Electing Trump President

The Media Might Do It!!

      Hey, stay tuned. You're at the right place. This is Cubaninsider, not American-insider. The confusion, though, is understandable because they are so intertwined and interchangeable. Therefore the Trump vs. Clinton presidential race in the U. S. means as much to Cubans as it does to Americans, maybe more. You see, a Republican in the White House aligned with a Republican Congress might mean war for Cuba or at least starvation. That's serious stuff, even more serious perhaps than what the various parameters will mean for Americans depending on whether the unpopular Mr. Trump or unpopular Mrs. Clinton wins.

    No, Trump vs. Clinton is not exactly a "Celebrity Death-match.

But it's surely not a Dream Match either. 

         And Trump vs. Clinton is not nearly as civil or democratic as this pastoral montage on Fox News would have you believe. They are vicious, cut-throat opponents with no-holds barred, to say the very least.

     Donald {The Billionaire Boss} or Hillary {For Prison} Clinton is certainly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the great American democracy they so skillfully crafted. They never envisioned their two-party system presenting U. S. voters with a lessor-of-two-evils proposition. Both Trump and Clinton have loud disapproval ratings. If Americans are beside themselves as they ponder the diabolical development, just think how the Cubans must feel. War, you see, from the shores of a nearby superpower is not a pretty prospect for an island. And neither is starvation that might yet embroil the island thanks to the Republican/Cuban exile embargo that continues to this very day and was first enacted in 1962 for the stated purpose, according to declassified U. S. documents, of starving and depriving Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow Fidel Castro. That policy has starved and deprived the U. S. democracy but not the now 90-year-old Castro. Nor has it starved the Cuban people, but it has deprived them as well as the vastly weakened U. S. democracy,  which is seemingly incapable of correcting the self-mutilating humiliation and may yet starve the Cuban people with the continuation of what already is the longest and cruelest embargo ever imposed by a powerful nation against a weak one.

       President Obama deserves a third term in office based on the unique courage, guts and skill he has displayed in at least trying to bring a modicum of democracy and decency to America's Cuban policy, which for over half-a-century has greatly enhanced little Cuba's standing on the world stage while vastly diminishing the images of both America and democracy. The chest-pumping propagandists will tell you that is not so but they have also told you that the Oct.-1976 terrorist bombing of the child-laden Cuban civilian airplane was "the biggest blow yet against Castro" and they have told you that the 191-to-2 yearly pro-Cuba/anti-U. S. vote in the UN each October is "a huge positive for America and democracy." And you are supposed to believe such lies because those chest-pumpers believe you are either stupid or scared. In a rarity for two-term and grossly-targeted Presidents, Obama is finishing up with a positive approval rating. As the graphic above indicates, Hillary Clinton -- in Obama's shadow -- is trying to essentially provide the 3rd term to his legacy. Cuba would like that but, even though her opponent is the unqualified Mr. Trump, Cuba is likely to be disappointed, meaning it might have to prepare yet again for...war or starvation.

       Even after Donald Trump eliminated 16 contenders and captured the Republican nomination for President at the convention in Cleveland, no one actually thought he could possibly beat his highly financed, politically established Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Yet, in these waning days of September it appears he might well become the leader of the free world. Understand, I am not an expert on U. S. politics, but I am also not a propagandist. I'm just an everyday American...and voter. I don't think Donald Trump is qualified to be President of the United States. But I will vote for him despite concern for Cuba. An extremely biased and self-serving U. S. media -- the highly financed broadcast, print and online industries -- have combined to make my decision for me, and I believe millions of others agree with me.

     Study this photo montage: Donald Trump on the left, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough on his right. Mika and Joe host the "Morning Joe" program on MSNBC each weekday morning 6 to 8 A. M. It is strictly a politically oriented program that is watched by diehard political aficionados. With all of its other extreme left-wing "news" programs, MSNBC and its billionaire NBC owners apparently insist that "Morning Joe" be nothing more and nothing less than an anti-Trump propaganda machine. Mika was born in New York City 49 years ago. Her dad, 88-year-old Zbigniew Brzezinski, served the Johnson and Carter administrations well and, as a political scientist, still serves democracy well. Joe is a former Republican U. S. Congressman from Florida. Each morning...hour after hour, day after day...on what is supposed to be a news program they excoriate Trump, like all the other MSNBC anchors do. In doing so, Mika particularly is hilarious -- spitting out endless streams of anti-Trump vitriol literally with fire and sometimes with tears in her eyes. When I watch the odd spectacle, it's for show or general observation and certainly not for its political news content.

