CUBA: Obama's Greatest Legacy

Already Etched in Stone

    Whether you love her or hate her, or are somewhere in between those two extremes, you must admit that 68-year-old Hillary Clinton is an extremely savvy and tough politician. In her fervent quest to be President of the United States starting in 2017, she would readily throw her Democratic soul-mate, President Barack Obama, under the next bus coming down the street if she though her close political ties to him would hurt her chances. No one can assess Mr. Obama's fast-closing two-term presidency more accurately than Hillary Clinton. She's done that. And she has concluded, correctly, that he was and is a great, even transformative President.

    In her no-holds-barred bid to keep a conservative or right-wing Republican out of the White House in 2017, the sage Hillary Clinton has decided to embrace and campaign on the sane and decent policies of President Obama. If she did not believe such a decision would help her become his successor, she would have distanced herself from Mr. Obama with a schism wider than the Grand Canyon. Fifty years from now, some great historian is likely to write an updated and accurate biography of Barack Obama. He'll likely be heralded for...correcting many of the global ills spawned by the two-term Bush-Cheney administration that preceded him. He'll be saluted for trying to provide health care to even the poorest Americans against the bought-and-paid-for dictates of a right wing-dominated U. S. Congress that catered only to the rich billionaires that bought-and-paid for them. He'll likely be praised for having stressed diplomatic solutions to foreign problems that right-wing warmongers insisted should have all been settled by wars that would begat more wars, devastating the civilian masses but enriching what President Eisenhower in 1960 warned was the biggest threat to the U. S. democracy, what he famously called, "the Military-Industrial Complex." On January 20, 2017, Barack Obama will still be a relatively young man at age 55. He'll go on to...write books, make speeches, and care for the most uncared-for Americans. He'll probably be a future president of a great US or UK university. He might well be a future Secretary-General of the United Nations, a thought currently rolling around in his mind. Regardless, when the bell tolls for Barack Obama, it will, or should, resoundingly bark out the fact that he was/is a great man -- like a George Washington, Abe Lincoln, or Franklin Roosevelt. The American Revolution crowned Washington's greatness; the Civil War and slavery stamped Lincoln as a great man; and World War II and Social Security were among the things that attest to Roosevelt's greatness. The greatness of Barack Obama has been proven by one glaring fact: He was and is the antipathy to right-wing thugs who sought or seek the exalted office that he so gallantly has served. For example, one of those Republican thugs seeking the presidency, Chris Christie, in the last debate bellowed loudly about kicking Obama's rear end out of the White House on January 20th, 2017. Such arrogant bullies, as brilliantly satirized by Saturday Night Live, might appeal to Americans brain-washed and proselytized by relentless far-right radio and television propagandists, but intelligent observers, such as Hillary Clinton, know better. They know that -- on Jan. 20, 2017 -- Mr. Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters can leave the White House with their heads held high.

     Having said all that, I firmly believe that, fifty years from now, the greatest legacy attached to the greatness of Barack Obama will be his fervent effort as President to rescue the United States democracy from the abominable grips of a Cuban policy, dictated by right-wing thugs, that has shamed America in the eyes of the world, decade after decade, more than any other single topic. The albatross that Obama inherited as President dates back to 1952 when a handful of right-wingers -- Nixon, the Dulles brothers, etc. -- aligned the U. S. government with the Mafia to support the brutal, thieving Batista dictatorship in Cuba. That insult to democracy was exacerbated in January of 1959 when the remnants of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship fled the Cuban Revolution and were allowed to reconstitute their dictatorship on U. S. soil, in perpetuity it seems, with nearby Miami as their capital.

      Thus, when be became President of the United States in 2009 -- following the two-term presidency of the Batistiano-aligned George W. Bush -- President Obama inherited a range of anti-democratic and anti-American laws related to Cuba as well as pro-right wing and pro-Batistiano laws -- all easily rammed through Congress with the aid of right-wingers such as Jesse Helms, Dan Burton, and Bob Torricelli. In that milieu, Obama inherited a plethora of congressionally mandated laws designed to recapture Cuba and, incredibly, enrich and empower Miami's most extreme anti-Castro zealots. This graphic that depicts President Obama being forced to enforce the U. S. embargo against Cuba is typical of what he had to try to overcome for the sake of the U. S. democracy. He had and has the support of most Americans, most Cuban-Americans, and -- as revealed each October in a UN vote -- all the nations of the world {except Israel, which is the top recipient of U. S. military and economic aid}. Yet, as extremists in Miami well comprehend, democratic principles have never factored into formulating Cuban policy in America, the world's greatest democracy. Barack Obama, more than the previous eleven U. S. presidents combined, has tried mightily -- against dangerous and overwhelming odds -- to combat and correct the unfair and self-debilitating image of the U. S. democracy that an egregiously undemocratic Cuban policy has been allowed to convey to the entire world decade after decade. THAT HERCULEAN EFFORT INVOLVING CUBA, MORE THAN ANY OF HIS OTHER CONSIDERABLE ACHIEVEMENTS, WILL CROWN MR. OBAMA'S SUPERB LEGACY WHEN GREAT HISTORIANS STUDY HIS LIFE.

