Thursday, May 21, 2026

There is a leftist moon on the rise

There is a leftist moon on the rise:

There is a leftist moon on the rise, and it’s not good for Democrats.

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/there_is_a_leftist_moon_on_the_rise.html



We remember Raymond Burr (1917-1993)





We remember Raymond Burr, known to most of us as Perry Mason.  He was born on this day in 1917 and died in 1993.    

Back in 1956,  Burr was in Cuba working on “Affair in Havana“.     Burr played “Mal Mallabee”, a rich businessman confined to a wheelchair as the result of a boating accident.  Mallabee hired an investigator to look into his wife Lorna (Sara Shane) who is allegedly having an affair with Nick Douglas, an American living and working in Cuba played by John Cassavetes.   
Catch “Affair in Havana” the next time it’s shown on the retro channels.   I won’t tell you more about the plot. 
The movie will take you back to a time when Americans worked and invested in Cuba without fear of confiscation, totally functional pre-Castro Cuba.
After that movie, Burr applied for the role of “Perry Mason” .   He won the audition and started that show later in 1957 and it became one of the most popular TV series ever. 
I recall my late father saying that he saw the show in pre-Castro Cuba.  I remember watching the show in Mexico overdubbed in Spanish.

Burr had another popular series called “Ironside”.   It was good but I think most of us remember him for those Perry Mason shows.



1927: Charles Lindbergh arrived in Paris



We remember that Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris in 1927.     His plane "The spirit of St. Louis" had taken off from Roosevelt Field 33 hours earlier.

As a result of the flight, Lindbergh became an international personality and met his future wife during a trip to Mexico.     He died in 1974.


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Wednesday, May 20, 2026

The climate change crowd should have spoken to Yogi Berra

The climate change crowd should have spoken to Yogi Berra:

If they had, they would have learned that it is very hard to make accurate predictions about the future.

Click to read: 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/the_climate_change_crowd_should_have_spoken_to_yogi_berra.html



Happy # 86 Jill Jackson (Paul & Paula)


"Hey Paula" was one of the greatest "teen love" pop songs ever recorded. 

They were Ray Hilderbrand and Jill Jackson who met in college in Brownwood, TX.    

Ray was born in Joshua, TX, on December 12, 1940 and died in 2023.   Jill was born in McCarney, TX, on May 20, 1940.

Eventually, they recorded the song and it was #1 in the US for the entire month of February 1963......a real pop classic! 

They broke up a few years later and went on their separate ways.  However, they do get together once in a while to sing "Hey Paula".


So Cher is 80 today?

Image result for cher images

She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California in 1946.   We know her as Cher.    

In the 1960s, Cher and her husband Sonny, had a string of hits as Sonny & Cher.    


The couple moved to TV in the 1970s and then Cher followed that with a very successful solo career.


We hope that she is enjoying another birthday.   Frankly, a lot of us can not believe that time has flown by!


We remember James Stewart (1908-1997)



Image result for james stewart images
We remember James Maitland Stewart who was born in Indiana, PA, on this day in 1908.

Stewart became one of the greatest movie stars of the 20th, from "Winchester '73" to "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" to "The Spirit of St. Louis" and more.

He died in 1997.   My favorite is "It's a wonderful life" because it is such an inspirational movie and holiday classic:



We remember Bobby Murcer (1946-2008)




We remember Bobby Murcer who was born in Oklahoma on this day in 1946.  He died on July 12th 2008 after a long battle with cancer. 

In 1971, Murcer hit .331 with 25 HR, 94 RBI's and played a great CF.   He had other great years but 1971 was probably his best all around season. Murcer finished second to Tony Oliva in the batting race that year!

Bobby Murcer hit 252 career HRs with 1063 RBIs. He was a real fan favorite because of his personality and passion for the game. 

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.





Cuban Americans and Cuban independence day

(My new American Thinker post)

My grandmother had a neat life.  She was born in Cuba (1892) when it was still a Spanish colony. She recalls the celebrations on May 20, 1902 when Cuba finally became an independent country. She left Cuba and died in the US in 1984.