      In the early going, as this graphic indicates, Donald Trump regularly phoned in to "Morning Joe" and both Mika and Joe seemed to relish the fact that the calls increased their ratings. During this period, Mika and Joe even seemed to forget their mission, which is to destroy Trump politically. Even if I agreed philosophically with them, as a democracy-lover I do not think the media should be a propaganda machine.

       Being media-savvy, Trump early-on used Mika and Joe as unwitting tools to get free publicity via his phone calls to "Morning Joe." But otherwise their anti-trump vitriol and shenanigans soured him and he not only ceased the call-ins but punched back...viciously and effectively. Mika and Joe, like much of the mainstream media, actually seem to think that the mainstream media is highly regarded by Americans. Trump takes advantage of the fact that it is lightly regarded with approval ratings in the single digits.

     Trump is also a natural-born heavyweight counter-puncher. As this graphic notes, after taking a barrage of assaults each morning from Mika and Joe, Trump used the Trump-friendly media to punch back, along with his favorite tool or weapon -- Twitter. Trump can identify left-wing, right-wing, middle-of-the-road, extreme or moderate media. He thus knows which to ride and which one to jump off. For sure, Trump jumped off Mika & Joe on MSNBC but not without looking around carefully to find better horses to ride.

      Trump then jumped on the biggest and fastest horse -- at least as far as influential, passionate network news operations are concerned -- and that meant Fox News. With rare exceptions, Fox is now the only network you will see Trump personally visit, as above on the set with Trump-supporter Sean Hannity.

         Sean Hannity is so unabashedly for Trump he campaigns for him -- on his Fox prime-time program and his much-listened-to nationally syndicated radio program. In the above poster you can see that Hannity hosted Trump at an extravaganza in Las Vegas. Hannity is also one of America's richest broadcasters. He has used and paid for expensive jets to fly Trump surrogates to functions around the nation. Sure, Hannity is not from the Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow School of Broadcast Journalism, but as a propaganda machine he epitomizes exactly what broadcast journalism has evolved into. While neither Trump nor the Republican Party will match Clinton and the Democrats by spending up to a billion dollars in expensive and strategic ads, Trump's better comprehension of the media offsets that financial disadvantage. Also, the Mika-like anti-Trump propaganda tirades benefit Trump while the Hannity-like pro-Trump crusades at least appear more sincere and more transparent. Mika's obfuscation in dispensing left-wing propaganda is more offensive than Sean Hannity's unhidden, obvious right-wing propaganda.

So, that brings us to this image from CNN, which -- as you can see -- juxtaposes a photo of Fox's Sean Hannity with Donald Trump above the glaring critique: "HANNITY DIDN'T QUESTION TRUMP'S 'RIGGED' CLAIM." What have we here? Well, it's typical...really. An anti-Trump propaganda network criticizing a pro-Trump propaganda network. If I want left-wing propaganda, I go to MSNBC. If I want right-wing propaganda, I go to Fox. If I just want politically and socially correct middle-of-the-road propaganda, I go to CNN.

      If I want BREAKING NEWS apart from propaganda or politics, I go to CNN. In its regular news coverage, even CNN is fixated on propaganda dispensed ad nauseam via one obnoxious Talking Head pundit after the other, exactly what its visionary founder Ted Turner detested. At the same time, CNN possesses the best worldwide connections and broadcast journalists. Amazingly, that is most apparent only on BREAKING NEWS and in the wee hours...like 4:00 A. M. Eastern...when it utilizes truly great journalists such as Arwa Damon, Atika Shubert, Zain Asher, Max Foster, Matthew Chance, Jim Bittermann, etc., on non-breaking but vitally important stories. Any of those great and true broadcast journalists are worth more than the total of all of television's Talking Head pundits and propagandists. News should be news, not propaganda. 

