God Bless Anderson Cooper

And Feel Sorry For Him!

      Walt Handelsman, one of America's greatest journalists, reminded me this week of how much I feel sorry for CNN/CBS broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper. Permit me to explain. The 59-year-old Handelsman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Editorial Cartoonist for the New Orleans Advocate. I also greatly respect Cooper as one of television's rare news journalists with laudable instincts to actually cover the news in an industry that insults its viewers by filling most of its airtime with obnoxious and biased Talking Head pundits who pontificate mouthy junk incessantly. Still reliant on CNN for Breaking News, Americans watching Cooper night-after-night are seeing him be forced by corporate ownership to introduce one Talking Head after another. As opposed to actually covering the news, the Talking Head virus is a classic insult to him, his viewers and his industry. This week, one particular Editorial Cartoon by the brilliant Walt Handelsman reminded me anew of how America's once-proud broadcast industry -- with giants like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Ted Turner, Kate O'Brian, etc. -- has evolved, or devolved, into an unfunny corporate-capitalist joke. That basic fact, considering how vital a thrivingly competent media is to the viability of the U. S. democracy, is cause for acute concern from democracy-lovers.

         This is the Walt Handelsman editorial cartoon this week that made me shed {almost} some fresh tears for Anderson Cooper and the handful of skilled broadcast journalists whose talents have been swallowed up by the billionaire-owned cannibalistic, pontificating, money-crazed television industry. Go back up and carefully study the cartoon. Handelsman was obviously inspired by last Saturday's Kentucky Derby, which was won by unbeaten Nyquist. Notice that Handelsman's names for his political race horses are: "Trump's Ego," "Hillary's Baggage," "Media Mayhem," "Nasty Ads," "Civility," and "Wishful Thinking." And notice that Trump and Hillary are leading in the ongoing presidential horserace with the other four "bringing up the rear." BRILLIANT, ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!! So, now you know why I think that great Editorial Cartoonists are now the best U. S. journalists and why I feel sorry for Anderson Cooper.

        According to Celebrity Net Worth, Anderson Cooper has a personal fortune of $100 million. Although his mother is Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson has earned his own money. His yearly salary for his CNN and CBS gigs is $11 million. I normally feel sorry for people poorer than Anderson, but nightly as the prime CNN anchor, Anderson is a recipient of my sorrow because his broadcast skills are smothered by the capitalist greed that permeates all "news" networks. The airways are supposedly owned by the public but in reality they are owned by money-crazed and politically minded individual and corporate billionaires such as Rupert Murdoch, GE, Time-Warner, Disney, Comcast, etc. The airways are veritable gold mines, especially so because the billionaire owners can easily pay lobbyists who can then easily purchase enough members of Congress to guarantee that they don't pay their fair share of taxes and can further save money by using studio-bound Talking Heads in place of real journalists who could actually go out and cover news.

     On his prime-time CNN hour each night, Anderson Cooper's facial expressions often exude his regret for not being able to actually call on real journalists from news-spots around the nation and the world. Both Anderson and CNN fail in trying to mask his natural journalistic instincts, which is to utilize the massive technical advantages broadcast networks have to cover the news. Instead, each night and each segment Anderson is forced to introduce two, four, six, sometimes TEN Talking Heads! Following those corporate orders, he does the best he can because typically he tries, at least clandestinely, to tip-off his viewers. His typical introductions are almost explicit: "Let me introduce our panel tonight. On CNN throughout the day you've heard Ana Navarro but we must have her back. Ana is a biased propagandist from Miami. She has made a lot of money and fame promoting Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. And tonight once again she will tell our viewers how stupid they are for not supporting and funding the richly funded presidential bids of Bush and Rubio. Next to Ana is Amanda Carpenter. She got rich as Ted Cruz's top propagandist. Amanda again tonight will use our airtime to remind our viewers how stupid they are for not voting for, campaigning for, and funding Ted Cruz's presidential bid. And next to Angela is Kayleigh..." This goes on night-after-night, hour-after-hour. The extremely biased Talking Head propagandists can dominate all "newscasts" in the U. S. because the monopolistic nature of the industry, plus a lobbyist-instructed U. S. Congress, can weed out competitors who might want to duplicate the broadcast instincts of Edward R. Murrow, Ted Turner, and Walter Cronkite.

