One baseball game between the Cuban national baseball team and the Tampa Bay Rays, a gift of a few cigars from Raul to Barrack, and a lone cruise ship pulling into three seaside ports count not one little bit toward improving the lives of the embattled and oppressed Cuban people.   I just returned from Matanzas province where I spent a week with lots of regular people, unencumbered by the watchful eyes and tongues of the ever present civilian militia.   All express sincere hope that improved relations between our two countries will lead to a better life for everyone. But let’s not let our domestic press corps get ahead of reality.  Nothing, nothing will accrue to the Cuban people until three areas are addressed.

First, private property laws need to be cemented to allow foreign investment in capital goods to proceed.  The countryside is littered with abandoned American and Russian factories, all victim of the wonderful world of Communism.  With a central location to the Caribbean and Central/South/North America, and a dedicated, hard-working (but mostly unemployed) labor force, there is every reason why all sorts of goods should  be manufactured in Cuba.  However, the owners of those capital goods and factories must have assurance that their assets are secure from the hungry claws of Raul and Fidel.   On our way out of Havana, a member of our team bought some Havana Club rum to take home to friends.  I might have spoiled his joy when I reminded him that all of the administrative and productive assets of the company were nationalized  (stolen,for those of you from Birdsboro)  from a Spanish family soon after the Revolution in 1959.   It is estimated that the rights to several billion dollars of assets (many American) need to be reconciled before any foreign entity invests a dollar or a euro into Cuba.

Secondly, infrastructure needs are massive.   Roads have received little maintenance in 50 years.  The one-track railroad creeps across the country, now taking  26 hours to traverse the 650 miles from Guantanamo to Pinar Del Rio.   There are more ox and horse driven vehicles than there are motorized vehicles.  Tons of new tourists now descend on a beautiful but overwhelmed  Havana ( usually never venturing  outside  the city), with water, sewer, road and electrical systems dating back to the 1940s.  American tourists in particular are pretty picky when it comes to dependable showers and air conditioning.

None of these issues are solvable under the current repressive government.   When asked the population of Havana, most will say, “one million,  plus one million watching them “.  Political      detainment and  imprisonment is a way of life.    The average household income is below $25 per month, and for goodness sakes, the professional baseball stars suffice on only $50 per month.  We have befriended one of our regular translators who is very proud of his Canadian  energy  company job  paying $40,000 per annum.  After the funds flow through Havana, our friend receives $40 per month, and he is happy about it.   Internet usage is extremely limited.

So let’s give our Emperor some credit for at least “opening the door” for discussion.  But let’s not get all giddy that there might be a McDonalds in Matanzas City anytime soon.    My guess is that another generation will pass before any tangible benefits of improved US/Cuba relations positively impact the Cuban people. WHAT THE HECK !

I’m continually amazed at the venom coming out of the mouth of the presumptive Republican nominee for POTUS.   A friend of mine today pointed out however that the Donald says terrible and dangerous things, while his opponent has consistently done terrible and dangerous things.      Good point !   WHAT THE HECK !

Believe I am sinking to new lows,  and need to get outside more, but today I’m going to quote, and agree with, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame, who yesterday said, ” Men should use the mens’ bathroom and women should use the womens’ bathroom.  Just because a man may “feel” like a woman doesn’t mean he should be able to share a bathroom with my daughter, or yours.  That used to be called common sense.  Now it’s called bigoted.                                 WHAT THE HECK !

Much to my chagrin as an uneducated redneck Bubba climate change denier,  weather patterns around the globe continue to exhibit increasing volatility, and yesterday it rained fish in Nishinomiya, Japan.   As a matter of fact,  fish falling from the sky delayed a professional baseball game between the Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows for several minutes.

One theory holds that the half digested fish were dropped by birds flying overhead, and were intentionally aimed at the Tokyo left fielder, Wladimir Valentin by  disgruntled winged fans.   It has been confirmed that the stinking carcasses were not thrown from the grandstands.   Proglibocrats in our country will no doubt adhere to the theory that carbon emissions from all over Asia are responsible for this eerie phenomena.           WHAT THE HECK !

