Stop the Idiocracy: Cuba

Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2026

The capitalist backlash and the growing appeal of socialism in Trumpistan

A dramatic, Socialist Realist-inspired illustration depicts a tall, powerfully built red-haired woman dressed entirely in glossy black leather, seated rigidly upon a wooden chair with a stern, commanding expression. One gloved arm is thrust straight outward in a forceful gesture while her other arm firmly restrains a much smaller blonde woman across her lap. The blonde wears a rumpled white blouse, a tartan skirt, patterned black tights and black shoes. She twists away in visible distress, her face streaked with tears, mouth open in a cry, one arm flung outward and one leg kicking into the air. Behind them, heavy crimson drapery and a monumental stone statue reinforce the austere, authoritarian atmosphere. Strong directional lighting, rich earth tones and polished painterly realism create a theatrical composition emphasising the stark contrast between dominance and vulnerability.

generated via ChatGPT

Poll suggests that even some Republican voters may be losing faith in capitalism. {CNN 23 July}

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/ar-AA28yb43

Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. American capitalism, at least as it presently exists, is corrupt, bloated, and in dire need of reform and restraint. We could start with regulating the content of these inane television commercials. I digress, however, for the words ‘communism’ and ‘socialism’ still scare the majority of the American people, and not entirely without reason. Communism was and is — look to Cuba and North Korea — a brutal and inhumane system of governance. Leftists can, and will, try to sugarcoat matters all they want, but many of the most notorious dictators of the twentieth century — Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, Ceaușescu — were Marxist-Leninists. Nor is it a coincidence that such ideologies have repeatedly attracted ruthless authoritarians willing to subordinate individual liberty to the demands of the state. Fascism combined authoritarian nationalism with extensive state control and accommodation of powerful private interests, producing one of history's most destructive political systems, the worst of all worlds — and, perhaps, the closest historical relative to what exists in the former United States of America today.

Absurd, pie-in-the-sky ideology requires ruthlessness and suppression of human rights in order to implement and enforce; not entirely unlike forcing an entire empire (#Murica) to revolve around the ego and ambitions of one extremely flawed and pathetically insecure man. Perhaps some Americans believe it could not get any worse by now, but that is rather a moot point as everything is going to get worse still: so long as this buffoon remains president, and so long as everybody, left and right, is flirting with previously failed economic and political ideologies, instead of coming up with practical solutions — within the context of our democratic and free market traditions — on how to fix what is broken. Old-fashioned, reasonable, and measured centrism is the most unfashionable thing in the world right now, but it direly needs to make a comeback: boring and safe is far preferable to constantly teetering on the edge of the cliff, and will always produce greater prosperity and liberty than constant chaos.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, July 6, 2026

Where the grid ends and fate begins

A richly detailed illustration depicts a weary young woman seated on the floor of a dilapidated room during a tropical night. Her dark hair hangs damp against her face and shoulders, while perspiration and tears glisten upon her skin. Dressed in a simple floral slip, she leans against a cracked, peeling wall with an expression of exhaustion, sorrow, and quiet endurance. A single candle burns upon a small table beside her, casting warm golden light across worn furnishings, rough plaster, and a tiled floor. Through an open window, palm trees and low rooftops are silhouetted beneath a star-filled Caribbean sky. Dominating the heavens is the ringed planet Saturn, rendered as a surreal symbolic presence above drifting clouds. The contrast between the candlelit interior and the vast celestial scene beyond creates a mood of loneliness, resilience, and contemplative melancholy amid hardship and uncertainty.

generated via ChatGPT

The entirety of the island nation of Cuba was, again, left without electricity on Monday. {Reuters 6 July}

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-island-wide-power-outage-9.7260307

Look into it, in many areas America is not quite so far ahead of Cuba in infrastructure upkeep, and the ageing grids that power this country are now being expected to take on far more stress with all the data centres opening up everywhere. It varies from region to region, and obviously we are vastly larger than Cuba — but that only means we shall fall harder. In the race to the bottom, we are not as far behind as we would love to believe.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, September 29, 2025

CDC issues Level 2 Cuba travel alert as chikungunya outbreak spreads—an affliction leaving victims bedridden for months.

