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Protests in Cuba: sanctions, COVID, and liberty — 70 Comments

  1. A free Cuba would be great — assuming that the decades of dictatorship haven’t made self-government a very tall order. We can hope.

  2. Best to these brave Cubans!

    Andy Garcia is one of my favorite actors:
    ____________________________________

    García has expressed, on a number of occasions, his distaste for the communist regime that has ruled Cuba since the revolution that occurred there from 1953 to 1959.[ Following Fidel Castro’s death in November 2016, García criticized his legacy, stating: “It is necessary for me to express the deep sorrow that I feel for all the Cuban people…that have suffered the atrocities and repression caused by Fidel Castro and his totalitarian regime.”

    García is Catholic, and a naturalized citizen of the United States.

    –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_García
    ___________________________________

    Garcia still works, but I do believe his career has suffered since he has spoken out as a Cuban and Catholic.

  3. Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic contraction in over three decades, as chronic inefficiencies and paralyzing bureaucracy have gradually eroded the country’s production capacity, including the essential food and agriculture sectors.

    Perhaps the most egregious example of Cuban agricultural disasters is milk production. . If one gives Cuban production the best possible interpretation and average 2016-2019 production, 2016-19 production is 54% above 1961 production. Latin America has quintupled milk production from 1961 to 2019, from roughly 18 million MT to ~ 93 million metric tons.

    A lot- most? – of the land once used for sugar production is now fallow. After the end of the 3 decades of Soviet “help” it would have made sense to transfer the unused land once used for sugar into producing corn for cattle, or to pasture for cattle. (Cuba imported corn from the Soviet Union for cattle feed). Instead, a lot of the land formerly used for producing sugar laid fallow, and got invaded by the Marabu(accent on u_ bush. Ironically, Sociologist C Wright Mills in Listen Yankee (1960) wrote how the Cubans had the Marabu bush under control, and knew how to deal with it. Marabu invades fallow land. Should have put former sugar cane land to producing something else ASAP. But what do Marxists know about agriculture? Chile, Nicaragua, Venezuela….

    Year (Metric Tons), Cow milk production: Cuba
    1961 350,000
    2016 612,800
    2017 536,400
    2018 576,900
    2019 438,442

    http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QL

  4. Imagine coming to the end of one long communist nightmare of deprivations and awakening into a shiny new pozzed globohomo nightmare of CRT, Tranny Rights, far more pervasive surveillance, open borders, and total and utter carpet bagging and strip mining of what little remains of your patrimony.

    If and when, it’ll be a fun ride. Just not for the Cubans.

    But can’t hurt to see all the Miami Cubans Go Back.

    China-owned and operated container port in Havana in 3/2/1… Guess what has been miniaturized, solid-fuel-ized, and containerised since last time around in early 60s? 🙂

    Note to Certain Trolling Monomaniacs: Not China-boosting. Simply predicting with 99% certainty your retarded corrupt political establishment putting its *other* foot in the cowshit for the 99th time. Not hard to grasp.

  5. Which is why Spanish Dons of Old I guess apocryphally greeted each other with the expression “Let No New Thing Arise!”

    After all we’ve seen these last 30 years, only a benighted fool would feel any optimism or jubilation at the prospect of the evil regime in Havana collapsing. Whatever happens next will blight a generation at least.

    The sensible man sighs and says “Here we go again.”

  6. The power of democracy – the elites in charge are beginning to fear losing BIG to elite-haters. So they’re going to be slowly, or rapidly, becoming more populist.

    Supporting the Cuban commies who have long been repressing and oppressing most of the Cuban people is not popular.

    When sanctions are reduced, it will be sold as helping the Cuban people – not the Cuban commie govt. So they can’t be reduced much while thousands are marching for “Freedom” and are against other gov’t policies.

    Strange Leonard Cohen song from Athens in Nov 2020 seems not so far from a possible feeling in Cuba. Despite Greece being among the poorest of the EU countries, it’s probably looking a lot better than most of Havana, now. “It Seemed the Better Way”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOXRVTDk8o

  7. Apparently Cuban agriculture didn’t do that bad during the years of Soviet assistance, but collapsed after the loss of Soviet assistance. (the former sugar land taken over by Marabu looms large. Note that sugar land was state-owned. Didn’t see Marabu so much on private plots.)

    Per capita production for 1961-1989-2019 for Cuba

    1961 Crops 0.92
    1989 Crops 1
    2019 Crops 0.53
    1961 Food 0.87
    1989 Food 1
    2019 Food 0.578
    1961 Livestock 0.78
    1989 Livestock 1
    2019 Livestock 0.73
    1961 Milk, Total 0.45
    1989 Milk, Total 1
    2019 Milk, Total 0.36

    http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QI

  8. For those who say the embargo being lifted would help the Cuban economy very much, consider the fact that the Cuban government takes a 92% cut from the salaries of Cuban employees of foreign firms. That is, the foreign firms in Cuba are helping the Cuban government a lot more than they are helping their own Cuban employees. It wouldn’t be any different if an American company owned the hotel, as opposed to the Euro or Canadian current hotel owners in Cuba.

