Cries for Freedom in Cuba

Cuban citizens have taken to the streets to protest the oppressive communist regime,  but what ...

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Cuban citizens have taken to the streets to protest the oppressive communist regime,  but what can the United States do to help? Should we do anything to help? The gang considers the moral and political implications of United States foreign policy toward Cuba. David notes that vaccine hesitancy is having severe consequences as positive covid cases continue to rise. How should we go about persuading the vaccine-hesitant to get the vaccine? Plus, Texas Democrats have left the state in protest over a new voting bill, and Sarah has some thoughts. Is this bill an example of voter suppression or just over-eagerness from Democrats to have a talking point? Finally, tech companies face legislative threats from the state level. Chris questions the unintended consequences of big-tech bills. 

Show Notes:

–Jonah’s column: “Vaccines Save Lives. Anti-Vax Hysteria Kills.”

–Chris’s Article: “Anti-Vaccine Pandering Poses Risk for GOP”

–Ramesh Ponnuru’s column on Biden’s response to voting bills: “Biden’s Voting Rights Bluster Recycles Failed Strategy”

–CPAC 2024 Straw Poll Results

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Comments (21)
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  1. Clinton Smith

    @jonah, forget barges, starlink for the Cubans!

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  2. GregS

    Jonah says that both the Democrats and the Republicans sincerely think they're saving democracy, and it's just that rascal Trump who wants to destroy democracy.
    This is an interesting way of looking at it.

    Republicans are doing what Trump wants. And Trump wants to destroy democracy. But apparently Republicans are doing it while thinking they are saving democracy.
    So either the people doing what Trump wants are
    a) Idiots, or
    b) Willfully blind

    Either they are incapable of seeing they are following a guy who wants to destroy democracy even though there has been ample evidence of this (not to mention the millions of us telling them that this is what is going on), or they know this, but are choosing to pretend it isn't true.

    You can't absolve the rank and file Republican voter because they *think* they're saving democracy. No-one ever thinks *they're* the villain of the story. Not to fall afoul of Godwin's law, but most German people in 1939 probably thought they were the good guys.

    This hair splitting is too cute by far, attempting to lay all blame on a single person, while absolving all the people who continue to aid, abet, follow, and fund that person.

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  3. DocHeartless

    Was it Chris that said what concerns him most about voting laws is when they make it easier for unscrupulous pols to overturn the vote? I completely agree. Limiting the vote across the board concerns me far less than removing local leaders' authority and throwing out votes in incorrect precincts. Is there anything stopping governors or election board heads from changing polling locations three times the day before the election? Any legal challenge you could possibly mount would be too late in such a case, right? Has Texas created a situation where we are even more dependent on the ethics of a very select group of elected officials? Yeah, my faith in the ethics of elected officials in the Republican party is pretty low these days.

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      Rajeev

      Yeah I was highly critical of Wisconsin Democrats that fled in 2009 over Union rights. It was stupid and I as a moderate Democrat at the time was glad to see the Republicans stick it to them by passing other priorities they had that needed less votes for.

      But I am supportive of fighting this because it truly is a Civil Rights issue. These laws are so disgusting on every level and contradict all reports about voting in the last election.

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  4. GregS

    It was interesting to hear Sarah's take on the vaccine situation.
    She's smart, but not medically knowledgeable, so her perspective has value in that it reflects how intelligent non-experts perceive things.

    When I hear Sarah say that the conversation about boosters makes her think the vaccine doesn't work, or that the mask recommendations make people think that the vaccine isn't worthwhile... I despair.
    We get boosters for vaccines all the time. You have to get tetanus boosters every 10 years. You have to get a influenza booster *every* year. You need three shots of the Hep B vaccine for it to be effective. The fact that a booster may be necessary for a vaccine that was just invented for a disease that was just discovered and has been mutating into new strains as it runs rampant across the world? This should neither be surprising, nor concerning. It doesn't mean the vaccine doesn't work. The fact that you have to keep taking your blood pressure medication every day doesn't mean it isn't working!
    Ditto for masks. The fact that we're still telling people to wear masks in some situations is partially because verifying their vaccination status would be more cumbersome (and would probably run into legal challenges, or be blocked by some states, ahem, Texas and Florida). And because we still have a bunch of unvaccinated people running around!

