;)
The Commentariat -- Dec. 18, 2014
Internal links removed.
Jim Yardley & Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: Pope "Francis is being credited for helping bridge the divide [between the U.S. & Cuba] by first sending letters to President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba, and then having the Vatican host a diplomatic meeting between the two sides in October.... Vatican spokesmen declined to provide any details about Francis's letters, other than that he encouraged the two sides to resolve 'humanitarian questions'; resolve the release of political prisoners, including an American held by Cuba, Alan P. Gross; and 'initiate a new phase in relations.'" ...
... Carol Morello & Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: The release of Alan Gross "started with an American overture to Cuba and a series of meetings in third countries, mostly in Canada beginning in June 2013, according to senior administration officials. It also involved an unusual intervention by the pope, who wrote personal letters to President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, calling for both countries to release their prisoners and restart relations." ...
... Adam Goldman: "The Cuban government on Wednesday freed a U.S. spy whom President Obama described as one of most important intelligence agents that the United States has ever had in the Communist country and who helped unravel several long-running Cuban espionage operations. U.S. officials said the release of the spy, a native of Cuba who has not been publicly identified, was a major priority for the intelligence community as part of any deal with the Cubans. That agreement, Obama said, also included the exchange of three Cuban spies by the United States and the release of former U.S. aid worker Alan Gross by Cuba on humanitarian grounds." ...
... Frances Robles & Julie Davis of the New York Times on the "Cuban Five," three of whom were released to Cuba in the spy swap Wednesday. The other two had previously served out their sentences & returned to Cuba. ...
... Taylor Berman of Gawker: "Cuban president Raul Castro announced the agreement at a press conference held the same time as Obama's. 'This expression by President Barack Obama deserves the respect and recognition by all the people and I want to thank and recognize support from the Vatican and especially from Pope Francis for the improvement of relations between Cuba and the United States,' Castro said.... As the two presidents announced the changes, church bells began ringing in Havana." ...
... The Bells Toll Not for Thee, Marco. Judd Legum of Think Progress: "In a press conference, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) ... -- who is Catholic and a Cuban-American -- directly criticized the Pope for his role. Rubio said that he would 'ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.' Rubio added that he thought 'the people of Cuba deserve to have the same chances at Democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he's from.'" ...
... Dana Milbank: "Rubio's emotional -- and at times inaccurate -- response to the policy change shows why Obama's move to normalize ties to Cuba after more than half a century is both good policy and good politics. It's good policy because it jettisons a vestigial policy that has stopped serving a useful purpose, and because it is a gutsy move by Obama that demonstrates strong leadership and will help revive him from lame-duck status. It's good politics because it will reveal that the Cuban American old guard, whose position Rubio represents, no longer speaks for most Cuban Americans."
Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom -- and not one second sooner. -- House Speaker John A. Boehner
I just want to say to those who say that this is a concession to the Cuban regime, these moves that are being made today, I think that that is the wrong way to look at this.... [The long-standing U.S.-Cuba restrictions had] done more, in my view, in many's view, to keep the Castro regimes in power than anything we could have done. So I am just pleased that these actions have been taken. -- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Az.)
We agree with President Obama that he is writing new chapters in American foreign policy. Unfortunately, today's chapter, like the others before it, is one of America and the values we stand for in retreat and decline. It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs, and adversaries, diminishing America's influence in the world. Is it any wonder that under President Obama's watch our enemies are emboldened and our friends demoralized? -- Sens. John McCain & Lindsey Graham [R], in a statement
Pro tip: any time someone criticizes a foreign policy decision on the grounds that it 'emboldens our enemies,' it's a sign they have no substantive argument to make. -- Paul Waldman
The idiotic Cuban boycott has isolated the Cuban people from the greatest weapons in our soft power arsenal, and I renew my longstanding call for Major League Baseball to put a team in Havana at the earliest opportunity.... I will not be completely satisfied until I rise for both the Cuban and American National Anthems in my own luxury box at Minute Maid Venceremos Stadium, after which Luis Tiant will throw out the first pitch, and I will light one of them stogies up. Capitalism triumphant, baby! -- Charles Pierce ...