Today, Cuba celebrates the 112th anniversary of that independence day that my grandmother celebrated as a  little girl.  However, there is little to celebrate in Cuba in the 54th year of communism.

We continue to hear of dissidents being arrested, such as Jorge Luis Perez-Garcia, known as "Antunez".  (Via Babalu)

We heard this from Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, a dissident who recently spoke in the US.  He reminded us of Cubans in prison or under harassment by the Castro government via Capitol Hill Cubans:
"Dear friends: since I became an independent blogger and journalist in Cuba, I was told, by the former Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, and the former director of the Cuban Book Institute, Iroel Sanchez, that I will never publish again in my country. They were both removed from their positions later (Saturn’s law), but the unholy war of the Castros against critical intellectuals goes on and on.

While I talk here, the Havanan novelist Angel Santiesteban languishes a 5-year sentence for a common crime announced to him —by State Security agents— as a punishment for his opinion columns in his blog:Los hijos que nadie quiso /The Children Nobody Wanted.

While I talk here, a journalist from the free-lance agency Hablemos Press / Let’s Talk Press, Calixto Ramon Martinez was kept many months in prison for reporting an outbreak of cholera in Cuba, which still constitutes a serious health risk there, even for tourists, a fact that the Cuban government refuses to recognize in its due importance. Finally he was released without any explanation, documentation of his case, or at least an attempt to give him an apology or indemnify him.

While I talk here, a Catholic Afrocuban young mother and her husband, both peaceful pro-democracy activists, Sonia Garro and Ramon Alejandro Muñoz, have been for two years and two months in several Cuban prisons, subject to physical abuse and isolation periods, just because they protested when they were forbidden to attend the Holy Mass of the Pope Benedict XVI in the Revolution Square of Havana city, in March 2012. Hundreds of human rights activists were then arrested, including me, kidnapped for three days with my girlfriend, apparently accused of attempting to take counter-revolutionary photographs of His Holiness with the Heroic Guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara behind him, in the façade of the mysterious Ministry of Interior where the mass took place.

While I talk here, an American citizen under contract by USAID, Alan Gross, is being held hostage since December 2009 in a Cuban jail, serving a 15-year sentence for charges that included espionage. A Jew himself, he was just helping the Cuban Jewish community to have a ready access to the internet, since the right to independent information is not recognized by my government. In fact, it constitutes a major crime: enemy propaganda, diffusion of negative news, among other brutalities of our actual Penal Code. This was a miserable mafia message thrown to the fair-play face of America: mind your own business, do not dare to try to help the Cuban civic society or you will pay a dirty price too.

Besides, dozens of well-known terrorists have found safe haven to grow old in Cuba and take care of their families and their fortunes, after a whole life devoted to international delinquency, including USA fugitives, ex CIA agents and hit-men associated with dictators and paramilitary bands worldwide."
The Castro government will put on a show today and celebrate independence day.  However, I am sure that most Cubans won't really feel it until this corrupt dictatorship passes on.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Happy May 20th to all of my Cuban friends

Related image

(My new Babalu post)


Back in 1902, Cuba became an independent country after 400 years as a Spanish colony (1492-1898) and the US occupation (1898-1902).
JM Sierra recalls the moment:
“May 20. Tomás Estrada Palma is sworn in as president, and the Cuban flag is finally allowed to fly over Havana.”
As one of those of us who grew up in the US, I always found May 20 as a great day to learn about Cuba.
My grandmother, who died in 1984, left Cuba and would share her stories often.    She was a young girl on May 20, 1902 and told me a lot about the day.   She remember flags all over and a great sense of optimism every where.
My parents also had their own stories, specially from their school activities.   I recall my mother telling me about the parade in Ciego de Avila.   Her family lived across Parque Marti.
My father had many tales of events in Sagua la Grande.     By the way, this is the first May 20th since my father died last December.   I miss chatting with him about this day.
I learned a lot of Cuba history hearing their memories of May 20.
May 20 is actually bittersweet for many of us.   We remember Independence Day 1902 but understand that Cuba is not free today.