Take for example,

yesterday's major article

in the Miami Herald:

        Yesterday the Miami Herald used the above photo courtesy of Andrew Harnik and the Associated Press to illustrate a major article about the U.S.-Cuban quagmire. {The photo depicts a monumental achievement, the raising of the Cuban flag, for the first time since 1961, at its embassy in Washington}. Yesterday's Miami Herald article was/is entitled: "MIAMI READIES A FIGHT OVER CUBAN CONSULATE." It was/is a very fair article written by Douglas Hanks. Now that the U. S. has reopened embassies in Havana and Washington, it is customary for the U. S. to open a Cuban consulate in the most appropriate U. S. city. In Cuba's case, that, of course, is Miami, which is dominated by Cubans. Additionally, most Cuban-Americans in Miami strongly favor the Cuban consulate being in their city because so-called ex-patriots have the most need for such a consulate for things like processing visas, obtaining birth certificates from back home, and so forth. Yet, if you read the aforementioned Miami Herald article you will see that -- to this day -- Miami politics are tightly controlled by a handful of anti-Castro zealots even though most Cuban-Americans and many former anti-Castro zealots oppose their hard-line approach to Cuba.

      Tomas Regalado was born in Havana 68 years ago. He has been the Mayor of Miami since 2009, or since Obama became President. As an anti-Castro hard-liner, he vehemently opposes the U. S. putting a Cuban consulate in Miami although most citizens of Miami want it and would benefit from it being there. The Miami Herald reported that, not unexpectedly, Mayor Regalado would fight and sue any effort by the U. S. government to do what it customarily does, which is to put a consulate in the most appropriate U. S. city to serve the most Cuban-Americans following the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington. Mayor Regalado's stance is emblematic of what, since 1959, every U. S. president prior to Obama has been forced to succumb to, which is injecting the U. S. government with a self-serving Cuban policy designed to appease only a handful of the most anti-Castro extremists who still dictate America's Cuban policy, including even such policies that go against the wishes of most Cuban-Americans. Mayor Regalado told the Miami Herald that a Cuban consulate in Miami "could inflame passions and create security risks" and thus he would fight and sue against a Cuban diplomatic outpost in Miami.

     Esteban Bovo is the ultra-powerful Commissioner of Miami-Dade County, Florida. In yesterday's Miami Herald, Mr. Bovo, the son of a Bay of Pigs veteran, was quoted as saying that a potential Cuban consulate in Miami would be "a travesty." Like anti-Castro extremists who insist on making America's Cuban laws, Mr. Bovo excoriated President Obama with these Miami Herald quotations: "President Obama has more in common with the Castro brothers than he does with the American people. The President probably had a Che Guevara poster affixed to his wall in college. He has much more in common with the Castros on broad issues." Of course, with such vitriol against President Obama, Mr. Bovo was taking advantage of the fact that, since 1959, Americans have been thoroughly propagandized or intimidated into accepting almost anything anti-Castro zealots say or do related to Cuba.

     Carlos Gimenez was born in Havana 62 years ago. He has been Mayor of Miami-Dade County since 2011. {Don't confuse Mayor Gimenez with Havana-born Tomas Regalado, who is Mayor of the city of Miami}. While Mr. Gimenez as Mayor of Miami-Dade County is famed for his anti-Castro zealotry too, Mr. Gimenez is also aware that more normal relations with Cuba will sharply benefit Miami's business community. Thus, in yesterday's Miami Herald Mr. Gimenez seemed to favor a Cuban consulate in Miami. A Gimenez spokesman said, "The Mayor would work with Washington if it ever chose to put a Cuban consulate in Miami. Mayor Gimenez will work with the federal government should that decision be made." Conspicuously, more former anti-Castro zealots are joining Mayor Gimenez in recognizing that capitalist, money-oriented Miami stands to benefit enormously from the sane Obama-orchestrated overtures to Cuba. For example, the Miami Herald article pointed out that "American Airlines plans to begin regularly scheduled flights between Miami and Havana, ending the need for the current chartered flights. Carnival, the world's largest cruise company, plans to use Port Miami as a launching pad for Cuba-bound itineraries later this year." Anti-Castroism is one thing; money is another.

    Miguel "Mike" Fernandez is probably the most powerful man, politicians included, in Miami-Coral Gables, Florida. He is a billionaire many times over. He has donated many, many millions of dollars to Republicans, especially the Bush dynasty. Mr. Fernandez migrated from Cuba at age 12 in 1964. He briefly attended Northern Virginia Community College but does not have a college degree. After exiting the U. S. army, he founded CarePlus Health, which he sold to Humana, and then he founded MBF Healthcare, the company that has made him billions. Among many other things, he reportedly owns the 4,000-acre Little River Plantation outside Tallahassee, 25,000 prime acres in Alabama, etc. An anti-Castro zealot of the first order, Mr. Fernandez is also a business zealot. Thus, his comments in the Miami Herald indicates he favors a Cuban consulate in Miami. He said, "Miami is logically the place for a consulate...if I was Mayor of Miami, I would say I represent everyone in Miami, and I represent the future of Miami. And this is business. It's absolutely time to forgive. It's way overdue." {Miguel, remember, is Jeb Bush's biggest financial supporter}.

