Fidel Castro has been the longest serving head of state in the world. This despite a concerted effort by the CIA and the United States Government to overthrow him or even assassinate him by what ever means available.
Fidel Castro was born on farm in Cuba on August 13, 1926. Fidel was born out of wedlock and his father, Angel Castro, did not officially claim him as his son. While growing up he went by the name of Fidel Ruz. Later, his father would marry his mother and Fidel would change his last name to Castro.
Castro attended Jesuit boarding schools. Fidel was smart, but wasn't a great student. He did excel in sports, however, especially baseball.
In 1945 Fidel Castro entered law school at the University of Havana. At University he became involved in politics and protesting against the current government. He thought the government was corrupt and there was too much involvement from the United States.
In 1952 Fidel Castro ran for a seat at Cuba's House of Representatives. However, that year General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the existing government and canceled the elections. Castro began to organize a revolution. Fidel and his brother, Raul, tried to take over the government, but were captured and sent to prison. He was released two years later.
Fidel Castro did not give up, however. He went to Mexico and planned his next revolution. There he met Che Guevara who would become an important leader in his revolution. Castro and Guevara returned with a small army to Cuba on December 2, 1956. They were quickly defeated again by Batista's army. However, this time Castro, Guevara, and Raul escaped into the hills. They began a guerrilla war against Batista. Over time they gathered many supporters and eventually overthrew Batista's government on January 1, 1959. In July of 1959 Castro took over as leader of Cuba. He would rule for nearly 50 years.
The 90-mile corridor between Key West and the north coast of Cuba is far wider, deeper and considerably more dangerous when you factor in everything that's happened between the two countries during the last 57 years. Former ABA President Stephen Zack (with a flag from pre-revolutionary Cuba in his office) escaped from the island as a teenager two years after Fidel Castro seized power.
When Fidel Castro and his band of revolutionaries took control of Cuba in 1959, they established a Communist dictatorship antithetical to everything the U.S. represented—and aligned with America’s enemies. In 1961, a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro regime failed, almost from the moment it began, at the Bay of Pigs. The following year, the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly triggered World War III.
Former ABA President Stephen Zack had long expected the day would come when Cuba and the United States would finally break the Cold War-inspired status quo in place for more than half a century that has impoverished and isolated Cuba while creating a sworn enemy of America within 90 miles of its border. But like Godot saying he would be back any day now, Zack had expected a change for so long that he stopped expecting it.
The two countries haven’t had diplomatic relations since the Eisenhower administration, and a near-total embargo on American imports from and exports to Cuba has been in place since the early days of John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of State officially designated Cuba as a "state sponsor of terrorism" in 1982 for its history of supporting violent revolutionaries throughout the world. The designation functioned as a scarlet letter of sorts, as U.S. banks refused to lend money to domestic and foreign companies wishing to do business with countries on that list. Indeed, for most of the world, Cuba was forbidden territory.
Then, suddenly, it happened. On Dec. 17, 2014, President Barack Obama surprised Zack and many, many others when he announced he would pursue normalization of relations with Cuba. What began as negotiations for a swap of long-imprisoned intelligence officers in both countries became a wide-ranging agreement that finally closes the curtain on nearly 60 years of hostility.
US authorities have refused to let five Cuban Grammy Awards nominees travel to Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.
Musicians up for best tropical Latin album award - including veteran star Ibrahim Ferrer - have not got visas.
Ferrer, 77, told press in the capital Havana: "I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician."
A US diplomat in Havana said the US administration could suspend the entry of people deemed to be "detrimental to the interest of the United States".
The US has imposed economic and travel sanctions on Cuba for 40 years - and President Bush has strengthened the country's policy against Cuba and cut back on cultural exchanges.
Cuban vice-Culture Minister Abel Acosta accused the US of making a political decision to please Cuban-American voters in Florida.
"How can these musicians be considered terrorists?" asked Mr Acosta, who is also head of the Cuban Music Institute.
"Something as noble as music is being converted into a policy against Cuba." Read more
Longtime ABA Journal freelancer Tom Salyer has been taking photographs for our 101-year-old publication for roughly 25 years. If you enjoyed this month’s Cuba cover story, you have him to thank for the portraiture of seven of the attorneys quoted, including a compelling shot of former ABA president and Cuban-American Stephen Zack posed in his Miami office with his framed, prerevolutionary Cuban flag. This particular assignment, accompanied by the timing of the easement of the trade embargo, brought to light a unique recollection of Salyer’s brief brush with notoriety—an actual meet-and-greet with Fidel Castro.
