Thread: Cuban democracy advocates address the Black Caucus that went to Cuba

Obama Drops the ‘Bedroom Slippers’ Bomb
By Anthony Ventre | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Sep 26, 2011

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama called up fire and brimstone on blacks unwilling to "take off your bedroom slippers" and "put on your marching shoes."

The "marching shoes" reference intended to capture the civil rights spirit and seemed a matter of political desperation, according to Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy. But the "bedroom slippers" allusion was baffling. Was the "bedroom slippers" allusion supposed to be a metaphor for laziness or complacency?

Hadn't black communities that supported Obama in 2008 demonstrated considerable patience for a segment of the population experiencing 16.7 percent unemployment? In college, I shared an apartment for a couple of years with two black students, one from Bristol, Pa., and the other from Westfield, N.J. I'd never known either one to wear bedroom slippers, but both were hard-working and made something of themselves.

Years later, I shared an apartment with another black man. He was one of the most ambitious guys I've ever met, was ultimately successful and didn't own a pair of bedroom slippers. Around that same time period, I dated a black woman for a few months. I don't know if she became successful or not but she worked hard when I knew her and I never saw her in bedroom slippers.

For several years, I was an amateur boxing coach. The majority of our kids were black or Hispanic, as were most of the coaches. People who don't like to work hard never show up twice in a boxing gym. When amateur boxers have extra money, they buy boxing shoes, not bedroom slippers.

I'm not an expert on minority culture, but allow that I don't fit so well into the media stereotype of a television Republican conservative. From my observations, I believe many blacks are instinctually conservative in most areas except politics, where they have been persuaded by the magic fairy dust of politicians that they are Democrats. President Obama's suggestion of laziness or complacency at the Congressional Black Caucus was something I'd never observed through my own admittedly narrow cultural window.

The only black I've ever seen wearing bedroom slippers was comedian Bill Cosby in a portrayal of a black middle-class television family. Yet, everyone knows that the real-life Cosby is not a bedroom slipper kind of guy. Cosby's early year struggles make even Horatio Alger's characters look like slackers. For his well-intended exhortations to the black community, Cosby has been characterized by some blacks as a "race traitor."

Yet, there are signs Cosby's message has gotten through, with Philadelphia Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter recently telling minority youth to "pull your pants up and buy a belt." Nutter's fulminations are graphic but do not singularly apply to minority youth. The truly wondrous thing is that Nutter was not accused of being a "race traitor." Moreover, Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia NAACP, even said it "took courage" for Nutter to deliver the message.

I would expect President Obama has had considerably more exposure to the black community than I have had. Yet, it's clear Obama's exhortations had more to do with capturing the black vote than on solving 16.7 percent unemployment among black adults and 25 percent among black youth. "Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying, we are going to press on, we've got work to do," President Obama told the CBC audience.

Seems like harsh advice from a president who spends so much time blaming his administration's frustrations and failures on a president who is nearly three years gone.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-drops-be...191000093.html

Morgan Freeman's Anti-Tea Party Comments Backfire, Actually Benefit Herman Cain
By Tina Molly Lang | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Sep 26, 2011

COMMENTARY | Morgan Freeman may have shot himself in the foot because his comments about the tea party movement.


In a CNN interview with Piers Morgan, the actor suggested the tea party's desire to make Barack Obama a one-term president was motivated by racism. Putting words in their mouths, he says, "Screw the country. We're going to do whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we're going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here."


Freeman also remarks that "It just shows the weak, dark underside of America. We're supposed to be better than that."


Freeman's comments are ironic on several levels. First, his own remarks reveal racial motives. Instead of debating the specific policy points he disagrees with, he chooses to fall back on identity politics and to play the race card.


This backfires against Freeman because it highlights some of the hypocrisy we see in among anti-tea party advocates. What evidence does he have the movement specifically targets black Americans? Freeman also seems to forget Obama could not have won the presidency without the support of moderate white America (as well as a prominent number of Republicans).