... Maybe Not Such a Pipedream, Pierce. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Baseball officials, team executives, scouts, agents and fans all began to speculate how soon major league teams might be able to sign players in Cuba. Some even wondered whether Major League Baseball might be tempted to relocate a team like the Tampa Bay Rays, who have a feeble fan base, to Havana, where they would most likely be a sensation." ...
... Pro. New York Times Editors: "The Obama administration is ushering in a transformational era for millions of Cubans who have suffered as a result of more than 50 years of hostility between the two nations." ...
... Contra. Washington Post Editors: "Mr. Obama may claim that he has dismantled a 50-year-old failed policy; what he has really done is give a 50-year-old failed regime a new lease on life." ...
... Lauren French of Politico: "Just hours after Obama announced that a prisoner swap with the Cuban government for two Americans was the start of a new relationship with the communist country, Republicans began informally kicking around ideas to stop any changes to the U.S.-Cuba relationship." ...
... Ashley Parker & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "For more than a generation, Republicans have taken a hard line against [Cuba], endearing themselves to the politically potent bloc of Cuban-Americans who have been crucial in deciding elections in the state. But those animosities have given way with a generational shift, and younger voters who have family ties to Cuba but no direct memories of the island under Fidel Castro have been more willing to support Democrats.... The changing Hispanic demographics in Florida have reshaped the state's political map. The state's Hispanic population is increasingly multidimensional, with a large number of former residents of Puerto Rico and others from Latin and South America for whom the issue of Cuba is not paramount." ...
... "The End of an Error." John Cole of Balloon Juice: "At this point, Obama is just trolling wingnuts. Tomorrow he will rename Reagan Airport to Alinsky-Ayers-MalcolmX airport." Read the whole post. Cole captures the essence of the GOP, trapped forever in its cold-war panties. ...
... Paul Waldman: "The approaching end of his term and the loss of both houses of Congress seem to have liberated [President Obama].... Who knows how many other surprises Obama may have in store."
Clark Mindock of Roll Call: "President Barack Obama granted clemency to 20 people Wednesday in a relatively rare show of leniency from him -- with the administration promising more to come. Obama cut short prison times for eight people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and vacated the convictions of 12 others, the White House announced. The commutations are the result of an April 23 initiative by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole with the direction of President Obama encouraging qualified inmates to petition for clemency."
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "If there's one thing from 2014 that will define President Barack Obama's legacy after he's left the White House, it's the number of lifetime judges he put on the federal bench. In its final act of the year, the Senate blew through a dozen U.S. district court nominees on Tuesday night. That puts Obama at a whopping 89 district court and circuit court confirmations for the year, and means he'll wrap up his sixth year in office with a grand total of 305 district court and circuit court confirmations -- a tally that puts him well beyond where his predecessors were by this point in their presidencies."
Lawrence Hurley of Reuters: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the state of Arizona from enforcing a policy that denies driver's licenses to young immigrants granted legal status by President Barack Obama in 2012.... The Supreme Court's brief order noted that three conservative members among the nine justices - Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito - would have granted Arizona's request."
Erin Dooley of ABC News: "The actions of hackers who released a trove of e-mails stolen from Sony Pictures executives indicates the U.S. has not done all it can do to prevent enemies from exploiting 'vulnerabilities' in our technology, President Obama said [Wednesday]. 'We've made progress,' Obama said in an exclusive interview with ABC 'World News Tonight' anchor David Muir. 'But what we just saw with Sony shows a lot more progress needs to be done. That means, by the way, that Congress also needs to take up cyber security legislation that's been languishing for several years now.'" With video of interview. ...
... David Sanger & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "American intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean government was 'centrally involved' in the recent attacks on Sony Pictures's computers, a determination reached just as Sony on Wednesday canceled its release of the comedy, which is based on a plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader." ...
... Kim Zetter of Wired says "the evidence that North Korea hacked Sony is flimsy." ...
... Update. Terrence McCoy & Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "Despite the reports and media hype, as of Thursday morning, there was still no definitive evidence made public linking North Korea to the hack nor to this week's threats that caused numerous theaters to pull out of screening 'The Interview.' Neither Sony nor the FBI have found any proof. And some experts are more than a little skeptical." ...