  9. Kate
    A free Cuba would be great — assuming that the decades of dictatorship haven’t made self-government a very tall order. We can hope.

    That’s what Fidel said 60 years ago. Cuban governments before him had been very corrupt. So, anything would be better, a lot of people thought. Fidel proved THAT supposition wrong. Like Zaphod says , here we go again.

  10. Trump’s tightening of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba has inflicted further pain on its ailing state-run economy, contributing to worsening shortages of food and medicine.

    Anyone who looks at Cuban agricultural stats readily sees that food shortages in Cuba are self-inflicted.

    Wasn’t Cuba supposed to have a First-World medical system? So why need US meds?

    Question for a Fidel fan: Cuba’s Life Expectancy is 3.5 years greater than Latin America’s Life Expectancy. Does that indicate that Fidel and Friends have been good stewards for the Cuban people?

    Fidel fan: Yes indeed.
    Question: Cuba’s Life Expectancy in the 1950s was 8 years greater than Latin America’s Life Expectancy (~54 vs. 62). Does that indicate that Batista was a good steward for the Cuban people?

    Fidel fan: Er…ummm..

    Two points: 1.Castro inherited a country that was, by Third World standards, rather well off. 2. Cuba wasn’t the only country that has improved health care in the last 60 years. (Ditto for literacy.)

  11. Re Cuban Sugar Industry:

    There is a vast and corrupt crony-government nexus subsidizing the production of cane sugar and HFCS in the USA.

    So my prediction is that your borrowed 10x over ‘tax dollars’ circulated through the best people’s grubby fingers gets spent on turning Cuban agricultural land over to ‘Green Energy’ production.

    Milk? There’ll be plenty of milking alright. Cows? Only Cow might conceivably do well out of this is comfy cackling in her stall in Chappauqua.

  12. Can Do!

    Note from a “Certain Trolling Monomaniacs” when you actually know any Cuban refugees or have any Cuban refugees as family (all US citizens) you may have some credibility. If not ST*U. Cuba and the USA aren’t your countries either.

    But you won’t ST*U about things and people you don’t know squat about. Sad to be you.

    How’s your social credit score and your rice bowl, Chappie?

  13. @Gringo:

    As you point out with data, Castro’s regime was/is shocking.

    But they really did land in a small boat and knocked over a House of Cards.

    And then of course #@$%ed it up more. But Cubans gonna Cuban. And at best they’ll always be a Casino/Whorehouse/Tax Haven/Bolt Hole off the Coast of a Retirement Home.

    So the trick is to manage that reality sensibly and realistically. Which I believe is beyond ability of Cubans or Americans or the even more toxic combination of Cubans + Americans Most Likely to be Found in Cuba Restored.

    Too bad can’t find an unemployed Habsburg and give him absolute power for 30 years. One with a presentable physiognomy of course. Physiognomy is Real.

    PS: Not all Cubans gonna Cuban. Mark Cuban isn’t a Cuban. Take Three Guesses 😛

  14. Cuba has had 400 years of Spanish Empire rule; 60 years of governance oscillating between competent governance, egregious corruption and coups; and 60 years of totalitarianism.

    That doesn’t make one optimistic.

    Recall that Venezuela had 150 years of military dictators and 40 years of democrat government before Hugo Chavez.

  15. Amazing insight from Can Do! now Cuban’s join the ever expanding list of non-Han and non-Can Do! that are genetically predisposed as sub par and defective.

    What a tool.

  16. Zaphod
    But they really did land in a small boat and knocked over a House of Cards.

    I recently came across a quote from a Spanish governor of Cuba that said that something like this: Cuba could be governed by “un gallo y violin;” a rooster and a violin.Which may help explain why it was so easy for Castro to take over, and also for him and his cronies to rule for 60+ years. Say what you will about Fidel, he was very adept about acquiring power and maintaining himself in power: a master politician.

    (Source, IIRC, Norman Gall article from Commentary on Fidel’s Failures. from Gall’s website, quoting Thomas’s book on Cuba.)

    So my prediction is that your borrowed 10x over ‘tax dollars’ circulated through the best people’s grubby fingers gets spent on turning Cuban agricultural land over to ‘Green Energy’ production.

    It’s already happening in a limited capacity with the Marabu (accent on U) that invaded the fallow sugar lands. There is some production of charcoal from Marabu. Also, IIRC, some limited turning of Marabu into electrical energy.

    Speaking of Green and Cuba, I am reminded of an online discussion I had with a Fidel Fan. I pointed out the collapse of Cuban agricultural production, as above. Fidel Fan’s reply was that Cuba had a VERY SUSTAINABLE agriculture, according to some study. Fidel Fan cut off discussion, so I couldn’t point out to him that a country that imports 50%? 60%? of its food (FAO), like Cuba does, can’t have a very good SUSTAINABILITY score.

  17. How about we swap our “mostly peaceful” protesters for Cuba’s?

  18. “videos live-streamed on Facebook showed thousands of people walking and riding bikes and motorcycles along streets while chanting “Freedom!” “Down with Communism!”

