Hurt Americans to Hurt Cuba

 Obama Tries to Stop It 
{Updated: Wednesday, August 24th, 2016}

         The great British news agency, Reuters, used the above image this week -- Monday, August 22nd, 2016 -- to explain what U. S. President Obama is trying to do in his herculean attempt to normalize relations with Cuba: Obama wants to correct a longstanding U.S. Cuban policy that, while created to hurt Cuba and bring about regime-change on the island, also hurts not only America's image worldwide but also directly hurts Americans in many ways. Of course, two generations of propagandized Americans since the 1950s are not supposed to be brave enough or smart enough to comprehend that. And, of course, the handful of vicious, self-serving and revengeful Cuban-Americans -- and their easily acquired handful of sycophants in the U. S. Congress -- don't give a damn about America's image or about hurting Americans in order to hurt Cuba.

              This week A T & T announced that it has signed a deal with Cuba's Etecsa telecom provider so A T & T can offer direct roaming services to its customers when they visit Cuba, which is much easier now, thanks to Obama, than it has been in almost six decades. Prior to Obama any such services had to be routed between other countries if Americans in Cuba wanted to make phone calls, etc. That sharply reduced the quality and was much more expensive. Other prime U. S. carriers -- Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile -- had already signed such deals with Cuba. And those are big deals because, in addition to helping Cubans on the island, they ALSO HELP AMERICANS. While that may displease a few Cuban-American hardliners and their most eager supporters, it reflects how President Obama is trying to change and ease a Cuban policy that hurts innocent Cubans, Americans and America's best friends all around the world.

       President Obama's extremely brave and astute efforts to correct six decades of a debilitating anti-Cuban policy that is actually more anti-American than anything else has a multitude of decent parameters -- including jobs for Americans. It is known that, as he embarked on his majestic Cuban policy, he made a pertinent comment to his key adviser {wife Michelle} that closely resembled these words: "Honey, if Americans had an inkling as to how our Cuban policy angers our friends and delights our enemies, maybe they would insist that it be changed. Or if they had any inkling as to how much of their tax dollars for decades have been devoted to regime-change programs and anti-Cuban propaganda vessels such as Miami's Marti broadcasts, maybe they would insist that it be changed." That lament, according to an Obama confidant, was for Michelle's ears only. She listened intently and then offered this sage advice: "Then go to it. You've been saying that to me for two years. Congress is Congress but you are the President." The next morning -- a December morning in 2014 at the White House -- President Obama began heeding his best adviser's advice.

A very smart, caring, and patriotic First Lady.

      In just a few days -- on August 31st -- jetBlue Airlines will register another huge Obama-orchestrated step in his dramatic efforts to defy Congress and normalize relations with Cuba, another historic move that will help both Americans and Cubans. Since 1962 the U. S. embargo has prevented commercial flights from the U. S. to Cuba. On August 31st a jetBlue commercial plane will depart from Fort Lauderdale and land in Santa Clara, Cuba!!! That's BIG news, so permit me to repeat it: ON AUGUST 31ST A jetBlue COMMERCIAL AIRPLANE WILL DEPART FROM FORT LAUDERDALE AND LAND IN SANTA CLARA, CUBA!!! And next month jetBlue, which has permission for 7 daily flights to Cuba, plans to start service to Holguin and Camaguey.

         In the eager battle to begin commercial flights to Cuba for the first time in half-a-century, American Airlines has been awarded 13 daily flights. Ten U. S. airports will soon offer daily service to Cuban cities.

      Not only will airlines make money with the historic flights to Cuba, but it will also benefit many Americans in jobs related to the industry. That's why these workers connected to American Airlines are proudly displaying a Cuban flag. Like most Americans and Cuban-Americans, they support Mr. Obama's initiatives, not the cruel and out-dated embargo that benefits revenge and political motives of a few.