Fiscal conservatives would have been just as eager to vote out Hillary Clinton, Al Gore or John Edwards had they been elected president. Should we then accuse Republicans of being "anti-white?" (Obama is, after all, half white.)


Second, Herman Cain's popularity among tea party supporters seems to disprove Freeman's point.


Also, Cain's candidacy actually benefits from Freeman's remarks. In a Fox News interview (posted by Huffington Post), Cain pointed out critics would only resort to name-calling because they didn't know how else to stop the movement.


Cain had spent quite a bit of time being overshadowed by Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. However, Freeman indirectly casts a spotlight on Cain's candidacy by putting him in a position where he has to defend the tea party movement. Cain is getting more screen time in the mainstream media than he would have otherwise.


The Freeman incident provides a boost to Cain's campaign because it further motivates his supporters to mobilize. And casual voters who otherwise would have focused on more high-profile GOP contenders, might take the time to learn about Cain's candidacy. Could "Yes We Cain" become the next campaign slogan?

http://news.yahoo.com/morgan-freeman...223800118.html

'Racists' for Cain
By Mona Charen | Mona Charen – 21 hrs ago

Do not suppose for a minute that Herman Cain's victory in the Florida straw poll will alter the liberal narrative about the Tea Party and Republicans. No, we will continue to be instructed by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Today Show and The New York Times that the eruption of the Tea Parties is a reflection of the dark id of American conservatism; that it is primarily racist and xenophobic; and that the Tea Party movement is radical and extremist.

Waving the "bloody shirt" of racism has been the most reliable workhorse of Democratic politics for at least a generation. Remember the wall-to-wall coverage of the "epidemic" of black church fires in the 1990s? Remember George W. Bush's "insensitivity" regarding the ghastly lynching of James Byrd? The epidemic turned out to be imaginary and Bush was happy to sign the death warrant for one of Byrd's murderers, but the tactic is too precious for Democrats to abandon.

It will take some imagination to explain away Herman Cain's success. Among the very voters Democrats demonize, Cain achieved a resounding victory with 37.1 percent of the vote — more than twice the percentage of his next, nearest competitor Rick Perry, who received 15.4 percent.

And it wasn't that Republicans and conservatives were acting upon an affirmative action spirit — trying to prove that they too could pull the lever for a black guy. It's that Herman Cain delivers a great speech, is willing to propose solutions commensurate with our problems and is possessed of a remarkably sunny personality. As the Washington Examiner's Byron York reported, "It's not an exaggeration to say that his power as an orator sealed the deal for hundreds of delegates. They believed Cain was speaking to them from the heart, and they were carried away by it."

And it doesn't hurt that Cain embodies the Horatio Alger rise to success that liberals dismiss as myth but conservatives still believe.

Raised in pre-civil rights Georgia by working class parents (his mother was a maid and his father worked as a janitor, a barber and a chauffeur), Cain got a degree in mathematics from Morehouse College and then a master's in computer science at Purdue. While in school, he worked for the Navy in ballistics. Upon leaving the Navy, he entered the heart of corporate America, working first for the Coca-Cola Co., later for Pillsbury and then Burger King. The division of Burger King he headed went from the least profitable to the most profitable in three years. He performed similar magic for Godfather's Pizza, but in a shorter time, turning the company to profitability in a mere 14 months. He served as chairman and later CEO of the National Restaurant Association, and he also became chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, before achieving the true pinnacle of human achievement with a syndicated newspaper column.

Cain's proposal to reform Social Security along the lines that Chile and 36 other nations have adopted is the sanest entitlement policy prescription of the campaign thus far — and with Mitt Romney playing it safe and Rick Perry having taken so much heat for the Ponzi scheme wording — it is likely to remain so.

Cain's 999-tax plan is similarly refreshing. Our 11,045-page tax code, barnacled by layer after layer of complexity and special interest loopholes, is a drag on productivity and national sanity. A government watchdog agency estimates that Americans spend 6.1 billion hours annually complying with the code. Something like Cain's plan would cut the Gordian knot.

