In this episode, we dive into the political landscape on Inauguration Day, as Donald J. Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. I share my excitement about the end of the previous administration and the potential for a new era under Trump. We also touch on the global impact of the Trump presidency, including talks with Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Shifting focus to state and local issues, I discuss the disappointing start of the 89th Texas legislative session and the challenges faced in electing the Speaker of the Texas House. I emphasize the need for more grassroots efforts to push for TEXIT, the movement for Texas independence, and encourage listeners to get involved.
We then welcome Aaron Valdez, a local businessman and mayoral candidate for Eagle Pass, to the studio. Aaron shares his background, his vision for the city, and his plans to address key issues such as security, infrastructure, and job creation. We discuss the importance of local involvement in politics and the impact of city policies on the community.
Throughout the episode, we highlight the importance of supporting local businesses and initiatives, including the Texas Nationalist Movement and the benefits of becoming a member or making a donation. I also share a personal story about reconnecting with an old friend, Wayne, and the joy of rekindling that friendship.
Finally, I encourage listeners to engage with the podcast through social media, support the show through donations, and stay tuned for upcoming episodes and developments, including potential live shows on Rumble.
To reach Aaron Valdez:
(830) 868-0784
1705 Del Rio Blvd, Eagle Pass Tx. 78852
2334 El Indio Hwy, Eagle Pass, Tx. 78852
FaceBook: AaronValdezforMayor
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
For more information on the Texas Nationalist Movement: https://texitnow.org
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(00:00:06) Introduction and Inauguration Day
(00:03:23) Texas Legislative Session and Texit Movement
(00:07:05) Interview with Mayoral Candidate Aaron Valdez
(00:16:08) Aaron Valdez Discusses Local Issues
(00:43:54) Challenges of Illegal Immigration and Local Resources
(01:11:14) Conclusion and Personal Reflections
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[00:00:07]
Unknown:
Welcome to The Podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits, nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:00:31] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome to The Podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and it is great to be with you again today. And, as always, folks, we are at the asylum studios broadcasting from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. Folks, happy Monday. I hope you guys had a great week. And, in case you didn't know, folks, today is Monday, January 20, 2025. It is inauguration day, and in just a few moments, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. And, you know, folks, I honestly I I've been walking this earth 54 years, been a been conscious of political environment since, maybe 17, 18 years old. I started really paying attention to it. And, I honestly I cannot recall more excitement over a presidential inauguration, than this one. You know what? The 4 year nightmare of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, wide open, unchecked borders, Fentanyl, far left liberal lunacy is all coming to an end for the for at least the next 4 years. And, you know, lord willing, you know, JD Vance, we we get a JD Vance presidency, after, Donald Trump's term, and we'll have another 8 years. But, that is that is something that we need to be excited about.
That is just today is just a a wonderful day for the United States and for the world. And, I'm sure you've noticed if you've been paying any attention to the news, at all, you know, we don't really really wanna spend too much time talking national politics. We really wanna focus more on on state and local stuff here on the podcast. But, if you haven't been paying attention, to the news, you know, the the Trump effect is being felt throughout the world already. A lot of a lot of a lot of interesting things going on, a lot of strange things going on, security wise for the president, for the first lady, for the first family. You know, it's just it's a very, very interesting and, and and weird time that we're living in. It's an exciting time. You're seeing talks with Greenland.
We're seeing talks with, for, you know, the Panama Canal. You know, a lot of lot of saber rattling, kinda going back and forth there. Now is the United States gonna use force? No. I I don't see that happening at all, especially under Donald Trump. I I just don't see that at all. But, you know, we're seeing a lot we're seeing a lot of things taking place, and it's very, very, very interesting. Very interesting. And and what's interesting about it is is, probably a topic for another show. So we'll, we'll we'll talk about that at another time. But, it is definitely definitely exciting time. It's definitely something, to be excited about.
Now having said that, and as since we are trying to spend more time talking about state and local issues here, something that's really not so exciting, something very disappointing actually took place, this week here in Texas. On Monday, 89th Texas legislative session kicked off, and, honestly, it was a disappointing comedy show. I hate I hate to say that, but that's exactly what it was. You know, you went from an elected state representative not being able to recite the the the, the Texas state flag pledge to, to literally democrats electing a the the republican speaker of the Texas house.
Texas is a majority red state. Texas has the majority, republican house. And yet the, the gentleman Burroughs who was, who was, put up for, for for, the speaker of the Texas house couldn't get enough votes from the republicans and had to rely on democrats to elect him the, speaker of the Texas house. And all that really is folks, that's just another example of the establishment protecting its own. That's really it. That's all it is. And, honestly to me, it just basically means that, you know, we're gonna have to work a little bit harder to get a vote on text at this session. That's what we're gonna have to do. We're gonna have to, you know, get more boots on the ground. We're gonna have to work harder in the in the counties, in the areas, and that we're, that we're taking part in this in. And, we're just gonna have to put, you know, the, the foot on the pedal.
And we'd have to get a lot of work done. Now, if you're not sure about what Texit is, I just wanna explain to you that, you know, you could you could listen to, our our show with Daniel Miller, just a couple of shows back, also Jason Fry from last week. But if you really wanna get more information on Texit, just head over to texitnow.org, or what you could do is click on the t and m tab on our website, and you can scan the QR codes, and you can register your support. You could become a member, or you can make a donation. And in full disclosure, I am a supporter and a member of the Texas nationalist movement, and I'm I'm currently going through the, the, the courses for, county leadership position. So, it's a it's a very it's a very exciting thing to be going through. It's it's wonderful to be part of it. And, and if you if you have any interest in it whatsoever, check out that website, text it now dot org, or visit our website, hit the t and m tab, and, you can scan all the codes, right there on the website.
Alright. Now, last week, we sat down with Jason Fry. Jason Fry was the author of the book National Divorce, A Plan For Peace, and, it was it was a great show. Really enjoyed talking to to, Jason, And, you know, so much information was presented there that that day. So if you haven't checked out the episode yet, I need you to do that, as soon as possible. Also, I I wanna say in regards to that episode, thank you to everybody who downloaded the episode. I was looking over our statistics, our analytics, and, it was the, now I know we've only done, 7 or 8 shows right now, but, you know, it was the 3rd highest download that we've had since we started this podcast.
And, that is just fantastic, and I thank you so much for all of that. Thank you everybody who's downloaded it. And, you know, please continue to do that. Please continue to download the show, share them, get the message out, get the word out about this show, and, help us to grow, help us to expand, help us to get our message out. Alright. Now, now on today's show today's show, we actually have an opportunity to sit down in studio with mister Aaron Valdez. Now mister Valdez is a is a local businessman. He's the owner of a a funeral home here in Eagle Pass, and, Aaron has, cast his hat into the ring and is running for mayor of Eagle Pass. And he took time out of his schedule to to come here to the studio and sit down with us, and we're gonna talk to him today, get to know a little bit more about him, his business, and, more importantly, what his vision is for Eagle Pass. So I hope you stick with us.
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Now, also, don't forget to head over to our website, joerusiello.com. Look for that contact form up on the right pancake there, and, send us over any questions or comments or concerns that you have, and also any suggestions that you might have. And of course, while you're on the website, you know, we always need the help. So if you would, look for the support page and click that support button. Just remember folks, this is a value for value podcast, and and really all that means is that if you've received anything of value from what we're doing here, all we're asking is that you return that value in the form of a donation.
Now you can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate, but if you set up a monthly recurring donation of $17.76, you'll receive the associate producer's credit, and that means that you'll get a shout out on every show, and your name will be listed in the show notes as an associate producer for every single show going forward. Alright? But it has to be a monthly recurring donation, but, you know, that's not all. If you set up a monthly recurring donation of $18.36, you'll receive producer credit, and that means the same thing. You'll get the shout out every show, Your name will be listed in the show notes as a producer of every show going forward. And then, of course, finally, we have, our our last, producer package, and that is the executive producer.
And that's any monthly recurring donation of $25 or more. You get the shout out, you get the, the inclusion of all the show notes, but you get the executive producer credit. Now we do this, of course, because if you're making these recurring donations, you're helping us produce the show. You're helping us do the things that we need to do to make a quality show, to give you the best quality talk show that we can possibly muster for you. So get involved. Help keep this show going. Help us improve. Alright. Now one more thing, before we take a quick break and and get to our guest, and, this is something that I am really, really excited about, And, and and that is that we've started to upload our audio only show right now to our new Rumble channel. Now, if you wanna be a part of that, which we hope you do because we'll be doing videos very soon, and, you know, if everything works out right, we might be doing live shows, very, very soon as well. So all you need to do is just head over to rumble.com/roozed, that's rooz, and click that follow button.
Like the videos. Share them. Help us spread the word about what we're doing here. You know, folks, opening the account is free, and, you can watch all the videos that you want. There are some that are that are behind the premium paywall. Our shows are not. But if you want an ad free experience, you can sign up for Rumble premium for as little as $10 a month. Now, look, folks, Rumble is the free speech platform that you need to be on. So sign up today, follow our show, and like I said, very soon, we're gonna be up there doing live shows, and that's gonna be really, really exciting, and we are so looking forward to it.
Alright, folks. So this is the podcast with Joe Rusciello. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and we'll be right back with Aaron Valdez right after this. Stay with us. This podcast is hosted on Podhome dotfm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads.
[00:14:56] Unknown:
Pod home comes with many intelligent features like Pod home AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pod home AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free 7 day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:15:21] Unknown:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening. On the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[00:15:57] Unknown:
1, 2, 3, 4. Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello. Folks, I hope you you are really looking forward to, this conversation that we're gonna be having today. Sitting across from me, our our second ever in studio guest, we have Aaron Valdez, who is a a a mayoral candidate here in the city of Eagle Pass. And, I've been we've been talking about, getting together like this now for the last week or so, and, it finally came to pass.
[00:16:34] Unknown:
And, really excited to have you here. Aaron, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Joan. Thank you for having me. Yeah. My pleasure. It's an honor. We and, yes, we have been speaking for some time now, and we're ready to go. Awesome, man. So, I I know that, you know, politics anywhere
[00:16:49] Unknown:
is is, is an evil beast. You know, it it can be anyway. But, but to to to throw your hat into the ring, to take a position, in in in local government, I think, is is something that, is incredibly important for for for the citizenry to do. Career politicians are are, you know, do tend to be a bit of a problem as you go along. I don't I don't believe that politics should be a career option. So it's great that, you know, more people are getting themselves involved in the political process. So, and I know you I know you run a local business here in Eagle Pass as well, and you have a very introduce interesting story. I know we spent some time prior to the show, really getting to know each other and talk a little bit about these things. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
[00:17:34] Unknown:
Oh, you you yes, sir. So, born and raised in Eagle Pass. We've we've been in the mortuary business since I was born. So, my parents have always been all about service and giving the best quality to our community. We definitely have strived to get involved as much as possible in the community. And, once I went to, once I finished high, high school here in Eagle Pass High School, I I went to study to be a mortician and then graduated into business administration. From there, decided to come back to Eagle Pass and fulfill my destiny as a mortician.
But as as we really, became family business, I decided to really diversify. And that's where I started getting into the just general contracting with the focus on something that the city or or the region, had not provided, which was I I saw an opportunity in, solar install, company. So we started, really seeing the boom back in 2013, a residential commercial solar. And, it was a huge opportunity. So, we started in in 2013, and we just knocked on some doors and really, just it it it kind of escalated. And and we're talking about 2013. So not a lot of companies were were doing that at the moment. And, from there, we we really started also getting involved in the community, by just bringing awareness to what we were offering as a business.
So, yes. We we we had events. We had our 1st, Earth Day, here in Eagle Pass, and it it was just to create awareness. And, it's it's like having a career day within, schools, and just letting people know or or students know. Right? You there's so many options. You can become a in in this field, you could be a sales, rep, a sales director. You could also be an engineer. You could also be, just part of a general management. And, little by little, we started, getting involved within the community, just bringing bringing people to work and employing people into our company, as well as, like, giving opportunities to students and just teaching them how to sell. Right? And we had door knockers and really, you went from, part time, college students here in Southwest Texas Junior College to actually being able to just work maybe 2 2 to 3 hours a day and and making, a decent paycheck and not having to be full time employees. So they they had more time to be able to go back to school and finish finish their their their studies quicker. Right.
Once once we really, saw necessity, because I'm again, I'm a mortician. We we saw necessity in the medical field here in Eagle Pass, which we I had family that had to constantly go to Laredo, had to go to San Antonio, right, to be treated. Especially, like, in specialty care. So I decided to run for the Maverick County Hospital District. What we do is manage taxes that go into our medical, medical services. So we have our taxes that go to our county, taxes that go to the school district, taxes that go to the city, and we have taxes that go, part of our taxes that go to our Maverick County Hospital District. What we're supposed to do is use those use that towards indigent care.
People that really can afford health care within our community. But the hospital district has been evolving throughout these years into just just being, being able to provide general medical services to our community. It with this with a focus on specialty care. So surgeons, new neurology, just whatever you think that it's just any any service that that is hard to bring someone from, out of town to come and service here, in Eagle Pass, that was our focus. So I decided to run, in 2019. I was 29 years old, and I ran for the Maverick County Hospital District. I became an elected official at that time, and we've since then, we were, definitely operating, with a reserve and and also occasionally just being worried about covering our expenses and having to raise taxes.
We we definitely brought, primary care. And with that, and the services that that we were able to offer in in specialty care, little by little, we just really became, an entity that could cover cover the expense without using taxpayers money. So we haven't I've I've been in the Maverick County Hospital District for 6 years. Those 6 years really haven't raised taxes. We actually lowered taxes. But, we've constantly keep on trying to bring doctors within our community so we won't have to travel, San Antonio, Laredo, and make all those, additional expenses that one could really use further, necessities.
Within those 6 years, we've, tried to acquire nursing homes and trying to find other means, so we could diversify and not depend on just a certain niche within the organization to continue operating at a profit and continuously bring more specialty and more services to our community. So it's been 6 years. I've been a chairman for 4 of those 6 years. And at this time, we've just welcomed, 2 additional board members, 2 new board members, which are doctors, doctor Bernal, doctor Chisholm, great doctors. Just started recently, so they're pretty young. We have 2 board members that have a lot of experience, with, mister Olivares and miss Rebecca Robinson.
So I feel like our board is is is pretty well taken care of. We have our current intern CEO with Nestor Bonilla, managing our our, our organization. And he's he's he has probably, like, 15 to 18 years of experience within the hospital district as our CFO. So he knows the numbers. He knows how to budget. He's he's ready to take, to continue taking the hospital district to the heights that we know it can. So that's where, this huge opportunity arose when our current mayor, Rolando Salinas decided not to run for a second term. I feel like, I'm ready. I I have a business background.
I have the involvement within the community. And now more than ever, I see the growth that Eagle Pass is having. And I know we'll have within the next years that I I know leadership like mine is needed within the community. So we could definitely develop what what what what is it what what is about to come.
