I researched and wrote a paper for a class, oh, must have been 34 or 35 years ago now, on political organization in Cuba. As I recall, Cuba had a well-developed system of elected representatives at the local and provincial levels, as well as a national assembly, with the Castros holding all real power on top. Of course, as in most communist countries, who was allowed to stand for election was limited to those candidates approved by the Party. It struck me then that the basic structure for a representative democracy was present in Cuba, if the Castros could be removed. There is hope for Cuba.
I must admit, these posts are my favourite to read, and to ponder after having read them thoroughly.
Like the erudite gentleman who posted below, I will add a few unsolicited thoughts and comments.
The Iran War is a war. Iran started it. Iran declared war on the free world, on Western Civilization, and all that the Western World values. Iran declared war on everything that is good and just in this world.
Ian Brodie was a senior official in the Stephen Harper PMO when Mr. Harper was Prime Minister. He is now a political scientist. He noted on a podcast this week that "when your entire raison d'etre is 'Death to America' and wiping Israel off the face of the earth, you have to know that it is going to catch up to you eventually."
When Margaret Thatcher talked about defending British values, she was asked "which British values are to be defended?" Her answer reportedly resembled "Exactly those values the IRA are trying to destroy."
Cuba is of particular interest to me, both as a conservative, and as a Canadian. Many of my countrymen gleefully join "excursions" to resorts there for cheap vacations, black market adventures, and to view the remnants & ruins of a capitalist society.
Pierre Trudeau- Justin's father- would also enjoy vacations in Cuba, skindiving with Castro and maintaining a friendship that makes Trump & Putin look like Milli Vanilli. When Mr. Trudeau died, Castro declared Cuba would recognize three days of national mourning. Mr. Castro flew to Canada to be an honourary pallbearer.
No Cuban official has ever been sanctioned by the Canadian Government for crimes against Cuban dissidents. We are the Great Enabler.
Donald Trump is unfit to be President of such a splendid people. Of that, I remain convinced. As much as I dislike Mr. Trump, I fear his enemies to a far greater degree.
I pray that within my lifetime, the people of Cuba and Iran will again be free.
I pray, too, that the Ukrainian people are relieved of their nightmare.
I know you may not be interested in what I have to say, but I have always been fascinated by what you write Jay. So, I will offer a few notes unsolicited, as unwanted your notification may be. I endeavor to make one think a second time, and even better, make you laugh at the mad political world we the living…as I make like Benjy Compson and follow my own grammarly rules.
“Let the joyous news be spread, the wicked witch of the west is AT LAST DEAD”…isn’t it ironic, the man behind the curtain is no wizard after all (did you know his fuhrer, I mean father, Frederick Christ Trump used to pal around with Robert Bird in the good ole days…I kid, I Kid Rock you), and was voted by his military high school classmates to be the most likely to be with the queers, in the rear, with the gear in a real World War. Whatchumacallit. I should like to believe the kinetic military swift boat helicopter action in Tehroran is more like a gangland turf battle…after all, I cannot believe everyone on Planet Earth does not agree with me that Donnie from Queens is a monster, I mean mobster, just like his crime family heroes Kim, Vladimir, Xi…Delcy (me thinks she is like a Hudsucker Proxy who, unlike Maduro and the A Hole A Tollah knew The Don was not kidding around when she was told to make an immediate ten figure bitcoin deposit into World Liberty Financial, or else…your money or your life)…So, I only call hostilities that usually invoke declarations and where, like when over thirty thousand of my old man’s former comrades did not return home from, after years of heavily armed conflict, a “War”…Speaking of the not Forgotten War…when The Don smilingly shook hands with an evil mass murder and commando Un at the D.M.Z…Of all the shameful, unforgivable acts our POSPOTUS mobster has done, with all due respect my father buried in Robert E Lees former backyard (one of the greatest middle finger war spoils in history), that might be number one…after all Jay, your former N.R. colleague and former moral exemplar used to call North Korea the world’s biggest concentration camp…before he made like Rush and sold his soul out to Heat Miser in the flesh, but I parenthetically digress). But, then again, Don King Trump rolled out the bloody red carpet for a mass murderer and war criminal, on American soil, and it seems I am the only one that’s bat shit crazy about a President of the United States shaking hands with Stalin (again, what could have been, what should have been if F.D.R. had made like Michael Corleone…no Cold War anyone).