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      Rajeev

      Yeah I'm totally in agreement with you. I have not seen anything that tells me that the administration is over-promoting masks. I'd like to see the airplane requirement rescinded since it is an area of least transmission.

      I don't get it on the boosters either. I want a booster sooner than later. I don't understand the big deal. It's such a minor inconvenience less than even going grocery shopping. We update antivirus software, replace light bulbs, refill medications, change our oil, get annual physicals, and so many other things. This virus has exposed the softness and weakness of the anti-mask/anti-vax culture. David's been right all along. They are weak cowards.

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    Eric

    Glad I live in Texas, where my state and local politics are routinely goofy enough to come up on this podcast. And yes, Californians are indeed destiny here in Austin at least

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  6. K. Schmidt

    To fight vaccine hesitancy, why are we not publishing the following data on COVID - How many people were hospitalized and died each day who were and were NOT vaccinated!!!

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    Angie

    That was a lot of fun
    And I learned stuff
    So, A+

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      Jason Gibson

      did jonah use a bad word?

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        Angie

        ha ha, if he did, I don't remember...lol
        ( It doesn't really bother me when anyone does..as long as it isn't gratuitous...lol)

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    Narwhal

    One way to get greater vaccine uptake among hesitant, but not resistant, populations may to educate them on the different types of vaccines available and how they work.

    Based on my limited understanding, of the three available in the US there are two different methods of developing them. One is newer and one isn’t. The newer method seems to have produced a more effective vaccine, but being new it has been the focus of greater apprehension by some as far as I can tell. Also, the more established method used by J&J only requires one dose, quicker and easier. The trouble is that the J&J vaccine isn’t as widely available at present, at least not where I live.

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      Rajeev

      The mRNA vaccines I think are unfairly criticized but they definitely are nontraditional. If only there was an effective way to segment the population that is mRNA hesitant but want a vaccine. It actually seems that the Novavax vaccine is the best of them in terms of efficacy while also having the benefit of not being mRNA and having taken longer to develop which counters another criticism of the "wait and see" vaccine hesitant crowd. Unfortunately, since we are saturated with the other three, the FDA won't rush this approval and this vaccine might end up being the best against the variants but might be more exported than used domestically.

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  9. Jason Runyan

    Hahaha! As soon as I heard Sarah say "less months" I flinched, remembering Jonah's "news letter" about his pet peeve of less vs fewer, and I was waiting for him to say something! That was a very educational G-file..

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  10. linda

    I like it. It's always good for me to hear Stirewalt's voice. I was a devoted listener to "I'll tell you what.
    Not much we can really do in Cuba.
    The voter scare is nonsense.
    Biden hasn't had an original idea since anytime.
    The Bloomberg article is nonsense. When my husband died I was left with a very large home with a swimming pool I never used and a sauna I never used and a hot tub I never used. I got a ton of advice as you can imagine. Buy a condo was I think the biggest brain damaged idea. Just buy a smaller house and tour the continent. ha. I have zero wanderlust. I did that in my madcap youth. I decided to sell the house to my daughter and SIL on the cheap if they build me a mother in law apartment and pay all my utilities and costs of living aside from the personal. They also have to pay me x amount of dollars a month and look after me when I'm withered. Totally cool. I've look at the building plans and am a happy camper because it is quite suitable and has separate patios and entrances. They have 4 kids still at home with one launched a couple of years ago and we are close. I am close to all of kids so that's pretty much righteous.
    Bottomline, if you have good relations with you offsprings don't go anywhere. You need or will need them. "Let those with ears let them hear".

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