      Anderson Cooper carved out his broadcast credentials by actually going out and covering news events -- including dangerous war zones or travesties like Hurricane Katrina as it was devastating New Orleans. Now in a Talking Head-driven industry, Anderson is paid $11 million a year to introduce Talking Heads who, as he undoubtedly well knows, are insults to broadcast journalism and to viewers who need and deserve good, unbiased news coverage. This week, for example, apart from the money, it is believed that, while introducing all those innocuous and biased Talking Heads, Anderson probably left his anchor-chair to go check on real news events: Another week of record murders in Chicago; deadly and historic floods in Texas; deadly and historic tornadoes in the nation's heartland; millions upon millions of Americans in a presidential election year trying desperately to find a non-establishment candidate who is not bought-and-paid-for; the Zika virus threatening America and the region; global warming threatening the world; nuclear powers Russia, China, and North Korea increasingly more bellicose; Iran this week firing off a nasty long-range missile; a new list of individuals and corporations that are hiding money in Panama to avoid paying taxes in America; etc., etc. Anderson should get nightly updates on such events on his own program, but not from Talking Heads.

Real journalists should replace biased Talking Head pundits.

        Michelle Malkin vs. Eboni K. Williams; familiar Talking Head pundits on Fox. After this ratings boosting verbal cat-fight lasting ten minutes or so, viewers were supposed to cease thinking for themselves.

    Eboni K. Williams won her sparring match with Michelle Malkin.

       In fact, shortly thereafter Eboni K. Williams also scored knockouts against these two other Talking Heads. Meanwhile, Fox and other cable "NEWS" channels {obsessed with being propaganda machines} were conveniently ignoring dozens of real news-worthy events around the nation and around the world.

       Kate O'Brian is the best broadcast journalist in America today. And that's why she's out of a job. For years as the boss at ABC News, Kate believed in hiring the best reporters she could find. But increasingly her corporate bosses at Disney urged her to hire Talking Heads, not journalists. Kate wanted out. Aljazeera America, owned by Qatar princes, told her if she would head their ambitious upstart network, she could fulfill her broadcast instincts. Kate accepted and immediately hired hundreds of the best broadcast journalists in the world -- including many of the best known anchors, reporters and producers from the best-known networks. As she tried so hard to do at ABC News, Kate at Aljazeera America totally minimized Talking Heads as she created the best journalist-driven broadcast network, not only in the U. S. but in the world. At the outset, Kate announced her love of great broadcast journalists and her dislike for Talking Heads. She also suggested that Aljazeera should be dropped from her network's name, but it wasn't. Kate cried when she was told Aljazeera America was shutting down because of its dismal ratings in the U. S.

       Kate O'Brian remains America's best broadcast journalist but her distaste for a Talking Head-dominated industry leaves her out in the cold. That means America, including its democracy, suffers. If CNN, with its unmatched resources, put Kate in charge of its news coverage, the broadcast industry in America would immediately regain much of its long-lost luster. Then newshounds like me wouldn't have to feel sorry for stifled journalists like Cooper whose broadcast instincts seem to mirror those of the great Kate O'Brian.

       Soledad O'Brien is America's best documentarian. While Kate O'Brian was hiring the best anchors and reporters at Aljazeera America, she also hired Soledad to produce and anchor superb documentaries.

       Soledad O'brien -- with the quotation above -- explained why she jumped at the opportunity Kate O'Brian offered her. So did hundreds of other great broadcast journalists whose familiar names you can easily Google. As you see above, Soledad longed for "quality programming" centered around "underreported stories" that yearned to be reported. By using those words, and by being a Kate O'Brian disciple, Soledad was denouncing the insidious Talking Head dominance of America's "news" networks.

       " "But hey," you say, "I punched up Cubaninsider to get Cuban news. What does America's saturation of broadcast Talking Heads have to do with Cuba?" A lot actually. Walt Handelsman's racehorse editorial cartoon also reminded me of Cristina Escobar, Cuba's absolutely brilliant 28-year-old broadcast journalist. A superb news anchor and interviewer, Cristina covered the last of the four Vidal-Jacobson diplomatic sessions in Washington earlier this year. She turned out to be the star at a news conference hosted by White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Later in speeches around Washington and when she was interviewed by U. S. journalists, Cristina made particularly interesting points: {1} "I believe as a broadcast journalist in Cuba I have more freedom to tell the truth about the U. S. than U. S. journalists have to tell the truth about Cuba;" and {2} "The lies the U. S. media tells about Cuba hurts everyday Cubans the most."