       The red dots on this map indicate six of the Cuban cities that American Airlines will be flying to. The Obama and Cuban plans call for up to 110 daily flights from the U. S. to ten Cuban cities. Havana is the grand prize for the U. S. airlines but Jose Marti Airport in the capital city is already being severely challenged with current traffic as Obama has also sliced into the embargo by opening up more reasons for Americans to visit the island. Since 1962 Americans, to quench a revenge thirst for a few Cuban-exiles, have been the only people in the world without the freedom to travel to nearby Cuba. That apparently is so a few Cuban-exiles can dictate the Cuban narrative to Americans as opposed to Americans being able to judge the island for themselves. American plans 4 daily flights from Miami and one from Atlanta. Alaska Airlines will make one daily flight from Los Angeles. Delta will have one daily round-trip from Atlanta, one from JFK Airport in New York, and one from Miami. Frontier will have one daily round-trip from Miami. JetBlue will fly two round-trips a day from Fort Lauderdale, one from New York City, and one from Orlando. Southwest has 2 daily round-trips from Fort Lauderdale and one from Tampa. Spirit Airlines has two daily round-trips from Fort Lauderdale. And United has one weekly round-trip on Saturdays from Houston and one daily round-trip from Newark. American got the bonanza with 13 daily flights to the six Cuban cities highlighted with the red dots above. That includes one daily flight from Charlotte to Havana and four daily flights from Miami to Havana. All ten Cuban airports are undergoing hasty upgrades in preparation.

IN OTHER WORDS, President Obama believes that America should apply some decency and democracy to its relations with Cuba. From a legacy standpoint, his Cuban actions against powerful forces reveal him to be a great man, a great president and a great patriot. I don't believe the same can be said of his enemies.

       President Obama believes that rosy-cheeked little Cuban girls should not, unlike the entire lifetimes of their mothers, be punished all their lives by regime-change moguls hiding behind the skirts of the U. S. government, much like the Batistianos and the Mafiosi did when they ruled Cuba from 1952 till 1959. 

And by the way:

        On my first day in Cuba, I asked the clerk at the Victoria Hotel where I might be able to see a Tody, the incredibly tiny and beautiful Cuban state bird. She said the Tody is found only in Cuba and only in two particular places, which she marked on a map for me. The next day, my driver and I hooked up with three Belgium tourists also looking for a Tody. With their help, I got to watch two Todies fluttering back-and-forth from a perch and expertly snatching bugs out of the tropical air, and it's a mighty memorable memory.   

Clockwise: A Goldfinch, a Cardinal, I'm not sure, and a Woodpecker.

Can you help me with I'm not sure? 

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HEY, Let's ATTACK CUBA

Even at the Rio Olympics!!

      To be perfectly honest, considering all that is happening that does not concern Cuba -- wars, terrorism, the U. S. presidential election, the Rio Olympics, etc. -- I have been surprised that the right-wing media in the U. S. has spent so much time in the past few days attacking Cuba, senselessly and unfairly and as always cruelly. The powerful Breitbart News, for example, used the above AP photo to illustrate a long, long article that was written by Frances Martel and entitled: "SOUR GRAPES IN HAVANA AS EXILES OUTSHINE CUBA'S OLYMPIC TEAM." It endlessly harped on this theme: "As the Olympics fortnight comes to a close, Cuba government to cope with the outstanding success of Cuban exile athletes under another flag..." The article tried to inform the entire world that Cuba's "prime-time television smears" a Cuban exile athlete in Rio "as less worthy of ethnic identity," with the point being that Cuba is insanely jealous of defectors. 

          I don't know why Breitbart's Frances Martel was watching the Cuban coverage of the Rio Olympics instead of NBC's coverage. But I do know this: It remains a daily, common practice for the right-wing U. S. news media, as well as the politically correct mainstream U. S. news media, to devote an extraordinary amount of time attacking little Cuba -- now that the Bay of Pigs military attack, assassination attempts, terrorist assaults such as the bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455, history's all-time longest and cruelest embargo, etc., etc., have not provided U. S. right-wingers and Batista-Mafia exiles the wherewithal to recapture the pugnacious island since the sensational victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. 

      The aforementioned Breitbart "News" article excoriated the Cuban news anchor by name, which happens to be Randy Alonso Falcon. Randy Alonso is a very popular anchor on Cuba's most popular nightly news program -- The Round Table or Mesa Redonta. The Breitbart smear assailed Randy Alonso for calling one of the medal winners in Rio "an ex-Cuban." Well, he was...no harm intended. With Breitbart and other U. S. right-wingers watching him, Randy also could have complained...but didn't...about all the U.S. regime-change programs that entice Cubans and only Cubans with a very special emphasis on Cuba's wealth of athletes, doctors and artists {such as world-class ballet performers}. But Randy didn't do that. He merely and correctly said one of the medal winners in Rio was "an ex-Cuban," which happened to be a correct statement. The misstatements when it comes to Cuba are usually from right-wingers like Breitbart "News". The Breitbart article assailed Randy Alonso for saying "cases of athletes have added to the controversy" at the Rio Olympics. And he was assailed by Breitbart for mentioning "the growing influence of money" in the centuries-old Olympic competition. Actually, Randy Alonso on Cuban television should have expounded more on those two key topics, excessive money and scandals, both of which concern many people.  

