Why Cuba Can't Win

The Batistianos Still Rule

Photo courtesy: Justin Solomon/CNBC.

       This photo was used to illustrate a March 6th-2016 CNBC article written by Denise Garcia. It's entitled: "U.S. Cuba Thaw Not Yet A Boon For Business."

             The excellent update by NBC's business network explained why, regardless of advances in relations taken by President Obama, a mere handful of the most revengeful Cuban-Americans in the U. S. Congress still very easily dictate America's Cuban policy -- even if most Americans, most Cuban-Americans, and most people worldwide oppose this long-standing usurpation of the U. S. democracy. In the CNBC article, Denise Garcia pointed out that, in reaction to Obama's Cuban detente, Cuba has recently zoomed from "150,000 to 500,000 start-ups," an effort designed to bring more Cubans into the fast-changing island's economy. Then Ms. Garcia wrote: "Ironically, Cuba migration has reached crisis proportions despite the promise of a new relationship with its decades-long antagonist. According to Pew research, the number of Cubans who entered the U. S. after December 2014 spiked a dramatic 78 percent in a year, with thousands more currently streaming eagerly across Central America and Mexico to enter the United States."

       An endless passel of U. S. laws -- such as the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" debacle concocted in the U. S. Congress by a handful of revengeful anti-Castro Cuban-Americans -- are eternal appendages to America's Cuban policy. That's because it is easy for one Cuban-American in, say, Miami to easily get a few right-wingers in the U. S. Congress to pass whatever laws they want. In fact the 535-member Congress is so incredibly dysfunctional that one anti-Castro zealot from Miami, Mario Diaz-Balart, can slip a tiny bill into a must-pass, veto proof large bill that blocks a major plan by President Obama to help Cuba. And, all the while, the easily propagandized and out-of-the-loop U. S. citizens are not told that Diaz-Balart's wealthy father was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship, nor are U. S. citizens allowed to decide for themselves how greedily self-serving such tactics are for a few and how discriminatory and harmful they are to everyone else. Further indicating how conveniently dysfunctional Congress is, anther anti-Castro Zealot from Miami, Sentator Marco Rubio, can all alone demean democracy by blocking Roberta Jacobson's appointment as the perfect and much-needed Ambassador to Mexico only because the petty and revengeful Rubio resents Ms. Jacobson's positive diplomacy related to Cuba. All the while, Diaz-Balart and Rubio never have to be concerned that the gutless, incompetent, and intimidated U. S. media will hold them accountable for besmirching the U. S. democracy to sate their vile Cuban agenda, of which the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" law is merely one of many.

        Wet Foot/Dry Foot is a colossal and puerile effrontery to America and democracy. Designed by the Batistiano-fringe of the U. S. Congress, it grossly encourages Cubans on the island to defect to the U. S. and, as indicated above, once their toes touch U. S. soil, they are home free with instant welfare. All other would-be migrants in the entire world are discriminated against by Wet Foot/Dry Foot, which would be comical if it were not so harmful to the worldwide image of democracy and the United States. Gross discrimination very grossly demeans democracy.

        The aforementioned CNBC article said that since Dec.-2014, when President Obama announced his plans to normalize relations with Cuba, there has been an absolute tsunami of Cubans leaving the island to become instant Wet Foot/Dry Foot legal residents in the U. S. and instant welfare beneficiaries, whether they need welfare dollars or not. Such Cubans mistakenly believe that Obama, before he leaves office in January, just might end Wet Foot/Dry Foot, which only the right-wing Congress can do. And, it appears, most of the defecting Cubans don't deserve special privileges from economic or other standpoints because they reportedly are paying human traffickers up to $15,000 per person to orchestrate the journey, which supposedly starts with an expensive flight from Cuba to either Costa Rica or Panama and then the long land route up through Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize to finally reach Mexico where, unlike every non-Cuban migrant, they are home-free with instant benefits. The three countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are not only destitute but devastated by gangs and unimaginable crime, but migrants from such countries, because they are not Cubans, are immediately detained and almost always deported, including children whose loving mother's have willingly and dangerously pointed them to the U. S. border because of a slightly better chance of surviving the journey than surviving in their crime-infested native countries. Of course, Americans are not supposed to consider the extreme anti-democratic and discriminatory injustices of such Cuban-dictated laws. In fact, Americans for many decades have been programmed to grimace when extremists in the U. S. Congress -- such as Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami -- repeatedly remind the U. S. media about how many Cubans are fleeing the island for the freedoms of America. Naturally, Americans, rendered unable to think for themselves, are not supposed to be smart enough or brave enough to calculate non-Cuban would-be migrants -- from, say, Honduras or from, say, England or Canada -- might also flee their countries for U. S. soil if there were a plethora of U. S. laws enticing them while discriminating against everyone else.

          Speaking of the controversial Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey, the aforementioned CNBC article typically quoted the anti-Castro zealot regarding his anti-Obama rants. He told CNBC: "We've seen multiple steps that have shifted leverage to the Cuban regime: Travel, finance and commerce regulations have been eased, Cuba has been removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and an embassy has opened. However, since these sweeping changes started in December 2014 Cubans have been beaten, arrested and repressed at higher rates than ever before." Of course, the mainstream U. S. media is not about to counter such statements with unbiased observations. If so, people like Menendez might have to back up such rhetoric with some facts and, moreover, might even...WOW!!...have to finally justify all those Congress-funded regime-change programs and the endless Congress-funded schemes designed to boost and, many believe, create dissidents on the island, hopefully with video showing Cuban police mistreating their often-staged anti-government activities. Meanwhile, the Mafia havens of Miami and New Jersey currently have five unchallenged Cuban-Americans fashioning Cuban laws and dominating the Cuban narrative in the U. S., with that being a reminder that, in January of 1959, many top Batistianos fled the Cuban Revolution for the much safer havens of Miami and New Jersey. Senator Bob Menendez, New Jersey's contribution to the Congress, is still being severely investigated for his alleged unsavory connections to controversial individuals in Miami and the Dominican Republic, but pillorying Cuba and supporting Cuban dissidents is how he gets big headlines in the U. S. media.