   This image of Miguel Fernandez, the Cuban-American money-man in Miami, and Jeb Bush, the prime beneficiary of Miguel's prodigious political donations, reflects the reality that many Americans, including many Cuban-Americans, have grown tired of, namely Cuban-Americans aligned with the self-serving Bush dynasty dictating to America a Cuban policy that most of the world -- including Americans and Cuban-Americans -- clearly disapprove of. The Bush-loving billionaire Miguel Fernandez, based on his comments in yesterday's Miami Herald, seems to comprehend the new paradigm in Cuban relations permeated by a very, very brave U. S. President, Barack Obama.

    And speaking of Cuban-American billionaires famous for their anti-Castro zealotry and for being tightly tied to the Bush dynasty, meet Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul. {The photo of Alfy is courtesy of The Cuban History.com}. From the 1920s till January of 1959, the Fanjul family had a sugar monoply in Cuba. They didn't realize it at the time but Fidel Castro did them a massive favor, by chasing them to South Florida. After amassing key political friends, such as the Bush dynasty, the Fanjuls quickly amassed a sugar monopoly in the U. S. that today dwarfs, many times over, the one they had in Cuba. Today Americans pay about double what smarter people in other countries pay for Domino and other sugar brands, because Congress incredibly, thanks to us stupid or cowardly taxpayers, subsidizes the Fanjul sugar monopoly with incredible sums of tax dollars the Fanjuls don't need but still get. If you think, for example, that Bill Gates is rich, you should check out the too-many-to-count mansions in South Florida owned by the extended Fanjul family, as well as their other enormously wealthy properties in the United States and the Dominican Republic, etc. Also, a lot of that Fanjul money in the U. S. has reportedly funded, not only necessary politicians such as the Bushes and the Clintons but also many, many of the regime-change programs designed to overthrow or eliminate Fidel Castro. BUT GUESS WHAT?? Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul AGREES WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA ABOUT NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH CUBA!! Alfy, in fact, has been back to Cuba and has talked about INVESTING in Cuba, which apparently means he no longer is interesting in INVESTING in regime-change programs to unseat his old nemesis Fidel Castro, who is due to turn 90-years-old later this year in his rather modest home in Havana. {To know Alfy is to know why your sugar is SO COSTLY}.

    Many times in this forum I have criticized the Miami Herald for siding with or capitulating to the Cuban-American extremists regarding Cuba. But it is a great newspaper. Yesterday's article about a possible U. S. consulate in Miami was fair in its presentation and summation: "The contretemps over a hypothetical Miami Cuban consulate is largely seen as a symbolic fight, because Washington decides where a foreign power may open diplomatic outposts around the country. It's the latest example of a Miami political leadership resisting a rapid expansion of governmental and business ties between the United States and Cuba following Obama's announcement in December 2014 that he was pursuing full diplomatic relations with the Castro regime." That's a fair-minded Miami Herald observation on January 18th.  

        Hugo Cancio is another rich Cuban-American businessman in Miami, where he has lived for the last 35 years of his life. But he also spends a lot of time in Cuba and has a nice office in Havana. He has met and doesn't dislike Fidel Castro. Hugo, whether in Miami or Havana, will beguile you with his abiding love for both his adopted country and his native country, which is...Cuba!!!!!! 

        On YouTube you can watch an English-language interview that Cuba's Cristina Escobar had {above} with Hugo Cancio. At one point you will hear Hugo passionately complain that he and most Cuban-Americans in Miami are not represented by a political process that favors only anti-Castro zealots. Ms. Escobar followed up on that comment by Hugo by referencing, for example, Alfy Fanjul's change-of-heart regarding Cuba as well as polls in Miami favoring normalization.

      The 28-year-old Cristina Escobar is not only Cuba's top broadcast journalist, she is now in demand for interviews by many regional and international networks, as well as highly regarded American journalist Tracey Eaton who last week published a long article and two YouTube videos after he went to Cuba and interviewed Cristina. On Cuban, Spanish, and American soil recently, Cristina Escobar has staunchly proclaimed that she and many twenty-somethings like her on the island strongly support President Obama's kind overtures to Cuba, but she also staunchly maintains they she, and others, will fight to the death to maintain Cuba's sovereignty as a nation. She eventually wants democracy for her island but she told Tracey Eaton, as you can see on the YouTube video, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy." With those words, she is correct. If and when her beloved island gets democracy, she and other Cubans on the island, not lying right-wingers from afar, should make those decisions. Cristina adores Cuba, and knows its history.

To summarize:

       Study this graphic. It's the work of the brilliant 47-year-old Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff. This essay is entitled: "CUBA: Obama's Greatest Legacy." I believe this graphic explains why that is so, regardless of his many past and future achievements. The image of America depicted above is one that shames him. Indeed, it should shame all Americans just as, according to the yearly vote in the UN, it obviously shames America's best friends all around the world. During his still viable two-term presidency, Mr. Obama has tried his best -- against overwhelming and very dangerous odds -- to soothe this image of America. He might not succeed, not entirely anyway. But, at least, he tried...really hard. That's a legacy he can always be proud of, even as powerful right-wing thugs try to demolish all he has constructed.