      A gigantic scandal in Rio involving Cuban-American swimmer Ryan Lochte dominated sports and news headlines for days. Yes, note that I said "Cuban-American Swimmer Ryan Lochte." Because he is Cuban-American, Randy Alonso, the Cuban broadcaster, could have and probably should have made more than an offhand mention of the Lochte Scandal because, for sure, television networks in the U. S. and around the world have covered it minutely and extensively. But Breitbart "News" assaulted Randy Alonso for merely mentioning that Lochte "added to the controversy" at Rio and that Lochte is an example of "the growing influence of money" in the Olympics. That, too, is a stunning fact. For example, in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics U. S. sprinter Jesse Owens embarrassed Adolf Hitler by sweeping the running events. Owens then and later was a student-athlete at Ohio State paying his way by pumping gas at a filling station. Now U. S. athletes like Lochte are provided money and state-of-the-art training facilities, and then if they win Olympic medals they are given more U. S. money. But far, far above that, millionaire athletes like Lochte are lavished with billions of dollars in untaxed corporate endorsement money. Indeed, for centuries amateur athletes were the stars in the Olympics but now ego-maniacal multi-millionaires and even budding billionaires, such as pro basketball players and golf professionals, compete in the Olympics for money and mostly for huge stacks of endorsement money. Contrast that with Jesse Owens pumping filling station gas before and after his Berlin Olympics.  And indeed, as you well know, a major story around the Lochte Scandal concerns how much endorsement money it will cost the rich Lochte in his future endorsements. 

    Yes, Ryan Lochte is Cuban-American. His mother, born in Havana, is Cuban. Her name is Ileana, a fine woman. She came to Miami when she was seven. Ryan was born when she lived in New York. But they moved back to Florida and he is a University of Florida product. So, instead of just mentioning the Lochte Scandal in Rio, Cuban broadcaster Randy Alonso could have/should have devoted a whole segment to it.

             Actually, POOR LITTLE CUBA had some shining moments in Rio -- especially in boxing where Cuba won three of its five Gold medals. In the photo above, that is Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez on the left in blue pounding out a victory over America's Shakur Stevenson in the red. There is a bit of a contrast here, too. Stevenson represented the U. S. backed by U. S. dollars and training facilities. Stevenson is also a protege of and backed by Floyd Mayweather, the famed U. S. boxer who is said to be worth about a half-a-billion dollars. Robeisy won his Gold medal over Stevenson although back in Cuba Robeisy is lacking in both money and state-of-the-art training facilities, which is partly if not largely due to the U. S. embargo against Cuba since 1962 that is the longest and cruelest ever imposed by a powerful country against a weak one.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Shakur Stevenson.

Robeisy should be so lucky, but Robeisy has the Gold medal. 

       So I believe that Robeisy Ramirez, shown here in this Reuters photo with his Gold medal in Rio, should be proud of what he and Cuba's other ten medal winners did in the Olympics. They should not be mocked by the thuggish right-wing U. S. media because they won those medals for Cuba, not the United States. And neither should Cuban broadcaster Randy Alonso be mocked in the U. S. media for reporting fairly about the Rio Olympics -- including the Cuban wins, the Lochte Scandal and his mention that "the growing influence of money" is changing the most glorious aspects...remember Jesse Owens?...of the Olympic games. Sure, the U. S. and China won tons more medals in Rio than Cuba did. But the U. S. has 320 million people, including many of the best athletes recruited from other countries; and the U. S. is the richest nation in world history. China has 1.2 billion people and is the second richest nation in the history of the world. And little Cuba? Well, uh...Cuba is a small island shackled by history's all-time cruelest and longest economic embargo.

 Which reminds me of this Reuters photo. It shows the Cuban Robeisy Ramirez in blue beating the American Shakur Stevenson in red in their Gold Medal title bout in Rio. Notice that the "A" in "CUBA" has fallen off Robeisy's not-very-expensive shirt. Unlike the United States and other rich nations, Cuba has trouble scrapping up enough money to train athletes like Robeisy and then send them to international competitions. Also unlike the United States and other rich nations, Cuban athletes are not blessed with free loads of state-of-the-art clothes and equipment from sponsors like Nike, which also shovels out billions of tax-free dollars in endorsements to already filthy rich athletes. Now the premise is...if and when Robeisy defects to the U. S., Nike will also shower him with loads of clothes, including state-of-the-art shirts, and -- because he's a Gold Medal winner -- with tons of endorsement money. {Now please understand that I, too, think capitalism is wonderful, even heaven-sent! But I think multi-billionaire Mr. Phil Knight at Nike doesn't deserve all those tax breaks on celebrity endorsements as opposed to donating money to more worthy projects, like St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis. Of course, I also think that Mr. Knight should donate a nice shirt to Robeisy Ramirez even though he hasn't defected to the U. S. yet}.

