Communism Seemed Like A Good Idea To Fidel Castro Right Up Until He Was Rushed To The Hospital In A ’55 Oldsmobile

Let me say up front that I can’t wait until this guy’s term is finally over.  For the next three days our televisions and newspapers are going to be flooded with “Oh look, Obama did this and Obama did that” as he takes along with him on his “historic visit” to Cuba 20 members of Congress, four Cabinet members, prominent Cuban-Americans, a vast array of security personnel, business leaders sniffing for business tidbits, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, the entire Obama family and a gaggle of press.  It will be an impressively annoying circus.

Reuters News Service did a little advance work to inform its readers the mansion where the First Family will spend its nights has survived war and revolution and was “built to impress” using the finest materials and craftsmanship of the time.  According to lore, it was built as a winter White House for Obama’s idol FDR.  The highest ranking official to previously stay there was VP Richard Nixon.

Plainclothes police have blanketed Havana with security while public works crews have busily laid down asphalt in a city where drivers joke they must navigate "potholes with streets" and welcome signs emblazoned with images of Castro and the president have popped up everywhere. 

On their first evening in the communist utopia, the First Family will be carted around Old Havana for some carefully coordinated sight-seeing.  Monday the president will lay a wreath at the memorial dedicated to Jose Marti, the so-called “Apostle of the Cuban Revolution”, meet with Fidel’s brother Raul, participate in an “entrepreneurship summit” and conclude his day with a State Dinner at the Palace of the Revolution.

The following day, Ol’ Jug Ears will address the Cuban people, meet with dissidents and “civil society leaders” and enjoy a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Team.

NOTE:  The Los Angeles Times reports “authorities there are ordering dissidents invited to meet with the American leader to stay home instead.”  Elizardo Sanchez, a Cuban anti-government activist, said he and most of those invited planned to defy the government order noting that US officials were offering to help the activists get to the meeting with Obama.

Later in the afternoon, the errand boy sent by grocery clerks will depart for Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It is important to point out the son of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Camilo, views Obama’s arrival in the Cold War capital of Cuba as a threat to his father’s legacy as Fidel Castro’s chief executioner and commander of Latin American death squads.

The propaganda machines will furiously spin to dispel the notion that Cuba’s national anthem isn’t “Row, row, row your boat.”

Our liberal friends are notoriously naive.

#CubaVisit "The change is not for the people, it's for government officials and their children," a Cuban man said re: #Obama visit.

— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) March 20, 2016

The first time ill-advised politicians attempted normalization w/Cuba, we ended up w/the Mariel Boatlift Crisis 1980 #tcot #CubaVisit @POTUS

— Savannah Maddox (@SavannahL817) March 7, 2016

Sponsor List, But Emails Show He & Hillary Knew Hezbollah Was There: https://t.co/917GabB9mj #CubaVisit@pspoole: BREAKING: Ohio (11/136)

— A Christian/Patriot (@disciple78) February 21, 2016

RT @jaketapper: Journalists traveling to Cuba -- see if you can grab an interview with Joanne Chesimard https://t.co/mxilppbPNH

— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 19, 2016

Castro government announces that nuns will be moved to Santiago for their daily beatings, in deference to Obama and the western press.

— Popehat (@Popehat) March 20, 2016

How Many Kopeks In A Ruble, Ed?

Insufferable airhorn Ed Schultz, formerly of MSNBC, has landed a peach of a job with Russia Today as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin-backed television organization.

Of his new job Schultz said, "I am very happy to cooperate with RT. This television organization has firmly outlined its position in American media, representing the interests of different corporations.  RT is not afraid to acquaint the audience with an alternative point of view, new voices and fresh story, even if it is not to the liking of some members of the mainstream.  The news channel that talks with such persistence to the problems of ordinary Americans is perfectly suited for my program. "

"For the launch of the TV channel RT America, we knew that the only way to conquer the American audience was to be different, to cover stories that ignore the mainstream.  And this approach is fully justified,” said chief editor of RT Margarita Simonyan.  “That is why stars of American journalism like Ed Schultz join the team RT.”

How hard can it be to become a Russian bullshit artist after spending all those years being a liberal apologist?  Just don’t eff up Eddie.  I hear Siberia can be a little chilly.

The Press and Other Forms of Propaganda

When I picked out today's Quote du jour:

One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.

from Douglas MacArthur, I don't recall if I noticed just how biting the last part of that quote was: "the press and other forms of propaganda".

Earlier in the week, in a conversation with a commenter, I brought up the instance of Dan Rather's infamous presidential interviews of 1988, Of George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

First, Fake but Accurate Rather interviewed Gov. Mike Dukakis. Dan tossed him a softball with an extremely open ended question, "Tell us about the Massachusetts Miracle", which was essentially an invitation for Dukakis to give a stump speech. (Poor Mike, in the dustbin of history, doesn't even rate a spot in my current computer's Spell Check.)

The next evening when Rather interviewed Bush, it started with an ambush about Iran/Contra, along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?"

This particular ploy backfired when Rather's gotcha moment got George H. W.'s Irish up and Bush stood up to Rather's bullying tactics and scored points among the American people, whose views about journalists were bad, but could not then have predicted their 21st. Century lows.

Looking at the news as "propaganda", let's take a look at some of the other techniques they have used over the years. (This will by no means be exhaustive, just some of those things I have personally witnessed.)