Speaking of “Every shot pleases someone”…you do know the mobster takes a mulligan, wherever, and whenever he wants, and The Don is so utterly shameless to do it in plain sight. His personal golf course at Mar A Lago reminds me of what another gang leader did with the Obersalzberg…Speakimg of The Dons life during wartime. Ironically, my soul is cleansed by higher oil prices knowing it is a small price to pay for evil doers meeting their demise…did I use the plural as a Freudian slip hoping someone else incurs such a fate. I do grieve for the civilian deaths, as I will make like Christopher Hitchens and blame awful passages in The Koran and Hadeath, I mean Hadith, for all the Middle East’s problems and backward looking mess (for f sake, the a hole Tollah, may he rot in…looked, dressed and sounded just like Darth Vadar amd his crowds of worshippers made like storm troopers…those f sticks are still alive and there are millions of them…which is the only thing that scares the hell out of me that this could turn into a real war)
Here’s still hoping that Secretary of a phony drug war Hegseth and his Dear Leader go to jail, or worse, for their summarily executing “‘suspected’ narco traffickers”…in any other context, if the D.C. Police Chief did the same to known dealers on the corner…a life’s sentence would be the least of his problems. Anywho, not that anyone is reading this, gotta run on. Forgive me Jesus, the unrepentant remain unforgiven…May The Don and all his willing executioners go to hell. The sooner, the better,our civilization is hanging on by the skin of our teeth. A Banana Republic if we don’t get rid of it. Thanks for twk8mg my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental firepower
Not a fan of Trump, but I gotta say, I've never been more optimistic about the end of Commie Cuba.
Hegseth's "performance" is correct. He is all performance, no substance.
I researched and wrote a paper for a class, oh, must have been 34 or 35 years ago now, on political organization in Cuba. As I recall, Cuba had a well-developed system of elected representatives at the local and provincial levels, as well as a national assembly, with the Castros holding all real power on top. Of course, as in most communist countries, who was allowed to stand for election was limited to those candidates approved by the Party. It struck me then that the basic structure for a representative democracy was present in Cuba, if the Castros could be removed. There is hope for Cuba.
I must admit, these posts are my favourite to read, and to ponder after having read them thoroughly.
Like the erudite gentleman who posted below, I will add a few unsolicited thoughts and comments.
The Iran War is a war. Iran started it. Iran declared war on the free world, on Western Civilization, and all that the Western World values. Iran declared war on everything that is good and just in this world.
Ian Brodie was a senior official in the Stephen Harper PMO when Mr. Harper was Prime Minister. He is now a political scientist. He noted on a podcast this week that "when your entire raison d'etre is 'Death to America' and wiping Israel off the face of the earth, you have to know that it is going to catch up to you eventually."
When Margaret Thatcher talked about defending British values, she was asked "which British values are to be defended?" Her answer reportedly resembled "Exactly those values the IRA are trying to destroy."
Cuba is of particular interest to me, both as a conservative, and as a Canadian. Many of my countrymen gleefully join "excursions" to resorts there for cheap vacations, black market adventures, and to view the remnants & ruins of a capitalist society.
Pierre Trudeau- Justin's father- would also enjoy vacations in Cuba, skindiving with Castro and maintaining a friendship that makes Trump & Putin look like Milli Vanilli. When Mr. Trudeau died, Castro declared Cuba would recognize three days of national mourning. Mr. Castro flew to Canada to be an honourary pallbearer.
No Cuban official has ever been sanctioned by the Canadian Government for crimes against Cuban dissidents. We are the Great Enabler.
Donald Trump is unfit to be President of such a splendid people. Of that, I remain convinced. As much as I dislike Mr. Trump, I fear his enemies to a far greater degree.
I pray that within my lifetime, the people of Cuba and Iran will again be free.