[00:25:22] Unknown:
Well, that's great. And you actually you you already kind of dovetailed into my next question for you is, like, why did you decide that that the mayor's off to run for mayor? Yeah. But, but that's great, you know. And then the fact that you have the experience behind you in in in city in city government already and, in an elected position is is just, is always always a plus, always a positive. And, so that that's just that's just great. So just on a position level, you know, policy areas, what are the 3 main issues that, that that you're looking at that that you would want to address as quickly as you possibly could?
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Security, streets, jobs.
[00:26:09] Unknown:
Okay. And so what what would you do for those? It's for the for security. What what are you talking when you say security, what specifically do you mean? Are you talking about just general security for for the city, safety, public safety? Are you talking about border stuff? Are you talking about, you know, what specifically?
[00:26:24] Unknown:
We would start with public safety, but definitely, border security, is an issue. We all know Eagle Pass is is is going through or has gone through or is still going through. I I I would just as I mentioned, Eagle Pass is growing significantly. And if we want outside commerce to come into Eagle Pass or just investors to look into Eagle Pass, a big issue will always be how secure is the city. And I feel like we really need to invest into our our current, PD, fire department, operations within the city that would help us facilitate, being able to address any issue immediately or just more one way would just be like, you know what? Looking into trying to be trying to to bring, technology to our to our current, officers.
A real time crime center. It's it there's there's just so much opportunity that if if we really dig deep into how to go about making it better without really, going about the current administration, which I I I feel, we're all having our ups and downs. But I feel like the current situation is people get educated within our our city, and they they leave. So let's say someone wants to become a police officer. They'll they'll start within, our our city, and eventually leave for DPS or become a trooper. So so I I really wanna make sure what what can we do to make wanna wanna make people stay, really invest into Eagle Pass. Yeah.
[00:28:25] Unknown:
That's that I like that. That's important. You know, you you you wanna keep the best of the best Exactly. At home. You know, you don't wanna keep losing people. So you you do wanna come up with with some kind of incentive programs to keep people here, keep people working, for the city. You need good people especially in law enforcement and the current environment that we we find, not just here but but just all over the country. You you you look at things, in the news and whatnot. You see there's such a negative impression of law enforcement and there's good and bad in every side and and, but you wanna cultivate the good Good. The good people working. You you want you want the best you can get. And honestly, the best you're gonna get is right here in, you know, at home. You want people from home, policing home.
They're they're definitely they're more invested in it. You know, this is especially in a small town, a small city like like Eagle Pass, you know, you know, this is where their family is, this is where their friends are, this is where the people that they they love and care about are. They're gonna they're I I believe that they're gonna be more invested in in working toward their security and their safety, you know, homegrown. So, yeah, I agree with that. You know, find those incentives to keep people here whether it's maybe a little bit of a bump in pay, maybe it's some kind of a college incentive, maybe it's something to a health care incentive, something that that you would just attract the best of the best people. And they would stay. And the exactly. And and they would stay. Retention. So so we see our our, interim,
[00:29:53] Unknown:
chief of police, say, she's she's a she's an amazing individual. And, I mean, she's, homegrown, and you see her evolving within the city. And, I mean, we're glad she stayed and now she's chief. So yes, like looking into what, what can we do? And maybe let's say it's, it's hard at the moment to maybe have those, pay raise raise our pay. Mhmm. But make maybe find a way to make the work easier. Okay. Give them the equipment. Not not solely depend on on state help, but, you know, we need a budget within the city and be readily available to give them, the resources. Or possibly even hiring more to to keep, you know, more more offices on the street. Which has been an issue. Yes. It's it's been a a long term issue within the city. But, I mean, it's it's all about finding the way, finding the funds, and
[00:30:53] Unknown:
and yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I know I know this has nothing to do with the city. This is a a county issue, like the sheriff's department, you know. And I know that there aren't very many deputies, and they have a whole county that they have to be responsive to, so you don't really you know, they're they're spread very, very thin. And I know from my personal experience in being around town and seeing the local police, you definitely see the presence. You know that you know that the police are here. They're local. And, in in all honesty, they're incredibly respectful and, I I I've had a couple of interactions with them, you know, not negatively, you know. But, but but everybody, they're very they're trained very well. They're very respectful, and I we appreciate that. And, but, yeah. I I you can you know, you have I mean, I know it's not New York City where I'm from. In New York City, there's 40,000 police officers in New York City. So, you know, so it's it's there's there's a lot of coverage. But, but, yeah. But, you know, the more the more officers you have on patrol, it it eases the burden of others that are working as well because the the work and the load and the calls can be spread out a little bit more, fairly evenly, and the response time would be improved. That that's that's really, really important, and that's that's good. That's very good.
So you said security. What else you got? Streets. Okay.
[00:32:10] Unknown:
Okay. So, we gotta make sure our our infrastructure's on point. No cutting curves. You know? We gotta make sure we we ask our developers to bring about their best with good streets, great parks. Mhmm. Businesses will start looking into Eagle Pass. They're they'll do their, they'll analyze our city and then they'll see, you know what? This city's worth investing. With businesses coming in, we have sales taxes coming in. With additional income, we could bring additional units and give them the equipment they deserve. So they go hand in hand. You know? We we we gotta make sure our infrastructure's on point and and enforced.
And and that's that's something I personally really feel, needs to be done since we are such a virgin town. Mhmm. Because we are. We have so much potential. Investors already looking into Eagle Pass and they they they know the potential it has. And at the same time, we're lucky to look at Laredo and San Antonio, which are close by to see, you know, what they've done correctly, what they've done wrong, learn from it Mhmm. And implement it within our city so we can offer the quality that we know we we we we can make. You know? And we're we're at the right place,
[00:33:48] Unknown:
right time. Yeah. It's it's interesting, like, we were talking earlier. You know, I've been living here in Eagle Pass now for 8 years. And in the 8 years that I've been here, I mean, the the the growth in Eagle Pass has been unbelievable. Exactly. You know, we just they just finished building that new that Hyatt Place. Yes. Right? Over by the, sports complex. I mean, that thing almost went up overnight, you know. And, there's construction going on next to it. There's there's something else going up. I forget exactly what it is. But, there there's just so much growth, so much development going on in your Eagle Eagle Pass, you know, to to to to attract more businesses, to to increase revenue, you know, through, you know, businesses coming in. It's it's important to work on the infrastructure, to keep those streets going, to keep them clean, keep them keep them in good repair, and, and and to keep them safe. It it's incredibly important. And speaking of streets, by the way, speed bumps.
Speed bumps. Flowers. We need speed bumps on flowers over here. Yeah. Because, you know, that's man, they're using that thing as a drag strip sometimes.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
So I agree. Yeah. No. No. No. But I mean I mean, they go hand in hand. I mean, you you add speed bumps, definitely add security. Sure.
[00:34:59] Unknown:
Also, you you mentioned parks too now. Like I said, we were talking earlier and I I gave you my background. You know, I worked for New York City parks Yes, sir. For, for for a number of years. And parks do actually play a a very important role more so than what a lot of people think. Now I know here it's a little bit different than in the city, in the New York City. New York City, the folks kinda look at the public park as as their backyard because they don't really have any. You know, a lot of a lot of homes here have, properties around us, so they spend more time at home. But it's I think it's incredibly important to to maintain, parks, to keep them green, to keep them clean, to keep them safe to the public to use, and to invest in a park system.
You know, when I first came here, I I toured around. I I looked around because that's what I did. You know, I looked at the at public parks and you have some beautiful properties. You have some properties that need a that need a little attention, need a little, extra work. You know, fresh coat of paint goes a long way. You know? I would love to see that and and and see that happen. So, and I know that, just recently that there's gonna be a turnover in, in leadership in, in Eagle Pass parks. So, I'm looking forward to I think I think the person that's gonna be taking over right there if if if they appoint him to the position is is a good fit for that. And, I actually reached out to him too, but he hasn't answered me yet. So we'll we'll get him on. And we'll yes. We'll try to reach out. Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah. I mean, investing in those things are are are are critical. Critical.
Because, again, I think when you when you're trying to attract businesses to come in to the city, they're gonna look at those public spaces too. You know? They wanna see what's out there. They wanna because it's important. If you're show if you're able to demonstrate that you can keep public places public spaces clean, safe, easily accessible, I I I think that all goes hand in hand when new businesses come in and they're trying to pitch and they're trying to look for something some place to where they can set up their operation. Exactly. So we gotta keep those things. I agree with you on that. And and your third one.
[00:37:01] Unknown:
Jobs. Yes. I mean, they all go hand in hand. Like, at the end, it's it's what we're looking for. How can we make, Eagle pass grow with the right infrastructure? And it's, we, we got to make sure we are city secure so people can invest their personal time Mhmm. Their money, streets.
[00:37:28] Unknown:
Everything that you said so far, they all are connected in one way or another. You know? You need the jobs. You you need people working to keep the streets clean, in good repair, safe, and and accessible. You need people working in parks that can take care of the park lands. You need people that that can take care of the the basic functions of city. And
[00:37:50] Unknown:
So so at at the time, our biggest source of income is our our bridge.
[00:37:56] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:37:57] Unknown:
And, we that's where, like, we definitely have to focus on that. Mhmm. Right? Have have good management. They've just appointed a new, general manager for just the specifics, bridge system. Initial David Southside. And I mean, we still have to focus on capitalizing on our cash cow Mhmm. Which is which is the bridge at the moment. Try to find the best way to, keep that source of income coming in. But at the same time, going back, it's, we got to make sure just to be prepared. We have to make sure we have to have that security within the city, make sure streets are nice and well done so we can bring jobs.
Mhmm. And then we can focus on our sales tax. Our our our source of income that we wanna make sure is is our biggest, focus. So we won't rely so much on the bridge, but it's it's like both go hand in hand. Yeah. It all it all dovetails all dovetails together. And I'm glad you brought the bridge because,
[00:39:04] Unknown:
prior to our conversation, we I I had asked a few folks that I know some questions. I said, you know, if you were to sit down with him, what would you ask? And, the most popular question that that I had was, or a concern that I had was, the traffic, crossing over the bridges into into I I don't I never pronounce it right. So I'm sorry if I'm you know, forgive me. Don't don't don't disconnect us now because I'm saying it wrong, but Piedras. Yeah. Right? Okay. Okay. I say it like a New Yorker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, But, those lines, you know, they get long. They they do tend to get long, especially around the holidays. And, is is is there something that that that the that the mayor's office can do to help alleviate those concerns of lose these huge long lines of of traffic just sitting there blocking streets and, you know, making it really difficult to get around town at times. Again, especially, you know, more prevalent during the holidays, of course, you know, because people are traveling. But but, what what could we do for that? I mean, as the mayor's office, what can you do for that?
[00:40:07] Unknown:
It's gonna be, taking it back to our security where at this point, just how invested we could be within our just PD, let's just say. If if we would have or, like, if we would just be able to be prepared to make sure we have enough units and find the best way to alleviate that traffic and be prepared for it and and be involved within the bridge system and have a continuous communication and already be prepared for it. If it's coming, there's, there's this real time crime, center. It's it's just a center that really, creates or or takes in data so we could be prepared. Okay. So how could we manage, this this, street or or avenue, that we know will have congested traffic?
So just run from there, just having, within an infrastructure that you're get prepared to just move traffic some elsewhere. Mhmm. Other than that, it's really just that communication with maybe even and and our our current bridge system. But, yes, I mean, it's it's just being prepared for it. Right.
[00:41:37] Unknown:
Now for for the folks that are listening that may not understand what we're talking about. I should have prefaced that when we started. There are 2 bridges that that connect Eagle Pass to, Piotr's. And, one of the bridges is open till about 10:30 in the evening and the other one closes a lot earlier. One of the one of the suggestions that, one of the folks I was talking to had was the possibility of extending the hours of the bridges to keep them open later, if not, maybe a 24 hour system. And I and I know it's not just the city's end of it also. I I know that, customs and border patrol, you know, have some involvement in that because they're the ones actually doing the tracking of the vehicles and and whatnot coming back into the into the United States. So, so there would have to be some kind of a coordination with those.
Is that something that that, the mayor's office can look into? Definitely.
[00:42:26] Unknown:
Definitely. I mean, it's it's just looking at that numbers and realizing, I mean, is it is it an expense that we're willing to take, or is it just, you know, the holidays, a small period of time that we'll we'll have to deal with this, cluster ingestion? Mess. Mess. There you go.
[00:42:46] Unknown:
Alright. I think it's I think that's a fair response. I mean, you you really can't you you really can't know until you're actually presented with all the information, you know, once you're in that position. Now I also know that a lot of the city resources, sometimes goes towards the illegal immigration situation that we're dealing with, which, you know, lord willing, will will will come to a come to a quick end, in just a few days. But, it it is a it is a it is a draw on local resources like, emergency response. You know, 1st respond to police, fire, emergency medical services, and, you know, again, Eagle Pass, it's it's a it's a it's a growing city, but still it's a small city by a lot of regards. And there's only really one hospital in the city and and, I I know that that can be a drag on resources there as well. And as I'm sure working in working for the hospital district, you understand, you know, where I'm going with that.
What can we do as far as the city goes to to try to to to remedy that situation, to to compensate for it, I guess?
[00:43:54] Unknown:
Yes, Joe. I mean, I've I've been, again, a mortician. I went through having to be readily available to pick up your body in the re in the river, multiple deceased constantly having to just be on on alert. Right. And at the time we really just were doing a pro bono, like to help the community. And at a time it really affected our operations. It really affected our vehicles, but we were doing it with the kindness of our heart and trying to help the county. So we we've seen it firsthand how impactful it has been, personally and to our community. Mhmm. So that's that's what we had to go in, have to go through as as a company. But, we saw the same situation happening with our local officers, Constantly having to be, readily available, and and you you really start not paying attention to other situations that might be happening within the city. Mhmm.
We we have had help from our state, and and that's that's really been helpful through, Project Lone Star. Okay. And,
[00:45:11] Unknown:
Can you explain what Project Lone Star is for the folks that might not know? It's it's just funds that,
[00:45:16] Unknown:
the state gave to to our community, just to purchase vehicles help with the situation. Okay. But what could we do is just always keep, maybe a budget even though we're being helped and subsidized by the state or just consistently leave that budget there within our graph so we can either invest it in other, amenities that we need as as a city. Right? And and definitely continue trying to have a good communication with our state and and government, and try to see how we can get help, within for a city.
[00:46:00] Unknown:
Yeah. I think that with the incoming administration, the federal administration, I'm I'm hopeful that it's gonna be a quick turnaround, you know, that they're gonna get that border secured, that we'd stop the nonsense, all this stuff. And, you know, it it in in the again, the 8 years that I'm living here, right now, I'm seeing more unfamiliar faces Okay. Just kinda like wandering the streets, you know, and, I I know that, like, homelessness here in Eagle Pass is it's it it exists everywhere, You know, I know I back up back up in New York, you know, we used to call them urban outdoorsman. You know? Okay. But, but, I mean, is that a growing concern that you see that needs to be addressed here?
Are there gonna be more issues like that? Like like an increase in the homeless, populations? Because, you know, most of them are probably migrants that are coming through in the illegal.