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Yes, America, Cuba Is Changing

And It's Alright If You Know

         The London Daily Mail is a powerful force in its print edition in the UK and a powerful force around the world with its exceedingly popular Website. On Sunday, January 17th, 2016, the Daily Mail provided an expansive profile of the fast-changing Cuba that Americans may want to check out. That's because, for the most part, the cowering U. S. media reports only what a handful of the most hard-line Cuban exiles want them to report, which usually focuses only on the negative. But the Daily Mail is not quite as intimidated. The above photo was used by the British powerhouse Sunday to illustrate that there is more to the island than 1950s cars, rum, sugar, and depressed people. The nightlife, for example, is bustling at venues such as the famed Tropicana...not as risque as the 1950s when the Mafia, Batista, and U. S. businessmen controlled things but, nevertheless, in 2016 Cuba is very exciting, lively and colorful...as you can see.

       The Daily Mail used this photo of the MSC Opera cruise ship in Havana Harbor to illustrate that the U. S. embargo may still be in effect to appease a few hard-liners in Miami and Congress but the rest of the world, taking a cue from U. S. President Barack Obama, has a bit more of a "democratic" approach to the intriguing, beguiling island. The Daily Mail Sunday had these suggestions: "Cruise into cool Cuba." "Beat the crowds set to flock to the island by sailing on top cruises." "The country is changing forever." Currently there are no Starbucks or McDonalds but that could change too." "Make 2016 the year to visit on a cruise."

            The Daily Mail on Sunday showed this Voyager cruise ship in the harbor at Santiago de Cuba, the former capital and still its second largest city on the southeastern tip of the famed alligator-shaped island. The Daily Mail told its millions of readers and viewers that Cuba is "750 miles long from tip-to-tip," and breathtakingly interesting and accessible from Havana in the north to Santiago de Cuba in the south.

        While modernity is more-and-more visible "from tip to tip," the Daily Mail illustrated that nostalgic Americans, if or when they visit the island, will get to see fine-tuned and colorful cars from the 1950s. 

         Tourists who visit Cuba in 2016 will notice that many of its historic buildings have already undergone refurbishing with more underway. Cubans in 2016 can buy and sell homes, apartments, and restaurants.

The dominant island in the magnificent Caribbean is America's southern neighbor.

Cuba's strategic location is one reason it is the Pearl of the Caribbean.

         Cuba has been right there...right between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea...for a long time, even long before Christopher Columbus discovered it in 1492.

       Moreover, Cuba and its fourteen provinces...plus thousands of keys, cays, and smaller islands...will stay there for a long, long time to come, irrespective of the U. S. embargo, rising seas because of global warming, and a host of other calamities.

Photo courtesy: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters/Business Insider.

Dancing in the shade & white sands at Varadero.

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U.S., Cuba & Journalism

Eclectic Portraits

            In the modern 24-hour Cable News era, the precipitous decline of American journalism is fully capable of reshaping the U. S. democracy. That's why great journalists, like Trudy Rubin at the Philadelphia Inquirer, are so vital today. If Americans don't realize that fact, be assured that the Founding Fathers created America's fledgling, magnificent government with the clear understanding that "a free and energetic press is essential to preserving democracy." The digital and electronic evolutions and revolutions have spawned 24-hour Cable News operations that symbolize the decline and fall of American journalism, which would have certainly dismayed the Founding Fathers. Watching television news -- from right-wing Fox to left-wing MSNBC to middle-of-the-road CNN -- is easier these days then seeking out great print journalists...such as Ms. Rubin. The Cable News outfits, however additive they may be, are controlled by capitalist-corporate interests only concerned with profits. Thus, instead of hiring competent reporters to actually go out and cover the news, the Cable outfits stress useless and obnoxious Talking Head pundits along with constant reruns to fill out their 24-hour repetitions that merely masquerade as news coverage. But then...there are gems like Trudy Rubin. So, on this tranquil Sunday, let's, uh... see what she's up to.

        Today is Sunday, January 17th, 2016. The major article in today's Philadelphia Enqurer is penned by Trudy Rubin, that great newspaper's top columnist and editorial writer. She had just returned from Cuba and presented an in-depth, fair, and balanced portrait of the island as reflected by the drastic changes taking place during this crucial new year. That's important because, if you get most of your news from the Cable News operations, you probably believe that the vile revolutionary government in Cuba spends most of its time harassing, berating, beating, imprisoning or murdering its citizens -- the image promulgated by remnants of the ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship that have controlled the Cuban narrative and America's Cuban policy virtually since January 1, 1959. By contrast, in Cuba today there are good things, bad things and -- like in a lot of other countries -- a lot of in-between things. Cable News outfits in the U. S. lack the competency and the courage to counter the dominant propaganda about Cuba espoused by a handful of second-generational Cuban exiles and their easily acquired sycophants. To support such propaganda, those exiles and their sycophants have, amazingly, been allowed to get away with taking the freedom away from everyday Americans who might want to visit Cuba, the only nation in the world to which that anti-democratic rule applies!! But Trudy Rubin just got back from Cuba and her article today brings you up to date on the fast-changing island. You should read her entire article but her exact opening words are:

