidate simply based on party affiliation or some sense of obligation. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.
David Seay
Plano, Texas
Adopting tyranny
Why have our leaders in government become so unmoored from traditional American ways of economic organization, government and social life? They have ever-so-quietly slipped on the clothing of tyranny and belligerency and fiercely hold their ground like their lives depend on it.
I think it is because our own people, the storied American electorate, are modeling the way to destruction for them to follow.
Our people have largely lost moral and ethical consciousness. We have lost our attachment to family formation and family solidarity. We have lost the will and way to work hard for a living. We have lost our attachment to knowledge, science, history and democratic constitutional law.
We have lost hold of our Judeo-Christian religious doctrine that says all people are created in the image and likeness of God and are therefore equally capable of self-government.
We don’t believe in ourselves, we don’t like ourselves, and we have given ourselves up to domination by evil public servants who act in their own interests rather than in the service of the people.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Beware of scammers
We have recently received a high volume of calls in refuse to scammers.
Citizens report they receive a call and are told that they have outstanding arrest warrants with our courts in Cameron County.
If anyone receives a call from anyone claiming to be from the sheriff’s office, do not provide any personal information. Get a batch number, a name and a callback number before continuing the call.
We encourage everyone not to provide personal information and not to make any payments over the phone.
Manuel Treviño
Cameron County sheriff
Land deal questioned
I have to admit, the Brownsville City Commission’s decision to disannex more than 444 acres for SpaceX leaves me with more questions than answers.
I understand the argument: SpaceX brings jobs, investment and potentially a major investment in regional water infrastructure. Those benefits could be very good for Brownsville and the entire Rio Grande Valley. But when a company essentially says that a major investment is contingent upon the city giving up control of hundreds of acres — and the decision has to be made on an unusually rushed timetable — that deserves more scrutiny than simply telling residents how wonderful it will be.
I’m not calling it blackmail, because that has a specific meaning. But when the choice is effectively presented as “give us the land or you may lose the investment,” that certainly sounds like a pretty powerful negotiating position for a private company.
What exactly will SpaceX build on those 444 acres? What does Brownsville receive in return? What happens if the promised investment doesn’t materialize? And what protections does the city retain after giving up jurisdiction?
Economic development is good. Water investment is desperately needed. But 444 acres and municipal control are permanent things to give away.
Before everyone celebrates the deal, I’d like to see the actual agreements and the answers to those questions.
Brownsville deserves the whole deal — not just the sales pitch.
Blaine Reece
Edinburg
‘We the people’ isn’t everybody
A commentary, Sustainable Human, presents: The Truth behind “All Men are Created Equal.”
Mark Charles, a Native American activist asks, “What if the words ‘all men are created equal’ never really meant ‘all the people’? Is our Constitution not as inclusive as we think it is?”
This eye-opening revelation will make you question everything you thought you knew about equality and justice.
Charles writes: When did we decide as a nation that “we the people” actually means “all of the people?” Literally, 30 lines below the statement “all men are created equal,” the Declaration of Independence refers to natives as “merciless Indian savages,” making it clear the only reason our founding fathers used this inclusive term “all men” was because they had a very narrow definition of who was actually human.
A few years later, our founding fathers wrote another document. They started this one with “We the people of the United States ….” This, of course, is the preamble to the Constitution. As you read just a few lines down to article one, section two, the section of the Constitution that defines who is and who is not covered by the Constitution, the first thing you note is it never mentions women. Second, it specifically excludes natives. And third, it counts Africans as 3/5 of a person. So, who’s left? The white land-owning men who could vote.
Now we have to ponder this, the reason our Constitution was written, the purpose of our Constitution, was to protect the interests of white land-owning men.
Today we act shocked that women earn 70 cents to the dollar. This shouldn’t shock us. Our Constitution is working. We act surprised that our prisons are filled with people of color. This shouldn’t surprise us. Our Constitution is working. We act outraged that in 2010 the Supreme Court sided with Citizens United and ruled that corporations now have the same rights to political free speech as individuals. This is what opens the door for super PACS; unlimited contributions to candidates. This shouldn’t surprise us. The Constitution is doing exactly what it was designed to do — protect the interests of white land-owning men.
See, we would rather believe that the United States of America is a racist and sexist and white supremacist in “spite” of our foundations. But the truth is, we are white supremacists, racists and sexist as a nation “because” of our foundations. And we don’t know what to do with that.
We have no common memory and I think we can all agree that community on a national level is absolutely at the pits. I am proposing that the United States of America needs a national dialog on race, gender and class. A conversation on par with the truth on reconciliation commissions that took place in South Africa, in Rhanda and in Canada.