[00:47:00] Unknown:
That's that's where, like, we're really hoping, our upcoming administration could address. Yeah. That's, that's definitely, an issue we saw firsthand these past, definitely 2 years where we're we definitely saw a spike in, in, in the homeless and, and having to offer shelters to Mhmm.
[00:47:25] Unknown:
Now does does the city of Eagle Pass actually have shelters like that?
[00:47:29] Unknown:
We have. We have. Mission Board of Hope has has been key, a key element to providing,
[00:47:36] Unknown:
But that's a private organization, though. Correct? Or is that funded through the city? Oh, no. It's private. Okay. But the city itself doesn't have any kind of shelter system like that or anything?
[00:47:47] Unknown:
I mean, they I I guess they they piggy bank on on Mission Board of Hope. But I'm pretty sure they I mean, we have we have gymnasiums that could definitely be available at
[00:47:58] Unknown:
at a crucial time. Yep. Like an emergency purpose. Yes. No. Of course. Alright. With this coming with this, incoming administration, again, you know, we're hopeful that it'll it'll turn the tide of the illegal coming across. Do you do you think that well, as the mayor, would you be able to approach the fed or approach the state for additional resources, to to to to, I guess, space maybe alleviate the strain on the on the city and, you know, maybe use that stuff, the monies or the or the or the equipment and whatnot to to improve the security in the city, to to hire more police. Is there any kind of program like that within the state that that you can I I know you have by Project Lone Star? No. But I'm saying as far as, like, for for for human resources to to hire more officers, to hire, more folks to to provide security and safety. Well, that that's definitely gonna be
[00:49:01] Unknown:
the collaboration that we will need to have with, our state rep, congressman, and just trying to find the best way to collaborate to bring these resources to our city. So it's definitely something we would continuously fight or or try, right, to make sure these these incentives are funneled to our city.
[00:49:25] Unknown:
Outstanding. Alright. So do you have any pitch that you wanna make right now to the folks at Eagle Pass that that'll be listening to this later on? Make your sales pitch.
[00:49:38] Unknown:
So growth is coming to Eagle Pass. We have to make sure that we really invest in getting to know who we want as our leadership. Just like we've done in any other election, you start local and grow from it. But let's really look deep in our home and say, who do we really want to represent us? Invest.
[00:50:13] Unknown:
Alright. Baseball team. Who do you like?
[00:50:17] Unknown:
I'd say Yankees. And and, I mean, I'm I'm huge on on trying to be local, so Rangers would be ideal or or the Astros, but my my grandfather's always been a Yankee, and and he would take us to see the game. So I I stayed faithful. Alright. Well, look, you know, my my dad was probably the biggest Yankee fan that you'll ever ever meet. And,
[00:50:41] Unknown:
I am not a Yankees fan. I I I I'm a Mets fan. So so before anybody starts in with the jokes about being a Mets fan, you know, it's it builds character. Okay? Because we're not spoiled like Yankee fans are. They they think they get everything belongs to them because they're Yankees. But, I remember when my when, won Father's Day because, you know, again, my dad's a huge was a huge Yankees fan. And, we, and you know the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. So I won Father's Day. I I I decided I'm gonna get my dad something really special. So I bought him a, I bought him a fitted, a field jersey. I bought him the official authentic baseball jersey from MLB, and I got him a fitted hat and all that stuff. And I remember I I I took it over to my parents' house and and my dad was there. And I said, hey, dad here. Happy Father's Day. He's like, oh, Joseph. You don't have to do that. That's that's that's really nice of you. No, dad. Trust me. You're gonna love it. I know you're gonna love it. Please, whatever it is, I I'll just open the box, dad. Come on. My dad was like that. So he opens the box, but when he opened the box, it was a Boston Red Sox box, and he just looked at it. He looked at me. He opened up the box. He pulled out this beautiful travel Boston Red Sox jersey. So I had Boston across the front, had his name on the back and the number 1 and and, and all that stuff and the fitted Boston Red Sox hat, and he just picked it up. He looked at it. He went, Joseph.
This is beautiful, Joseph. Thank you. Okay. I love it. Thank you. Folded it up, put it back in the box, excused himself, and walked out of the room. So I looked at my mom, and I was like, well, that didn't go like I thought it was. So she was like, no. It didn't. Is he alright? Is he feeling okay? She was, no. He's fine. So I'm sitting down. I was having a conversation with my mom and maybe 15, 20 minutes passed and dad hadn't come back yet. I was like, where is he? So I so I get up and I go out into from their living room into their kitchen to their dining room area. And, at the end of the dining room area, they had these sliding glass doors went out to the backyard. And I see my dad standing outside in the backyard. And, I go and I see he has a fire going. So I go out there. He took he took the Red Sox jersey, the fitted hat that I paid No. Over $300 for for for all this stuff.
He he had he threw it into the fire pit. And I went out, I'm like, dad, what are you doing? No. Dude, how much that cost? He just looked at me. He looked at the fire, looked back at me. He goes, who's more the fool? Oh, there we go. There we go. It's like so yeah. So so I grew up around Yankee fans, but I I I grew up a Mets fan. But, basically, like, I I was adversarial with my dad like that kind of stuff, but it was fun. It was playful. Healthy. Healthy. Yeah. Like, my dad was a Yankee fan. I was a Mets fan. My dad was a, my dad was an Islanders fan. I was a Rangers fan. It's hockey.
My dad liked, like, the Knicks. I like the Nets. My dad, you know Just I mean, I I guess it was a healthy farm. Yeah. He was a Giants. The Unions. A Giants fan. I was a Jets fan, you know. And then I really twisted them. I was like, well, you know, the thing is they're not really New York teams that they play in New Jersey. So they're, you know, so the really going New York team is the Buffalo Bills. So which, by the way, had a great season this year. It did. I'm not a Bills fan, but I appreciate a good season. So, so that that was great. And,
[00:54:01] Unknown:
so we would argue about those kind of things all the time. But, yeah, I'm definitely not a Yankees fan, and I don't fault you for it, you know. I mean I mean, my my situation is personal. Like, my my grandfather loved him and and he would take us. So I I give him the benefit of the doubt, him having a good team. Yeah. Other than that, I mean, definitely Rangers or Astros.
[00:54:20] Unknown:
Okay. What about the football, Cowboys? Right? Cowboys.
[00:54:23] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, at the moment. But Yes.
[00:54:27] Unknown:
Yeah. We have the we have the running joke at my at my my regular job about the Cowboys. So I'm not I, you know, I'm I'm a Jets fan. Jets fan. Because, you know, of where I, you know, where I lived. But, I don't really follow football all that much. But I'm also a Packers fan, and I have to be. There's there's a reason there's there's family history there, so I have no choice to be a Packers fan because, do you know who who the, the NFL trophy is named after? Vince Lombardi. Right. Vince Lombardi is my cousin. Oh, is he? Yes. Or was my cousin. Okay. Yeah. So not not like a first cousin, like a second somewhere along the way. Family relative. Family relative. So it was beaten into our heads. That you had to be You had to be a packers fan, you know, and you had no choice in the matter whatsoever.
So yeah. So so I had to be a packers fan, but, again, I don't really follow football that much. My my favorite, though, you know, is, is hockey. I love hockey. I'm very upset that I can't see hockey matches here in in Eagle Pass. I mean, I can get the the I can get the app for the thing, but it's just way too expensive. But So what's your team? The New York Rangers. Okay. Yeah. 1 of the original 6. So it's, it's I've I've been a Rangers fan for a long time. As a matter of fact, you know, I got my my New York Rangers baseball cap here, you know. So it's my thing. Love my Rangers.
Having a okay season this year. I just I keep on getting the Alexa alert saying that they lost, they lost, they lost, they lost, they lost. You know? Like I said, you know, sometimes, you know, the teams you pick builds character. So Yes. I take I I take I take the loss, and I enjoy it. It's kinda like the same situation with the Cowboys at the moment. No. Hey, you like to shoot? Oh, yeah. I'll shoot. Yeah. You like? Okay. Cool. We'll we'll have to arrange something. Absolutely. A friend of mine, has a ranch out in, Brackettville. Okay. So, but they live out of state. They live in, Wyoming.
So, at least once or twice a month, I'll go out there and just check up on the property for them and, I'll set up I'll set up a couple of targets and go, shit. We gotta do that. Definitely. No. No. No. Calendar. What what do you have? Like, 845? Well, right now, I have this. I have my Glock. Okay. My Glock 19. So so I I I picked this up last year. So, I'm working on, there's a there's a local armory, by the way. Okay. And it's it's it's right over here by, by the pilots, War Tribe Armory. Yeah. I had to think of where it was for a second. And they tell you something. They do great work, you know. So this they're not a sponsor of the showrooms like that. So I'm not trying to do that, but but I'm gonna give credit where credits do. War Try Walmery right up on on 57 across from the pilot.
They do amazing restoration work. They have a web they have a they have, their their Facebook, Instagram account. You can check it out. Couple people I know have used them to do restoration on on like heirloom firearms and Okay. And things like that to do fantastic work. I was talking to them a couple of weeks ago. We're gonna we're gonna do a custom AR 15 for me, in the next couple of weeks when we get started on it. So I'm excited about that. I'm looking forward to that. And, yeah. I mean, that it's so we gotta definitely get together and go out and and and Oh, god. And pop a few rounds off and, you know, see how things go. It would be a lot of fun. A hundred. Definitely. Be a lot of fun. Tons of fun. So let's see. So we so you shoot football. Baseball. Okay. We're good on that. Basketball? Spurs?
No basketball? I'm not a basketball guy. Okay. You know? But, If you if you had to If I didn't have a choice, I would I would probably follow the Spurs, but, just because just because of the organization itself. I mean, it's it's a pretty solid organization and then they're they're they're really, really good. But, I'm not a big basketball guy. I don't like that stuff. Oh, great. How do you feel about
[00:58:21] Unknown:
sports here in the US?
[00:58:23] Unknown:
I I love the fact that, there's so much emphasis on local sports. Okay. You know? It's almost like, they treat them like professional, you know, athletes here, which I think is fantastic. Where I'm from, there there really isn't. It's not like that. You know? I mean, sports are important up there, but it's just it's not like it is here. I mean, here, it's, you know, everything. They even put the they even put the the student athletes'
[00:58:49] Unknown:
pictures and names up on billboards around here. Huge. I mean Yeah. I know. It's crazy. And and I I don't know if it's a Texas thing, but I do know it's like a Maverick County, Eagle Pass thing where, like, we're definitely invested in sports. Baseball is huge. Football, I mean, it's it's it's it's big, but it's it feels like it's getting bigger. Like, a sports conference. Like, we're really investing in our youth, which I love as well. Definitely, I I I was a AYF coach. Okay. So I'm I'm I'm head coach, and then I I was coach for the 10 10 u. And I've always been a big fan of sports. So I see Eagle Pass really diversifying and investing in into our youth, which, was pretty big because a lot of times you ask yourself, like, what what also happens, after 13 when people really can't get into varsity?
Where where do they go? Right. Yeah. What what's available, within the community? And that's that's another, topic where, like, we're we should really invest into, well, what what's next? That's the city of Eagle Pass. And I personally since I've really been involved in in sports, I love sports. I mean, I played all sports, even fencing when I was hockey. Did some did some hockey. So I'm I'm I'm I'm a full on athlete. Nice. And I I I definitely see a necessity in in in diversifying different offering different different options, to our youth.
We, I see a lot of the MMA culture coming into where you can pass, you have jujitsu, you, I mean, you have more Thai, you have boxing and I mean, it's, it's, it's a key to keeping our youth occupied and not wandering around and and For sure. Themselves in difficult situations.
[01:00:38] Unknown:
For sure. Yeah. And and up in New York, they do a lot of that a lot of, programs through, the parks and recreation. Oh, do they? Yeah. Okay. They have, they have they have a lot of, recreation centers. I had to think what is I've been out of it for so long. They have a lot of recreation centers, and and they offer a lot of programs like that. And then they also have a lot of private leagues. Okay. That, that they partner with. So something similar is is what we're doing at at the moment,
[01:01:06] Unknown:
with the parks and rec. Mhmm. But it's there's always room for more. But I again, like, that's why I I I admire this the current situation where, we're really looking into investing
[01:01:17] Unknown:
into that. And then I noticed that they were doing some work over by the, sports complex. Okay. You know what they're working on over there?
[01:01:24] Unknown:
I mean, it's it's, like, I guess, a constant work at at, it it it's a constant work, but I'm really if you could pinpoint I know I don't know exactly what is it that you're
[01:01:34] Unknown:
I I think they were doing something with, was it a a track Okay. Or something like that? I have I have to look it up. It it just popped in my head. I didn't think to look it up earlier.
[01:01:43] Unknown:
But, But I I mean, I personally try to hit the complex at least twice twice a week and play tennis, you know. I mean, just won't mess up my knees that much. I hear you. It's, it's it's tough getting older. It is. I mean, I'm old. I'm obviously a lot older than you, but but, you know, yeah. I I I feel it for sure.
[01:02:02] Unknown:
You know, just as a point of trivia for you, you know, I I did work for the city for a little bit here. I worked for a summer at the sports complex. So, so I So what's your what's your point? Oh, I love it. I think I think I think the sports complex is amazing. It's a beautiful place and, you know, the fact that it's that it's it's in as good a condition as it is for the amount of use that it gets, that that's just that's just an amazing testament to the city and how they how they operate. And, then the quality of work that that that goes into it. Go into it. Yeah. I mean, up in New York, we have, you know, synthetic fields all over the place. And and within a season, they're torn up and they're falling apart. And it's, you know, it's just, you know, to to in order to to sustain it, is incredibly expensive. But but the guys here that I've come across and I've worked with and I've seen, they do a fantastic job. They did really do. They did they really do. And, I was very happy to work with them for that for that summer. It was a it was a great experience.
And, yeah, you never know. Oh, maybe You never know what can happen. Yeah. Change in administration there. You're not driven. I might be back. There you go. You never know. But it's good. Now do you have any children or we didn't talk about that. No children.
[01:03:12] Unknown:
It's it's me and my wife, Stephanie. We were definitely looking into having children. Oh. For the for the time being, we have 2 giant schnauzers. They consume most of our house. Yes. Of course.
[01:03:25] Unknown:
They're, like, kinda like kids themselves. They are. Yeah. And and your wife is a local business person. Correct? She's a State Farm agent. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And I knew she was involved with, with insurance somewhere, but I wasn't sure if it was Farmers or State Farm and, you know, I get confused between 2. I know one of them turned down my application for homeowners insurance, but, you know, but, I think it was Farmers. So
[01:03:47] Unknown:
so, I mean yeah. And and other than that, she's extremely involved in the community as well. She's part of our other board of the chamber of commerce. Oh, was she really? I didn't know that. So we I've I I know we formed a perfect combo because we're, like, all over the place. Or we try to, and we do have time available and it's either her over here or me over there, but it's it's a constant trying to help, the community, but just, you know, reach out.
