Hurting U. S. to Hurt Cuba

An Unending Pattern!

        Ron DeSantis is the latest in a long, long line of Florida members of the U. S. Congress who seem willing to hurt the United States of America in order to hurt Revolutionary Cuba. If that is not so, perhaps Rep. DeSantis might explain why he attached yet another anti-Cuba bill to a large defense bill that many of his colleagues -- as well as democracy-lovers such as Sarah Stephens -- believe will severely harm cooperative U. S. agreements with Cuba that help protect Americans from human trafficking, Florida criminals fleeing to Cuba, the threats from potential oil spills and other environmental issues, etc., etc.

         Ron DeSantis was born 37 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a veteran of the U. S. Navy who graduated from Yale University and from the Harvard Law School. He has represented Florida's 6th District in the U. S. Congress since 2013 and now he is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by his Miami friend Marco Rubio. Like the previous line of anti-Castro zealots elected to Congress from Florida, DeSantis made a beeline for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, apparently trained to recognize that Cuba is still a foreign country and being on that committee is a good way to hurt Cuba. The problem is, along with many other moral issues, hurting the U. S. in order to hurt Cuba seems not to bother anti-Cuba members of Congress from Florida. The majority of Cuban-Americans even in Miami support President Obama's sane and decent overtures to Cuba that will help...indeed are helping...many Americans. Of course, DeSantis seems to oppose anything that helps Cubans on the island even if it also helps millions of Americans and Cuban-Americans. DeSantis was livid when Obama opened long-closed doors by removing Cuba from the Sponsors of Terrorism list; Desantis raved against Obama's freeing Alan Gross from his Cuban prison because, apparently, it was a positive for Cuba; and DeSantis as a federally paid lawyer lauded the U. S. occupation of Guantanamo Bay, apparently because the theft belittles Cuba. As illustrated by the above photo of DeSantis using Fox News as an anti-Cuban propaganda machine, his political career -- first the House, soon the Senate, etc. -- is propelled by America's omnipotent right-wing media, the Bush dynasty, AIPAC, the Tea Party, etc. Of course, the mainstream U. S. media doesn't have the courage to hold anti-Cuba zealots from Florida accountable for their anti-Cuban tactics that are also anti-American.

However:

      Sarah Stephens -- the democracy-loving head of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas -- does have the courage to rebuke self-serving assaults on innocent Cubans and innocent Americans. In fact, that's one reason she created CDA. Each Friday on her CDA website, Ms. Stephens posts a "Cuba Central" segment that is each week's best summation of U.S.-Cuban relations. Her latest essay -- Friday, May 13th, 2016 -- led off by explaining in detail the latest gutlessness by Rep. Ron DeSantis regarding a little bill he slipped into a big bill for the purpose of hurting Cuba that Sarah Stephens points out also hurts Americans. Of course, the United States and democracy would be better served if the mainstream U. S. media had as much concern for America and for democracy as Sarah Stephens does.

      Like DeSantis, Corrine Brown was born in Jacksonville, Florida. And like DeSantis, she represents Florida in the U. S. Congress -- but quite differently, I might add. Congresswoman Brown has no revenge, economic or political motives to hurt Cubans on the island and certainly she is appalled at anti-Cuban laws easily rammed through the U. S. Congress that hurt Cubans, Cuban-Americans, and Americans. Congresswoman Corrine Brown strongly supports President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba "to help the good people in Cuba as well as the good people in Florida and throughout America."

      Kathy Castor was born in Miami but she has bravely represented Tampa in the U. S. Congress since 2007. Facing taunts and threats in Florida all her political life, she has campaigned relentlessly to normalize relations with Cuba. Ms. Castor, you see, cares about Cubans on the island and she cares about her constituents in the Tampa area who "will surely benefit immensely if we normalize relations with Cuba."

Kathy Castor relentlessly promotes trade with Cuba.

         This photo shows Congresswoman Kathy Castor, on the left, in Cuba on a friendly mission sponsored by Sarah Stephens and her Center for Democracy in the Americas. That's Ms. Stephens on the right.

      This photo shows Congresswoman Kathy Castor getting ready to board a charter flight from Tampa to Cuba. On this visit she took along other members of Congress to urge them to support President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Since 1962, the pernicious U. S. embargo has prohibited commercial airplane flights to Cuba. But beginning in the fall, that anti-American and anti-democracy aspect of the embargo will end, thanks to the brave decency of Kathy Castor and others. 

         It seems the mainstream media in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave doesn't have the freedom or the bravery to provide Americans with Congresswoman Kathy Castor's views about Cuba.