{Daily Mail 29 September}:

Americans are being advised to practice caution when traveling to a Caribbean island because of an outbreak of a deadly virus.

The CDC has placed a Level 2 travel warning on Cuba after local officials raised the alarm over an outbreak of chikungunya virus, a painful viral infection that can leave victims bedridden for months.

The disease is spread by mosquitoes, with patients suffering a sudden fever and then joint pain in the hands and feet that can be so severe that sufferers are left unable to walk for months. In rare cases, the disease can be fatal.

Officials in Cuba have not revealed how many people are infected, but say that the outbreak is focused in Matanzas province, 60 miles east of Havana. There have been no deaths reported so far.

It is not clear what prompted the CDC advisory, but the alert comes just days after US health officials began investigating a possible locally acquired case of chikungunya on Long Island, New York, the first ever detected in the state.

The infection was detected in a woman who said she had not recently traveled off the island, home to more than eight million people and the celebrity-loved Hamptons.

And amid a surging outbreak of the disease in South America, with health officials at the Pan American Health Organization warning that Brazil, with 210,000 cases, is among the worst affected.

Globally, more than 317,000 cases and 135 deaths involving the virus have been detected this year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which tracks international figures. In 2024, there were 620,000 cases and 213 deaths.

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Monday, October 18, 2021

Are American diplomats and intelligence officials being targeted with a mysterious illness by a foreign adversary?

Bianca Bagnarelli

Falls under the category of conspiracy theory, as nothing has been proven outright; but it’s also entirely plausible and the bio-terrorist threat must be taken seriously. The Russians, in particular, are not above this sort of thing. And that is putting it kindly. Jerusalem Post -

A suspected case of "Havana syndrome" was detected in Colombia last week, the most recent in a series of suspicious attacks that appear to target US diplomatic and intelligence personnel. This latest incident appeared to happen just days before the visit of the US secretary of state. What this means is that these attacks may be targeted and timed – that they are not random and that a powerful adversary of the US is using them systematically.
“US embassy staff in Bogota may have been injured by the mysterious illness, which causes a painful sound in the ears, fatigue and dizziness,” the BBC reports. “First reported in Cuba in 2016, US diplomats around the world have since reported cases of the syndrome. Its origins are unknown, with some speculating it is a type of weapon.”
The Wall Street Journal reported the most recent attack, which included “unexplained health incidents,” according to an email sent by US Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to visit this month.
In August, US officials said “the Vietnam leg of US Vice President Kamala Harris' South Asia trip had to be delayed by a few hours due to reports of two US diplomatic personnel coming down with the mysterious combination of ailments that have come to be known as Havana Syndrome.”
The embassy said that there had been a "possible anomalous health incident in Hanoi," a phrase Washington has used to describe the syndrome. The incidents began in Cuba in 2016 but have also been identified in Germany, Austria, Russia and China, according to reports.
EARLIER THIS year it was reported that the US State Department would gather more information on the health of diplomats after complaints they were not taking this seriously. According to The Independent, “US diplomats who have suffered from the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” tore into Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a recent meeting, arguing that the government hasn’t done enough to help victims and has brushed off their concerns as vague unexplained health incidents (UHIs).”
There is some dispute within the US government and between recent administrations about what is happening. Some 200 diplomats and intelligence members have been affected. Although details are classified, there is a question over whether these are random "incidents" or targeted attacks. According to a New York Times report, more than half the victims of the syndrome are CIA officers. That report on October 1 said there are 100 CIA officer victims. According to another Times report, the CIA even recalled its Vienna station chief over the handling of the incidents. US lawmakers have backed changes to address the syndrome's victims, and the CIA is trying to increase attempts to confront the incidents. (Read more)