        And speaking of the Havana-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: She has been entrenched in the U. S. Congress from Miami since 1989 when Jeb Bush was her obligatory Campaign Manager. From a Cuban family of anti-Castro zealots, Ros-Lehtinen has viciously assailed Cuba from Day One as the first of a string of Congress-bound Miami Cuban-Americans aligned with the Bush dynasty. At the moment, of course, Ros-Lehtinen's prime focus is on blocking or turning back any and all of President Obama's positive gestures for the Cuban people. She particularly is trying to undermine President Obama's scheduled visit to Cuba set for March 21st and 22nd, and she might well yet block it. John Kerry, Obama's Secretary of State, was scheduled to visit Cuba prior to Obama but Kerry has canceled his plans because of pressure from Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, Menendez, Curbelo, Cruz and the other anti-Castro zealots. Kerry was lambasted with orders to either stay home or go to Cuba and celebrate only the Cuban dissidents. Kerry decided to stay home. Obama might too, and probably he should. Obama's chief spokesman, Josh Earnest, is now declaring that Obama, on his visit to Cuba this month, will not allow Cuba to decide who he sees. In other words, like Kerry, Obama has been intimidated by Ros-Lehtinen and her Cuban-American cohorts in Congress. They consider Cuba to be a Batistiano-like U. S. colony, not a sovereign nation. And, of course, only a sovereign nation, according to Ros-Lehtinen, should be allowed to influence who visiting heads of state will see when they visit the island. 

       While the mainstream U. S. media has neither the guts nor the integrity to hold Cuban-American anti-Cuban extremists accountable, that is not the case with America's leading democracy-lovers like Sarah Stephens. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas. Each Friday her Cuba Central blog on the CDA website is the best weekly review of U.S.-Cuban relations. This past Friday -- March 4th -- Ms. Stephens called Ros-Lehtinen to task for assailing the now-canceled Kerry visit to Cuba and ridiculing the upcoming still-scheduled Obama visit to the island. Ms. Stephens wrote: "Small wonder that fierce critics like Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen could barely contain their excitement upon hearing that an advance trip by Secretary of State John Kerry was cancelled due to disagreements between the governments on the subject of human rights." The influential Ms. Stephens has often accompanied friendly Congress members and business executives to Cuba, and she has greatly influenced President Obama's attempts to normalize relations with the island. But she is abundantly aware of the wealth and power of a handful of anti-Cubans in Miami, New Jersey, and the U. S. Congress, all who benefit from bellicosity towards Cuba. She is understandably concerned that Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama will continue to cave in to what she euphemistically calls "fierce critics" of anything the United States does to show even a modicum of respect and decency to the long-maligned Cubans on the island, including the Cubans who have no intention to be lured by the discriminatory Cuban laws that any person who respects democracy believes should either be ended or be available to non-Cubans as well as Cubans. However, as long as the U. S. Congress is firmly in the grips of a handful of remnants from the long-ago Batista dictatorship, anyone who remotely advocates Cuban sanity in the U. S. -- from John Kennedy to Barack Obama with brave journalists like Emilio Milian and Jim DeFede in between Kennedy and Obama -- is in dire jeopardy. Sarah Stephens, the greatest Democracy-loving Cuban expert in Washington, believes the majority, not a self-serving few, should impact America's hateful Cuban policy.

        Easily malleable Americans have been programmed to believe that all Cubans on the island yearn to risk their lives to take advantage of lush Wet Foot/Dry Foot-type lures to reach U. S. soil and escape dire repression on the island. That is simply a lie perpetrated by Cuban-American extremists and their subservient U. S. media. Cristina Escobar, the island's 28-year-old superstar news anchor and an influential leader of Cuba's young-adult generation, made headlines puncturing such lies when she was in Washington to cover the last Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic session. Beyond the six questions she asked Josh Earnest at a White House news conference, Escobar's most quoted sentence in Washington was: "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurt everyday Cubans the most." Recently she told American journalist Tracey Eaton, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not Cubans in Miami or Washington." {Check the Eaton-Escobar videos on YouTube}. Escobar welcomes the scheduled visit of President Obama later this month but she firmly maintains, "If his main purpose is to have photo-ops with the U.S.-created and U.S.-backed dissidents on the island, he should stay home." A fierce advocate for "everyday Cubans," Escobar challenges Americans who believe all Cubans on the island, goaded by unique financial and citizenship lures, yearn to defect to the U. S. If you check her English or Spanish comments on YouTube, or go online to check her Cuban and regional newscasts, you'll notice that she is Cuban to the core and she yearns to stay and defend Cuba. "Many real Cubans like Jose Marti," she remembers, "fought to the death on Cuban soil to attain sovereignty. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 finally attained that precious goal. If there are Cuban defectors or other Americans who doubt my generation on the island will not fight for our sovereignty, they will be surprised. We might lose to the more powerful Americans like Marti lost to the Spanish, but the point is...like real Cubans, we will fight."

        As a superb broadcast journalist and as the leader of Cuba's twenty-something generation, Cristina Escobar speaks to and for many Cubans on the island. The mainstream U. S. media routinely uses a patchwork quilt of lies in a relentless cadence to make sure that the anti-Cuban dogma in the U. S. pillories Cubans on the island and misrepresents the views of Cubans like Cristina Escobar. Perhaps that's why Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balarts, Rubio, etc. so staunchly defend such anti-democratic U. S. laws as...Wet Foot/Dry Foot that endlessly exist atop other such anti-democratic U. S. laws as...the one that makes everyday Americans the only people in the world denied the freedom to visit Cuba. Why? Surely if Americans got to know Cubans like Cristina Escobar, Cuban-Americans like Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balarts, Rubio, Cruz, etc., might not be able to dictate the Cuban narrative in the U. S. or...maintain all those anti-Cuban laws in the U. S. Congress that resemble a Banana Republic, not a democracy. If Americans are repeatedly fed Ros-Lehtinen rants, perhaps they should also be subject to a few basic beliefs of Cristina Escobar...such as these: "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not in Miami and Washington." and "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most."