But as historian and political analyst Richard Brookhiser put it, about Pat Robertson in the 1988 presidential election, "The presidency is not an entry-level post." It isn't that Cain lacks the stature to be president, it's that he lacks the kind of experience the office requires. Though we perpetually disparage politicians in America (for good reasons much of the time), it cannot be denied that political skills are necessary in a political job. Beyond delivering a good speech, a successful president must know how to build coalitions, apply pressure to friends and foes alike, deal with a hostile press, appoint officials who won't embarrass the administration, handle ego and turf battles among his advisors and cabinet members, and know when to spend and when to husband political capital. And all of that is before he begins to deal with other nations.

Cain is a great American. His sudden rise in the presidential contest should (but won't) give pause to the bigots who have defamed conservatives and the Tea Party. But he is not our knight in shining armor. There may not be one. He'd make a heck of a Treasury Secretary though.

http://news.yahoo.com/racists-cain-070000314.html

comments

Great news article. I agree with everything except the conclusion. I'm not willing to discount Cain's candidacy simply because almost all of his track record is in the executive management of Fortune 500 companies. As Cain has said: "The voice of the people is greater than the voice of the press."

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I don't know why they are dismissing him. He has more leadership experience than Obama did when he was elected. And he has a better track record in economics. I would vote for him, at least he has answers and says what he thinks.

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Hermain Cain is a Person who speaks with intelligence to all. He does not speak down to select people as some leaders believe they must to get some type of attention.

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I am delighted to have a disiplined candidate that is passionate about the Constiution and equal justice running as a Tea Party candidate under the Republican banner. I am voting for Mr. Cain for many reasons that have nothing to do with his skin color. He is qualified, he is correct on the economy and taxes, he IS a rocket scientist, and he is correct on closing our international borders to protect us. He has my vote.

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4users liked this commentPlease sign in to rate!Please sign in to rate!0users disliked this commentSteveO 10 hours ago I am delighted to have a disiplined candidate that is passionate about the Constiution and equal justice running as a Tea Party candidate under the Republican banner. I am voting for Mr. Cain for many reasons that have nothing to do with his skin color. He is qualified, he is correct on the economy and taxes, he IS a rocket scientist, and he is correct on closing our international borders to protect us. He has my vote.

US embassy in Havana marks 'new chapter' in Cuba ties
JULIE PACE - 5 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba will reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington, heralding a "new chapter" in relations after a half-century of hostility.

"We don't have to be imprisoned by the past," Obama said from White House Rose Garden. "Americans and Cubans alike are ready to move forward."

Cuban television broadcast Obama's statement live, underscoring the new spirit. A state television anchor read a letter from Cuban President Raul Castro to Obama in which he wrote that Cuba is "encouraged by the reciprocal intention to develop respectful relations and cooperation between our people and governments."

The embassy agreement marks the biggest tangible step toward normalizing relations since the surprise announcement in December that the U.S. and Cuba were restarting diplomatic ties. The posts in Washington and Havana are scheduled to open July 20, Cuba's Foreign Ministry said.

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cuba for the opening of the U.S. Embassy. Kerry, who is in Vienna for nuclear talks with Iran, called the embassy agreement "long overdue."

For Obama, ending the U.S. freeze with Cuba is central to his foreign policy legacy as he nears the end of his presidency. Obama has long touted the value of direct engagement with global foes and has argued that the U.S. economic embargo on the communist island just 90 miles south of Florida was ineffective.

Amid the celebratory rhetoric, there were words of caution from both countries.

A statement from the Cuban government said reopening embassies was just the first step in "a long and complex process toward normalization of bilateral ties." It demanded an end to the U.S. embargo, the return of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo and a halt to U.S. radio and TV broadcasts aimed at the island.

And Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said in a statement that opening a U.S. Embassy in Cuba "will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping."

The president on Wednesday reiterated his call for Congress to lift the embargo, which he said has failed to bring political change in Cuba. However, he faces stiff resistance from Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he is prematurely rewarding a government that engages in serious human rights abuses.

