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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Tuesday Afternoon Open Thread

Tuesday Afternoon Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  October 24, 20224:55 pm| 77 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Gun nuts, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

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Valued commenter Gin & Tonic drew this to our attention in the morning thread — a scene in which one of the most loathsome U.S. senators gets heckled at a ball game. Welcome to New York, Ted Cruz. (Definitely NSFW with the sound up.)

Ted Cruz’s trip to New York went how one would expect https://t.co/rwbfOGyvU8

pic.twitter.com/eIHZJDKSmr

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 24, 2022

Leydi Amador, a young Cuban American in Florida, wrote a guest essay for the Orlando Sentinel. It’s paywalled, but here’s an excerpt, and boy does she have Marco Rubio’s number:

Cubans are in pain and want freedom and democracy to chart a new course for our nation. Phony politicians like Rubio weaponize the desperation our exiles have when watching the situation on the island. They offer no substantive solutions to bring freedom to Cuba while accusing many of their political opponents of being rabid Marxist-Leninists who are on the verge of establishing a Communist dictatorship in the United States.

That’s obviously nonsense but it’s effective manipulation of a diaspora community who saw their freedom and economic opportunities stripped away by a revolution that disguised itself as a nationalist uprising to establish democracy in Cuba, but turned sharply against those ideals when aligning itself with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s and forfeiting elections in favor of authoritarianism…

We can’t even count on Rubio to defend democracy here at home. He lives in perpetual fear of Donald Trump and his extremist MAGA base, and refuses to criticize the former disgraced reality TV host. Even after the Jan. 6 riots that sought to stop the peaceful transition of power, Rubio refused to support the committee investigating the violent acts of that day in which several people lost their lives, including law enforcement, calling it a “complete partisan scam.”

Marco Rubio is a political chameleon, always ready to go whichever way the wind is blowing when it comes to his political positions. He is a man that has proven himself to hold no beliefs, values, or convictions and his defense of DeSantis’ stunt involving flying migrants under false pretenses to Martha’s Vineyard cements his place in the pantheon of the biggest political cowards in U.S. history.

Amen, Ms. Amador.

Here’s a gift article from the WaPo about a 10-year-old Uvalde school shooting survivor. It can’t really be summed up — she’s dealing with a lot of trauma, regularly visits the graves of dead friends, is speaking out for gun safety and got on a plane for the first time in her life recently to lobby for gun safety in D.C. What America is doing to and asking of these children is unbearable.

BTW, there was a school shooting today in St. Louis — two dead (a student and teacher) and several injured. The cops killed the shooter.

Given how routine gun violence is in America, that’s probably not a sufficient number of victims to attract sustained media focus outside of the immediate area, but in addition to the senseless loss of life, another community has been traumatized, and more students join the hundreds of thousands who’ve lived through this recurring nightmare that doesn’t happen in any other developed nation on earth except the one ass-deep in guns. These assholes right here are why we’re in this situation:

Democrats want to take your guns. And they’re not hiding it anymore. https://t.co/PaO3f8BfWD

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 24, 2022

And voting those assholes out is the only solution to the problem.

Open thread.

ETA: I published this earlier and then unpublished it, edited it, and republished it, not realizing that valued commenter Baud had left a comment when it was originally published. Sorry Baud! Also, it’s more like evening than afternoon now, but fuck it — I’ll go with the original title. Please excuse the temporal anomalies!

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Reader Interactions

77Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    October 24, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    Kudos to Ms. Amador.

  2. 2.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    October 24, 2022 at 4:56 pm

    II

  3. 3.

    gratuitous

    October 24, 2022 at 4:57 pm

    Did Justice Boof buy Sen. Cruz’s ticket to the game?

  4. 4.

    Lapassionara

    October 24, 2022 at 5:01 pm

    Based on the news here in the St Louis area, there were metal detectors at the entrances to the school. To my knowledge, no one has figured out how he got the gun inside the school.

    it has been referred to as a “long gun,” which to me means it was not a pistol, but who knows what kind of “long gun” it was.