As readers of this blog can attest, I am confused about many things in today’s world.  The discovery and dissemination of new science is probably at the top of my list.  In olden days (20th century), the very first lesson taught in middle school regarding “the sciences” was the revered scientific method.  The methodology of promulgating new science followed several specific steps to ensure certainty and accuracy. These steps were : 1) ask a question, 2) do extensive background research, 3) construct a hypothesis, 4) test the hypothesis with experimentation, 5)  analyze the data and draw a conclusion, 6) communicate the results.    Generations of scientific breakthroughs in physics and medicine were reached utilizing generally this methodology.   But somewhere between middle school and today, a revised scientific method has supplanted the old, resulting in conclusions that are politically and socially driven, and  that we all debate ad nauseum within  a vacuum of facts.

The new scientific method goes something like this : 1) construct a desired hypothesis, 2) communicate and popularize the desired results, 3) entice and incorporate the relevant scientific community with the promise of financial grants and the threat of professional exclusion, 4) suppress opposing views, 5) ignore steps #2 and #4 of the old method completely.

A few examples should illustrate my point.   First, consider for a moment what appears in today’s ELHI textbooks regarding the origin of life and its evolution.  This is a long and complicated topic, but suffice it to say that I do not have near  enough faith to believe the major tenets of natural selection and evolution.  To break the ice with an evolutionist, start by asking why there is something rather than nothing.  What presents itself as science begins with the hypothesis that there is no God, then moves on to concocting the next most plausible theory.   Secondly, consider the “science” behind today’s current new religion of climate change.   Formulated by politicians, backed by academicians benefitting from vast research dollars, and lacking the key components of research and experimentation contained in the “old” scientific method, the far-off predictions of the climate change religion serve as the basis for massive wealth re-distribution,  increased central government control, and a return to a pre-industrial way of life around the globe.   So how often does your local meteorologist get his/her weather prediction correct for the upcoming weekend ?   And  in the weird world of climate change, now we are moving into phase #4 of the new scientific method  —  suppress opposing views.   The attorneys general of several states, plus the attorney general of the USA (Loretta Lynch)  are today  considering the civil prosecution of so-called climate change deniers. Hans von Spakovsky of the Daily Signal suggests, “not only does this represent a serious blow against the free flow of ideas and vigorous debate over scientific issues that is a  hallmark of an advanced technological society like ours, but a fundamental violation of the First Amendment.     Yes folks, this is for real !

I could detail the eighteen year debate regarding linkage between certain youth vaccines and the frequency of autism, but I’m running out of space. That particular theory, put forth by British researcher and financially conflicted Andrew Wakefield in 1998, following of course the precepts of the “new” scientific method, has finally after 18 years been totally de-bunked. in what has been called “perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years.”    Maybe there is hope .                   WHAT THE HECK

Each election cycle, different groups of people become so indignant about a particular candidate that they threaten publicly to leave the country if that individual is  elected.  And this cycle is especially rich, some six months before the actual results are even counted.  The following folks profess to depart if Donald Trump becomes our leader  —  Whoopi Goldberg, Al Sharpton, Samuel L. Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Cher, George Lopez, Spike Lee,  Raven Symone, Jon Stewart, Rosie O’Donnell.

I say let the election season be extended an extra six months so more of these idiots board the bus to Manitoba or Juarez.  And here’s my list of a few more who I hope join the exit queue  —   Nancy Pelosi, George Clooney, anyone with the last name Kardashian, Paul Krugman, Al Gore, Carol Moseley Braun, Quentin Tarantino, Jerry Brown, Jesse Jackson, Steven Colbert.

