A LOOK AT VENEZUELA PLUS CHANGES IN US-CUBA RELATIONS......Listen in now at http://t.co/gyMUo0IA5J. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 20, 2014
The purpose of the U.S. embargo is was to penalize the Cuban Government for wrongly appropriating all U.S. interests in Cuba and not offering any compensation to this day. The President did not mention any compensation for these U.S. companies in his remarks.
Moreover, the President did not mention any compensation for the families of the U.S. of the Brothers-to-the Rescue pilots who were shot down in international water by Cuban MIG’s in February of 1996.
To those who claim that the embargo is a figment of someone’s imagination, Cuban officials stated in September 2014 that U.S. economic sanctions had cost the island $3.9 billion in foreign trade over the past year, helping to raise the estimate of economic damage to $116.8 billion over the last 55 years. When factoring in the depreciation of the dollar against the international price of gold, the figure rises to $1.11 trillion. That's $ 1.11 trillion that the Cuban Government could not use to bankroll terrorist activities against the United States.Another question is: where is Fidel? Has anybody seen him? That's a question going around in Miami and Havana!
A chat with Jim Yardley about oil prices and Russia PLUS US-Cuba issues.....Listen in now at http://t.co/lCmMPVXUXg. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 19, 2014
Money from American tourists would flow into businesses owned by the Castro government thus strengthening state enterprises. The tourist industry is controlled by the military and General Raul Castro.Why are we consolidating their hold on the Cuban economy? In other words, you are not going to Cuba to start a joint venture with a Cuban entrepreneur. Instead, you are aligning yourself with a state enterprise that benefits a small group of elites related to the Castro family or the infamous Castro Inc.
Tourist dollars would be spent on products, i.e., rum, tobacco, etc., produced by state enterprises, and tourists would stay in hotels owned partially or wholly by the Cuban government.
The principal airline shuffling tourists around the island, Gaviota, is owned and operated by the Cuban military.
For over four decades, Fidel Castro has arbitrarily controlled and had at his sole disposal practically all of Cuba’s financial and economic resources. According to countless first-handreports by former regime higher-ups, he alone and at his discretion has the last word on all decisions affecting the political and economic destiny of the entire Cuban nation. Most Cuba experts and scholars agree on this point. Alcibíades Hidalgo, one of the highest-ranking defectors ever to flee the island, explained: “It is simply impossible to undertake any political or economic initiative in Cuba. The only option one has is to surrender to the dictates of the regimeand to the thinking of the one and only maximum leader, who is above all the citizens.” ...As a U.S. citizen, raised here, and the father of three sons born in Texas, I don't see how this decision projects strength or promotes U.S. interests around the world.
“Fidel is accountable to no one and is able to live his own reality.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA AND CUBA WITH JORGE PONCE AND MICHAEL PRADA......Listen in now at http://t.co/rSI4dJJkfi. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 18, 2014
The economic dysfunction and falling price of oil leaves Maduro in a tough spot. He lacks both the political will and popularity to push through meaningful reforms to push Venezuela’s economic house in order. At the same time, he is being increasingly squeezed by the weakness in the oil price. Hugo Chávez was luckier. At the height of his powers, he commanded widespread domestic acclaim, and was buoyed by rising oil prices on the world markets (he was also adept at showmanship, hosting, for example, OPEC heads of state in Caracas soon after he first came to power). Maduro faces an altogether more challenging environment.There are several reasons that make Venezuela acutely vulnerable to a drop in oil prices:
“Ordinary Venezuelans are starting to get tired of slogans and socialist rhetoric and no concrete actions on any front,” says Moya-Ocampos. “As the economy deteriorates, so will the political situation in Venezuela.”
Bush 2016, Oil prices dropping and a few other thoughts......Listen in now at http://t.co/z74I2I7T7b. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 17, 2014
"Congressional Democrats gave those voters little reason to go to the polls this year. No one on Capitol Hill was standing up for their agenda.
As a result, exit polls from this year’s midterms give Democrats only an 11- percentage-point edge over Republicans among 18-29 year olds and a mere 3-point edge among 30-44 year olds.
Basically, the Democrats’ lead over Republicans among young voters was cut in half in 2014.
And among 18 and 19 year olds, turnout dropped from 19 percent in 2012 to 13 percent in the midterms, a loss of about 14 million voters.
The exit polls also showed a five-percentage-point jump in young voters who self-identify as Republicans – 31 percent this year as compared to 26 percent in 2012.
Self-identified Democrats as a share of young voters dropped from 44 percent in 2012 to 37 percent this year, while independents went up from 30 percent to 33 percent.
Republicans are pressing their appeal to young voters by bringing in fresh faces, such as 30-year-old Elise Stefanik of New York and 39-year-old Mia Love of Utah.
The big question for the coming Congress is whether the House Democrats will get off the floor and fight for the interests of young voters."
Monday: A political chat with George Rodriguez, South Texas conservative....Listen in now at http://t.co/tdFA7UEBP9. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 16, 2014
"Brennan also made clear that the CIA (he served as deputy director under President George W. Bush) was not prepared to run a detention and interrogation program -- who would have thought they needed one?
They put it together quickly, but -- as Brennan readily conceded -- some agents then went far beyond the rules, employing brutal interrogation techniques.
He should also have conceded that was torture.
What has been missing in much of the hyperventilation over the Senate report is that the number of people water boarded was actually tiny: three says Brennan, though the Senate Committee insists the number is slightly higher.
With numbers that small, it is far more believable that most agents -- as Brennan said -- acted within the rules.
Is this any basis for treating the CIA like a brutal, rogue operation?"