    “The current population of Cuba is 11,319,613 as of Wednesday, July 7, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data…”

    Rhetorical question: are the Cuban people armed?

    The answer’s obvious of course, as communist regimes do not allow the public to retain arms. In which case, as long as those in the army support tyranny, the only thing that is going to change is the removal of the ‘troublemakers’.

    When totalitarian regimes hold sway,
    the protests in Venezuela, Iran’s ‘Green Revolution’ and Tiananmen Square stand witness to the futility of peaceful protests.

    When those in power are willing to kill to retain their power, then only a willingness to kill them can eject them from power.

    If unwilling to kill the tyrant and their suporters and unable to flee, then submission or suicide are the remaining choices.

    When we have our One World Government* then there will be nowhere to flee.

    * first step: 139 of the world’s 169 recognized nations have agreed to sign on to a “world tax”.

    Count on it, the remaining 30 will be ‘encouraged’ to… get with the program. It’s the first step because the ‘right’ to tax is the right to govern.

    And yes, the US Military is supporting the democrat’s political coup. While Ashli Babbit’s murder with a democrat controlled federal government’s refusal to allow an investigation… demonstrates the democrat’s willingness to kill to retain its power.

  19. OlderandWheezier
    How about we swap our “mostly peaceful” protesters for Cuba’s?

    Great suggestion. I suspect that some of those “mostly peaceful” protesters- think Antifa- are Fidel Fans. Regarding their response to the suggestion they go to Socialist Cuba- after all so many of them LOVE Socialism- I am reminded of Graham Greene’s remark circa 1967. Graham Greene said that given the choice between living in the US or living in the Soviet Union, he’d choose to live to live in the Soviet Union. Graham Greene was living on the French Riviera when he made that remark!

    Most of those who love Fidel have the good sense to stay away from Cuba, to make sure their dreams do not collide with reality.

  20. “Most of those who love Fidel have the good sense to stay away from Cuba, to make sure their dreams do not collide with reality.”

    There was a famous early C20 Classical Sinologist who made a point of never visiting China. He flat out stated that he didn’t want to be disillusioned about the Love of his Life.

  21. Best part of a Free Cuba will be that their Blacks will be freed. The Castro regime whilst bloviating about equality has been careful to keep them on a very tight rein.

    What’s not to like? 🙂

    Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, Americans fester in Prison held without trial for Jan 6. Be nice if the Conservatard Commentariat was as interested in freeing them as it is in Freeing Cubans to be Fleeced:

    https://gab.com/TheZBlog/posts/106567708422266676

  22. You’re “A Head” alright. Or was that alt-right?

    Not your country, remember?

  23. @Gringo:

    Graham Greene: the best advertisement for Catholic Apostasy since the Borgias. Fellow could write, but he makes Peter Hitchens or Theodore Dalrymple seem like the life of the party.

  24. In particular, Sen. Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz are all betraying their oath in not speaking out against the conditions in which the Jan. 6th protesters are being held. Their conditions are horrific and in not publicly objecting, all in Congress who are silent are complicit in these crimes.

  25. Well good to know that it is settled.

    “In particular, Sen. Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz are all betraying their oath ….. all in Congress who are silent are complicit in these crimes.”

    Cue “If I were king of the forest.”

  26. Predictions.

    Cuban Liberation will result in:

    1) More Cubans in America. Not Fewer. The Open Borders Gang will be all over this like White on Rice. Never let an opportunity go to waste.™

    2) More Looting of the US Treasury by all the usual well-connected suspects to support ‘Reconstruction’.

    3) The exporting of American jobs to Cuba.

    4) Further as yet unimagined degradation and despoliation of the lot of Legacy American White Proles.

    5) Big Trouble for Fredo.

    Did I miss anything?

    Oh.. I’m sure some Cubans will be better off. Where in the Declaration of Independence or the Holy and Most Sacred Constitution does it mention the Life, Liberty and Happiness of Some Cubans?

  27. I’d like to think the Cubans couldn’t do worse than what they’ve got. However, as Bill Cosby said in his stand-up days:
    _____________________________________

    You should never challenge “worse.” Don’t ever say, “Things couldn’t get
    worse.

    _____________________________________

    Back in the heady post-WW2 years many countries (sadly not those which fell behind the Iron Curtain) did get better. Even West Germany and Japan, the Bad Guys, ended up with OK countries albeit requiring substantial American presence and resources.

    I was a boomer kid and quite excited by such improvements, not to mention the tech advances which seemed to go hand-in-hand. It looked like we were heading, two-steps-forward-one-step-back, towards a grand happy ending, like that Fukuyama fellow said in “The End of History” in 1992.

    Thirty years later it’s much less clear. Even in the US we are fighting off a weird new American tyranny the Democrats, media, academia and tech have cooked up.

    So should the Cubans throw off their current regime, which is not a sure thing, it’s a coin toss, maybe worse, that things improve.

    Of course, I’d like to believe.

  28. om,

    “Cue “If I were king of the forest.”