             "At the darkened Delirio Habanero nightclub on top of Havana's National Theater, a group of young Cubans listen to an all-girl band dressed in Micro miniskirts belt out salsa lyrics. Through the windows behind them, the glowing faces of revolutionary heroes Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos shine down, outlined in neon several stories high on the facades of neighboring buildings. The young people are too busy texting to take any notions, even as the older folks dance. Cuba is a society going through immense changes -- generational, economic and, at some levels, even political. These changes were underway even before President Barack Obama made his historic announcement on Dec. 17, 2014, about restoring relations."

            MY POINT IS THIS: There are still in America some great print journalists -- such as Trudy Rubin at the Philadelphia Enquirer -- who will actually report the truth even about complex and controversial topics such as...Cuba. But a lazy, less patriotic generation of Americans prefers getting their news from television sitting on their couches as opposed to physically stepping outside to obtain that day's copy of, say, the Philadelphia Enquirer. And mostly, from their couches, Americans get self-serving promotional tidbits from Cable News Talking Head pundits who are greatly preferred by the corporate owners unwilling to go to the expense of actually hiring reporters to go out from the studios and cover or investigate the news.

  

   

     Kate O'Brian is the greatest television-broadcast journalist in the United States of America. She cried this week, a fact reported by the Associated Press and other top news agencies. Those tears were very important. Americans should know why she cried and why her tears were and are important. So, permit me to tell you.

    For many years Kate O'Brian was the shining light as the boss at ABC TV-Radio News. She believed, and still believes, in hiring the best broadcast journalists and sending them out to actually cover the news. In a bygone era, the other two major networks, CBS and NBC, felt the same. Then came the saturation of Cable television. A visionary, Ted Turner, founded CNN in 1980 as a 24-hour news operation and Mr. Turner, like Kate O'Brian, believed in great reporters actually going out to cover the news. But AOL bought CNN and from that day to this day copy-cat Cable news outfits like Fox and MSNBC have all been ruled by corporate billionaires only interested in making more billions. That philosophy also wiped out the news-gathering expertise of the major networks -- CBS, NBC, and ABC. Money and profits, not great broadcast journalists like Kate O'Brian, suffered massively...to the point of tears this week for Ms. O'Brian. The Disney Corporation, which is awash in billions of dollars, owns ABC and its only interest in news is making more billions of dollars. Thus, Ms. O'Brian, the boss at ABC News, was told to hire more Talking Heads to replace actual reporters because the Talking Heads were/are a lot cheaper because their prime "talent" is promoting themselves or their projects, such as their latest book or whichever politician is paying them. Ms. O'Brian left ABC News. An upstart network -- Aljazeera, owned by the rulers of Qatar -- hired Ms. O'Brian only after she was assured she could hire the rest reporters she could find and send them out to actually cover the news. That was in the summer of 2013. Ms. O'Brian then raided the networks for the best anchors and reporters she could hire for Ajazeera America. She landed 700 of them, many of the very best such as...John Siegenthaler, John Schuster, Joie Chen, Soledad O'Brien, Ali Velshi, Sheila MacVicar, etc., etc. She hired the best reporters covering the U. S., Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She hired what many consider the three best network reporters covering Latin America -- Lucia Newman, Virginia Lopez, and Teresa Bo. In an interview that is still posted on YouTube, Kate O'Brian explained in detail that her idea of great broadcast journalism detested Talking Head pundits and championed great reporters actually going out and covering the news. At ABC and then for the past two-plus years at Aljazeera America, Kate O'Brian's viewpoints prevailed, resulting in great television journalism. But the Arabic-sounding Aljazeera name doomed Kate O'Brian despite the array of well-known, high-profile U. S. journalists she had hired. Also, the drastic decline in oil prices affected oil-rich Qatar. This week came the news that Aljazeera America would cease operations by April of this year. That's why Kate O-Brian cried this week in New York City. She knew her desire to emphasize great reporters actually going out and covering the news had been quashed a second time, first at ABC and now at Aljazeera. She realized that the money-crazed corporate billionaires who dearly love Talking Head pundits had won.

      

      

         I admire 48-year-old New Yorker Anderson Cooper as a genuinely talented broadcast journalist, especially his work at CBS's 60 Minutes, which remains the best and most intelligent news program on network television.

    I also admire Anderson Cooper's work when his main employer, CNN, allows him to go out and actually cover Breaking News! But that's very rare. Mostly, Cooper is stuck in the studio as host of "CNN's" prime-time 360 program. That's when, I confess, I feel sorry for Anderson Cooper as a broadcast journalist. On 360, as with all network anchors in America, Anderson Cooper mostly gets to introduce and talk to useless and obnoxious TALKING HEAD PUNDITS. Now, please, let me give you an example.

