Sunday Morning Coming Down

Newsweek Magazine is reporting about a scouting trip to Cuba by the Trump Organization in 1998 exploring business opportunities if and when the Cuban Embargo ended.  Lots of companies from Canada and Europe did the same thing and it is hardly surprising that the Trump Organization might have done it.  If the embargo had been successful, I really doubt the Castro Brothers would still be in power. According to the State Department Website there have been programs to provide humanitarian aid to the Cuban People for more than twenty years.  Lots of folks have been sending money, farmers have been sending food and it is all in the name of helping the people of Cuba. I guess the Trump Organization was against the Embargo before it supported the Embargo. And so it goes.  Probably illegal, punishable probably not likely, I can only imagine that just about every major hotel chain in the world has probably visited Cuba scouting out potential resorts openly or covertly.

I listened to the debate last night.  I wonder how many people will change their vote as the result of the candidate's performances.  On balance it seems that Hillary Clinton had a good night and Donald Trump's night was not as good.  This is probably going to be a close election and I think the level of motivation of supporters will be critical in determining the final winner. I would caution Clinton supporters about taking too much comfort in the small lead she may have. I'm a Cubs fan.  Last night they won 100 games for the first time since 1935.  Sports analogies may not always apply but elections and championships really do require some serious team work that requires that players do their jobs and in elections people make sure they are registered and get out and vote.  No excuses. Beware of third party candidates.

The untimely, tragic and unimaginable death of Jose Fernandez, at the age of 24 is sad and a real loss to the Miami Community. I've always been a Cub fan, but I've been a Jose Fernandez fan from his first pitch.  While the Marlin franchise has had its ups and downs, I've gone to games to see Jose pitch and I'm sure to watch on TV if Jose was pitching.  Jose was a strike out artist, could swing a bat and always seemed to understand and enjoy the game of baseball.  His curve ball was almost unhittable. He is one of the professional athletes that Miami adopted and identified with.  It might have been Wade Country, but Miami was poised to have a new sports star in Jose Fernandez. The Miami Marlins will find it impossible to replace Jose.  He was somebody all baseball fans could identify with and someone Little League could look up to.

Alonzo Mourning played basketball at Georgetown University and in Miami with the Miami Heat.  He has had some health issues that eventually required a kidney transplant but that has hardly slowed him down since the end of his basketball career. He has worked in charitable causes to research the causes of his kidney disease. sponsored Zo's Summer grove which included a charity basketball game, concert and other activities for kids in Miami.  He has been active supporting the Miami Dade County Public Schools. Today the Miami Herald reported on the opening of an 84 unit community of affordable housing in Overtown.  The project took a long time to complete because of the housing collapse in 2008 but the partnership between the City of Miami Housing Trust Group and AM Affordable Housing is now open and is providing badly needed affordable housing for the community. Sometimes professional athletes get slammed for stuff.  Zo is a real community asset.

It would seem that seeing the same political ads in Florida are not having the intended affect on the race. HRC does not seem to be getting the bang for the buck spent on TV ads.  The same thing happened to Jeb Bush and I just wonder if the day of television ads making a big difference has come and gone. Even good ads don't seem to make a difference when they are pointed at Donald Trump.  He may know something about his followers that will make this election a lot closer than originally thought.

Some folks say NFL Games are a bad, bad place to stage a protest or even to exercise the right to free speech.  I'm of the opinion that sporting events may not be the greatest place to stage a protest, but sometimes in spite of the fact that there will be blow back you may be able to start or continue a conversation from another venue where there hasn't been much success. Football players taking a knee or not standing at attention during the Star Spangled Banner is pretty harmless, compared to taking some other kind of job action like maybe refusing to play, that might really get the fans pissed.  I realize professional football is big business, but in the past players have been locked out and that was a really big deal when it happened. Local police department is threatening to not escort team bus to game. I wonder how that looks after the last police involved shooting in Tulsa or North Carolina.  Such is the level of discourse these days.

Some folks have really gotten exorcised about how much football players are paid and that have been taking a knee during the National Anthem a form of free speech.  If you lived through the Viet Nam War there were a lot of protests back then that make taking a knee seem harmless. Please contrast the uproar about taking a knee and Carrie Tolsdet, Well Fargo Banking Executive in charge of the division that was responsible for $185,000,000 fines from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because of some very shaky banking practices. Ms Tolsdet with a retirement account that will reportedly be worth about $125,000,000 has recently retired from Wells Fargo.  Yes, she worked for the bank for a reported twenty seven years and a lot of her retirement is tied up in Wells Fargo stock options  I have only heard Senator Elizabeth Warren comment about the CFPB actions.  5,300 employees have been fired because of these these practices over the last few years. Next time I ...

I wish there had been more meat on the bone last night.  I don't think there were enough of the right questions asked about how the two major party candidates would manage the Department of Defense.  The United States spends a tremendous amount of money defending the country.  Are we getting our moneys worth?  What is Donald Trump doing praising Putin, while Putin isn't interested in better cooperation on the war in Syria.  I'm only slightly less impressed with Clinton saying we will not be sending ground troops to Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan.  I think there are already a small number of troops in all three countries and I'm not sure her comments lead in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. I could comment on issues regarding e-mails or taking the oil. Both candidates have their issues that make them nobodies first choice.  This is not trying to level the playing field.  How many folks that are in their late 60's or so haven't had problems keeping up wit...

Living in Miami, there are lots of Taco Stands.  Chipolte Mexican Grills are not quite ubiquitous but when they are added to Taco Bell and lots of other similar food joints and food trucks you just sort of adapt.  There are also lots of Italian, Greek, Chinese, Cuban, Ecuadoran, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Thai... restaurants.  There are not as many Polish or German specialty restaurants as in Chicagoland.  Shake Shack has their version Chicago style hot dogs.  Maybe Washington D.C. has a bigger assortment of cuisines, maybe. This is probably as good an argument for immigration as I have ever heard.