LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN OVER-EDUCATED CHILDLESS OLD LADY (PER J. D. VANCE) BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK

Well, we’re still trying to get Sam Clemens, our youngest, back inside and it’s almost 12 noon. We had to bribe Pete three times with plates of fresh tuna to get him to come inside and stay. He’s got the trick. “If I come inside, they’ll bribe me with tuna. So, if I come inside, have tuna, sneak back outside, get tuna, sneak back outside, get more tuna. That’s three orders of tuna every morning.

They train us up nicely and quickly.

I trained Sam to pat the trash can in the bedroom to ask for treats. He now pats every trashcan in the house, no matter what it looks like, what size it is. You gotta be smart to do that. Really smart.

CUBA: Part 2: STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT

The State Department recently issued a report on Cuba intended to legitimize the invasion of Cuba.

Aljazeera outlines five takeaways from the State Department Report:

1) Front Groups and Fellow Travelers.

The wins of AOC, Omar, Mandami, Platner (and others) have sent a chill down the spines of the Republicans, (or Republicans that actually have spines).

The DSA has helped several progressive politicians into Congress. (Note: Aljazeera article names more names.)

The Trump administration is trying desperately to connect the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the most prominent group on the list, with what they refer to as “communists.”

While not accusing the DSA of being a Cuban asset, the report makes the case that the interests of the DSA and the Cubans are mirrors of each other (Harb)

Harb, defines the DSA as “an activist organization whose stated mission is to support workers gaining power through democratic means (Harb, 7/21/26).”

The State Department report, of course, overestimates the power of the DSA within the Democratic Party. Report quote: “The DSA has built a national infrastructure dedicated to moving extreme-left politics from the margins into the mainstream – and with it, a deep and abiding devotion to the Cuban regime (Harb, 7/21/26).

Media Benjamin, cofounder of one of the groups mentioned, Code Pink, has called the report and the approach of trying to label activists as communists as a “flashback” to the 1950s (Harb, 7/21/26). “We are in an era of McCarthyism, where they’re not only labelling groups like us communists and trying to position us as enemies of the state, but also combining that with the efforts to crack down on protests,” Benjamin told Al Jazeera (Harb, 7/21/26).

CUBA: PART 3 GEORGE FLOYD

Article: Smith, Benedict (7/20/26) “Cuba fueled George Floyd riots, claims Trump administration.” The Telegraph.

• A report by the US State Department (www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/Cuba-Report.pdf) claims that Cuba provided “gleeful support” for the protests in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.

• “And while using the demonstrations to smear the US as a systemically racist country, it claims Cuba brutally cracked down on protests against its own regime.”

• The report also accuses Cuba of seeking to groom Left-wing students from elite universities as spies and of coordinating with radical groups “to move against the government in the event of a military invasion.” (Note: Quote from article not report).

• The government in Cuba issued daily commentary about the Floyd case “portraying the United States as a systemically racist country morally unfit to criticize Cuba’s human rights record,” the report says. (Note: Pete Hegseth, head of the Department of Defense just removed paintings of black servicemen, demoted and pushed out females and blacks from the military.)

• The report also notes that the then president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, denounced the “practically uncontrolled expressions of hatred, racism, police brutality,” in a September 2020 speech at the UN. (Note: Please just refer to the past year and the number of Hispanics killed by ICE, and placed in detention centers.) (Note: Quote from report).

CUBA: PART 3, BOOK “The Gargantua Reports from Cuba

Book: Tennant, J. S. “The Gargantua reports from Cuba.” Review Christiansen, Rupert (7/15/26) “A bewitching history of Cuba (and why Fidel Castro deserves more credit.).

CUBA: PART 5: RESULT OF US AGGRESSION

Article: Leake, Natasha (7/6/26) “Cuba suffers total blackout as energy grid crumbles.” The Telegraph.

• Cuba was struggling before Trump imposed an oil blockade in January. This has depleted the supply of fuel for Cuba’s power plants.

• This week’s collapse marks the eighth time Cuba’s 9.6 million people have been left without power since late 2024.

• In Havana the cuts have lasted as much as 24 hours at a time and in rural areas as much as 70 hours.