    Our culture sucks.

  5. 5.

    Alison Rose

    October 24, 2022 at 5:03 pm

    (LOL I’d tried to comment on the original and when I clicked post, I got a 404. Thankfully, because of FYWP, I tend to copy my comments before posting in case it decides to choke.)

    I got an NYT notification about the St Louis shooting, and I just sighed so heavily. It’ll never fucking end, not while there is a large number of people who value guns over humans.

    The people screaming at Cruz are awesome. And you know, I’d love for someone to ask Cruz’s wife how the hell she’d stay with someone who didn’t defend her against nasty insults, but instead choose to lick the insulter’s boots and become his little yes-man. Does she have zero sense of pride? Are the politics of grievance so important to her that she’ll happily weld herself to a man who showed on national TV that he doesn’t give a single shit about her? Pathetic.

  6. 6.

    Cacti

    October 24, 2022 at 5:04 pm

    Totally not elitist, man of the people Ted was just enjoying his $5,000 seats like any average Joe.

  7. 7.

    Parfigliano

    October 24, 2022 at 5:06 pm

    @Alison Rose: My guess is Mrs Cruz is as big a lick spittle as the Mr.

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 24, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    I need to know how I’d get promoted from “valued commenter” to “esteemed commenter.” Or is that only Amir Khalid?

  9. 9.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    October 24, 2022 at 5:11 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    I’d love for someone to ask Cruz’s wife how the hell she’d stay with someone who didn’t defend her against nasty insults, but instead choose to lick the insulter’s boots and become his little yes-man.

    That bastard lied (at least I HOPE he was lying) and said not only did she laugh when TRE45ON said that, but that his dad laughed when accused of the Kennedy assasination.

  10. 10.

    Kelly

    October 24, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    It’s afternoon here on the left coast

  11. 11.

    Ohio Mom

    October 24, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    That guy screaming at Cruz for the sake of the recording he was going to post —- just listening him telling Cruz to get the fuck out of New York made me so nostalgic for my birthplace. Sigh…

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    October 24, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    @Cacti: He can’t circulate amongst us rabble. He might get milkshakes. Or beered. Or pissed on.

    I’m sure he would call me a liberal elitist.

  13. 13.

    chrome agnomen

    October 24, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    christ that was almost enough to make me root for the yankees.   almost.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    October 24, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    Cruz dismissal?

  15. 15.

    Cacti

    October 24, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    @Suzanne: What I want to know is what billionaire comped him the seats.

  16. 16.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    October 24, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Nothing like a New York state of mind.

    I haven’t seen Queens in decades, but in that moment, all the feels

  17. 17.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    October 24, 2022 at 5:17 pm

    @NotMax: NICE

  18. 18.

    Tony G

    October 24, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    I have a young (in his twenties) gun-fetishist in my extended family.  He’s also an anti-covid-vaxxer — in spite of the fact that his girlfriend is immunocompromised.  You can pick your friends but not your relatives, as the cliché goes.  Fortunately there are so many people in my extended family that during family gatherings I can just say a word or two to this young guy and then talk to someone else.

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    October 24, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    Did I nap for 25 hours, or is it still Monday?

  20. 20.

    Alison Rose

    October 24, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    @BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️: Don’t we all get such good chuckles out of being called ugly and accused of murder? Really leaves me tickled pink every time.

  21. 21.

    Alison Rose

    October 24, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    @Spanky: Hahahaha I didn’t even notice that. No worries, you didn’t pull a mini Rip van Winkle, it is still Monday.

  22. 22.

    japa21

    October 24, 2022 at 5:23 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
      There is no adjective that could come close to describing how valued, esteemed, cherished, etc. you are. And that is said without a single shred of sarcasm. It is sincerely meant.

  23. 23.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 24, 2022 at 5:23 pm

    Some people followed up saying Democrats hadn’t taken their guns away, but obviously that last tweet is just talking to the important mass-shooter constituency.

  24. 24.

    LeftCoastYankee

    October 24, 2022 at 5:24 pm

    “Are they booing me Smithers?”