[01:04:10] Unknown:
Oh, that's great. And it and it's also important too to have that partnership with with your with your wife, you know, or or, you know, your your husband if you're if you're a woman going into politics. You know, it's important that you guys are on the same page with things and and that you you know the the the rigors of of elected office. Yeah. And, you know, so it it it makes it just makes it a lot easier.
[01:04:32] Unknown:
Before I even considered, running, I first sat down with with with my wife and definitely, you know, expressed my interest. And she's like, Aaron, I'm with you. That's true. That that that's all I needed. Like, if I have if I have her support, I'm all in in whatever I do. I also went went to my my parents and, I mean, gave me the green light. But, yes, family is key, especially, in politics. It's it's it's a strong situation. It's it's it's a difficult moment, but if you do it for the right reasons
[01:05:05] Unknown:
with the right support Yeah. And I and I'm I'm pretty sure that, you know, that local races like this don't get as vicious as, you know, the larger races like the state level, the federal level, and whatnot. You'd be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure there's some. I'm sure there's some that that that goes on. But, you know, not as not as vicious, I think. Yeah. But, but, you know, it take it takes a special it takes a special personality to to to see collected office these days. And, you know, and it's great to see younger group coming through that that's really interested in in in in, and putting themselves in that position. You know, you look at you look at the current House of Representatives. I mean, it's like a it's like a nursing home. You know? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You got Mitch McConnell who's 80 something years old. You got, you got Nancy Pelosi who's 80 something years old, and you have that lunatic from Connecticut, DeLauro who's, the the blue haired freak.
You know? She's what? 70, 80 years old herself. I mean, it's it's and then then we we had a a local represent not a local represent, but a but a a one of our senators. Okay. Was it a senator or was it a a congresswoman? Congresswoman, from from Texas that that had been missing votes for the last 6 months, and it turns out that she was in a dementia unit in in a nursing home? No. You don't want that at all. I mean, this is that's why you need you need it's time. It's time for the younger group, the younger groups to come up and assume that mantle of responsibility. This is your community just as much as it is the older generation's community. You gotta get involved. It's important to get involved. So so you do need to do that. And, I think it's it's great that, you know, the younger generation's coming up like yourself. And, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, what you're gonna do for the city of Eagle Pass. You know, I'm I'm hoping that, everything works out well. I'm I'm looking forward to, you know, being able to sit down and talk to you again at some point. You know, you you're welcome anytime you wanna come on. Just let me know. We can we'll work that out. And, you know, we'll talk about whatever, you know, any any policy positions you wanna come up with or or ideas that you wanna float. Hey. You know, you're more than welcome to come on anytime.
So, before we wrap this up completely, how about, you just give us, your contact information. How can we find you? And if you, and and how can folks donate to your campaign if they if they if they so chose?
[01:07:20] Unknown:
Okay. So they could reach us at my personal phone number, which I'm giving out to the community, and it's 830-968-0784. Again, 830-968 0784. They could look me up, in social media. I have we have Facebook. We have Instagram, Twitter or x, TikTok, at Aaron Valdez or Aaron e Valdez because it's all social medias and definitely at Aaron for mayor. So just please reach out. You can definitely contact me straight through social media. My personal phone number or one of our headquarters at 2334 El Indio Highway. Again, 2334 El Indio Highway here in Eagle Pass. And again, at any point in time throughout this campaign and after this, my point my my goal is to be readily available and always be for the people.
So please, please reach out. I mean, now more than ever with our upcoming administration, we need to be involved. And and that's that's where I really wanna come in and just be able to be transparent and, be able to communicate with our community what's happening.
[01:08:58] Unknown:
Be transparent. Outstanding. Now, of course, all the information that you just gave, we're gonna put in all our show notes so that, folks can have access to it and, just make sure I get all that stuff from you before before we wrap up for for today, or you can email to me later on. However whatever is easier for you. Alright. Well, Aaron, again, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to to to hang out here with us for a little bit. Anytime you wanna come back on, just just reach out. Let me know. I would love to have you come back again. We'll definitely get together out on the outside and and, and and chitchat. And, man, this was great. Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. Odyssey. Appreciate you,
[01:09:33] Unknown:
definitely for having me here, and we'll we'll make sure to get one of these or if not many before, we get started. Absolutely. And when is the, Wednesday election? We start at early, April 22nd and we finish May 5th and we are already on campaign. We register 15th, but we're already campaigning. We start election day or or early on 2022 I mean, 22 April 22 till May 5th.
[01:10:08] Unknown:
Outstanding. Alright, folks. Again, Aaron, thank you. Folks, this is Joe Rossello, and you are listening to the podcast. And, we're gonna take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll, you know, we'll wrap this whole thing up here for today. Alright? And we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[01:10:25] Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on Podhome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. Pod home comes with many intelligent features like Pod home AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pod Home AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free 7 day trial at pothome.fm.
[01:11:15] Unknown:
Alright. Folks, welcome back to the podcast. Well, that was a lot of fun. Aaron Valdez running for mayor of the city of Eagle Pass. Just wanna say thank you again to Aaron for being with us here in the studio at the asylum. Takes a lot of guts to come to the asylum, but he did. And we appreciate him taking the time out. It was great having him here. And we're looking forward to, sitting down with Aaron again, as, as it gets closer and closer to election day. Now, great conversation. I hope that you guys listened carefully, and I hope that you were able to pull something out of that for yourself that, might help you make a decision as to who you're gonna vote for.
We're just to remind you that, early voting starts here at Eagle Pass on April 22nd and runs through May 5th. So that's April 22nd to May 5th. So if you're not currently registered or if you don't know, if you're registered to vote, make sure you get out there and, check-in with the, with the, the the county office to make sure that you are in fact registered, and, get out there and vote. Whether it's for for for, Aaron or for his opponent, it doesn't make a difference. Exercise your right to vote. Alright. And, alright. Now we have reached out to his opponent, miss Cruz, to see if, she'd be available or willing to come on to the, the podcast here and and talk to us.
We sent the message out, last week or the week or yeah. Last week. And, we got a you know, one of those generic responses, you know, thanks for contacting us. Someone will reach out to you shortly. But, as of, as of today, January 20th, we have not received any word back. And, but, you know, we're hoping that we'll hear from her, and be able to get her booked, for next Monday show. If not, we got other things lined up, we'll be good to go. But we're looking forward to, giving her the opportunity as well to, to jump on board here, and, lay out her vision for, the city of Eagle Pass. Now, something happened, a couple days ago that, I really wanted to talk to you guys about. And, I was debating if I was going to or not, but, because it's a it's a personal thing, but, but it's a good personal thing. Do you know? Do you ever have those things where it's it's just something that happens, you know, you're not sure, you know, you you're excited about it, you wanna tell people about it, but, you know, it's like is it is it too personal to talk about or is it not too personal to talk about? But you know what? I love you guys. You're my family. And, I wanna tell you guys what's, what's going on here. So, I was gonna announce it a little bit later in the show, but, but I'm gonna mention it now. So after some prodding and poking and, you know, just some nagging, I decided to do a Facebook page for the podcast.
And so, I got an account going, I had an old account that that was just dormant, not using it really for anything, but but I kinda woke it up, and I was looking through the, I got notification about a message in the, the Facebook messenger thing. And, and it was from somebody that, well, I don't know who she was at first, but I I read her message, and, she is, she's the wife of a friend whose name is Wayne Rankin. Now Wayne I know Wayne since 2002, and I haven't seen Wayne since 2003. And the last time that I I knew anything of what was going on with Wayne, Wayne was ill. He had cancer. He was struggling with it. And, one of the things that, that that struck me about Wayne's case was that, as sick as he was, and and he was he was pretty sick, you know, from what I remember and from his, his previous wife who who, who sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer, just a couple of years ago, The last that I heard is that he was doing very, very poorly, and, like, basically wasting away.
And, but one of the things about Wayne is is his incredible faith. Absolutely incredible faith. And, I I would use his story, regularly in in, sermons and bible studies and and things that when I would preach from time to time, mostly because of something that he had said in one of the emails that he had sent me. And that was, and I'm I'm gonna paraphrase it now because I haven't seen it in in many, many years. But, but that was basically that, as sick as he was, he was hoping that, you know, people would see God working through him through his faith and and and others would come to Christ. And, to me, that was just amazing.
And, and then that was it. I didn't hear from him, for a while, and, I'm I'm sure that, you know, I I haven't said this to him yet, so this is just between us. I honestly thought that he had passed, and, you know, so I was I was kinda kinda broken up about that, as well. But, but here here we are, and, I get I get a message from his new wife, and she, let us know. She she messaged me. She was asking me if I was the same Joe, and so on and so forth. And, you know, I said, yeah. I'm I'm that guy. And, so so the real blessing, the real treat that I got, a couple days ago was I got to talk to my, if you wanna say long lost friend, Wayne.
And, you know, we had a great conversation. A great conversation. It was it was a quick one at first, but then later on, we got into a a a rather lengthy conversation. Now now folks, look, those of you that really know me know how much I despise talking on the phone, and I always try to keep phone calls to it to at least 20 minutes. Alright? Now don't laugh at me. Alright? I I I know some of you were laughing at me over there, but, you know, there are reasons for that. And, but but Wayne and I were on the phone for 3 hours in that first real phone call that we had, and, it was like honestly, it was like no time passed by as we were talking. And it was it was it was great. It was great to hear about all the things that, have been going on with him. It's been it was great to hear, how well he's been doing, health wise and, you know, how happy he is with his new wife, and what a help she is to him. And, it was a real treat. It was a real blessing to be able to talk to him, and, was really excited about it. And, you know, we're we're gonna continue to talk. And, as a matter of fact, he'll be, coming down here to Eagle Pass, sometime in February. We're going to spend a few days together. We're going to have, have a little bit of a reunion.
And, so I'll keep you updated on that. We're actually going to do, maybe 1 or 2 shows together, which will be a lot of fun, especially if you haven't ever really spoken to Wayne. If or if you don't know Wayne, you're gonna know him after these, these these, these shows that we're gonna do because, Wayne Wayne can talk. You know, and that's great. You know, when you're a podcast host, you want someone to do more of the talking than you do. You know? So but, no, in all seriousness though, you know, Wayne, he's a great guy. I'm really looking forward to seeing him, and, I'm I'm really excited about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And, also, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it right now. Wayne has, made or actually, I should say set up a recurring contribution of $25 a month to the show, and so Wayne is our very first executive producer of the podcast, and we are absolutely thrilled to have Wayne on board with us. So Wayne, thank you so much.
Alright. So, so Wayne, thank you so much for the for the, donation and, the recurring donation. That's a that's a real that's that's a real help to us. So we really do appreciate that. And, man, we're looking forward to seeing him coming on come on down here and, see what we, what kind of what kind of trouble we can get into. Right? Alright. But, so I just wanted to share that with you guys. It was something really happy, that's, that that happened the other day. And it was, you know, something really cool, really cool. Alright, folks. Now, again, you know, we we just finished talking with Aaron Valdez. And, you know, one of the questions that I did not ask him, which, after the show, I warned him that, I'm going to ask him next time is is what's his position on Texas first and, Texas independence.
And, you know, you know, I gave him a couple of I gave him a book to to read up on it and to study on it, and, you know, hopefully the next time we get together, we'll be able to, to address that question somewhere, in our conversation, so keep your eyes open for that. Now folks, if you wanna get involved with shaping the future of a free and independent Texas, you need to head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tnm, scan those QR codes, and register your support, become a member, or make a donation. Alright? And, it's really, really important that we, that we keep we get this thing moving.
Alright? Text It is a real thing that is really going to happen. It is not an if happen. It is a when it happens. And I'm hoping that, of course, it happens in my lifetime, but if not, I'm gonna do everything that I possibly can do to, to ensure that future generations of Texans, have their own free and independent country, their own independent nation. Now okay. So, you know, you could say, well, you're not a native Texan. You, you know, you you, you you came down from New York. You're you're a Yankee. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, biologically, yes. Yeah. But in spirit, I'm a Texan. I've been a Texan the majority of my life. I can I I've wanted to be here in Texas for as long as I can remember, and, you know, I thank God that I'm here? I thank God that I'm here at this time when, these these these steps are being taken and, and wheels are in motion, and I am equally thankful that I am able to be a part of this fantastic organization that is seeking to put Texas first. That is so important. So please head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tnm, to get more information. You could also go to tex it now dot org and, get involved. Get involved, especially if you're here in Texas. Get involved.
This is your country. Let's make it happen this year. Alright, folks. Also, when you head over to our website, check out the contact form, send us over any questions or comments that you have. Also, you know, you could look for that support button that we have up there on the website. And, you know, make sure you click that support button. Don't forget, folks, this is a value for value podcast. So whatever value you feel you're getting out of this, we're only asking that you return it in the form of a donation. It could be a, a one time donation in any amount, or it could be one of our, recurring monthly donation clubs that we have. The associate producer, producer, and the executive producer. Also, don't forget that we have, an affiliate link with the Alex Jones store dot com slash Joe. That's the Alex Jones store dot com slash Joe.
You could, visit that or you could scan the QR code that's on our website also. There's also a link on the website that you can click and, and, I think it's on our support page if I'm not mistaken. And, get yourself on the road to better health, and always remember that 10% of your purchase goes right back here into the podcast, and it does not affect your price. So if you're buying something for $26, it was always $26, but 10% of that $26 is coming right back here to the podcast, but you have to use our link, thealexjonesstore.com/joe.
Alright. Now, I just wanna tell you about our socials, before I forget to do that, because I have a tendency to do that. Again, like I mentioned earlier, Rumble, We're now on Rumble. We're uploading the audio only right now for for these first few episodes. And then, probably within the next 2 weeks or so, we're gonna be starting to do videos. And then, from the videos, we're gonna start going into live shows. So that's gonna be exciting. I'm looking forward to it. So I hope you are too. We just gotta, you know, work out a few things here in the studio to to to set it up better for video than what it is. And, so hopefully, we'll get that done within the next couple of weeks. We're also on, on Twitter or x, whatever you wanna call it. It's at Joe Ruz. You can go on Instagram at not Joe Ruz, and that's because when I put Joe Ruz in as my screen my username, I got, my account was suspended, like, immediately. I didn't get through the sign up process, but they let me do not Joe Roos, so that's that's why I'm on there. Obviously, we're no longer on TikTok because, at least as of today, TikTok no longer exists in, in the United States.
You can find us on truth social as well at Joe Ruz. We are on minds at Joe Ruz, and, we're on, unfortunately, we're on Facebook now at, our Facebook page is the podcast with Joe Rusciello. Alright. So, folks, don't forget, like, subscribe, share the podcast with all your friends, your family, and your followers, and help us to spread this thing out. Alright, folks. That'll just about do it for us for today. We'll see you next week. Thanks for listening, and thank God for Donald J. Trump. Take care, folks.
Welcome to The Podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits, nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:00:31] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome to The Podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and it is great to be with you again today. And, as always, folks, we are at the asylum studios broadcasting from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. Folks, happy Monday. I hope you guys had a great week. And, in case you didn't know, folks, today is Monday, January 20, 2025. It is inauguration day, and in just a few moments, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. And, you know, folks, I honestly I I've been walking this earth 54 years, been a been conscious of political environment since, maybe 17, 18 years old. I started really paying attention to it. And, I honestly I cannot recall more excitement over a presidential inauguration, than this one. You know what? The 4 year nightmare of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, wide open, unchecked borders, Fentanyl, far left liberal lunacy is all coming to an end for the for at least the next 4 years. And, you know, lord willing, you know, JD Vance, we we get a JD Vance presidency, after, Donald Trump's term, and we'll have another 8 years. But, that is that is something that we need to be excited about.
That is just today is just a a wonderful day for the United States and for the world. And, I'm sure you've noticed if you've been paying any attention to the news, at all, you know, we don't really really wanna spend too much time talking national politics. We really wanna focus more on on state and local stuff here on the podcast. But, if you haven't been paying attention, to the news, you know, the the Trump effect is being felt throughout the world already. A lot of a lot of a lot of interesting things going on, a lot of strange things going on, security wise for the president, for the first lady, for the first family. You know, it's just it's a very, very interesting and, and and weird time that we're living in. It's an exciting time. You're seeing talks with Greenland.
We're seeing talks with, for, you know, the Panama Canal. You know, a lot of lot of saber rattling, kinda going back and forth there. Now is the United States gonna use force? No. I I don't see that happening at all, especially under Donald Trump. I I just don't see that at all. But, you know, we're seeing a lot we're seeing a lot of things taking place, and it's very, very, very interesting. Very interesting. And and what's interesting about it is is, probably a topic for another show. So we'll, we'll we'll talk about that at another time. But, it is definitely definitely exciting time. It's definitely something, to be excited about.
Now having said that, and as since we are trying to spend more time talking about state and local issues here, something that's really not so exciting, something very disappointing actually took place, this week here in Texas. On Monday, 89th Texas legislative session kicked off, and, honestly, it was a disappointing comedy show. I hate I hate to say that, but that's exactly what it was. You know, you went from an elected state representative not being able to recite the the the, the Texas state flag pledge to, to literally democrats electing a the the republican speaker of the Texas house.
Texas is a majority red state. Texas has the majority, republican house. And yet the, the gentleman Burroughs who was, who was, put up for, for for, the speaker of the Texas house couldn't get enough votes from the republicans and had to rely on democrats to elect him the, speaker of the Texas house. And all that really is folks, that's just another example of the establishment protecting its own. That's really it. That's all it is. And, honestly to me, it just basically means that, you know, we're gonna have to work a little bit harder to get a vote on text at this session. That's what we're gonna have to do. We're gonna have to, you know, get more boots on the ground. We're gonna have to work harder in the in the counties, in the areas, and that we're, that we're taking part in this in. And, we're just gonna have to put, you know, the, the foot on the pedal.
And we'd have to get a lot of work done. Now, if you're not sure about what Texit is, I just wanna explain to you that, you know, you could you could listen to, our our show with Daniel Miller, just a couple of shows back, also Jason Fry from last week. But if you really wanna get more information on Texit, just head over to texitnow.org, or what you could do is click on the t and m tab on our website, and you can scan the QR codes, and you can register your support. You could become a member, or you can make a donation. And in full disclosure, I am a supporter and a member of the Texas nationalist movement, and I'm I'm currently going through the, the, the courses for, county leadership position. So, it's a it's a very it's a very exciting thing to be going through. It's it's wonderful to be part of it. And, and if you if you have any interest in it whatsoever, check out that website, text it now dot org, or visit our website, hit the t and m tab, and, you can scan all the codes, right there on the website.
Alright. Now, last week, we sat down with Jason Fry. Jason Fry was the author of the book National Divorce, A Plan For Peace, and, it was it was a great show. Really enjoyed talking to to, Jason, And, you know, so much information was presented there that that day. So if you haven't checked out the episode yet, I need you to do that, as soon as possible. Also, I I wanna say in regards to that episode, thank you to everybody who downloaded the episode. I was looking over our statistics, our analytics, and, it was the, now I know we've only done, 7 or 8 shows right now, but, you know, it was the 3rd highest download that we've had since we started this podcast.
And, that is just fantastic, and I thank you so much for all of that. Thank you everybody who's downloaded it. And, you know, please continue to do that. Please continue to download the show, share them, get the message out, get the word out about this show, and, help us to grow, help us to expand, help us to get our message out. Alright. Now, now on today's show today's show, we actually have an opportunity to sit down in studio with mister Aaron Valdez. Now mister Valdez is a is a local businessman. He's the owner of a a funeral home here in Eagle Pass, and, Aaron has, cast his hat into the ring and is running for mayor of Eagle Pass. And he took time out of his schedule to to come here to the studio and sit down with us, and we're gonna talk to him today, get to know a little bit more about him, his business, and, more importantly, what his vision is for Eagle Pass. So I hope you stick with us.
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Armoryone.com. And now, last week, I mentioned to you also that the podcast is now a registered affiliate with the alexjonesstore.com. And, honestly, it's exciting, and I'm so happy to be a part of it. All you need to do is visit the alexjonesstore.com/joe and shop a catalog of high quality vitamins, supplements, and apparel. Now I've been using the ultimate Irish sea moss gummies. And folks, these gummies are loaded with powerful natural ingredients like Irish sea moss and burdock root that have have, you know, just the game changing nutrients that your body needs. Irish sea moss is rich in iodine and other essential minerals minerals that support thyroid function, boost metabolism, and aid in aid in detoxification. This seaweed contains bioactive compounds that, that enhance immune response, reduce inflammation, improve gut health by promoting beneficial bacteria.
Combine that with burdock root, which is known for its antioxidant properties and liver support and bladderwrack, which helps, helps balance hormones and, improves skin health. Man, this this, folks, this formula works to cleanse, restore, and fortify your body. Now another great supplement that I've been using, has been the ultimate turmeric gummies, and man, these things are amazing. The ultimate turmeric gummies combine potent turmeric extract with ginger and black pepper to deliver unmatched support for joint health, inflammation reduction, and your overall well-being. This advanced formula is designed for maximum absorption ensuring that you get the full benefits of these time tested ingredients.
They're made with all natural, non GMO, and non and, I'm sorry, gluten free ingredients. These gummies are are are delicious. I'll be honest with you. When I first got them and I and I looked at them, I was like, I don't know. They don't look so great. But, man, was I wrong. They are delicious, and they're also a convenient way to stay active and pain free. And even better than all of that, they're they're crafted with care here in the United States. Just visit the alex jones store dot com slash joe or click the link on on our website and get yourself on the road to peak mobility, health, strength, energy, and ready to take on the day. And don't forget, folks, when you use the link, the alex jones store dot com slash joe, 10% of your purchase is invested into the podcast, and, that's gonna help us to to, improve our studio, improve our equipment, to, be able to, attract more guests and just to just to overall improve everything that we're doing here. So so please, head over to thealexjonesstore.com/joe, and, get yourself on the road to health.
Now, also, don't forget to head over to our website, joerusiello.com. Look for that contact form up on the right pancake there, and, send us over any questions or comments or concerns that you have, and also any suggestions that you might have. And of course, while you're on the website, you know, we always need the help. So if you would, look for the support page and click that support button. Just remember folks, this is a value for value podcast, and and really all that means is that if you've received anything of value from what we're doing here, all we're asking is that you return that value in the form of a donation.
Now you can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate, but if you set up a monthly recurring donation of $17.76, you'll receive the associate producer's credit, and that means that you'll get a shout out on every show, and your name will be listed in the show notes as an associate producer for every single show going forward. Alright? But it has to be a monthly recurring donation, but, you know, that's not all. If you set up a monthly recurring donation of $18.36, you'll receive producer credit, and that means the same thing. You'll get the shout out every show, Your name will be listed in the show notes as a producer of every show going forward. And then, of course, finally, we have, our our last, producer package, and that is the executive producer.
And that's any monthly recurring donation of $25 or more. You get the shout out, you get the, the inclusion of all the show notes, but you get the executive producer credit. Now we do this, of course, because if you're making these recurring donations, you're helping us produce the show. You're helping us do the things that we need to do to make a quality show, to give you the best quality talk show that we can possibly muster for you. So get involved. Help keep this show going. Help us improve. Alright. Now one more thing, before we take a quick break and and get to our guest, and, this is something that I am really, really excited about, And, and and that is that we've started to upload our audio only show right now to our new Rumble channel. Now, if you wanna be a part of that, which we hope you do because we'll be doing videos very soon, and, you know, if everything works out right, we might be doing live shows, very, very soon as well. So all you need to do is just head over to rumble.com/roozed, that's rooz, and click that follow button.
Like the videos. Share them. Help us spread the word about what we're doing here. You know, folks, opening the account is free, and, you can watch all the videos that you want. There are some that are that are behind the premium paywall. Our shows are not. But if you want an ad free experience, you can sign up for Rumble premium for as little as $10 a month. Now, look, folks, Rumble is the free speech platform that you need to be on. So sign up today, follow our show, and like I said, very soon, we're gonna be up there doing live shows, and that's gonna be really, really exciting, and we are so looking forward to it.
Alright, folks. So this is the podcast with Joe Rusciello. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and we'll be right back with Aaron Valdez right after this. Stay with us. This podcast is hosted on Podhome dotfm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads.
[00:14:56] Unknown:
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[00:15:21] Unknown:
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[00:15:57] Unknown:
1, 2, 3, 4. Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello. Folks, I hope you you are really looking forward to, this conversation that we're gonna be having today. Sitting across from me, our our second ever in studio guest, we have Aaron Valdez, who is a a a mayoral candidate here in the city of Eagle Pass. And, I've been we've been talking about, getting together like this now for the last week or so, and, it finally came to pass.
[00:16:34] Unknown:
And, really excited to have you here. Aaron, welcome to the podcast. Hey, Joan. Thank you for having me. Yeah. My pleasure. It's an honor. We and, yes, we have been speaking for some time now, and we're ready to go. Awesome, man. So, I I know that, you know, politics anywhere
[00:16:49] Unknown:
is is, is an evil beast. You know, it it can be anyway. But, but to to to throw your hat into the ring, to take a position, in in in local government, I think, is is something that, is incredibly important for for for the citizenry to do. Career politicians are are, you know, do tend to be a bit of a problem as you go along. I don't I don't believe that politics should be a career option. So it's great that, you know, more people are getting themselves involved in the political process. So, and I know you I know you run a local business here in Eagle Pass as well, and you have a very introduce interesting story. I know we spent some time prior to the show, really getting to know each other and talk a little bit about these things. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
[00:17:34] Unknown:
Oh, you you yes, sir. So, born and raised in Eagle Pass. We've we've been in the mortuary business since I was born. So, my parents have always been all about service and giving the best quality to our community. We definitely have strived to get involved as much as possible in the community. And, once I went to, once I finished high, high school here in Eagle Pass High School, I I went to study to be a mortician and then graduated into business administration. From there, decided to come back to Eagle Pass and fulfill my destiny as a mortician.
But as as we really, became family business, I decided to really diversify. And that's where I started getting into the just general contracting with the focus on something that the city or or the region, had not provided, which was I I saw an opportunity in, solar install, company. So we started, really seeing the boom back in 2013, a residential commercial solar. And, it was a huge opportunity. So, we started in in 2013, and we just knocked on some doors and really, just it it it kind of escalated. And and we're talking about 2013. So not a lot of companies were were doing that at the moment. And, from there, we we really started also getting involved in the community, by just bringing awareness to what we were offering as a business.
So, yes. We we we had events. We had our 1st, Earth Day, here in Eagle Pass, and it it was just to create awareness. And, it's it's like having a career day within, schools, and just letting people know or or students know. Right? You there's so many options. You can become a in in this field, you could be a sales, rep, a sales director. You could also be an engineer. You could also be, just part of a general management. And, little by little, we started, getting involved within the community, just bringing bringing people to work and employing people into our company, as well as, like, giving opportunities to students and just teaching them how to sell. Right? And we had door knockers and really, you went from, part time, college students here in Southwest Texas Junior College to actually being able to just work maybe 2 2 to 3 hours a day and and making, a decent paycheck and not having to be full time employees. So they they had more time to be able to go back to school and finish finish their their their studies quicker. Right.
Once once we really, saw necessity, because I'm again, I'm a mortician. We we saw necessity in the medical field here in Eagle Pass, which we I had family that had to constantly go to Laredo, had to go to San Antonio, right, to be treated. Especially, like, in specialty care. So I decided to run for the Maverick County Hospital District. What we do is manage taxes that go into our medical, medical services. So we have our taxes that go to our county, taxes that go to the school district, taxes that go to the city, and we have taxes that go, part of our taxes that go to our Maverick County Hospital District. What we're supposed to do is use those use that towards indigent care.
People that really can afford health care within our community. But the hospital district has been evolving throughout these years into just just being, being able to provide general medical services to our community. It with this with a focus on specialty care. So surgeons, new neurology, just whatever you think that it's just any any service that that is hard to bring someone from, out of town to come and service here, in Eagle Pass, that was our focus. So I decided to run, in 2019. I was 29 years old, and I ran for the Maverick County Hospital District. I became an elected official at that time, and we've since then, we were, definitely operating, with a reserve and and also occasionally just being worried about covering our expenses and having to raise taxes.
We we definitely brought, primary care. And with that, and the services that that we were able to offer in in specialty care, little by little, we just really became, an entity that could cover cover the expense without using taxpayers money. So we haven't I've I've been in the Maverick County Hospital District for 6 years. Those 6 years really haven't raised taxes. We actually lowered taxes. But, we've constantly keep on trying to bring doctors within our community so we won't have to travel, San Antonio, Laredo, and make all those, additional expenses that one could really use further, necessities.
Within those 6 years, we've, tried to acquire nursing homes and trying to find other means, so we could diversify and not depend on just a certain niche within the organization to continue operating at a profit and continuously bring more specialty and more services to our community. So it's been 6 years. I've been a chairman for 4 of those 6 years. And at this time, we've just welcomed, 2 additional board members, 2 new board members, which are doctors, doctor Bernal, doctor Chisholm, great doctors. Just started recently, so they're pretty young. We have 2 board members that have a lot of experience, with, mister Olivares and miss Rebecca Robinson.
So I feel like our board is is is pretty well taken care of. We have our current intern CEO with Nestor Bonilla, managing our our, our organization. And he's he's he has probably, like, 15 to 18 years of experience within the hospital district as our CFO. So he knows the numbers. He knows how to budget. He's he's ready to take, to continue taking the hospital district to the heights that we know it can. So that's where, this huge opportunity arose when our current mayor, Rolando Salinas decided not to run for a second term. I feel like, I'm ready. I I have a business background.
I have the involvement within the community. And now more than ever, I see the growth that Eagle Pass is having. And I know we'll have within the next years that I I know leadership like mine is needed within the community. So we could definitely develop what what what what is it what what is about to come.
[00:25:22] Unknown:
Well, that's great. And you actually you you already kind of dovetailed into my next question for you is, like, why did you decide that that the mayor's off to run for mayor? Yeah. But, but that's great, you know. And then the fact that you have the experience behind you in in in city in city government already and, in an elected position is is just, is always always a plus, always a positive. And, so that that's just that's just great. So just on a position level, you know, policy areas, what are the 3 main issues that, that that you're looking at that that you would want to address as quickly as you possibly could?
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Security, streets, jobs.
[00:26:09] Unknown:
Okay. And so what what would you do for those? It's for the for security. What what are you talking when you say security, what specifically do you mean? Are you talking about just general security for for the city, safety, public safety? Are you talking about border stuff? Are you talking about, you know, what specifically?
[00:26:24] Unknown:
We would start with public safety, but definitely, border security, is an issue. We all know Eagle Pass is is is going through or has gone through or is still going through. I I I would just as I mentioned, Eagle Pass is growing significantly. And if we want outside commerce to come into Eagle Pass or just investors to look into Eagle Pass, a big issue will always be how secure is the city. And I feel like we really need to invest into our our current, PD, fire department, operations within the city that would help us facilitate, being able to address any issue immediately or just more one way would just be like, you know what? Looking into trying to be trying to to bring, technology to our to our current, officers.
A real time crime center. It's it there's there's just so much opportunity that if if we really dig deep into how to go about making it better without really, going about the current administration, which I I I feel, we're all having our ups and downs. But I feel like the current situation is people get educated within our our city, and they they leave. So let's say someone wants to become a police officer. They'll they'll start within, our our city, and eventually leave for DPS or become a trooper. So so I I really wanna make sure what what can we do to make wanna wanna make people stay, really invest into Eagle Pass. Yeah.
[00:28:25] Unknown:
That's that I like that. That's important. You know, you you you wanna keep the best of the best Exactly. At home. You know, you don't wanna keep losing people. So you you do wanna come up with with some kind of incentive programs to keep people here, keep people working, for the city. You need good people especially in law enforcement and the current environment that we we find, not just here but but just all over the country. You you you look at things, in the news and whatnot. You see there's such a negative impression of law enforcement and there's good and bad in every side and and, but you wanna cultivate the good Good. The good people working. You you want you want the best you can get. And honestly, the best you're gonna get is right here in, you know, at home. You want people from home, policing home.
They're they're definitely they're more invested in it. You know, this is especially in a small town, a small city like like Eagle Pass, you know, you know, this is where their family is, this is where their friends are, this is where the people that they they love and care about are. They're gonna they're I I believe that they're gonna be more invested in in working toward their security and their safety, you know, homegrown. So, yeah, I agree with that. You know, find those incentives to keep people here whether it's maybe a little bit of a bump in pay, maybe it's some kind of a college incentive, maybe it's something to a health care incentive, something that that you would just attract the best of the best people. And they would stay. And the exactly. And and they would stay. Retention. So so we see our our, interim,
[00:29:53] Unknown:
chief of police, say, she's she's a she's an amazing individual. And, I mean, she's, homegrown, and you see her evolving within the city. And, I mean, we're glad she stayed and now she's chief. So yes, like looking into what, what can we do? And maybe let's say it's, it's hard at the moment to maybe have those, pay raise raise our pay. Mhmm. But make maybe find a way to make the work easier. Okay. Give them the equipment. Not not solely depend on on state help, but, you know, we need a budget within the city and be readily available to give them, the resources. Or possibly even hiring more to to keep, you know, more more offices on the street. Which has been an issue. Yes. It's it's been a a long term issue within the city. But, I mean, it's it's all about finding the way, finding the funds, and
[00:30:53] Unknown:
and yeah. Yeah. I I mean, I know I know this has nothing to do with the city. This is a a county issue, like the sheriff's department, you know. And I know that there aren't very many deputies, and they have a whole county that they have to be responsive to, so you don't really you know, they're they're spread very, very thin. And I know from my personal experience in being around town and seeing the local police, you definitely see the presence. You know that you know that the police are here. They're local. And, in in all honesty, they're incredibly respectful and, I I I've had a couple of interactions with them, you know, not negatively, you know. But, but but everybody, they're very they're trained very well. They're very respectful, and I we appreciate that. And, but, yeah. I I you can you know, you have I mean, I know it's not New York City where I'm from. In New York City, there's 40,000 police officers in New York City. So, you know, so it's it's there's there's a lot of coverage. But, but, yeah. But, you know, the more the more officers you have on patrol, it it eases the burden of others that are working as well because the the work and the load and the calls can be spread out a little bit more, fairly evenly, and the response time would be improved. That that's that's really, really important, and that's that's good. That's very good.
So you said security. What else you got? Streets. Okay.
[00:32:10] Unknown:
Okay. So, we gotta make sure our our infrastructure's on point. No cutting curves. You know? We gotta make sure we we ask our developers to bring about their best with good streets, great parks. Mhmm. Businesses will start looking into Eagle Pass. They're they'll do their, they'll analyze our city and then they'll see, you know what? This city's worth investing. With businesses coming in, we have sales taxes coming in. With additional income, we could bring additional units and give them the equipment they deserve. So they go hand in hand. You know? We we we gotta make sure our infrastructure's on point and and enforced.
And and that's that's something I personally really feel, needs to be done since we are such a virgin town. Mhmm. Because we are. We have so much potential. Investors already looking into Eagle Pass and they they they know the potential it has. And at the same time, we're lucky to look at Laredo and San Antonio, which are close by to see, you know, what they've done correctly, what they've done wrong, learn from it Mhmm. And implement it within our city so we can offer the quality that we know we we we we can make. You know? And we're we're at the right place,
[00:33:48] Unknown:
right time. Yeah. It's it's interesting, like, we were talking earlier. You know, I've been living here in Eagle Pass now for 8 years. And in the 8 years that I've been here, I mean, the the the growth in Eagle Pass has been unbelievable. Exactly. You know, we just they just finished building that new that Hyatt Place. Yes. Right? Over by the, sports complex. I mean, that thing almost went up overnight, you know. And, there's construction going on next to it. There's there's something else going up. I forget exactly what it is. But, there there's just so much growth, so much development going on in your Eagle Eagle Pass, you know, to to to to attract more businesses, to to increase revenue, you know, through, you know, businesses coming in. It's it's important to work on the infrastructure, to keep those streets going, to keep them clean, keep them keep them in good repair, and, and and to keep them safe. It it's incredibly important. And speaking of streets, by the way, speed bumps.
Speed bumps. Flowers. We need speed bumps on flowers over here. Yeah. Because, you know, that's man, they're using that thing as a drag strip sometimes.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
So I agree. Yeah. No. No. No. But I mean I mean, they go hand in hand. I mean, you you add speed bumps, definitely add security. Sure.
[00:34:59] Unknown:
Also, you you mentioned parks too now. Like I said, we were talking earlier and I I gave you my background. You know, I worked for New York City parks Yes, sir. For, for for a number of years. And parks do actually play a a very important role more so than what a lot of people think. Now I know here it's a little bit different than in the city, in the New York City. New York City, the folks kinda look at the public park as as their backyard because they don't really have any. You know, a lot of a lot of homes here have, properties around us, so they spend more time at home. But it's I think it's incredibly important to to maintain, parks, to keep them green, to keep them clean, to keep them safe to the public to use, and to invest in a park system.
You know, when I first came here, I I toured around. I I looked around because that's what I did. You know, I looked at the at public parks and you have some beautiful properties. You have some properties that need a that need a little attention, need a little, extra work. You know, fresh coat of paint goes a long way. You know? I would love to see that and and and see that happen. So, and I know that, just recently that there's gonna be a turnover in, in leadership in, in Eagle Pass parks. So, I'm looking forward to I think I think the person that's gonna be taking over right there if if if they appoint him to the position is is a good fit for that. And, I actually reached out to him too, but he hasn't answered me yet. So we'll we'll get him on. And we'll yes. We'll try to reach out. Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah. I mean, investing in those things are are are are critical. Critical.
Because, again, I think when you when you're trying to attract businesses to come in to the city, they're gonna look at those public spaces too. You know? They wanna see what's out there. They wanna because it's important. If you're show if you're able to demonstrate that you can keep public places public spaces clean, safe, easily accessible, I I I think that all goes hand in hand when new businesses come in and they're trying to pitch and they're trying to look for something some place to where they can set up their operation. Exactly. So we gotta keep those things. I agree with you on that. And and your third one.
[00:37:01] Unknown:
Jobs. Yes. I mean, they all go hand in hand. Like, at the end, it's it's what we're looking for. How can we make, Eagle pass grow with the right infrastructure? And it's, we, we got to make sure we are city secure so people can invest their personal time Mhmm. Their money, streets.
[00:37:28] Unknown:
Everything that you said so far, they all are connected in one way or another. You know? You need the jobs. You you need people working to keep the streets clean, in good repair, safe, and and accessible. You need people working in parks that can take care of the park lands. You need people that that can take care of the the basic functions of city. And
[00:37:50] Unknown:
So so at at the time, our biggest source of income is our our bridge.
[00:37:56] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:37:57] Unknown:
And, we that's where, like, we definitely have to focus on that. Mhmm. Right? Have have good management. They've just appointed a new, general manager for just the specifics, bridge system. Initial David Southside. And I mean, we still have to focus on capitalizing on our cash cow Mhmm. Which is which is the bridge at the moment. Try to find the best way to, keep that source of income coming in. But at the same time, going back, it's, we got to make sure just to be prepared. We have to make sure we have to have that security within the city, make sure streets are nice and well done so we can bring jobs.
Mhmm. And then we can focus on our sales tax. Our our our source of income that we wanna make sure is is our biggest, focus. So we won't rely so much on the bridge, but it's it's like both go hand in hand. Yeah. It all it all dovetails all dovetails together. And I'm glad you brought the bridge because,
[00:39:04] Unknown:
prior to our conversation, we I I had asked a few folks that I know some questions. I said, you know, if you were to sit down with him, what would you ask? And, the most popular question that that I had was, or a concern that I had was, the traffic, crossing over the bridges into into I I don't I never pronounce it right. So I'm sorry if I'm you know, forgive me. Don't don't don't disconnect us now because I'm saying it wrong, but Piedras. Yeah. Right? Okay. Okay. I say it like a New Yorker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, But, those lines, you know, they get long. They they do tend to get long, especially around the holidays. And, is is is there something that that that the that the mayor's office can do to help alleviate those concerns of lose these huge long lines of of traffic just sitting there blocking streets and, you know, making it really difficult to get around town at times. Again, especially, you know, more prevalent during the holidays, of course, you know, because people are traveling. But but, what what could we do for that? I mean, as the mayor's office, what can you do for that?
[00:40:07] Unknown:
It's gonna be, taking it back to our security where at this point, just how invested we could be within our just PD, let's just say. If if we would have or, like, if we would just be able to be prepared to make sure we have enough units and find the best way to alleviate that traffic and be prepared for it and and be involved within the bridge system and have a continuous communication and already be prepared for it. If it's coming, there's, there's this real time crime, center. It's it's just a center that really, creates or or takes in data so we could be prepared. Okay. So how could we manage, this this, street or or avenue, that we know will have congested traffic?
So just run from there, just having, within an infrastructure that you're get prepared to just move traffic some elsewhere. Mhmm. Other than that, it's really just that communication with maybe even and and our our current bridge system. But, yes, I mean, it's it's just being prepared for it. Right.
[00:41:37] Unknown:
Now for for the folks that are listening that may not understand what we're talking about. I should have prefaced that when we started. There are 2 bridges that that connect Eagle Pass to, Piotr's. And, one of the bridges is open till about 10:30 in the evening and the other one closes a lot earlier. One of the one of the suggestions that, one of the folks I was talking to had was the possibility of extending the hours of the bridges to keep them open later, if not, maybe a 24 hour system. And I and I know it's not just the city's end of it also. I I know that, customs and border patrol, you know, have some involvement in that because they're the ones actually doing the tracking of the vehicles and and whatnot coming back into the into the United States. So, so there would have to be some kind of a coordination with those.
Is that something that that, the mayor's office can look into? Definitely.
[00:42:26] Unknown:
Definitely. I mean, it's it's just looking at that numbers and realizing, I mean, is it is it an expense that we're willing to take, or is it just, you know, the holidays, a small period of time that we'll we'll have to deal with this, cluster ingestion? Mess. Mess. There you go.
[00:42:46] Unknown:
Alright. I think it's I think that's a fair response. I mean, you you really can't you you really can't know until you're actually presented with all the information, you know, once you're in that position. Now I also know that a lot of the city resources, sometimes goes towards the illegal immigration situation that we're dealing with, which, you know, lord willing, will will will come to a come to a quick end, in just a few days. But, it it is a it is a it is a draw on local resources like, emergency response. You know, 1st respond to police, fire, emergency medical services, and, you know, again, Eagle Pass, it's it's a it's a it's a growing city, but still it's a small city by a lot of regards. And there's only really one hospital in the city and and, I I know that that can be a drag on resources there as well. And as I'm sure working in working for the hospital district, you understand, you know, where I'm going with that.
What can we do as far as the city goes to to try to to to remedy that situation, to to compensate for it, I guess?
[00:43:54] Unknown:
Yes, Joe. I mean, I've I've been, again, a mortician. I went through having to be readily available to pick up your body in the re in the river, multiple deceased constantly having to just be on on alert. Right. And at the time we really just were doing a pro bono, like to help the community. And at a time it really affected our operations. It really affected our vehicles, but we were doing it with the kindness of our heart and trying to help the county. So we we've seen it firsthand how impactful it has been, personally and to our community. Mhmm. So that's that's what we had to go in, have to go through as as a company. But, we saw the same situation happening with our local officers, Constantly having to be, readily available, and and you you really start not paying attention to other situations that might be happening within the city. Mhmm.
We we have had help from our state, and and that's that's really been helpful through, Project Lone Star. Okay. And,
[00:45:11] Unknown:
Can you explain what Project Lone Star is for the folks that might not know? It's it's just funds that,
[00:45:16] Unknown:
the state gave to to our community, just to purchase vehicles help with the situation. Okay. But what could we do is just always keep, maybe a budget even though we're being helped and subsidized by the state or just consistently leave that budget there within our graph so we can either invest it in other, amenities that we need as as a city. Right? And and definitely continue trying to have a good communication with our state and and government, and try to see how we can get help, within for a city.
[00:46:00] Unknown:
Yeah. I think that with the incoming administration, the federal administration, I'm I'm hopeful that it's gonna be a quick turnaround, you know, that they're gonna get that border secured, that we'd stop the nonsense, all this stuff. And, you know, it it in in the again, the 8 years that I'm living here, right now, I'm seeing more unfamiliar faces Okay. Just kinda like wandering the streets, you know, and, I I know that, like, homelessness here in Eagle Pass is it's it it exists everywhere, You know, I know I back up back up in New York, you know, we used to call them urban outdoorsman. You know? Okay. But, but, I mean, is that a growing concern that you see that needs to be addressed here?
Are there gonna be more issues like that? Like like an increase in the homeless, populations? Because, you know, most of them are probably migrants that are coming through in the illegal.
[00:47:00] Unknown:
That's that's where, like, we're really hoping, our upcoming administration could address. Yeah. That's, that's definitely, an issue we saw firsthand these past, definitely 2 years where we're we definitely saw a spike in, in, in the homeless and, and having to offer shelters to Mhmm.
[00:47:25] Unknown:
Now does does the city of Eagle Pass actually have shelters like that?
[00:47:29] Unknown:
We have. We have. Mission Board of Hope has has been key, a key element to providing,
[00:47:36] Unknown:
But that's a private organization, though. Correct? Or is that funded through the city? Oh, no. It's private. Okay. But the city itself doesn't have any kind of shelter system like that or anything?
[00:47:47] Unknown:
I mean, they I I guess they they piggy bank on on Mission Board of Hope. But I'm pretty sure they I mean, we have we have gymnasiums that could definitely be available at
[00:47:58] Unknown:
at a crucial time. Yep. Like an emergency purpose. Yes. No. Of course. Alright. With this coming with this, incoming administration, again, you know, we're hopeful that it'll it'll turn the tide of the illegal coming across. Do you do you think that well, as the mayor, would you be able to approach the fed or approach the state for additional resources, to to to to, I guess, space maybe alleviate the strain on the on the city and, you know, maybe use that stuff, the monies or the or the or the equipment and whatnot to to improve the security in the city, to to hire more police. Is there any kind of program like that within the state that that you can I I know you have by Project Lone Star? No. But I'm saying as far as, like, for for for human resources to to hire more officers, to hire, more folks to to provide security and safety. Well, that that's definitely gonna be
[00:49:01] Unknown:
the collaboration that we will need to have with, our state rep, congressman, and just trying to find the best way to collaborate to bring these resources to our city. So it's definitely something we would continuously fight or or try, right, to make sure these these incentives are funneled to our city.
[00:49:25] Unknown:
Outstanding. Alright. So do you have any pitch that you wanna make right now to the folks at Eagle Pass that that'll be listening to this later on? Make your sales pitch.
[00:49:38] Unknown:
So growth is coming to Eagle Pass. We have to make sure that we really invest in getting to know who we want as our leadership. Just like we've done in any other election, you start local and grow from it. But let's really look deep in our home and say, who do we really want to represent us? Invest.
[00:50:13] Unknown:
Alright. Baseball team. Who do you like?
[00:50:17] Unknown:
I'd say Yankees. And and, I mean, I'm I'm huge on on trying to be local, so Rangers would be ideal or or the Astros, but my my grandfather's always been a Yankee, and and he would take us to see the game. So I I stayed faithful. Alright. Well, look, you know, my my dad was probably the biggest Yankee fan that you'll ever ever meet. And,
[00:50:41] Unknown:
I am not a Yankees fan. I I I I'm a Mets fan. So so before anybody starts in with the jokes about being a Mets fan, you know, it's it builds character. Okay? Because we're not spoiled like Yankee fans are. They they think they get everything belongs to them because they're Yankees. But, I remember when my when, won Father's Day because, you know, again, my dad's a huge was a huge Yankees fan. And, we, and you know the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. So I won Father's Day. I I I decided I'm gonna get my dad something really special. So I bought him a, I bought him a fitted, a field jersey. I bought him the official authentic baseball jersey from MLB, and I got him a fitted hat and all that stuff. And I remember I I I took it over to my parents' house and and my dad was there. And I said, hey, dad here. Happy Father's Day. He's like, oh, Joseph. You don't have to do that. That's that's that's really nice of you. No, dad. Trust me. You're gonna love it. I know you're gonna love it. Please, whatever it is, I I'll just open the box, dad. Come on. My dad was like that. So he opens the box, but when he opened the box, it was a Boston Red Sox box, and he just looked at it. He looked at me. He opened up the box. He pulled out this beautiful travel Boston Red Sox jersey. So I had Boston across the front, had his name on the back and the number 1 and and, and all that stuff and the fitted Boston Red Sox hat, and he just picked it up. He looked at it. He went, Joseph.
This is beautiful, Joseph. Thank you. Okay. I love it. Thank you. Folded it up, put it back in the box, excused himself, and walked out of the room. So I looked at my mom, and I was like, well, that didn't go like I thought it was. So she was like, no. It didn't. Is he alright? Is he feeling okay? She was, no. He's fine. So I'm sitting down. I was having a conversation with my mom and maybe 15, 20 minutes passed and dad hadn't come back yet. I was like, where is he? So I so I get up and I go out into from their living room into their kitchen to their dining room area. And, at the end of the dining room area, they had these sliding glass doors went out to the backyard. And I see my dad standing outside in the backyard. And, I go and I see he has a fire going. So I go out there. He took he took the Red Sox jersey, the fitted hat that I paid No. Over $300 for for for all this stuff.
He he had he threw it into the fire pit. And I went out, I'm like, dad, what are you doing? No. Dude, how much that cost? He just looked at me. He looked at the fire, looked back at me. He goes, who's more the fool? Oh, there we go. There we go. It's like so yeah. So so I grew up around Yankee fans, but I I I grew up a Mets fan. But, basically, like, I I was adversarial with my dad like that kind of stuff, but it was fun. It was playful. Healthy. Healthy. Yeah. Like, my dad was a Yankee fan. I was a Mets fan. My dad was a, my dad was an Islanders fan. I was a Rangers fan. It's hockey.
My dad liked, like, the Knicks. I like the Nets. My dad, you know Just I mean, I I guess it was a healthy farm. Yeah. He was a Giants. The Unions. A Giants fan. I was a Jets fan, you know. And then I really twisted them. I was like, well, you know, the thing is they're not really New York teams that they play in New Jersey. So they're, you know, so the really going New York team is the Buffalo Bills. So which, by the way, had a great season this year. It did. I'm not a Bills fan, but I appreciate a good season. So, so that that was great. And,
[00:54:01] Unknown:
so we would argue about those kind of things all the time. But, yeah, I'm definitely not a Yankees fan, and I don't fault you for it, you know. I mean I mean, my my situation is personal. Like, my my grandfather loved him and and he would take us. So I I give him the benefit of the doubt, him having a good team. Yeah. Other than that, I mean, definitely Rangers or Astros.
[00:54:20] Unknown:
Okay. What about the football, Cowboys? Right? Cowboys.
[00:54:23] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, at the moment. But Yes.
[00:54:27] Unknown:
Yeah. We have the we have the running joke at my at my my regular job about the Cowboys. So I'm not I, you know, I'm I'm a Jets fan. Jets fan. Because, you know, of where I, you know, where I lived. But, I don't really follow football all that much. But I'm also a Packers fan, and I have to be. There's there's a reason there's there's family history there, so I have no choice to be a Packers fan because, do you know who who the, the NFL trophy is named after? Vince Lombardi. Right. Vince Lombardi is my cousin. Oh, is he? Yes. Or was my cousin. Okay. Yeah. So not not like a first cousin, like a second somewhere along the way. Family relative. Family relative. So it was beaten into our heads. That you had to be You had to be a packers fan, you know, and you had no choice in the matter whatsoever.
So yeah. So so I had to be a packers fan, but, again, I don't really follow football that much. My my favorite, though, you know, is, is hockey. I love hockey. I'm very upset that I can't see hockey matches here in in Eagle Pass. I mean, I can get the the I can get the app for the thing, but it's just way too expensive. But So what's your team? The New York Rangers. Okay. Yeah. 1 of the original 6. So it's, it's I've I've been a Rangers fan for a long time. As a matter of fact, you know, I got my my New York Rangers baseball cap here, you know. So it's my thing. Love my Rangers.
Having a okay season this year. I just I keep on getting the Alexa alert saying that they lost, they lost, they lost, they lost, they lost. You know? Like I said, you know, sometimes, you know, the teams you pick builds character. So Yes. I take I I take I take the loss, and I enjoy it. It's kinda like the same situation with the Cowboys at the moment. No. Hey, you like to shoot? Oh, yeah. I'll shoot. Yeah. You like? Okay. Cool. We'll we'll have to arrange something. Absolutely. A friend of mine, has a ranch out in, Brackettville. Okay. So, but they live out of state. They live in, Wyoming.
So, at least once or twice a month, I'll go out there and just check up on the property for them and, I'll set up I'll set up a couple of targets and go, shit. We gotta do that. Definitely. No. No. No. Calendar. What what do you have? Like, 845? Well, right now, I have this. I have my Glock. Okay. My Glock 19. So so I I I picked this up last year. So, I'm working on, there's a there's a local armory, by the way. Okay. And it's it's it's right over here by, by the pilots, War Tribe Armory. Yeah. I had to think of where it was for a second. And they tell you something. They do great work, you know. So this they're not a sponsor of the showrooms like that. So I'm not trying to do that, but but I'm gonna give credit where credits do. War Try Walmery right up on on 57 across from the pilot.
They do amazing restoration work. They have a web they have a they have, their their Facebook, Instagram account. You can check it out. Couple people I know have used them to do restoration on on like heirloom firearms and Okay. And things like that to do fantastic work. I was talking to them a couple of weeks ago. We're gonna we're gonna do a custom AR 15 for me, in the next couple of weeks when we get started on it. So I'm excited about that. I'm looking forward to that. And, yeah. I mean, that it's so we gotta definitely get together and go out and and and Oh, god. And pop a few rounds off and, you know, see how things go. It would be a lot of fun. A hundred. Definitely. Be a lot of fun. Tons of fun. So let's see. So we so you shoot football. Baseball. Okay. We're good on that. Basketball? Spurs?
No basketball? I'm not a basketball guy. Okay. You know? But, If you if you had to If I didn't have a choice, I would I would probably follow the Spurs, but, just because just because of the organization itself. I mean, it's it's a pretty solid organization and then they're they're they're really, really good. But, I'm not a big basketball guy. I don't like that stuff. Oh, great. How do you feel about
[00:58:21] Unknown:
sports here in the US?
[00:58:23] Unknown:
I I love the fact that, there's so much emphasis on local sports. Okay. You know? It's almost like, they treat them like professional, you know, athletes here, which I think is fantastic. Where I'm from, there there really isn't. It's not like that. You know? I mean, sports are important up there, but it's just it's not like it is here. I mean, here, it's, you know, everything. They even put the they even put the the student athletes'
[00:58:49] Unknown:
pictures and names up on billboards around here. Huge. I mean Yeah. I know. It's crazy. And and I I don't know if it's a Texas thing, but I do know it's like a Maverick County, Eagle Pass thing where, like, we're definitely invested in sports. Baseball is huge. Football, I mean, it's it's it's it's big, but it's it feels like it's getting bigger. Like, a sports conference. Like, we're really investing in our youth, which I love as well. Definitely, I I I was a AYF coach. Okay. So I'm I'm I'm head coach, and then I I was coach for the 10 10 u. And I've always been a big fan of sports. So I see Eagle Pass really diversifying and investing in into our youth, which, was pretty big because a lot of times you ask yourself, like, what what also happens, after 13 when people really can't get into varsity?
Where where do they go? Right. Yeah. What what's available, within the community? And that's that's another, topic where, like, we're we should really invest into, well, what what's next? That's the city of Eagle Pass. And I personally since I've really been involved in in sports, I love sports. I mean, I played all sports, even fencing when I was hockey. Did some did some hockey. So I'm I'm I'm I'm a full on athlete. Nice. And I I I definitely see a necessity in in in diversifying different offering different different options, to our youth.
We, I see a lot of the MMA culture coming into where you can pass, you have jujitsu, you, I mean, you have more Thai, you have boxing and I mean, it's, it's, it's a key to keeping our youth occupied and not wandering around and and For sure. Themselves in difficult situations.
[01:00:38] Unknown:
For sure. Yeah. And and up in New York, they do a lot of that a lot of, programs through, the parks and recreation. Oh, do they? Yeah. Okay. They have, they have they have a lot of, recreation centers. I had to think what is I've been out of it for so long. They have a lot of recreation centers, and and they offer a lot of programs like that. And then they also have a lot of private leagues. Okay. That, that they partner with. So something similar is is what we're doing at at the moment,
[01:01:06] Unknown:
with the parks and rec. Mhmm. But it's there's always room for more. But I again, like, that's why I I I admire this the current situation where, we're really looking into investing
[01:01:17] Unknown:
into that. And then I noticed that they were doing some work over by the, sports complex. Okay. You know what they're working on over there?
[01:01:24] Unknown:
I mean, it's it's, like, I guess, a constant work at at, it it it's a constant work, but I'm really if you could pinpoint I know I don't know exactly what is it that you're
[01:01:34] Unknown:
I I think they were doing something with, was it a a track Okay. Or something like that? I have I have to look it up. It it just popped in my head. I didn't think to look it up earlier.
[01:01:43] Unknown:
But, But I I mean, I personally try to hit the complex at least twice twice a week and play tennis, you know. I mean, just won't mess up my knees that much. I hear you. It's, it's it's tough getting older. It is. I mean, I'm old. I'm obviously a lot older than you, but but, you know, yeah. I I I feel it for sure.
[01:02:02] Unknown:
You know, just as a point of trivia for you, you know, I I did work for the city for a little bit here. I worked for a summer at the sports complex. So, so I So what's your what's your point? Oh, I love it. I think I think I think the sports complex is amazing. It's a beautiful place and, you know, the fact that it's that it's it's in as good a condition as it is for the amount of use that it gets, that that's just that's just an amazing testament to the city and how they how they operate. And, then the quality of work that that that goes into it. Go into it. Yeah. I mean, up in New York, we have, you know, synthetic fields all over the place. And and within a season, they're torn up and they're falling apart. And it's, you know, it's just, you know, to to in order to to sustain it, is incredibly expensive. But but the guys here that I've come across and I've worked with and I've seen, they do a fantastic job. They did really do. They did they really do. And, I was very happy to work with them for that for that summer. It was a it was a great experience.
And, yeah, you never know. Oh, maybe You never know what can happen. Yeah. Change in administration there. You're not driven. I might be back. There you go. You never know. But it's good. Now do you have any children or we didn't talk about that. No children.
[01:03:12] Unknown:
It's it's me and my wife, Stephanie. We were definitely looking into having children. Oh. For the for the time being, we have 2 giant schnauzers. They consume most of our house. Yes. Of course.
[01:03:25] Unknown:
They're, like, kinda like kids themselves. They are. Yeah. And and your wife is a local business person. Correct? She's a State Farm agent. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And I knew she was involved with, with insurance somewhere, but I wasn't sure if it was Farmers or State Farm and, you know, I get confused between 2. I know one of them turned down my application for homeowners insurance, but, you know, but, I think it was Farmers. So
[01:03:47] Unknown:
so, I mean yeah. And and other than that, she's extremely involved in the community as well. She's part of our other board of the chamber of commerce. Oh, was she really? I didn't know that. So we I've I I know we formed a perfect combo because we're, like, all over the place. Or we try to, and we do have time available and it's either her over here or me over there, but it's it's a constant trying to help, the community, but just, you know, reach out.