The president also will face strong opposition in Congress to spending any taxpayer dollars for building or refurbishing an embassy in Havana. Congress would have to approve any administration request to spend money on an embassy.


The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted last month to curb Obama administration efforts to work on an embassy in Cuba.

A $48 billion foreign aid bill for next year bars any work on an American embassy there unless Obama certifies that Havana is meeting the terms of a 1996 law aimed at pushing the island nation's government toward democracy. That law's conditions include Cuba's extradition of people who are accused of crimes in the U.S.

The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution. The U.S. spent decades trying to either actively overthrow the Cuban government or isolate the island, including toughening the economic embargo first imposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Since the late 1970s, the United States and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions called interests sections in each other's capitals. The missions are technically under the protection of Switzerland, and do not enjoy the same status as embassies.

Ahead of Obama's remarks, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana delivered a letter from the White House to Cuba about restoring embassies in the countries' respective capitals. U.S. Interests Section chief Jeffrey DeLaurentis arrived at the Cuban Foreign Ministry in Havana on Wednesday morning to hand-deliver the message.

In a highly unusual move, Cuban state television broadcast Obama's remarks live with translation in Spanish.

While the opening of embassies marks a major milestone in the thaw between the U.S. and Cuba, significant issues remain as the countries look to normalize relations. Among them: talks on human rights; demands for compensation for confiscated American properties in Havana and damages to Cuba from the embargo; and possible cooperation on law enforcement, including the touchy topic of U.S. fugitives sheltering in Havana.

Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the opening of embassies was part of the administration's "common sense approach to Cuba." However, he called for Cuba to recognize that it is out of step with the international community on human rights.

"Arrests and detentions of dissidents must cease and genuine political pluralism is long overdue," Cardin said in a statement.

For Obama, the embassy announcements come amid what the White House sees as one of the strongest stretches of his second term. He scored major legislative and legal victories last week, with Congress giving him fast-track authority for an Asia-Pacific free trade deal and the Supreme Court upholding a key provision of his health care law.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...id=ansnewsap11

The Cult of Che

Fidel Castro says Cuba could talk with Obama

Cuban president to visit Russia, alliance grows

The buddy system begins: Fidel Castro 'believes in Obama'

US, Cuba to discuss resuming direct mail

Kerry calls for democracy as U.S. flag rises in Cuba
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and BRADLEY KLAPPER - 17 hrs ago

HAVANA — Jubilant crowds waved American flags and chanted "Long live the United States!" as the Stars and Stripes rose over the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Friday after a half-century of often-hostile relations. Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the day but also made an extraordinary, nationally broadcast call for democratic change on the island.

Hundreds of Cubans mixed with American tourists outside the former U.S. Interests Section, newly emblazoned with the letters "Embassy of the United States of America." They cheered as Kerry spoke, the United States Army Brass Quintet played "The Star-Spangled Banner" and U.S. Marines raised the flag alongside the building overlooking the famous Malecon seaside promenade.

Meeting more than 54 years after the severing of diplomatic relations, Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez set an early September date for the start of talks on full normalization of a relationship so long frozen in enmity.

Not all the talk was as warm as the sunny summer day. Kerry and Rodriguez said their nations would continue to disagree over issues such as democracy and human rights. But they also said they hoped to make progress on issues ranging from maritime security and public health to the billions of dollars in dueling claims over confiscation of U.S. property and the U.S. economic embargo on the island.

It seemed that virtually all of Cuba was glued to television or listening by cellphone as Kerry directly addressed the island's people on political reform. That's a subject that has remained off-limits in Cuba even as the single-party government has implemented a series of economic reforms and re-established diplomatic ties with the U.S.

"We remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, practice their faith," Kerry said. He spoke before an audience of Cuban and U.S. diplomats on the embassy grounds and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of islanders watching and listening live.