    The truest test of character is when doing the right thing will cost you. The greater the cost, the greater the depth of character required.

    “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

    I singled out those individuals for two reasons; the representative office they hold, second only to the President and that they hold themselves up as true conservatives.

    The greater the influence we have, the greater the moral obligation to speak out in the face of injustice.

    On a personal note, lately you seem to have little to say beyond chastisement and ridicule of those whom you dislike. Do you have anything of value to contribute to these issues beyond that?

  29. Cuba, the vast manufacturing hub of the Caribbean, so close to Florida but with such untapped, unknown potential! We (the USA, not Hong Kong) will be sending all our knowledge economy work to Cuba now. Trust me, I heard it from Can Do!

    I thought the threat in the Caribbean was from Hati? Oh, that was last (Can Do!) week.

  30. Zaphod:

    Since you are not an American and actually seem to know little about this country, perhaps you’re not aware that Cuban refugees to this country tend to vote Republican. Encouraging Cubans to come here is not something Democrats are into.

  31. Geoffrey:

    You have much to say that is “profound” and IMO you try to be “magisterial,” but that may just be misreading of your style.

    Personally, you may be a fine fellow and a joy to be around. I don’t know.

    Regarding your judgement on those senators, well, we disagree about the severity of their errors. But you tend to fall into the “treason” (and string ’em up?) mode up on a regular basis. Funny but the founders made “treason” a hard crime to prove in court IIRC.

  32. Geoffrey:

    Glad to know we have a judge of what constitutes “true conservatives” and how “true conservatives” must act. Well as I said, glad that is solved. Now I know who to ask. Will flashes of lightning and peals of thunder sound to clue me in that an answer is coming from Bend, OR? 🙂

  33. Yes Can Do! is so original. Usually we can count on the left to use the Constitution and Declaration of Independence as kindling for a flag burning or as toilet paper, but Can Do! joins in as well. Some find his viewpoint refreshing. Takes all kinds to fill a honey bucket.

  34. Geoffrey:

    Almost all who write here are more eloquent, inciteful, and interesting than I. Few post views that are IMO evil, brutal, and ignorant of historical consequences while claiming to be clear headed and pragmatic. Not to be coy, I refer to Zaphod, of Hong Kong.

    You write what you will, it is an open forum, with rules and guardrails.

  35. I read once, I don’t remember where, that any regime can remain in power only so long as its army continues to have the stomach for killing their fellow citizens.

    To this end, the Cubans created special forces used to terrorize, punish, and murder people. These paramilitary groups are composed only of people completely lacking in empathy. Most are former criminals, but the important thing is that they are sociopaths and they just don’t lose the stomach for killing.

    The same model has been exported to Venezuela. Read:

    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-violence-police-faes/

    Unfortunately, I suspect that the Cuban regime will beat this uprising… brutally. We will never know how many they kill in the process.

    However, I am not there. Maybe the Cuban people are fed up enough to absorb thousands of deaths and keep fighting. We can hope. And be assured that if Cuba falls, Venezuela and Nicaragua will be right behind.

    Meanwhile, my heart is heavy for what the Cuban people face. May their desperation be converted to courage.

  36. @Neo:

    Best not be assuming random stuff like my not knowing how the Miami Miasma votes.

    Take away emigre Cuban Americans’ ur-reason to vote Republican and import more of their more downmarket Fellaheen and see how how quickly they turn on a dime.

    Past Performance is no Guarantee, etc.

    I can think of folks for example who are the Rightiest of Bomb them all to Hell Maniacs when a narrowly-defined interest is at stake and the Leftiest of Trannies are what the Republican Party Truly Stands For when their narrowly-defined interest is not concerned. Take away the Communist Regime in Cuba and your Cuban Americans might shape-shift into just about anything new under the Electoral Sun given a decade.

  37. Can Do! shows his ignorance again. There was a mass immigration from Cuba encouraged by the totalitarians (Castros) in 1980 (Mariel Boatlift). Castro seeded that group with lots of criminals. From 1980 to 2020 those Cubans who became citizens must be really slow leaners about the joys of the Democrat left. But that would fit the Can Do! model; they are slow learners because, …. Can Do!

    And a bonus, Can Do! knows more than neo. Who knew?

  38. Zaphod:

    I assumed nothing.

    You had written something that indicated you didn’t realize that Cuban emigres voted Republican. Here it is:

    More Cubans in America. Not Fewer. The Open Borders Gang will be all over this like White on Rice. Never let an opportunity go to waste.

    “More Cubans” is not an opportunity for the left; it’s one for the right. Now, of course, some GOP members are for open borders, but fewer than there used to be and a lot fewer than there are among Democrats.

    And you have said tons of other things here that show a lack of understanding of the US. I’ve called you out on many of them.

  39. om,

    I thought it prudent to look up “magisterial”, to confirm my interpretation of your use of that characterization of me. I assure you that I’m not trying to act as an authoritarian on anything, just being straightforward on the issues and personalities as I currently see them. It hasn’t, at 72 escaped me that the more I learn, the more clearly I realize how little I know. Yet if we don’t believe in some things, we’ll fall for anything. In an increasingly less free society, speaking out is a moral and ethical duty.