As a young man, Salyer was a United Press International staff photographer. And in January of 1984, UPI had a nearly three-hour private interview with Castro in Havana.
"I found Fidel to be charismatic and thoroughly versed in world affairs," Salyer said. Read more
A Sustainable Cuba By Anel Quiroz, a student in
UAA’s Honors 192 course
on Limits to Growth
A small island in the Caribbean that people usually associate with an evil dictator is one of the most sustainable countries in the world. This little island is the island of Cuba where the people might not have it all, and they may dislike their ruler but they have a healthier environment than most third world countries or first world countries. The island of Cuba has achieved a goal that most successful countries are too developed to reach in a lifetime. Cuba has learned how to sustain its people to succeed even if that success is slow. Cuba is a role model for all underdeveloped and developed countries to follow.
As a young child I lived in Mexico, a country where most of the people don’t have riches and where people mostly live off the land. In the state of Veracruz, where my family is from, the people flourished by growing their own basic crops and other plants such as tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, fruits as well as other needed plants for a daily meal. I remember that we bought the rest of needed crops in the markets where the best fresh fruits and vegetables were available. Aside from growing their crops in small home gardens, some people are lucky and own small plots of land that they use not for building great expensive houses but for growing crops. One such person is my grandfather, Guillermo, who to this day in his old age grows coffee plants and sugar canes as well as oranges or limes and sometimes mangoes. He does not grow these crops for a source of food; he grows them to sell to the state which sends the food off to a distant land where the crops are sold for much more than what the worker is paid. Although I live far from my home state of Veracruz and I am now accustomed to the American ways of living. I still try to remember that there is a simpler much more sustainable way of life, where people grow their own fresh food and where life is much simpler.
Another Latin American country where people live a simple yet happy life is Cuba. This small island was once on its way to a success then it was stopped in its tracks when the Soviet Union, its ally, crumbled to the ground. Cuba no longer had any help; the oil embargo isolated it from rich countries. According to Peters (2010), "prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s agricultural system was largely monocultural, highly mechanized, and dependent upon petrochemicals, oil, and machinery, similar to the present U.S. agricultural system" (p.231). Without the Soviet Union, Cuba was all alone and no longer prospering like it once had, since it no longer had its hands on oil to produce products for the people to thrive. The people feared and suffered while food and basic resources ran scarce making the government take action towards helping its people. Most importantly the people started helping themselves to live beyond the stage of crisis. The problems Cubans faced had to do with food, energy, transportation and the economy to name a few. This problem that had just started with a loss all soon developed into a problem with peak oil. The time in which this crisis occurred was called the special period.
The way that the Cuban people began to get out of this crisis was by starting to farm their own food on any available land that was capable of growing crops. They did this to eat enough calories in their diets so that people would stop losing weight and so that people would find a way to help others who had no food at all. The people saw that if they did not start acting that they would soon die off from starvation or from other sanitation problems from the lack of proper electricity. According to Peters (2010), "independent of government action, Havañeros spontaneously began to plant food crops in the yards, patios, balconies, rooftops and vacant land sites near their homes"(p. 232). By planting food in whatever small area of land they could find it is obvious that the people were extremely desperate for food. This also shows that they were in no means ready for a crisis as such. With the history of political problems that Cuba has faced in the past, the people were only ready for political protests or other type of government related problems not unexpected food shortages. "In agriculture, organic fertilisers and pesticides, crop-rotation techniques and organic urban gardens were developed. Tractors were replaced with human and animal labour" (Yaffe, 2010, par. 13). All that the Cuban people needed was a kick-start to use things that they made within their country instead of using much more expensive things from others. Read more
The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to deliver the documents. The Court, with John Marshall
as Chief Justice, found firstly that Madison's refusal to deliver the
commission was both illegal and correctible. Nonetheless, the Court
stopped short of ordering Madison (by writ of mandamus) to hand over Marbury's commission, instead holding that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789
that enabled Marbury to bring his claim to the Supreme Court was itself
unconstitutional, since it purported to extend the Court's original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III established. The petition was therefore denied. Read more
To govern in a democracy, political leaders have to compromise. When they do not, the result is political paralysis--dramatically demonstrated by the gridlock in Congress in recent years. In The Spirit of Compromise, eminent political thinkers Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson show why compromise is so important, what stands in the way of achieving it, and how citizens can make defensible compromises more likely. They urge politicians to focus less on campaigning and more on governing. In a new preface, the authors reflect on the state of compromise in Congress since the book's initial publication.
Calling for greater cooperation in contemporary politics, The Spirit of Compromise will interest everyone who cares about making government work better for the good of all. Read more
Earlier this month I Petitioned The Florida Supreme Court For Writ Of Mandamus And Constitutional Challenge in the 2016 Presidential Election, where I was also a write-in candidate.
