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| That would also explain his smooth maracas. |
In his never-ending quest to build a legacy, the president is normalizing relations with the oppressive communist dictatorship in hopes of increasing the number of investment opportunities for his wealthy donors, while decreasing the number of Cuban immigrants whose children might grow up to become conservative GOP presidential candidates.
While in Cuba, Mr. Obama will be staying at The Only Nice Hotel and have full use of The Only Running Car, and will attend a baseball game, give a speech to the locals, and no doubt visit one of Cuba's famous cigar factories where tobacco leaves are hand-rolled on the supple thighs of local virgins.
He will also visit a fully-socialized Cuban hospital which specializes in the treatment of supple thigh cancer.
BONUS: ROADS SCHOLARS
Okay, this didn't really happen - but the thought certainly crossed our mind on Saturday when liberal protesters in Arizona used cars to block the only highway leading to a Donald Trump rally, stacking up vehicles for miles (good luck if anyone needed an ambulance) and forcing drivers to steer into oncoming traffic.
Someone needs to explain to these groups, in small and easily understood words, the difference between protesting and creating dangerous and disruptive disturbances which are clearly in violation of the law and a threat to public safety and sanity.
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| When asked what gave the protesters the right to suddenly slam on their brakes, they said "Freedom of screech." |
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I only knew Glenn through his cartoons and a casual Facebook friendship, but am stunned by his sudden and unexpected loss. His wife Teresa posted: "Whether you tended to agree with him or fought against him with the fierce tenacity that politics engenders, keep up the efforts to be involved in the future of this country."
R.I.P. Glenn - you'll be missed.
Sad news about Glenn Foden. He was a talented individual. He will be missed.
ReplyDeleteA purely rhetorical question of course: What would happen if nice folks around the country suddenly just drove through the protesters? And over them? "I was scared for my life". "He was pointing a gun at me". And, rhetorically speaking again, why do 'roadblocks' only get put up by peace loving liberals? Of course we all know the answer; the green light has been given by the administration to the 'protesters'. This is a sad moment in time for our country, humanity, and common sense.
ReplyDeleteAt a mere 90 miles away, easy drowning distance, I have always felt that Cuba should be part of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteNow, with the Castro Regime fading into oblivion as both brothers will soon be Havana terminal experience, perhaps normalizing relations will allow capitalism, social media, and mind-numbing television ads to transform the country into a place where we can Gitmo cheap vacation deals.
Glenn Foden -WoW what a loss at such a critical time. RIP Glen and may the Good Lord comfort and aid his loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big Trump fan, but the enemies he has on both sides of the political spectrum, rhymes with rectum, as in a circular beltway-type enclosure circling the cancer eating away at our country....but I digress. All the right people hate him, which is a plus in my mind. Wow, if it weren't for work, I'd be into the special coffee already.
ReplyDeleteRIP Glenn Foden, may your family be blessed. Four years on we lose another great conservative voice.
@Mike aka Proof- Glenn Foden's death has got my head spinning today. I didn't know him personally, but I enjoyed his work and knew him to be a genuinely nice person. Moreover, both of us were involved in the early stages of a project (still ongoing, but about which I really can't talk) which would bring together a number of conservative cartoonists.
ReplyDelete@Fred Ciampi- I'd never condone the idea of just running down people blocking the street, but if I felt my life was in jeopardy (say, if they started jumping up and down on my car) then it would be peddle to the metal time and no apologies.
And as you say, it's the Left (and only the Left) that pulls this stuff because it's been condoned and even encouraged from the White House down.
@Geoff King- It seems like the time to "normalize" relations with Cuba would be after the Castro brothers keel over. As it is, Obama is establishing an economic lifeline which will allow the current communist regime and the subjugation of the Cuban people to continue.
@REM1875- Yes, this one really hurts.
@TrickyRicky- All of the right people hate Trump, but quite a few of the wrong people hate him too. I think the only way to embrace his candidacy is as an act of faith, and I'm afraid I've never been good at that.
Everyone of the protestors should be rounded up and their vehicles should be impounded. Then explain, one at a time, the difference between a protest and creating chaos on a public thoroughfare. Once they get it through their heads, give them a warning and let them go. If they do it again, bring out a couple of tanks and run over their vehicles, then push them off to the side of the road and burn them. Leave the hulks there as a warning.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever lost a million dollar sale due to being 5 hours late and the reason you were late is because the road was blocked by nice folks expressing their 'right to free speech'? Or just late to work? Let that sink in................
