Raul Castro is an embittered old man. Perhaps in his more reflective moments, Mr Castro would admit that Cuba made a mistake by throwing in its lot with the CCCP, only a few years after it had brutally crushed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. It meant Cuba merely traded in one form of dictatorship (the dictatorship of US capital and Latin American authoritarianism) for another (the dictatorship of the Soviet political catechism). If only Cuba had remained truly independent … alas a history of the post Batista era in Cuban history could be entitled “Errors Were Made.”

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Only Iowans take Iowan political judgment seriously. It’s a small state with few electoral votes.

Iowa has no effect on the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. It may wipe the grease paint off a few of the Republican candidates though.

Most Americans can’t locate Iowa on a map.

Maybe that will change now that Hannah Horvath is enrolled at the Iowa Writers Workshop.