Addressing reporters with Kerry after the ceremony, Rodriguez responded by indignantly opening his remarks with complaints of U.S. human rights transgressions — from police shootings of black men to mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base that Cuba says must be returned.

"Cuba isn't a place where there's racial discrimination, police brutality or deaths resulting from those problems," Rodriguez said. "The territory where torture occurs and people are held in legal limbo isn't under Cuban jurisdiction."

Many Cubans disagree with that assessment, including Afro-Cubans who say discrimination is still rampant despite the revolution's egalitarian ideals, and human rights groups who say regular, short-term arrests of government opponents aim to intimidate dissent and include beatings.

In New York, Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American senator from Florida, said he would reverse the Obama administration's new Cuba policy on his first day in office, arguing it gives the Castro government international legitimacy and more resources to repress its people.

Kerry acknowledged that the Obama administration would have a difficult fight in Congress to end the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba so that normal business ties between the two countries could resume.

"There is no way Congress will lift the embargo if we are not making progress on issues of conscience," Kerry said.

President Barack Obama also called for change in Cuba when he announced the new U.S. policy of engagement in December, but his words were less pointed than Kerry's in Havana.

Cuba formally reopened its Washington embassy last month. The U.S. raised its flag in Havana then, too, though saving the formal ceremony for Kerry's visit. Three Marines who took part in the flag-lowering in 1961 handed over the new flag to Marines who raised it on Friday.

Kerry was the first secretary of state to visit since 1945, and his speech was remarkable for its bluntness and the national spotlight in which it came.

Many Cubans lauded Kerry's call for reform, including greater access to technology on an island with one of the world's lowest rates of internet penetration. They paired their praise with calls for the United States to lift the 53-year-old trade embargo and allow easier travel between the two countries.

"More democracy, elections, we hope for that to come with this diplomatic opening," said Julio Garcia, a 51-year-old mechanic.

Self-employed graphic designers Danay Lopez, 28, and her husband Yosvel Martinez, 32, watched the ceremony with their 3-year-old son, singing both countries' national anthems and shouting "Long live Cuba!" and "Long live the United States!" as the event drew to a close.

"Kerry spoke about democracy, freedom, WiFi, and he's right," Lopez said. "We want all that to be freed up, but (also) for the U.S. to free up travel, and I don't want my son to live under the embargo."

Like Obama, Kerry said a longtime U.S. strategy of trying to isolate Cuba and provoke regime change by choking off trade and fomenting grass-roots agitation had failed.

"It would be equally unrealistic to expect normalizing relations to have a transformative impact in the short term," he said. "After all, Cuba's future is for Cubans to shape."

After speaking to reporters with Rodriguez, Kerry briefly walked Old Havana's historic Plaza de San Francisco with Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal, stopping to look in shops and greet local residents and store owners before heading to an afternoon flag-raising at the home of the embassy's chief of mission.

He addressed a group of diplomats, Cuban-Americans and advocates of diplomacy with Cuba before a trio of Marines raised the Stars and Stripes in the stately home's back garden. The event was attended by dissidents including Jose Daniel Ferrer, Miriam Leiva and Yoani Sanchez, who tweeted a selfie with Kerry and a photo of the secretary of state meeting privately with a group of dissidents.

The dissidents were not invited to the embassy ceremony, avoiding tensions with Cuban officials who typically boycott events attended by the country's small political opposition.

Soon after Kerry was heading home Friday evening, diplomats who negotiated the July 20 embassy reopening will launch full-time into discussing how to bring about measures such as re-establishing direct flights and mail service.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...id=ansnewsap11

More than 200 dissidents rounded up and arrested in Cuba one day before Obama’s arrival

March 20, 2016 by Alberto de la Cruz

Cuba’s apartheid Castro dictatorship continues to enjoy the empowerment and impunity that Obama’s Hope and Change Cuba policy has so generously bestowed upon them. Lacking any concern or fear of reprisals from the White House, Cuban State Security hunted down and arrested more than 200 peaceful dissidents on the day before Obama’s arrival to the island.