    If it helps, I entirely agree with Ben Franklin’s acknowledgement of; “For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.” Benjamin Franklin

    As for the severity of those Senator’s ‘errors’, they haven’t simply made a mistake. I think it safe to presume that it’s a certainty that they know of the conditions in which the Jan. 6th protesters are enduring. As it’s certainly been written about enough in the conservative media. Given their full throated support for Constitutional principles in other areas, their silence on this issue only makes sense as a craven political consideration.

    If profound violations of due process and the rule of law, if in America, gulag like conditions for American political prisoners isn’t a moral and constitutional duty for US Senators to speak out against, then what pray tell qualifies for being labeled a betrayal of their sworn duty?

    Those Senators have sworn an oath upon a Bible to defend the Constitution. The democrat’s actions are a direct and profound assault upon the Constitution itself. In their silence they are assisting and, in effect supporting that assault. If that doesn’t equate to treason, then nothing short of armed and deadly resistance qualifies. In which case, that limitation transforms the Constitution into a suicide pact.

  40. “Biden’s history is of supporting the lifting of sanctions, and this was part of his campaign. But nothing has yet happened on that score.” – Neo

    IF Biden lifts sanctions, the Castroites gain the upper hand because the protests might fizzle out.
    If the protests fizzle, US-Cubans will not be happy, since, as Neo observed, at the moment they vote mostly Republican.
    If the US-Cubans get unhappy enough, they might start peacefully protesting the DC Imperium.

    I hope the Cubans get a better deal from Biden than they did from JFK.

    Free the Capitol Five Hundred.

  41. “Free the Capitol Five Hundred.”

    Yes.

    Good luck to the Cubans and all. But ultimately their fate rests with themselves and their own willingness to shed blood both coming and going.

    For the rest, my point in this thread has been that from the US-Centric Perspective (and any American who does not operate from that perspective can be considered a Traitor) Change is problematic. Wouldn’t always necessarily be a problem if you weren’t governed by a Kakistocracy/Kleptocracy which could bankrupt a lemonade stand on the hottest day of the year and turn any opportunity into a cess pit of failure. Fix that. Free your own political prisoners (Right Ones, only. Don’t be a stupid $%^&ing autistic Universalist). Then go slap your local Cuban on the back.

  42. Geoffrey jumps the treason shark, seriously. Chaquita republic time.

    “Thunder and lightning, kill the wabbit.” (senator).

  43. After the New Revolution succeeds, Cubans should start with listening to this judge. Just a few excerpts; recommend RTWT.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/07/the-importance-of-a-fairly-selected-judiciary.php

    Richard E. Myers II is the Chief District Judge of the United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina. He was nominated by Donald Trump and took office on January 1, 2021.

    Judge Meyers was born in Jamaica. He is of mixed race.

    Today, he testified before a congressional committee on the subject of “The Importance of a Diverse Federal Judiciary: The Selection and Confirmation Process.” I found his testimony insightful and moving. Here are excerpts:

    Looking forward: Racism is real – I have personal experience with it. But I also believe that justice is blind and all judges wear the same black robes for a reason. We need to strive–selfconsciously and mightily – to achieve Martin Luther King’s dream – to create the day when we all are judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.

    Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurrence in Adarand1 accurately captures my views on this issue. “Government cannot make us equal; it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as
    equal before the law.”

    This is my chosen country. I have taken multiple oaths to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States: at my naturalization ceremony, again when I became an Assistant United States Attorney, and yet again when I became a federal judge. We have amended our Constitution multiple times to further commit us to principle that all people are equal before the law. We still have much work to do to fully accomplish that goal. As a judge I strive every day to find neutral principles of law and apply them neutrally — to all of the people who appear before me, without fear or favor.

    Discriminating on the basis of immutable characteristics damages and deprives those who choose to discriminate. And it damages those excluded – or chosen – for that reason. If the public reasonably believes that a potential judge was excluded – or chosen – because of an immutable characteristic, then we as a nation lose faith that the choosers understand the real qualifications they are seeking, and that the judge chosen was truly the best choice among all of those available.

    There are many people in this country, from widely diverse backgrounds, who have the capacity to be great federal judges. I encourage our leaders to remain committed to the proposition that all people are equal before the law, to consider every potential candidate as an individual, with all of the nuance that that requires, and to seek the best candidates without fear or favor.

  44. Now that’s a Sensible Judge.

    Funny how the best of American Blacks often come from the Caribbean.

    Before any of you Nurture not Nature Fanatics jump on my case, you still have to explain the odious Colin Powell.

  45. “That wabbit was tweasonous” channeling Elmer Fudd the constitutional
    scholar,

    ‘Tut, tut, young(er, but not much) man. I’m not hoping for civil war, but those three treasonous senators have to be taught a lesson. ….’

    Now the voters of Arkansas, Texas, Utah, might not quite see eye to eye with the Prophet of Bend, but he has spoken. Hubris rears it’s head again.