In other words:

      There are two sides to the red, white and blue U.S.-Cuban conundrum. Cold War-era Ileana Ros-Lehtinen represents America's side and modern-day Cristina Escobar represents Cuba's side. Americans and Cubans, I believe, have a right and a civic duty to be able to fairly judge which is the more honorable and the most decent side.

And by the way:

         This is the greatest political cartoon I noticed this week. It reflects the disintegration of the Republican Party, a major development considering that America's political system is a two-party affair. I myself was a conservative Republican until it was usurped by right-wingers and Batistianos. Having said that, I am still surprised at what is currently transpiring. The leaders of the Republican Party are currently telling the American voters stop voting for Donald Trump and vote for who we tell you to vote for or we will overturn your vote!! I must confess I never thought the American people would allow that to happen to their democracy. This calamity has surely become calamitous! 

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Lecturing Cuba Grows Old

An Endless American Pastime
{Updated: Saturday, March 5th, 2016}

          U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week -- Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 -- slapped Cuba in the face, an age-old pastime that will, or should, cause Cuba to punch back, yet again. First off, it was leaked days earlier that Kerry "tentatively" planned to visit Cuba prior to the arrival of his boss, President Obama, on the island on March 21st. Tentative or not, Kerry created this giant headline in the Los Angeles Times: "Kerry Cancels Trip To Cuba Amid Haggling On Human Rights." The alleged trip was just "tentative" to begin with but the cancellation was very emphatic, an example of the U. S. government creating straw-men so the follow-up would put Cuba in a bad light. This particular contrived cancellation indicates Kerry's tentative visit to Cuba was to line up the dissidents that President Obama would meet on March 21st and 22nd. Cuba has a slight problem with that, and well it should. Cuba believes, with justification, that the U. S. continues its age-old practice of having the U. S. Congress eagerly fund any and all dissident programs on the island that the anti-Castro congressional zealots from Miami and New Jersey propose. And regarding the presidential visit later this month, if Kerry's plan was to make it a charade of photo-opts with the President meeting mostly with dissidents, perhaps that should provoke another emphatic headline: "Obama Cancels Trip To Cuba Amid Haggling On Human Rights." Around the world, the U. S. contributes money and military hardware to countries that have gross human rights violations, but the U. S. contributes money and other resources to fund and create dissidents in only one country -- Cuba! At the same time, Cuba could perhaps criticize the U. S. for constant video coverage of urban mistreatment of African-Americans on U. S. streets and, again this week, in U. S. schools. Funding and encouraging dissidents in Cuba and then critiquing Cuba's reaction is a two-edged sword, and it might also be a bit hypocritical.

        Back in August, Secretary Kerry was in Havana to raise the U. S. flag at the re-opening of the U. S. embassy in Cuba for the first time since 1961. Since then, the Obama administration -- in defiance of the right-wing dominance of a dastardly Cuban policy in the U. S. Congress -- has made other major positive overtures to Cuba, including easing but not ending the anti-democratic Batistiano law that prohibits one group of people in the world -- everyday Americans -- from visiting the island. A result has been an influx of tourism that has severely tested Cuba's ability to handle the tsunami. Advised that President Obama's entourage will include "hundreds" of officials, news personnel, etc., Cuba has been forced to send guests from the Nacional, Capri, Panorama, and Parque Central hotels in Havana to Veradero, which is an hour's drive southeast down the coastal highway from the capital. Veradero is awash with hotel rooms because it is Cuba's most sought-after tourist destination with world-renowned white sandy beaches and shimmering blue waters. President Obama's March 21-22 visit comes the same week a Cuban baseball team with play the Tampa Bay Rays and the Rolling Stones band will play a major date in Havana. Instead of slapping Cuba in the face this week with that emphatic cancellation of his tentative visit to the island, perhaps Secretary Kerry should have shown some respect for Cuba related to two things: {1} A little sympathy for Cuba trying to cope with the crowded presidential visit during March, which is traditionally the busiest tourist month of the year in Cuba even without the additional events such as the Rolling Stones and a baseball game against a U. S. Major League team; and {2} Kelly's slapping Cuba in the face regarding dissidents belies the well-known Cuban objection to the U. S. funding and creating dissidence on the island, something the U. S. probably would object to if, say, China or Russia or Iran did the same thing on U. S. soil. But even using a straw-man to slap Cuba in the face always gets lavish traction in the weak and proselytized U. S. media.

Thanks to President Obama, the U. S. flag now flies proudly on Cuban soil.

         The Cuban people, of their own accord, are flying American flags right beside Cuban flags in their homes, businesses, or in cars...as indicated by this Desmond Boylan/Associated Press photo. The Cuban people are very fond of and appreciative of President Obama. He should either reciprocate that respect or stay home, especially if the hints from the State Department that he should spend most of his time with U.S.-backed dissidents takes hold. To non-dissident Cubans, it would be eerily reminiscent of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship from 1952 till 1959. The U. S. doesn't have to apologize for such things in the U. S. and Cuba is not asking that the U. S. apologize to its citizens either. But an historic presidential visit from the U. S. should emphasize friendship, amity, to the Cuban people who have suffered too much for too long from such American atrocities as the embargo that is still in place and that originated way back in 1962 for the purpose of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their government, which -- for all its faults -- overthrew a far more vile U.S.-backed dictatorship.