In a normal world with a normal American president, vile and heinous actions such as these would bring serious consequences to Cuba’s repressive regime. But this is neither a normal world nor do we have a normal president. Obama will continue with his “fun” trip to apartheid Cuba, comply with the demands of his dictatorial hosts, and the best anyone can hope for is a vague reference to human rights conveyed in a few mumbled and incoherent words that no doubt will also be delivered with a qualifier that the U.S. has a human rights problem as well.

The report via 14yMedio in Translating Cuba:

More than 200 Activists Arrested Throughout the Island



Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU)

Havana, 19 March 2016 — The arrests of 209 activists is the final result this Saturday, a day on which several opposition groups demanded the release of political prisoners. The majority of those arrested are members of Unión Patriótica de Cuba (Cuban Patriotic Union, UNPACU), according to a statement to 14yMedio by its general coordinator, José Daniel Ferrer.

The bulk of the arrests took place in the eastern provinces and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud (the Island of Youth, formerly the Island of Pines) when the activists demanded publicly “the release of political prisoners, respect for human rights and the end of repression against the Ladies in White,” stated the activist formerly imprisoned following Cuba’s Black Spring.

Other activists were prevented from leaving their homes during police operations, including Zaqueo Báez, who was arrested on two occasions this past week. A similar situation was denounced by Arcelio Rafael Molina, a member of UNPACU, who has been forbidden to leave his home in the municipality of Playa, in Havana, which is also the headquarters for the western branch of the organization.

The group denounced as well that, this morning, a group of 15 of its members in Havana’s Parque Central (Central Park) was “surrounded by political police agents who threatened them with arrest if they created any demonstration.”

In the eastern part of the country, the bulk of arrests are concentrated in Santiago de Cuba with 147 detained activists, plus 28 in Guantanamo, 16 in Las Tunas and 6 in HolguÃ*n.

UNPACU is the largest opposition organization in the country, and it has shown public support for the visit of Barack Obama who will arrive on the island this Sunday. In its communiqués UNPACU has also warned about a possible increase in repression during the president’s stay in Cuba.

http://babalublog.com/2016/03/20/mor...=socialnetwork

Obama in Cuba: 5 things to watch
By Jordan Fabian - 03/19/16 01:18 PM EDT

President Obama travels to Cuba on Sunday for a historic visit meant to cement a new policy of openness toward the United States' former Cold War foe.

A successful trip could help make Obama’s legacy-defining decision to reverse the U.S. policy of isolation toward the island nation "irreversible," officials say. His visit could also pave the way for the Cuban trade embargo to fall after he leaves office.
But the road will be bumpy, with different views on economics, politics and human rights emerging as friction points in the U.S.-Cuba relationship.

Here are five things to watch for while Obama is in Cuba.

Political pressure

Obama is going to talk about his vision of a Cuba with greater political freedoms and economic opportunity, but the question is how far he’ll push the envelope.

The president plans to deliver his message next Tuesday in a major speech to the Cuban people, which will be carried live on state-run television, and during a meeting with President Raúl Castro.

Obama plans to call for the Cuban people to be given the rights of free speech and free assembly, but he won’t call for Castro — who has been condemned by human rights groups for repressing his people — to step aside.

“The difference here is that, in the past because of certain U.S. policies, the message that was delivered in that regard either overtly or implicitly suggested that the U.S. was seeking to pursue regime change,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Wednesday.

“With his message around the world, he will make very clear that that's up to the Cuban people.”

That’s in line with Obama’s strategy of using diplomatic engagement to nudge the Cubans to adopt political reforms.

But it won’t satisfy critics of his policy, who say the president’s decision to reestablish ties with Cuba rewards the Castro government for bad behavior.

The guest list

Obama also plans to meet with political dissidents while in Cuba, but the makeup of his guest list will be closely watched for any signs of interference from the Castro government.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday called the list “nonnegotiable,” saying Obama have the final call over who he meets with, even if it upsets the Cuban government.