  46. Can Do! can’t seem to grasp that individuals exist among those things that don’t look like him. Colin Powel is not an individual, nope, he is from the Caribbean, that must explain his actions. Sad.

  47. J. E. Dyer – starts with lots of Tweets supporting the Cuban people.
    And then there are the Lying Fake Media Allies.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/07/12/a-day-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil-cuba-shouts-libertad-america-dances-with-death/

    Other Americans weighed in peevishly claiming that cries of “Libertad!” were a reaction to U.S. sanctions on the Cuban regime (which, like all our sanctions, exclude food and medical supplies. We are not using sanctions to deny any COVID-19-fighting provisions to Cuba).

    Meanwhile, the media voice in which leftist dogma lives the loudest had an exemplary take on the meaning of “Libertad!”

    The official paper of the Democrat establishment which covered up Communist atrocities and praised Communist regimes, makes it official…

    “Freedom” is an anti-government slogan https://t.co/c3xXB8rzel

    — Daniel Greenfield – “Hang Together or Separately” (@Sultanknish) July 11, 2021

    That’s screen-capped, by the way, in case the New York Times decides framing shouts of “Freedom!” as mere “anti-government slogans” wasn’t such a good idea.

    But NYT probably won’t decide that. NYT is so enchained in so-called “Great Reset” thinking, it has little hope of freeing itself from the mental straitjacket it’s locked in. For NYT, there is no such thing as legitimately preferring more freedom to government coercion. There is only being “anti-government,” as if deluded fools in Cuba are mindlessly objecting to basic police functions and laws against murder and theft.

    Cubans know the difference between having some inchoate, “anti-government” animus and yearning for the freedom they are calling for.

    As a second item, she expounds on a Tweet from yesterday that made the rounds.

    In the U.S., a sign of the choice still being ours to make came from an unlikely source. At this interesting time, probably the least ambiguous video I’ve seen of the U.S. Capitol Police opening doors to 1/6 protesters and ushering them into the Capitol building began to circulate on social media.

    It’s there. It happened.
    It’s a data point. https://t.co/4lfqUIzISK

    — J.E. Dyer (@OptimisticCon) July 11, 2021

    That the USCP opened the doors cannot be in dispute, and it’s clear that several officers stood by passively and at least one is seen waving the crowd in. The crowd enters peacefully, at a walk, with no violence whatsoever – and only after being invited through doors that open outward.

    As I noted in the tweet, it’s a data point. It’s a reality of the events of 1/6 that has to figure into our assessment of what happened that day. It can’t be ignored.

    On yet another compelling current issue:

    Other aspects of the picture in the USA aren’t quite so encouraging. For the umpteenth time, a commentator on a major news network weighed in to advocate “making it hard” on Americans to forgo vaccination.

    We’re being herded by mental and emotional appeals to do something there’s every reason to believe has already been done enough at this point, and in any case is still experimental, with emerging side effects that are non-dismissible for younger people and likely fatal for older ones.

    Anyone who says even such mild words as I have uttered here is then silenced by social media.

    It’s perfectly legitimate to be leery of a vaccination campaign that, when questioned or criticized, knows no boundaries of temperance or compunction. And I haven’t come to this point lightly, or from a prior prejudice against vaccines. Like most people, I appreciate them and think we need them. But I don’t think involuntary injection should be inflicted on anyone (why would it even need to be?), and over time, it has been impossible for fevered advocates to hide that that’s where they’d be eager to go.

    And yet another – it’s all connected.

    Writer Leonydus Johnson, popular on Twitter for his blunt commentary, put it in perspective.

    “Nearly all children nowadays were horrible…All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” -Orwell, 1984 https://t.co/NefRjb8XQj

    — Leonydus Johnson (leave/me/alone) (@LeonydusJohnson) July 11, 2021

    The U.S. federal government is asking friends and family to turn in people who they think may be – well, it’s not even clear exactly what they’d be doing, but the gist of it seems to be that their nearest acquaintances think they’re interacting with “extremist” material.

    This isn’t the “See something, say something” campaign after 9/11, which was mainly about reporting strange activities you might observe from a distance as you went about your business. “See something, say something” was about things like happening to see a garage nearby filled with way more ammonium nitrate than anyone could possibly need, or finding someone repeatedly in security areas without authorization at an airport, or someone looking furtive while snapping images of the perimeter at a local water treatment plant.

    Spying on your friends and family, because your access to them is so intimate, is society-disrupting, soul-killing, Soviet-level evil. And the true evil here is the government beckoning, and indicating that it encourages such evil and will not just be receptive to it but help you engage in it.

    There was a great woman in Denver who saw something and said something, and short-circuited a potential disaster. But she wasn’t spying on anyone, let alone her own family and friends.
    If more people had been willing to do this (by their own admissions), we wouldn’t have had 9/11 and some other horrendous events.
    https://nypost.com/2021/07/11/hotel-maid-prevents-potential-shooting-at-mlb-all-star-game-report/

    And yet another central issue for the country to address:

    America is dealing with a lot of deadly stuff right now. Perhaps the most deadly is the facts-on-the-ground implementation of Critical Race Theory.