And guess what??

       As a newshound and night-owl, I checked CNN at my favorite time, 4:00 A. M., this very morning as I was finishing this essay about how a propaganda-fueled, money-crazed, and Talking Head-saturated broadcast media might make Donald Trump the next President of the United States because many Americans see through self-serving, distorted mazes. I used the slants of "Morning Joe's" insipid and persistent anti-Trump rants to illustrate my point. Then I was hit with the above CNN photos of Joe Scarborough and Donald Trump illustrating a report by Dylan Byers entitled: "Scarborough, Trump Look to Repair Relations" with the sub-title: "Joe Scarborough Wants to Make Nice with Donald Trump." Does that surprise me? Not in the least. Joe wants the ratings and Donald wants the publicity. That defines "news" in 2016.

        And remember when America's brave and decent President, Mr. Obama, earlier this year became the first sitting U. S. President to visit Cuba since Herbert Hoover arrived on a warship in 1928?? While in Cuba President Obama felt it was necessary to assure the Cuban people that: "Cuba does not need to fear a threat from the United States." But Obama is a Democrat and at the time he believed that another Democrat, Hillary Clinton, would succeed him as President and as Commander-in-Chief. Would Obama have made that statement in Cuba if he felt a Republican would succeed him? I don't think so. And now, perhaps, understand why I said that my Cubaninsider.com essays would be the same if they were Americaninsider.com essays. Cuba, you see, says more about the United States than it says about Cuba.

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A Caribbean Struggle

That Includes Cuba 

        Back in September of 1961, as this Wikipedia graphic notes, the first Summit of Non-Aligned Nations was held in Belgrade. Developing nations not wanting to be caught in the vice between the two superpowers -- the U. S. and the Soviet Union -- created an alignment designed to protect individual nations by enhancing their collective assets and power. More or less, it has had an impact in the decades since 1961. In recent years there have been 120 member nations with 15 observer nations. India was a key founder and Cuba, given a huge boost on the international stage by the startling victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, has remained a major player in advocating for developing and non-aligned nations.

      This past weekend -- September 17 & 18, 2016 -- Venezuela was the host nation for the 2016 Non-Aligned Summit. It was held in the city of Porlamar on Venezuela's Caribbean island, Margarita. In the photo above that is Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro flanked on his left by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and on his right by Iran's Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani. In past Summits, the heads of many nations attended, especially Cuba's Fidel Castro and the various leaders of India, which was a co-founder of the Non-Aligned Summit. This past weekend the member and observer nations were represented but only twelve top leaders were on hand -- including the three aforementioned heads of state as well as Cuba's Raul Castro. This and the next five photos from the Summit are courtesy of REUTERS and Marco Bello.

       This past weekend's Non-Aligned Summit was dominated by Cuba's Raul Castro and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, shown above on Margarita Island. For only the second time since 1961, the top leader of India, the world's most populated democracy, was not on hand and India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi was a glaring no-show. Maduro -- precariously hanging on as Venezuela's leader as the country experiences grave economic problems, runaway inflation and crime -- set the tone with statements such as this: "Venezuela is facing an onslaught that is against all Latin American and Caribbean nations." He accused the United States of "trying to re-impose and re-colonize the politics, economy, cultures and life of our countries." Despite the historic thaw in the U.S.-Cuban relations orchestrated via negotiations with President Obama's administration, President Castro at the Margarita summit echoed Maduro's charge: "Obama seems trustworthy but he will soon be replaced while Miami still controls Congress as far as we -- the Caribbean and Latin American nations -- are concerned." Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador were among those who strongly supported the viewpoints of Maduro and Castro. All of them agreed that the recent impeachment of two-term President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil was "foreign-influenced." Morales in particular noted that "the foreign, meaning U. S., problems former Argentina President Cristina Fernandez experienced is now being visited on me, and others." Meanwhile, Castro confirmed that Cuba's economy is "currently precarious" because of "the U. S. embargo that has persisted since 1962 and now because actions against our friends in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere impact Cuba so much. The U. S. embargo against us, you all should know, also includes continuous punitive measures against our best friends." 

