Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Shep Smith wonders: Is America about to “ruin” Cuba?
Hot Air ^ | December 17, 2014 | Allahpundit

Posted on 12/17/2014 6:25:29 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

I first heard of this when John Podhoretz tweeted about it and I thought, “Nope, John’s exaggerating. I wonder what Shep really said.” Then a bunch of other people tweeted that Podhoretz was right, so I thought, “Okay, but obviously a joke.” Then I watched the clip.

Actual quote about an honest to goodness police state, no apparent irony intended: “The last thing they need is a Taco Bell and a Lowe’s.”

Two ways to read that, I guess. One is that he’s objecting to having the wrong priorities, not to American businesses invading the island. Cubans need basic necessities, not fast food. Get a couple of Charmin factories in there churning out TP and that’d be a corporate move worth applauding. But wait — if that’s his point, why’s he reminiscing at the start of the segment about the sweet-ass four-dollar Cuban rum he likes to bring back whenever he travels there? That’s not a necessity. Which brings us to theory two: This is exactly what it sounds like, a guy seemingly willing to trade away greater prosperity for Cubans if it means Americanizing the island in return for preserving the quaint, simple culture that decades of authoritarianism and economic retardation have produced. It’s basically the “noble savage” view of economics. What doth it profit a Cuban to gain a middle-American depot for cheap building materials if he lose his cheap-rum-making soul? Where are we going to go to watch people riding around in 60-year-old Studebakers now?

Lot of that going around on the left today, as it turns out. As an emetic, go read Michael Totten’s account from earlier this year of what Havana is really like.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; TV/Movies; Travel
KEYWORDS: cuba; genderdysphoria; homosexualagenda; shepardsmith; shepsmith
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 next last
To: M-cubed

I bet Cuba does not have fat people. They are on the edge of starvation. Mooche dream land. Watch the wretched starving while you eat steak. The ideal life for those who think themselves god.


21 posted on 12/17/2014 6:50:05 PM PST by MtnClimber (Take a look at my FR home page for Colorado outdoor photos!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

When I went to Peru in the late 1990s, the tour guide said they were happy to see American businesses (I don’t recall if it was McDonald’s or some other chain) because it let them know they had turned a corner historically and were coming up to speed with some of the things other nations had.

They’d had tough times politically (including terrorism and revolutionaries) and would see their Japanese president resign but Western investment was seen as a good thing.

When I met Lech Walesa, he said send us (Poland) your Generals “General Motors, General Electric, etc.”. He said that the Communist bloc nations were kept from breaking away because none of them made anything. Each nation made PARTS of something (part of a washing machine, etc.).


22 posted on 12/17/2014 6:52:57 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

There is a hell waiting for media communist enablers that literally cannot be described by human words.

But it is entered through open jaws with thousands of teeth as sharp as knives.

Then the jaws close, and nothing is ever seen of these scumbags again in any part, or any time, of the universe.


23 posted on 12/17/2014 6:53:14 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bill Russell

Will the exiles be able to begin seeking claim of their confiscated properties?


24 posted on 12/17/2014 6:53:52 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

They're going to ruin the great dentalcare, too!

25 posted on 12/17/2014 6:55:44 PM PST by rabidralph
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise
Shep doesn’t seem so concerned about the influx of tens of millions from Mexico and Central American forever changing American culture (and requiring all government work and television broadcasting to be available in espanol but not the other way around).

That's because Shep is a liberal. Liberals believe that our "whiteness" is superior and not nearly as vulnerable as non-white nations. Non-whites are helpless idiots in the eyes of democrats. That's why people like Shep are offended when we Americans chant "USA USA USA" at international games but they think it's so cute when the people of the Congo wave their own flag

26 posted on 12/17/2014 6:56:44 PM PST by tsowellfan (www.cafenetamerica.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Wow. So, normalize relations as noblesse oblige in the face of totalitarian communism. The Left’s noble savage moment.


27 posted on 12/17/2014 6:57:01 PM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Leftists, especially the lilly whites, fall for the concept of the “noble savage,” which illumintes more about the leftist than the “savage,” considering it is mostly an artifact of projection.


28 posted on 12/17/2014 7:15:18 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Imagine the orgasms of delight at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce right now. Several million new employees available to work for lower wages than even in Haiti when they ship American factories to Cuba.

Heck, they might he even close some US factories in Mexico and move them to Cuba. But that will be OK because the laid off Mexicans can move north and become check receiving Dreamers.


29 posted on 12/17/2014 7:16:43 PM PST by Rockpile
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyDancer

Obama better watch out—The last president who betrayed the Cuban freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs ended up dead.


30 posted on 12/17/2014 7:20:36 PM PST by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Vince Ferrer

Why wasn’t the Left worried about how Soviet influence and financial support was ruining Cuban culture?


31 posted on 12/17/2014 7:26:32 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

If I was releasing that guy I’d have given him a beautiful new set of choppers so he could extoll the virtues of the Cuban healthcare system to the USA.

Missed PR opportunity there.


32 posted on 12/17/2014 7:27:54 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (Life is good.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise
Why wasn’t the Left worried about how Soviet influence and financial support was ruining Cuban culture?

Because the Soviet Union was a perfect example of a pristine culture that built walls to keep the corrupting influence of the west out.

33 posted on 12/17/2014 7:29:52 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Vince Ferrer

The Soviet Union knew all about corrupting influences. It was a chief export of theirs (courtesy of the KGB) and it still pays dividends today from Western societies.


34 posted on 12/17/2014 7:32:02 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Celtic Conservative

Not to worry. Art Morrison chassis, Chevy performance parts LS and trans, 50 state legal. Nine inch ford or Corvette IRS. Yes that would get us going. What they have in them in Cuba is not relevant.


35 posted on 12/17/2014 7:50:48 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Somebody’s watched Godfather II too many times.


36 posted on 12/17/2014 7:51:26 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nuc 1.1

I know exactly what’s available for them. I own a ‘55 model 210. You forgot to mention Danchuk and C.A.R.S. inc. And Goodwrench crate motors.

CC


37 posted on 12/17/2014 7:54:37 PM PST by Celtic Conservative (Tagline Constructon zone- low humor ahead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yes, Shep. Castro created such a commie paradise. You should live there.


38 posted on 12/17/2014 8:22:36 PM PST by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Who cares what Sheptard Smith thinks.... I can’t stand the pickle sucker.


39 posted on 12/17/2014 8:38:43 PM PST by baddog 219
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wonder if Michael Moore is concerned that Obama could ruin the best health care system in the world.


40 posted on 12/17/2014 8:57:34 PM PST by Baynative (Did you ever notice that atheists don't dare sue Muslims?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson