Karen Bass, on Biden VP shortlist, scrambles to explain remarks on Castro, Scientology

[Michie]

From the article-
Bass responded to video showing her speaking at a Scientology event in 2010.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Caif., a contender for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, is scrambling to explain past comments praising Fidel Castro and the Church of Scientology.

Bass, who is widely reported to be on Biden’s shortlist, responded Saturday to recently-emerged video that showed her speaking at a Church of Scientology opening in 2010. The organization has been accused of acting like a cult.

“The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference, because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere,” Bass said in the video obtained by the Daily Caller.

“The words are exciting of your founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in The Creed of the Church of Scientology: that all people of whatever race, color or creed, are created with equal rights,” she said.

Continued below.
Karen Bass, on Biden VP shortlist, scrambles to explain remarks on Castro, Scientology

 

[chevyontheriver]

From the article-
Bass responded to video showing her speaking at a Scientology event in 2010.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Caif., a contender for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, is scrambling to explain past comments praising Fidel Castro and the Church of Scientology.

Bass, who is widely reported to be on Biden’s shortlist, responded Saturday to recently-emerged video that showed her speaking at a Church of Scientology opening in 2010. The organization has been accused of acting like a cult.

“The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference, because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere,” Bass said in the video obtained by the Daily Caller.

“The words are exciting of your founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in The Creed of the Church of Scientology: that all people of whatever race, color or creed, are created with equal rights,” she said.

Continued below.
Karen Bass, on Biden VP shortlist, scrambles to explain remarks on Castro, Scientology

Just when I thought Joe Biden had pretty well landed on his lowest possible level ... he picks someone keen on Scientology. I wonder if his other picks lean that way as well? Somebody better check that out.

It would be just grand if Biden would win and then be removed for mental incompetence only to be replaced with a Scientologist.

Wait. Maybe it makes some sense of the whole mess we have been going through. A Scientologist plot to take over the world.

Either that or Joe's got some 'splainin' to do. If he's up for it.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Karen Bass was just on tv with Chris Wallace

She visited Cuba 7 times back in the 1970's, and praised Fidel Castro

She claimed it was just youthful indiscretion

However, Chris Wallace pointed out that it was just four years ago at Castro's death that she praised him.

 

[Michie]

Karen Bass was just on tv with Chris Wallace

She visited Cuba 7 times back in the 1970's, and praised Fidel Castro

She claimed it was just youthful indiscretion

However, Chris Wallace pointed out that it was just four years ago at Castro's death that she praised him.

Yep. Watching the same thing. She was more than a little disingenuous.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Yep. Watching the same thing. She was more than a little disingenuous.

Hey, Castro, Scientology, VP to a president who will retire within months of the election? What should anyone be concerned about?

 

[Albion]

Karen Bass was just on tv with Chris Wallace

She visited Cuba 7 times back in the 1970's, and praised Fidel Castro

She claimed it was just youthful indiscretion

However, Chris Wallace pointed out that it was just four years ago at Castro's death that she praised him.

She seems to have risen in the Veepstakes derby of late, but I cannot figure why, with all the baggage she brings with her...and she's basically an unknown, even as a Congresswoman...and from a state that Biden is sure to win in any case.

 

[jgarden]

Karen Bass was just on tv with Chris Wallace

She visited Cuba 7 times back in the 1970's, and praised Fidel Castro

She claimed it was just youthful indiscretion

However, Chris Wallace pointed out that it was just four years ago at Castro's death that she praised him.

Whatever Castro's faults, he didn't loot the nation and arrange to have $ millions in off-shore accounts like his predecessor whom the US government supported!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Whatever Castro's faults, he didn't loot the nation and arrange to have $ millions in off-shore accounts like his predecessor whom the US government supported!

Didn't loot the nation ?

He most certainly did and oppressed and murdered people.

His predecessor was not a good guy, but Cubans suffered far worse under Castro

 

[Albion]

Whatever Castro's faults, he didn't loot the nation and arrange to have $ millions in off-shore accounts like his predecessor whom the US government supported!

He drove it into poverty, that's for sure.

And he did everything else evil that Batista did not do to his people or the people of other countries. I didn't see any mention of those things.

 

[jgarden]

He drove it into poverty, that's for sure.

And he did everything else evil that Batista did not do to his people or the people of other countries. I didn't see any mention of those things.