    “No sir they’re not booing, this is New York, they’re saying ‘f*ck off back to Texas you piece of sh*t'”.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    October 24, 2022 at 5:29 pm

    Conservatives have for my entire lifetime tried to sell their crap as being for the people. The only people they are talking about are the racist asshole rich fucks. Who do not risk their kids going to school where some asshole might shoot them for being a kid. I wonder why someone would go to a school to shoot someone and there is no answer that makes any sense whatsoever. None, nada, keiner, немає. This is entirely because the right does nothing about it, they want, by whatever means, to own everything, including the workers. They want what they think the world was like 200+ yrs ago. But time does not go backwards, and they are very likely 100% wrong about that world in any event. Many of them believe a fairy story from a couple thousand years ago, where the lead in the book looks like them, pure white. They are deluded, deranged, stupid, ignorant and generally just fucking far worse than useless. They want a country that didn’t exist, that is run by people that hate them and want every damn dime they have and blame everyone else for their lack of abilities and ignorance. And they think that is nirvana.

    And the kicker is that there are people like this in every country. Some of them run countries, usually into the ground, unless they steal everything not tied down first. I have zero idea how to change any of this but if we don’t figure out how we will end up at war, with if not any other country, ourselves. We’ve done this once, about freedom and rights and it made things better only superficially and I’d say because of humanity. We have to figure out a way to change this. Have. To.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 24, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    It really is quite simple.  If you MUST tote around military grade small arms, join the military.  They do not belong in the hands of undisciplined civilians.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 24, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    @LeftCoastYankee: All the upfists.

  28. 28.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    October 24, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    @Alison Rose: Right?

    And even if it did happen, why would you tell anyone ELSE that?

    The man is a jellyfish.

  29. 29.

    Martin

    October 24, 2022 at 5:36 pm

    When I was a kid I went to *one* Yankees home game. It was bat day. The Yankees lost. Their own fans threw bats at them.

    I’m shocked that nobody threw a bottle at Cruz. NY has really toned it down.

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 24, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    @Martin: They’re saving up their ammo for TFG’s next visit.

  31. 31.

    catclub

    October 24, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    @Spanky: ​
     

    Did I nap for 25 hours, or is it still Monday?

    Yes.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    October 24, 2022 at 5:41 pm

    @Martin

    I’m shocked that nobody threw a bottle at Cruz. NY has really toned it down.

    Bottles are plastic now. Less heft and less easy to go for distance.

  33. 33.

    middlelee

    October 24, 2022 at 5:41 pm

    Perhaps I’m remembering it all wrong, but as I recall, the reason Cuba aligned itself with the Soviet Union is because our stupendously ignorant national government cut off all aid to Cuba after the revolution because COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM and all those other scary things we couldn’t tolerate, and knew nothing about.

    Does anyone else remember the vicious dictator the revolution won against?  You know, one of hundreds of vicious dictators our government backed because of United Fruit and any other North American rape of the southern countries we supported.

    Had Washington just waited and offered some aid to the new government the revolution would possibly have failed in a couple of years and Cuba could have gone back to the glorious regime it was before.

    God, I think I have to stop reading BJ for awhile.  I haven’t been this worked up about Cuba in years.

    One of my favorite quotes of all time is, “Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel.” Che Guevara.

    All the democracy loving Cuban exiles might keep that in mind when voting for Republicans because they are so strong on COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM.

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    October 24, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    Ted Cruz is even a lying hypocrite about who he rooted for in the game.

  35. 35.

    SpaceUnit

    October 24, 2022 at 5:52 pm

    Someone should have told Cruz it was ball day.

    And then kicked him in the balls.

  36. 36.

    Scout211

    October 24, 2022 at 5:53 pm

    Well, it’s still afternoon here on the left coast, so the title of the post seems fine to me.

    On the subject of Ted Cruz, I just read a Newsweek article all about Ted Cruz’s new book.  Yeah, he’s got a book.  Here’s the title:  Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System. 