      This photo taken Saturday shows leaders at the Non-Aligned Summit on Venezuela's Caribbean island. But there were only 12 heads of state at this 17th Summit as compared to 35 at the previous one. Venezuela's dire economic and political problems are cited as the cause for the diminished participation.

      This is Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on the right greeting Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. They made sure oil prices were a key topic at this Non-Aligned Summit. Venezuela remains a very powerful OPEC member and has the world's largest known oil reserves, which Maduro said "Makes us an imperialist target." Ecuador is OPEC's smallest member nation. Today -- Monday, September 19th -- a major REUTERS article said, "Oil prices rose in Asian trade markets Monday after Venezuelan President Maduro said over the weekend that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching an output stabilizing deal."  

  President Maduro with Iran's President Rouhani.

  Presidents Castro and Maduro at the Summit.

      Born 44-years-ago in Caracas, Henriques Capriles is widely viewed as the next President of Venezuela when Maduro leaves office or is ousted. Capriles made fun of Maduro after only 12 heads of state attended this past weekend's Non-Aligned Summit on Venezuela's Margarita Island. REUTERS quoted Capriles as saying, "Millions of dollars of Venezuelans' money was spent for the government's ego, and many of the countries didn't come to the show." After the death from cancer of President Hugo Chavez, Capriles lost a narrow presidential election to Maduro on April 14, 2013. Capriles has been the powerful Governor of Miranda state since 2008. Both Chavez and Maduro have accused Capriles of being encouraged by Miami and the George W. Bush administration to support the 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Chavez. While Maduro, like Chavez, will always be strongly pro-Cuba, observers agree that a Capriles presidency in oil-rich Venezuela would be strongly anti-Cuban and strongly pro-American. So what happens in Venezuela -- especially now that pro-Cuban presidents Cristina Fernandez in Argentina and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil have recently been replaced by pro-U. S. leaders, is very important to the island of Cuba...and to the U. S.

Margarita Island is northeast of Caracas {see above}.

Cuban Friends.

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Donald Trump Hates Cuba

At least when he's in Miami!!

      The Getty Images photo above was used by Politico to show Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump making a speech in Miami this hot mid-September weekend. The Politico article was written by Marc Caputo and featured this headline: "In Miami, Trump Morphs Back Into A Cuban Hardliner." Considering the alarming depths that define the current status of U. S politics, the cowardly morphing by Mr. Trump in Miami is no surprise. Earlier he had bravely said that he was "fine" with President Obama's historic and decent efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. Mr. Trump, away from Miami, famously maintained, "Fifty years of a failed policy is enough." Then this weekend in Florida his two-faced cowardice surfaced when he lambasted Cuba and Obama with words designed to appease only the anti-Castro zealots in Miami.

          The aforementioned article was written by Marc Caputo who recently left the Miami Herald to join Politico. In reporting how Trump morphed his Cuban position to win the applause and hopefully the votes and donations of Miami's Cuban hardliners, Caputo pointed out how politically correct but also how cowardly that reversal of his Cuban position was. Also, it pointed out that politicians like Trump routinely court special interest money while ignoring majority opinion, which used to account for something in the U. S. democracy. Caputo explained that the majority of Cuban-Americans even in Miami-Dade County support Obama's Cuban policy, not that of the Cuban hardliners. And Caputo wrote about: "Miami-Dade County's changing Cuban-American community...where 54 percent now favor lifting the sanctions in a new poll." 

        A democracy-loving Cuban-American businessman in Miami, Hugo Cancio, is fed-up with what he calls "the lack of democracy in Miami and Washington political circles, where it seems only money and power rules." He says, "Romney, the Bush people, now Trump...they all flock to Miami to say only what the Cuban hardliners want to hear and totally ignore what the majority of Cuban-Americans, moderates like me, think. To a growing number of Americans and Cuban-Americans, we think that it's time for democracy to be applied to America's Cuban policy. In near-unanimity next month in the United Nations, the entire world will say the same thing, yet again. I'm Cuban but American. I'm tired of the fact that the mere mention of 'Cuba' around the world demeans America and democracy, not because of Castro but because of U. S. politics." In other words, ponder who had the most guts in defense of democracy in Miami this weekend, Donald Trump or Hugo Cancio?

