General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJust found out we are going to normalize relations with Cuba! Wow!
Been gone all day and what happens when I come back!? Obama makes history. This is awesome, I know there are a LOT of people that have been waiting for this day! This has been a long time coming, I didn't think I would live to see it! Thank you Mr. President for doing something that needed to be done for decades!
Fuck the Red Menace/McCarthy holdouts and haters.
My head is still trying to wrap itself around what just happened. A very historic moment for both American and Cuba!
Mika
(17,751 posts)Lots of rules remain. We're still travel banned by the US gov't. Limited trade. Limited travel. Cuba still on the terra list.
There's a long way to go - and we need congress to do that. Yikes!
babylonsister
(171,057 posts)Finally someone did sumthin'!
Rex
(65,616 posts)This is huge and will impact the lives of millions. Of course there is a long way to go...IT JUST STARTED TODAY!
Just think, normal relations with Cuba! So needed at a time like this imo.
Autumn
(45,064 posts)Long long overdue.
Finally an end to the insane McCarthy era laws against Cuba.
Congress will have to repeal the HelmsBurton Act, but President Obama does have lots of power to make changes
Rex
(65,616 posts)Who has the actual power to normalize relationships with another country? Is it both Congress and the POTUS? We've needed to do this for decades...can we get Congress to go along!?
malaise
(268,957 posts)POTUS has lots of power but the tourist part of it will depend on Congress
Rex
(65,616 posts)Such a horrible person. No doubt he was neck deep in Red fever. Burton is just another crazy teabagger, it is scary that such fanatics write national policy.
calimary
(81,220 posts)He was one of those schmucks who served as a good barometer - if he was against it, it was probably something worth supporting.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)it will be on the bucket list. It was stupid to leave Cold War laws in place with Cuba for so long. Now Obama can help work toward a positive relationship.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Hekate
(90,660 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
whathehell
(29,067 posts)calimary
(81,220 posts)I'm pretty tickled about it myself. COME ON, America. GET OVER IT!!!!
Something else I like about this, too. This is going to put Barack Obama in the history books for yet another positive reason - and a GIANT, and rather courageous step forward.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)The letter from Pope Francis gave us greater impetus and momentum for us to move forward, a white House official said. Cuba was a topic of discussion that got as much attention as anything else the two of them discuss.
Rex
(65,616 posts)I've been amazed by Pope Francis, when he called for an end to greed in the West I nearly fell out of my chair. I think Pope John Paul II is smiling from somewhere at Pope Francis.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)Knowing they were verbotten always made them a little better than the other sticks in my humidor.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Kinda like beer just tastes ordinary after you turn 21.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I do like my Romeo Y Julieta Reserva Reals every once in a while.
But they were something even more special when you had to get them brought over by someone who knew a guy
Rex
(65,616 posts)Nobody told me or my friend to roll the smoke around in our mouth. We thought they were just more powerful cigarettes. I think I puked and cried at the same time - until I could no longer find fluid in my body.
Hekate
(90,660 posts)As I said elsewhere, I feel like I just got a pony I've been waiting for since Nixon went to China.
Thanks, Santa!
Rex
(65,616 posts)an early present under the tree! Never thought I would see it in my lifetime Hekate...I am blown away by the news.
BeyondGeography
(39,370 posts)It was a clever way of painting a little kooky corner for the dead enders who have been holding this issue hostage to Castros death/removal for so many years. Great day for the country.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Rats, would like to go.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Give it time, hopefully the POTUS can build up a coalition in Congress to end the insane Red Menace embargo. We are 3 decades late in normalizing our relationship with Cuba imo.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)...passport but being that there's no Australian or United States consulate, I'm asking for trouble.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)if you are a U.S. citizen and traveling to or from Cuba. I've several friends who have taken advantage of that largesse. I believe Canada will do similar and the Canadian Embassy represents Australians in Cuba.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)roody
(10,849 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)we couldn't leave the naval base. The coastline is absolutely beautiful.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)He came out swinging (after Nov 4th) and landed so many shots to the GOP that they have no clue how to defend themselves...I am loving this!
And if the GOP starts to crybaby nationally, Obama can remind them that he motivated his party (against their wishes) to vote for THEIR omnibill. So either way, the GOP comes off looking like shitty spoiled brats that don't like peace.
And if we had an M$M that actually functioned, everyone would know about it.
Hekate
(90,660 posts)What amazes me is not that the GOPers are whinging, but that we have a coterie of DUers who are. Yikes.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)There is nothing wrong with a country broadening it's horizons. We all benefit from a more diverse culture.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I have been saying this for as long as I can remember. The sanctions against Cuba are/were stupid. We definitely need this good PR.
Rex
(65,616 posts)I needed some good news today and this is it!
TheKentuckian
(25,023 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)All their decades of work for hate, washed down the drain.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Mika
(17,751 posts)Its not as if Cubans in Cuba don't have a say in all of this.
Tonight, they're celebrating the return of the last of The Cuban Five heroes.
Rex
(65,616 posts)For an entire host of good reasons both socially and economically.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Letting cold war policies against Cuba continue on is absolute madness! I just hope he can get some backing from this Congress to do the right thing.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)and wouldn't be announced before there was certainty that it is going to happen. So I think Congress will back it, but probably they'll pretend they are 'fixing' Obama's plan and then take credit for whatever happens in the end.
packman
(16,296 posts)I smoked a Cuban cigar once on a cruise and it was different-smooth, not harsh and mellow. As for the rum and those old cars still in mint condition, well we need that type of culture close by.
TBF
(32,055 posts)but thrilled he is doing it. A long time coming.
And I would LOVE to visit.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Since I was only eight years old, I don't remember much. I think it will be nice to be able to revisit sometime again and legally. It's about time this McCarthy era nonsense ended.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,412 posts)neverforget
(9,436 posts)Great job President Obama!
ancianita
(36,038 posts)historylovr
(1,557 posts)I hope things proceed smoothly.
roody
(10,849 posts)have been released.