    But what struck me was the title of the Newsweek article that was supposed to be about his book.  Ted Cruz Hid in Supply Closet During Jan. 6, New Book Reveals

    That just made me laugh.

  37. 37.

    tokyokie

    October 24, 2022 at 5:53 pm

    @chrome agnomen:

    christ that was almost enough to make me root for the yankees. almost.

    I pretty much feel the same way. It’s hard to decide which team I detest more. But then I remember that the Yankees are tfg’s favorite team.

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 24, 2022 at 5:53 pm

    @Martin: Hope Ted goes to Philly. Those fans make Yankee fans look like a church social.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    October 24, 2022 at 5:54 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    Alison, you ugly murderess!

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    October 24, 2022 at 5:56 pm

    @Steeplejack

    “Dang it. Was sure it was the day the Cancún Cucarachas were playing.”

    //

  41. 41.

    Baud

    October 24, 2022 at 5:56 pm

    @Scout211:

    It occurs to me that our side has fewer book polemics.

    We have a book gap.

  42. 42.

    UncleEbeneezer

    October 24, 2022 at 5:58 pm

    Need a good laugh?  When a Kevin Sorbo flick is just too high-brow for you, try John Schneider’s To Die For!  Apologies in advance to anyone who watches, lol…

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    October 24, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    @japa21: co-sign.

  44. 44.

    AWOL

    October 24, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    @Martin: Well, you would too if you got a Joe Pepitone or Horace Clarke instead of a Mickey Mantle.

  45. 45.

    satby

    October 24, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    @middlelee: as I remember, that happened in Viet Nam too, because Ho Chi Minh first requested the U.S. try to influence the French into leaving, but Ho was a Marxist, so our government decided to prop up the corrupt Diem government instead after the French left.

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    October 24, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    I read that WaPo article earlier today. It was a hard story to read. But, I kept thinking she’s (and the other survivors) ACTUALLY LIVING THIS. What a brave, caring, STRONG girl she is. I hope time helps her get through this.

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 24, 2022 at 6:14 pm

    Speaking of gun control; I was just playing a First Person Shooter users have modded to be pretty serious about simulating the weapons, and while it was shooting at rooms full of zombies, assault rifles are really optimized in ways it’s hard to describe for shooting up a room.  You really can’t do the same with with say a bolt action rifle.

    One of the modders was also mentioning that the US military is moving away from the AR series, apparently the new thing are battle rifles (specifically Fabrique Nationale’s SCARS) , that are semi automatic and fire a larger bullet, because of the widespread use of body armor now.  So I guess all these AR manufacturers who don’t have a good relation with Fabrique Nationale are pushing ARs into the civilian market to make up for the lost business.

    And I will note; the ultimate murder machine is the M249 light machingun, and the US military is quite happy with these things and look, no mass shootings with M249s. Funny that.

  48. 48.

    different-church-lady

    October 24, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    @Spanky: It’s Wednesday.

  49. 49.

    Martin

    October 24, 2022 at 6:20 pm

    @NotMax:

    Bottles are plastic now. Less heft and less easy to go for distance.

    That’s what piss is for.

    Amateur.

  50. 50.

    Yutsano

    October 24, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    @Martin: ​ Nah. Bud Light. Basically the same thing but it has a bit more gravity. Plus it’s easier to bottle.

  51. 51.

    Jackie

    October 24, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    There won’t be enough popcorn in the world…

    ””I think they’re going to be worried about Allen Weissberg because Allen was Fred Trump’s accountant before he was Donald Trump’s CFO, and he knows where all the financial bodies are buried, and I think they’re worried about his testimony to the point that they’ve already signaled they’re going to accuse him of lying,” said Trump biographer Tim O’Brien, who has been sued by Trump.”

    Weissburg will make Donald pay bigly if TFG is stupid enough to return his loyalty by accusing him of being a liar!

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-might-attack-allen-weisselberg/

  52. 52.

    middlelee

    October 24, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    @satby: We don’t learn, do we?

  53. 53.