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973)
- initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government He - appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state
- conspired with the US envoy Sumner Wells to force the existing President to resign
- the majority of the commissioned officer corps were either forced to retire or, some speculate, were killed
-Batista was endorsed by the Communist Party of Cuba
- maintained this control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was himself elected President
- Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike
- served until 1944. lived in Florida,

It is becoming increasingly apparent that President Batista intends to discomfit the incoming Administration in every way possible, particularly financially. A systematic raid on the Treasury is in full swing with the result that Dr. Grau will probably find empty coffers when he takes office on October 10. It is blatant that President Batista desires that Dr. Grau San Martin should assume obligations which in fairness and equity should be a matter of settlement by the present Administration.
- US Ambassador to Cuba Spruille Braden to the U.S. Secretary of State, July 17, 1944

- returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952 and facing certain electoral defeat, Batista led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás that preempted the election
- Batista did win re-election to the presidency in the general election of 1954, and remained in office until December 31, 1958.

The corruption of the Government, the brutality of the police, the government's indifference to the needs of the people for education, medical care, housing, for social justice and economic justice ... is an open invitation to revolution.
- Arthur Schlesinger, March 1952

- received financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government
- aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans
- eventually most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land
- Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts
- to quell the growing discontent amongst the populace - frequent student riots and demonstrations, Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions
- these murders mounted in 1957, as Fidel Castro gained more publicity and influence, estimates range from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.
- Batiste defeated by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959.
- Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power
- Batista eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazar's Portugal, where he first lived on the island of Madeira and then in Estoril, outside Lisbon

Fulgencio Batista - Wikipedia

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973)
- initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government He - appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state
- maintained this control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was himself elected President
- served until 1944. lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952
- facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás that preempted the election
- Batista did win re-election to the presidency in the general election of 1954, and remained in office until December 31, 1958.
- received financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government
- Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike
- aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans
- eventually most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land
- Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts
- to quell the growing discontent amongst the populace - frequent student riots and demonstrations, Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions
- these murders mounted in 1957, as Fidel Castro gained more publicity and influence, estimates range from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.
- Batiste defeated by rebels under the command of Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara on New Year's Day 1959.
- Batista immediately fled the island with an amassed personal fortune to the Dominican Republic, where strongman and previous military ally Rafael Trujillo held power
- Batista eventually found political asylum in Oliveira Salazar's Portugal, where he first lived on the island of Madeira and then in Estoril, outside Lisbon

Fulgencio Batista - Wikipedia

Where Cubans risking their lives trying to escape from Cuba during Batista's reign ?

Under Castro, there was a exodus from Cuba and people tried all sorts of dangerous methods to try and escape.

Did they do that under Batista or could they leave freely ?

 

[jgarden]

Where Cubans risking their lives trying to escape from Cuba during Batista's reign ?

Under Castro, there was a exodus from Cuba and people tried all sorts of dangerous methods to try and escape.

Did they do that under Batista or could they leave freely ?

Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that 11,500 of them worked their trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the poorest, and most beautiful countries in the Western world.
= David Detzer, American journalist, after visiting Havana in the 1950s

At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.
- John F. Kennedy

Earl E. T. Smith, former U.S. Ambassador to Cuba, testified to the U.S. Senate in 1960 that, "Until Castro, the U.S. was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president." In addition, nearly "all aid" from the U.S. to Batista's government was in the "form of weapons assistance", which "merely strengthened the Batista dictatorship" and "completely failed to advance the economic welfare of the Cuban people". Such actions later "enabled Castro and the Communists to encourage the growing belief that America was indifferent to Cuban aspirations for a decent life."

According to historian and author James S. Olson, the U.S. government essentially became a "co-conspirator" in the arrangement because of Batista's strong opposition to communism, which, in the rhetoric of the Cold War, seemed to maintain business stability and a pro-U.S. posture on the island.[9] Thus, in the view of Olson, "The U.S. government had no difficulty in dealing with him, even if he was a hopeless despot."

Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years ... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections
- Senator John F Kennedy, October 6, 1960

I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country's policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.
- US President John F Kennedy, October 24, 1963

Many innocent people were tortured by Batista's police, while suspects, including youth, were publicly executed as a warning to others who were considering joining the insurgency. Additionally, "Hundreds of mangled bodies were left hanging from lamp posts or dumped in the streets in a grotesque variation of the Spanish colonial practice of public executions."

