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Too many Americans remain flummoxed about how they wound up with Donald Trump as their president. They can conjure up dozens of reasons why he shouldn’t be president, but how he got elected remains fundamentally mysterious for many. While the Robert Mueller investigation and the evidence of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election offer a partial explanation, few serious students of American politics believe Russian interference tipped the balance by itself.
“I’m going to build a wall, a big one, and keep these people out.” So promised Donald Trump and in doing so pulled on the cord of white America’s deep seated fear of immigration and won himself a seat in the White House.
THE Bahamas is not the first country to experience the dilemma presented by what in some places is called squatters’ settlements or slums or what we have come to call shanty towns. As immigrant populations grow around the world and where it is difficult for those immigrants to assimilate or afford standard housing, communities of substandard housing pop up.
AUGUST is political vacation time in North America and perhaps even more so in Europe. With the politicians out of time, commentators are able to devote some more attention to matters other than the increasingly seamy but nonetheless diverting circus that democratic politics has become.
ON Friday of last week, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard announced in Grand Bahama that legislation was going to be introduced with stiffer penalties for poaching, the illegal taking of fish, conch and crawfish from Bahamian waters by non-Bahamians or non-Bahamian owned vessels.
There are many who feel the United States is the luckiest nation in modern history. Blessed by benign geography, the distractions of European powers during the nation’s infancy, an abundance of natural resources and the geopolitical latitude to stumble often in establishing a workable democracy, the US can hardly deny its good fortune.
“GOD don’t like ugly!”
THE sorry saga of the Oban Energies deal rumbles ever onwards – and a most curious tale it is too.
VISITORS to Nassau ride through the historic city wide-eyed, awed by the lines and bones of its architectural heritage and appalled at the number of buildings with holes in the roof or no roof at all, decorated with unsightly graffiti and begging for attention.
HISTORIANS will certainly have their hands full with the legacy of Donald Trump. Just when it seems he cannot do anything more outlandish, selfish or just plain stupid, he surpasses himself. His performance in meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland last week almost seemed to be an attempt to exceed his own previously well-documented witlessness. It must be admitted that if that was his intent, he was successful.
WE ARE pleased that Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, in considering whether marijuana should be legalised in the Bahamas, will not be looking at the revenue that such legalisation might bring in, but on the medical benefits that marijuana, if controlled, could offer our people.
ARE we really serious about ensuring the brightest possible future for The Bahamas?
ON June 30, the eyes of the world focused on The Bahamas for all the wrong reasons. One American woman was killed and at least nine others were injured after a tour boat carrying 12 people exploded a mile off Barraterre in the Exumas. While the cause of that explosion remains under investigation, the incident drew our attention to the business of boating in Bahamian waters and to boat operations in general, vessels being used for commercial charters, fishing and for private recreational use.
IT IS hard to know how to respond to the outrageousness that the Trump administration in the United States has become. This foolish president continues to insult the leaders of the nations who have stood beside America for nearly 75 years and assault the foundations of an American foreign policy that has made major contributions to world peace and prosperity for most of that same period. His rudeness and haughty behaviour on his recent trip to Europe cannot be excused.
INSTEAD of being ashamed of their ignorance and keeping their mouths firmly shut, the squabbling over the posthumous award of The Bahamas’ first National Heroes is continuing with Englerston MP Gladys Hanna-Martin claiming that to recognise the late Sir Roland Symonette, the longest serving member of parliament, with such a reward was “perverse”.
IT was probably inevitable that the announcement of the country’s first National Honours would be met with a divided response.
DONALD Trump wants a wall to keep foreigners out. The Bahamas didn’t have to build a wall. All the government had to do was create a high enough rate for real property tax for residences owner-occupied for less than six months of the year and they could not only effectively keep those who might have been interested in a second home from choosing The Bahamas, they could entice those already invested in second homes to pack up and leave.
The sad, dangerous chaos that is the Trump administration was illuminated again last week when EPA administrator Scott Pruitt resigned. Pruitt, as venal and corrupt as any senior official in Trump’s government, was reportedly the subject of 13 different corruption or misconduct investigations when he finally resigned under pressure from the White House chief of staff.
IT IS unsurprising that Bahamians who are curious and well-informed follow closely the ebb and flow of the nation’s domestic politics.
WE hope it was just political banter when Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, in a recent exchange with Opposition leader Philip “Brave” Davis indicated he would agree to pay from the public purse for Mr Davis’ tour of the islands to inform the people why government’s 12 per cent VAT increase was not necessary. However, Dr Minnis seemed to catch himself at the end of the exchange when he joked: “I have to speak to the minister of finance to see what’s there!”
THIS is the time of each year when the United States Supreme Court wraps up its yearly activity with a rash of judgments to mark the end of its latest term. Often, these decisions do not garner dramatic headlines, because the issues may touch on obscure constitutional points of law or practically not affect too many people.
IN this column on Wednesday, we drew attention to the opposition of four FNM Members of Parliament to the controversial increase of VAT that led to their voting against the Budget. We touched on the reasons why, under our Westminster system of government, they were subsequently sacked from Dr Minnis’s administration. Today, we explore further the workings of that system, which is the bedrock of our democracy, and also call on the Government to improve its public relations.
BAHAMIANS seem to have one thing in common – no one likes Value Added Tax, whether it be 7.5 percent or the 12 percent percent to which it was recently increased.
FROM the questions we are being asked about recent political events we realise that much is missing from the education of Bahamian students as to the history of their country and the political system under which they live.
WHEN Prime Minister Dr Hubert A Minnis goes on the road this week to sell the budget, there is one tool in his doctor’s kit that he should be prepared to use – a strong dose of the often-overlooked costs of funding hurricane mitigation, recovery and rebuilding.