        Now whether or not you agree with Cristina Escobar's two significant quotations, I believe you should respect the fact that she sincerely means them. Moreover, as an acute observer of broadcast journalism in the United States as well as being a skilled broadcast journalist in Cuba, she has the insight to provide such critiques. Andrea Mitchell, the high-profile veteran NBC broadcast journalist, made it a point to personally praise Cristina in Washington. Cristina replied that she had "long admired" Andrea's work. So, I wonder if Cristina also feels sorry for America's talented broadcast journalists like Anderson Cooper who are forced to forsake news coverage by saturating the airways with biased Talking Head pundits?

And by the way: 

        This is a new photo of Fidel Castro this week that his fans and critics will ponder for hints about his health. The two men on the flanks are the two top officials with the International Olympic Committee shown when they visited Fidel in his Havana home. That's his wife Dalia right behind him and she is standing beside their son Dr. Tony Castro. The photo was taken by Alex, another of Fidel's and Dalia's five sons. Photos in his home and on public outings prove that Fidel has been more active recently. Dalia, his doting wife since 1980, confirms it. She said: "Fidel is looking forward to his 90th birthday on August 13th. We all are. Yes, for a man his age and for what he has gone through, I am certainly pleased with his new vigor."

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Modernizing Cuba

One Deal at a Time

        John Legere is the latest American business executive to sign a major deal with Cuba, taking advantage of President Obama's brave and historic efforts to normalize relations with the neighboring island. Mr. Legere is the President and Ceo of T-Mobile, which is based in Bellevue, Washington. He has signed a deal with Cuba to provide affordable phone calls between the U. S. and Cuba. Starting in July Americans will be able to take their phones to the island and access voice, text and data contacts.

       John Legere at T-Mobile is ecstatic that his company is able to help Cuba modernize into the 21st century after a stifling, revengeful, and imperialistic U. S. embargo of the island since 1962 has failed to overthrow its revolutionary rule nor starve its people, though -- at least prior to Obama -- they have been deprived by a cruel foreign intervention inspired by two generations of Cuban exiles from the 1952-1959 Batista-Mafia dictatorship and their easily acquired right-wing acolytes. Mr. Legere, after announcing T-Mobile's deals with Cuba, was euphoric. He said, "We have more customers of Cuban descent than any other wireless provider, so connecting them with family and friends is a message we have heard loud and clear." 

      Last week Cubans warmly welcomed 704 joyous American visitors on the magnificent ship, the Adonia, that is owned by the Miami-based Cardinal Cruise Lines. The ship will now visit Cuba twice a month while ten other cruise lines are also trying to take advantage of President Obama's courageous defiance of revengeful Cuban-Americans and their key sycophants/enablers in America's dysfunctional Congress.

      This photo was taken by Josefina Vidal, Cuba's feisty Minister of North American Affairs, and she proudly posted it on her Twitter page. It shows the passengers from the Adonia mingling with Cubans on a street in Havana. As shown by CNN and other news outlets, many of the Americans and Cuban-Americans cried buckets of happy tears and emotionally thanked President Obama for allowing commercial cruise ships to visit Cuba. While revengeful Cuban-Americans and Congress have mandated since 1962 that Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to visit Cuba, President Obama has sliced into that undemocratic law by slipping in twelve loosely defined reasons for Americans to visit Cuba.

         Commercial flights from America to Cuba have not been permitted since 1962, but the democracy-loving President Obama has changed that too. The United States and Cuba have agreed that up to 120 daily commercial flights from the United States to Cuba can commence this fall. American Airlines is competing with nine other carriers to fill those flights. Cuba is restricting it to 20 additional flights to coveted Havana but allowing ten flights daily to nine other Cuban cities. Meanwhile, the island is struggling to update its hotel and other accommodations to handle the influx of tourism resulting from President Obama's Dec. 17-2014 announcement of his plans to normalize relations with Cuba, totally ignoring seven particularly angry Cuban-Americans in the United States Congress but pleasing most Cuban-Americans even in Miami.

