UPDATED: Agent 10 approves this meme

Agent 10 is a member of the Cuban diaspora. She says this meme isn't funny, but is a hard truth which people should know about. The Cuban people are waiting for President Trump (and Secretary Rubio) to do something -- anything -- to help bring about regime change, so the Cuban people may live! 

UPDATE ADDED at 1715 FMT - This just in from Breitbart News

Canadian Companies Fear Major Losses if Cuban Communist Regime Falls

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio Dominguez on Friday sought to convince Canada to prop up the fading Communist regime in Havana, arguing that Canadian companies could lose billions from nullified contracts if the regime falls.

De Cossio praised Cuba’s “important trade relations” with Canada and the hefty investments Canadian companies have made in Cuba. "Despite the fact that we do not have a coincidence in all the political and international positions, we have always known how to solve our problems, our differences, and work with them based on dialogue and based on mutual respect," he said. 

The Cuban official blamed America’s energy blockade for starving Cuba of the fuel it needs for "everything from energy for hospitals, for homes, for education, for industry, for the production of food, for agriculture, for transportation, for medical care, for the livelihoods of people."

De Cossio claimed Cuba’s infamous nationwide blackouts are "not a result of Cuban inefficiency, not as the result of Cuba mismanagement of the electrical grid, but because the United States is depriving Cuba of fuel." 

De Cossio, formerly Cuba’s ambassador to Canada, was responding to Ottawa warning Canadian firms away from making new investments in Cuba last week, due to the island’s "ongoing liquidity crisis" and the collapse of its power grid.

The back story no-one talks about is that Blackie McBlackface (aka Justin Trudeau), former prime minister of Canuckstan is widely believed to be the love child of Fidel Castro and the hare-brained Margaret Trudeau (wife of Emperor Trudeau I), the same one who, back in the day, was photographed sans panties in front of Studio 54 in NYC. This being a family publication, we refrain from posting the photo but you can find it by Googling "Margaret Trudeau Studio 54.

[Walt, how many times to I have to tell you about run-on sentences?! Ed.]

UPDATED: Ryan to be a heartbeat away from succeeding Pres. Trump?

Lyin' Ted Cruz said that he's stay in the race for the presidensity as long as there was a viable path to the nomination. Last night he said his path had been foreclosed. That's how politicians talk. He wouldn't say he got thumped by Trump. Oh no. His path has been "foreclosed". So that's that, then. There's only one more putative candidate left. Of him, CNN politics says "John Kasich is not going anywhere". Truer words were never spoken.

Meanwhile, and still in Indiana, Bernie Sanders eked out a win over Hellery Clinton. Because of the Democrats' crooked nominating system -- having 100s of insider "super-delegates" pretty much screws an outsider like Sanders -- la Clinton is still likely to wind up riding the Dem Donkey, even though she enjoys only lukewarm support from the majority of her party.

And that, dear reader, means there's at least a 50-50 chance that The Donald will be the next POTUS. If I could get Trump plus 6 points, let's say, I'd put my $$$ on the table right now. And that means that Mr. Trump, the Republicans and Americans of all stripes need to start thinking hard about who should be Vice-President (VPOTUS), because... as they say... that person will be only a heartbeat away from becoming President and all that entails.

For a country with a short history -- 240 years isn't much compared with China or even the UK -- the Paranoid States of America has had more than its share of presidents who have died in office, of either natural or unnatural causes. Four sitting presidents have been killed, all of them by gunshot: Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President). That's an average of one every 60 years. It's been 53 years since JFK was assassinated, so do the math.

Indeed, Mr Trump might not even make it through to November 8th. Remember what happened to Bobby Kennedy? To George Wallace? Don't tell me that The Donald is any less hated than those guys, either of whom might have won but for a case of severe lead poisoning. All it would take would be another murderous Muslim (Sirhan Sirhan) or loonie leftie (Lee Harvey Oswald), or just some nebbish who wants to get his name in the papers (John Hinckley). So Mr Trump's choice of candidate for VPOTUS is more important than at any time so far this century.

In last night's victory speech, Mr Trump went easy on Mr Cruz. No more "lyin' Ted". In fact he called his opponent "a helluva contender". Could we be looking at a Trump-Cruz ticket? It would sure as hell give Establishment Republicans a reason to do their utmost to keep The Donald alive and viable, because although they hate Trump, they loathe Cruz!

Seriously, though... as the stand-up comic says... I can't see Mr Cruz taking the VP nomination, even if it were offered to him. And I don't think the job will be offered to Carly Fiorina, in the name of gender parity -- not after her amazing speech last week. In 1972, Tom Eagleton proved that a candidate for the second-highest office in the land can't have "issues".