    A Good Woman

    October 24, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: actually, there are multiple replacements

    This one for the M4 (Sig Sauer) and the SCAR for Special Ops Command.

    The civilian version of the Sig Sauer is already available.  Last pricing I saw was $7,999.  Beau of the Fifth Column expects the Sig Sauer to replace the ARs used by civilians once the price drops after military production takes off.  He did a video about it and how it is going to take school shootings to a new level.  Those DNA packages being distributed to parents may come in handy sooner than we think.

  54. 54.

    Chief Oshkosh

    October 24, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Hell, I remember when they booed Mike Schmidt — Mike Fuckin’ Schmidt! And he was in his heyday.

  55. 55.

    Burnspbesq

    October 24, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    If you’re ever at a loss to understand why that despicable House Judiciary GOP Twitter account is the way it is, just remember that it’s hard-wired to Gym Jordan’s id, and there is no superego.

  56. 56.

    Alison Rose

    October 24, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    @Baud: Listen, I’ll grant you the ugly part, but I’ve never killed anyone…

     

     

    …who didn’t have it coming.

  57. 57.

    Subsole

    October 24, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Everything old is new again.

    Battle rifles used to be standard issue for the USMC. M-14, I believe. They were replaced with the M-16 in the 60s, from which the AR platform derives.

  58. 58.

    prostratedragon

    October 24, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    @tokyokie: ​ Like he’s the only one who counts. Thinking back to his Nationals reception and a few others, baseball fans in general aren’t such a bad lot.

  59. 59.

    A Good Woman

    October 24, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    @A Good Woman:

    Here are Beau’s videos on the AR and the replacement rifle.

    Video 1

    Video 2 (updated info)

  60. 60.

    Anotherlurker

    October 24, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    Ahhhhh! The Yankee Stadium crowd can really rise to the occasion.  Remember, they also gave Dick Cheney a rousing round of boos and fuck youze .

    I worked many Yankee games during my career as a Techie in NYC sports broadcasting.  The crowd can be very entertaining.

    For my infinite sins, I remain a Mets fan.

  61. 61.

    FelonyGovt

    October 24, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    @Anotherlurker: You and me both. :sigh:

  62. 62.

    Martin

    October 24, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    @A Good Woman: Still think the US should pass a law that the military cannot contract with gun manufacturers that sell to the public.

  63. 63.

    Martin

    October 24, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    @Subsole: Shift to lighter weapons when the targets were less heavily armored. Switch back to heavy as the armor goes up. Gotta compensate for those armored Dora the Explorer backpacks, you know.

  64. 64.

    gene108

    October 24, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    @middlelee:

    Perhaps I’m remembering it all wrong, but as I recall, the reason Cuba aligned itself with the Soviet Union is because our stupendously ignorant national government cut off all aid to Cuba after the revolution because COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM and all those other scary things we couldn’t tolerate, and knew nothing about.

    Castro seized a bunch of assets of U.S. companies, which is when the embargo was introduced. U.S. companies or whatever entities bought those companies are still angling to get paid back for those assets. It’s a sticking point in trying to normalize relations with Cuba.

    IIRC, from Krushev’s autobiography, Castro was always going to be a communist. Fidel needed to consolidate power and stick a shiv in other groups that allied with him, thinking they’d be part of the new ruling coalition. Fidel played at being neutral for a year or two while doing this.

  65. 65.

    brantl

    October 24, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    @NotMax: Throw them full. If it weights enough, it still hurts.

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    October 24, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    But the military is very particular about gun safety, I hear. If you join them, you only get a gun when you need one, and it goes back to stores when you’re done needing it. That’s no fun.

  67. 67.

    gene108

    October 24, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    @satby:

    Ho Chi Minh first requested the U.S. try to influence the French into leaving, but Ho was a Marxist, so our government decided to prop up the corrupt Diem government instead after the French left.

    The U.S. first supplied the French with weapons, so the French could retain control of Vietnam and any unpleasantness of the communists seizing power could be avoided.

    The French couldn’t quell the insurgencies that sprang up all over the country. They made many mistakes, which cost them the war.