     It is, I believe, no coincidence that Miami-born Kathy Castor has represented Tampa in the U. S. Congress since 2007. Although the majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami support President Obama's and Congresswoman Castor's attempts to normalize relations with Cuba, it appears that Miami only sends extreme anti-Castro zealots -- like the four depicted above -- to the U. S. Congress. Marco Rubio -- another anti-Castro zealot from Miami -- is giving up his Senate seat because of his failed presidential bid.

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Cuba, Congress and Florida

An Evolving Revolution!!

       Meet Congressman Patrick Murphy from Florida. If Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton are not currently the three most interesting and important politicians in the U. S., I nominate Representative Murphy for those two accolades. He is 33-years-old and very rich, having inherited millions from his family's construction business. He left the Republican Party and became a Democrat in 2011 for the same reason many, including me, did; he said he was "disgusted" with the right-wing Tea Party's dominance of the Republican Party. He won his congressional seat in Florida's 18th District by upsetting Tea Party-darling Allen Ford, an African-American ultra-conservative. He replaced Tea Party-darling Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as the 18th District's representative in Congress. {Ros-Lehtinen switched to the 27th District and, as a Bush-and-Tea Party-darling she has been in the U. S. Congress since 1989}. And now Murphy is a Democrat that is favored to win the Senate seat forfeited by Bush-and-Tea Party-darling Marco Rubio who decided to forfeit his one-term in the Senate in exchange for his failed presidential bid. So young Mr. Murphy is seeking to replace two of Miami's most visceral anti-Castro Cuban-Americans -- following Ros-Lehtinen in the 18th congressional District and now bidding to take Rubio's Senate seat. Murphy, by the way, was born in Miami 33 years ago and is a University of Miami graduate, but not a Cuban-American.

      Patrick Murphy's bid for one of Florida's two Senate seats is a BIG DEAL, and not just because he captured Ros-Lehtinen's old seat in the House of Representatives or because, as a Democrat, he is trying to capture Republican Marco Rubio's Senate seat. The Republican grasp of the U. S. Senate and Congress may end if Murphy wins the ongoing Florida race. And that's one reason why it is colossally important.

       Polls show that these two Democratic Representatives -- Patrick Murphy on the left and Alan Grayson -- are currently edging out five Republican candidates in the race for that omnipotent Senate seat. Grayson is interesting too. He is 58-years-old and a Harvard-educated lawyer who has confirmed...admitted, actually...to a net worth exceeding $31 million. Like Murphy, he honorably hates the Tea Party, which Grayson equates to the "Ku Klux Klan." And, oh yes, in addition to being a multi-millionaire Harvard lawyer, Grayson was born and reared in the Bronx, New York -- a long way from Miami! Murphy, who has inherited up to $5 million, is Miami-born and University of Miami-educated. Both hate the Tea Party. Neither is a Cuban-American trying to capture the Senate seat currently occupied by Cuban-American, Cuban-hardliner, and Tea Party-darling Marco Rubio. MAY THE BETTER DEMOCRAT WIN, because the Republican & Tea Party stranglehold on the U. S. Congress {which made ex-Republicans out of Murphy, me, and millions of others} is a disgrace to the U. S. democracy, as is the Bush/Tea Party/Cuban-American stranglehold on Florida politics. {Florida has a whopping 29 electoral votes that can decide presidential elections, even putting a man, Bush in 2000, in the White House even though his opponent got the MOST NATIONAL VOTES!}.

      Of the five Republicans running against the Democrats Murphy and Grayson, Ron DeSantis has the best chance of winning Florida's Senate seat that Marco Rubio is vacating. DeSantis has represented Florida's 6th District in the U. S. House of Representatives since 2013. He was born 37 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida. He graduated from Yale and then from Harvard Law School. Like Rubio, DeSantis is a Bush and Tea Party darling. Bush right-wing operatives like John Bolton are avid DeSantis supporters.

Ron DeSantis is a retired Lt. Commander in the U. S. Navy.

Rep. DeSantis is extremely conservative.

        Of course, Fox News and all the television-radio conservative propagandists love Ron DeSantis and want him to capture Marco Rubio's Senate seat for the Republicans. He is also strongly supported by the Bush dynasty, the Tea Party, and AIPAC, the omnipotent Israeli lobby. Rep. DeSantis is also vehemently against President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. In other words, Rep. DeSantis is not much different than Rubio when it comes to right-wing, bought-and-paid-for politics, which also means that, as an establishment-dandy, DeSantis is perhaps even more dangerous than the still-ambitious Rubio, whose approval in Florida, his home state, is 42% and where non-politician Trump overwhelmed him. 

       Carlos Beruff {photo courtesy of The Miami New Times} is a Cuban-American who was born in Miami 58 years ago. The building company he formed in 1984 has made him a very rich man. Back in February he announced his bid as a Republican to win the coveted Senate seat being vacated by fellow Miami-born Cuban-American Marco Rubio. A Quinnipiac poll shows that Beruff is a threat to emerge the winner.