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Cubans in Rio

 Not Bad 

      The island of Cuba has fared pretty well in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Cuba has won 11 medals, including 5 Gold. This Reuters photo shows 27-year-old Julio Cesar La Cruz on the left in red defeating the favorite, Adilbek Niyazymbetov of Kazakhstan, in the Light Heavyweight division. In past Olympics, Cuba had won the Gold in every weight class except this one. Julio, who hails from the Cuban city of Camaguey, said, "I'm very happy to be the first Cuban in the history of boxing to win the Olympic title in the 81kg category." 

Julio Cesar La Cruz is proud of his Gold Medal.

       Saturday this young Cuban, Robeisy Ramirez, won the Gold Medal in Rio by beating Shakur Stevenson of the United States in boxing's bantamweight division. Robeisy was born in 1993 in Cienfuegos, Cuba.

Robeisy Ramirez with his Olympic Gold Medal in Rio.

       23-year-old Arlen Lopez, shown here in the red, has given Cuba a third boxing Gold Medal in Rio!! Arlen easily defeated Uzbekistan's Bektemir Melikuzievy 3-rounds-to-0 in the middleweight title match.

Cuba's Arlen Gomez & his Rio gold medal.

      The Caribbean island of Jamaica is legendary for producing runners, including the incomparable Usain Bolt. But this Jamaica Observer Editorial Cartoon reminds us that Jamaica also produces great female runners such as Elaine Thompson, depicted above winning the Gold Medal in the women's 200 meters.

 This Reuters photo shows Elaine Thompson winning Gold. 
She won Gold in both the 100 & 200 meter dashes.

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The Unholy Alliance

 Bush Dynasty & Cuban Hardliners 

     Americans are NOT supposed to be smart enough or brave enough to make judgments on this kiss although it is very important to them and their democracy. That's Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen kissing presidential wannabee Jeb Bush on their stomping grounds in Miami. Yesterday -- August 18, 2016 -- these two political kissing cousins co-wrote a long, long article in a right-wing rag -- The National Review. The article is entitled: "The President's Rapproachement Has Not Helped the Struggling Cuban People." Every word of that article is a right-wing propaganda piece designed to make the insatiable point that anti-Castro zealots like the Havana-born Ros-Lehtinen and the fiercely anti-Cuban Jeb Bush have spent their self-serving political careers helping the struggling Cuban people while President Obama is not helping the struggling Cuban people, although Obama has done more to help the struggling Cuban people than any American in history. With exiles from the 1959 victorious Cuban Revolution like Ros-Lehtinen aligned with self-serving sycophants such as the Bush dynasty controlling the Cuban narrative in the United States, two generations of proselytized Americans have had neither the guts nor the intelligence to question a vile dictation of a Cuban policy that the rest of the world soundly abhors. Therefore, timid Americans are supposed to dial up yesterday's National Review article and BELIEVE EVERY WORD written by the Havana-to-Miami-to-Washington Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and her Miami-based mentor Jeb Bush of the Bush dynasty -- you know, the same Bush dynasty that wants "to help" CUBA!!    

       In the 1980s Jeb Bush left the luxurious Bush mansions in Massachusetts and Texas to make his mark in politics. He was well aware of the Bush family connections to the anti-Castro Cuban exiles who dominated Miami's politics in Florida. On his urgent path to become Florida's governor on his way to the Bush family's White House, which they considered a birthright, Jeb became Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's Campaign Manager. The Bush dynasty put her in the U. S. Congress in 1989 and she's been there ever since, including Jeb's two-terms as Florida's governor and George W. Bush's two terms as President. Since 1989, Ros-Lehtinen has been followed to Congress by a string of Bush-aligned Cuban hardliners, including the Diaz-Balart brothers whose father Rafael was a key Minister in the brutal, ousted Batista-Mafia dictatorship. It is interesting to note, I believe, that polls reveal that most Cuban-Americans even in Miami favor Obama's decent Cuban policy but when it comes to Cuba it seems the U. S. democracy is not strong enough to have a moderate Cuban-American elected to the hallowed United States Congress.

       This photo shows three of the current members of the U. S. Congress from Miami -- Diaz-Balart, Rubio and Ros-Lehtinen. It is interesting to note that first-term U. S. Senator Rubio was a prime and highly financed Tea Party darling in the 2016 presidential race as was Jeb Bush. But the Cuban hardliners in Miami know where their considerable bread has been buttered all these years -- by the Bush dynasty. Even though Ros-Lehtinen guided Rubio through Florida's political maze, you can bet -- when push came to shove -- she is not going to support her Cuban-American soul-mate, Rubio, against a Bush candidate.

          So, for sure, in the presidential sweepstakes, Ros-Lehtinen and other Cuban hardliners in Miami strongly supported Jeb Bush over Marco Rubio, one of their very own Cuban-American hardliners.

      This photo shows President George W. Bush kissing Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as Florida Governor Jeb Bush looks on. While Americans are not supposed to consider the longstanding Bush-Miami-Cuban connection an unholy alliance, some very brave and highly respected U. S. journalists -- such as former top Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede -- have had the guts to question it. Defede excoriated Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts for using their unchallenged political power to get Luis Posada Carriles and three other notable anti-Castro Cubans released from a Panamanian prison when, conveniently, an out-going Miami-friendly female Panamanian President pardoned them to Miami's safe havens. Similarly, this forum and many others have published proof that Jeb Bush put in writing a request to his father on behalf of Orlando Bosch, one of Ros-Lehtinen's best Cuban-born Miami friends. Caribbean and Latin American nations consider Posada and Bosch the two most notorious longtime Cuban-American terrorists.

What brave soul asked Jeb Bush about Orlando Bosch? 

         If you study some of the communications from Jeb Bush in Florida to his father President Bush on behalf of Orlando Bosch, you will note in the "Dear Jeb" reply depicted above that such audacity irked President Bush's aides. But President Bush responded very favorably and controversially regarding Bosch as concerned Americans can realize by simply Googling the appropriate 3 names -- Bush, Bush and Bosch.

Orlando Bosch & Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Bosch & Posada in Miami.

        Latin American governments as well as the U. S. government, as confirmed by many declassified U. S. documents, consider Orlando Bosch and Posada Carriles anti-Castro/anti-Cuban terrorists with powerful U. S. and CIA connections. Bosch & Posada for decades were openly proud of those facts. Bosch was born in Cuba on August 18, 1926 five days after Fidel Castro was born. Fidel turned 90 in Havana this month while Bosch died in Miami in 2011. Posada was born in Cuba 88 years ago and he still lives in Miami where he has been photographed in recent anti-Obama street marches. President George W. Bush famously said, Anyone who harbors terrorists is a terrorist. There are billions of people around the world who mock Mr. Bush's declaration because of Bosch and Posada. Wikipedia and countless other sources, including the FBI, tie Bosch and Posada to numerous anti-Cuba as well as famous Operation Condor terrorist acts on their behalf and even on behalf of the infamously murderous Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Such sources without fail tie Bosch and Posada to the 1976 bombing of the Cuban civilian plane Cubana Flight 455 in which all 73 people on board were killed as well as the infamous car-bombing within sound of the White House that killed Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his beautiful young American aide Ronni Moffitt. Both those famed terrorists acts occurred within days of each other in 1976, the only year George H. W. Bush was CIA Director and, indeed, you can easily Google historic accounts that accuse Bush's CIA of misleading the FBI's investigation of the Letelier-Moffitt murders. And, of course, Americans are not supposed to even know about such things as Cubana Flight 455.

Posada at an anti-Obama demonstration in Miami.

        Top Republicans -- including the respected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan -- seem compelled to visit Miami and drink Cuban coffee as they capitulate to Cuban-American hardliners regarding presidential or congressional elections.

      This extremely pertinent photo shows George H. W. Bush with Jorge Mas Canosa, the all-time most powerful Cuban-born American hardliner, thanks to the Bush dynasty. The Reagan-Bush presidency in the 1980s anointed Mas Canosa the leader of the Cubans-in-exile. In her book What Everyone Needs to Know About Cuba, America's top Cuban expert Julia E. Sweig explains that Mas Canosa was advised to study AIPAC, the omnipotent Israeli lobbying arm, and then replicate it on behalf of the Miami Cubans. The brilliant Mas Canosa did precisely that with his CANF and from that day to this day pro-Cuban American and anti-Cuban laws such as Helms-Burton, The Cuban Adjustment Act, Wet Foot/Dry Foot, The Torricelli Bill, etc., have been infamously mandated -- for eternity it seems -- by Congress, enriching selected Cuban-Americans and devastating Cubans on the island. Mas Canosa was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1939. He died as a billionaire at age 58 on November 23rd,1997 in Coral Gables, Florida. 