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    October 24, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    @Martin:

    Still think the US should pass a law that the military cannot contract with gun manufacturers that sell to the public.

    I’m not sure how much that would help matters.  The cat is out of the bag as far as civilians getting their hands on what are basically military weapons, but most of those are made by companies that don’t contract with the military.  Once the basic patents have expired, there’s nothing to stop military technology from spreading to the civilian market.  All that we’d accomplish is ensuring that the military would contract with small-time manufacturers.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    October 24, 2022 at 7:49 pm

    @Martin:

    I think Beau is basically right on this.  The attractiveness of AR pattern rifles is they’re what the military has.  Now that the military has decided 5.56 NATO isn’t powerful enough for front-line fighters*, military cosplayers will want to switch to the M-5 because it’s the new Real Thing®.  That’s likely to include a lot of the people who want to engage in mass murder, especially because the new round is supposed to let them effectively murder police wearing body armor.

    *They apparently plan on letting everyone but infantrymen, cavalry scouts, combat engineers, medics(?!), and forward observers stick with the M-4.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    October 24, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    I should’ve known there was going to be more than just a picture of New Yorkers flipping off Shithead Ted.  Hahahahahahaha!

  71. 71.

    Betty

    October 24, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    @middlelee: What galls me is that they approve of DeSantis, including his immigrant stunt. They actually prefer strongmen as long as they believe the strongman favors them.

  72. 72.

    Central Planning

    October 24, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Martin:

    I’m shocked that nobody threw a bottle at Cruz. NY has really toned it down.

    Bottles are plastic now. Less heft and less easy to go for distance.

    More surveillance now too. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bigger fine/jail time/sentence for throwing something at a senator, also too.

  73. 73.

    Iron City

    October 24, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    Its the nationals now, not the senators

    @Central Planning: What about throwing at a national?

  74. 74.

    Eduardo

    October 24, 2022 at 9:11 pm

    @middlelee:

    I am not sure your recollection is excellent.  But this is something that you can remedy by taking a cursory look at the sequence of events in Cuba after January 1, 1959 and compare them with the events related to the Cuba & US relationship.  Not very difficult these days, if you are half as curious as you are “worked out”.

    If you are curious keep reading otherwise you can stop here.

    I found myself disagreeing with you regarding:

    • Agency – Did Castro change radically what he wanted to do in Cuba because the US policy? Did the Cubans that supported him because they loved what he did lack so much agency that they went on the tremendously radical path just to annoy the “yankees” . I mean, they nationalized the 1-man shoes repairment shops, sent religious and gay people to labor camps, and a long etcetera.  Were there so weak minded that they did all of that because Nixon was bad?
    • XX Century communism and its relative malevolence to dictatorships such as Batista. Batista is not really that important, he was just another Latin American dictator, but I cannot recommend enough reading a little on XX Century communism and what they did.  There are so many lessons to be learned one of which is that good intentions and high ideals can lead to great tragedies and crimes.  Makes you humble.
    • And boy, Guevara. A quote adjudicated to Guevara in which he seems to be criticizing cruelty.  There were a few times in which he literally defended the use of cruelty for the cause (*)(**).  He was an extremely cruel person.  The only person that would have cause untold more damage than Fidel Castro was him.  Much more doctrinaire, much more Maoist, much crueler.

    (*) To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the paredón [execution wall]

    (**) “El odio como factor de lucha; el odio intransigente al enemigo, que impulsa más allá de las limitaciones naturales del ser humano y lo convierte en una efectiva, violenta, selectiva y fría máquina de matar”

  75. 75.

    mrmoshpotato

    October 24, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    @LeftCoastYankee: Classic!

  76. 76.

    Mike in Pasadena

    October 24, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    The House GOP tweet has me surprised only because it reveals how unaware and uncaring they are about what 70 % of people are saying, “Get guns like the AR15 out of our lives!”

  77. 77.

    Chris T.

    October 25, 2022 at 1:24 am

    @different-church-lady: I thought today was Blursday.

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