         This AP photo shows two fine-tuned 1950s convertibles taking tourists past the U. S. flag outside the U. S. embassy in Havana. The President Obama-Secretary Kerry overtures to Cuba this year have shown great respect for the Cuban people, giving them hope along with overtures by the Cuban government that now, for example, allow Cuban entrepreneurs to own cars like these and use them in their business of driving tourists around the island. But Kerry's emphatic cancellation of a visit that was only tepidly announced as tentative in the first place indicates an Obama-Kerry capitulation to self-serving Cuban hardliners in the U. S. who have shamefully been allowed to punish Cubans on the island for decades.

       Josefina Vidal, Cuba's no-holds-barred Minister of North American Affairs, has worked tirelessly in the past two years to negotiate remarkable advances in U.S.-Cuban relations. But she has made it very plain that much remains to be done, among them: The U. S. needs to discuss the return of Guantanamo Bay to its rightful owner, Cuba; the U. S. needs to stop funding and creating dissidents on the island; and the U. S. needs to stop funding a continuing array of regime-change programs aimed at Cuba. To put it bluntly, she says: "If Obama really wants to normalize relations with Cuba, we are mid-way there, but that's all. If the theft of our land and waters at Guantanamo Bay remains without discussion, let's go back to the Cold War animus. The same for funding dissidents and endless regime-change schemes. To accomplish what? The return of foreign Mafia rule in Cuba? The end of free health and education in Cuba? The return of unsafe streets and rural areas across the island? The loss of Cuban sovereignty that so many have fought so hard for, and died for, for so long? Obama, a good and decent President, has only a few months left in office. What then? If a Republican assumes control of the White House to align with a Congress that relishes assaulting Cubans on the island and enriching dissident Cubans in both Cuba and the U. S., then what do we do? Do we give up and meekly agree to become an abused colony of the United States, or do we resist? I think any study of our history will reveal that...we will fight. We will probably lose, but...we will fight!" Vidal cogently speaks for Cuba. 

          Cuba's young superstar broadcast journalist, Cristina Escobar, is even more dynamic than Josefina Vidal when it comes to "America's unchecked insults to Cuban sovereignty." She adds, "If Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry want to continue dealing rationally with Cuba, that's good. But if they want to come over here, or just talk about coming over here, to continue to prop up the few well-funded dissidents they have created, then they should stay home. My generation of Cubans has its hands full trying to create a Cuba that serves us, not our enemies in Miami and Washington. It's a crucial time, and my generation needs to breathe normally instead of holding our breath to see what's the next attack from Miami and Washington. If their hope is that my generation on the island will cave in to such pressure, they need to rethink their Bay of Pigs and blockade approach. We will not only not cave in, we will fight to keep our sovereignty and to correct such things as the imperial theft of Guantanamo Bay. The U. S. can keep its damn embargo as far as the U. S. is concerned but one aspect we will always fight, with international support, is the punishment by the U. S. of other nations that are friendly with Cuba. The U. S. can maintain such injustices only because of its nuclear arsenal, but military superiority does not make it right even if it accepts being labeled a bully. Cuba is Cuba. Cuba is not an American playpen. If the U. S. doesn't want to be our good friend, we must accept it as our enemy, and try to move on despite it."

       Steve Joyce just got back from Havana and he wasn't there to lecture Cubans. He is the CEO of Choice Hotels, the major company headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. It has 6,300 hotels globally and Steve wants some built in Cuba. He also says he wants to train thousands of Cubans to become hospitality workers and entrepreneurs. Mr. Joyce said, "Havana is a beautiful and fascinating city. If Cuba and the U. S. let the doors open, Cuba will be involved in a 20-year boom that will help Cubans and Americans." Mr. Joyce, to his credit, didn't lecture Cubans on his visit; he just showered them with kind and promising words.

              Federica Mogherini was born 42 years ago in Rome, Italy. She is now the top executive of the 28-nation European Union with the title of Foreign Policy Chief. She will be in Cuba next week, on March 10th and 11th. Ms. Mogherini has tried to seal an agreement between Cuba and the EU to normalize relations, jumping at the opportunity that arose when President Obama ushered in the process on behalf of the United States. Yesterday -- Friday, March 4th -- Ms Mogherini's office said, "We have covered all the chapters of the agreement with Cuba." She also says her arrival in Cuba just a few days ahead of President Obama's visit on March 21-22 is only "coincidental." Ms. Mogherini told Reuters in 2014 that she is a great admirer of the U. S. "and someday I want to work there." However, she is not an admirer of America's Cuban policy that she feels "hurts innocent people in a smaller country." Ms. Mogherini is a fair and decent leader.

       This week Fox News hosted another Republican presidential debate involving four candidates, any of whom would take what Cristina Escobar calls a "Bay of Pigs approach" to Cuba. The debate process itself is an endless charade primarily designed to make money and propaganda for the corporate billionaires that own the networks. This week -- Thursday, March 3rd -- the glaring headline in USA Today prior to the latest debate was: "GOP Debates Have Turned Into Glorified Reality TV." NO KIDDING!! The article was written by USA Today's media expert Rem Rieder. He wrote: "Once presidential debates were largely civic exercises, sessions to be watched dutifully to learn about the policy positions of the rivals." But of course "once" was a long time ago, back when the U. S. democracy and even the media was actually serious about trying to be a democracy. Now both the U. S. democracy and the media have evolved into propaganda machines, one reason Cuba's brilliant young Cristina Escobar says emphatically, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. That is a project for the Cubans on the island." Escobar is a better and fairer broadcast journalist than Fox's overly hyped Megyn Kelly, the primary debate moderator. Again last night in the debate in Detroit, the un-shuffled deck was stacked against front-runner Donald Trump in favor of Kelly's choir-boy favorite Marco Rubio. For example, after Trump made a sane comment, Kelly quickly shifted her pro-Rubio gears to say, "But the point I'm making is, you change your mind on so many things, so what's your core?" Whatever his core is, it is for sure that all the network broadcasters and pundits want to destroy him so their choir boy Rubio can be elevated to the throne, and the very same gigantic effort is being wildly, unconscionably, and unabashedly conducted by the entire Republican establishment and by every right-wing billionaire who is notable for trying to purchase America's democracy for themselves. Those billionaires and the Republican establishment know they can control Rubio but they are not sure they would be able to dictate to a less definable Trump. Meanwhile, on behalf of the billionaires who own the media, such propaganda shames democracy by repeatedly and clearly saying, "Americans, you can vote but if your vote is for Trump or for anyone we don't like, we will over-rule it, understand?" From her perch in Havana, young Ms. Escobar observes that and says, "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy...." In other words, left to their own devices, she thinks her young generation of Cubans on the island might be able to craft a democracy not propagandized by what USA Today simply calls "Glorified Reality TV." 