• The UN has warned of an emergency as drinking water, food and medicine are in short supply.

• Raul Giuillermo Rodriqguez Castro, the grandson of Raul Castro has said that he is willing to negotiate with the US in an interview published in USA today.

• In May, the US announced murder charges against Castro.

CUBA: PART 6: HEGSETH WARNING TO CUBA

Article: Cleave, Iona (6/10/26) “Hegseth issues warning to Cuba during Guantanamo visit.” The Telegraph.

CUBA; PART 7 CUBA’S AMBASSADOR TO UK WARNS US

Article: Shanagher, Lilly (6/7/26) “Cuba warns Trump: We’ll fight to the bitter end.” The Telegraph.

• Cuba’s ambassador to the UK has stated that the Cuban people will fight to the death against any US military invasion. This statement comes in response to repeated US threats to Cuba.

• Trump has “hinted” according to the Telegraph that Raul Castro could be seized just as Maduro was.

• “Although the US has captured or killed the leaders of Iran and Venezuela this year, little has changed in both of those countries. This has LED experts to question the wisdom of decapitating another government.”

• Cuba’s president, Miguel Diez-Canel, has warned of a “bloodbath” should the US launch strikes.

• “Cuba has enacted a 1980s Castro era doctrine called War of All the People, in which the entire population is trained to fight against an invader in a prolonged resistance campaign that would combine guerrilla warfare with conventional defense.”

• Axios is reporting that the Cuban government could collapse as early as this summer.”

• “The intention is to keep pushing sanctions to try to strangle Havana in a slow constriction, as administration officials said, likening it to accelerationism, the philosophy of using capitalism to hasten societal change.”

• Rubio (Note: Who has spent his entire life wanting to destroy the Cuban government) has called Cuba a “national security threat.”

• Castro was indicted for the shooting down of two US planes in 1996 that left four people dead. Castro was defense minister at the time and is blamed by the US. The planes were operated by Brothers to the Rescue an American activist group opposed to the Castro government.

• Cuba warned the US multiple times that they would act before they shot the planes down. The planes violated their country’s airspace constantly and the Cuban government accused them of “illegal and provocative activities.”

• The ambassador called the indictment an echo of the indictment of Maduro, a “desperate attempt” to justify military aggression that had no “legal basis.”

• Washington is demanding that Americans whose property was seized after he revolution be compensated. (Note: I think Cuba has already done some of this and offered to do more. This is just another excuse.)

• Ambassador: “War, military aggression, threat, oil siege, strengthening the blockade and indicating leaders of the Cuban Revolution is not the way.”

• Cuba once had a “world-leading” medical system. Now, because of US actions, infant mortality rates have soared, life expectancy has decreased, and the US has blocked vital medicines through secondary sanctions. (Note: Is this the country you want to live in?)

• There has been an outbreak of disease, hunger and poverty because of lack of rubbish collection and closure of companies.

• Ambassador: “You may consider that the social and political systems in Cuba are not the right ones, but there is no single reason for the US to impose such inhumane and cruel collective punishment against a population.”

CUBA: PART 8: ARTICLES AND BOOKS

Article: DePetris, Daniel (5/21/26) “Could Trmp be about to attack Cuba?” The Telegraph

Article: Nicoll, Ruaridh (7/21/26) “US claims of Cuba’s unique threat jar with reality of hunger and blackouts.” Guardian.

Article: 2026 United States fuel blockade on Cuba. Wikipedia.

Skove, Sam (7/20/26) “State Department frames Cuba as major threat via Left-Wing groups. Foreign Policy. ****

Podcast: “Cuba edges towards radical reform. The Economist.

Podcast: “America’s plans for Cuba. The Economist.

Article: (5/27/26) “Attacking Cuba would be a huge mistake.” The Economist.

Article: “Donald Trump is pushing towards the end-game in Cuba. The Economist.

Gutenplan, D. D. and Katrina Vanden Heuvel. (11/13-20 of 2023 issue) “Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel sits down with the Nation.

Puig, Mar (7/23/26) “US. Monitorw Catholic Church distribution of aid in Cuba. The Nation.

Corthell, Michael (2/26/2025) “Accelerationism’s: Propelling society through capitalism’s extremes.” Essay X2.