Trump Lackeys Offer Cuba the Venezuela Treatment – The Friday AM Quickie 5/15/26
"Despite what you might hear in the media, America is not in decline," says Pete Hegseth in a new ad for the regime's proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget. Indeed. Would a nation in decline put an alcoholic former weekend morning show host in charge of its largest government department? I'm off, Whitney's back Monday. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
CIA Chief Makes Cuba an Offer They Can't Refuse
Cuba is in dire straits thanks to the Trump regime's cruel energy blockade. The national energy grid endured its latest failure yesterday, cutting off power to the country's east and prompting ongoing blackouts in the capital, Havana. The AP reports:
"On Wednesday evening, Associated Press journalists saw residents in numerous neighborhoods banging pots and pans and setting fire to trash cans to protest the blackouts. Hours later, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy appeared on Cuban television to describe the energy situation as 'critical.'"
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, meanwhile, said his country "would accept humanitarian aid from the United States if it is delivered in accordance with internationally recognised practices" – but, he added, "the harm could be alleviated in a much easier and more expeditious manner through the lifting or easing of the blockade, given that the humanitarian situation is known to be coldly calculated and deliberately induced."
This is the fraught context in which CIA director John Ratcliffe flew to Cuba yesterday. His mission, the New York Times reports, was to "deliver a warning" from Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to overthrow the communist government. Among others, Ratcliffe met with Raúl Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of former president Raúl Castro, whom the US is not coincidentally planning to indict on yet-to-be-determined charges. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump regime's goal is regime change on the Island. That much was already obvious.
"The director of the CIA turns up unannounced. One assumes not for a history lesson and a cigar," one anonymous diplomat tells the Washington Post. "There is a general sense here that Díaz-Canel cannot stick around much longer." As for Trump, he has twice this week "expressed interest in turning Venezuela into his country's 51st state." But no one is pretending that Latin Americans under the thumb of the US empire will have basic rights, such as a vote.
Democrats are calling for an end to Trump's blockade, the long-overdue closure of the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp – and a stop to any plans to make war on the island.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Wider War Watch: US Commander Denies Reports of 1,700 Civilian Casualties in Iran
- Pentagon Cancels Big Troop Deployment to Poland The abrupt decision "sent fresh waves of anxiety through European capitals and inside the Pentagon on Thursday about whether such moves could embolden Russia — and which ally might turn into the next target." via the Washington Post and Politico.
- Stray Ukrainian Drones Cause Latvian Government to Collapse Ukraine claims the drone overflights in Latvia, which prompted the resignation of center-right Prime Minister Evika Silina, were "the result of Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia." via the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and the Guardian.
- Far-Right Israeli Jews March Through Jerusalem Chanting 'Gaza Is a Graveyard' Some 200 Standing Together peace activists, "wearing purple vests, attempted to stand between the far-right Jewish marchers and Palestinians, but were often attacked themselves." via the Guardian, Al Jazeera, and the Los Angeles Times.
- Three House Republicans Vote with Democrats on Latest Iran War Powers Resolution "Trump's war with Iran has cost thousands of lives and spiked the price of everything from gas to groceries," says Texas Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas. "We will keep holding Republicans in Congress accountable for as long as they enable this reckless, illegal war." via Politico and the New York Times.
Supreme Court OKs Mail-Order Abortion Pills
Right-wing Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito dissented to the Supreme Court majority's decision yesterday permitting the prescription and delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone by mail. "Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States are now carried out with abortion pills, and about one-quarter involve telehealth," the New York Times reports. The conservative Justices who sided with the majority may have been aiming to help Republicans in the November midterm elections by defusing the abortion issue somewhat. Two-thirds of Americans in a recent poll opposed a nationwide ban on mifepristone, the Associated Press reports. Advocates welcomed yesterday's ruling but note it doesn't go nearly far enough to protect human rights.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Trump Says Xi 'Elegantly' Called US a 'Declining Nation,' But Was Referring Only to Biden As the US-China summit wrapped up, Iran let Chinese vessels pass the Strait of Hormuz "following diplomatic overtures from China's government." via the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
- Long-Serving Border Patrol Boss Resigns After Reports He Hired Sex Workers Abroad Meanwhile, ICE is moving forward with its plan to turn warehouses across the country into concentration camps, "despite mounting legal challenges and a government watchdog probe into the agency's purchases of the buildings." via HuffPost and the Washington Post.
- Democrats Vow to Fight Back as Southern Republicans Rush to Gerrymander Black Voting Power Out of Existence "'We will beat the far-right extremists,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday. 'We're going to win in November, and then we're going to crush their souls as it relates to the extremism that they are trying to unleash on the American people.'" via the Guardian, the Washington Post, and Politico.
- University of California AFSCME Members Declare Victory After Strike Threat Wins Them Last-Minute Deal Meanwhile in Massachusetts, Harvard Graduate Students Union members rallied outside of the university president's private residence in the third week of their strike. via the San Francisco Chronicle, the Daily Bruin, and the Harvard Crimson.
SOME NUMBER
$100 million
That's the size of the Republican cash advantage over Democrats in party committee accounts heading in to the midterm elections, the Washington Post reports. Ken Martin's Democratic National Committee "is responsible for all the debt and much of the gap, with just $14 million in the bank," the Post says. One Democratic operative calls the cash disparity "terrifying."
ON THE SHOW TODAY
5/15: Sam will be hosting solo. The guest will be Ryan Grim, co-host of Breaking Points and co-founder of Drop Site News.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Truly One of the Minds of All Time
Nick Shirley weighs in on the Cuba situation.
China Just Won the Energy War
Trump is on the verge of Chinamaxxing.
PARTING WORDS
"It's like having a bachelor party at a church."
-- US Marine Corps veteran Hack Albertson, denouncing FBI Director "Kooky" Kash Patel's secret summer snorkeling trip to the wreck of the USS Arizona off the coast of Hawaii. The Arizona was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, and more than 900 sailors and Marines are entombed in the wreck. Snorkeling and diving are banned there – for most people. Patel's lackeys claim his Hawaii trip "was part of the Director's public national security engagements," the Associated Press reports.
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