      Carlos Beruff is known in the Miami-Bradenton area as "the Cuban Donald Trump."  They are both rich developers who had never run for public office prior to recognizing that Americans are totally fed-up with what they consider a rigged establishment in a bought-and-paid-for political system...so, hey!!...a non-politician that doesn't exude a bought-and-paid-for persona might win! Lo 'n behold, Beruff and Trump might be right. Beruff was at a Cuban bakery in Miami back on February 29th when he announced his bid to win Rubio's old Senate seat. Now he doesn't distance himself from the Trump phenomenon. On the Florida campaign trail, Mr. Beruff said, "I think Donald Trump has tapped into the dissatisfaction of the public."

      Florida's extremely important Senate race reminds me of a recent quotation from Sarah Stephens, the democracy-loving Founder and Leader of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas. Ms. Stephens -- for the sake of democracy, America and the region -- is perhaps America's most important advocate for a sane and decent Cuban policy, which she clearly considers insane and indecent because of decades-old laws easily pushed through a dysfunctional, bought-and-paid-for U. S. Congress. Ms. Stephens, undoubtedly, is keeping a quizative eye on that Senatorial race in Florida, and she is surely not unhappy with Rubio's exit but is probably wary of another Cuban-American, Beruff, getting it or another Tea-Party darling, DeSantis, getting it. As she gazes at Florida and at a U. S. Congress with an approval rating in the single digits, Ms. Stephens recently wrote: "Leaving America's Cuban policy in the hands of the U. S. Congress is like a child with a hammer who thinks everything is a nail." If you study that quote, I think you will realize why President Obama has listened very closely to Sarah Stephens as he tries to attach a degree of sanity and decency to America's Cuban policy. In other words, putting either DeSantis or Beruff in the U. S. Senate from Florida would be like giving them a hammer and telling them Cuba is a nail!!

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Embargo Madness

Another Half-Century?

       This photo was taken in Havana yesterday {May 11} by Alexandre Meneghhini for Reuters. It shows Doug Oberhelman getting ready to hold a news conference. Mr. Oberhelman is the CEO of Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of heavy equipment with headquarters in Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Oberhelman is among scores of U. S. business executives anxious to do business in Cuba. He loves Cuba's ultra-modern Mariel Port Economic Zone that received a billion-dollar upgrade and is a key to Cuba's economic future. Located 28 miles southwest of Havana, Mariel is, according to Mr. Oberhelman, "an efficient modern harbor that competes with others around the world." Mr. Oberhelman envisions a Caterpillar plant at the Mariel Port.

 A miffed Doug Oberhelman, the Caterpillar boss, was asked yesterday in Havana when he expects the U. S. embargo of Cuba to end. He said he didn't know but that "It can't come soon enough for me." That sentiment, of course, is echoed by CEOs in all 50 of America's states, but they too are victims, like collateral damage, of their nation's embargo against Cuba.

     Caroline McConnie is the top executive at Rimco, a company in the U. S. Territory of Puerto Rico. She says she is already begging the U. S. government to allow Rimco to sell Caterpillar products in Cuba under an agreement she has with Mr. Oberhelman.

      The U. S. embargo of Cuba has existed since 1962. President Obama's historic Executive Actions have sliced remarkably into many of its most onerous aspects but its removal is up to the U. S. Congress that, for many decades, mandated countless U. S. laws at the whims of a handful of self-serving and revengeful Cuban-Americans, many of whom are now second-generation billionaires. According to declassified U. S. documents, the embargo began in 1962 after assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack had failed to regain control of the island from the pugnacious Cuban Revolution. Those documents reveal that the embargo was designed to starve and deprive Cubans on the island to induce them to overthrow Castro. It's now the longest and cruelest embargo in history by a strong nation against a weaker one, an archaic relic opposed 191-to-2 by a yearly vote in the United Nations and one even opposed by most Cuban-Americans in Miami!! The embargo hasn't starved Cubans but it has surely deprived them, just as it would have deprived or might even overthrown nations much stronger than the Caribbean island -- Canada, for example. As Caterpillar's Doug Oberhelman and Rimco's Caroline McConnie attested yesterday, the embargo has deprived a lot of Americans too. Yet, Cuban hardliners and their sycophants in the U. S. Congress could care less. Their lushly funded propaganda machines continue to bellow about overthrowing Fidel Castro before he turns 90 on August 13th. And after Castro, they'll think of something else. The vast Castro Cottage Industry in the U. S. is flush with congressionally approved piggy banks providing unlimited streams of tax-dollars to a selected few, while shaming the U. S. worldwide.

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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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