ReplyDeleteWe had a local incident a few years back and the Fire Department came through, pushed the cars out of the way, then charged the car owners for the needed repairs to the firetrucks.
ReplyDeleteWill miss Foden's skills.
This should be standard procedure.
DeleteChecked the roadblock story; glad to learn Sheriff Joe and his force towed the blocking vehicles and made three arrests (only three); but it took some time.
ReplyDeleteThis stuff is getting nutty. Imagine the situation continues to decline so eventually there is no law, real old west. The protestors might have to worry about another type of response from about 200-300 meters distant. A lot of people don't like illegal fences and blockages. They may also carry in the trunk legally stowed-away and only temporarily unloaded long guns that are accurately sighted in at that distance.
My fantasy is to take a bunch of 1970 era cars to Cuba and trading them for the many 1950 -1960 era cars. Bring them back state side and flipping them to collectors or restorers. Some good money could be made.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been late for work because of a Presidential motorcade. Another time a woman was on the overpass threatening to jump for two hours. Some people got out of their cars and were chanting “jump, jump!”
ReplyDeleteThese protesting bone heads think that their freedom of speech out ranks our right to liberty of movement. But they only do it because they know it gets the TV cameras covering them. Of course TV is there hoping some violent confrontation breaks out.
I've always found it ironic that for the last several generations, the left has disparagingly accused the right of wanting to take America back to the '50s, and yet they wax romantic about Cuba, a country that has literally been stuck there for the last half century.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to observe the cognitive disconnect of Progressives who think Cuban-style governance and economics would be just super for the United States, solely because Cubans get free health care. Never mind that the Cuban economy is so screwed up that doctors find it more profitable to skip doctoring and instead strive for an earning by becoming fry cooks and driving cabs. And now that ObamaCare has succeeded in its mission, I expect similar to begin happening here in the foreseeable future.
Protesters: Why is it that when left-minded protesters break the law they're portrayed as heroic and principled, but when Tea Party minded people gather for legal and peaceful rallies, they're portrayed as a threat to civilized law and order?
As @Stilton alludes to, this sort of behavior only enrages, encourages and empowers the Trump supporters, only demonstrating that they (on both sides) still don't get it that they are part of the reason that Trump remains so popular.
Glenn Foden: Loved his work. Even if you didn't know who he was, if you're a conservative you've no doubt seen his work in your newsfeed at regular intervals. He'll be missed.
Regarding the blocked road: Why couldn't the cops redirect the traffic to the other side of the divided road? Couldn't take that long to cone off one lane of the opposite side. Has to be some crossovers along the median (or they could make one).
ReplyDeleteIt seems cops have pretty much gotten out of the traffic control business over the past years. Seventeen cop cars will be at a collision or traffic blockage and NONE of the cops are directing traffic around the blockage.
In the case of these commie pinko illigitmati in Arizona, I agree that just pushing the vehicles out of the way would be great. For those chained/cabled to their windows, take a jaws of life or a cutting torch to the window frame or whatever. And charge them not only for damage to municipal vehicles, but also for re-landscaping the highway. And slap the bozos in irons. And make the jail sentence align with the amount of inconvenience caused. A month or two in Sheriff Joe's tent city would be a good start. As Sheriff Joe said, if tents are good enough for our military servicemembers, the prisoners should have no valid complaint.
Humbug.
And our media has gone wild over oblamer's triumphant entry into cuba. Expect them to try and get him a ticker tape parade and a new triumphant arch to cross.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile in an alternative universe more cuban have died trying to flee the 'people's utopia'.
And to no one's surprise prezzy zero had praised cuba's human rights while lecturing us on our human rights while on foreign shores.
That loud noise in the background? Media spin machines are being put into to hyperdive to make this smell like flowers instead of fertilizer.
And thousand.... ahh no?.....ok hundreds?....tens?....ok a few?... No?....None?.. hmm.. American struggle off the shores of fla to flee to cuba? .....but obummers speech?
Let's all kick in to make a movie. Yeah, that's how to do it now... make a movie.
ReplyDeleteThe central plot is a conspiracy to fly Air Force One home without the Obamas; and it's a happy ending for everyone.
Head-scratcher of the day:
ReplyDeleteObama: ‘Hopefully, We Can Learn From’ Cuba About Improving Human Rights In America
"Speaking to reporters in Havana Monday, President Barack Obama said that, “hopefully,” the United States can learn a thing or two from Cuba’s record on improving basic, human rights."
