Donald Trump takes to Twitter with threat to terminate deal with Cuba.

If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2016

Courtesy of the New York Post: 

The comment is the latest hardline stance towards the island nation following the Friday death of longtime leader Fidel Castro. While President Obama and some other world leaders issued carefully worded statements on Castro's death, Trump's statement called him a "brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades." 

The tweet goes further, suggesting that he would roll back the first major thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations since Castro seized power in the late 1950s. Following months of secret meetings, President Obama and Raul Castro, who now runs the island, announced an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations and begin allowing trade and travel between the countries.

Damn that is short sighted.

With Fidel Castro now dead, and his brother talking of stepping down as Cuba's president, this is a prime opportunity for the US to exert some influence and work to create a relationship that benefits both countries. 

But no, the corpulent tangerine anus has to shit on every policy decision that President Obama has ever made simply out of spite, without any regard for the benefits they may afford the American people or our relations with foreign countries.

After publishing article claiming Donald Trump broke the law by doing business with Cuba during embargo, Newsweek site gets taken down. Guess who are the main suspects? Update!

To make clear: @Newsweek posted story on Trump/Cuba. Hackers attacked, took site down. Lots of IP addresses involved. Main ones from Russia.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 30, 2016

Courtesy of Politico:

Newsweek suspects that hackers are to blame for the crash of its website on Thursday night, after it published an article about Donald Trump’s company secretly conducting business in Cuba in the 1990s. 

"We don't know everything. We're still investigating," Newsweek editor in chief Jim Impoco told POLITICO. "But it was a massive DDoS attack, and it took place in the early evening just as prominent cable news programs were discussing Kurt Eichenwald's explosive investigation into how Donald Trump's company broke the law by breaking the United States embargo against Cuba." 

As of Friday afternoon, Impoco told POLITICO that the main IP addresses involved in the hack were Russian, but that there was "nothing definitive" about the ongoing investigation. 

Probably just a coincidence, right?

I don't know about the rest of you but I am getting dizzy trying to keep up with all of Trump's bullshit.

And the thing is that we know if this were ANYBODY else this campaign would have gone up in flames over a year ago.

You know SNL starts back up tonight with Alec Baldwin on deck to play "The Donald."

It makes me wonder if the writers are happy that there is so much to work with, or like myself overwhelmed by the never ending stream of scandals, gaffes, and unhinged tweets?

P.S. By the way just in case you missed it here is the Newsweek article that started all of the trouble.

Update: This just in courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Suspicion is mounting about Donald Trump’s ties to Russian officials and business interests, as well as possible links between his campaign and the Russian hacking of U.S. political organizations. But GOP leaders have refused to support efforts by Democrats to investigate any possible Trump-Russia connections, which have been raised in news reports and closed-door intelligence briefings. And without their support, Democrats, as the minority in both chambers of Congress, cannot issue subpoenas to potential witnesses and have less leverage to probe Trump.

Well so much for putting country ahead of party. 

Bernie Sanders on his admiration for Fidel Castro, and his distrust of both American political parties.

"I was very excited and impressed by the Cuban revolution."

In describing the Democratic and Republican parties, "There really wasn't a whole lot of difference between the two."

You know I think we have identified the underlying reason why Bernie Sanders keeps accusing the Democratic party of dishonesty, and how he really sees his "revolution."

Can you just imagine what Donald Trump would have done with this in the general election?

What President Obama has accomplished in Cuba is something that no other American President has managed to do in 50 years.

You don't hold the President's hand up in victory, until the President wants his hand held up in victory.

Courtesy of Esquire: 

The President's landmark trip to Cuba showed, yet again, what a masterful performer Obama is on the world stage. The press conference with Raul Castro was a masterpiece in and of itself. He went to Cuba to end the embargo and to encourage a change of regime in Cuba. He understood that the embargo justifies the Communist regime. Because of the embargo, the Castros are able to explain away Cuba's terrible poverty as a result of foreign oppression, and justify their repressive political tactics as a means of national self-determination. Obama brought Raul Castro onto a stage and stripped away those justifications in front of the whole country. Not only that, but he forced Raul Castro to answer questions about human rights abuses from the American press. And Castro stumbled. He was not used to having to answer questions. And the people of Cuba saw him stumble. They were not used to seeing that. 

