Media-wise it was like the return of Elian Gonzalez or an electronic Bay of Pigs. From editorial obscurity Cuba had been hurled back onto the front pages of the world's newspapers and newscasts by Beyonce and Jay-Z, media's royal couple.  Even Angela Jolie and Brad Pitt could never have roiled the treacherous waters of U.S./Cuban relations like the pop stars did with their just concluded Fifth Anniversary visit this week.

The roots of Catholicism run deep under the Rivera family tree. One of seventeen children, my father Cruz (like my second son) is named for the cross. Dad was a deacon in the Catholic Church. My sister Irene was a parochial school principal and later a superintendant of diocesan schools on Long Island. And during my youth, my father's side of our vast family was universally Catholic. I bring up my family's experience because it mirrors the larger Latino community in this regard. The near universal adherence to the Catholic religion that existed among our clan into the 1980's has been replaced by a religiously fragmented family many of whom no longer follow the faith of Rome and St. Peter.

It is as subtle as the meat cleaver or blunt axe the president has been complaining about in his negotiations with Republicans over sequestration, those blind, mandatory budget cuts that begin today. In what seems a bold, blatantly political move, Immigration and Custom's Enforcement (ICE) has released hundreds of illegal immigrants from detention. ICE claims it did that because it fears not having enough money to keep them detained since its budget has now been reduced by sequestration.

I can't prove the following scenario actually happened. In fact as you'll see Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary denies any presidential involvement; but I can just picture this imagined conversation happening in the Oval Office.

"If the election for United States Senator were being held today and the candidates in New Jersey were Cory Booker the Democrat and Geraldo Rivera the Republican… Republicans back Rivera 54-23 percent over Booker."

Since I did beat Booker among registered Republicans, that could have been the headline of the Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday February 21, 2013.

Instead, the pollsters choose the more traditional approach. Citing Booker's dominance "among all other political, gender, income, age and regional groups in the state," they write, "If TV personality Geraldo Rivera is just testing the water for a U.S. Senate run in New Jersey, he might find that the water is colder than the Atlantic Ocean in February."

The positive identification Thursday of the killer ex-LAPD cop Christopher Dorner's burned remains ends one of Southern California's most terrifying crime sprees. Matched by dental records, Dorner's charred corpse had been removed the day before from the ashes of a mountain cabin where a furious shootout, the final chapter of this bizarre drama played out in a hail of gunfire and flames. That it happened as the president prepared to address the nation on critical issues including gun violence, made it even more relevant and surreal.