My petition challenged the constitutionality of lawyers (judicial branch) running for president. (executive branch). Under our U.S. Constitution, the three branches are supposed to be separate: Legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. The Florida Constitution also has separation of powers. All state constitutions do, as far as I know.
I also challenged the constitutionality of political parties, which are not in the constitution. George Washington was not in a political party, and he advised against them.
Evidence in the JamPAC lawsuit suggests the Democratic Party primary was rigged against Bernie Sanders.
Finally, I challenged ballot access laws that make it almost impossible to run as a write-in candidate. Beyond that, it is virtually impossible to become president unless you are the candidate for the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party.
The Florida Supreme Court put all the documents online, except one, the Order of Dismissal.
The Florida Supreme Court Ordered the Petition and Challenge transferred to the Leon County Circuit Court, where it was dismissed. Neither Order makes sense to me. And I do not understand why my desktop link to the case showed Court Order(s) missing from the docket. Even now the Order of Dismissal is not on the Supreme Court docket.
I was not happy with the 2016 election, or the candidates. We can do better. That is one reason I decided to run. I plan to make additional posts on the Petition and Constitutional Challenge. Thank you.
Petition No. SC16-2031 challenged the constitutionality of lawyers (judicial branch) running for president. (executive branch). Under Separation of Powers, there are three branches of government: Legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch.
Petition No. SC16-2031 challenged the constitutionality of political parties, which are not in the constitution. George Washington was not in a political party, and he advised against them. Evidence in the JamPAC lawsuit suggests the Democratic Party primary was rigged against Bernie Sanders.
Petition No. SC16-2031 challenged ballot access laws that make it almost impossible to run as a write-in candidate, and virtually impossible to become president unless you are the candidate for the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party.
VIA UPS No: 1Z64589FNW90883932UPS Next Day Air Saver
March 9, 2016
Sean McKessy, Chief SEC Office of the Whistleblower Mail Stop 5553
100 F Street NE Mail Stop 5628
Washington, DC 20549 Phone: (202) 551-4790
https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower Fax: (703) 813-9322
Enclosed is a paper Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Whistleblower Complaint I made yesterday, March 8, 2016, online to whistleblower@cfpb.gov, and acknowledgment.
This complaint concerns two Florida lawyers, Pam Bondi and Mark Hamilton, and Florida’s
$1 billion share of a Bank of America (BofA) settlement announced August 21, 2014 with the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Hamilton, and Ms. Bondi’s office, denied Florida was part of the BofA settlement in response to my public records request. Later I later found a letter dated August 21, 2014 from Jana Litsey, BofA’s Deputy General Counsel, addressed to "Pamela J. Bondi, Esq." Florida State Attorney General, confirming details of the Bank of America settlement:
"Of the $7 billion consumer relief package, we expect just in excess of $1 billion to be effected within the state - in other words, one seventh of the entire package - benefiting almost 17,000 Florida consumers."
Emails detail interactions between the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida and a law firm trying to sway her. Credit Alex Wong/Getty Images
When the executives who distribute 5-Hour Energy, the popular caffeinated drinks, learned that attorneys general in more than 30 states were investigating allegations of deceptive advertising — a serious financial threat to the company — they moved quickly to shut the investigations down, one state at a time.
But success did not come in court or at a negotiating table.
Instead, it came at the opulent Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in California, with its panoramic ocean views, where more than a dozen state attorneys general had gathered last year for cocktails, dinners and fund-raisers organized by the Democratic Attorneys General Association. A lawyer for 5-Hour Energy roamed the event, setting her sights on Attorney General Chris Koster of Missouri, whose office was one of those investigating the company.
"My client just received notification that Missouri is on this," the lawyer, Lori Kalani, told him.
Ms. Kalani’s firm, Dickstein Shapiro, had courted the attorney general at dinners and conferences and with thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Mr. Koster told Ms. Kalani that he was unaware of the investigation, and he reached for his phone and called his office. By the end of the weekend, he had ordered his staff to pull out of the inquiry, a clear victory for 5-Hour Energy.
The
quick reversal, confirmed by Mr. Koster and Ms. Kalani, was part of a
pattern of successful lobbying of Mr. Koster by the law firm on behalf
of clients like Pfizer and AT&T — and evidence of a largely hidden
dynamic at work in state attorneys general offices across the country.
Attorneys
general are now the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and
lawyers who use campaign contributions, personal appeals at lavish
corporate-sponsored conferences and other means to push them to drop
investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or
pressure federal regulators, an investigation by The New York Times has
found.