[01:04:10] Unknown:
Oh, that's great. And it and it's also important too to have that partnership with with your with your wife, you know, or or, you know, your your husband if you're if you're a woman going into politics. You know, it's important that you guys are on the same page with things and and that you you know the the the rigors of of elected office. Yeah. And, you know, so it it it makes it just makes it a lot easier.
[01:04:32] Unknown:
Before I even considered, running, I first sat down with with with my wife and definitely, you know, expressed my interest. And she's like, Aaron, I'm with you. That's true. That that that's all I needed. Like, if I have if I have her support, I'm all in in whatever I do. I also went went to my my parents and, I mean, gave me the green light. But, yes, family is key, especially, in politics. It's it's it's a strong situation. It's it's it's a difficult moment, but if you do it for the right reasons
[01:05:05] Unknown:
with the right support Yeah. And I and I'm I'm pretty sure that, you know, that local races like this don't get as vicious as, you know, the larger races like the state level, the federal level, and whatnot. You'd be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure there's some. I'm sure there's some that that that goes on. But, you know, not as not as vicious, I think. Yeah. But, but, you know, it take it takes a special it takes a special personality to to to see collected office these days. And, you know, and it's great to see younger group coming through that that's really interested in in in in, and putting themselves in that position. You know, you look at you look at the current House of Representatives. I mean, it's like a it's like a nursing home. You know? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You got Mitch McConnell who's 80 something years old. You got, you got Nancy Pelosi who's 80 something years old, and you have that lunatic from Connecticut, DeLauro who's, the the blue haired freak.
You know? She's what? 70, 80 years old herself. I mean, it's it's and then then we we had a a local represent not a local represent, but a but a a one of our senators. Okay. Was it a senator or was it a a congresswoman? Congresswoman, from from Texas that that had been missing votes for the last 6 months, and it turns out that she was in a dementia unit in in a nursing home? No. You don't want that at all. I mean, this is that's why you need you need it's time. It's time for the younger group, the younger groups to come up and assume that mantle of responsibility. This is your community just as much as it is the older generation's community. You gotta get involved. It's important to get involved. So so you do need to do that. And, I think it's it's great that, you know, the younger generation's coming up like yourself. And, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, what you're gonna do for the city of Eagle Pass. You know, I'm I'm hoping that, everything works out well. I'm I'm looking forward to, you know, being able to sit down and talk to you again at some point. You know, you you're welcome anytime you wanna come on. Just let me know. We can we'll work that out. And, you know, we'll talk about whatever, you know, any any policy positions you wanna come up with or or ideas that you wanna float. Hey. You know, you're more than welcome to come on anytime.
So, before we wrap this up completely, how about, you just give us, your contact information. How can we find you? And if you, and and how can folks donate to your campaign if they if they if they so chose?
[01:07:20] Unknown:
Okay. So they could reach us at my personal phone number, which I'm giving out to the community, and it's 830-968-0784. Again, 830-968 0784. They could look me up, in social media. I have we have Facebook. We have Instagram, Twitter or x, TikTok, at Aaron Valdez or Aaron e Valdez because it's all social medias and definitely at Aaron for mayor. So just please reach out. You can definitely contact me straight through social media. My personal phone number or one of our headquarters at 2334 El Indio Highway. Again, 2334 El Indio Highway here in Eagle Pass. And again, at any point in time throughout this campaign and after this, my point my my goal is to be readily available and always be for the people.
So please, please reach out. I mean, now more than ever with our upcoming administration, we need to be involved. And and that's that's where I really wanna come in and just be able to be transparent and, be able to communicate with our community what's happening.
[01:08:58] Unknown:
Be transparent. Outstanding. Now, of course, all the information that you just gave, we're gonna put in all our show notes so that, folks can have access to it and, just make sure I get all that stuff from you before before we wrap up for for today, or you can email to me later on. However whatever is easier for you. Alright. Well, Aaron, again, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to to to hang out here with us for a little bit. Anytime you wanna come back on, just just reach out. Let me know. I would love to have you come back again. We'll definitely get together out on the outside and and, and and chitchat. And, man, this was great. Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. Odyssey. Appreciate you,
[01:09:33] Unknown:
definitely for having me here, and we'll we'll make sure to get one of these or if not many before, we get started. Absolutely. And when is the, Wednesday election? We start at early, April 22nd and we finish May 5th and we are already on campaign. We register 15th, but we're already campaigning. We start election day or or early on 2022 I mean, 22 April 22 till May 5th.
[01:10:08] Unknown:
Outstanding. Alright, folks. Again, Aaron, thank you. Folks, this is Joe Rossello, and you are listening to the podcast. And, we're gonna take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll, you know, we'll wrap this whole thing up here for today. Alright? And we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[01:10:25] Unknown:
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[01:11:15] Unknown:
Alright. Folks, welcome back to the podcast. Well, that was a lot of fun. Aaron Valdez running for mayor of the city of Eagle Pass. Just wanna say thank you again to Aaron for being with us here in the studio at the asylum. Takes a lot of guts to come to the asylum, but he did. And we appreciate him taking the time out. It was great having him here. And we're looking forward to, sitting down with Aaron again, as, as it gets closer and closer to election day. Now, great conversation. I hope that you guys listened carefully, and I hope that you were able to pull something out of that for yourself that, might help you make a decision as to who you're gonna vote for.
We're just to remind you that, early voting starts here at Eagle Pass on April 22nd and runs through May 5th. So that's April 22nd to May 5th. So if you're not currently registered or if you don't know, if you're registered to vote, make sure you get out there and, check-in with the, with the, the the county office to make sure that you are in fact registered, and, get out there and vote. Whether it's for for for, Aaron or for his opponent, it doesn't make a difference. Exercise your right to vote. Alright. And, alright. Now we have reached out to his opponent, miss Cruz, to see if, she'd be available or willing to come on to the, the podcast here and and talk to us.
We sent the message out, last week or the week or yeah. Last week. And, we got a you know, one of those generic responses, you know, thanks for contacting us. Someone will reach out to you shortly. But, as of, as of today, January 20th, we have not received any word back. And, but, you know, we're hoping that we'll hear from her, and be able to get her booked, for next Monday show. If not, we got other things lined up, we'll be good to go. But we're looking forward to, giving her the opportunity as well to, to jump on board here, and, lay out her vision for, the city of Eagle Pass. Now, something happened, a couple days ago that, I really wanted to talk to you guys about. And, I was debating if I was going to or not, but, because it's a it's a personal thing, but, but it's a good personal thing. Do you know? Do you ever have those things where it's it's just something that happens, you know, you're not sure, you know, you you're excited about it, you wanna tell people about it, but, you know, it's like is it is it too personal to talk about or is it not too personal to talk about? But you know what? I love you guys. You're my family. And, I wanna tell you guys what's, what's going on here. So, I was gonna announce it a little bit later in the show, but, but I'm gonna mention it now. So after some prodding and poking and, you know, just some nagging, I decided to do a Facebook page for the podcast.
And so, I got an account going, I had an old account that that was just dormant, not using it really for anything, but but I kinda woke it up, and I was looking through the, I got notification about a message in the, the Facebook messenger thing. And, and it was from somebody that, well, I don't know who she was at first, but I I read her message, and, she is, she's the wife of a friend whose name is Wayne Rankin. Now Wayne I know Wayne since 2002, and I haven't seen Wayne since 2003. And the last time that I I knew anything of what was going on with Wayne, Wayne was ill. He had cancer. He was struggling with it. And, one of the things that, that that struck me about Wayne's case was that, as sick as he was, and and he was he was pretty sick, you know, from what I remember and from his, his previous wife who who, who sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer, just a couple of years ago, The last that I heard is that he was doing very, very poorly, and, like, basically wasting away.
And, but one of the things about Wayne is is his incredible faith. Absolutely incredible faith. And, I I would use his story, regularly in in, sermons and bible studies and and things that when I would preach from time to time, mostly because of something that he had said in one of the emails that he had sent me. And that was, and I'm I'm gonna paraphrase it now because I haven't seen it in in many, many years. But, but that was basically that, as sick as he was, he was hoping that, you know, people would see God working through him through his faith and and and others would come to Christ. And, to me, that was just amazing.
And, and then that was it. I didn't hear from him, for a while, and, I'm I'm sure that, you know, I I haven't said this to him yet, so this is just between us. I honestly thought that he had passed, and, you know, so I was I was kinda kinda broken up about that, as well. But, but here here we are, and, I get I get a message from his new wife, and she, let us know. She she messaged me. She was asking me if I was the same Joe, and so on and so forth. And, you know, I said, yeah. I'm I'm that guy. And, so so the real blessing, the real treat that I got, a couple days ago was I got to talk to my, if you wanna say long lost friend, Wayne.
And, you know, we had a great conversation. A great conversation. It was it was a quick one at first, but then later on, we got into a a a rather lengthy conversation. Now now folks, look, those of you that really know me know how much I despise talking on the phone, and I always try to keep phone calls to it to at least 20 minutes. Alright? Now don't laugh at me. Alright? I I I know some of you were laughing at me over there, but, you know, there are reasons for that. And, but but Wayne and I were on the phone for 3 hours in that first real phone call that we had, and, it was like honestly, it was like no time passed by as we were talking. And it was it was it was great. It was great to hear about all the things that, have been going on with him. It's been it was great to hear, how well he's been doing, health wise and, you know, how happy he is with his new wife, and what a help she is to him. And, it was a real treat. It was a real blessing to be able to talk to him, and, was really excited about it. And, you know, we're we're gonna continue to talk. And, as a matter of fact, he'll be, coming down here to Eagle Pass, sometime in February. We're going to spend a few days together. We're going to have, have a little bit of a reunion.
And, so I'll keep you updated on that. We're actually going to do, maybe 1 or 2 shows together, which will be a lot of fun, especially if you haven't ever really spoken to Wayne. If or if you don't know Wayne, you're gonna know him after these, these these, these shows that we're gonna do because, Wayne Wayne can talk. You know, and that's great. You know, when you're a podcast host, you want someone to do more of the talking than you do. You know? So but, no, in all seriousness though, you know, Wayne, he's a great guy. I'm really looking forward to seeing him, and, I'm I'm really excited about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And, also, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it right now. Wayne has, made or actually, I should say set up a recurring contribution of $25 a month to the show, and so Wayne is our very first executive producer of the podcast, and we are absolutely thrilled to have Wayne on board with us. So Wayne, thank you so much.
Alright. So, so Wayne, thank you so much for the for the, donation and, the recurring donation. That's a that's a real that's that's a real help to us. So we really do appreciate that. And, man, we're looking forward to seeing him coming on come on down here and, see what we, what kind of what kind of trouble we can get into. Right? Alright. But, so I just wanted to share that with you guys. It was something really happy, that's, that that happened the other day. And it was, you know, something really cool, really cool. Alright, folks. Now, again, you know, we we just finished talking with Aaron Valdez. And, you know, one of the questions that I did not ask him, which, after the show, I warned him that, I'm going to ask him next time is is what's his position on Texas first and, Texas independence.
And, you know, you know, I gave him a couple of I gave him a book to to read up on it and to study on it, and, you know, hopefully the next time we get together, we'll be able to, to address that question somewhere, in our conversation, so keep your eyes open for that. Now folks, if you wanna get involved with shaping the future of a free and independent Texas, you need to head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tnm, scan those QR codes, and register your support, become a member, or make a donation. Alright? And, it's really, really important that we, that we keep we get this thing moving.
Alright? Text It is a real thing that is really going to happen. It is not an if happen. It is a when it happens. And I'm hoping that, of course, it happens in my lifetime, but if not, I'm gonna do everything that I possibly can do to, to ensure that future generations of Texans, have their own free and independent country, their own independent nation. Now okay. So, you know, you could say, well, you're not a native Texan. You, you know, you you, you you came down from New York. You're you're a Yankee. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, biologically, yes. Yeah. But in spirit, I'm a Texan. I've been a Texan the majority of my life. I can I I've wanted to be here in Texas for as long as I can remember, and, you know, I thank God that I'm here? I thank God that I'm here at this time when, these these these steps are being taken and, and wheels are in motion, and I am equally thankful that I am able to be a part of this fantastic organization that is seeking to put Texas first. That is so important. So please head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tnm, to get more information. You could also go to tex it now dot org and, get involved. Get involved, especially if you're here in Texas. Get involved.
This is your country. Let's make it happen this year. Alright, folks. Also, when you head over to our website, check out the contact form, send us over any questions or comments that you have. Also, you know, you could look for that support button that we have up there on the website. And, you know, make sure you click that support button. Don't forget, folks, this is a value for value podcast. So whatever value you feel you're getting out of this, we're only asking that you return it in the form of a donation. It could be a, a one time donation in any amount, or it could be one of our, recurring monthly donation clubs that we have. The associate producer, producer, and the executive producer. Also, don't forget that we have, an affiliate link with the Alex Jones store dot com slash Joe. That's the Alex Jones store dot com slash Joe.
You could, visit that or you could scan the QR code that's on our website also. There's also a link on the website that you can click and, and, I think it's on our support page if I'm not mistaken. And, get yourself on the road to better health, and always remember that 10% of your purchase goes right back here into the podcast, and it does not affect your price. So if you're buying something for $26, it was always $26, but 10% of that $26 is coming right back here to the podcast, but you have to use our link, thealexjonesstore.com/joe.
Alright. Now, I just wanna tell you about our socials, before I forget to do that, because I have a tendency to do that. Again, like I mentioned earlier, Rumble, We're now on Rumble. We're uploading the audio only right now for for these first few episodes. And then, probably within the next 2 weeks or so, we're gonna be starting to do videos. And then, from the videos, we're gonna start going into live shows. So that's gonna be exciting. I'm looking forward to it. So I hope you are too. We just gotta, you know, work out a few things here in the studio to to to set it up better for video than what it is. And, so hopefully, we'll get that done within the next couple of weeks. We're also on, on Twitter or x, whatever you wanna call it. It's at Joe Ruz. You can go on Instagram at not Joe Ruz, and that's because when I put Joe Ruz in as my screen my username, I got, my account was suspended, like, immediately. I didn't get through the sign up process, but they let me do not Joe Roos, so that's that's why I'm on there. Obviously, we're no longer on TikTok because, at least as of today, TikTok no longer exists in, in the United States.
You can find us on truth social as well at Joe Ruz. We are on minds at Joe Ruz, and, we're on, unfortunately, we're on Facebook now at, our Facebook page is the podcast with Joe Rusciello. Alright. So, folks, don't forget, like, subscribe, share the podcast with all your friends, your family, and your followers, and help us to spread this thing out. Alright, folks. That'll just about do it for us for today. We'll see you next week. Thanks for listening, and thank God for Donald J. Trump. Take care, folks.
Introduction and Inauguration Day
Texas Legislative Session and Texit Movement
Interview with Mayoral Candidate Aaron Valdez
Aaron Valdez Discusses Local Issues
Challenges of Illegal Immigration and Local Resources
Conclusion and Personal Reflections