... Saba Hamedy & Richard Verrier of the Los Angeles Times: "Sony Pictures Entertainment has canceled the Christmas Day release of 'The Interview' after the nation's major theater chains said they would not screen the film. The studio said 'we respect and understand our partners' decision' and 'completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theatergoers.'" ...
... digby: "Fox News pundits are calling this an act of war that requires a military response. Of course.
This is wrong. We should not surrender to blackmailers, blah,blah, blah. Free speech, Danish cartoons all that. But really it's almost surely a stupid movie so I can't care all that much." ...
... Mike Fleming of Deadline: "The chilling effect of the Sony Pictures hack and terrorist threats against The Interview are reverberating. New Regency has scrapped another project that was to be set in North Korea. The untitled thriller, set up in October, was being developed by director Gore Verbinski as a star vehicle for Foxcatcher star Steve Carell.... Insiders tell me that under the current circumstances, it just makes no sense to move forward. The location won't be transplanted. Fox declined to distribute it...."
** Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "Some of the highest employment rates in the advanced world are in places with the highest taxes and most generous welfare systems, namely Scandinavian countries.... More people may work when countries offer public services that directly make working easier, such as subsidized care for children and the old; generous sick leave policies; and cheap and accessible transportation. If the goal is to get more people working, what's important about a social welfare plan may be more about what the money is spent on than how much is spent."
E. J. Dionne: Sen. Chuck "Schumer [D-N.Y.] is right in identifying the biggest problem facing our country. Restoring broadly shared prosperity is not just a good political issue. It's the cause on which every other cause depends."
Tom Edsall of the New York Times: "The traditional European social democratic left and the [U.S.] Democratic Party are both struggling to address the often conflicting interests of a socially liberal elite and an economically pressed lower class.... It may be that democracies are not at present equipped to solve the problems advanced nations face."
Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "A former Countrywide Financial executive who became a whistle-blower is collecting more than $57 million for helping federal prosecutors force Bank of America to pay a record $16.65 billion penalty in connection with its role in churning out shoddy mortgage and related securities before the financial crisis."
Thomas Kaplan & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration announced on Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State because of concerns over health risks, ending years of uncertainty over the disputed method of natural gas extraction. State officials concluded that fracking, as the method is known, could contaminate the air and water and pose inestimable dangers to public health." Thanks to NiskyGuy for the link.
Molly Redden of Mother Jones: "A Missouri Republican is pushing a bill that would allow a man who gets a woman pregnant to stop her from having an abortion. The measure would force a woman who wants an abortion to obtain written permission from the father first unless she was the victim of 'legitimate rape.' Rick Brattin, a state representative from outside Kansas City, filed the bill on December 3 for next year's legislative session.... 'Just like any rape, you have to report it, and you have to prove it,' Brattin tells Mother Jones. 'So you couldn't just go and say, "Oh yeah, I was raped" and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape.'" See Akhilleus's comment in yesterday's thread. ...
... Anna Merlan of Jezebel: "... this isn't [Brattin's] first brainwave: he made headlines last year when he launched a bid for anti-evolution lessons in science classes.... In January of this year, he filed a bill calling for Missouri to bring back execution by firing squad. This month, he also filed a bill suggesting that any federal law be deemed unenforceable in Missouri if lawmakers there don't like it (something expressly forbade in the Constitution, but, um, okay, Rick. Give that one a shot.)"
Karen McVeigh of the Guardian: "More than seven decades after South Carolina executed 14-year-old George Stinney, a judge has thrown out his conviction and cleared his name. Stinney was accused of killing two white girls, Betty June Binnicker, 11, and Mary Emma Thames, seven, who were found dead in a ditch on the black side of the racially segregated town of Alcolu, South Carolina, in March 1944. In the Jim Crow era of the South, Stinney was tried, convicted and executed within 83 days in the small mill town. The case has cast a long shadow over South Carolina." ...
... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "... if 2014 is anything to go by, as capital punishment becomes less common, it also appears to be growing more extreme and arguably inhumane."