      Since 1962 the United States embargo has stymied Americans and Cuban-Americans who have longed to take convenient ferries from South Florida to Cuba. Well, President Obama has authorized ferry traffic from Tampa, Miami, Port Everglades and Key West to nearby Havana, which ferry businesses and customers have direly desired for decades. HOW ABOUT THAT!! The VOA {Voice of America} heralded the ferry development with a major article that included the above map revealing the departures sites.

President Obama has ushered in "a new era" in U.S.-Cuba relations.

          Most Americans, most Cuban-Americans, most Floridians, most Latinos, and most of America's very best friends around the world support President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba.

      The Trump-Sanders phenomenons in this ongoing presidential election year reflects the fact that American voters have tired of the Batistiano-aligned Bush dynasty as well as radical anti-Cuban Cuban-Americans whose politics follow the dictates of special interest money, not the desires of most Americans and most Cuban-Americans. Yet, there are several million Cuban-Americans and many millions of Americans who would make excellent Presidents or members of Congress if the U. S. democracy is strong enough to shed the cancerous stranglehold created by bought-and-paid-for, establishment politicians.

         President Obama's two-terms as America's President will end in January. The ominous reminder is this: If he is succeeded by a Republican president, Cuba will once again have to "fear a threat from the United States." That threat, whether or not it's ever realized, will shame America in the eyes of the world although, it seems, the Republican leaders don't care about such things while catering to the whims of their rich patrons. Franklin D. Roosevelt served four presidential terms because situations required his astute and brave leadership right up until the day he died after guiding America through World War II. Speaking as a former conservative {but not right-wing} Republican, I believe that the quotation from Mr. Obama depicted in the above graphic indicates that America needs a 3rd and 4th term from Obama. It might hold Bush-Rubio-Cruz at bay for maybe another decade, something America's democracy needs and deserves.

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Cuban-American Moderates

Why Are They Unelectable??

      Nelson Balido is one of America's most talented and most accomplished Cuban-Americans. He is head of Balido and Associates, Chairman of the Border Commerce and Security Council, newly appointed to the U. S. Department of Commerce, and highly respected for his work on the Homeland Security Council. I am a lifelong conservative Republican driven out of my political party by the right-wing extremism of the Bush dynasty and the Tea Party. As a great admirer of talented Cuban-Americans, I believe there are about two million of them -- such as Nelson Balido -- that I would readily support if they ran for President of the United States. But it seems that the only politicians in the Cuban-American community who can get elected are anti-Castro extremists -- such as would-be presidential hopefuls Cruz and Rubio or members of the U. S. Congress such as the Diaz-Balarts whose father was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship before challenging Jorge Mas Canosa as the richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealot in Miami. Similarly, if you happen to be among the majority 2 million moderate Cuban-Americans, it seems you are not eligible for elective office in Miami and other South Florida cities. Even in the Trump-Clinton sweepstakes in 2016, the Republican Party didn't stand a chance with extremists like Cruz and Rubio but I believe a Cuban-American like Nelson Balido could have been elected President of the United States in November of 2016.

      Among his other accomplishments, Nelson Balido is a gifted and fair-minded correspondent for Fox News Latino. In that capacity he recently filed a report entitled: "As U. S., Cuba Normalize Relations, Time To Change Immigration Policies for Cubans." Most Americans, most Cuban-Americans and most of America's best friends around the world are embarrassed for the United States because its democracy does not appear to be strong enough to deal democratically with a Cuban policy dictated since the 1950s by Cuban-exile extremists and their self-serving sycophants such as the Bush dynasty. Thus, for decades now only Cuban-American extremists -- not democracy-loving moderates like Nelson Balido -- are candidates to get elected to national or major-city offices. But most Cuban-Americans agree with Nelson Balido, a brave supporter of President Obama's bold and history-making openings to Cuba. In his aforementioned Fox News Latina update, Mr. Balido made these points:

            "Currently the United States treats Cuban citizens like no other...The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 was designed to give asylum to the 300,000 Cubans who fled the Cuban Revolution...The act is still used today...This law is accompanied by a minimum 20,000 visas handed out to Cubans each year through a lottery system as well as President Clinton's wet foot/dry foot policy, which continues to shelter Cubans who make it to the United States...The significant uptick in Cubans owes in part to Cuban concerns that U. S. immigration laws may soon change...For decades, U. S. policies have given Cubans a direct path to U. S. residency unavailable to any other nationality of immigrants...Many families benefited from this, including those of presidential candidates Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, and this author...Currently, Cuban immigrants enjoy about $700 million each year in public benefits...It has been reported that some Cuba immigrants take advantage of government aid programs like food stamps and Medicare while frequently traveling back and forth to Cuba for commercial reasons...In essence, the U. S. taxpayer is subsidizing a jet-set Cuban lifestyle and not advancing the economic potential of American residents...Aren't there other legal immigrants who could legitimately use some of that public support?...While many Cubans arriving in the United States are honorable and law abiding, some are not...Some Cuban criminal organizations come to the U. S., unfortunately...U. S. law enforcement has no insight into the background of arriving Cuban immigrants and so are unable to deny entry to criminals under existing law...I agree with Obama...If the U. S. is going to treat Cuba like any other country, we should treat its citizens like any other immigrants." 

       Nelson Balido is shown here being interviewed on Texas Insider because he is a brilliant Cuban-American who agrees with President Obama's sane and decent Cuban policies, not those of Cuban-American elected officials -- Cruz, Rubio, the Diaz-Balarts, Menendez, Curbelo, etc. -- who don't seem to share Balido's concerns for America's democratic image, Cubans on the island being embargoed or worse, a closer vetting of Cuban immigrants like all other immigrants, etc. The first Cuban-American in the White House should be someone like Nelson Balido, but in the current money-crazed two-party political cycle, neither the honorable Cuban-American community nor the great American democracy appears capable of producing a national candidate with Mr. Balido's multitude of positive presidential credentials. Yet, there always seems to be billions of special-interest dollars ready to support extremists who openly carry "For-Sale" signs on their backs. Millions of Americans seeking to rid their democracy of bought-and-paid-for establishment rogues are even turning to Trump and Sanders as the lesser of the evils, even as a few billionaires and the establishment underpinning tries to discount all those individual voters. By way of contrast, the skilled Mr. Balido is the type Cuban-American that believes in democracy and decency...even when Cuba is concerned. I hereby nominate him for President in 2020. 2016 is already a Lost Cause.

Meanwhile:

              The BBC today used this Reuters photo to report that beginning today -- Monday, May 9th, 2016 -- the 4,000 Cubans that have been stranded in Panama for months will begin flying to Ciudad Juarez and once in that Mexican border city they will be home-free with "special non-vetting privileges," as the BBC said, starting the very moment any Cuban touches sacred United States soil.  

                The BBC used this EPA photo to show one of the 4,000 Cubans stuck in Panama for months before the unhappy Panamanian government arranged for flights to the Mexican-U.S. border starting today. Panama said the Cubans will have to pay "full price" for the flights but the BBC indicated that would be no problem because "apparently" the Cubans are very rich with many of them reportedly having already paid up to $17,000 to human traffickers to move them over air-and-land routes to the United States. 

        The airplane flights from Cuba to begin the land or air trek through or over five unhappy countries to get to the Mexican-U. S. border reflects how America's "special" laws benefiting and enticing Cubans angers all Latin America nation's whose citizens don't have such "privileges," with non-Cubans subject to detention and deportation, not financial-residency-citizenship rewards.

       Earlier this year 8,000 Cubans were stuck in Costa Rica for months before flights were arranged to get them to U.S.-Mexican border towns in Texas, as depicted by this map. The Costa Rican stalemate came about when Nicaragua blocked its land-route to Mexico, just as other nations have also tried to do.

         While the U. S. Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy that pertains only to Cubans greatly pleases human traffickers and the Cuban hardliners in Miami, Washington and New Jersey, it riles and punishes all of America's southern neighbors. It also, of course, punishes U. S. taxpayers and demeans the image of the U. S. and democracy in the region and around the world, highlighting acute discriminatory U. S. Cuban policies.

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A Batistiano Cuban Policy

Decades of Hurting America

      Erin Schumaker {above} is the outstanding Health Editor at the Huffington Post. Her latest article is entitled: "Cuba's Had A Lung Cancer Vaccine For Years, And Now It's Coming To The United States." Ms. Schumaker said: "CineVox, which is both a treatment and vaccine for lung cancer, has been researched in Cuba for 25 years and provided free to the Cuban public since 2011." The vaccine has helped Cubans and cancer patients in other countries but not the U. S...because of the embargo first imposed against Cuba in 1962. It was put in place in 1962 to starve and deprive Cubans on the island to induce them to overthrow Fidel Castro, but it has starved and deprived the U. S. democracy in the eyes of the entire world. As the article by Ms. Schumaker reminds me, the decades-long hostility towards Cuba may please and benefit a few powerful Cuban-Americans but it serves to harm everyone else, including America's cancer patients.

       Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship, two generations of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans have benefited drastically -- revengefully, economically, and politically -- from dictating America's Cuban policy with practically no democratic resistance to speak of.

      In April of 1959 Celia Sanchez, the leading player in the victorious Cuban Revolution and later in Revolutionary Cuba, took notice that key elements of the ousted Batista dictatorship had regrouped in South Florida and, still with backing from the U. S. government, had already begun creating paramilitary units around Miami and a military unit at Fort Benning designed to recapture Cuba. That was when Celia Sanchez first coined the word "Batistiano" with this firm proclamation: "The Batistianos will never regain control of Cuba as long as I live or as long as Fidel lives." Celia died from cancer at age 59 in 1980; Fidel still lives as he nears his 90th birthday in August. And, most notably, Celia's bold proclamation still lives. 

         In April of 2016 Josefina Vidal, now Cuba's primary expert on America and Batistianos, noticed that two viciously anti-Castro first-term Cuban-American U. S. Senators -- Cruz and Rubio -- were Republican presidential candidates. The astute Ms. Vidal then opined: "It now seems that the Batistianos have a new plan. They now plan to CAPTURE the White House first and then RE-CAPTURE Cuba."  And that was an analysis, not a joke. Ms. Vidal, like Celia Sanchez, doesn't joke about Cuba's hard-earned sovereignty.

       This montage is courtesy of The Miami Herald and WLRN. If you study it and do a little Googling, you will better understand what Celia Sanchez in 1959 and Josefina Vidal in 2016 meant when they used the word "Batistiano." And you'll better comprehend why the aforementioned article by health expert Erin Schumaker reveals how much the Batistiano transition from Cuba to the U. S. has harmed America and Americans. The photos above reflect three generations of the Diaz-Balart family. On the left is the grandfather Rafael; he was a powerful mayor and legislator in Cuba. Standing next to him is his son, also named Rafael; Rafael the Son was a key Minister in the Batista dictatorship and one of its most significant leaders that fled to South Florida, where he became one of the all-time richest and most powerful anti-Castro zealots. Rafael the Son, in fact, created the first anti-Castro paramilitary unit -- the White Rose -- in South Florida. On the right-top is Lincoln, Rafael the Son's son who was born in Havana. On the right-bottom is Mario, Rafael the Son's son born in South Florida. Both Lincoln and Mario have been elected from Miami to the United States Congress where their anti-Castro zealotry continued full bore. Knowing such things will help you know how and why the U. S. Congress and the Republican presidents since 1959 have also been Batistiano-like to the detriment of Cubans on the island, Cuban-Americans, and Americans.

       Candace Johnson is a wonderful lady. A renowned cancer expert, Dr. Johnson is the CEO of the Rockwell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. On behalf of her cancer patients, she has waged an heroic fight against the Batistiano-inspired and United States Congress-engineered U. S. embargo of Cuba. When President Obama bravely opened many doors to Cuba and sliced into the embargo, Dr. Johnson begged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to go along with his entourage to Cuba earlier this year. She met with the Cuban scientists that invented CineVox, the cancer vaccine she covets for her patients. And she got permission from the Cuban government to obtain it free of charge if it will help poor Americans. She then had to come back to the United States and beg the Batistiano-directed Congress. The aforementioned article by Erin Schumaker liberally quotes Dr. Johnson. You can go online to access it.

