Disqus - Latest Comments for walterlx

Re: LADWP Outage Info: Map, Reports, Problems History

walterlx — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 10:18:28 -0000

Power restored in Silverlake a few moments ago.
Temperature 46 degrees

Re: DJ Betto Arcos Shares Essential Songs From His Travels In Cuba

walterlx — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 11:46:04 -0000

Betto Arcos says he flew to Cuba on a plane "packed with tourists." It is ILLEGAL for US citizens or residents to travel to Cuba as tourists. US law FORBIDS travel to Cuba as tourists. Arcos went as a journalist, as I do. The others traveled under the limited categories legally permitted to US citizens under US law.

And there's no need to stay in high-priced hotels, either. One can rent rooms or small apartments all over the island for $25.00 per night, sometimes less, in private homes. These are called casas particulares, a system, through which individual home-owners can and do share in the recent influx of visitors to the island.. Arcos has been to Cuba before. He should have mentioned this option. Certainly he knows about it.

The current influx of visitors began under Obama, who reversed the sharp restrictions previous presidents had imposed on US citizens and residents visiting the island. Cuba has MANY problems, and they're not all attributable to US pressure. Still US efforts to block Cuban economic development remain the island's main problem.

I enjoyed listening to the artists whose work Arcos highlighted.

Re: PETA's Lettuce Ladies In Cuba Selling Vegan Virtues – And Bizarre Bikinis

walterlx — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 07:19:13 -0000

Gee, Tim. I take it you've never been to Cuba. I just spent three MONTHS there and ate vegetables every single day. Sure, the cost of living is high there, including for food, but you leave out the fact that most Cubans live completely rent-free and pay nothing for education and health care. It's not a perfect society, unlike ours up here.

I bet if you were go go to Cuba you would have no difficulty finding vegetables, including the green kind. The PETA folks ought to have asked permission to make their mission. You wouldn't want someone to come to YOUR house to try to tell you what's wrong with your diet without ringing the bell and asking if you can have permission. It's common sense and good manners. Let's hope these pretty young women also speak Spanish, if they want to talk to Cubans about how they ought to eat.

Re: Obama sends aide to Cuba to sign agreement

walterlx — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 22:19:45 -0000

Trump holds no office in the United States government at this time. He's in no official position to request anything of the Cuban, or any other government.

Re: Cuban 5 member excited for Obama's historic visit - WSVN-TV - 7NEWS Miami Ft. Lauderdale News, Weather, Deco

walterlx — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 11:10:33 -0000

Gerardo and the Five were never convicted, nor even charged with espionage. They were charged with conspiracy. Not one single word of classified information was ever entered in the trial. All they did was to monitor the activities of Cuban militant terrorists in Miami. For that they spent 1-16 years in prison. Glad they are free and, as you can see, Gerardo displays no bitterness after his unjust imprisonment.

Re: Cuba denounces continued US enforcement of embargo

walterlx — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 13:58:38 -0000

Thanks for entertaining this kind of discussion.

Here's a perfect response to WSWS's notion that normalizing relations with the US is designed to protect the bureaucracy and transform Cuba along Chinese lines. That notion is, of course, absurd on its face when Cuba has 11 million people and China has over a BILLION people.

Anyway, here's the Cuban response to leftists who are saying Cuba has sold out to Washington by normalizing relations and seeking investment from foreign countries.

<http: en.granma.cu="" cuba="" 2016-03-11="" foreign-investment-for-development="">

Re: Cuba denounces continued US enforcement of embargo

walterlx — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 01:31:11 -0000

These are your OPINIONS. You don't cite any FACTS. The Cubans have been resisting US efforts to overthrow the revolutionary government for over FIFTY years, and, so far, Cuba has been successful in defeating the US.

They're not about to give away in discussions what they have been able to maintain through tough struggle for over half a century.

Neither the article nor the commentator has cited one single FACT to demonstrate that the Cubans have in any way surrendered. That's what today's GRANMA editorial demonstrates.

Re: Cuba denounces continued US enforcement of embargo

walterlx — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 16:43:48 -0000

So it seems WSWS would prefer that the blockade remain in place?