Neil MacFarquhar & Andrew Roth of the New York Times: "President of Russia on Thursday delivered an acidic message of defiance and anger at the West at an annual news conference in Moscow, showing no sign of softening his position on Ukraine despite the financial turmoil that has gripped the country."
Presidential Election
Greg Sargent: "Two possible GOP candidates -- Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, both from Florida -- have already come out against Obama's push for normalization, both arguing against expanded engagement with a repressive regime.... [Hillary] Clinton has not publicly weighed in yet. But it turns out that in her memoir, Hard Choices, she wrote that as Secretary of State, she asked Obama to consider lifting the embargo. Clinton also made a very similar argument to the one we heard from the President today, that the best way to spur human rights change in Cuba is through engagement that will increasingly expose the Cuban people to outside ideas and weaken the Castro regime's grip."
If you want a government that's gonna intrude on your life, enforce their personal views on you, then I guess Jeb Bush is your man. -- Michael Schiavo, whose wife Terri Bush tried to force under his custody to prevent Michael's decision to remove her feeding tubes after she had been in a vegetative state for 15 years
Jeb Bush made a family tragedy into a family horror. He willingly put the power of his office behind lunatics who were jumping fences, calling bomb threats into elementary schools, putting bounties on Michael Schiavo's head, and endagering great people doing wonderful work at a hospice. This episode shouldn't be an obscure part of his past. It should define him as a politician, and as a man. -- Charles Pierce
November Election
Cathleen Decker of the Los Angeles Times: "The long 2014 political campaign whimpered to an end Wednesday as Republican Martha McSally claimed the last official victory in an Arizona congressional contest whose results were delayed six weeks by a required recount. McSally entered the recount earlier this month with a 161-vote lead over Democratic incumbent Ron Barber, and had been expected to hold on to it. In the end, she emerged with a 167-vote margin of victory in results released by the Maricopa County Superior Court."
News Ledes
New York Times: "The stock market began the week burdened by geopolitical worries, but by the close of trading on Thursday it had bounced back to achieve one of its biggest upswings in recent years. Soothing words from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, saying that it would be 'patient' on raising interest rates, drove the surge, analysts said. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index jumped 2.4 percent on Thursday, to 2,061.23 -- its biggest one-day gain since January 2013. That came on the back of a 2 percent rise on Wednesday."
CNN: "U.S. airstrikes have killed two top-level and one mid-level ISIS leader, a senior U.S. military official tells CNN. Haji Mutazz was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputy in Iraq; Abd al Basit was his military emir in Iraq; and Radwan Talib was his Mosul emir. Their deaths resulted from multiple strikes going back to mid-November -- it has taken until now to determine conclusively they were killed."
AP: "Average U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week, with the benchmark 30-year loan rate reaching a new low for the year. The rates' historically low levels could be a boon to potential homebuyers. Mortgage company Freddie Mac says the nationwide average for a 30-year mortgage dropped to 3.80 percent this week from 3.93 percent last week. It is now at its lowest level since May 2013."
New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday refused to release Don E. Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama, from prison as he continues to appeal a prosecution that Republicans say exposed pervasive corruption in state government but Democrats regard as a case pursued for political retribution."
Boston Globe: "Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stood in federal court in Boston this morning for a brief pretrial hearing, which was punctuated by an interruption in Russian and English from a woman in the gallery. Several journalists reported she exclaimed 'stop killing innocent people' in English as she was escorted out for yelling in Russian. The woman identified herself to reporters as a relative of Ibrahim Todashev: a friend of Dzhokhar's brother who was killed by an FBI agent during an incident that arose from the investigation of a Waltham triple homicide."
AFP: "Two owners and 12 former employees of a US pharmacy were arrested Wednesday in connection with a 2012 outbreak of meningitis that killed 64 people across the country, prosecutors said. Barry Cadden and Gregory Conigliaro owned the New England Compounding Center (NECC), which lost its license in 2012 after inspectors found it guilty of multiple sanitary violations. the pharmacy, located in the city of Framingham, Massachusetts in the US northeast, voluntarily shut down and recalled all products following the unprecedented outbreak of fungal meningitis."
