Bet the farm the Dem POTUS candidate will not get Floriduh's 29 Electoral votes in 2016.
They won't need florida...it isn't enough to give amnesty to 5 million Mexicans, he needs all the votes he can get for his successor. The more amnesty loving immigrants he can muster the, better their chances are of winning over the "entitlement" community.
Cuban refugees are overwhelmingly Republican
I'm in favor of normalized relations with Cuba.
FraDiavolo's Link
"Some of the Democratic gains result from generational replacement. The Cubans who arrived at the height of the Cold War represent a dwindling share of the population. Cuban-Americans of the new generation, born in the United States, have no memory of that era, and they’re far more likely to identify as Democrats than older Cubans, according to the Pew data. The exit poll in 2012 showed the same thing: Mr. Obama won Cuban-American voters under age 45 by 26 points and lost those over age 45 by 29 points."
Really...whoda thunk it? The reps are the ones trying to shut down the borders and send everyone home. I figured they were every ilegal immigrants enemy.
so billions of our tax dollars will now go to Cuba, thats exactly what we needed
good for them
Fra's post points out the obvious, the young, ignorant and/or mentally addled have no problem with communism and gravitate toward our communist left
Cuban escapees have long been exempt from the regular immigration rules, and for good reason.
They flee from a tyrannical, murderous regime in the dark of night on unsafe homemade rafts, hoping to evade Castro's bullets, then praying to cover the 90 miles to Florida without starving, dying of thirst, or being eaten by sharks.
HA/KS's Link
Establishing ties with Cuba has been on President Obama’s bucket list for some time. Health care -- done. Amnesty for illegal immigrants -- done. Cuba -- next. This last one also has the added bonus point that it puts him right with the international left, which lionizes Castro.
And the president will go on picking off the next items on the bucket list for the next two years of his term unless Congress decides to stop him. Should they work up the gumption, lawmakers will find they can do many things to stand up for the prerogatives of the legislative branch.
I imagine the bass fishing is still pretty good. :^)
With our relations with Russia going down the tubes as quickly as it possible can, this could be an action to give us some pull to keep the Russian military out of Cuba.
Just wondering.........
The reason we have relations with china and Saudi Arabia is because it benefits the us. I don't see that with cuba.
I think the article at the link from the Washington Post sums it up correctly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-obama-administration-extends-the-castro-regime-in-cuba-a-bailout-it-doesnt-deserve/2014/12/17/a25a15d4-860c-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html
Mint's Link
But it soon may. Investment opportunities for resorts, a nearby source of inexpensive (but literate!) labor, opportunities for export . . .
Certainly we can suppress our "outrage" for the bucks, as we do with so many other countries around the world. If not, think of how much good it may bring the Cuban people.
Yes, it will bring the Cuban people a little bit of relief but Cuba was on the verge of collapsing since Venezuela cannot keep propping them up with oil since the price has dropped so much. Once that happened the Castro's would have had to loosen their grip on freedom. Like the article states, now they can hold on much longer. Hopefully the Castro's drop dead soon since then I believe things will change.
Once again I think Obama blows it an throws away our advantage to push for big changes.
You're kidding me right? Russia abandoned Cuba decades ago. Cuba then went with Chavez and helped oppress the Venezuelan people.
HA/KS's Link
Cuba has a long history of confiscating foreign assets for the profit of the Castro family.
From the link:
The communists in Cuba routinely expropriate the assets of foreign investors, and have seized and control everything of value, including hotels, car distributors, banks, the sugar industry, resorts.
If relations are fully normalized, American tourist dollars would pour into companies owned by the Castro regime, since tourism is controlled by both the military and General Raul Castro, warns the Cuba Transition Project
The number of foreign companies doing business in Cuba have been cut by more than half since the 1990s, to 190 from some 400. Reasons include: Being forced to partner with army-controlled groups; hire workers through state agencies; and the freezing of bank deposits
Cuban law lets the government confiscate foreign assets for “public utility” or “social interest,” CTP says. Three CEOs of companies doing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of business in Cuba were arrested and stuck in jail without charges or due process
Cuba is ranked 176th out of 177 countries on the index of economic freedom put out by the Heritage Foundation, beating North Korea at dead last, but ranking worse than Iran and Zimbabwe.
"think of how much good it may bring the Cuban people." yeah, that's the ticket
They had special shops that did not accept rubles but only foreign currency where the communist party officials could get whatever they needed of foreign goods. Blue Jeans, Malboro, VCR's, color TV's etc while the average citizen was stuck with buying Russian crap.
I'm guessing Cuba will be the same but I hope not.
I hope Obama at least negotiated to get back the cop killers and terrorists that fled to cuba but since he believes in their cause too I doubt it.
In talking with my wife's family in Venezuela they were shocked at this.
take all u want, I don't give a rats ash about Cuban citizens, my concern is more fraudulent waste of OUR citizens tax money to bolster a communist country
You have proven over and over the last several months that, even with thorough explanations, you have no need for rational thought or the truth
Instead, how about use your sturdy imagination to envision the downsides to enriching a communist govt, and how all the new trade/tourist dollars in the world will likely not make its way to the good citizens of Cuba
but hay, they'll live in a shinier paradise, and all the turds will be polished!
slade's Link