“AS we dove into the abyss, the surface light faded first to blue then gray.  Colors washed out until the multi-colored world of the reef gave way to the black and white of the deep.  Even my own fins, which sparkled a brilliant yellow on the beach, had muted into dull white.  But the most a…

AS usual the Governor is up to his malarkey of “deflecting and gaslighting” events and circumstances FOR his personal intentions of “not being responsible and accountable to the People.” Every time he opens his mouth you can depend on something coming out to HIS benefits, which is why he mak…

1987 was a CNMI midterm election year, and the campaign rhetoric, as usual, was blistering. One of the senatorial candidates complained about his opponent’s attacks on the candidate’s father and uncle (elected officials both). The candidate was also quoted by Variety as saying, “The U.S. isn…

TODAY, Oct. 15, the Senate holds its fourth day of its regular session in Rota, and part of the agenda is the final reading of House Bill 22-70 or the Investment Incentive Act of 2021 authored by Rep. Angel Demapan, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives this past August.

“TRUMPISM & Toressism” seem to have the same political strategy when it comes to “admitting the truth and letting it be told” with the implementation of “lies, deflecting, gaslighting and sabotaging the checks & balances and the legal process meant to hold them accountable. These guy…

FROM the Honolulu Star-Advertiser to Singapore’s Straits Times to ABC Australia, everywhere you look in the news around the Pacific, the same story leads: Submarines.  As fellow columnist Hugh White of the Lowy Institute observed, “It is rare for Australian defence policy to make headlines a…

FOR years I have been giving readers excellent examples of how these Republicans have continued to put OTHERS before their own People and it just continues to get worse and worse. The recent Tourism Bubble is another new example of how this Governor put South Koreans first over Locals. This …

IN a recent op-ed, the Saipan mayor recalled that in the Trust Territory days, each village had a commissioner who made sure that homes were clean. Today, there is a “beefed up” anti-littering law, P.L. 19-53, that is supposed to be enforced by BECQ, DLNR, DPW, the mayor’s office, the zoning…

LAST weekend, empty beer bottles and bags of food were left on one of the benches at Micro Beach. This disappointing sight, along with other incidents of people carelessly leaving their trash for someone else to pick up, is a common occurrence.

I HAD planned to address the Gaslighted Polls in the Variety on the Marianas Agupa Show this past Saturday but the power was out and the show was canceled, so here it is. The polls in the Variety are indeed genuine attempts to gauge what the general public is thinking. When I saw the results…

THINKING of Saipan’s future, I am not as bleak as others.  In fact, I am quite optimistic about the ability of Saipan to recover from its Covid-induced economic woes. 

A LARGE number of voters are waiting and wondering WHEN will our leaders LISTEN and even give Ambrose a real chance given my “I TOLD THEM SO” revelations! Well, I’m here to tell them it’s not so much that I offered bad or ridiculous ideas as it is the FACT that I’m not a Local, which screams…

“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.” — H.L. Mencken

ON Sept. 20,  Rota Mayor Efraim Atalig, representatives from the office of Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan, representatives from the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Public School System, and I met with the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers and listened to the presentation on its newest initi…

I’M sure most readers have been “disciplined” at one time in their life for something which should also be the standard practice for dealing with our elected leaders. I am now a permanent fixture on the “English Version” of the Marianas Agupa Show and I’m not there for Ambrose Bennett’s fame…

FROM the files of the Cold War comes this strange but true tale of Pacific mayhem.  The current tension between China and the United States is not the first time Pacific nations felt squeezed between giants.  Not so long ago, the U.S., facing a different adversary, contemplated its Pacific f…

I’M sure when I failed to finish the title of this op-ed that everyone of adult age knows the age-old wisdom of “united we stand and divided we fall.”  WE have our own divide as there were those in the CNMI complaining about Juneteenth being a Holiday, refusing to be vaccinated and even accu…

“[M]any of the ideas which now pass for brilliant innovations and advances are in fact mere revival of ancient errors….”

WHEN the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, the Marianas’ borders were immediately closed to visitors. Some hotels stopped their operations, while some remained partially open, leaving many people without a job or working shortened hours. At the Saipan international airport, only one ai…

THE editor wrote an excellent Editorial on Rome and their Entitlement programs, and Socialism which were very true back then and some of which is even true today. But my concern is not so much for Entitlement Programs because these Republicans don’t even know what “Entitlement means for Loca…

THERE is exciting news out of Norway that scuba divers and all lovers of the sea will be interested in.  Since the development of diving, the threat of decompression sickness, also known as the bends, has hung over the heads of all who work or explore underwater.  Recently, scientists have t…

THERE can be nothing but KUDOS and THANKS for the “amazing & overkill” obtained by the JGO Committee through their diligent work to apply the “checks & balances” on the Governor as required by OUR Constitution.  We the People are fortunate to have the Democrats in control of the Hous…

IN the U.S. today, a political stance that used to be defined as liberal is called conservative, but someone with mostly illiberal views is called liberal while those who  do not want progress and are in favor of “returning to nature” are known as progressives.