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Reader Comments (23)
Ah, the Schaivo case, and the Bushies role in it, which I'd forgotten about. Michael is right: if you want a politician who'll intrude into your personal life, Jeb's your man. One way to prevent this is to have your personal wishes known is to tell your family and to have them in writing.
Another thing he's guilty of is delivering the State of Florida to GW and The Dick.
Surprise, Obama has a plan to fix the mess in Cuba. Almost everyone seems to disagree. Their alternative plan is ........................................
I am thrilled about the Cuba "coming out" hoopla–-and doubly thrilled it happened under Obama's watch. Now the Castro regime can't blame the U.S. embargo for its shoddy treatment of various problems –––after a hurricane, for instance, their lack of construction of people's homes was blamed on not having the proper materials.
This line from the Republican twins, "We agree with President Obama that he is writing new chapters in American foreign policy. Unfortunately, today’s chapter, like the others before it, is one of America and the values we stand for in retreat and decline. It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs, and adversaries, diminishing America’s influence in the world. Is it any wonder that under President Obama’s watch our enemies are emboldened and our friends demoralized?" is not only laughable, but I'm amazed they would come out with something like this after we've just gone through the TORTURE memos. Throughout our history we have danced and courted dictators––(and as for communists? We deal with China and Viet Nam, don't we?) Good lord! STFU and celebrate this move. And I love the idea we have the Pope's blessing––ain't that rich!
Here's the story of Ana Montes, a Cuban spy that was the best in the business and fooled us for decades:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/feature/wp/2013/04/18/ana-montes-did-much-harm-spying-for-cuba-chances-are-you-havent-heard-of-her/
THE MAN WHO LOVES WOMEN
Homage to Sidney Pollack
It is 1959—the Rebels have won—Batista has flown—the place is in turmoil
Libre Cuba signs are everywhere
And he sits at a table having one last drink before he, too, flies out
And in she walks, slowly, so beautiful—
“Were you waiting for me?” she asks
“All my life.” he answers—
But we know he will never have her and will spend the rest of his life
Waiting for her to walk in some door at sometime somewhere.
It’s Casablanca in Havana
It’s all about nobility, courage, honor, and sacrifice and, of course,
Love—Here, however, the heroine makes the choice.
In all his films the women are strong, passionate, smart and—
Lovely to look at.
(We even fell in love with Tootsie)
Kisses for you, Sidney, surely you must be one of the lucky men
In this world—
Loving women — the elixir in life
And we thank you.
2003
Whew! Here's hoping one result of Sony's pulling the "Interview" from theatres that the damn video trailer will stop popping up on every Web site I visit. There's just something about a 'naked' Seth Rogan shaking his whatever that is not really funny.
But, a quick visual popped into my mind, OMG...put some stupid light blue pj's on the man and we've got the leading man for the life (hopefully short) story of one Blake Fuckenhold (nice going, Akhilleus! when I saw that monnikor, it's so much easier to remember than Farenthold). More apt, too!
As for the rest of the unfolding news stories, so nice to sit back and watch the ridiculous posturings. Nicely played, Mr. Obama!
Re; Cuba libre, black Cuban rum with just a little float of US coke acola. Salud! And toss me one of them Habanos.
By the by friends of torture, we walked away from the high moral ground when our prison opened on the tip of the very island you claim needs a government change.
Maybe an invasion would work, we could send the insurgents to a prison in Afghanistan.
In a normally slow news time before the Christmas holiday, it has been fascinating to follow the biggest stories, including the refusal of President Obama to limp through the last two years of his presidency. Looking forward to more gutsy moves by the president, and to the rightwing freakouts to follow.
In case anyone is wondering about presidential hopeful Scott Walker's foreign policy credentials --or his ability to speak English--here is his reaction to normalizing relations with Cuba:
Asked if he believed Saudi Arabia was a free and open country and what he made of the United States' relationship with that country, Walker said: "They're making a few moves right now but those are things that can be easily altered, at least in terms of Cuba. In terms of Saudi Arabia, we haven't — those are things I guess folks at the federal level would ultimately have to comment on in terms of whether its consistency or not. The difference I think with Cuba is that's a policy the United States has had for some time. To change that, I think there has to be substantial change in terms of the positions that the Cuban government has."
