General Discussion

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By Ron Ridenour 

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I hope that Trump will reject regime change policies advocated by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio regarding Cuba. It seems that they have not learned the tragic lessons of history: Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. Cubans are poor but at least they are alive. The country’s literacy rate is at 100% and life expectancy parallels first world nations. There may be some limited food shortages but not famine. The two senators oppose the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations which is a most positive legacy of Obama. At stake it is not only the normalization of the relations between US and Cuba opening economic and diplomatic ties with Havana. More important at stake it is the relations between US and Latin America where the left is influential whether it governs in countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador and Nicaragua or is the opposition such as in Argentina or Brazil.

Note on the Secretary of State candidates: I hope that Trump will launch a new era in US foreign policy by selecting a Secretary of State that will chart a real new course. In my opinion Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are not a good fit. Least of all, war-hawks John Bolton and David Petraeus. 

Cruz, Rubio want Trump to dial back U.S.-Cuba relations, say Obama's recent ties with the island should be reevaluated - POLITICO

VIDEO: Ted Cruz: U.S. foreign policy -- not just to Cuba -- should no longer be a policy of weakness, but instead using U.S. strength to force and press for change - YouTube

Ted Cruz op-ed: Change can come to Cuba, but only if America prevents Fidel’s successor from playing the same old tricks - National Review

Marco Rubio: Donald Trump's Cuba policy should 'pave the way' for democracy - CNNPolitics.com

VIDEO: Sen. Rubio calls for "democratic opening" in Cuba - YouTube

Rubio Statement: History will remember Fidel Castro as an evil, murderous dictator - U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz slam politicians for praising Fidel Castro, go after Trudeau and Obama - inquisitr.com

Statement by President Obama on the passing of Fidel Castro - whitehouse.gov

U.S. State Dept reaffirms its support for deepening engagement with Cuba - Business Standard News

President-Elect Trump statement on the passing of Fidel Castro - Capitol Hill Cubans

Priebus: Trump will void Cuba deal unless Castro regime moves to concessions - Fox News

VIDEO: Priebus: Trump will void Cuba deal unless Castro regime moves to concessions - YouTube

VIDEO: Sanders on Cuba: "Of Course their economy is terrible," but they have health care and education - RealClearPolitics

Trudeau defends comments on death of Fidel Castro, He referred to him as a 'legendary revolutionary' who made significant improvements to the education and health-care systems - coastreporter.net

Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro - Prime Minister of Canada

Cuba embargo must be lifted immediately after death of 'great figure' Fidel Castro, says French president - The Independent

On Fidel's death, Cuba and Puerto Rico, two paths intertwined - NBC News

Cuba's most prominent dissident group called off its weekly protest march for the first time in 13 years to avoid creating tensions: 'We respect the mourning of others' - Reuters

Castro's legacy and the envy of many nations: social care in Cuba, The country's literacy rate is at 100% and life expectancy parallels first world nations - The Guardian

To contact Bartolo email peaceloverblog[at]yahoo[dot]com (replacing [at] with @, [dot] with .)

By Dave Lindorff

By Dave Lindorff

By Linn Washington, Jr.

"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful."

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

By Dave Lindorff

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

By Dave Lindorff

            There is a lot of talk going on among the pundits about how President Obama is leaving no enduring legacy -- that his progressive actions as president, few and small that they may have been, were written in the sand of executive orders, which can and likely will be erased within days of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

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Empire of Chaos 
With President Trump, Is the American Experiment Over? 
By Tom Engelhardt

The one thing you could say about empires is that, at or near their height, they have always represented a principle of order as well as domination.  So here’s the confounding thing about the American version of empire in the years when this country was often referred to as “the sole superpower,” when it was putting more money into its military than the next 10 nations combined: it’s been an empire of chaos.

By Dave Lindorff

By Dave Lindorff

Let’s look on the bright side.

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[Note for TomDispatch Readers: There will be no TD post this Tuesday. The next one will appear sometime between Thursday morning and Sunday night.  Now, go vote. Tom]

By Jess Guh, MD

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Creating a National Security State “Democracy”
Or How the American Political System Changed and No One Noticed
By Tom Engelhardt

To say that this is the election from hell is to insult hell.

There’s been nothing like this since Washington forded the Rubicon or Trump crossed the Delaware or delivered the Gettysburg Address (you know, the one that began “Four score and eleven women ago...”) -- or pick your own seminal moment in American history.

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Recently, the New York Times produced a veritable thesaurus of Trumpian twittery -- every insulting tweet of The Donald’s that their researchers could find since he declared his candidacy.  It’s quite a collection in which he goes after 282 people, places, and things in his uniquely abusive fashion. (Don’t even get me started on his tweets about Hillary Clinton; you’d be reading until tomorrow.) Here, instead, is a relatively limited list of his, a tiny entry of classic nastiness aimed at a peripheral character in this year’s election campaign, Senator Elizabeth Warren:

By Dave Lindorff

            With one week to go in this year’s presidential election -- an astonishing and depressing contest in which the two least-liked and least-trusted candidates in history are the two choices put up by our two main political parties -- it’s time to look at why left and liberal people should not vote for the Democratic Party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton.

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Recently, I was asked a question about Kill Anything That Moves, my history of civilian suffering during the Vietnam War. An interviewer wanted to know how I responded to veterans who took offense at the (supposed) implication that every American who served in Vietnam committed atrocities.

I think I softly snorted and slowly shook my head.  

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By Linn Washington, Jr.

A vivid example of value from decriminalization of possessing small amounts of marijuana occurred at the Philadelphia airport recently, a few days after the release of a report from two prominent organizations that called for the national decriminalization of personal use/possession of marijuana and other illicit drugs.

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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

By Dave Lindorff

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.