A
robust industry of lobbyists and lawyers has blossomed as attorneys
general have joined to conduct multistate investigations and pushed into
areas as diverse as securities fraud and Internet crimes.
But
unlike the lobbying rules covering other elected officials, there are
few revolving-door restrictions or disclosure requirements governing
state attorneys general, who serve as “the people’s lawyers” by
protecting consumers and individual citizens.
A result is that the routine lobbying and deal-making occur largely out
of view. But the extent of the cause and effect is laid bare in The
Times’s review of more than 6,000 emails obtained through open records
laws in more than two dozen states, interviews with dozens of
participants in cases and attendance at several conferences where
corporate representatives had easy access to attorneys general.
Often, the corporate representative is a former colleague. Four months after leaving office as chief deputy attorney general in Washington State, Brian T. Moran wrote to his replacement on behalf of a client, T-Mobile, which was pressing federal officials to prevent competitors from grabbing too much of the available wireless spectrum.
"As promised when we met the A.G. last week, I am attaching a draft letter for Bob to consider circulating to the other states," he wrote late last year, referring to the attorney general, Bob Ferguson.
A short while later, Mr. Moran wrote again to his replacement, David Horn. "Dave: Anything you can tell me about that letter?" he said.
"Working on it sir," came the answer. "Stay tuned." By January, the letter was issued by the attorney general largely as drafted by the industry lawyers. Read more
The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Investigative Reporting
For reporting that showed how the influence of lobbyists can sway congressional leaders and state attorneys general, slanting justice toward the wealthy and connected.
Lobbying State Attorneys General
Here is a look at some of the organizations and players that are part of the fast-growing and largely secretive world of lobbying state attorneys general. OCT. 28, 2014
Regulatory capture is a form of government failure that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.[1] When regulatory capture occurs the interests of firms or political groups are prioritised over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss to society as a whole. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called "captured agencies". Read more
In 2014, the New York Times ran a series of articles by Eric Lipton on the lobbying of state attorneys general by lawyers representing both defense and plaintiff-side interests. The articles painted a remarkable picture of attorneys general so closely tied to industry interests that at the word of a lobbyist they might either initiate or kill an investigation, use industry-drafted letters or pleadings, or farm out investigations to powerful plaintiffs’ firms. The series won Lipton a Pulitzer prize and galvanized investigations and proposed reforms to the practice.
The Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, and the Stanford Journalism Department are pleased to have welcomed Lipton to Stanford for an in-depth discussion of the legal and ethical issues raised by his investigation and the resulting reaction. He was joined by Terry Goddard, former attorney general of Arizona and current Senior Counsel with Dentons’ Public Policy and Regulation Practice, and James Tierney, former attorney general of Maine and current Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School. The discussion was moderated by Stanford Law Professor Nora Engstrom.
Mr. President, an African-American schoolgirl in Ocala, Florida may need assistance attending public school, which is a federally protected activity under 18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(2)(A).
Enclosed is a copy of my letter to Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney General. Something disrupted next day delivery of my letter to Attorney General Lynch, shipped on September 22, 2016, UPS tracking #1Z64589FNW92981779. FBI Director Comey got his letter delivered on time. But my letter to the Attorney General was misdirected to the Lafayette Building, Veterans Affairs, 811 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20571. As I write this, my letter to the Attorney General still has not been delivered to the Department of Justice. I wrote Attorney General Lynch in part,
U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley has jurisdiction, but there is no evidence USAFLM Bentley sought justice for the black schoolgirl intimidated by white supremacists with Confederate flags.
Mr. President, long ago when I was a student in Levittown, Pennsylvania, the American Civil War was taught as a history lesson. Today in Ocala, Florida, the Lost Cause of the Confederacy is an ongoing current event. Too many folks here have not accepted the outcome of the American Civil War, including powerful people like lawyers, judges, and perhaps Mr. Bentley.