Also, he doesn't plan on releasing any (more) of his emails as Jeb is doing: "I don't see any reason why to do that." Might be difficult to round them up from all the secret routers around the state capitol, anyway.
This might be a good time to remind certain people what the former defense and foreign policy official Leslie Gelb wrote recently in The Daily Beast:
"Mr. Obama always says a lot of smart things…. Much more than most foreign policy blabbermouths, he is attuned to the underlying centrality of politics in most world problems, and to the need to seek diplomatic solutions…. Once there is any kind of crisis, he doles out little pieces of policy daily…. Obama may view this as making sensible decisions in a step-by-step manner. To those trying to understand what he’s doing, they simply can’t follow him, let alone understand how the pieces and the day-to-day changes mesh."
In this decision re: Cuba there is no wondering what it's all about, but we are still going to have all those blabbermouths blabbering as though they know BETTER! and more and...
As Elizabeth Drew once said, apropos of criticism of Obama's handling of the Syrian situation when he was accused of overthinking an issue until too late, of being too slow to act, of allowing events to dictate his responses, that it's puzzling after eight years of Dubya's rash and disastrous actions, caution would be welcome. Drew speculates that the Ronald Reagan-John Wayne myth of bold, simple solutions lies deep in the American psyche. Well, now, by George, he's done something bold and these same people have their boxers in a bunch.
And hooray for all those judges being nominated. I tell you, people, I feel better for the first time in a long time.
"Alinsky-Ayers-MalcolmX airport"
Love it. I guess the code would be AAMX. I've always thought what a shame it was that an airport--in DC, of all places--should be named after the guy who made air travel far less safe by firing experienced air traffic controllers. But what are human lives when a triumphalist show of ideological muscle is at stake?
But as for the airport name, I think John Cole left one out: Jeremiah Wright. I suppose the Alinsky-Ayers-MalcolmX-Wright International Airport would be too much of a mouthful.
Hey, he could rename the street where the RNC national headquarters is located as Jeremiah Wright Way (get it?). And if that doesn't cause enough commotion, rename the NRA address in Washington as James Brady Memorial Blvd.
Marvin,
Of course the GOP has a plan for Cuba. It's the one we've been using for the last half century.
As John Boehner says, we won't do anything to normalize relations with Cuba until everything is fixed there. So in order to guarantee FREEEEEDDDOM and Democracy for the Cuban people, we're fully prepared to do nothing. Which, of course guarantees that they'll never have anything different than they have now. But at least we won't be supporting dictators. But, hmmmm.....if we don't do anything......the communists will still be there and..........oh, well, don't let's go down that road. STASIS! That'll get us some action.
But wait. We could try to get a bunch of disgruntled Cuban émigrés, hook them up with the CIA, give them some guns, a couple of life rafts and a wind-up radio, drop them off on a beach and have them invade the country. Why didn't we think of that before?
They really are the party of stupid.
How about a returning Cuba to the likes of Batista, with gambling, drugs, and prostitution rampant. With organized crime cozy with the Cuban government (Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky).
Mass murder, too.
Ah those were the days.
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm really digging the idea of an MLB team in Cuba. For a small country they've produced some stellar ball players: Luis Tiant, Camilo Pascual, Tony Oliva (unfairly denied entrance once again in the Hall), Tony Perez (who is in the Hall), Bert Campaneris, the great Mike Cuellar, and a bunch of younger guys playing today including Yasiel Puig, and Yoenis Cespedes.
Like the Dominican Republic, another small country, Cuba has turned out scores of great ballplayers. But unlike the DR, many of the best Cuban players are still there.
Do you think, if they establish a team in Havana, that Boehner and McCain will be in the stands when they come to DC to play the Nationals? Or would that embolden our enemies?
We introduced baseball to the Japanese and 20 years later, they were one of our biggest trading partners.
Just as an aside, this is yet another example of the way ignorance of history (and a lot of other things), even recent history, hobbles conservative thought. The Soviet Union, once perceived as an impenetrable, inscrutable mystery, began to open up to the west, especially to ideas of democracy and capitalism and in less than 10 years, no longer existed.