         Dana Loesch represents what the broadcast media in America...radio and television...has evolved into, namely right-wing propaganda machines. Ms. Loesch is a radio and TV right-wing pundit of the first order, and a star on both Fox and Blaze, with the latter being the radio and television empire owned by right-wing propagandist Ken Beck. Thursday night, after moderating the debate in Detroit, Megyn Kelly on Fox continued the Glorified Reality TV farce by hosting a right-wing panel of analysts that included the foul-tongued Dana Loesch. The vilification of Trump and the glorification of Rubio continued unabated. At one point Ms. Loesch promoted Rubio and trashed Trump by using the word "phallic" to imply that Trump was not manly endowed, picking up on Rubio's earlier very stupid and very boyish references to Trump's "small hands...and you know what that means." Yes, we...uh...know what that means, unfortunately. It means that Fox, Megyn Kelly, Dana Loesch, and their ilk have turned the once-proud broadcast media in the United States into one giant propaganda machine, nothing more and nothing less than "Glorified Reality TV."

Photo courtesy of: Southern Country Home Magazine.

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Cuba; America; Democracy

A Merry-go-Round Trilogy

        This photo is a microcosm of what most Americans realize is perhaps a fatal flaw in America's democracy. The trio depicted above are Fox News anchors Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly, and Bret Baier. Tonight they will host yet another Republican debate, this time in a presidential-wannabee field cut from 17 down to four. The first time this trio hosted such a debate they did what they do regularly on their "news" programs -- which is to try to destroy Republican front-runner Donald Trump in order to propel their sanitized Marco Rubio to the forefront. Megyn Kelly, in particular, is unabashedly a lover of Rubio, which in turn makes her an unabashed hater of Trump. Her very first now famous question in Fox's first debate, and the ones that followed, were specially choreographed time-bombs for Trump and soft-balls for choir-boy Rubio. Expect the same tonight. Ms. Kelly gained so much fame and notoriety from her trumping of Trump in the first Fox debate that she has now signed a very lucrative book deal. In fact, during a seemingly endless campaign marathon, the prime purpose of the debates seems to be how much money the networks can make from advertising dollars. An important secondary purpose is to propagandize the Rubio candidacy, a clear priority of right-wing Fox, left-wing MSNBC, and middle-of-the-road CNN. With such unanimity of the three cable pundit-driven propaganda machines, it would seem that Rubio would have a clear-shot to the White House, considering he is lavishly funded by most of the right-wing, conservative, and Jewish big-money billionaires as well as almost every one of the so-called "establishment" Republicans, including a notably rich Republican presidential loser Mitt Romney, who made a widely covered and scathing denunciation of Trump in a well-orchestrated speech this morning.

        Understand, as a lifelong Republican, I do not think Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman, is qualified to be America's President. But I, and apparently millions of others, believe Trump is far better than the alternatives the Republican party is promoting, especially the two Cuban-Americans -- Rubio and Cruz -- who belittle the fact that there are a million or more qualified, non-extremists, and non-bought-and-paid-for Cuban-Americans who can't get elected to national office because of the fact they are not extremists and not bought-and-paid-for. Also, the Trump phenomenon represents two facets of a troubled American democracy: {1} Americans, bless their hearts, are fed-up with bought-and-paid-for politicians, and {2} Americans, to their credit, are also fed-up with a biased, pundit-driven media that has mostly evolved into a vast propaganda machine, one that reflects the fact that the major media outlets are all owned by billionaire individuals and corporations who insist on buying up what is left of a two-party democracy.

              AND SO, the Trump vs. Rubio menagerie in the Republican presidential farce is clear-cut: MOST VOTERS ARE SUPPORTING TRUMP FOR ONE REASON ONLY: THEY FEEL THAT, AS A SELF-FUNDER, HE IS NOT BOUGHT-AND-PAID-FOR. On the other hand, most greedy and undemocratic billionaires lavishly favor Rubio because it is abundantly clear that he has the biggest for sale sign on both his back and chest than any serious presidential candidate in America's history. {Also, such things as respected journalist Ken Silverstein's long and detailed article that concludes that Rubio is the most corrupt presidential candidate in American history merely adds to his attraction to billionaire donors who certainly prefer a corrupt, bought-and-paid-for Senator or President than one they might not control, such as a Trump; and, of course, the networks just sanitize Rubio}. So, study the Trump vs. Rubio montage above: You have an unqualified, billionaire candidate vs. a bought-and-paid-for establishment candidate. So, you have to choose the lesser of two evils. Most, at least at the moment, are choosing Trump because he is less bought-and-paid-for. 

