Quote:That photo of the murdering rapist offends the right and the left equally.
Really, to what extent? It's a sketch from the distant past. Took a long time for the Russians to repudiate Stalin, we visited and did trade. Mao was a mass murderer and Nixon and Kissinger sat down for tea with him, we visited and did trade.
Next up, Vietnam. Want to continue to work those grievances too? Or is China the bigger picture?
Quote:The transmitter site of Naval Communication Station Cam Ranh Bay, in a photo taken sometime between 1970 and 1971, shows a portion of the sprawling base used by tens of thousands of U.S. and South Vietnamese servicemembers during the Vietnam War.
Vietnam has recently spent millions of dollars on upgrades at Cam Ranh Bay, and wants to expand services there to ships from foreign countries. Security analysts say Vietnam could invite U.S. Navy warships to the area, in order to send a message to China.
The past is past and you have no idea how much of your grievance nurturing is shared by those on either the left or the right.
Quote:As President Obama makes the first trip to Cuba by a sitting president in nearly nine decades, Americans are broadly optimistic that re-establishing diplomatic relations will be positive for the United States, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has found.
Sixty-two percent of Americans said reopening ties would be mostly good for the United States. However, the poll found that fewer than half — 40 percent — think it will lead to more democracy for Cuba. Instead, half said they thought it would not make much of a difference.
Over all, nearly six in 10 Americans support normalizing relations with Cuba, and most favor ending the trade embargo, according to the poll.
A slim majority — 52 percent — approved of the way Mr. Obama is handling relations with Cuba. That was up from 44 percent in December 2014, after the president announced that the two countries would restore relations.
Democrats in the poll were much more positive about Mr. Obama’s handling of Cuba policy, with 78 percent approving. Republicans disapproved, 55 percent to 23 percent.
Democrats and independents widely favor the re-established ties, while Republicans are divided, the poll found.
Democrats and independents were also far more likely than Republicans were to say relations with Cuba will be good for the United States. And most Democrats expect the opening to lead to more democracy for Cuba, while most Republicans and independents said they thought it would have no effect.
The poll underscored the substantial degree to which opinion of Cuba has changed over the years. Half of Americans expressed a favorable opinion of Cuba, up more than 10 points from the fall of 2014. Gallup polls found that just 21 percent had a favorable view of Cuba 10 years ago, and that just 10 percent did 20 years ago.
But partisanship helps fuel these views as well. Majorities of Democrats and independents expressed a positive view of Cuba; a little more than a third of Republicans agreed.
Mr. Obama has eased travel restrictions to Cuba, and more than four in 10 Americans said they would be interested in visiting; about two in 10 said they would be very interested. Younger adults expressed far more interest than older adults did.
The poll also found a broad public desire to end a benefit, offered for decades, that allows Cuban immigrants who arrive at an American port of entry and pass a criminal and immigration inspection to stay and apply for legal permanent residence after one year.
About seven in 10 Americans said that this preferential treatment should no longer be offered, and that Cubans immigrants should instead be treated like other immigrants to the United States. These views crossed party lines.
The Times/CBS News telephone poll was conducted on landlines and cellphones from March 11 to 15 with 1,022 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