       Dr. Candace Johnson is merely a tiny microcosm of the vast array of Americans who have suffered for decades because of a U. S. Cuban policy designed to cater to a handful of revengeful, greedy Cuban-Americans, and their easily acquired sycophants, at the expense of most Americans, most Cubans, most Cuban-Americans and most people around the world, as indicated by the yearly vote in the United Nations.

        President Obama is doing all he can to erase as many evils of America's Batistiano-sanctioned Cuban policy as he possibly can. But his enemies also include a bought-and-paid-for Congress, the intimidated and largely incompetent U. S. media, apathetic U. S. citizens, and even the Supreme Court that in 2010 made it legal for individual and corporate billionaires to use unlimited cash to distort America's democratic process. Moreover, Mr. Obama's two-term presidency is fast coming to an end in January. After that, it is unlikely that a money-crazed political system will be able to elect a President that possesses Mr. Obama's guts, intelligence, and love for democracy. In other words, beginning in January of 2017, the image of America as depicted above may never again have a force like Mr. Obama to sincerely try to oppose it.

Columbus discovered Cuba and America in 1492.

But since 1492 being "Good Friends" has been a problem.

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Cuba and U. S. Superstars

Updated: Saturday, April 7th, 2016

        This AP photo was taken in Havana this week by Desmond Boylan. It shows America's famed couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West being driven around Cuba's capital city in a classic 1950s convertible, as Kim takes a selfie with her Smart Phone.

      The celebrity-chronicling super blog TMZ used this photo to highlight its massive coverage of Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and their two children in Cuba this week. But CNN and other cable news outlets also have had field days with this particular celebrity visit to the island, routinely ridiculing it.

       Not surprising, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- the Havana-born anti-Castro zealot from Miami who has been in the U. S. Congress since 1989 -- raved the loudest about the U. S. celebrity tourists and President Obama's open-door policy that has sliced into six-decades of the long-unchallenged Miami-directed war-like treatment of Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen said: "Haven't the Cuban people suffered enough? Fidel, Raul Castro, and now the Kardashians?" The cowardly, incompetent U. S. media has lapped up such Ros-Lehtinen quotes this week, a media that doesn't have the guts to remind Americans that the Kardashians are not in Cuba to "hurt" the Cubans on the island but Ros-Lehtinen's historic support of such things as the cruel and endless embargo and her unconscionable support {as bravely detailed by Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede} of the most infamous Miami-based terrorists have indeed "hurt" Cubans on the island, a "hurt" that President Obama is bravely trying to heal. 

          This AP photo shows Gisele Bundchen fanning herself on a crowded street in Havana. She is the world's highest paid supermodel and she is also the wife of Tom Brady, the NFL superstar quarterback. This week it seems Havana is overwhelmed with famous visitors thanks to President Obama opening doors to Cuba that were closed for over half a century, such as allowing cruise ships from the U. S. to Cuba.

Chanel models {AP} are using Cuba as a runway this week!!

       Meanwhile, America's superstar actor Vin Diesel {Reuters} is commanding the next street over in Havana. Diesel and his gigantic Hollywood crew, including a host of other major actors, are in Cuba filming the next huge movie in the wildly popular Fast & Furious franchise. Cubans are thrilled...but awed!!

      Havana-born U. S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen takes an extremely dim view of any positive result of President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. The Los Angeles Times yesterday had a major article entitled: "Kardashians' Havana Visit Is Part Of A 'Cruel Trick on the Cuban People,' Congresswoman Says." Ros-Lehtinen told the Los Angeles Times, "Both the Karl Lagerfeld Chanel fashion show and the Kardashian trip to Cuba for their TV show is emblematic of celebrity culture at its worst." Ros-Lehtinen was the first of the Bush-aligned Cuban-American anti-Castro zealots in Miami to be elected to the U. S. Congress, a spot she has held since 1989 when her Campaign Manager was Jeb Bush. Although most Cuban-Americans in Miami favor President Obama's sane efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, only anti-Castro extremists get elected to the U. S. Congress or become presidential candidates. Their rants are never challenged by the mainstream U. S. media nor, generally, by intimidated and proselytized Americans. However, such tirades as Ros-Lehtinen unleashed yesterday are emblematic of the worst elements of the failed, flawed and extremely cruel U. S. Cuban policy that, for decades, has been dictated by self-serving and revengeful Cuban-Americans and their sycophants, such as the Bush dynasty that, perhaps, Americans are also finally getting tired of...as indicated by Jeb's and Rubio's laughable presidential bids.