      Ana Navarro is one of the most ubiquitous Talking Heads on network television in the United States. CNN is her prime employer. In this presidential election year of 2016, Ana Navarro is nothing more and nothing less than a promoter and propagandist for Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, both of whom she has worked for tirelessly. Yet, CNN constantly has her on the air as a Talking Head "political analyst" supposedly to inform potential voters who is the best presidential candidate. DUH!!!! Hour-after-hour as a Talking Head pundit on CNN, Ana Navarro is allowed to masquerade as a "journalist" or "political analyst" while doing nothing more than propagandizing and promoting Bush and Rubio while also saving CNN the trouble and expense of sending a real journalist out to actually cover the news. That is, of course, an insult to CNN viewers. Moreover, I also believe it nightly insults Anderson Cooper. I actually feel sorry for Anderson, and cringe for him, when he introduces Ana Navarro with these familiar words: "We now want to welcome on the set Ana Navarro, who works for Jeb Bush and is also a dear friend of Marco Rubio." I believe most Americans, even those who still depend on CNN for Breaking News, immediately cut away when Talking Heads dominate the "news." THE PROBLEM IS...with television news in the U. S. now having no place for truly great broadcast journalist decision-makers like Kate O'Brian, WHERE DO WE TURN???

          Which brings me back around on this circuitous journalistic journey to probably the best current broadcaster in North America. I speak of 28-year-old Cristina Escobar, the prime-time anchor on Cuban television. As an anchor or as a reporter, either in Spanish or English, she is of such high-caliber that even the dastardly embargo of her island can't keep her a secret. This past summer she stunned even veteran U. S. reporters with her coverage of the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session in Washington, which included her dominance of a White House news conference hosted by Josh Earnest, President Obama's chief spokesman. On the island, she is not only the top newscaster but she is also the most influential leader of the twenty-something generation of Cubans that will likely predicate Cuba's impending post-Castro future. As a broadcaster, her reputation is spreading like wildfire with repeated requests from regional and international networks. This week Tracey Eaton, the Florida-based journalism professor and certainly one of America's most respected and unbiased Cuban experts, posted two insightful videos of Cristina on YouTube, where she was already a star, and Mr. Eaton also penned a long, widely distributed article about her entitled: "CUBA'S FATE UP TO CUBANS, NOT AMERICANS." That title reflects the fact that Cristina believes she and the other twenty-somethings on the island, not powerhouse Cuban-Americans like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, will determine Cuba's future. She's very adamant about that, and about her belief that, in Cuba, she is freer to report U. S. news than American journalists are to report Cuban news. Indeed, if that sounds far-fetched or untrue, it might be because Americans basically get their news from Talking Heads like Ana Navarro, not true broadcast journalists like...Cristina Escobar.

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Cuba: Truth & Lies

In the U. S. media, mostly lies
With exceptions, of course:

      As I have stressed in this forum many times before, great and courageous investigative journalists, such as Tracey Eaton, are vital to the U. S. democracy. That's because the money-crazed, intimidated, and increasingly incompetent mainstream media has become a glaring weakness of the world's greatest government -- the increasingly fragile U. S. democracy. Take, for example, Cuba. The nearby Caribbean island, since the 1950s, has probably been at the forefront, more than any other topic on a day-to-day basis, in shaping the image of American around the world. Yet, the mainstream U. S. media does not have the guts or the integrity to tell the truth about U.S.-Cuban relations, thus leaving the Cuban narrative in the U. S., through two generations now, largely in the hands of a few of the most visceral and belligerent proponents of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship that was ousted way back on January 1, 1959. In this digital and 24-hour Cable News era, the cowardice and incompetence of the U. S. media regarding the impact of Cuba on America's image is particularly glaring. For those reasons, the significance of a Tracey Eaton helps elevate the Cuban narrative in the U. S. beyond its Banana Republic-like sphere. He is not only the best investigative journalist regarding Cuba but he is also one of America's greatest Cuban experts, one who regularly presents both sides of the two-sided U.S.-Cuban conundrum. His Along the Malecon website routinely features pertinent Cuban data that only he procures via the Freedom of Information guidelines. His fair-minded articles are published in USA Today, the NY Times, etc. If you rely on the mainstream U. S. media, you will get a distorted view of U.S.-Cuban relations. If you rely on someone like Tracey Eaton, you will be able to make a sound judgment about a U. S. relationship that the rest of the world often uses to make its judgments about America and democracy. This week Tracey Eaton has published a widely distributed and highly informative update on Cuba entitled "Cuba's Fate Up To Cubans, Not Americans." If you missed it, you can Google that title and derive pertinent information regarding Cuba that the mainstream U. S. media does not have the courage or integrity to provide.

      Cristina Escobar is a 28-year-old Cuban who will likely have far more to do with Cuba's future than all of the antagonistic and wealthy Cuban-Americans on U. S. soil combined. Tracey Eaton's update this week -- "Cuba's Fate Up To Cubans, Not Americans" -- followed his interview with Cristina in Cuba. Two insightful videos of that interview are already posted on YouTube, an international forum that has recently spotlighted her brilliance as a Cuban and regional broadcaster as well as her significance as a prime influence on the pivotal young generation of Cubans that will shape the fast-approaching post-Castro era.