Just the exact opposite of what WSWS says, Cuba hasn't the slightest desire to sell itself out to Washington. Here are excerpts from Granma's editorial today which documents this point:

Regardless of the progress which can be achieved in ties with the United States, the Cuban people will continue to move forward. With our own efforts and proven capacity and creativity, we will continue to work for the country’s development and the wellbeing of Cubans. We will not desist in the demand that the blockade, which has caused and causes so much harm, be lifted. We will persevere in the process of updating the socio-economic model we have chosen, and the construction of a prosperous, sustainable socialism to consolidate the gains to the Revolution.

A path sovereignly chosen, which will surely be reaffirmed by the 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, with Fidel and Raúl victorious.

This is the Cuba which will respectfully welcome President Obama.

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/20...

Re: What Was Albert Einstein's True Relationship to Judaism — and Zionism?

walterlx — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 12:17:11 -0000

Thanks for this article, which I appreciated. Another aspect of Einstein's thinking which deserves greater emphasis was his fierce anti-racism and his open espousal of socialism as the best way forward for humanity.

Google the phrase below to read his views on socialism
Albert Einstein: Why Socialism? Monthly Review 1948

Re: Hello, Havana? Re-Examining The Cuban Embargo

walterlx — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:25:44 -0000

Doesn't Cuba have the right to determine for itself what kind of social and political arrangements it can have? Does Washington tell Saudi Arabia it's not allowed to have a monarchy? Does Washington tell the UK it can't have a parliamentary system, but must adopt the republican system which exists in the United States of America?

So why does Washington think it has the right to tell Cuba what kind of system they have to have there, on THEIR island?

Re: After Bergdahl, will U.S. and Cuba make swap involving Alan Gross?

walterlx — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 09:55:50 -0000

The Obama administration traded the ten Russian agents it caught here for four Russians caught spying for Washington over there. This happened during Hillary Clinton's period as Secretary of State. No one criticized Obama or Clinton at the time for that trade.

Obama should trade the three Cuban agents Washington has held since 1998 for Gross, who was a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development whom the Cubans caught bringing in illegal high-tech equipment into the island five years ago.

Re: Clinton Position On Cuba Signals New Political Era

walterlx — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 19:18:45 -0000

Thanks for this timely and detailed commentary.

If Clinton really wanted to draw attention to this issue, she could speak out now to defend President Obama's decision to exchange five Afghanistan Taliban leaders, who had been held without charge for over a decade at Guantanamo, in exchange for the US soldier Bowe Bergdahl who'd been held by the Taliban for five years.

Trading prisoners is familiar ground to Clinton, since during her term as Secretary of State, Washington traded ten Russian agents caught in the US for four Russians jailed there for spying on behalf of the United States. This was done within DAYS of the arrest of those Russian agents here in the United States of America.

Today Washington could even more easily trade three Cuban agents for that one United States Agency for International Development contractor agent, Alan Gross, who is currently in Cuban custody.

Clinton could really help bring about a change in US relations with Latin America if she spoke out in defense of Obama's trading of Bergdahl, and for now trading with Cuba for the release of Alan Gross. Thank you for your discussion of this issue.

Walter Lippmann Los Angeles, California
https://groups.yahoo.com/ne...

Re: Clinton Position On Cuba Signals New Political Era

walterlx — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 19:01:13 -0000

Thanks for this timely and detailed commentary.

Today Washington could even more easily trade three Cuban agents for that one United States Agency for International Development contractor agent, Alan Gross, who is currently in Cuban custody.

Walter Lippmann Los Angeles, California https://groups.yahoo.com/ne...

Re: Time for Evolution in the US’s Cuba Policy

walterlx — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 14:18:05 -0000

Thanks for this timely and detailed commentary.

Today Washington could even more easily trade three Cuban agents for that one
United States Agency for International Development contractor agent, Alan Gross,
who is currently in Cuban custody.

Clinton could really help bring about a change in US relations with Latin
America if she spoke out in defense of Obama's trading of Bergdahl, and for now
trading with Cuba for the release of Alan Gross. Thank you for your discussion
of this issue.

Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
https://groups.yahoo.com/ne...

Re: Does Bergdahl swap set precedent?

walterlx — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 11:04:38 -0000

Washington traded TEN Russian agents caught here for four Russian convicted over there for spying for Washington. This trade was negotiated within DAYS of the arrest of the Russian agents.

Israel traded ONE THOUSAND FORTY-SEVEN Palestinians for one single Israeli soldier who had been held by Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu approved this deal, and no one in the US Congress has backbitten Netanyahu over this negotiated trade.

Trading is nothing new. It solves a problem for both sides.