I pray, too, that the Ukrainian people are relieved of their nightmare.
I know you may not be interested in what I have to say, but I have always been fascinated by what you write Jay. So, I will offer a few notes unsolicited, as unwanted your notification may be. I endeavor to make one think a second time, and even better, make you laugh at the mad political world we the living…as I make like Benjy Compson and follow my own grammarly rules.
“Let the joyous news be spread, the wicked witch of the west is AT LAST DEAD”…isn’t it ironic, the man behind the curtain is no wizard after all (did you know his fuhrer, I mean father, Frederick Christ Trump used to pal around with Robert Bird in the good ole days…I kid, I Kid Rock you), and was voted by his military high school classmates to be the most likely to be with the queers, in the rear, with the gear in a real World War. Whatchumacallit. I should like to believe the kinetic military swift boat helicopter action in Tehroran is more like a gangland turf battle…after all, I cannot believe everyone on Planet Earth does not agree with me that Donnie from Queens is a monster, I mean mobster, just like his crime family heroes Kim, Vladimir, Xi…Delcy (me thinks she is like a Hudsucker Proxy who, unlike Maduro and the A Hole A Tollah knew The Don was not kidding around when she was told to make an immediate ten figure bitcoin deposit into World Liberty Financial, or else…your money or your life)…So, I only call hostilities that usually invoke declarations and where, like when over thirty thousand of my old man’s former comrades did not return home from, after years of heavily armed conflict, a “War”…Speaking of the not Forgotten War…when The Don smilingly shook hands with an evil mass murder and commando Un at the D.M.Z…Of all the shameful, unforgivable acts our POSPOTUS mobster has done, with all due respect my father buried in Robert E Lees former backyard (one of the greatest middle finger war spoils in history), that might be number one…after all Jay, your former N.R. colleague and former moral exemplar used to call North Korea the world’s biggest concentration camp…before he made like Rush and sold his soul out to Heat Miser in the flesh, but I parenthetically digress). But, then again, Don King Trump rolled out the bloody red carpet for a mass murderer and war criminal, on American soil, and it seems I am the only one that’s bat shit crazy about a President of the United States shaking hands with Stalin (again, what could have been, what should have been if F.D.R. had made like Michael Corleone…no Cold War anyone).
Speaking of “Every shot pleases someone”…you do know the mobster takes a mulligan, wherever, and whenever he wants, and The Don is so utterly shameless to do it in plain sight. His personal golf course at Mar A Lago reminds me of what another gang leader did with the Obersalzberg…Speakimg of The Dons life during wartime. Ironically, my soul is cleansed by higher oil prices knowing it is a small price to pay for evil doers meeting their demise…did I use the plural as a Freudian slip hoping someone else incurs such a fate. I do grieve for the civilian deaths, as I will make like Christopher Hitchens and blame awful passages in The Koran and Hadeath, I mean Hadith, for all the Middle East’s problems and backward looking mess (for f sake, the a hole Tollah, may he rot in…looked, dressed and sounded just like Darth Vadar amd his crowds of worshippers made like storm troopers…those f sticks are still alive and there are millions of them…which is the only thing that scares the hell out of me that this could turn into a real war)
Here’s still hoping that Secretary of a phony drug war Hegseth and his Dear Leader go to jail, or worse, for their summarily executing “‘suspected’ narco traffickers”…in any other context, if the D.C. Police Chief did the same to known dealers on the corner…a life’s sentence would be the least of his problems. Anywho, not that anyone is reading this, gotta run on. Forgive me Jesus, the unrepentant remain unforgiven…May The Don and all his willing executioners go to hell. The sooner, the better,our civilization is hanging on by the skin of our teeth. A Banana Republic if we don’t get rid of it. Thanks for twk8mg my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental firepower
"I am not Little Bo-Peep about war."
Is this a local idiom from your childhood, Mr. Nordlinger, or something you just made up this morning, or what?
Weirdly, I was just explaining the connotation of "shepherdess" to my 14-year-old, who said, "Who?" when I mentioned little Bo-Peep.
I must have heard it somewhere, way back ...