US To Normalize Relations With Cuba

Small screen reporting.

Good deal, I anticipate a Walgreen's on every corner.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nat...ficials-say/QPPbpfMZDHbkyATM61pBwN/story.html

All those 1950s era cars, if they allow them to be exported and sold in the US, that'll be awesome!

Shit. One of the last bastions where people could go and be largely free of American tourists.

This is a sad day indeed.

They all have Lada engines now and aren't very original.

Wow. Great news.

All those poor cigar smugglers out of a jerb.

So? Depending upon the make and model of car and what the owner wants for it, you could restore it and still turn a profit.

Excellent, excellent news.

Long overdue news. The attitude toward Cuba has served no legitimate purpose for at least thirty years.

All we need to do to conquer Cuba is normalize relations and start exporting tourists.

And so much the better for the rest of us. Cuban sex vacations will also likely enjoy a renaissance.

President speaking now. Embargo is being lifted.

Ah . . . the President can't lift the embargo. Congress has to do that.

Hopefully they will agree with the President.

This too is ordinary prosecutorial discretion. The President can't unilaterally prevent future prosecutions for violating the embargo, but he can exercise his discretion to prevent current prosecution so long as there's no unconstitutionally discriminatory basis for the exercise of discretion--i.e. don't prosecute white people who violate the embargo, just everyone else. The remedies available if Congress doesn't approve of his exercise of discretion are to pass a law that narrowly limits his discretion (i.e. make all funding for the State Department contingent on enforcement of the embargo) or to impeach the President.

Who will be the first to label Obama a communist because of this?

That's easy: The first post on freerepublic about it.

As a side note, I wonder what this means for Cuban baseball and MLB. Does it mean a huge influx of talent and collapse of the Cuban leagues? Does it mean the Rays move to Havana? Or is it, in the end, no big deal for baseball?

Has Miami been burned down yet?

Finally. This embargo has been ridiculous since the 1980s. I wonder if the returning Cubans from Florida will tear the place up.

Great news.

If not for the fact that tensions are building back up with Russia this would be the last major legacy of the Cold War dead right?

Its been held in place for no other reason but Cold-warrior spite.

Quoted so when you're bitching about a President you don't like using "ordinary prosecutorial discretion" someone can throw it back in your face.

Well if Obama pulls this off I will give him credit where credit is due for it.

Before or after they accuse him of being in thrall to the Vatican?

I was gonna say, there goes any chance of a Democratic presidential candidate winning Florida. Oh, wait...

ummm dropping the embargo doesn't make Cuba any less of a dictatorship then it was yesterday.

With that said when Cuba does fall the new government would be smart to refuse to the Cubans from Florida reclaiming their stolen property. It would cause way too many problems.

Access to the rest of the world is what will wean Cuba off dictatorship.

Probably.

But looking out my window I don't see Cubans rushing to the boats to go back and tear the place up.

I'm imagining the kids and grandkids of the old hardliners looking forward to family reunions with relatives they've only heard about. Yeah, call me an optimist.

Prosecutorial discretion does not allow the President to abrogate a major and long-established piece of legislation, last I checked.