One technique favored by our friends at CBS, was to let no good news stand alone. I recall one December, I believe it was 1997. The unemployment news was good:

The unemployment rate in the United States in 1997 was the lowest in 24 years

In December of '97, the unemployment rate was 4.9%, and that was a time before all the contortions modern presidents (*cough* Obama *cough*) go through to hide unemployment. "a record 64.1 percent of the population held jobs at the end of the year"..."U.S. businesses created 370,000 jobs" that December. Obama would kill for numbers like that!

So how was this good news handled during a Republican administration? Dan Rather would look into the camera and read the statistics in a rather (pun intended) flat monotone. And then, Dan would perk up. He had a story to tell, complete with videotape. After giving the American public the best possible news about unemployment, Dan would say something like, but things aren't so rosy for Joe Slobotnik of Bethlehem, PA. Joe's been out of work for two months and it doesn't look like there are going to be any presents under the tree for Joe's family this Christmas. (Cut to video of Joe's waif like sad eyed munchkins)

Follow the good news, "jobless rate at 24 year low", with a tear jerking, emotional piece to leave people emotionally spent, with the impression that wow, things ust not be all that great!

A similar technique was used in promoting or opposing any particular piece of legislation favored by dishonest, Left leaning MSM journalists (but I repeat myself!). As I recall, any news regarding legislation before Congress had both sides presented. The conservative or Republican position was represented by a statement, read by the news anchor, in his most professional, dispassionate fashion. The Democrat/ liberal side of the news was invariably presented by more than one proponent/opponent, who was shown on tape, giving their most impassioned arguments.

Technically, you got both sides, but practically, the most persuasive arguments were from those selected to have their arguments presented in the first person. And they were invariably liberals.

Last but not least, is a technique I first noticed in the print media. I'd see a story about some politician, and I would marvel at how they managed to find such an unflattering photo. At first, I dismissed it as "news photos, shot on the fly" rather than posed, but there were just so many of them...people caught with their eyes closed, mouths open, funny expressions on their faces, but what's the saying? Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, it's enemy action. It was happening far too often to be coincidence or happenstance. There was a guiding hand behind the selection of the pictures used.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have adopted this rule of thumb for my own Photoshops. I may need to use a photo of someone, but I am by no means obligated to use the most flattering picture I can find. Liberals, you have sown to the wind, you shall reap the whirlwind.

I have taken journalism classes from the crusading editor and publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Bruce Brugmann, and, although I have not seen it used there, I wouldn't be surprised if Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was required reading for advanced studies.

Benghazi Deathtrap: Back-Up Was Never Coming

We heard all last week that CBS was planning on airing a segment on “60 Minutes” about the al-Qaeda assault on the consulate in Benghazi in which four Americans were murdered after being abandoned by the United States government. 

Figuring it would be the usual fare of propaganda and cover-up that is the hallmark of CBS and the rest of the central planning stenographers; I made a decision to DVR it and watch the Green Bay Packers play the Minnesota Vikings instead.

We know that The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer watched the assault from the White House in real time.

The attack began at 9:40 PM (3:40PM Washington time) and ended around 4:00AM (10:00PM Washington time).  This was in the middle of the business day and everybody was watching in the White House, CIA, State Department and the Pentagon.

The Liar-in-Chief was one of those in the Situation Room watching.  He was front and center in this travesty.

In the open for the segment Lara Logan said,

“When Chris Stevens was killed in Benghazi, Libya, on the anniversary of September 11th last year, it was only the sixth time that the United States had lost an ambassador to its enemies. The events of that night have been overshadowed by misinformation, confusion and intense partisanship. But for those who lived through it, there's nothing confusing about what happened, and they share a sense of profound frustration because they say they saw it coming.”

Notice that Logan’s narrative omits the names of Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama.

Logan rejoins to her producer, Max McClellan that this highly charged story has political implications and she was concerned about the “extraordinary amount of pressure” being placed on “people involved not to talk.”

“In this story, you had to work really hard to find the facts and not be seduced by anybody. So, we left about 98 percent of what we learned on the floor—didn't even report it—because unless we could substantiate it with primary sources that we truly trusted and whose motivations we trusted, then we didn't even go there.”

The administration cracked down hard on leakers.  No one wanted to put anything in writing.  Everybody was terrified to talk about the filthy lies told over and over again by the White House and Hillary Clinton.  Everybody, that is, except Andy Woods and Deputy Chief of Mission in Libya, Gregory Hicks.

When four Americans were killed in a flash of hatred and barbarism in Benghazi 388 days ago the political finger-pointing began.  Few knew exactly what happened that night.

This president and his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, do know.  They have covered up and obfuscated the truth.

The guard who spoke with CBS noted that Al Qaeda tried to kill a British ambassador in Benghazi three months before the attack on the anniversary of 9/11. He added that the terror group said online that it would attack the Red Cross, the British, and then the Americans in Benghazi.

From September 12, 2012 until today this administration has attempted to fend of criticism that “someone” gave the order to stand down.

Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour.  Commandos could have arrived within three hours according to former Marine Corps officer and Reagan Administration senior Pentagon officer Francis “Bing” West.  No forces were dispatched from Sigonella.

The noose is tightening.  The herd of possible culprits is thinning. 

What difference, at this point, does it make?