        Hugo Cancio, by the way, is an interesting, gutsy fellow. He was born in Havana 52-years-ago and his mom brought him to Miami during the famed 1980 Mariel Boatlift. He has a myriad of businesses in Miami and Cuba, with offices in both places, and divides his time between his two beloved countries. A Reuters article written by David Adams said, "Passionate about his homeland, Cancio has had a rocky relationship with the Cuban government and with other exiles in Miami." He was once banned from Cuba when he criticized a crackdown on dissidents, but his business ties, which include music promotions and publishing, are substantial in both Miami and Havana. He promoted Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez's sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall and Cuban singer Pablo Milanes' successful and highly publicized but protested concert in Miami. The moderate Cuban-Americans in Miami, now in the majority, strongly support Cancio, as do U. S. companies needing his unique insight regarding business prospects in Cuba. When American television host Conan O'Brien, for example, aired his show from Cuba, Cancio helped.

       Hugo Cancio publishes OnCuba magazine in both Miami and Havana. This and the next two photos were taken by Yuris Norido for OnCuba from the window of a train that was passing through rural Cuba.

A young Cuban man outside the passing train's window.

A young Cuban girl outside the passing train's window.

Miami {"Little Havana"} still lurks northeast of Havana.
Hugo Cancio has very close ties to both cities.

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The Ranting Senator Rubio

Why Not President Rubio?

Or King Rubio?
{Updated: Saturday, September 17th, 2016}

       The image above shows Senator Marco Rubio ranting and raving on the Senate floor this week -- on Sept. 15, 2016 -- in a puerile, revengeful and stupidly misguided tirade against President Obama and, of course, Cuba. This photo was used in a report by J. J. Gallagher that was aired on ABC's Good Morning America and its sister tie-in Yahoo News. Mr. Gallagher began his report with these words: "Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida excoriated the TSA and the Obama administration on the Senate floor yesterday." BEAUTIFUL! Rubio's excoriation was because he blames the Transportation Security Administration and President Obama for the fact that, for the first time since 1961, commercial airplane flights from the U. S. to Cuba resumed on August 31st, 2016. The commercial flight by jetBlue represented one more slice that the brave and decent President Obama has taken out of a devastating {for innocent Cubans and innocent Americans} U. S. Cuban policy dictated by remnants of the Batista-Mafia dictatorship that was overthrown on Jan. 1-1959 with much of that leadership quickly and, it seems, permanently regrouping on U. S. soil, mainly Rubio's Miami environs. For over half-a-century -- during unending but unsuccessful efforts to regain control of Cuba -- Rubio and his ilk are not accustomed to being challenged by the American people, the media or surely not a President with the skill, decency and bravery of Mr. Obama.

      Marco Rubio is finishing his first 6-year term in the U. S. Senate. Being an anti-Castro Cuban-American zealot from Miami -- along with the obligatory connections with the Bush dynasty and the Tea Party -- constituted his prime credentials. He hit the Senate floor running for President and had the worst voting record among all the Senators because of his torrid presidential ambitions and fund-raising. Asked about his uniquely infrequent votes, he slammed Congress for not getting anything done. Rubio's one signature bill, related to immigration, was a laughable joke. His other headlines, apart from his presidential aspirations, concerned his rants and raves about shutting down the government and, the day he became President, to begin turning back all of President Obama's positive overtures to Cuba. The fact that polls show that most Cuban-Americans, even in Miami, favor Obama's Cuban policy over his was/is, of course, inconsequential. Since when do everyday Americans or everyday Cuban-Americans have a voice in politics? In the Republican presidential primary Rubio was flush with money and backed by a fawning media but got wiped out by Chris Christie in the debates and by Donald Trump in his own home-state primary in Florida, after which Rubio quit the presidential race. He announced to the world that he would then not seek reelection to the Senate. That soon turned into another Rubio distortion because, apparently, he belatedly realized he needed the Senate exposure to seek the 2020 Republican presidential nomination.

          While Rubio's lavishly funded and media-propelled presidential bid unceremoniously petered out in 2016, there is no doubt he will have plenty of money and ample fawning media exposure to make another White House bid in 2020 and certainly more-than-enough money to retain his Florida Senate seat.