          The photo above is courtesy of Stephen Crowley/The New York Times. It shows a microcosm of the fallout of this week's "SUPER TUESDAY" primary elections in a dozen U. S. states. It also reveals that America's hallowed democracy is in trouble, DEEP TROUBLE. And, yes, that affects all the nations of the world because of America's status as the maligned planet's military and economy superpower. The U. S. democracy was constructed by the Founding Fathers as a two-party government and the greatest democracy, which also means the greatest government, in history. The two-party system, with some exceptions, worked wonderfully for about 230 years, powered by a one-person, one-vote mantra. But then one political party and soon the other became bought-and-paid-for by rich individuals and by rich corporations. So now, beyond doubt, the greatest democracies in the world -- although not superpowers -- are the Scandinavian nations -- Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and Finland. That's because they have referendum-type democracies in which all important decisions are put in the hands of the voters on a one-person and one-vote mandate, called referendums. Yes, those democracies have extremely high taxes, but they are set by referendums that reflect exactly what the people want, and those high taxes are returned with free items such as education through college, universal health care, and even gratuities such as 30-day/all-paid/world-wide vacations, and even regular government-paid gifts such as...the best and biggest television sets. That's why, even when nations like the U. S. paid for them, polls show those five nations, in various orders, are usually in the Top Five for things such as The Happiest People In The World, The Healthiest People In The World, The Best Educated People In The World, The Most Democratic People In The World (remember those one-person, one-vote referendums), The Safest People In The World, etc., etc. At one point, America led most of those categories. No longer. The ongoing, agonizing presidential election process illustrates why our democracy has evolved into a money-crazed disaster.

         Thomas Jefferson's 1816 advice about his precious American democracy falling into the hands of "LENDING INSTITUTIONS AND MONEYED INCORPORTIONS" has come to pass. To pusillanimously deny that fact will not correct it. The last nail in democracy's coffin came in 2010 when the Supreme Court legalized unlimited political donations by billionaire individuals and corporations. Unpatriotic, cowardly Americans since that ruling have allowed Mr. Jefferson's sage warning to go unheeded. After two post-World War II generations of undemocratic and cowardly Americans, it should be noted that a new young-adult generation is trying desperately to heed Mr. Jefferson's version of America's democracy. That fact is reflected in the young-adult support of Bernie Sanders and the broad support of Donald Trump, support based on the fact that millions of Americans are fed-up with "established, bought-and-paid-for" politicians.

       Thomas Jefferson's fear of tyranny by a 51% majority against the 49% minority was extremely legitimate. But I don't believe even the wisdom and foresight of Thomas Jefferson ever anticipated what we now have: A mere 1% of Americans, the greedy billionaires, taking away the rights of the other 99%. On the day this week after the "SUPER TUESDAY" voting, one of the cable news networks spent an hour spieling about billionaires like Hedge Fund "genius" Paul Singer talking about how much money they would spend to, essentially, buy up the U. S. democracy so they could put their bought-and-paid-for candidates in the White House to match the predominant bought-and-paid-for members of the U. S. Congress. Thomas Jefferson, if he had lived long enough to see it, would have, I believe, cried. He, unlike many Americans, would have been smart enough to understand that the U. S. television networks, which now are the prime propaganda outlets, are all owned in the U. S. by billion-dollar individuals and corporations. And, fueled by limitless greed, it is in their financial interest to make their television network news divisions nothing more and nothing less than propaganda machines as opposed to news sources.

        Democracy in America was never intended to be dominated by the richest Americans dictating to the vast majority of Americans who happen not to be filthy rich in a nation in which inherited or ill-acquired wealth can beget more and more wealth, all the better to acquire more-and-more of the U. S. democracy.

The U. S. democracy was meant to be a one-person, one-vote form of government.

       Alexis de Tocqueville was born and died in France {1805-1859}. He's emblematic of many foreigners intrigued and enthralled by America's experiment in democracy. As a young man he spent nine months in the U. S. sharing the democratic experience with Americans. He then wrote two volumes of "DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA" that were published in 1835 and 1840, lovingly explaining the meaning of democracy to what became his worldwide audience. He seemed to realize the fragility of democracy, especially as it concerned Congress, one of its three pillars along with the judiciary and the presidency. In particular, he worried that an unsavory congressman could be elected from a tiny, dysfunctional, and perhaps corrupt region but once in Congress could enact laws to personally raid the Treasury and even mandate laws for revenge or personal gain. Tocqueville's amazing prescience and astuteness regarding democracy foreshadowed today's bought-and-paid-for U. S. Congress. He also foreshadowed, I think, Mario Diaz-Balart {son of a former Minister in Cuba's vile Batista dictatorship} reaching Congress from Miami, just as his brother had done, and then being able to slip a bill into a must-pass, veto-proof bill that greatly hurt Cuba and stymied President Obama's efforts to correct some of Congress's Cuban madness. Also, I think, Tocqueville foreshadowed Marco Rubio reaching Congress from Miami and then, all alone, being able to block sane government policy related to Cuba, such as Rubio's blocking Roberta Jacobson's appointment as Ambassador to Mexico because she negotiated a sane and decent U. S. policy regarding Cuba. {Every observer other than anti-Cuban Cuban-American zealots believe Jacobson is the perfect person to fill the very important ambassadorship to Mexico}. Beyond all that prescience and foreshadowing, Tocqueville fully realized that democracy, most of all, depended on patriotic, brave, and informed citizens. He would undoubtedly realize today that those three characteristics are missing in present-day Americans, revealing the frailty of democracy as illustrated by the fact that a few extremist Cuban-Americans can mandate Cuban-related laws that the majority of Cuban-Americans and all Americans have no power to influence...and, indeed, as Tocqueville predicted, democracy would "endure" only till Congress realized it could "bribe the public with the public's money," which it surely has done for decades in regards to daily shipments of tax dollars to anti-Castro stalwarts in Miami and to lavishly fund regime-change Cuban programs. Tocqueville didn't predict that the U. S. democracy in the 1950s would support the Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba and then support it in the U. S. once it was overthrown in Cuba. But, having studied Tocqueville, I feel certain he would agree that Cuba says a lot more about the U. S. than it says about Cuba.