Re: Cuba Agent: US-Afghan Prisoner Swap a Precedent

walterlx — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 21:30:23 -0000

IN 2010, Obama traded ten Russian agents caught in the US for four Russians caught spying for Washington over there. That trade was made within DAYS of the Russian agents' arrest here in the US. Israel traded 1047 (yes, one thousand forty seven) Palestinians for one single Israeli soldier. Why won't Washington make this trade?
This man's suggestion makes perfectly good sense. The Cuban Five were arrested in 1998. They were completely non-violent activists and have had flawless behavior records during there long years in prison. It's time to free them now. The Cubans have made it clear they will then release the US contractor-agent caught on the island working as part of Washington's "regime change" operations targeting Cuba if Washington will free the Cuban Five.

Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:11:43 -0000

You are confirming my statement was correct: I said $150,000 and that's what it is.
Why is she concealing the identity of those who are paying for her services?

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:36:43 -0000

A propaganda trick by Yoani's far-right-wing political SUPPORTERS at Panam Post???
http://panampost.com/belen-...

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 20:46:28 -0000

If a Cuban website said 2+4=4, would that make it wrong?

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 11:10:19 -0000

The amount is correct. The source: a right-wing, pro-Yoani website:
http://panampost.com/belen-... That's a lot of money. Why must the financial backers be concealed?

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:52:40 -0000

$150,000.000 from anonymous donors is a lot of money from un-named and anonymous donors.

Why does she keep their names concealed? What is she trying to hide?

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Sat, 31 May 2014 01:32:07 -0000

This story is incomplete. I says that this website was blocked, though it doesn't know or say by whom, but it leaves out that the site was unblocked just THREE DAYS after it was blocked, quite some time before this story was written and posted.
Details:
REUTERS: Dissident Cuban website, once blocked, now accessible
Sat, May 24 2014

<http: www.reuters.com="" article="" 2014="" 05="" 24="" us-cuba-media-yoanisanchez-idusbrea4k0rh20140524="">

Re: Meet the Couple Behind Cuba's New Dissident Website

walterlx — Sat, 31 May 2014 01:27:15 -0000

This article states,"For now, the most significant display of outside support for the digital platform is a letter posted by the website that was signed by 28 writers and journalists." But that's not the only "outside support". Consider this:

The site is counting on its funding of US$150,000 from anonymous donations and is focused on providing a space for dissenting voices on the island. According to Sánchez’s husband, Reinaldo Escobar, the digital newspaper is financed by national and international investors and has sufficient funds to survive for one year. [my emphasis, wl]
http://panampost.com/belen-...

Re: Capitalism in Cuba? It's closer than the U.S. may think | Making Sen$e | PBS NewsHour

walterlx — Wed, 07 May 2014 18:52:45 -0000

Cuba is, and has been for many decades, the only country on the planet where a military base belonging to a foreign, hostile power continues to occupy national territory against the wishes of the local government, one which is recognized by virtually every country on earth.

Cuba does what it feels it can and must to maintain its national independence. US foreign policy, codified in the Helms-Burton and Torricelli laws, make the overthrow of the Cuban government the official foreign policy of the United States. That's why Washington carries out projects like ZunZuneo, which are part of a regime-change policy which Washington maintains.

Cuba has never landed armed forces on US territory, but Washington has landed soldiers on US territory in 1898, 1912, 1917, and still has troops on Cuban soil. It's fine for the US to stop trying to overthrow Cuba's system, and allow the Cuban people their ability to face their own problems without the threat of US intervention.

Cuba can't attribute all of its problems to Washington and its hostile policies, but until they're ended, Cuba won't be able to address and resolve its many problems without the threat of US intervention giving them reasons not to go forward.

Cuba just yesterday caught yet another group of Miami-based exile militants trying to provoke violence on the island. These people still won't give up trying to overthrow the Cuban government. Is it any wonder Cubans can be testy?

Re: Alan Gross, American jailed in Cuba, wants next birthday to be last in cell

walterlx — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 23:25:47 -0000

Obama traded ten Russian agents caught by Washington for four Russians caught over there within DAYS of the Russians being caught. Why can't Obama trade three Cubans for one US contractor-agent caught violating Cuban law on the island.
The Cubans have said repeatedly they'd like to discuss and negotiate this with Washington, but Washington refuses. That is the only reason Alan Gross is in jail.