     Beyond question, the nexus between the Bush dynasty and Cuban-American hardliners has immensely benefited -- financially and politically -- a handful of rich and powerful people. But it does not stretch credulity to say that it has greatly harmed millions of Americans and, most notably, millions of innocent Cubans on the island. And most of all, I believe two generations of quiescent and unpatriotic Americans have forsaken democracy in allowing it to happen. The unending but so-far failed quest of Jeb Bush to be the third Bush President does not change the everlasting impact the Bush nexus with the Cuban hardliners will have on Congress, the White House, democracy and the United States of America.

       In fact, George P. Bush -- Jeb's 40-year-old son -- also has extreme desires to be President of the United States. The Tea Party and the huge Bush machine easily got George P. elected to the ultra-powerful position as the Texas Land Commissioner. While George and Bush are pivotal names for George P. Bush, the P. is just as significant. The P. stands for Prescott, as in Prescott Bush, the man who started the economic and political Bush dynasty.

      A young Prescott Bush is shown here tipping the hat of a young Richard Nixon when Prescott was far richer and more powerful than Richard, who like two Bushes became a fierce anti-Castro and Batistiano-loving U.S. President. Prescott Bush was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1895. Before he died in New York City in 1972, he was a Wall Street tycoon and a U. S. Senator on his way to establishing the Bush dynasty. If you Google "Prescott Bush" you will find page-after-page-after-page about Prescott Bush's notorious financial dealings leading up to and during World War II. {BUT THESE DAYS, who cares enough about the U. S. democracy to even Google such things?}.

          This photo shows the early days of Miami's first Cuban-born member of the U. S. Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.  Standing behind her on the left is anti-Castro buddy Jeb Bush -- her former Campaign Manager and the then Governor of Florida. Standing between her and Jeb Bush is the then Cuban-born Mayor of Miami Joe Carollo, who once vowed to defy U. S. Marshals regarding the Elian Gonzalez episode.

    This photo shows Cuban-born Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Florida Governor Jeb Bush behind Cuban-born Miami Mayor Joe Carollo. Before becoming an anti-Castro Mayor of Miami, Joe Carollo was born in Caibarian, Cuba, in 1955 -- the year an emerging revolutionary rebel named Fidel Castro was sentenced to 15 years in Dictator Batista's prison. The Cuban-born Carollo was preceded as Miami Mayor by Cuban-born Xavier Suarez and succeeded by Cuban-born Manny Diaz, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc, etc.

        A well known Cuban-American in Miami, Hugo Cancio, has a very brave and very politically incorrect thought: "Miami politics only elects anti-Castro zealots to office, including Congress, it appears. That leaves moderate Cuban-Americans like me on the outside looking in, searching for democracy, if I may say so." 

        Meanwhile, ABC News used this Johnny Lewis/Getty Images photo of Havana-born United States Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Miami yesterday -- Thursday, August 18, 2016. ABC News said Ros-Lehtinen made news yesterday by saying she would "write-in" Jeb Bush's name on the presidential ballot. She, of course, had earlier endorsed Bush as President till he was wiped out by Donald Trump. Then she endorsed Miami's U. S. Senator Marco Rubio till he quit after being soundly beaten in the Florida primary by Trump. So now it's back to her first choice, Jeb Bush, for President of the United States as a write-in.

       And that brings us back around to the article that Ros-Lehtinen and Jeb Bush co-authored in yesterday's great contribution to journalism, the National Review. The article shamefully excoriated the decent President Barack Obama for NOT HELPING what they called  "the struggling Cuban people," -- the very people Mr. Obama is trying to help as much as he possibly can despite the enormous roadblocks thrown in his face by the likes of Ros-Lehtinen and Jeb Bush. Such flagrant propaganda, in my opinion and in the opinion of the world based on yearly votes in the United Nations, would be a joke were it not so seriously a major part of the decades-old Cuban exile/Bush dynasty-led U. S. policy that has and continues to so drastically hurt "the struggling Cuban people." Americans who agree with that article penned by Jeb Bush and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are, in my opinion, unpatriotic cowards and idiots...if I may say-so myself.

But I love America even more.

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