            This is an image of Cristina Escobar taken from the interview Tracey Eaton posted on YouTube this week. There is a 15 minute, 22 second version in Spanish and also a 3 minute, 29 second version in which she speaks in Spanish but with an English translation on the screen. You will see and hear her state firmly but matter-of-factly, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy." She says it not impishly, defiantly or in an anti-democratic manner but to convey her stark opinion that Cubans on the island should make such choices. She forthrightly mentions the many Cubans who have died fighting for that right. She mentions "Obama," "Congress" and the punitive "Helms-Burton Act" in the context that many in her young-adult generation of Cubans, just like her, are willing to fight to the death for the right to make their decisions as opposed to having them made for them from afar, such as by a Batistiano-dominated U. S. Congress that sicced Helms-Burton on them. The mainstream U. S. media only favors those who agree that Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress should dictate what Cuba is and what it will remain. Tracey Eaton presents that point of view too but, almost uniquely in the U. S., he also airs contrasting views. So, go to YouTube or some other source and hear Cristina say, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy." She doesn't mean she doesn't want democracy for her beloved island; she just means she wants Cubans on the island, not self-serving exiles, to decide that phase of Cuba's existence. Cristina and her generation of Cubans are deprived by Helms-Burton and other factors, but they are also well-educated. They have heard about 1952 when supposedly the U. S., the Congress, and the Mafia brought Batistiano-style 'democracy' to the island.

          Because of an inept and cowardly U. S. media, Americans generally believe that President Obama's brave and decent efforts to normalize relations with Cuba will all be wiped away by a handful of Cuban-American anti-Castro zealots, especially the two first-term Senators -- Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio -- who are prime Republican presidential contenders. But that is over-estimating the self-serving vitriol and power of the likes of Cruz and Rubio while under-estimating the resolve of President Obama and...Cristina Escobar.

      This graphic has received much publicity throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. The "Casa Blanca" reference highlights her dramatic impact at the White House when she was in Washington to cover the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session prior to the 2015 reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. Tracey Eaton's aforementioned article this week references Cristina's Casa Blanca dominance of a White House news conference hosted by Josh Earnest, President Obama's chief spokesman. In a 14-minute span, Earnest answered six consecutive and very pertinent questions from the first Cuban journalist ever afforded such an honor. Afterward, in speeches and interviews around Washington, Cristina stressed one major theme: "Lies in the U. S. media about Cuba hurt everyday Cubans the most." At age 28 it is known that Cristina has turned down millions of dollars, as well as reportedly a free mansion in Miami, if she will defect to the U. S., where she could immediately become a top network news anchor in either English or Spanish.

         Cristina is shown above asking Josh Earnest one of those six questions at the White House news conference: "Will the U. S. continue its regime-change programs?" "Will the new U. S. embassy in Havana respect Cuba?" "Will President Obama visit Cuba in 2016?" Etc. After that very stunning news conference, Cristina, in speeches and interviews while she was still in Washington, repeatedly claimed, "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most." If that is not so, perhaps some brave mainstream U. S. journalist will address the issue, if even to disagree with Cristina. But don't bet on it.

       While the mainstream U. S. media doesn't want you to know who Cristina Escobar is, she is in such high demand for regional and international television interviews that she sometimes has trouble finding time for her main job -- which is being the top prime-time news anchor on Cuban television. Not only is she brilliant, she is feisty. She believes she has more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. in Cuba than U. S. broadcasters have to tell the truth about Cuba in the U. S. And Americans should ponder her belief.

        People who watch television news in the U. S. most likely believe Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and the other four Cuban-American anti-Castro zealots in the U. S. Congress will shape post-Castro Cuba. But people who watch regional and international television news featuring Cristina Escobar most likely believe her generation of Cubans on the island will have the most to say about present and post-Castro Cuba.

        In addition to being a top-notch anchor, Cristina is one of the best television interviewers on the planet. Whether her subjects are pro-Cuba or anti-Cuba, she is unperturbed and gives vent to both sides.

        Hugo Cancio is a Cuban-American who has lived the last 35 years in Miami where he is a leading businessman. But he also has a nice office overlooking the Malecon seawall in Havana, so he divides his time between Miami and his beloved native country. Cristina Escobar {above} conducted an informative interview with Cancio. It is in English and available on YouTube where you can, and should, view it.

       In the English-language interview with Cristina, as you can see on YouTube, Cansio lamented that he and most other Cuban-Americans in Miami are not represented in the U. S. Congress because only anti-Castro zealots are elected in Miami. Cristina responded to that lament with some lamenting of her own.

Study this face. It's 100% Cuban, not 50%.

        Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, backed up by about 25 of America's richest billionaires and propped up by an incompetent and fawning mainstream U. S. media, might well squeeze out and erase much of the sanity President Obama has brought to the U.S.-Cuban quagmire. Then again, come to think of it, they might not.

      In Cuba, you see, there is a dynamic 28-year-old, Cristina Escobar, who is as protective of her island and its much-maligned people as Cruz and Rubio are of their bank accounts and their exalted political careers. She is the firewall of protection against more decades of a U. S. Cuban policy dictated by and for a mere handful of two generations of Cuban-American extremists. For five-plus decades since 1959, Cuba has doggedly remained Cuba...not a colony of imperialist powers such as Spain, the Mafia, or the United States. "Cuba's Fate Up To Cubans, Not Americans." That's the title of Tracey Eaton's article this week after his extensive interview with Cristina Escobar. Her words throughout the article and in the accompanying video oppose the vision of Cuba as espoused, unchallenged, by Cruz and Rubio in the U. S. But on the island, Cristina does challenge them. And she is a force to be reckoned with regarding what Cuba is now and what it will become in its post-Castro future.

The two profiles of Cuba's future -- Maybe!!

The Face of Cuba's future -- Probably!!

Cristina currently curiously contemplating Cuba.

Not to know her is to not know the island.

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Can Rubio Buy The Presidency?

The Answer: Yes

Photo courtesy: Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press.

      The photo above was used to illustrate a report this week on NPR written by Greg Allen. The caption said: "Ferry from Casablanca in Havana Bay on the way to Old Havana in July of 2015." The first line of the article was: "It won't be long until passengers will be able to take a ferry to Cuba from Miami, an idea that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago in a city that's home to Cuban exiles who fled from the Castro regime." Unfortunately, when it comes to politics in Miami, first-generation extremists still dominate the second-generation moderates, such as the ones who want to ferry more commerce and decency across the Florida Straits.

     The NPR article is another reminder that the Cuban-dominated political atmosphere in Miami has changed drastically in recent years with most of its citizens, including Cuban-Americans, now favoring decent overtures to Cuba, such as ending the embargo that was first imposed in 1962 for the then stated purpose of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. The problem, as reflected by this photo, is the fact that still today moderate, forward-thinking Cuban-Americans need not apply for election to the U. S. Congress from Miami. From the still-entrenched Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 1989 to the Diaz-Balart brothers to Marco Rubio to Carlos Curbelo, only hard-line, right-wing, and even ethically-challenged Cuban-Americans need apply.

      For over three decades, George Will has probably been America's most read, most visible, and most indelible conservative journalist. But he is not a right-wing extremist. For example, as badly as he wants a Republican in the White House in 2017, Mr. Will is not too fond of the GOP's three leading candidates -- Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. At age 74 in 2016, Will is employed by three high-profile media outlets -- Fox News, Newsweek Magazine, and The Washington Post. His nationally syndicated newspaper column is widely distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group. He is also the most articulate of the conservative journalists. George Will's column this week is entitled: "Rubio's Senate Record of Misjudgment." Paragraph after paragraph, the conservative icon George Will explained why the right-wing, money-crazed, bought-and-paid-for Marco Rubio has, among many other "misjudgments," what Will called a "sugar addition." To quote Will precisely: "His sugar addiction is a reprehensible but not startling example of the routine entanglements of big government and big business. He has benefited from the support of Florida's wealthy sugar producers, who have benefited from sugar import quotas and other corporate welfare that forces Americans to pay approximately twice the world price for sugar. What is, however, startling is Rubio's preposterous defense of this corporate welfare as a national security imperative."

       Marco Rubio as President of the United States is a scary proposition for George Will, America's leading Republican conservative columnist. It should be a scary possibility for all Americans. Will stressed Rubio's sell-out both in Miami and in the U. S. Senate to the Fanjul brothers who have a firm grip on America's sugar monopoly, even more than the Fanjul family had on the sugar monopoly in Cuba prior to the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Rubio's "reprehensible" work in the Senate to secure even more tax-dollars in the form of "corporate welfare" for the Fanjul brothers, who long-ago became ultra-rich largely due to tax-funded corporate welfare from Washington, is just one example of Rubio's ethical lapses. Rubio's "preposterous defense" of his additional welfare for the Fanjuls typifies his shady sell-outs to a host of conservative, right-wing, Cuban-American, and Jewish billionaires, all of whom readily understand that -- of all the Republican presidential candidates, -- Rubio has the largest "for sale" sign on his back. Unfortunately, it might get him the nomination. The Republican party, in order to head-off the Trump bandwagon, will soon whittle down to one "establishment candidate" to take on Trump first and then go against Hillary Clinton. Although he currently trails fellow Cuban-American Ted Cruz in the polls, Rubio will likely end up as the Republican Party's Golden Boy. If so, lifelong conservatives like me...and probably like George Will...will cringe and be forced to support...Clinton.  

          The Pulitzer Prize-winning political Watch-dog -- The Center for Public Integrity -- is your best bet to ascertain whether or not money-crazed politicians, such as Marco Rubio, in a money-crazed political arena, such as the 2016 presidential race, can actually purchase the hallowed White House. Democracy-lovers know that is a distinct possibility since the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that billionaires can make unlimited donations to support their favorite candidates. An updated article written by Cady Zuvich of The Center for Public Integrity confirms what many already suspected, that Rubio has more than enough conservative, right-wing, and Jewish billionaires to purchase the presidency for at least eight years beginning in January of 2017. {If the White House is for sale, perhaps so is the two-term presidential limit}.

 The two best candidates money can buy!!

Wow!!

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