Opening the door to Cuba, to possible investment, to trade, to travel, to tourism, to the possibilities of democracy, is, if history is any guide, the single best way to change that culture. We do all of this with China, which, in terms of communist states, is nothing like the broken down wreck that is Cuba. What's the problem with doing the same sorts of things with Havana?
I know, it doesn't make sense. Very little coming out of Right-Wing World does. Hasn't in a very, very, very long time.
And considering the conservative mind, something I loathe doing (there's a flicker of an idea that some of the stupid might seep in), I am in mind of several pieces this morning, one by Digby and the other from John Cole at Balloon Juice (both linked above, thanks Marie!), both of which point to the dessication and synaptic collapse that disables any possibility of cogency on the right.
Digby points out that Fox is flogging another war. This time against North Korea, for hacking Sony and forcing that movie to be delayed in some theaters, which, in the warped and/or thoroughly inebriated brains of Fox bots, require boots on the ground. Or at least a couple weeks of Shock and Awe.
John Cole points to the blatherings of McCain and Graham who want some kind of military action taken against former wingnut man crush, Vladimir Putin. "We have to meet force with force! That’s all Putin understands!"
No, boys, that's all YOU understand.
If you can't understand it, bomb it. Since you would never deign to indulge in diplomacy or some other kind of less destructive interaction, war is the first and only option.
I don't know if it's a stretch to say that this mindset, violence first, last, and always, has infiltrated the thought patterns of many cops and those of their supporters, including in the media, but the other day I read a Charlie Pierce piece in which he pointed out that Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested, after shooting at a Dallas police officer, in connection with the assassination of the president, was brought in alive and largely unmolested then allowed to speak to the press. Lee Harvey Oswald. I think his being white helped, but it does highlight the differences between then and now.
Once Bush and Cheney decided that intelligent, well thought out, shrewd, patient, and persistent engagement was out and bombs and bullets, followed by torture and abuse, were the first choice, I think we all crossed over into a different place.
Violence, force, are what Republicans understand. As Chris Hedges says, war is a force that gives us (or some of us, anyway) meaning.
So what we have now are deformed minds whose first thoughts, on a wide range of problems, are violence and destruction.
Great.
Interesting article in the NYT following up on their survey of people's experience with the high cost of medical care in this hyper-exceptional country.
Paying Till It Hurts
A few weeks back CW was wondering about people's experience as middle-class ACA participants. As Mr. & Mrs. Unwashed can attest from this past year, OUCH and $$$$$$$$! (Details can be provided if anyone's interested.)
One surprising thing is that there is a stigma attached by some to those with coverage thru an ACA exchange. When we handed our card to a particular provider, the office person reacted and made a face as though she was made to hold a fresh, unwrapped, poop-filled diaper.
IMHO, it's not the ACA that's the problem, it's the industrial medical/insurance complex that's broken and needs a major overhaul to bring it in line with other non-exceptional countries.
Unwashed, the industrial medical/insurance complex can't be fixed. The very concept that the primary purpose of medicine is to make money has to disappear and the first thing that has to go is 'health' insurance.
AK--re Oswald. Understand that a large contingent of the Dallas PD would have thrown him a victory celebration if doing so wouldn't have blown their KKK cover.
One more thing regarding the Republicans and war: R's are pro-business, and there are a whole lot of businesses that are debilitated by a lack of war. Imagine KBR without war. A good reference for this is Colonel X's (Donald Sutherland) monologue from "JFK."
Yes, I have to admit that I watched most of it again. Stone's conspiracy theory doesn't hold a candle to James Ellroy's in the "Underworld" trilogy, but it makes a whole lot more sense than a bullet that stops and twirls in midair before resuming its flight.
Whoa. Can't wait to see what the knuckle-draggers will make of this.
CNN has unearthed a letter sent by a 14 year old Fidel Castro to FDR expressing his pleasure that Roosevelt had been reelected and asking the president to send him a ten dollar bill to round out his collection of American currency.
Who doubts that the wingnut press will embrace this like a dog humping an available leg?