Through this series of tiny gestures, Obama achieved what 50 years of American resistance to Cuba was not able to. He defused any lingering military tension. He showed the Cuban people that America has good intentions. And he managed to humiliate the Castros, utterly, without appearing, even in the slightest, aggressive. He did all that in a couple of hours. There's only one word for it: genius.

President Obama greeting school children in Cuba.

 Not only did the President show the world how positive and energetic he was compared to the fossil now running Cuba, but he also served as a poster child for democracy.

And of course over here the Right Wing attacked him for not jumping on a plane immediately in order to wring his hands here in America over the terrorist attack in Brussels.

Of course that would have accomplished virtually nothing so Obama simply had one of the top leaders in ISIS killed instead.

A couple of days ago I wrote a headline which said "Yes President Obama is officially one of the most consequential presidents in American history."

I got a little blowback on that for jumping the gun since presidents are not typically judged on the effectiveness of their presidency until after they leave office. 

However I think I am going to go ahead and double down on that statement. Just call it a little precognition, or simply call it paying attention to the facts.

And if I'm wrong in twenty years when the historians finally form a consensus, I promise to come right back here and apologize. Deal?

Yes President Obama is officially one of the most consequential presidents in American history. Isn't that what I have been saying all along?

Courtesy of Vox: 

This Wednesday marks the sixth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, which President Obama signed into law on March 23, 2010. Together with a companion bill passed a week later, the law represented the biggest reform to the American health care system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. 

Its anniversary, then, serves as a crucial reminder that, love him or hate him, Barack Obama is one of the most consequential presidents in American history — and that he will be a particularly towering figure in the history of American progressivism. 

He signed into law a comprehensive national health insurance bill, a goal that had eluded progressive presidents for a century. He got surprisingly tough reforms to Wall Street passed as well, not to mention a stimulus package that both blunted the recession and transformed education and energy policy. 

He's put in place the toughest climate rules in American history and signed a major international climate accord. He opened the US to Cuba for the first time in more than half a century, and reached a peaceful settlement to the nuclear standoff with Iran. 

You can celebrate or bemoan these accomplishments. Liberals hail them as moves toward a social democratic welfare state and a foreign policy more skeptical of military intervention; conservatives critique Obama's efforts to expand regulation and the government's reach, and accuse him of abdicating America's role as world hegemon. 

But no one can deny that the changes Obama has wrought are enormous in scale.

The article goes on to lay out the President's many accomplishments in some detail, and of course does not fail to mention his missteps, but overall it is the portrait of a President who, while he didn't accomplish everything that we wanted, accomplished far more than we had any right to expect.

And now seeing the folks battling to take his place, especially on the GOP side, one is made painfully aware of what we are losing in 2017, and how underappreciated we was while doing so much on our behalf.

President Obama's full speech in Cuba today.

Courtesy of PBS:  

The speech was carried live by Cuban state television, giving Obama a chance to speak directly to the Cuban people. Cuban President Raúl Castro sat in the balcony of the theater, where he heard Obama issue a tough rebuke of the Cuban regime's crackdown on dissent. 

"I believe citizens should be free to speak their minds without fear," Obama said. 

He went on to acknowledge the many struggles of American democracy — how it is still dealing with the scars of slavery, how there is too much money in politics. Obama used himself as an example of why a democratic system works. When he was born, he said, it would have been illegal for his mother and father to marry. 

But people organized and they protested and they debated the issue, Obama said. And today, he is the first black president. 

"We, like every country, need the space that democracy gives us to change," Obama said. 

Then he addressed Castro directly. "You do not need to fear a threat from the United States," Obama said. 

"You do not need to fear the different voices of the Cuban people."

I watched this speech this morning while I was trying to get my work done.

I have to tell you that I stopped several times and just stared at this man as he talked about the bright future the Cuban people could have with America's help, and I am not ashamed to tell you that I got emotional a couple of times.  

