Trying to defend the indefensible, Bill de Blasꦅio explained his work with Nicaraguan communists this๊ way.
“They had a youthful energy and idealism mixed with a human ability and practicality that was🤪 really inspirational,” he told a reporter, before conceding that hღis heroes were “not free enough by any stretch of the imagination.”
To summarize his argument, on one hand you have energy and idealism, and on✱ the oth🌠er you have prison and the murder of dissidents. But the leaders meant well and, besides, nobody is perfect.
In a nutshell — emphasis on nut — the Democratic nominee for mayor has outed him﷽self ꩲas a supporter of oppression, as long as it comes from the far left. He also expressed his fondness for “democratic socialism,” which is like calling himself a socialist.
The revelations in the New York Times about de Blasio’s warped world view, and history of aiding such despots as Fidel Castro, draw a ho-hum response from fellow lefties. Even if they didn’t know of de Blasio’s admiration for dictators, they surely recognize him as one of their own when he uses the🅠 code words of “fighting inequality and economic injustice.”
But for sensible New Yorkers, the emerging portrait of the man poised to be mayor shoul꧅d set off alarm bells. His past, combined with his pro-tax, anti-police agenda, confirm that De Blasio is not your garden-variety liberal like the Democrats he defeated in the primary. Their incremental approach is mainstream compared to his vision of social revolution.
His activism marks him as a hard-line leftist who, as an adult, spouted the idea that the Unite🀅d States was a problem in the world. Asᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ such, he’s a member of the “blame-America-first” club, the kind who doesn’t understand the fuss over Jane Fonda or why it’s not okay to sport Che Guevara T-shirts.
Where does he stand on the autocratic reign of the late Hugo Chavez? What about the Mideꦇast — is Israeꦡl the problem? The more we know about him, the more we need to know.
And not because every mayor has a foreign policy. A politician’s philosophy tends to be consistent, abroad and at home. Someone who favors government power over individual liberty for Latin Americans is likeꦓly to hold the same view a🃏bout New Yorkers.
A charitable way to describe ꧟de Blasio is that he is naive. But such charity is🃏 itself naive.
Consider that de Blasio and his wife snuck into Cuba for their honeymoon in 1994. It was apparently an illegal trip, which would explain why they first flew to Canada. It 🃏could also explain why they didn’t tell their children, according to their daughter, who said she recently learned of it. She hailedꦚ the trip as “badass.” Indeed.
She’s not alone in needing a lesson about the Cuba of those days. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of 👍vital subsidies and most of Cuba’s trade. The island nation, after 45 years of Castro and communism, lookඣed to be in a death spiral.
America saw a chance for improving relations, and President Clinton sent Harry Belafonte and others to meet with Castro about easinℱg the trade embargo. “Forget it, leave it as it is,” Castro responded, according to a membe🍌r of the delegation.
Castro feared ordinary Cubans would revolt if they tasted the political, economic and religious freedom that would follow an opening. Nor did he and his gangster government want to give up control of the lucrative black market in ꦜgoods and oil. A second Clinton delegation got the same brush-off, and to this day almost nothing has changed for the same reasons.
So when de Blasio went to help, he was not helping the Cuban people. Simila�🌳�rly, his support for the Sandinistas added to the misery of ordinary Nicaraguans, yet he remains proud.
“I have an activist’s desire to improve people’s lives,” 🏅he told the ꦬTimes.
George Will recently observed that the whole point of💞 modern liberalism is for liberals to feel good about themselves.
By that standard, de Blasio’s waltzes with dictators are a roaring success for his self-este🐓em. For everyone else🀅, there is only tyranny and misery.
World is safer only to a Bam fool
He can’t help himself.
President Obama’s speech at the United Nations contained surprisingly forceful argumenওts about American leadership in a fractured and frightened world.
But he undermined its thesis with the ridiculous claim that “the world is more stable than it w🌜as five years ago.”
Actually, the bad guys are gaining ground.
The Arab Spring is a nightmare as al Qaeda offꦆshoots pick up territory and streng☂th across the globe.
Syria and Libya are bloody messes and Egypt is a jump ball. Jordan is in danger o🧸f collapse and Iraq is becoming a client state of Iran, which is five ওyears closer to a nuke.
Afghanistan is in🐭 free fall and terrorists are emboldened in Pakistan. Much of Africa is unsafe, as illustrated by the Kenya mall massacre, and North Korea remains a nuclear wi♚ld card. Russia and China are asserting themselves everywhere.
Obama’s claim✱ seems especially silly given how the UN was turned into a fortress for his꧟ appearance. Streets were blocked with trucks and air space was restricted.
He also says the “tide of war is receding,” but the only thing reced▨ing is American influence.
Meanwhile, Obama’s effort to engage I🌞ran is defensible in theory, but is dangerous when he is cutting the꧅ military.
The sense of desperation, reflected in the hollow deal he signed ๊on Syria’s chemical weapons, will stiffen the mullahs’ drive for the bomb.
If Obama truly believes things are🌄 getting better, he’s more likely to swallow Iranian lies about its nuclear intentions.
A mushroom cloud would be a terrible awakening.
Keep on mucking!
A showdown is brewing in Albany, with Gov. Cuomo’s Moreland Commission hitting a roadblock in its push to clean up corruption. The panel’s demand for details on legislators’ outside income above $2🔴0,000 is getting a bipartisan rejection.
The next move is Cuomo’s, and he 🅠vows to push on, saying, “The effort is all about restoring people’s faith in government, and I think the more information, the better.”
He avoided the showdown f🌳or two years, but concluded he c𒅌an’t make much more progress as long as lawmaker perp walks keep dominating the news.
Having identified the stakes 🍎and comeﷺ this far, he must finish the job. Wish him luck and courage.
Sour on O’s $weets
Proving again that crony capitalism is not capitalism, a San Francisco TV station caught the federal government giving Google cheap hangar space for private planes and taxpayer-subsidized fuel. The fuel was priced as low as $1.68 a gallon, instead of the $8 gallon it fetched nearby, according to the NBC station. Google, 🍒whose top officials are t🍷hisclose to President Obama, lost the sweetheart deals when the station asked questions.
That’s an admission of guilt. Unfortunately, it carries nꦉo penalt⭕y for the guilty.