Tocqueville knew the dangers represented by greedy, rich Americans.

Cuba personifies America's inability to "repair her faults."

The French and American revolutions preceded Cuba's Revolution.

Both Jefferson and Tocqueville believed in revolutions.

       Jefferson was not only America's third president but, among many other things, he wrote the Declaration of Independence after the world-changing revolutionary victory over England. His belief that every "generation needs a new revolution" echoes today's mantra as espoused by, among others, Bernie Sanders. But in the end, such democracy-loving wishful thinking will be overwhelmed yet again by a political system that was too fragile to withstand being purchased and demolished by greedy billionaires. 

         Our democracy in distress looks more-and-more like a Batista-style Banana Republic with each passing day. For example, there are well over a million Cuban-Americans who would improve our democracy if they could get elected to the U. S. Congress and/or the White House. But...and I think Tocqueville and Jefferson would agree...only extremist, money-crazed, bought-and-paid-for Cuban-Americans can get elected to national office in America. If you go back and study the Tocqueville and Jefferson quotations listed above, or their many other pertinent observations and predictions related to America's fragile democracy, I think you'll agree that the democracy Tocqueville and Jefferson prized has ceased to "endure," a word that both those great democracy-lovers often used very ominously. And the most enduring proof of that fragility fact is America's Cuban policy in three distinct periods -- 1898 to 1952, from 1952 to 1959, and from 1959 till today. So, if you really want to study the rise and fall of the American democracy, study Tocqueville, Jefferson, and, of course, America's un-democratic Cuban policy since 1898 and...particularly since 1959.

And speaking of quotations:

        Cristina Escobar is no Tocqueville or Jefferson, but give her time. She's only 28 and, as indicated by this photo, she's a deep thinker, especially about democracy. She's already Cuba's absolutely brilliant television news anchor and the leader of the young-adult generation of Cubans on the island determined to make sure that they, not Miami and Washington, chart Cuba's upcoming post-Castro course. As far as quotations go, she is not yet as prolific as Tocqueville and Jefferson, but she is prolific nevertheless...as well as being patriotic and brave to the core. The most pertinent recent quotation regarding U.S.-Cuban relations hasn't come from the current fair-minded White House or from the anti-Castro zealots in Miami and in Congress, including Rubio and Cruz. It's this quotation from Cristina Escobar: "I don't want the United States to bring me democracy. That is a project for Cubans on the island, not in Miami or Washington." She has made that statement very sincerely in fluent Spanish and English, and backed it up with revolutionary fervor/rhetoric that indicates its her do-or-die belief. She is a great admirer of "Cuban patriots like Jose Marti who died on Cuban soil fighting Spanish imperialism" and she is an admirer of Fidel Castro "who fought American imperialism on Cuban soil and lived." She is not fond of "Cuban-Americans who hide behind the skirts of a superpower and hurl bricks at everyday Cubans on the island." And on her headline-making journalistic trip to Washington, she stressed that "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most." Her dedication to Cubans on the island has caused her to not consider extremely lucrative offers if she would defect to Miami. Next to a defection to Miami by Fidel Castro prior to his 90th birthday on August 13th, Cristina's defection would be the most cherished by the anti-revolutionary zealots in Miami and the U. S. Congress. But neither will happen. Cristina, the Cuban patriot, is reminiscent of Tocqueville, the French patriot, and Jefferson, the American patriot. "I don't want the United States to bring me democracy..." That sort of sounds like Tocqueville, Jefferson, and Marti...or even Celia Sanchez.

        On April 30th, 1959 -- shortly after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in which she was the most important player -- Celia Sanchez said: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." She well knew at that time that the Batistianos had already retrenched with the full backing of the U. S. government on nearby U. S. soil. She later repeated that quotation at least twice more, once to famed Cuban journalist Carlos Franqui and then to the still-living famed journalist Marta Rojas. To this day, perhaps even more shocking than the Cuban Revolution itself, that quotation still lives because, although Celia died of cancer at age 59 in 1980, "Fidel {still} lives." In fact, her quotation may still live beyond Fidel's lifetime because...Cristina Escobar seems to be cast in the mold of Celia Sanchez. I never thought the island of Cuba could produce another Celia Sanchez. But, you know, perhaps I was wrong. 

On an entirely different topic:

       Spring is almost here and that means the arrival of Hummingbirds. This Birds & Blooms photo shows all eight of the portals on this feeder being used in concert by eight fascinating little hummers. Friends of Hummingbirds might see such a sight in person if they are prepared by making sugar water available. Sugar water needs this formula: One part sugar and four parts water. Authorized birders can net hummers and band them, which helps study their migratory habits. An expert, legally authorized birder I know in Virginia leaves her phone number on the banded legs for other authorized birders to check and return in place. That's how she got calls that informed her that the little green hummer that often re-visits her backyard had been to Montana as well as Canada and Ecuador during one eventful, and typical, spring. 

        This Birds & Blooms photo shows a green Hummingbird enjoying the sweet nectar of a red flower. Red is the magic color that, for some natural reason, attracts Hummingbirds -- red flowers or red feeders.

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The Cowardly Cuban Policy

Why It's Also Criminal

          This photo was used this first week of March, 2016, to illustrate a major article on the Fox News Latino website. The article is entitled: "With Obama's Visit to Cuba, Doctors Hope Lung Cancer Vaccine Will Get Major Boost." Americans are not supposed to read such articles because they might deviate from the Cuban narrative that has been prevalent since the 1950s when the Batista-Mafia dictatorship was overthrown and then reconstituted on U. S. soil. But I believe even propagandized and intimidated Americans should read this article, which explains how decent people, such as President Obama, are trying to finally correct some of the cowardly and, perhaps, criminal aspects of America's Cuban policy that has so strenuously been dictated for almost six decades by only the most vicious transplanted elements of the long-ago Batista-Mafia dictatorship. For what it's worth, here's the gist of this article:

                     "While in political circles the historical handshake between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro was both applauded and condemned, in aseptic hospital hallways it signaled a path to a medical collaboration that had remained untouched for more than six decades.