If we can acknowledge the vile racism, sexism, colonialism and white-supremacy that our founding fathers embedded deep into our foundations, we might just be able to leave a different legacy for our children’s grandchildren’s grandchildren. A legacy that for the first time “We the people” might actually mean “All the people.”
Italo J. Zarate
Brownsville
Why I vote Democrat
The first time I ever voted, I chose all Republican candidates. Growing up, I was deeply influenced by my conservative (and loving) grandfather. However, the Republican Party in those years was very different from today.
The leaders of the Republican Party have evolved into individuals who put self-interests over what is best for our country, starting decades ago with legislation that continuously lowered taxes on the rich. Federal income tax rates for the top earners in 1965 were 70%. Today the top rate is 37%, and the top corporate rate is 21%, a decrease from more than 50% in the 1960s.
Furthermore, the vast majority of Republican leaders have shown a complete lack of backbone, refusing to stand up to the most corrupt president our country has ever seen.
Conversely, Democratic candidates offer practical solutions that invest in working families. They protect Social Security and Medicare, defend voting rights, and expand access to affordable healthcare and education. Democrats also champion policies that create American jobs through infrastructure projects, clean energy investments and domestic manufacturing growth.
Voting is not just about party labels. It is about choosing leaders who believe the government can work for ordinary people, and who are committed to protecting freedoms and opportunities for everyone.
I encourage voters to support Democratic candidates who are working to build a fairer, more inclusive, and more hopeful future for our country.
Ron Sadler
McAllen
Gonzalez draws fire
One of the many reasons I could never support Vicente Gonzales: Look up and read this March 12, 2021, Newsmax article for yourselves: “Democrat (Vicente Gonzales) Had Chinese Bank Account Despite Pushing US to Divest From China.” That should bother every American. The Bank of China is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.
Another reason I could never support Rep. Gonzales is because he says he will eliminate tariffs. He and every American should look up and read Wikipedia’s History of Tariffs in the US. If Mr. Gonzales can understand what he reads, he’ll see that it was tariffs that made America a global industrial and economic power in the 19th century by protecting U.S. manufacturing, the related jobs and American workers.
On the other hand, eliminating tariffs was essential to creating “free trade” and a global economy (global socialism/communism for the masses and super capitalism for the world’s wealthy). At the expense of America’s working class, “free trade” brought up the standard of living in China, Mexico and other developing countries. Also, at the expense of America’s working class, free trade allowed American corporations to offshore tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of jobs. If Rep. Gonzales actually cared about America’s working class, he’d be in favor of tariffs.
Call tariffs protectionism if you want. But free trade has left us dependent on nations like China and Mexico for almost all items we use on a daily basis, all the way up to essential rare earth minerals used in guidance systems in aircraft and precision guided munitions.
Hate Trump and those who put America first if you want. Your opinion is to support politicians like Vicente Gonzales and other Democratic and GOP globalists.
Natividad Rodriguez
Harlingen
VP Harris defended
I have an issue with Natividad Rodriguez’s letter to the editor, “What about Democrats?” (Aug. 25). The issue, in general, is with postings that contain a laundry list of supposed failings regardless of party; trying to respond to each item on the list just exhausting and just not worth the time and effort especially when those “failings” have been previously debunked. I find the same problem with Mr. Rodriguez’s letter.
His reference to Kamala Harris as Biden’s “border czar” who “opened up” the southern border is such an example. Here’s what actually happened:
What Biden asked: President Joe Biden asked Harris in March 2021 to lead diplomatic efforts with Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador).
The actual goal: Her role focused on addressing the long-term “root causes” of migration, such as poverty, violence and corruption in those countries.
Ms. Harris had absolutely nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of our southern border.
Edson Schaus
Harlingen
Christian country
In his June 18 letter, Ned Sheats rejects the claim of America as a Christian nation. Fifty-five or 56 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were professed, practicing Christians. Nine of America’s original 13 states required this attribute for government service. Thirteen required a declaration of faith, 10 required Protestant or Catholic beliefs.
Nearly all of the original state constitutions proclaimed/articulated allegiance to Christ.
Common Law and modern U.S. penal code is directly inspired by the 10 Commandments, Mosaic law and the Bible.
Founder John Adams: “Our Constitution was designed for a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”
George Washington: “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
While radical leftists pine for a Christianity-free Utopia, I suggest they try life in a Sharia law nation.
Jamey Honaker
Combes
We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas 78502-3267, or emailed to [email protected].
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