This immigration policy has pushed the economy into a critical slump as some businesses have seen their sales fall off by 50% since November 1. This may make Christmas and the holiday season even more gloomy than expected, especially as consumers and businesses prepare for VAT in less than two months.

rash decision?
As Haitians try to leave the Bahamas or go into hiding:
Economic Impact Some inner city stores have saw their sales drop by as much as 50%. Banks ans other institutions are almost empty. Even Top up phone sales are down.
social impact: Some schools see some classes reduced by more than half as students are taken in to hiding or prepare to leave the country. Same goes for some churches, medical clinics.
employment: Some businesses, including a major food store, some wholesale agents and fast food restaurants find themselves having to scramble to replace staff who have left or who will not meet the "passport in hand" policy and will have to be replaced eventually. Not to mention some construction companies. And while the effort is underway to rid the country of 'illegals and their offspring' , one major hotel out west is firing Bahamians left, right and center and replacing them with foreign nationals who are not black or Haitian.

a clear obsevration: The policy to regularize and/or deport persons without proper status in this country is a good one. However the timing and hastiness to carry out this policy was off. One can hardly find an apartment locally in a month much less pack up and move an entire family to another country in the same time frame. Not only will the persons who leave be affected by this but it will leave the country in economic and cultural shock. Businesses that are preparing for their busiest season may actually experience a dramatic slump in sales, and the Government will see a corresponding shortfall in VAT taxes come January. And many social organizations find themselves with key persons leaving without enough time to replace them. Maybe the government must stick to its guns to make it clear that they are serious about their immigration policy. But those who are willing and trying to leave and need more time should be considered.

another killing this~morning as CDU on JFK is taped off from the public and a lifeless body lay on the ground next to a champagne colored car. Not sure of the circumstances so cannot say it is a murder, but you can say someone has been killed.

Today i came out the bank and my car didnt start. After trying a few things I still couldnt get it to start so I had to call a tow truck. And while I was waiting I couldnt help but about what must be going through the minds of a Haitian parent who has spent years in this country. Now she has been given a minutes notice to leave. She has no money for a ticket for herself but what makes it worse is she now has tow or three children she has to take with her ...to a desolate land they have never even dreamed about. So she will have to give away everything she has spent years to accumulate here in the "it is better for white folks" Bahamas and take her children back to Haiti to sleep on the ground and probably to eat dirt...John 3:16

But yet there is light at the end of the tunnel. If only we learn to dig together and in the same direction. Politics by nature is a dirty and attracts the dishonest, yet there can be good governance and and a progressive nation.

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
― Aristotle

More window dressing and false hope. After 40 years if increasing crime and at least 10 solid years of crime, especially rape and murder, being at epidemic proportions, the bow ties should be off and a hard and fast battle to stomp out crime in full effect. An effort that cannot ionly involve the police acting like firemen running here and there to scrape bodies off the streets, even in broad daylight now, or to console rape victim after the fact. Time to stop breeding criminals, cloaking them and treating them as the victim.

It will take about 5 years and upwards of100 million dollars for a serious government to fix the crime problem in the Bahamas using a multi-pronged approach and a sustained, non-political effort. Government will have to go in to the crime ridden, poverty stricken communities and offer financial assistance, long-term social programs, family redevelopment programs and employment. The mindset of the people, young especially, must be changed to one that views the drug dealer and the criminal as the hero and the role model and the police as they enemy. Persons will have to live within their means and that poverty is a condition that can be overcome. For every million dollars the government spends on policing and law enforcement, it may have to spend ten million on a community effort. Then government has to ensure that there is law and order but it must be visible and effective. When more murderers are walking around the community on bail than those that have been brought to justice and are in jail that sends the wrong signal to potential offenders and revenge seekers. That is a direct indictment on government. Additional courts that were promised to be up and operating over a year ago sheds questionable doubt on the governments seriousness about fighting crime. Need to get qualified social scientist involved and strengthen the male presence in the schools, from an early grade.

Florida's medical marijuana initiative, Amendment 2, received more than 50% of the vote, but failed to reach the 60% needed to pass

Isn't there too much "I"s in that convo and not enough 'U's" and 'V's"?