Continue reading "The Desperate Need for Change in the Bahamas" »
Continue reading "The Desperate Need for Change in the Bahamas" »
Posted at 02:29 PM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)
by Larry Smith
Posted at 12:40 PM in Culture, Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (4)
by Larry Smith
Continue reading "Will Bahamians Get the Accountability they Voted for?" »
Posted at 09:16 AM in Current Affairs, History, Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)
by Larry Smith
Posted at 06:41 AM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)
by Larry Smith
Continue reading "Exuma Fyre Festival—"Possibly The Worst Event Of All Time"" »
Posted at 08:22 AM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Larry Smith
Posted at 05:25 PM in Current Affairs, Environment | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Larry Smith
A recent spate of animal stories has unexpectedly highlighted the bad governance issues that are harming our country.
Swimming Pigs
First we had the demise of a certain number of the celebrated ‘swimming pigs’ of Big Major Cay in the Exumas.
Despite the various fanciful origin theories offered on Wikipedia, these pigs were actually put on the cay by a Staniel Cay family following hurricanes in the 1990s. And there is a constant ‘turnover' that no-one talks about.
Since there is very little forage or fresh water on the cay for a passel of hogs (as such a grouping is known), the animals began to hang out on the beach begging food from passing boaters.
And in recent years, the stranded pigs have become a huge tourist attraction, with excursion boats from Nassau and the Exumas charging as much as $400 per head for a day trip. Tour operators have even taken to re-stocking the island with piglets from time to time.
Photos and video of pigs swimming up to boaters in the crystal clear Bahamian sea framed by a white sand beach turn up on social media frequently, and have been featured on news shows and in newspapers across Europe and North America.
It’s good publicity - something the Bahamas rarely gets these days. So when tales surfaced in late February that seven of the 22 swimming pigs had been found dead, there was an immediate uproar.
Continue reading "Animal Stories - Pigs, Cattle, Horses and Jackasses" »
Posted at 10:48 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (2)
by Larry Smith
A stunning photo appeared on Facebook over the weekend. Taken from the stern of a small boat speeding away from New Providence, it showed the island entirely shrouded in toxic smoke from the exploding dump.
Other photos taken at night showed a still-raging dump fire when politicians and others were claiming the crisis was all but over.
And there were images of new bush fires burning unimpeded around the dump site, even as the government said it was calling in foreign experts to deal with the problem.
The path to the present crisis at the dump (it is one of many that have occurred over the years), began in the late 1970s, when the government phased out the Big Pond dump on Blue Hill Road and carved out a more remote site in the pine barren off Harrold Road.
A homeowner who has lived near the Harrold Road site since 1976 recalls how the surrounding area developed into a dense residential suburb over the years. Some of these communities had to be evacuated wholesale when the current fire began earlier this month. And it is still not known when they will be able to return.
Continue reading "How to Resolve the Never-Ending New Providence Landfill Crisis" »
Posted at 08:19 AM in Current Affairs, Environment | Permalink | Comments (5)
by Larry Smith
‘Kill the Bill’ has become a rallying cry for privacy advocates in the Bahamas ever since the government - without prior notice - tabled a draconian new surveillance law called the Interception of Communications Bill.
This law will let the authorities intercept and store any communication. Other than applying for a warrant, there are no safeguards built in that would cover such issues as attorney-client privilege, the confidential sources of journalists, or the conversations of members of parliament.
The proposal follows on the heels of similar legislation enacted in Britain, Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and other countries over the last decade or so.
These laws all trace their origin back to the US Patriot Act, passed after the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Among other things, the Patriot Act gave authorities a free hand to conduct mass surveillance and secretly enter homes and businesses.
Secret search of your home or office is also a feature of our government’s Bill, which was recently withdrawn following an avalanche of criticism. However, the government is not abandoning the law. Rather, it will craft a public relations campaign to help push it through.
Posted at 07:15 AM in Current Affairs, Justice | Permalink | Comments (2)
Trump, Neo-Nazis, Statues and Charlottesville
by Larry Smith
The deadly weekend violence in Virginia sparked by a white nationalist rally in support of a Confederate memorial is alarming for more reasons than one.
According to the New York Times, the racist Daily Stormer neo-Nazi website has been calling 2017 the “Summer of Hate" in the United States, and identifying Charlottesville as ground zero.
But overlooking this more tangible threat to America’s liberal democracy (which we love so much), many Bahamians have taken to social media to argue over the pros and cons of removing historical statues from public places.
That’s because the Charlottesville violence flowed from a decision by that city's governing council to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park, where it had been installed in 1924.
Continue reading "Trump, Neo-Nazis, Statues and Charlottesville" »
Posted at 04:50 PM in Current Affairs, Social Comment | Permalink | Comments (1)
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