This man will be missed. 

So what was President Obama doing yesterday? Not much, just being the first sitting US President to set foot in Cuba in 88 years.

Photo courtesy of the Obama Diary.

Courtesy the New York Times:  

Shouts of “U.S.A.!” and “Obama!” echoed over the stone plazas as President Obama and his family made their way around rain-slicked courtyards in Old Havana on Sunday evening, savoring the adulation of Cubans welcoming him warmly despite a driving rain as he began a history-making visit. 

“Welcome to Cuba! We like you!” a man shouted as Mr. Obama’s entourage passed. Above, a woman applauded and hooted from her wrought-iron balcony. 

Later, a motorcade including the presidential limousine, adorned for the first time with Cuban and American flags, snaked through narrow streets where elated residents, their clothing soaked from waiting in the rain, hoisted cellphones and cheered the first sitting American leader to set foot on Cuban soil in 88 years.

Okay so just how many history making, landmark decisions is that for this President so far in his two terms?

Ended our two unnecessary wars, killed Osama Bin Laden, repealed DADT, saved the US auto industry, brought healthcare to millions of uninsured Americans, saved the economy, and that was only in his first term.

The next time that somebody offers there opinion that this is a failed President, just go right ahead and laugh in their face.

Because that really is the only appropriate response.

President Obama plans to visit Cuba, but since that won't freak out the Right Wing enough will also skip Justice Scalia's funeral.

Courtesy of Yahoo: 

Pres. Barack Obama will make a historic visit to Cuba “in the coming weeks,” the culmination of his efforts to end a half-century of tensions between Havana and Washington, a senior administration official said late Wednesday. 

“We can confirm that tomorrow‎ the administration will announce the president’s travel to Latin America, including Cuba, in the coming weeks,” the official said on condition of anonymity. ABC had first reported the news, saying that the trip would take place in late March.

The trip, the first one by a sitting President since 1928, immediately drew fire from the conservatives.

Would @tedcruz visit #Cuba? No, “as long as the Castros are in power.” https://t.co/tZiz7EBNZC #GOPTownHall https://t.co/lv5v2fTiyg

— CNN (@CNN) February 18, 2016

.@marcorubio responds to @POTUS’ plan to visit to #Cuba. #GOPTownHall https://t.co/5Nlsme7EA8 https://t.co/Iz2L2lkEb9

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) February 18, 2016

But apparently the President did not think that was enough to sufficiently get the conservative riled up enough, so his White House Press Secretary also made this announcement: 

President Barack Obama is preparing for a fierce battle with the Senate over the Supreme Court vacancy, but he’s not planning to attend Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral — a decision that puzzled even some of his allies and incensed conservative media. 

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest revealed the president’s plans during the daily briefing, saying Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will go to the Supreme Court on Friday “to pay their respects to Justice Scalia” while the justice lies in repose in the Great Hall. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, who share Scalia’s Catholic faith, will be at the services instead.

I don't blame the President for not going to the funeral.

I mean could you imagine trying to make small talk about a guy who you disagreed with on almost EVERY topic?

So this is a picture which was making the rounds on cable news and social media yesterday.

I think we all know that President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are not exactly chummy.

However somebody on Twitter reminded us that there has been at least one American President that Putin was quite chummy with.

pic.twitter.com/msBfqNWV4x

— Jeff Gauvin (@JeffersonObama) September 29, 2015

Yeah, you know I actually feel a lot better having a President in office who is repelled by a man who has invaded neighboring countries at will and mistreated his own people.

So I have no problem with President Obama giving Putin the stink eye.

Especially since he seems to be getting along so well with so many others.

President Obama with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

President Obama with Raul Castro

Sometimes the best source for the truth comes from the comic section.

Now THAT is a very powerful, and very accurate, statement.

Cuban leader Raul Castro calls President Obama "an honest man" and absolves him of any blame for US blockade.

President Obama shakes hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

President Barack Obama on Saturday declared his refusal to refight the Cold War battles while Cuban President Raul Castro rallied to his defense, absolving Obama of fault for the U.S. blockade in a stunning reversal of more than 50 years of animosity between the United States and Cuba. 

"In my opinion, President Obama is an honest man," Castro said - a remarkable vote of confidence from the Cuban leader, who praised Obama's life and his "humble background." 

Turning the page on the longstanding U.S. policy of isolation, Castro and Obama were expected to meet later Saturday on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas - the first substantial meeting between a U.S. and Cuban president in more than five decades. 

The flurry of diplomacy, which kicked off Friday evening with an historic handshake between Obama and Castro, was aimed at injecting fresh momentum into their months-old plan to restore normal relations between their countries. 

"The Cold War has been over for a long time," Obama said. "And I'm not interested in having battles frankly that started before I was born."

This must be making Marco Rubio's freaking head explode. 

Not to mention the other Republicans who absolutely need to have some enemy to rail against while they campaign.

If Obama manages to get a good nuclear deal with Iran as well I think the Republicans might start jumping off of tall buildings in frustration.

Which is by the way yet another reason to support the President's efforts.

Sarah Palin's ghostwriter finally got off her fat ass and wrote her something to say about Cuba.

The video starts off with these words:

"President Obama's recent decision to normalize relations with the oppressive communist regime in Cuba, it puts me in mind of how another president handled relations with the communists." 

And after that it is just blah, blah, Ronald Reagan, blah blah, cold war, blah blah, evil empire, blah blah.......Obama sucks.

It's almost Christmas and I have no intention of transcribing the entire seven minutes of this thing.

However the sycophants over at Breitbart were forced to transcribe a portion of her holiday babble so I will simply link to them and share some of it here for the mocking. (And don't forget every time you visit Breitbart.com an angel has its wings torn off. So think before you click.)

Let us begin: 

“I am so ashamed with what the Obama administration has done to Cuban people. I do not support it,” Palin, speaking in front of a lit candle, says in a video that will be seen on The Sarah Palin Channel. (Aww Sarah Palin is ashamed of the President. Well then you KNOW he must be doing something right.)“This Christmas eve, I intend to light a candle and put it in my window to show my solidarity with every brave Cuban fighting for freedom and every political dissident languishing in Castro’s prisons. 

“I encourage you to do the same. Let’s join together in this. Let’s show them that the light of freedom shall never be extinguished.”

Yes lighting candles. Such an effective method for overthrowing a government. 

(Actually the idea comes from a Reagan documentary that Palin pimps during this warm over serving of word salad.)

Palin contrasted Reagan’s “moral clarity” (She confused "moral clarity" with "ignorance about diplomacy.") during the Cold War against the Soviet Union with Obama’s recent appeasement on Cuba. She mentioned that Reagan knew that the Soviet Union’s economic model was “a total failure” but did not collapse only because the Soviets were able to manipulate Americans into propping it up with grain deals and technology exchanges. She blamed “naive diplomats” and “Wall Street greed” for combining to “prop up the most repressive regime in human history” that “would have crumbled so much sooner under the weight of its own incompetence if it were not for” the policies of appeasement. 

Reagan, Palin notes, had the “moral clarity” to call the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and declare that his strategy for the Cold War was simply, “we win, they lose.” (Yes and if Mikhail Gorbachev had not taken the initiative and reached out to Reagan then nothing would have changed on his watch. Reagan's so-called toughness did nothing except slow down the process by which the cold war ended.)

Palin urged viewers to contrast Reagan’s moral clarity with Obama’s decision to “spit in the face of every human rights activist in Cuba.” (Well according to Palin, the President has stopped shoving things down throats and is now spitting in the face. Is that progress?) She said Obama’s decision to reverse U.S. policy toward Cuba “enriched their oppressors and sanctioned their abuse.” (She does realize that we currently trade with a number of countries which have terrible reputations for oppressing human rights, doesn't she?) She said that “greedy crony capitalists are propping up a failing Communist regime” in Cuba, and Obama just gave the “Castro regime the hard currency and the economic boost to remain in power forever.” 

Palin said it is “ludicrous” to think that Cubans will enjoy democracy and human rights because corporations can sell products there. 

“Ask human rights activists in China how that’s working for them,” Palin said, noting that the Cuban government will pocket 92% of wages of their workers to empower the apparatus that controls them. 

She ultimately accused Obama of giving “away all of our leverage to fight for human rights” (And boy hasn't that leverage been working out well so far.) and betraying “the people who are courageously putting their lives on the line fighting for freedom.” She even said Obama was “spitting in the face of every human rights activist on the globe” before asking Americans to light candles to support the Cuban freedom fighters that the Obama administration betrayed.

 Palin also uses the President's middle name during the video which I am assuming she still considers an insult.

You know for fun I would like to ask Palin on video to point to where Cuba is on a map. Fifty bucks says she couldn't find it in ten tries.

Okay so after working on this for a couple of days, the best Palin's ghostwriter could do was to steal some tape from a Reagan documentary, string a bunch of words together that almost make Palin sound like she once read a book, and change the attack against the President from accusing him of "shoving things down our throats" to "spitting in the face" of human rights advocates.

Color me unimpressed.

But even worse than the actual words that the ghostwriter had Palin vomit forth, is the image that Palin presents in the video of a poorly bewigged mental patient, with too much lip gloss, the glow of a teleprompter reflected in her man glasses, and a hideous fur collared suit with shoulder pads left over from the eighties.

I mean is anybody even trying to make her look professional these days?

I think I probably spent more time typing this up just now, and trust me I went through it as quickly as I possibly could, then her team spent putting that whole video together.

I have half a mind to start covering Ted Cruz instead of wasting my time on Palin. I mean at least Cruz comes up with new crazy all the time instead of regurgitating the same old partially digested talking points over and over again.

You know I think it might be about time to have a glass of the Gryphen family's famous eggnog.

It's made from a recipe that my father came up with;  Six ounces of rum with three tablespoons of nog added to give it that holiday flavor. 

It doesn't really taste that good but typically I pass out part way through my second glass. So who really cares?

President Obama wants to keep yet another campaign promise. Shutting down Gitmo.

Courtesy of Politicususa:  

I am going to be doing everything I can to close it. It is something that inspires jihadists and extremists around the world. It is contrary to our values, and it is wildly expensive. We’re spending millions for each individual there, and we have drawn down the population there significantly. There are a little less than 150 individuals left in this facility. We are continue to place those who have been cleared for release or transfer to host countries who are willing to take them. There’s going to be a certain irreducible number that are going to be really hard cases. We know they’ve done something wrong and they are still dangerous but it’s difficult to mount the evidence in a traditional Article three court so we’re going to have to wrestle with that, but we need to close that facility and I’m going to do everything I can to do that.

Politicususa goes on to affirm that the President is quite correct about the expense, and points out that while it only costs taxpayers about $78,000 a year per inmate in the most expensive supermax prison in the country it costs a whopping 2.8 million per prisoner in Gitmo.

You know if the President is able to find some way to close Guantnamo Bay it will make some of his other accomplishments pale in comparison, and DEFINITELY put a shine on his legacy.

Hmm, I wonder if renewing diplomatic ties with Cuba is part of his plan for putting pressure on the Republicans concerning Gitmo?

Is he really that many moves ahead of the GOP?

Instead of accepting defeat after the 2014 drubbing at the polls, President Obama has decided to come out swinging.

"So you're saying I can just kick ass, and not bother to take names?"

Courtesy of Politico: 

Obama’s turnaround in recent weeks – he’s seized the offensive with a series of controversial executive actions and challenges to leaders in his own party on the budget — can be attributed to a fundamental change in his political mindset, according to current and former aides. He’s gone from thinking of himself as a sitting (lame) duck, they tell me, to a president diving headlong into what amounts to a final campaign – this one to preserve his legacy, add policy points to the scoreboard, and – last but definitely not least – to inflict the same kind of punishment on his newly empowered Republican enemies, who delighted in tormenting him when he was on top. 

“'Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose' — Barack and Bobby McGee,” says former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. “President Obama is free to take the risks and use executive authority that will either make him a much more popular president with rising approval rates or get him impeached by a Republican Congress that won’t be able to control itself. We can contemplate the possibility of each result while smoking a Cuban cigar.” 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Obama’s newly aggressive stance – exemplified by his unilateral moves on immigration and Cuba – poses an early challenge to new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and to House Speaker John Boehner, who are trying to re-shape the GOP into a party that can actually run a government. “Mitch and Boehner have to deal with the fact that Obama is becoming bolder and more radical,” Gingrich told me a few days before Obama announced his move to normalize relations with Cuba. 

I don't know about everybody else but I REALLY like the change in our President and I hope he only gets more confident and aggressive as the last of his final term plays itself out.

Hell he may actually finally achieve that fundamental change in American that Sarah Palin is always warning us about. And it will most likely be a good fundamental change that history will forever attribute to the hard work and tenacity of the 44th President.

Sarah Palin lets Greta Van Susteren do her talking for her on Obama's Cuba decision, and the second season of Amazing America attracts a smattering of coverage. Not all of it good.

I don't think that Palin really has any idea what the President's decision to normalize relations with Cuba ultimately means for conservative politics. So until her handlers tell her what to say she is staying relatively quiet on the issue.

However that does not mean she cannot link to her pal Greta Van Susteren who seems perturbed that the President worked to release Alan Gross, who has been imprisoned in Cuba since 2009, and not Andrew Tahmooressi who had been in a Mexico jail for about seven months.

This is from Van Susteren's Facebook page:

I'm very happy ‪#‎AlanGross‬ is home, but still absolutely mystified as to why President Barack Obama wouldn't help our ‪#‎MarineHeldInMexico‬. Watch my "Off the Record" commentary and tell me if you are likewise stumped about the president's lack of involvement in freeing Sgt. Andrew ‪#‎Tahmooressi‬.

Here let me help.

The reason that the President was more hands on with getting Alan Gross out of prison than the conservative's pet border jumping Marine might be because Gross was arrested for smuggling satellite phones and computer components to a Cuban Jewish organization, and Tahmooressi was caught crossing the border with illegal firearms and then repeatedly lied to the Mexican police.

Just a hunch.

As for Palin's second season working the green screen, there is really not a whole lot of buzz thus far.

The Washington Times covered it, barely.

As did Mediaite.

Alaska Dispatch did a little better. (Also revealing Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner's struggle with alcohol and drugs.)

And even Breitbart could only bring themselves to contribute about six paragraphs to the show.

They also used this picture.

Which I think indicates where THEIR interest lies.

What I found more informative were the comments found on some of these media outlets.

For instance: 

They'll do okay until they get in their first fight about what to shoot from the helicopter wolves or pigs, and the whole Palin klan blindsides and jumps Nugent in a drunken orgy of violence. 

You know, a typical Palin family outing. 

And: 

Wow, Nugent and Palin on the same show - between them they might get to double digits in the IQ department. 

As well as: 

...and the caricature of a human is now complete. It seems appropriate that she's standing on the side of a road looking for the best offer to come along, much like she spent her time in the Governor's office. What a waste of skin.

Not that is a hell of a lot more entertaining than anything to be found in this crappy show of hers.

Speaking of entertainment I thought you guys would like to know that my source was beyond thrilled with the response to my post on Monday and is excited to share more.

I will be trying to get together with her this weekend, or early next week.

Before then I thought it might be fun to ask all of you if there are any questions that you would like her to clear up, that perhaps I have not already thought of myself. And before you say it I have already discussed with her the babygate thing and we are working on that.

President Obama restores diplomatic relations with Cuba. Republican heads to explode in 3..2..1 Update!

Courtesy of Reuters: 

The United States will restore diplomatic relations it severed with Cuba more than 50 years ago, a major policy shift ending decades of hostile ties with the communist-ruled island, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday. 

Announcing the end of what he called a "rigid" policy of isolation of Cuba that had been ineffective, Obama said the United States would move toward normal ties and would open an embassy in Cuba. 

