The bigger picture here is to put bahamians first! You no longer have to give your country away or beg investors to come here. Your country is in demand. What sense in signing investment agreements, like Oban and Disney and oil drilling valued in the Billions of Dollars, when the average Bahamian can’t pay electricity and water bills. Where is the sense in expanding the Bahamian economy with the exclusion of Bahamians? The tariffs Trump imposed on China is now putting billions and billions of dollars in the US treasury. Finally allowing the US to get some leverage on its debt to China. And Trump claims the tariffs may be reduced but will not be removed any time soon. His advice to companies that don’t want to pay the tariffs: move your production to the US. And of course he also lashed out at the WTO who opposed those tariffs, even threatening to pull out of the organization if they don’t get it right. In this country almost 2/3 of all hotel beds will be owned and/or operated by Chinese and most of the rest by foreigners. The same with the cruise ships. And most of the guests in the hotels are foreigners (tourists) as are the passengers on the cruise ships. The tourists numbers are up and the country must now ‘right Fit’ it’s taxing on tourist to pay off the national debt. Disney increased its tickets for cruises as well as the ones to visit Disney world. They did this even while they were making huge profits. The Bahamas must now do the same. For investors and visitors alike. Should no longer be ‘we must pay you to come here. The same also with Us and China. Weigh the benefits.

When BEC, BaTelCo, WSC and even some private companies took this kind of action, they found themselves having to go back to the same pool and rehire the people they let go. Apparently Meltdown Marvin feels he has enough talent and experience within the ranks to boot almost his entire top brass and either leave some positions vacant or promote junior officers. A bet the country cannot afford to lose, considering the crime situation. And the claim that this will not affect morale on the force is rubbish, especially since some dismissed officers claim they only learned of their fate in the media. With BTC, the problem is many who didn’t take the package are now leaving because they feel jobs are insecure. At least three CEO’s in five years. To unceremoniously kick long serving officers out to graze must have some impact on other officers. Some are wondering whose running the ship, while others may have hands itching to get on the wheel. And the public is also wondering what type police force their country will end up with.

Thought that’s what the Parliamentary Channel was for.... oops

That may be a loaded question because Minnis will have to say how many US agencies are involved with or interfering with the Bahamian government. Policing for sure.

The US plans to use its military to cut off the supply of Venezuela oil to Cuba. If this happens and the Bahamas supports Trump, it will create tension between Cuba and The Bahamas. Russia, whose oil is already banned of the world market may move in to supply Cuba. Then let your imagination run wild as to what could happen from there.

Virtual reality! The video of the guy who shot up a hundred persons in New Zealand was also streamed live to 2.5 million people before Facebook was able to take it down. The major difference? That one was planned by the perpetrator of the crime. The two here were from video from on the victims side. The one on Fox Hill was so unreal, so movie like, so ‘Boyz in the hood ish’ , something that was so unknown to this country not too long ago. Guys on the park having fun. Police right there, not too far away and death and mayhem comes riding on a moped and changes everything with the squeeze of a trigger. Not once, not twice, but more than half a dozen times in a matter of seconds. And in that instance, a life is taken. Dead. To be no more. And the shooting in Nassau Village. The victim mopping the floor after a long, hard day. And the hoodlooms appear, weapons drawn. Overdressed even for a Hollywood movie. And again shots are fired and a life is taken. Surreal, numbing, bone chilling, but yet so common. So everyday. So what now?

DeAguilar failed to mention that half of the Caribbean is still in hurricane recovery mode. Some still do not have 100% power restored and airports and docking facilities are still being reconstructed. Yes we benefited but is the growth sustainable ?

And God told his chosen ‘ I will not shower you with earthly treasures, because your enemy will strip you of it again, but for those you believe, and are faithful til the end, your reward is in Heaven.

*The New York State Supreme court’s appeal division has stayed all aspects of the case against China Construction America (CCA) until it hears the contractor’s appeal against the lower court’s emphatic rejection of its bid to strike out Mr Izmirlian’s case*
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**In a case as large as this, it is better for Izmirilian that all legal avenues be explored and exhausted before the case goes to trial if it goes that far. It reduces the chances and grounds for appeal if he prevails. But it would be strange for an appeals court to go from a lower court's ruling of 'emphatic rejection" of CCA's attempts to strike out this case to dismissal. And if the case is sent back to arbitration then it will be a matter of how generous an offer CCA makes and how hungry Izmirilian is to bite it. Of note is that a CCA affiliate holds $150 million worth of preference shares in Bah Mar so they, are in effect, still benefitting, while Izmirilian has been stripped clean of any benefits.**
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*The New York court also found that the original Baha Mar developer had provided enough evidence to “sufficiently plead” fraud thanks to the numerous e-mails, documents and meetings referenced. It also rejected CCA’s argument that the fraud claims duplicated the breach of contract allegation.*
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.**Since the fraud case against CCA is sufficiently documented, it will be to Izmirilian's advantage to go to trial, as will CCA be better off trying to settle before trial.**

BTW, China is teaching almost 1 Million Chinese to speak English and the culture of the Western World. They are even learning songs like ‘Jesus loves me ‘‘tis I know.’ But they are also being taught military discipline. Can you guess their mission?