WE’VE seen or read about unfortunate auto-pedestrian incidents in our islands too many times. Many of which may be avoidable with proper medians or crosswalks. Here at home, we have medians on some of our streets, but most of them are not properly marked or maintained, making it equally dang…

THE Governor’s alleged Criminal activities were confirmed by the Lt. Governor with two words — Amazing & Overkill and the Governor should RESIGN if he really cares. The Urban Dictionary defines a weasel as “shifty, scheming person that will do whatever they need to escape whatever they f…

LIKE Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination and the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, the September 11 terrorist attacks are seared permanently in our collective minds.  Anyone over 30 years old can likely tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on that fateful …

A TINY bit of the Open Doors Establishment has found a new way to thwart those seeking to enforce the immigration law: Deny them unemployment insurance. Or so my correspondent says. I am not saying that this is a trend, or even accurate, but an immigration whistle-blower in a place where tha…

I DON’T think there is a single voter who can say “WE the People haven’t been TRICKED by these Republicans” over the past two decades and that applies multiple times to the present Torres Administration. The funny part for me is they are still running the same old politricking plays that hav…

WHAT were they complaining about in the NMI 49 years ago? At the time, the NMI was still part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands administered by the U.S., and Saipan was the seat of the TT government which was the main employer of local residents.

IN late August, we received the great news that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration awarded a $19.6 million grant to the CNMI Department of Finance.  The grant will be used to build a new Economic Business Center for the Marianas and to acquire a new financi…

I THINK most of us with KNOW there is a constant battle between “good v evil” and politics is no exception. Robert Hunter and others have constantly attacked private citizens and continue to attack me in the Comment Section that seems to go “un-checked” by ethical standards. For years people…

CRUISING over the waves, course set for the shores of the earthy mound I call Grandpa’s Island, I am encouraged that so many others share my love of the sea.  I gave the island that name because it is where my grandfather took me when still a boy and made me both a man and a sailor. 

IF there is one TRUE & Common Concern that WE all share, it is for the CNMI to become a Better Place to live with a much Better Economy. The only way WE the People can achieve this is with a BETTER Government.  Everyone with common knowledge and common sense have to KNOW that the Republi…

“Like the Republicans, I can make all sorts of promises….”

WE’VE seen positive development in our economy and labor force in the past months. People are queueing in stores to use their stimulus cards, local businesses are recalling back their workers or giving them extra hours to cater to the increase in business activity, while government agencies …

THE time has truly come for the People stop watching and to “speak-up & demand MORE” from our Governor. The Department of Commerce doesn’t need 80 million dollars which is why many of us regular folks are complaining and want MORE!  Just think, us-folks-in-the-cheap-seats only got 25 mil…

“The whole appearance of the ocean was like a plain covered with snow…  The scene was one of awful grandeur, the sea having turned to phosphorus, and the heavens being hung in blackness, and the stars going out, seemed to indicate that all nature was preparing for that last grand conflagrati…

THE Governor just GAVE Sixto, who also helped Governor Fitial KILL the Retirement Fund, 80 million of OUR dollars to virtually manipulate at HIS discretion. It’s really tooooo much to give to Commerce alone when there is so many other things FOR the People that needs doing. The Governor is m…

IT seems that no one among elected officials would like to talk about it publicly, but one of them did recently. I’m not naming names because, by now, the official may have changed his mind about the urgency of saying out loud what other politicians would rather keep to themselves.

ON August 21, more than 30 private and public organizations on Saipan were recognized as they joined the Hafa Adai & Tirow Pledge campaign that encourages stakeholders to preserve, perpetuate, and promote the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian cultures and traditions.

THE recent release of the “Stimulus Debit Cards” is just more PROOF of how RIDICULOUS our Governor can get when it comes to taking care of HIS People. WE the People were already set-up to receive any money from the Local or Federal Government with a “Net-to-Bank or a Mailed Check” but the Go…

GLOBAL warming is one of the most pressing issues affecting our planet and all living things on it. It endangers life itself. This climate phenomenon — the earth’s atmosphere getting warmer and warmer — appears to have begun only within the past fifty years. Scientists have been admonishing …

I ASKED a waitress for a cup of coffee without cream.  She said, “I’m sorry, we don’t have cream. You will have to get it without something else.” 

I WAS wondering WHY the Governor was planning solely on him winning for the Republican Party to stay in control of the Executive Office and true to form the Governor and Republicans are preparing to execute the SAME old “power-play” they used when Governor Fitial was in trouble — they split …

THE Bootlegger/Baptist theory of regulation was discussed, for the first time, in the May/June 1983 issue of Regulation magazine. The author was economics professor Bruce Yandle. In 2014 he and another economics professor, Adam Smith (I know!), published an expanded and updated version of ho…

The author had the privilege of leading the first U.S. Marine Corps Reconnaissance Company deployed to Afghanistan, and was activated from the Reserves to deploy with the final U.S. Marine Corps unit in Afghanistan. This is his perspective.

THE late Rep. Ivan Alafanso Blanco once commented how the Public Private Partnership initiative of the Governor’s Council of Economic of Advisers allows people working in different capacities to come together and support the same cause — taking care of our islands. He saw the PPP campaign as…

A FEW weeks ago, this column focused on how the Suez Canal traffic jam would speed up development of the Artic seaway.  When the Ever Given got stuck in the canal and brought global trade nearly to a standstill (we are still not back to normal), it taught many lessons and led many people to …

WHILE the Governor is grandstanding with Vinnie, in a futile effort that should result in both of them being FIRED, the Democrat Party is deliberating as to whom their candidates will be with an announcement COMING SOON! It is more important than ever for voters to “get-it-right” this time a…

IN May 1971, the New York Times reported that “Micronesian nationalists” were accusing the U.S. of planning to keep their islands. The Times was referring to the Micronesian islands that the U.S. had seized from Japan during World War II: the Marianas (NMI), the Marshalls, Palau, Ponape (Poh…