Unchecked, UNPUNISHED, UnAmerican??
{Updated: Wednesday, January 16th, 2019}
This photo was two days ago -- Jan. 14th, 2019 -- by David McAlpine and it has gone viral around the world a few times via the journalistic media and especially social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. It shows the controversial but entrenched Senator from New Jersey, Bob Menendez, on a plush beach in Puerto Rico. This was on Day 22 of the U. S. government shutdown and just a few days after Menendez -- a notorious Counter Revolutionary Cuban-American -- had co-sponsored YET ANOTHER bill in the Senate aimed at tightening the already stifling and cruel U. S. embargo against Cubans on the island. Even more INCREDIBLE than all that, the photo above shows how brazenly Menendez flaunts his incumbency in the U. S. Senate amidst scandals in the Caribbean involving females that are only a part of what the federal government has tried for years to put MENENDEZ in prison for.
In 2017, after years of expensive investigations, the United States government put Senator Bob Menendez on trial charged with a litany of corruption and bribery charges.
Above are some of the charges against Sen. Menendez, but those three white boxes being carried by federal prosecutors contained vast amounts of more serious charges against one of America's long-time most powerful anti-Cuban Cubans.
The tabloids loved the FBI's reports on Sen. Menendez's involvements with female scandals in the Caribbean and Latin America, especially in the Dominican Republic with ties to a multi-millionaire Miami donor and a convicted criminal. The blocked-off portion in the lower-right starts off with this sentence: "Sen. Robert Menendez knows how to keep his friends happy."
The above headline was the worst.
The convicted Miami multi-millionaire donor, among other things, supposedly wanted Senator Menendez's help in getting his Latin American girlfriends legally into the United States and Menendez complied according to the federal charges. The Miami donor also allegedly and successfully solicited Menendez's help in the Senate to ease federal Medicare charges against him.
The myriad of FBI charges against Senator Menendez boggled the minds of democracy-lovers who have long cringed over how in the world Menendez, even being from New Jersey, could maintain his incredibly lucrative and anti-Cuban role in the U. S. Senate for decades.
The FBI and Federal prosecutors had spent fortunes in tax dollars trying to put Senator Menendez in prison "for up to 15 years."
But entrenched incumbents in the U. S. Congress who will do the bidding of rich donors can afford to hire America's most expensive lawyers as indicated by the graphic above showing just one of Menendez's extremely high-priced lawyers. Also, of course, the Menendez trial was held in Menendez's New Jersery backyard.
Despite the exhaustive realm of FBI evidence against Senator Menendez, even CNN pointed out it would be almost impossible to convict Menendez in a New Jersey Federal Court. CNN, as you can see above, also pointed out that SCOTUS -- the SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES -- had blessed Menendez and others like him when it ruled that billionaires could make unlimited political donations, a distortion of Democracy that exists to this day.
So, after years of extensive FBI investigations and then months of the exhaustive trial, Senator Bob Menendez was spared what could have been a long prison sentence BECAUSE OF A HUNG JURY and not because of being found not guilty. At first the federal government announced it would retry the case, but it changed its mind considering the expense and the likelihood of another hung-jury verdict.
Like other extreme Counter Revolutionary Cubans from New Jersey and Florida who become entrenched anti-Cuban zealots in the U. S. Congress, Senator Bob Menendez has seemingly been entrenched forever in the Senate as a powerful anti-Cuban zealot. Study the photo above. In 1996 a brave President Clinton was known to be about to normalize relations with Cuba...but Counter Revolutionary zealots not only changed his mind but a very scared President Clinton ended up signing the extremely cruel Helms-Burton Act that remains today the prime tool used to punish Cubans on the island via the Economic Embargo and other insanely cruel BUT LEGAL U. S. laws. As you see above, after reluctantly signing Helms-Burton into law, a scared President Clinton looked up at -- YOU GUESSED IT, Bob Menendez!! The U. S. Congressman next to the bespectacled Menendez was Havana-born Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the son of a Minister in the Batista dictatorship and to this day Lincoln's brother Mario remains a fierce Counter Revolutionary member of the U. S. Congress from Miami. And yes, the saga of Bob Menendez shames America and Democracy and nothing is more evident of that than the Cuban-Americans who are allowed to dictate America's sordid Cuban policies decade after decade. After the hung-jury verdict in New Jersey, Bob Menendez, OR COURSE, was re-elected to another six-year term in the United States Senate. So, America's Cuban shame enters a 7th decade and the vaunted U. S. democracy seems totally unable to deal with it!!
When extreme Counter Revolutionary Cubans like Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez, and Mario Diaz-Balart are incumbents forever in the U. S. Congress {if they so desire} because they come from Batistiano havens in Florida and New Jersey, the United States democracy can be extremely lucrative for a a few but extremely skewered for most.
When the likes of Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Bob Menendez can entrench themselves permanently in the U. S. Congress and dictate America's Cuban laws to suit their whims as well as their economic and political fortunes, they can also empower people like Berta Soler, who is Havana's most famed Counter Revolutionary force.
And this week -- Jan. 14-2019 -- this photo went viral around the world showing Menendez flaunting his power on a lush excursion in Puerto Rico -- courtesy of a powerful Hispanic group that is a HUGE donor to Menendez's political career. This cozy event for Menendez took place during the longest partial government shutout in history, which is hurting millions of Americans, and it comes just days after Menendez co-sponsored with Miami's controversial Senator Marco Rubio yet another LET'S PUNISH CUBANS ON THE ISLAND bill. Of course, with huge and unlimited dollars and tens-of-thousands of money-crazed lobbyists in Washington, legalizing anti-Cuban cruelty in the U. S. Congress is easy -- "Hey, Senator, you support my Cuban bill and I'll support your Bridge to Nowhere bill. Then our donors will be happy and we'll be filthy rich forever." A wonderful system, right? And that CNN graphic, which pointed out the Supreme Court's ruling that gave greedy billionaires the big edge in American politics, is a key reason people like Bob Menendez remain incumbent powers in Washington.
And Meanwhile:
The very day this week -- Jan. 14, 2019 -- that the controversial Bob Menendez photo was taken in Puerto Rico, this photo was taken in Havana on the fiercely and unfairly targeted island of Cuba. It shows the togetherness of a mother-daughter -- Rosy Amaro and 5-year-old Mariana -- enjoying fun and excitement. Three generations of Cuban women -- including this mother-and-daughter plus Rosy's mother Carmen -- have been punished since 1962 by the U. S. economic embargo that, according to de-classified U. S. documents, was intended to starve, deprive, and make miserable the lives of everyday Cubans on the island to induce them to rise up and overthrow their revolutionary government. And then what? A return of the brutal-thieving Batistianos, Mafiosi, and greedy U. S. businessmen? Carmen told Rosy and Rosy has already told Mariana about the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship. And for that reason, three generations of Cubans have, somehow, considered the sovereignty of their vulnerable island priceless. Bob Menendez in the USA is backed by the Superpower U. S. government, the world's all-time richest treasury, and the world's all-time strongest military...plus a cowardly mainstream U. S. media and an equally cowardly U. S. citizenry. Rosy Amaro on the nearby island is backed by her knowledge of the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship. Thus, entering a 7th decade now, it's still a stand-off regarding whether, when or if the current Batistianos in Miami, Newark, and Washington will reclaim the island.