      Rubio's taste for money-burgers is legendary among America's most famed conservative and right-wing multi-multi-multi billionaires who, to the chagrin of most democracy-loving Americans, appear to have an easy path to purchasing the basic fabrics of the U. S. government, especially since an incredible 2010 Supreme Court ruling that permits unlimited political donations. Uniquely in America, presidential and even key Senatorial races become billion-dollar money-grabs, with the whims of a few billionaires seeming to circumvent and take precedence over the collective votes of millions of not-so-rich individuals. The multi-multi-multi billionaire on the right in the above montage, Mr. Koch, has made sure that one of his political PAC machines has sent tens of millions of dollars to Florida to back Rubio's reelection to the Senate. So really, who do you think is going to win that money-crazed Senate race in Florida? 

       Patrick Murphy is the Democrat running a losing campaign against incumbent Republican Marco Rubio in the current race to represent Florida in the U. S. Senate. Murphy was a Republican himself till he felt it was taken over by the Tea Party, then he became a Democrat. Murphy's family is very, very, very rich but he's a pauper compared to Rubio's prime financial supporters.

    A major article available online and written by notable investigative journalist Ken Silverstein is entitled: "I Am For Sale******Call Marco Rubio." In the long essay Silverstein uses well-known names, places, and little-known Rubio associations that are chilling and, it would seem, devastating to a political career.  But we have entered into a period in American history in which most Americans agree that money talks...and votes! If that were not so, America's two-party political system would not presently have a presidential race in which both candidates have extremely high unfavorable ratings and a Senate race in Florida wouldn't have millions of dollars flooding in from out-of-state billionaires. So...let's see?..."who do we vote for, Martha? The lesser of two evils...or not at all...or...why don't we just go on a long cruise. Martha, uh, you always wanted to take a cruise..." 

       This photo is a personification of Marco Rubio's first six years in the Senate and, most likely, is a harbinger of his next six-year term...uh, 4 years because of the 2020 presidential race, which also probably means he'll set another record for not even being on hand in the Senate to vote but often on hand to "excoriate" anyone who tries to challenge his dire plans for Cuba. The lady in the orange jacket casting an evil eye and sarcastic grin at Rubio as she judiciously walks by is Roberta Jacobson. She is an absolutely brilliant U. S. diplomat. She represented President Obama and the U. S. in all four of the diplomatic sessions with her Cuban counterpart Josefina Vidal. When she skillfully finished that task, Mr. Obama nominated her to the vital post as U. S. Ambassador to Mexico, a vacant and badly needed position that everyone it seems felt she was the most qualified to fill. Everyone except Rubio and a few other anti-Castro zealots who sought revenge against Ms. Jacobson and the U. S. for her diplomatic achievements related to Cuba. Week-after-week-after-week Rubio used his Senatorial power and his petty whims to block Ms. Jacobson's badly needed Ambassadorship to Mexico. If Rubio has a single political achievement {other than being a mega-fundraiser} to balance out his self-serving pettiness, I'm trying to find out what that achievement might be. 

 And by the way: 

         Just in the last few days I have read four major articles, including two in USA Today, about the U. S. television networks massively fighting the surge of Ad Blockers. Then the Associated Press had a major article entitled: "Facebook Blocks Users From Blocking Ads." Those four articles resonated with me because of another article about a caring mother in Minnesota who didn't use an Ad Blocker on her television but, because she had two sub-teen daughters, she always made sure she kept the remote handy so she could instantly hit the mute button or change channels when the commercials came on. But one night when the two girls were in the living room watching television...they weren't allowed to have televisions in their rooms...the mother had misplaced the remote. Thus the commercial depicted above popped on the screen...the commercial she had come to fear the most. The mother scrambled frantically to find the remote...in the couch, on the floor...but to no avail. The entire 30-second commercial screamed across the room. It salaciously highlighted celebrity-comedian Neil Patrick Harris repetitiously shouting the phase "flipping another man's meat" in the ad for Heineken beer. The frantic mother heard the audio as, on her hands and knees, she finally found the remote...but too late. As she cut off the television entirely, she stared in horror at her 11-year-old daughter whose facial expression and gestures revealed she was stunned by the ad, which the mother correctly labeled "pornographic filth." She chastised herself for not being able, that one time, to protect her pre-teen daughter...in her own home...from that assault from pornographic filth being the prime feature of a primetime ad that eluded the mother's defenses.