"Castro and FDR, pen pals!" "FDR Secretly Yearned to Boink Teenage Dictator!!" "FDR Got His Marching Orders From a Nascent Commie Leader."
Most of us have probably heard the right-wing bullshit about "proof" that FDR was controlled by Stalin because the FDR dime, just under his profile, sported the initials JS. Ooooooh.
It never mattered to the Bircher assholes then, and probably not to the wingnuts now, that those were the initials of John Sinnock, the artist who designed the coin. (I mean, aren't artists all socialist traitors?)
Facts, schmacts. A letter from Castro? The initials JS? The entire New Deal and every liberal project thereafter are all contaminated with vile socialist pathogens.
TRAITORS!!
Jack,
Re: Oswald. Ya got me there, brother. I hadn't thought of that. Silly me, forgetting the pounding heart of darkness down there in Dallas, especially for the Kennedys.
Some time ago, out here in RC land, a few of us came up with our own versions of what happened that day in the Book Depository. Maybe Marie can resurrect that stuff. As wild as our imaginations were, I'm betting the truth--which we'll likely never know--is crazy like you read about.
Some of us, a week or so ago, were reminiscing about a National Lampoon effort. One of the more memorable pieces back in the day, in that magazine, came from Chris Miller, who, positing that LBJ had something to do with the whole affair, wrote that, while alone with the body on Air Force One, Johnson "....stuck his rude animal member into the still gaping exit wound of the dead president."
And as bad as that might sound, I'm betting that what really happened is a whole lot worse.
Seeing similarities, connections, as history's never-ending recycling and repetition comes to mind as I read the above back-and-forth between Ak & Jack. It happens I'm into the third episode of "American Experience: JFK" via Netflix and it's been a good refresher of what I'd otherwise consider my early exposure to politics. Documentaries such as these are helpful to better recall the composite history...rather than the bits and pieces from one's fragmented memories. And, of course, I number among the many who remember exactly where they were on the day when JFK was killed.
(I also, remember when Fidel Castro's pen pal FDR died. But, I was a wee one then.)
Let's rewind to the earlier days, Kennedy's entry into Congress as a very young, naif-ish guy and watch through continuing film bits and news videos how he developed and smartened up. (Maybe Oliver Stone needs another second or third go at the film plot). Kennedy's youth and actions remind me of Obama's in many ways. Both men share a sly sense of humour that keeps them above the fray—beyond the slings, snark, and poison darts of such as LBJ or Cruz/Rubio/McConnell.Today Dana Milbank took on Rubio's whine
Kennedy's wake-up was the house warming surprise from an insidiously motivated CIA and its mastermind, Richard Bissell, Jr. Who can forget the disastrous Bay of Pigs? Fast forward to more recent misleading CIA reports & deeds (with the supporting cast and crew from Darth Vader to the lesser ilk such as Senor & Yoo).
It's really heartening to learn of Obama's brilliant maneuver re-establishing U.S. relationship with CUBA. Apparently, some people learned to be discreet. This news, seems takes us full circle...or via a messy ellipse of sorts to where it nice to learn of more promising outcomes between our country and our neighbor.
P.S. to CW: I know you have linked the Milbank commentary, but I'm just testing the hyperlink thing. Hope it works! And, if it doesn't, meh!
Re: hyperlink test. Oh WTF. Can't succeed all the time.
One last thing re Cuba: Has it seemed strange to anyone else that the warmongers sent thousands of our troops far away to invade a country that historically has rankled their right-wing much less than has Castro's Cuba? A puny ninety miles off the coast, no longer protected by the Soviet Union, a sitting duck like Grenada, one might think. Perhaps Castro has been as sacrosanct as abortion in that opposing both has swung elections for decades?
And I agree with Barbarossa that what we liked to call democracies in Latin America were merely the local kingpins who did the bidding of United Fruit, which one might call one of the earliest successful multinationals, in that it pretty much owned all those little lands in which we propped up murdering thugs like Somoza and Napoleon Duarte.
We Americans are like sheltered children of Mafia chieftains who can enjoy all the benefits gained from the lash and the mass grave and still claim to have clean hands. As for bringing democracy to other countries, we might want to experiment by enfranchising every one of our citizens and see how that works out.