As a Bahamian this sickens and embarrasses me. Columbus was responsible for many terrible things, for which he should be held in contempt, but he is also a part of our history, and those of us who wish to pull ourselves out of the primordial sludge of ignorance understand that. Hate and stupidity. Although I’m sure the haters will be writing letters to the editor calling this idiot a “hero”. It’s a New Day!

Mr. Armaly, do you really want to focus on ability to pay, or is that just a smokescreen for the typical Bahamian “black crab syndrome” where you begrudge people their success and want to pull them down? Property wealth does not always equate to ability to pay huge taxes. A Bahamian could work hard, be successful and after decades of saving be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour by building or buying a $5m home, which could then over the next decade appreciate into a $10m. In retirement that Bahamian’s income could plummet, so where is he supposed to find a crazy $100,000 a year to pay property tax? You want to force him or his family to sell that property that he spent a lifetime working to earn. If you want to honestly look at ability to pay then the only solution is an income tax.

This is why western civilization is doomed…because the politically correct, the wokes, the “religious” and the snowflake cancel culture brigade refuse to look at hard truths, common sense and logic. Everyone with an ounce of humanity feels awful for plight of Haitians, but not wanting to let them destroy our own lives, culture and security does not make us evil. And they would have far fewer problems and less degradation in Haiti if they had indeed, on an individual level, all thought sensibly about whether they had the ability to take care of any children they wanted to have. We all have things we would like to do but don’t do because we don’t have the money for it…we don’t just do it anyway and expect someone else to pay for it.

That is the absolute truth. Having children should not be viewed as a human right, it is a right you need to earn by being able to provide for them.

Agreed. This may open the floodgates. Precedent has been set. I wonder if they asked which party he voted for before stepping in for the photo op?

Contributing to your private medical insurance is normal. Getting it for free is not. Damned unions live in la-la land.

And the other local channels have people who can actually read and speak fluently, and sound vaguely like they know what they are doing. ZNS broadcasters sound like they definitely got the job because they know somebody, and not because they are any good at it.

Of course Fred Mitchell doesn't want the people who actually know what happened to speak the truth.

OMG I am so tired of these disingenuous letters from purported travel agents and the incredible hypocrisy. Canada won't let you in at all; US only gives you 3 days to get your test done. The Bahamas Travel Visa is not this huge, long-winded, complicated thing. I have travelled into The Bahamas from the UK and Europe 3 times now during covid, and each time the visa was approved within less than 30 minutes.
"All the requirements of the visa"...LOL. Does this guy have the slightest clue how many hoops the US government makes you jump through to get a visa to visit the USA?
Well maybe everyone is declining to use this guy's rinky-dink travel agency, but most people in the world do their bookings directly with hotels and airlines these days if they have even the slightest level of internet literacy...and that is so many people that all the flights are full and the big hotels are reporting higher bookings than pre-covid. Don't know where this disaster is that this guy is talking about.

Some of us would agree with all of that. Adults need to take responsibility for their own choices and shouldn't expect others to come to the rescue to save them from their own decisions.