        The gripping article about the Minnesota mother who tried so hard to protect her daughters from the Heineken beer ad, also referenced the same celebrity-comedian salesman being almost naked while hosting the prime-time 2015 Academy Awards. I believe that Minnesota mother, and millions of others, would also call this "pornographic filth." MY POINT IS THIS...and I am not a prude: If the television networks and online billionaire profiteers want to scream about doing away with Ad Blockers, I believe they should first do away with the pornographic filth they insist on saturating American homes with, such as that mother's living room in Minnesota. Billions of dollars, political power and monopolistic privileges do not make unwanted assaults from pornographic filth right. That mother in Minnesota, and millions like her, are right. They need and deserve Ad Blockers in case their remotes are not always at their fingertips.

       In past decades in America, pornographic ads like this one sold a passel of Kent Cigarettes and other harmful products, not so unlike the Neil Patrick Harris ad sells Heineken beer now.

      This ad seems to be selling pizza, pornography and Heineken beer. The pornographic cigarette ads ended, I assume, because of the proven health risks from smoking cigarettes, not from the fact that the tobacco companies ran out of money or the ad agencies or celebrity endorsers suddenly developed a flair for decency or respect for others. There are, for sure, a plethora of readily available pornographic avenues but that unfortunate fact-of-life should not include direct paths right into the unsuspecting or helpless living rooms of decent, innocent people like that mother in Minnesota who deserves the right to protect her pre-teen daughters as she sees fit and also to partake of primetime entertainment if she so chooses. In other words, that mother in Minnesota deserves an Ad Blocker to assist her remote control even if the billionaires who own the networks, the online behemoths, and the politicians want to assault her.

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NO U. S. Problems

Except Cuba, of course!!

          John Katko is a fierce anti-Cuban zealot from New York. Unfortunately he is in the U. S. Congress. Yesterday -- Sept. 14-2016, as shown in this C-Span image -- Mr. Katko spent an inordinate amount of America's valuable congressional time berating and bullying the over-matched Huban Gowadia, the Deputy Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. Mr. Katko was and is outraged that back on August 31st jetBlue made the first commercial flight to Cuba since 1961. Still fuming about that historic breakthrough, Mr. Katko excoriated Mr. Gowadia because the TWA didn't have nearly enough {or any} armed Air Marshals on the flight to the forbidden Caribbean island. Mr. Katko bellowed, "You misled the American public when you issued that press release saying it was going to be on select Cuban flights! Not having Air Marshals on Cuban flights is not a good idea! We need collaboration instead of obfuscation!!"    

    What "we DO need" is collaboration to expose the congressional obfuscation related to the endless decades of punishing innocent Cubans on the island in the guise of "hurting CASTRO" or in the even more transparent guises of enriching and empowering anti-Castro zealots in the United States. As far as a small but definitive and usually unchallenged band in the U. S. Congress is concerned, Cuba is by far America's biggest problem, far ahead of the combined threats posed by ISIS, Zika, natural disasters, crime-ridden U. S. cities, a dilapidated infrastructure, the heroin epidemic, the current 8-day military exercises teaming Russia with China in the volatile South China Sea, the vast disparity between the rich and poor in the U. S., North Korea's increasing nuclear threat, etc., etc. "Let's forget all these minor problems and concentrate our time, resources, and energy on recapturing Cuba!!" Mr. Katko is one reason Congress has an approval rating in the single digits, according to a recent poll, but it seems irredeemable because Americans across 50 states, including most of New York, can't vote to boot the likes of Mr. John Katko off the public payrolls...as least far enough away from Washington so Congress can at least get a double-digit approval rating. 

And by the way:

       This is the best comment I've seen on the sex scandal that is roiling the Fox News Network. The talented artist is Marc Murphy, the truly great Editorial Cartoonist for The Louisville Courier-Journal.

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