The murder of 9 African-Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015 was a time of change for many Americans on the Confederate flag issue. But not in Marion County. Instead, Ocala doubled-down on its support for the flag. Unfortunately Confederate flags were used in a racial incident at the West Port High School to commit a hate crime against an African-American student, as defined by Fla. Stat. § 775.085 Evidencing prejudice while committing offense; reclassification, because the offense involved the race/color of a black student by three white students who used Confederate flags in a threat of force, to injure, intimidate or interfere with the African-American student while she was attending public school. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Neil J. Gillespie
8092 SW 115th Loop Telephone: (352) 854-7807
Ocala, Florida 34481 Email: neilgillespie@mfi.net Enclosures
*Legacy of Hate. Central Florida, Fifth Judicial Circuit, home of the all-white bench, a Jim Crow bench in 2016. The Indoctrination of Keeper Greene, July 12, 2015. Intergenerational Confederate Propaganda (1861 - 2016)
Keeper Greene, a 2-year-old from of Clermont, draped in a Rebel flag, waves a Confederate
flag with his father, Brian, at the start of the Florida Southern Pride Ride at the Southeastern
Livestock Pavilion in Ocala, Fla., on Sunday. (BRUCE ACKERMAN/Ocala Star-Banner /Landov)
Confederate flag supporters flock to the 'Florida Southern Pride Ride' in Ocala: reports
Ocala police investigating after shots fired near Confederate flag rally WFTV - Orlando, FL
By Tobias Salinger, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Monday, July 13, 2015, 6:04 AM
A challenge to election results by Donald Trump could start and ultimately end in the states.
State laws governing recounts vary, CNN reports in an article by University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck. Issues include when a candidate can request a recount and when the recount is required.
Some states require an automatic recount when results are close. And some states don’t allow recounts unless the vote is close, report Politico, the New York Times and the Boston Herald. Some states allow recounts when there is a larger margin separating the candidates but require the candidate to pay the cost.
Trump could challenge the recount results. He could also sue state officials for allegedly violating their own election procedures. And he could claim voter fraud changed the results.
Larry Noble, former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission, pointed out that Trump can’t rely on general allegations of fraud to make his case. "You need something more specific," he told the Boston Herald. "You need a serious claim."
Federal law guarantees recognition of a state’s electors only if the results are certified within 35 days, giving the states five weeks to resolve challenges, according to the CNN article. A longer resolution could run the risk that Congress wouldn’t recognize state results and would instead make its own decision on the state winner.
Trump could try to persuade electors meeting in December to ignore the state vote, or he could ask state lawmakers to appoint new electors, University of California law professor Richard Hasen tells the Times.
Congress meets to count electoral votes Jan. 6. If no candidate receives a majority, each state casts a vote to determine the winner. Trump could also ask Congress not to recognize a state vote or to challenge a state’s counting procedure, Hasen said.
Disputes over election results are resolved under state law unless a federal constitutional violation can be shown. That was the issue in Bush v. Gore, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on behalf of George W. Bush, finding an equal protection clause violation.
What happens if a constitutional case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court? If the court splits 4-4, the state supreme court opinion would be affirmed, CNN reports in a different story.
Another scenario would be a recusal by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because of her comments criticizing Trump as "a faker" with "an ego" who "says whatever comes into his head at the moment." New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told CNN in July that he thinks Ginsburg would be required to recuse because her impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
But it would be up to Ginsburg to decide whether to recuse. Read more
Revised at 9:50 a.m. to correct wrong reference in the second to last paragraph.
Assistance and information from a whistleblower who knows of possible securities law violations can be among the most powerful weapons in the law enforcement arsenal of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Through their knowledge of the circumstances and individuals involved, whistleblowers can help the Commission identify possible fraud and other violations much earlier than might otherwise have been possible. That allows the Commission to minimize the harm to investors, better preserve the integrity of the United States' capital markets, and more swiftly hold accountable those responsible for unlawful conduct.
The Commission is authorized by Congress to provide monetary awards to eligible individuals who come forward with high-quality original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action in which over $1,000,000 in sanctions is ordered. The range for awards is between 10% and 30% of the money collected.
The Office of the Whistleblower was established to administer the SEC's whistleblower program. We greatly appreciate your interest, and we hope that this website answers any questions you may have.
We understand that the decision to come forward with information about securities fraud or other wrongdoing is not one taken lightly, and we are here to answer any questions you may have. You can reach the Office of the Whistleblower at (202) 551-4790.
U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley has jurisdiction, but there is no evidence USAFLM Bentley sought justice for the black schoolgirl intimidated by white supremacists with Confederate flags.
Fine, I bear witness to the ongoing plague of white supremacy racism in central Florida. Enclosed is my complaint to The Florida Bar against School Board attorney Steven Eleazer Lake for white supremacy racial discrimination, and obstruction of justice for concealing records.
The Ocala Police Department has not provided records for the "Racial incident at West Port: 3 students face discipline after taunts while waiving Confederate flags." See enclosed.
My Statement Of Candidacy (for president) appears on the Federal Elections Commission website. It was accepted by the FEC on September 11, 2016, FEC-1098470, Candidate ID P60022993. If elected, I plan, inter alia, a new type of Reconstruction for certain parts of the South, to protect the rights of African-Americans forgotten by the US Department of Justice.