    It doesn’t matter what experts say it is (or, more accurately what they say it isn’t. They’re much harder to pin down on what it is). What matters it what it does. And in its implementation in the media, the schools, and public debate, it divides people by race and urges them to see each other as enemies.

    Americans naturally object to seeing their children taught in the schools to divide themselves by race and regard each other as enemies. They’re really tired as adults, for that matter, of being assaulted by the same themes in politics and the media.

    But the president of the American Federation of Teachers just doubled down on continuing the education establishment’s – including her union’s – implementation of CRT-derived instruction in the schools. Her deceptive claim, staggering under its burden of unspoken premises: “We will teach the good and the bad.”

    I can’t improve much on what I tweeted out on Sunday.

    “It’s about selling bad, rather than warning against it.”

  48. om,

    A response that claims that I’ve “jumped the treason shark” is NOT a rebuttal of my question; “If profound violations of due process and the rule of law, if in America, gulag like conditions for American political prisoners isn’t a moral and constitutional duty for US Senators to speak out against, then what pray tell qualifies for being labeled a betrayal of their sworn duty?”

    In not responding directly to an explanation of my reasoning and instead, simply claiming that I’ve gone off the deep end, you engage in exactly the type of rhetoric and contemptuous dismissal that the left typically uses. Time to look in the mirror buddy.

    Accusations of treasonous behavior should be cautiously advanced, yet when the behavior fully qualifies, avoiding the use of the word is moral cowardice. When a rationale is offered for an accusation as serious as treason, principled disagreement, requires addressing the rationale.

    To fail to do so and instead simply dismiss it as a bridge too far, reveals an inability to engage in reasoned discussion.

    “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” -Socrates

  49. Well the senile Joe Bidet and his Obama-commie handlers will not shout too loud in supporting the Cuban demonstrators because Joe, et. al., support the goals of the Cuban regime.
    The execrable POS AOC says nothing. She is all for that regime as long as she does not have to live there.
    As usual, the even more execrable Brooklyn commie, Bernie Sanders, once again jumped thru his anus to defend that commie hellhole by noting that Castro increased the literacy rate; that not everything in Cuba is bad.
    Of course, Bernie neglects to mention that Cuba, in 1959 already had a 71% literacy rate, which at that time was the 4th highest in Latin America.
    When is comes to defending totalitarian commie regimes, Bernie somehow finds a way to do this, but he NEVER can find one F’n thing to defend about the USA.

    If it was within my power, Bernie, AOC – and their entire families – and some others would be dropped off in Havana so they can enjoy the utopia they yearn for, never again allowed to set foot in the nation they most hate, the USA. . While there , Bernie, can explain to all those in food lines why “waiting in line is good.”

    Cuba, like all repressive regimes, relies on having enough gun toting “citizens” who are willing to do the govt’s dirty work to retain power.
    Attaining absolute power is also what is most appealing to the “demokrats” here in the USA which is why they bend over backwards to treat communist nations with kid gloves.

    IMHO, the leaders of the demonstrations in Cuba will be arrested, they will disappear , and that will be the end of it. This is what the Cubans taught the Venezuelans and what the Chinese communists did in Hong Kong.
    Slice off the head of the snake and the snake is dead.

    As for all those who support the communist govt. in Cuba, ask yourself simple questions; ” if given the chance to leave Cuba without penalty, how many would choose to leave?”
    “If living in Cuba is so great, why would anyone want to leave.”
    “If the USA is a racist hell-hole , why would any Cuban – or anyone else – desire to come here.”

    One thing about American commies; they are all for it as long as they are not forced to live in a communist nation.

    Some Polish fighter – long ago – was asked what it was like killing humans. He answered; “I never killed a human, just communists. “

  50. Hi Neo,

    Re the voting habits of Cubans in the US: Do you think that the tendency will change once/if it becomes easy for Cubans to move to the US? I’d expect a difference between the ‘when it’s hard’ and the ‘when it’s easy(easier)’ groups.

    Not trolling – serious question.

  51. It’s a peculiar thing we do when we purport to quote Sokrates (that mystery guy), who famously never wrote a thing preserved to his contemporaries, hence certainly not to us: turns out what we’re actually doing is quoting some others else who have in turn quoted Sokrates to their own purpose. “Some others else” being namely Xenophon or Plato or Aristophanes, in the main, fine fellows all so far as I believe.

    Anyhow, just an aside comment of no particular consequence — stickly though it may appear — on account of so few today truly give two shits about ol’ Sok, whoever he may have been.

  52. Geoffrey, old buddy:

    Accusation of treason is extreme, but not for some (you). Accusation of slander is also not unusual when I go down the path of Mt. Hyperbole that you’ve trod before. In your dottage consider that treason applied to political disagreements might have some unintended consequences. You missed that?

    Regarding unanswered questions posed to you; am I allowed to ask, what do the voters of TX, UT, Arkansas, have to say about the Geoffrey rule?

    Trigger warning, slander alert, are you channeling The Red Queen – “Off with their heads!”

    Tome ended, have a good day irregardless.

  53. John Tyler
    As usual, the even more execrable Brooklyn commie, Bernie Sanders, once again jumped thru his anus to defend that commie hellhole by noting that Castro increased the literacy rate; that not everything in Cuba is bad.
    Of course, Bernie neglects to mention that Cuba, in 1959 already had a 71%
    [79%] literacy rate, which at that time was the 4th highest in Latin America. When is comes to defending totalitarian commie regimes, Bernie somehow finds a way to do this, but he NEVER can find one F’n thing to defend about the USA.

    (Even in the decade of Cuba’s massively publicized literacy program,-in the 1960’s- IIRC, Cuba ranked about 9th out of 20 Latin American countries in increase in literacy. And yes, even back in the 1960s Bernie was crowing about Cuba’s increase in literacy. See Vermont Freeman.)

    Through the decades, other Latin American countries closed the literacy gap between Cuba and Latin America. From 1960-~2010, Cuba ranked 16th out of the 20 countries of Latin America in increase in literacy- about 20%. There are 2 reasons for Cuba’s ranking so low in increase in literacy. First, as John Tyler points out, Cuba already had a relatively high rate of literacy, so it didn’t have so far to go. IIRC, Bolivia ranked first with 56% increase from 1960-2010. Which brings forth the second point: other countries also improved- not just Cuba. You don’t need totalitarianism to improve literacy or health care.

    As far as I can tell, Bernie has not said a peep about other Latin American or Third World countries increasing literacy- only Commie countries. If Bernie were actually interested in Third World countries’ increasing literacy, he would discussed all such marked improvements- such as Bolvia’s. But Bernie talks only about Commie Cuba.

    Similarly, Bernie made comments about Cuba and Sandinista Nicaragua reducing Infant Mortality.
    Bernie made no mention of Pinochet’s Chile, which surpassed Cuba and Sandinista Nicaragua in reducing Infant Mortality. From 1960 to 1978, Cuba reduced its Infant Mortality rate from 47.1 to 20.3 deaths per 1,000 infant births- a reduction of 26.8 in 18 years. From 1976 to 1983, Pinochet’s Chile reduced its Infant Mortality rate from 47.5 to 20.7 deaths per 1,000 infant births- a reduction of 26.8 in 7 years. During its rule of 16 years, the Pinochet regime reduced Chile’s Infant Mortality rate from 63.4 to 17.2, an absolute reduction of 46.2 and a percentage reduction of 73% . From 1960 to 1976, the first 16 years of the Castro regime in World Bank data, Cuba’s Infant Mortality rate fell from 47.1 to 22.7, an absolute reduction of 24.4 and a percentage reduction of 52%.Not a peep from Bernie.
    Which helps document that Bernie’s concern for improving literacy or Infant Mortality rates in Third World countries is limited to shilling for Commie countries. (World Bank data)

    https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.FE.IN?view=chart

  54. Geoffrey:

    One final whack at your latest Pinata:

    ““If profound violations of due process and the rule of law, if in America, gulag like conditions for American political prisoners isn’t a moral and constitutional duty for US Senators to speak out against, then what pray tell qualifies for being labeled a betrayal of their sworn duty?”

    Excessive bail or denial of bail, solitary confinement, extreme disproportionate penalties for political protests are not yet a gulag. Have you read the Gulag Archipelago or has that faded from memory? Do you remember descriptions of the White Sea Canal, Kolyma, or other examples of that profound evil? Exaggerate much? Again.

    The progressives and the left may want to take us there but you loose credibility much the same as AOC did when she claimed Trump had concentration camps on our border.

    Circular firing squads are not a recipe for success.

  55. I’m sure I’m not the only reader of this blog that is tiring of the petty squabbling going on. Instead of trying to one-up each other, how about limiting your comments to the subject of Neo’s post?

  56. F:

    Do you have any thoughts regarding Cuba based on your experience (IIRC) at the State Dept?

  57. Zaphod, i raise my hand.

    In tarot, i am the fool and the magician. The beginning and the magus power.

    I will burn down all thisbhuman evil and corruotion. Cuba. Schwab reset. Wuhan bio weapon. Gates pop reduction.

    Even the usa. Nothing will be safe from this purifying fire.

  58. Zaphod, gb are speaking my mind. They have this role. And the satan counter team has theirs.

    The squabbling will only get worse, as the clowns in action and fbi satans watch the potential insurgency camps.

    The solar energies will make all of you equallg insane as child raping eating kama jos before long. Look forward to it, humans.

  59. There is something very insincere about how are BLM and CRT people are ignoring the disaster in Haiti. Here we have had this wonderful cleansing reconciliation movement about races, how races are so important and vital a part of our identities, and how white people owe so much historical reparation to bring equity to our victims of oppression. Yet, eight hundred miles away from Miami these newly beloved races are suffering terribly. And not a peep. How can this be? Has all this criticism of whites been a trick?

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