Obama discussed the changes with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday in a nearly hour-long telephone call. Castro spoke in Cuba as Obama made his announcement on a policy shift made possible by the release of American Alan Gross, 65, who had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years.

At the end of this article the reporter writes this:

Obama will likely face resistance on this.

Gee, ya think?

Republicans are going to lose their freaking minds over this. Especially since he is doing it on his own, and without working with Congress.

In fact Hillary's 2016 opposition has already expressed his displeasure.

Here is a timeline of US relations with Cuba just to give you an idea as to how big of a deal this will be.

Update: Oh yeah Marco Rubio is throwing quite the hissy fit over this:  

"This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, based on a lie,” Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, told reporters on Capitol Hill. 

"The White House has conceded everything and gained little." "I’m committed to doing everything I can to unravel as many of these changes as possible," he added. 

"This Congress is not going to lift the embargo," Rubio declared at the end of his news conference.

You know I think Rubio is just pissed that Obama undermined his base with this decision, and is making all of the Republicans look like obstructionists on ending an embargo that has gone on for far too long.

I think he just needs to take a drink of water and calm down.

Better?

During the memorial service for Nelson Mandela President Obama shakes the hand of Cuba's President Raul Castro. Uh oh!

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

Barack Obama shook the hand of Cuban President Raul Castro on his way to speak at Nelson Mandela's memorial service. 

The moment is special and unprecedented since the U.S. has held an economic embargo on Cuba since 1953, and Mandela was praised for his ability to unite enemies across political and racial divides. 

During a powerful speech praising Mandela's life, Obama included a line that many thought was aimed at Castro, among others. 

"There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people," Obama said. 

Yeah but that little jab is not going to be enough to keep the Right Wing from losing their minds over the fact that Obama has shown civility to the brother of a man who Americans are supposed to hate. (And just like Mandela he is a "gasp" communist!)

Yep right now there are Tea Party conservatives stroking their hate inspired little erections getting ready to ejaculate vitriol and anger all over the Right Wing news sites.

P.S. You can watch the President's entire memorial speech here.

Update: Here is President Obama taking a selfie with other world leaders at the Mandela memorial. 

President Obama reintroduces diplomacy to American international politics.

Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's socialist leader, met Friday and shook hands on the sidelines of a summit of their hemisphere's democracies.

Obama walked across a hotel meeting room to meet Chavez for the first time, said a senior U.S. administration official who witnessed it and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the event. The official said Obama initiated the encounter.

"We shook each other's hands like gentlemen, and it was predictable this would happen," Chavez said.

"We don't have any complexes that would prevent us from extending our hands to each other. I'm grateful for his gesture."

This may seem like a small gesture, but it will have very powerful repercussions around the world, and show other nations that we now have a leader who reaches out to those he may not see eye to eye with rather than to vilify them and call them names like a petulant child.

And with Hillary making nice with Cuba it looks like we may finally have an opportunity to bring countries to the negotiation table that have long been left in the shadows, allowing their resentment to grow and grow.

I know full well that Obama will come under attack by the right wing fringe groups, but I for one have a great deal of hope that with Obama in office we can increase our sphere of influence in a non-adversarial way. Isn't it time we stopped flexing our muscles and demonstrated our compassion and intelligence instead?

Maybe the 9-11 conspiracy theorists are not so crazy after all.

In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.

Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.

The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.

I have rejected the idea that 9-11 was orchestrated by our government, not so much because I do not believe this administration capable of anything so horrific (The things that I know they have done are frightening enough), but mostly because Osama Bin Laden did not deny his culpability.

I cannot imagine that a man like Bin Laden would allow our government to scapegoat him and his organization like that. But other then that I am not at all positive that this administration would not have gone to the extremist of actions to get the war that they clearly wanted all along.

But it is more likely that if our government had planned the attack they would have made sure that the hijackers were identified as Saddam Hussein's men and not Bin Laden's.

But this report should give everyone pause and make them really wonder just how many lies and deceptions our government has fed us over the years.