But top Cuban officials have repeatedly warned Obama not to meddle in the country’s political affairs and the government has stepped up its crackdowns on dissidents in recent months.

The human-rights situation in Cuba has not improved since Obama and Castro announced their diplomatic thaw in December 2014.

Last Saturday, more than two dozen dissidents were arrested after a demonstration in Havana, including Berta Soler, a well-known activist who leads the dissident group Ladies in White.

Depending on who is on the list, the meeting will either be seen as a powerful rebuke of Castro’s restrictive policies or a missed opportunity.

Play ball

Obama won’t throw out the first pitch before he takes in an exhibition baseball game between Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team.

But the president and the Cubans are hoping the baseball game could be a home run for breaking economic barriers between the two nations.

Rather than place direct pressure on Cuba to open up its political system, Obama is betting that closer economic and cultural ties will spur the Castro government to adopt reforms.

Attending the baseball game is a key part of that strategy.

Americans and Cubans share a love of baseball. Defectors from the island — such as New York Mets slugger Yoenis Céspedes and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig — are some of the biggest stars in the game.

Behind the scenes, MLB, the Obama administration and the Castro government have discussed ways to establish a safer, more direct pathway for Cuban players to reach the majors.

The Treasury Department days before the trip loosened rules to allow Cuban citizens to legally earn a salary in the U.S. That could pave the way for an agreement with MLB for Cuban baseball players to play in the U.S. without defecting.

The Fidel factor

White House officials have stressed Obama will not meet with Raúl’s older brother, Fidel Castro, the aging leader of Cuba’s communist revolution.

An encounter with the elder Castro could cast a cloud over Obama’s visit, placing the focus on the two countries’ dark past.

Last January, the retired leader indicated he’s open to his brother’s decision to pursue normalized relations with its northern neighbor but made it clear he’s not entirely on board.

Castro, who stepped down from power in 2008, wrote in Cuba’s state-controlled newspaper that he doesn’t “trust” the U.S.

While a meeting with Fidel Castro has been ruled out, it will be interesting to see if the ailing leader makes a rare public appearance during Obama’s visit, something that would surely rankle American officials.

Breaking the embargo

The Obama administration has continued to chip away at the five-decade-old trade embargo against Cuba, enacting a litany of policy changes in the days before the president's visit.

Both sides will be looking to make even more progress on that front during the three-day visit.

In addition to the new banking rules, the U.S. dramatically loosened loosened restrictions on travel to Cuba, eased security restrictions on cargo ships and reestablished direct mail service.

Cuba removed a 10 percent penalty on converting U.S. dollars, a gesture toward American travelers and business interests.

But the Obama administration will be pushing the Cuban government to adopt even more changes, including expanding the country’s scant Internet access and making it easier for foreign business to hire Cuban workers. Currently, Cubans must be hired through the government.

http://thehill.com/policy/internatio...hings-to-watch

The same week that Barack Obama’s Treasury Department signed off on a special deal allowing a major U.S. hotel chain to open its doors in Cuba, the Chinese announced they were buying that very same hotelier. But that’s not how it’s being sold to you.

On the surface, it looks like a triumph of capitalism over communism. A major American hotel chain signs a deal with Communist Cuba to manage two hotels in Havana to market to vacation-hungry westerners.

But under the surface, it’s a different story.

Despite the détente between the United States and Cuba (one of Barack Obama’s self-proclaimed “successes”) there is still an economic embargo of the totalitarian island government. Obama has called for Congress to eliminate the 54-year-old embargo, but it remains in effect – for now.

Last week, however, the Treasury Department gave special permission for Starwood Hotels to sign a multi-million-dollar deal with the Castro regime.

This comes the same week that it’s announced a Chinese insurance company with close ties to the Communist party there is buying Starwood Hotels.

Here’s how it washes out, then: President Barack Obama gives permission for a Communist Chinese hotel chain to do business as an American company in Communist Cuba.

If that doesn’t sound much like a triumph of the free market, you’re right. But there’s more.