Who, then? Mr Trump will be under pressure to offer a sop to the Republican Establishment -- some harmless, centrist, non-WASP from one of the southern or western states -- to balance the ticket. That would seem to suggest Marco Rubio, a "progressive Republican" with more ambition than brains who already has the GOP grandees' seal of approval. Mr Rubio has the added advantage of being young and lightly Hispanic, appealing (it says here) to the kind of voters Mr Trump has trouble with. But Senator Rubio and The Candidate had some prettyh nasty things to say about each other during the primaries, so a public burying of the hatchet will be awkward, if not downright laughable.

If not Mr Rubio, then who? Walt repeats his call for Paul. If something should, God forbid, happen to President Trump, Paul is the kind of man I'd have confidence in to lead the USA along the path to peace and prosperity. Donald, if you're reading this, don't listen to those other guys; listen to me! Have I ever given you a bum steer? (Lifetime pct .988.)

Further reading: "House Speaker Paul Ryan refuses to back Donald Trump", on the CBC News website, 5/5/16. Mr. Ryan said "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now." My emphasis.

UPDATE AND WOW! "House Speaker Paul Ryan to meet with Donald Trump next week to talk 'Republican principles'" Reuters via CBC News, 6/5/16. That didn't take long, did it...

Reflections on South Carolina and Nevada

There were no upset winners in yesterday's Democratic caucus in Nevada or South Carolina's Republican primary. There were, however, a couple of losers.

One loser was apparent and expected. That would be JEB! All the Establishment money couldn't save him, nor could his little big brother's endorsement. See "Republican voters: WATCH 'Fahrenheit 9/11'!" (WWW 17/2/16) So now JEB! has bid us a tearful farewell. Or has he?! How come no putative candidates quit any more? Why do they just "suspend" their campaigns? Are we to believe that if some horrible accident should befall the Donald (just sayin'), JEB! will rise Lazarus-like from his crypt in Coral Gables?

If you think about it, the big loser in the Republican primary wasn't JEB!, but Ted Cruz. At one point last night he was deadlocked with Marco Rubio, with exactly the same number of votes. In the end, Mr. Rubio squeaked into a distant second place, finishing ahead of TrusTED by just over 1000 votes. Mr. Rubio thus becomes the "moderate" or Establishment alternative to Mr. Trump, leaving Mr. Cruz, errr, nowhere.

Not really a surprise, since he was never going to get many MOR [= Middle Of the Road. Ed.] GOP votes. They hate him. To beat the Donald or even come close, Ted had to get the Tea Party voters, not just the happy-clappy Protestant fundamentalists. Too bad for him that the Tea Partiers hate him too.

Before we leave the Republicans, take a look at the results map appearing in today's Washington Post. The only counties who went for Mr. Rubio were around the state capital and along the coast near Charleston. Mr. Trump swept the rest. Those who think that the media darling SC governor's tearing down of the Southern Cross represented the true feelings of South Carolinians should give their heads a shake!

As for Nevada, Hellery Clinton's cries of victory seemed to me more relief than exultation. CNNPolitics calls her win "decisive", but they would say that, wouldn't they. Walt doesn't call 5.5% decisive, especially when you consider that just a couple of weeks ago her margin was expected to be in the double digits. Entrance and exit polls showed that Madame Clinton was backed by a majority of women, college-educated voters, those with annual incomes over $100,000, moderates, voters aged 45 and older and non-white voters. Bernie Sanders did best with men, voters under 45 and those less affluent and educated.

The once and (she hopes) future First Lady captured the backing of voters who said electability and experience were important. BERNie, however, did best with voters looking for a candidate who is caring and honest. That an aged socialist Jew from New England should come as close as he did in a state like Nevada tells me that Hellerey is far from home and dry. Keep looking over your shoulder, dear. The footsteps behind you aren't just Bill's!

Only one surprise out of New Hampshire

I wasn't surprised that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won.
I wasn't surprised John Kasich finished second in the Republican race. I think that's as close as he's going to come to winning any of the remaining primaries. (Lifetime pct .983.)
I wasn't surprised that Marco Rubio finished fifth. Hey, I saw the debate.
What surprised me was that Jeb! managed to finish in a statistical tie with Ted Cruz. Did a memo go out from the Republican Establishment that Mr. Rubio isn't ready yet? (Nice hair though!)

So where are we now? There wasn't as much "winnowing" last night as the pundits predicted. Chris Christie is out, but he wasn't going anywhere anyway. Carly Fiorina and the black guy -- what was his name, again? -- have yet to announce the "suspension" of their campaigns, but so what. The Republicans are left with The Donald and Ted Cruz who have to slug it out to see who can be more of an "outsider", leaving the possibility that The Shrub may come up the middle and emerge as the candidate. The mind boggles.

On the Democratic side, it's hard to see Colonel Sanders winning states like South Carolina. A betting man would still have to take Hellery Clinton. Do it now while you can still get decent odds.

Oh, there was one more surprise. Who would have thought that Bernie could ramble on for so long, and reiterate the same point so often, in what should have been a short and gracious thank-you speech. I'm guessing that every minute he spoke, after the first ten, caused another million dollars or so to pour into the candidates' war chests -- not just the Republican war chests, but Mrs Clinton's too!