     This Miami Herald photo shows five leading ultra-powerful anti-revolutionary Cuban-Americans who dominate South Florida's politics along with the entire area's obligatory Cuban mayors, etc. They supported Jeb Bush's presidential bid till he was quickly and unceremoniously eliminated. Then, at the above news conference, they, of course, fired up support for their own Cuban-American U. S. Senator from Miami, Marco Rubio. Then Rubio was unceremoniously eliminated when non-politician and presumably non-bought-and-paid-for Donald Trump trounced him in the Florida primary. Such results indicate that the firm grasp anti-Castro zealots have had on Miami politics since 1959 may finally have to allow for the moderate opinions that are, in fact, in the majority among the two-million Cuban-Americans who deserve a voice.

         The hallowed halo the Bush dynasty's Jeb Bush so self-servingly spun around Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's head in 1989 has served to totally dominate America's egregious Cuban policy from that day till...well, till America got a very brave President named Barack Obama. Ros-Lehtinen, you know, screamed loudly when she claimed Obama didn't even consult her as he forged ahead with his incredibly brave and positive Cuban policies. Now, I wonder why! Ros-Lehtinen and her ilk can still dictate Cuban policy to Congress but not Mr. Obama and, based on polls and this year's presidential election, apparently not to wiser and braver U. S. voters, including those in Florida and New Jersey. The demise of the lushly funded and dangerously ambitious presidential aspirations of the Jeb-Marco-Ted cabal marks at least a temporary end to both the Bush dynasty and the stranglehold Cuban-American extremists have had for decades on America's Cuban policy. But, of course, retaliatory actions and the 2020 presidential election loom ominously ahead.

       Chellie Pingree has represented Maine in the U. S. Congress since 2009. In stark contrast to Cuban-Americans that get elected to Congress, Congresswoman Pingree has no desire to harm Cubans on the island for revengeful, economic or political purposes. In fact, she was in Havana this week meeting with Cuba's Josefina Vidal. Later, Congresswoman Pingree released a statement saying that she and Vidal "discussed the mutual benefit of fully opening trade between the U. S. and Cuba." There is a growing PRO-Cuban sentiment in Congress that for decades has rendered a Cuban policy purely dictated by extremist Cuban-Americans and right-wing sycophants to the detriment of both Cubans and Cuban-Americans.

        For the past quarter century, Marc Frank has been a superb Reuters journalist reporting from Cuba. He best chronicles the Obama-orchestrated changes currently cascading across the island. This week he marveled at how Cuba is trying to cope with the drastic influx of U. S. tourists such as those that arrived on the first cruise ship allowed to visit Cuba from the U. S. in half-a-century and now Cuba's ten international airports must prepare for the first commercial U. S. flights since 1962. Marc Frank wrote: "To accommodate the planned arrival of U. S. commercial service later in 2016, Cuba's government plans to expand its airports. In the meantime, the construction of new hotels and the renovation of others is already underway."  Of course, the astute Mr. Frank also remains quite aware that the recently beaten Rubio-Bush-Cruz alliance plans to regain dominance of America's Cuban policy as soon as Mr. Obama leaves the White House in January.  

Rubio-Bush-Cruz.

Are they just down, and not out? 

Meanwhile:

Cuba is being overwhelmed,
by U. S. celebrities!!

And meanwhile: 

        The Miami Herald used the above illustration to highlight a major article you may want to check out. It's entitled "Condo Confidential." It states: "Miami real estate is a haven for money abroad that is sometimes poorly vetted." Now, IMAGINE THAT!! Foreign billionaires plus 100 million rich tourists in Florida each year!! 

     "Condo Confidential" in the Miami Herald reminds me of "Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana" by the preeminent Cuban author Ann Louise Bardach. Some of the guys she wrote about in such vivid detail -- Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, etc. -- were "poorly vetted" in Miami too. 

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