Roland Laurenzo, son of famed restauranteur Mama Ninfa Laurenzo and owner of Houston’s popular El Tiempo cantinas, really stepped in his refried beans yesterday.  His Navigation Blvd. Facebook page posted this photo of Jeff Sessions with Domenic Laurenzo (Roland’s son) taken while Sessions was having dinner there:

To make matters worse, they cross posted the photo on their other locations’ social media pages.  Predictably, the social media world erupted in protest.  Apparently unprepared for the firestorm, Laurenzo (or his employees) first tried to quell it by deleting negative comments, but finally gave up and simply deleted the original posts.  By the time they did that, though, the post had gone viral, but not in a good way.  Still trying to make this all go away, Laurenzo posted this statement last night:

It didn’t work.  At the time of this post, there have been 509 comments, virtually all pretty ugly.  Many have been deleted.

So, the question is this: How could Laurenzo be so stupid?  I’m not talking about serving Sessions his dinner, I’m talking about Laurenzo bragging about it on Facebook where he knows that thousands of customers and social media users would see it.  The decision to serve a shitbag like Sessions is his decision.  Personally, I couldn’t do it, but a business owner runs his own business, right?  The fact that Jeff Sessions stands against common decency, common sense, humanity, diversity, justice, equality, and honesty is well documented.  Since El Tiempo is a Mexican restaurant whose staff is 100% Latino and whose customers are as diverse as Houston itself, you would think that Laurenzo would never dream of saying to the world that he was “honored” to serve him even adding a little little American flag emoji as the crowning blow.

In his flurry of excuses/explanations, Laurenzo says he was only told by the Secret Service that a “government official” was coming to dinner, and didn’t know it was Sessions until he walked through the door.  He’s also said that the braggadocios Facebook post was made by an employee and had not been approved. Those explanations don’t pass the straight-face test.  First, just how many people NOT a Trump official/family have Secret Service protection? Answer: none, except past presidents.  Second, it appears that Laurenzo himself is a Trumpist.  How do we suspect that?  In October of 2016, Laurenzo approved a pro-Trump rally at the Navigation El Tiempo location.  A pro-Trump music video was produced at the same location on the same day.  Third, I’ve eaten at El Tiempo restaurants all over Houston for years.  I’ve NEVER seen either Roland Laurenzo or his son Domenic at any location where I’ve eaten.  That’s not to say that they don’t ever visit his restaurants, but what are the chances that he or Domenic just happened to be at the precise location in a personalized chef jacket at the precise time Sessions showed up for a photo op?  Answer: not likely.  Let’s face it…Sessions was doing some reputation polishing (See: Trump’s taco bowl moment) and arranged a few show ups in Houston after his speech announcing a crackdown on violent crime, which happens to be at a 40 year low.  Laurenzo gave an assist.  As a side note, Sessions had breakfast at La Mexicana yesterday morning, but, unlike Laurenzo, the Treviño family wisely kept their mouths shut about it, especially on Facebook.

What’s happening to Laurenzo is what often happens to people who are tone deaf (like Trumpists) and who live in an echo chamber.  When people live in that echo chamber, they are often caught flat footed when normal people are violently repulsed by something they do or say.  I’m sure that Laurenzo was all starry-eyed that Sessions came to dinner and then had to brag about it on social media.  The easily predicted backlash was 100% self inflicted, and will likely have long lasting effects on Laurenzo and his business.  It’s a shame, but he should have seen that coming.

As for me, I’m certainly going to miss the Dos Lunch special along with my Tecate.  Dammit.

UPDATE: Laurenzo threw in the towel yesterday and shut down all of El Tiempo’s social media accounts.  Was he humble and apologetic?  Of course not.  He’s a Trumpist. In several interviews, Laurenzo has called the brouhaha “a big misunderstanding” and that “we never intended to offend anyone.”  He also again threw a nameless employee under the bus for the original post.  Yesterday, explaining why he shut down El Tiempo’s social media pages, he said, “People are insulting us in such a dramatic fashion, and we feel like we don’t deserve it.  At least temporarily I had it taken down because I don’t want to be insulted, my children to be insulted, my family to be insulted.” Well, I’m pretty insulted that the owner of my formerly favorite TexMex restaurant openly supports easily the worst president in US history and his merry band of criminals tearing my country apart as fast as they can. If he’s so worried about being insulted, I’m wondering if he’s as insulted by the fact that 360 children remain locked up in detention centers after their parents were deported without them.  I think not.  He’s worried about his own family and his own business.  Besides – these newly orphaned kids will probably make good dishwashers and waiters for him, right?

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.

Jeff Sessions is real worried about drugs.  The damn government is crashing down around him and Nero Sessions is real worried about pot.

When Willie Nelson was told that Jeff Sessions said that pot is “only slightly less awful than heroin,” Willie philosophied (yeah, I made up that word.  It’ a good word.  Willie is a philosopher.) …

I wonder if he’s tried both of them. I don’t think you can really make a statement like that unless you tried it all. So I’d like to suggest to Jeff to try it and then let me know later if he thinks he’s still telling the truth!

Yesterday, Sessions made the argument that all we need to do is bring back the DARE program in schools because it “was working” when we had it.  The best response?

Radel was caught buying cocaine in 2014 from an undercover agent in Washington and spent nearly a month in a rehabilitation facility.

Honey, if “probably” is the best they could do …

He took money from Russia and Turkey and then didn’t reveal that when he wanted his security clearance back to serve President Trump.

Here’s the Fun With Republican Math part.

Chaffetz stressed that the government ought to “recover the money” that was paid to Flynn by foreign entities — a figure that would at least be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

We know he took $45,000 from Russia and more than $500,000 from Turkey so, yeah that’s tens of thousands.  That’s 545 tens of thousands.

Flynn could face jail time but don’t count on Jeff Sessions to make a big deal of it.  Or to even see it. I don’t even think Sessions even casts a reflection in a mirror at this point.

United States Attorney General Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions is standing by his man.  Jeffrey says that if Mexico doesn’t pay for the wall, the United States can start investigating Mexicans’ taxes.

Oh yeah, that sounds real constitutional.

Jeffrey is following his man by echoing Trump’s promise to get the money from Mexico “one way or another,” including kneecapping your grandmother for payment if she ever ate a tamale.

Bottom line: You have to have congressional approval to build the damn wall.  You’re not gonna get it. Every elected official along the Texas border – both Democratic and Republican – are opposed to it.

It’s dumb idea. It’s always been a dumb idea. And, thanks to Jeffrey, it’s getting dumber every day.

Okay, so there’s our new Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  He’s all about trying to put Willie Nelson in jail.

And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.

He also wants you to know that masturbation causes blindness and leaches can cure polio.

Marijuana – slightly less awful than putting your head in the blender.

Just say no worked so damn well that we need to try that again.

Okay, there is something wrong with Sessions.  I’m watching Dick Durbin question him.  He blinks once a second for about 10 seconds, then he doesn’t blink at all the next 20 seconds.  It’s weird.

Sessions is running away from his record faster than a bullet with legs.  He says, “The AG just enforces the laws so how I voted doesn’t matter.”

Now I’m watching John Cornyn kiss Sessions butt.

Who else is watching?

1:05 Texas Time – Ted Cruz is using his entire time to give speech bashing Democrats for the past 8 years and the Democrats on the committee.  The good part: no way in hell they’ll put him on the Supreme Court now.  He’s dripping in sarcasm.