Oh, absolutely! The United States is the absolute worst at human rights, and we have so much to learn from how they deal with the problem of "human rights" in Cuba, like how to treat people who don't toe the party line, or simply being able to deny your abuses with a straight face by saying things like "Tell me now. What political prisoners? Give me a name, or the names, and if there are these political prisoners they will be free before nightfall."
Instituting the Progressive nirvana here would be so much easier if our enlightened leaders were more free to institute the kind of policies they've followed in Cube for over the last half-century. Instead of simply harassing malcontents using government agencies like the IRS, EPA, etc, they could simply be thrown in prison, or better yet, simply executed.
So much to learn.
About the Brussels attack.
ReplyDeleteIn 2006 I came back from flying to Oklahoma. I told Mrs. ET how venerable our international airport is. They have a couple of hundred people lined up at the ticket counter getting tickets, boarding passes and checking luggage. 99% of security is upstairs where the gates and TSA are. At 7am, I only saw one uniformed LEO downstairs patrolling the sidewalk out front. I could see how easy it would be for a couple of gunman to come in shooting their weapons and throwing some hand grenades or bombs and have an easy get away too. Most of our airports have a similar setup. It would be too intrusive and expensive to have any real security outside the entry. Expect the same style attack to happen here. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet.
@Joseph ET, the real problem that nobody wants to talk aloud about is the fact that it's simply not possible to fortify every conceivable "soft target" that exists in a free and open society. Once the terrorists repeatedly exploit one target and we fortify it, they'll simply move on to another. We've spent countless billions on theoretically securing the inner terminal and the planes. So now they target the ticket counters and check-in areas. So do we then fortify ticket counters and check-in areas like the inner terminal? Then they'll just move on to the parking lot...
ReplyDeleteWe could spend 100% of our money fortifying soft targets and it will never be enough. So doing so is not the ultimate solution. It will be a game of catch-up forever costing untold amounts of money, forever. The sad part is that this approach is okay with the "big government" types as it justifies a massive bureaucracy and its own constituency for the vote-buying feedback loop, as well as a great excuse for violating the Constitution in various ways while getting the public numb to the idea of being constantly and mindlessly probed. Mark Steyn said it best when he observed that King George only wanted to tax your legal documents. It never would have occurred to him that two-and-a-half centuries later, the liberty-minded state that supplanted his authority would routinely be grabbing it's citizens by the privates.
@John the Econ
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your posts as you are almost always dead on.
I know that we have a million soft targets. Lets play whac-a-mole.
ISIS has plans for quick reaction bombings or whatever if something happens they don't like.
ReplyDeleteWhere are our plans to routinely roll the B-1's, B-2s etc. against an EFFECTIVE target list; and triple it every time they act up? While much better controlling our border security of course. Want change? We COULD do it.
Our guy is in Cuba watching a ball game with his buddies & blowing smoke harder than usual; and his peeps are rejoicing at his greatness. This would have been unbelievable not long ago. As for easing relations with Cuba, I'm all for it; QUIETLY. Time will make the changes; not blowing smoke for extra credit.
@Readers- Very good comments above. I can't respond the way I'd like to because of that pinched nerve (which turns out to be in my elbow, and should repair itself in a couple of weeks if I back away from the computer a bit more) and pollen-induced drowsiness which feels like an overdose of codeine.
ReplyDeleteI will say that the combination of the terror attacks in Belgium and Obama mincing around Cuba (while denouncing our nation in less than subtle ways) has also had me bummed and boiling mad all day. Spoiler alert: that's what tomorrow's HnC will be about, though I fear the writing may not quite be optimal with me flailing my numb fingers on the keyboard. It's like trying to type with a pork chop (grin).
@Stilton
ReplyDeleteTip: Leave the keyboard, pour yourself a stiff drink, put your feet up, grasp the tv remote in your good (untingling) hand and take it easy. Eat the pork chop later.
Mark Steyn on softening soft targets my trying to make them harder:
ReplyDelete"The second thought that strikes you is that the ever-longer lines to get into the "secure" area are now the least secure area in America. Why not blow up the security line? You could kill as many people as on an airplane, and inflict more long-term economic damage. But don't worry. The TSA has plans to expand the "secure" area, so the insecure perimeter will be somewhere else, with even more vulnerable people standing around waiting to get into it.
Clearly we need a secure zone outside the secure zone - maybe, say, outside the concourse. So everyone has to crowd on the sidewalk. And then when they blow that up we can move it back to the perimeter of the airport. And then..."