Time is on my side !   WHAT THE HECK

My Dad was a tirebuilder, and proud member of the United Rubber Workers of America for 30 years.  Every three years, prompted by their union bosses, their minions were coerced into going on strike for more wages and benefits. Every three years, he would drag me down to union HQ in Pottstown, PA for his assigned midnight to 3  A.M. Saturday night picketing shift.   Somewhere in my teens, they walked out and stayed out for thirteen straight weeks.  In the end, they all got an additional dime an hour, which in my best smartypants teen attitude, I pointed out that it would take about four years to recover the thirteen weeks of lost income.   My dad was not very pleased with me or with my pithy and observant  analysis.

So, last week, 40,000 phoners from Verizon in the Northeast USA walked out of their jobs, prompted  by their overpaid and politically liberal union bosses.   Somehow dissatisfied with their average $68,000 average salaries, these morons now march the streets of Baltimore and Philly and Boston begging for the public’s sympathies. But golly, look what has happened .   The company’s management ranks, aka “the scabs” have been filling in quite nicely with only modest service and repair and customer service disruption.  Even more than I hope and pray that the Phillies lose every baseball game, and that Notre Dame loses every football game until I go to heaven,  my life would be nearly complete if these greedy union dudes would permanently lose their jobs in favor of replacements who would be thrilled to  be hired to such cushy jobs.  Sorry for the Schadenfreude, but I really hated watching my dad picket, and really wish the unions would disappear.                                WHAT THE HECK

Postlude or postmortem or whatever……… my Dad’s tire factory finally closed and moved to non-union Mississippi in 1985 to escape the cumbersome work rules and constant wage/benefit pressure of the URW.   The cost to the community was 3,000 jobs.

With this post, I am likely to lose some readers.   Too bad.  I have reached my own personal threshhold of pain with regard to the so-called rights of the LBGTQ community.    In particular, I’m stunned at the corporate and entertainment and press backlash to some common sense laws proposed and put into place in several states in the Bible Belt.     I’m a firm believer that the term “Bible Belt” should be a term of admiration and not one of derision.   How many people really care that a few thousand transgender people be given the option to use whatever restroom they choose ?   Compare the feelings hurt against the tens of millions of Moms that will inevitably be  forced to take their 8 and 10 year old daughters into  restrooms alongside some confused dude.                         WHAT THE HECK !

What happened to my beloved USA ?   On Saturday, 70% of the Proglibocrats in three Western states voted willingly for an avowed Socialist (Bernie), a man blatantly offering goodies to those lazy citizens (many of them privileged college students) with their hands out.    I can only hope and pray that the ecru and fuscia colored pantsuits of his opponent are sufficiently repugnant to otherwise ignorant Proglibocrats to cause them to walk down the Socialist candy lane.  Enough said.    WHAT THE HECK !

Just finished watching the new season of House of Cards on Netflix, and wow, it’s certainly becoming a reality show, accurately portraying the present state of affairs in Washington, D.C.     The show, now in its fifth season, plots the political careers of Democrats (not that it matters) Francis Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, and his lovely and ambitious wife, Claire (Robin Wright).     Shadowy and slimy to the core, the  Underwoods climb the political ladder while breaking multiple laws, breaking others’ careers, and even slipping in two murders and a pair of induced suicides.   Despite blatant evidence against him, Francis always manages to blackmail the storyline’s key political players and maintain razor-thin alibis and cover-ups.

Shift to today’s Washington D.C., where the presumptive Proglibocrat candidate for POTUS, Hillary Clinton, dances and dodges her way around assorted schemes, malfeasance, and scandals.  We all know the content.   What is striking is that absolutely nothing happens in terms of holding her accountable despite absolutely overwhelming evidence of felonius wrongdoing. With 150 agents actively pursuing the email scandal, one in which elementary schoolchildren could reach an educated conclusion in five minutes, nothing happens.   No indictments.  No special prosecutors. I wonder what they all have on FBI Director, James Comey.   Hillary is clearly Francis Underwood in a large pantsuit.       J. Edgar Hoover would roll over in his grave !        WHAT THE HECK !