The week in review with Bill Katz, the editor of Urgent Agenda

Guest:  Bill Katz, the editor of Urgent Agenda............US vs Russia getting complicated.......the young people from South Florida and the news media.....crime in London up.........good news about the US economy.....Former Director Comey on a book tour......the Mueller investigation keeps going.........."Oklahoma" is 75.........and other stories....

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Monday's video: President Trump and DACA

President Trump and DACA: https://t.co/50eqqXffb4 via @YouTube

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) April 2, 2018

Lots of talk about change in Cuba but still a communist country

In a few weeks, Cuba will have a new leader or a different guy using Raul’s corner office.

Unfortunately, it will have the same communist party and economic regime that devastated the island. This is from the latest party meeting:     

The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) will maintain the “leading role in Cuban society” and socialism will remain “irrevocable” after the Constitution reform, now underway on the island, is concluded this week by the 5th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the only political organization allowed on the Island.

The promised reform of the Electoral Law, announced by Castro in early 2015 to be completed in time this legislature, was not addressed during the 5th Plenary, or at least any discussion of it has not been mentioned by the official press.

Chaired by Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the PCC,the plenary session held in recent days is the last before the next president of the Council of State is appointed on April 19, a position that is expected to fall into the hands of the current first vice president Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The meeting was dedicated to assessing the obstacles to the implementation of economic policy, an analysis that comes at a time of uncertainty for the private sector, which as of last August has seen a halt on the issuing of new licenses for the most important activities.

So post-Castro Cuba will still be communist, or so they say!

The problem with maintaining a communist path is that Cuba’s economy needs massive change. It needs to create a more flexible economy to do business with most countries even in Latin America. It will have to show more respect for private property if it wants to end the U.S. embargo. It will have to create more jobs if it wants to employ all of those unhappy young people.

On the surface, Cuba will say that it will stay communist. In reality, it can’t if it wants to survive economically. Maybe they will wait for Raul to die before they admit what everybody knows: the system stinks!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Trump is correct about DACA

Trump is correct about DACA. We don't have the votes to pass DACA today. Trump put a good offer on the table or legalization in 12 years for 2 million. The Democrats said NO! The Dreamers should be calling Democrats or the party that does not want to negotiate.

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) April 2, 2018

Colon has faced 14,000 batters since 1997

Bartolo Colon is starting game 5 for the Rangers. I just heard Eric Nadel say on the radio broadcast that "almost-45-year-old Colon" has faced 14,000 batters since 1997! It's amazing!

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) April 3, 2018

Fox News stands with Laura!

This is good news from Fox News.   They will support Laura Ingraham!   I love the  statement from Fox News:   

“We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” Jack Abernethy, co-president of Fox News, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

“We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.”   

This is the perfect reaction.    Good job!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

December 2006: We are moving to the south and west

A post from December 2006:

According to the new census projections, we are moving south and west.

By now, everyone has heard that the US's population has reached 300,000,000! 

Population shifts have a huge electoral impact because House seats and The Electoral College are determined by population.

In the future, specially the 2012 presidential election, we will see more electoral votes coming from southern and western states.

It's hard to predict the future. However, it is clear to me that future presidents will continue to come from the South and West.

From LBJ ('64) to GW Bush, our presidents have come from Texas (LBJ, Bush and Bush), California (Nixon and Reagan), Arkansas (Clinton) and Georgia (Carter). Ford was the exception (Michigan).

Can we predict the future? No. However, we are a nation that lives in the South and West!

Check our podcasts:

President Trump at 50% in the latest Rasmussen

President Trump at 50% in the latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll of likely voters.     If you are interested, President Obama was at 46% at the same time in his first term.

What does it mean?   The comparison to Obama is not really very valuable.   Trump's 50% does show that he has a solid foundation of support.

Check our podcasts:

January 2007: The Democrats' Iraq problem

A post from January 2007:

Once again, we see the Democrats dancing around the issue of Iraq. Sen. Reid & Speaker Pelosi wrote this to Pres. Bush:

"Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror.

A renewed diplomatic strategy, both within the region and beyond, is also required to help the Iraqis agree to a sustainable political settlement.

In short, it is time to begin to move our forces out of Iraq and make the Iraqi political leadership aware that our commitment is not open ended, that we cannot resolve their sectarian problems, and that only they can find the political resolution required to stabilize Iraq."

This is not a policy. This is dancing around the issue. What is redeployment? And where do we redeploy to?

Check our podcasts:

January 2007: How did this happen in Seattle?

A post from January 2007:

The Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls in '92, '93 and '95. All together, they have played in 8 SB's and more post season games than any other NFL franchise since 1966. Yet, I cannot recall a bigger heart breaker than yesterday's loss to Seattle.

This is the most crushing defeat for Cowboys' fans since that loss to San Francisco in the '81 NFC championship game, aka "the catch"!
I feel bad for Romo.

It's going to take a long time to get over this game.

Check our podcasts:

January 2007: Low taxes equals prosperity

A post from January 2007:

Who is paying taxes in the US? See the chart! We are a country where successful and prosperous people pay most of our taxes. In principle, I'm OK with that. However, I'm fed up of all of the demagoguery about the so called rich not paying their fair share.

How do you create jobs and prosperity? The answer is low taxes or tax cuts. 

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

January 2007: Saddam found Arafat rather than a virgin!

A post from January 2007:

We have some early reports of Saddam's new world. Based on anonymous sources, Saddam has run into a couple of problems:

1) He does not like sharing a room with Arafat; and,

2) He did not find any virgins.

Sorry Saddam. You could have prevented all of this by simply complying with the cease fire that ended the First Gulf War in March '91.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.