Raul, Barack. Barack, Raul.

President Obama and Raul Castro met today in a moment guaranteed to make Republican heads implode.

President Obama met with Cuban leader Raul Castro on Saturday afternoon, in what Obama called a “historic meeting.” 

"We are now in a position to move on a path toward the future,” Obama told the Cuban leader at the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, according to pool reports. 

"Over time, it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our two countries." 

He noted one of the first tasks the two countries will have to undertake is opening embassies in their respective capitals. 

Through an interpreter, Castro said he agrees with Obama on all points. He said the two leaders can disagree while remaining respectful. 

"We are willing to discuss everything but we need to be patient, very patient,” Castro said. "We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow."

I never thought I'd see this day.  Cuba and the Castros have been "The bad guys just off the coast of Florida" all my life. But change is coming.  Slowly.  But it's coming.

 

Saving Us From Ourselves

The FBI sure has this knack for allowing twenty-something losers to pretend to carry out terrorist fantasies, then catching them in the act for long, long prison sentences.

Booker was charged with one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives), one count of attempting to damage property by means of an explosive and one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, the Justice Department said in a news release. 

Booker, of Topeka, was arrested at 9 a.m. local time without incident near Manhattan, Kansas, just east of Fort Riley. Prosecutors claim he was making final preparations for setting off a bomb as part of a suicide mission against U.S. military personnel, according to a criminal complaint. 

"I want to assure the public there was never any breach of Fort Riley Military Base, nor was the safety or the security of the base or its personnel ever at risk," FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson said in a statement. 

Officials said they believe Booker has mental health problems, and he once claimed he was captured by the FBI because he "was with" al Qaeda. 

Booker tried a year ago to join the Army as part of his alleged plot to attack U.S. soldiers, officials said. About three weeks before he was to report for basic training, authorities say he posted a disturbing message on Facebook: "Getting ready to be killed in jihad is a HUGE adrenaline rush!! I am so nervous. NOT because I'm scared to die but I am eager to meet my lord." 

Someone noticed the posting and the FBI was alerted. Prosecutors say he admitted writing it and told FBI agents that he enlisted in the Army so he could kill his fellow soldiers in a similar way as Maj. Nidal Hasan did at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Booker allegedly told the agents that he had formulated several plans for waging violent jihad once he was in the Army. 

After the Army decided it had no use for Booker, the FBI sent undercover operatives to talk with him over the next several months, the complaint said. They say Booker told them he wanted to make a car bomb to engage in "violent jihad on behalf of (ISIS)."

The guy needed help and was not a material threat.  Instead the feds allowed him to indulge his twisted fantasy in order to what, put him in a cage for the next quarter of a century? Yeah, that seems like it's a worthy use of tax dollars.

Jesus.