                             "And, for now, it would appear the U. S. has the most to gain.

                             "Cuba may be submerged in poverty and isolation, but it claims to have the first vaccine available for lung cancer, the most lethal cancer in the U. S. with an average of 432 Americans killed per day. The vaccine, which also proved to be effective to treat the existing condition, is called CimaVax. It didn't take long after the April, 2015 handshake, just a few days actually, for a high-profile U. S. delegation to set foot in Cuba and start the lengthy process that involves introducing a drug into the U. S. market.

                              "'We've started working on FDA approval, but we're hopeful that this year we'll start trials,' said Dr. Candace Johnson, CEO of Rosewell Park Cancer Institute, the research center that is evaluating CimaVax for U. S. use. 'Things in Cuba have gotten a lot easier. They have Verizon now and an embassy. We're having a lot of success working with the Cubans,' she told Fox News Latino. "We'd like to use it in patients with Stage I -- people with high levels of recurrence. It could also be used to prevent cancer from growing,' Dr. Johnson says. "We want to be the gateway with the Cubans. As this progresses, this will be available to everyone,' She added."

        Dr. Candace Johnson is the head of the Rosewell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. She recently accompanied New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Cuba so she could work with the Cuban scientists who actually discovered CimaVax, the cancer drug that she craves for her patients here in the United States. Dr. Johnson had already closely monitored the proven drug, which has been used free-of-charge in Cuba since 2011 and it is provided free to many other poor countries and has been sold to rich European nations, where it also has been proven effective as a break-through drug to fight cancer.

      Dr. Candace Johnson is one of America's greatest cancer experts. She is also a beautiful, caring person. Unfortunately, she is also one of the many innocent victims of America's Cuban policy dictated since the 1950s by anti-Castro Cuban-American zealots and their right-wing sycophants in the U. S. Congress. Dr. Johnson, in her battle to obtain Cuba's CimaVax vaccine, has joined with President Obama to slice through some of the most cruel aspects of the U. S. embargo against Cuba. But she is still left to beg the powerful proponents of the embargo for the legal right to use CimaVax to help her cancer patients, which in turn would help others across the nation. {NOTE: Cuba's renowned medical scientists have also invented a diabetic drug that has been proven to prevent amputations and other dreaded diabetic complications, but it too is denied to Americans because of the embargo that Congress cruelly mandates to appease a handful of the most vicious anti-Castro zealots}. Anti-Castro zealots aside, it is the gutlessness of the American people in capitulating to such cruel insanity decade-after-decade that prevents Dr. Johnson from attaining CimaVax, the Cuban cancer drug that she so earnestly craves.

        To his everlasting credit and his presidential legacy, Barack Obama has done all he can to rescue the United States from the disgrace of the Cuban embargo, which was begun way back in 1962 for the stated purpose, according to de-classified U. S. documents, to starve and deprive Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. Since 1962, two generations of Americans have permitted this policy to remain in force as the rest of the world clearly criticizes the abject cowardice, cruelty, and stupidity of allowing it to continue. If the embargo still pleases zealots like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and the U. S. media doesn't have the guts to hold them accountable, where does that leave decent Americans, like Dr. Candace Johnson? Unfortunately, it leaves her and democracy out in the cold along with 11 million innocent Cubans on the island who have been starved and deprived their entire lives by what many consider an unchecked minority criminal element in a foreign country dictating to others.

This is the sentiment even in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

In 2016, imperialist thugs are frowned upon all over the world.

Cristina Escobar: "I don't want the U. S. to bring me democracy. It could have easily done that in 1892 when it replaced Spain as Cuba's imperialist ruler. It could have done that in 1952 when it supported Batista and the Mafia as our rulers. When and if we attain democracy during my lifetime, I want it delivered to me only by Cubans on the island, not Cubans living in their luxury mansions in Miami and Washington."

Cristina Escobar: Age 28; Cuba's superstar broadcast journalist and the leader of the young-adult generation of Cubans on the island who are determined to chart Cuba's post-Castro future. They deserve that right. Defectors in the U. S. who benefit from the embargo and other gross cruelties against Cubans on the island do not deserve to rule Cuba from their gluttonous and exalted sanctuaries in Miami and Washington.

And speaking of Cristina Escobar:

        I think I know where Cristina Escobar and many other excited Cubans will be on the evening of March 25th, 2016. Mick Jagger, the charismatic leader of the world's most famous musical group -- The Rolling Stones -- is a great admirer of the Cuban people and his band on March 25th will give a free, open-air concert in Havana at the Ciudad Deportiva sports complex. The photo above was taken on October 4th, 2015, and shows Mick Jagger dancing with very enthused Cubans at the Shangri-la nightclub in Havana.

         On his visit to Cuba last fall, Mick Jagger was gracious with his time, posing for photos like this one with workers at the Shangri-la. The Rolling Stones concert on March 25th in Havana will enthrall the appreciative Cubans and it will come only three days after President Obama ends his historic two-day visit to the island. Mick Jagger said, "It will be a landmark event for us, and, I hope, for our friends in Cuba too."

        Hats off to Mick Jagger for understanding that Cubans on the island have been maligned and isolated by too many for too long. The still energetic Mr. Jagger is 72-years-old and for half-a-century he and his Rolling Stones have been world renowned. Their free concert in Havana on the 25th of this month will be an international statement. But mostly it will be a well-deserved and deeply appreciated gift for Cubans.

 Promotional poster for the Rolling Stones Cuban performance.

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