On December 31, 1958, at a New Year's Eve party, Batista told his cabinet and top officials that he was leaving the country. After seven years, Batista knew his presidency was over, and he fled the island in the early morning. At 3:00 a.m. on January 1, 1959, Batista boarded a plane at Camp Columbia with 40 of his supporters and immediate family members and flew to Ciudad Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. A second plane flew out of Havana later in the night, carrying ministers, officers and the Governor of Havana. Batista took along a personal fortune of more than $300 million that he had amassed through graft and payoffs. Critics accused Batista and his supporters of taking as much as $700 million in fine art and cash with them as they fled into exile.

Fulgencio Batista - Wikipedia

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that 11,500 of them worked their trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the poorest, and most beautiful countries in the Western world.
= David Detzer, American journalist, after visiting Havana in the 1950s



Fulgencio Batista - Wikipedia

Sounds like Chicago or many other major cities in the USA.

But you didn't answer the question, were people prevented from leaving Cuba under Batista ?

They were under Castro and many were shot trying to leave

Other's were killed in the ocean as they were shot by Castro's coastal guards or they drowned in rickety crafts they tried to escape in.

Batista was bad, but communism under Castro was far worse and even today, former Cubans living here in the USA, opposed Obama lifting the trade embargo against Cuba

I agreed with Obama doing this, but the point is, the Cubans who lived under Castro hated him deeply.

 

[jgarden]

Sounds like Chicago or many other major cities in the USA.

But you didn't answer the question, were people prevented from leaving Cuba under Batista ?

They were under Castro and many were shot trying to leave

Other's were killed in the ocean as they were shot by Castro's coastal guards or they drowned in rickety crafts they tried to escape in.

Batista was bad, but communism under Castro was far worse and even today, former Cubans living here in the USA, opposed Obama lifting the trade embargo against Cuba

I agreed with Obama doing this, but the point is, the Cubans who lived under Castro hated him deeply.

Just because Americans disapprove of Communism as an ideology doesn't equate to proof that Castro was as bad or worse than Batista!

The Bay of Pigs was predicated on the belief that it would trigger a popular uprising against Castro - whatever his flaws, the Cuba people not being ground into poverty under the control of the multinationals and the American mafia!

Many Americans in positions of authority in the 50's were the "canaries in the mine" - they predicted that Cuba was ripe for revolution and that by providing Batista with military support, America was aligning itself on the wrong side!

 

[Fantine]

So good to see you, Jim OCDS.

Bass won't be the veep choice. She's 73. She's from California. While she is very progressive the ticket needs a younger running mate.

Biden is 77, and while he is at least ten times as competent and articulate as the minimally younger incumbent, it would be wise to choose someone in her 50's or 60's.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Just when I thought Joe Biden had pretty well landed on his lowest possible level ... he picks someone keen on Scientology. I wonder if his other picks lean that way as well? Somebody better check that out.

It would be just grand if Biden would win and then be removed for mental incompetence only to be replaced with a Scientologist.

Wait. Maybe it makes some sense of the whole mess we have been going through. A Scientologist plot to take over the world.

Either that or Joe's got some 'splainin' to do. If he's up for it.

When did Biden pick someone keen on Scientology?

 

[chevyontheriver]

When did Biden pick someone keen on Scientology?

You are right. He has not picked yet. I should have said he was thinking about picking someone keen on Scientology. We'll see who he actually picks.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Just because Americans disapprove of Communism as an ideology doesn't equate to proof that Castro was as bad or worse than Batista!

The Bay of Pigs was predicated on the belief that it would trigger a popular uprising against Castro - whatever his flaws, the Cuba people not being ground into poverty under the control of the multinationals and the American mafia!

Many Americans in positions of authority in the 50's were the "canaries in the mine" - they predicted that Cuba was ripe for revolution and that by providing Batista with military support, America was aligning itself on the wrong side!

Well, I think you need to read about Fidel Castro and what he did before you try and defend him.

He was a puppet of the Soviet Union, and all you have to do is look at what happened there to get an idea about how communism ends up playing out when it becomes the form of government for a nation.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

So good to see you, Jim OCDS.

B.

Thanks, good to see you too !