In the last 20 years, Starwood has given $12 million to lobbyists in Washington and $1.2 million to both Republicans and Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.org. In the 2014 campaign cycle, Starwood gave $440,000 to lobbyists and more than $71,000 to campaigns – more than $50,000 of which went directly to Democrats. In 2012, Starwood gave $14,000 directly to Obama’s re-election campaign, while only $1,500 to Mitt Romney’s.

To add to the aura of crony capitalism, four of the six lobbyists working for Starwood Hotels previously had jobs with the federal government.

Starwood Hotels is the parent company of such hotels as Sheraton, Westin and the St. Regis.

The Chinese company, Anbang Insurance Group, has been on a buying spree in the U.S. and Europe. They already acquired the famous Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Blackstone group of Hotels (Marriott, Renaissance) and they purchased Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance.

Anbang’s Chairman, Wu Xiaohui, is married to the granddaughter of China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping and one of its directors is the son of a Communist Revolution-era top general. With their command economy, the Communist Chinese routinely direct so-called “private” companies and their actions.

The Chinese have been on a foreign buying binge – signing $102 billion in foreign deals this year alone. Their long-term goal is to secure major portions of the world economy for their political and economic benefit.

And unwittingly (we hope), the Obama Administration has allowed them to take hold in Communist Cuba, using our own crony capitalism against us, backed up by millions of dollars in political payoffs.

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/u...communist-cuba

The two floral dresses that first lady Michelle Obama sported in Cuba this week would not be affordable for the wide majority of individuals living in the repressive country.

US Weekly recently spotlighted two outfits that Obama wore during appearances in Havana on Sunday and Monday that, according to a Free Beacon analysis, together cost more than 23 times the average annual state salary in Cuba recorded in 2014.

When the president and his family landed in Cuba Sunday, the first lady descended Air Force One wearing a sleeveless, rose-print dress made by designer Carolina Herrera. The dress is currently sold for $2,190 at Bergdorf Goodman, an upscale department store.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/miche...alary-in-cuba/

WATCH--OBAMA:

“It’s always a CHALLENGE when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage ..."

With Europe in Crisis, Obama Jokes:

'Nothing Is More Stressful Than Throwing Out a First Pitch'

Wearing shades, smiling -- even doing "the wave" at a baseball game with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday -- President Obama found time to joke:

“We do a lot of tough stuff as president. And by definition you don’t end up as president if you don’t handle stress well. Nothing is more stressful than throwing out a first pitch,” he said in an interview with ESPN.

In fact, Obama did NOT throw out the first pitch on Tuesday. He said he never played baseball as a child, so he left the honors to the professionals.

The sports network asked Obama about his decision to attend the game on a day when more than 30 people were killed in two terror attacks in Brussels.

Obama said he'd spoken earlier with the the Belgian prime minister, and he promised to continue "pounding" ISIS/ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

“It’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage. You want to be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation, but the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives,” Obama said.

"And one of my most powerful memories and one of my proudest moments as president was watching Boston respond after the marathon (terror attack).

"And when (David) Ortiz went out and said -- probably the only time that America didn't have a problem with...a person on live TV -- was when he talked about Boston, and how strong it was and how it was not going to be intimidated.

"And that is the kind of resiliance and the kind of strength that we have to show in the face of these terrorists. They cannot defeat America. They don't produce anything. They don't have a message that appeals to the vast majority of Muslims or the vast majority of people around the world.

"What they can do is scare and -- and make people afraid and disrupt our daily lives and divide us. And as long as we don't allow that to happen, we're going to be ok."

The message delivered by David Ortiz in April 2013 that so inspired President Obama included language not normally heard on television:

"This jersey that we wear today, it doesn't say 'Red Sox.' It says 'Boston,' " Ortiz said. After thanking city leaders and police officers for the great job they did during and after the marathon bombing, Ortiz told a cheering crowd, "This is our f***ing city. And nobody's going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong," he said.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susa...l-throwing-out