THE crisis in the Suez Canal, where the containership Ever Given was stuck for six days, has caused the global shipping industry to rethink things.  Many good questions were raised, some of which have complicated answers and some of which have no answers at all.

“OUR powers of logical reasoning,” says “The Data Detective” author Tim Harford, “are skewed by our political beliefs.” Or, as clinical psychologist and Democrat political strategist Drew Westen would put it: what passes for reasoning in politics is more often rationalization whose goal is a…

DURING the onset of the pandemic, we were fortunate to live on islands with uncrowded and open public spaces. On Saipan, we turned to the Beach Road Pathway, walking and jogging when indoor exercise facilities were closed. Many hopped on their bikes and navigated the road in Marpi for sights…

PRESIDENT Biden is now in office which means there is a “New Sherriff” in town but Governor Torres seems to be still trying to “circumvent justice by getting someone he wants to be Judge and even tried to punish the Honorable Chief Justice Manglona by not recommending her for re-appointment.…

IF you have eyes and ears then you have to know about all the bad examples of leadership that have been on display by the Governor who is just waiting for the trial and the previous Republican Legislature who refused to tell us what they did with OUR money and refused to investigate (hold ac…

HOW does a single man raise two girls?  That question was put to me recently by a good friend who we can call Mike.  I smiled and looked back at him with an expression that showed I had no idea.  I am also trying to raise two girls, but I have the invaluable help of my wife.  Ever since he a…

STATISTICS, however “accurate,” can mislead us. This is among the main points of British economist and journalist Tim Harford’s very useful book, “The Data Detective.” For example, he says, the U.S. has a notoriously high infant mortality rate for a rich country: 6.1 deaths per thousand live…

AS we conclude our discussion on solid waste management issues confronting the Marianas, I can’t help but be optimistic about how today’s generation is vocal about our problems with garbage and making a move to address these concerns.

PRESIDENT Biden said in his address that “Wall Street didn’t build America — Unions built America” and he was so right to a very large degree.  While there are no unions in the CNMI the Founders of the CNMI did want Unions or at least some form of a Union for our teachers which is why they p…

WHAT is it about the Pacific that lures scoundrels and drifters?  Is it the natural beauty, the innate goodwilled trustiness of the people?  Is it because there is nowhere left to run?  I think about all the Bully Hayes and Black Tom Tiltons that have come and gone, taking advantage of neigh…

THE truth is complicated, as British journalist and economist Tim Harford reminds us in his new book, “Data Detective.” But for true believers — ideologues, partisans, religious fundamentalists, etc. — the truth is self-evident; like science which is “settled” and beyond argument.

AS we continue our discussion about universal garbage collection or UGC, we should understand how the Marpi Landfill plays a role in this process. The Marpi Landfill is a 26-acre waste management facility with six cells of two and a half million cubic yards of airspace. A cell is where the t…

THE National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea has issued the following statement to strongly express its extreme disappointment with the statements attributed to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the proper approach to Chinese intrusions into the Philippines’ EEZ and s…

IN 100 days in office, and in keeping with our platform and pledge to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, Democrat legislators have organized our committees in the House, introduced substantive legislation to uplift the lives of our people and create a more responsible government, an…

WITH another shocking story of human trafficking in the Pacific, it is appropriate to revisit some of the previous columns on the subject.  Please familiarize yourself with this information so you will be better able to protect yourself and your loved ones.  And let’s burst some myths while …

THE casino era’s end is at hand and the Casino Commission is finally drawing a line in the sand with the suspension of IPI’s Gaming License and imposing a 6.6 million dollar fine. I said a long time ago the “hand-writing-is-on-the-wall” for the casino given all the adverse financial factors …

IN his latest book, “Data Detective,” British economist and journalist Tim Harford reminds us that “we’d be wiser to acknowledge that we all think with our hearts rather than our heads sometimes.” And by “sometimes” I think he means “most of the time.”

A CASE study in 2004 recognized Saipan’s solid waste management system as a model for other South Pacific islands to follow. The same year, the island received the Silver Solid Waste Management System Award/Planning & Management Division from the Solid Waste Association of North America,…

THE CNMI Constitution and CNMI law require both houses of the legislature to adopt new rules of procedure at the beginning of every term. This process of adopting rules is unique to the legislative branch, the first of three co-equal branches in our system of government.  

THERE will always be opposing sides in political arguments but regardless of which side you are on in the CNMI it is obvious our Republicans have literally turned the CNMI into a “Banana Republic.”  In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with …

MANILA (Reuters) — The daughter of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte says there's no chance she'll run for the presidency next year. Her father says the presidency is no job for a woman.

TAIPEI/KOROR (The Guardian/Pacnews) — It launched with a presidential escort and the promise of rare international travel to a postcard-perfect tropical island, but the Taiwan-Palau travel bubble has deflated after just a couple weeks, with Taiwanese bookings dwindling to single figures. 

I WOKE up this morning to the gentle swaying of Adaline, a graceful old girl who knows how to take of her family.  The sky was cloudy grey and the chill in the air reminded me that we were still in the grip of early spring.  Coffee became my priority.  I spent the night slumbering in her war…

I FEEL obligated to share with you my personal views of the Attorney General’s contradicting opinions cited in OAGNMTI 2020-253 & OAGNMTI 2020-654.  I do so as the effects have taken its toll on some very upstanding employees needlessly calling for my instantaneous plea to various policy…

I FEEL I should comment on the recent news story titled “Non-NMD wife seeks 55-year leasehold interest in late husband’s property” on your issue of March 30, 2021, and now more recently, on April 15, 2021 issue saying about the same thing.

AN American writer and former editor of The American Scholar, Joseph Epstein says he has never lost a political argument; but, he adds, neither has he won one.

TOGETHER, We Can. This mantra reminds us how we can turn things around for our islands and our people with or without the Covid-19 pandemic.

SYDNEY (devpolicy.org/Pacnews) — With one of the smallest populations in the world (12,581 in 2019), Nauru is perhaps best known for its riches to rags history, which Helen Hughes shed light on in a 2004 article.

“TAKE no heed of the persuasion of the white medicine-man and his friends!  For their wickedness they have been cast out from their own land and now they restlessly wander about the ocean seeking whom they may enslave.”

BRITISH economist, author, journalist and Oxford alumnus Tim Harford  writes a column for the Financial Times, a newspaper that endorsed Obama, Hillary and Biden in U.S. presidential elections. His column is also syndicated in Slate, a left-leaning online magazine. He has appeared on the Col…

THE colorful concrete benches and tables along Beach Road were a hit for families that hosted their Easter Sunday celebrations last weekend. I am certain that beach parks and pavilions around the islands were put to good use for family gatherings and Easter Egg hunts.

RECENTLY, the Philippine Coast Guard reported that around 220 Chinese fishing vessels believed to be manned by Chinese maritime militia personnel were moored in line formation at the Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun Reef).

IT’S Just OUT in the news as the Sun continues to rise on the new House of Representatives as they are trying to address old and new issues facing the People and our Commonwealth based on the “facts & truths” that have transpired. However, as they try to “defend & protect” the People…

THE human family stood still last week as the container ship Ever Given plugged up the Suez Canal in Egypt. It is estimated that the delay cost the world over one billion dollars per day as hundreds of vessels carrying everything from oil to basketballs sat idle, waiting their turn to transi…

I SAY “bravo Mount Carmel School!” for providing junior students a series of comprehensive, interactive and multi-media lessons about the Holocaust.

THE Sun continues to rise in the CNMI and times are changing quicker than we can adjust with the pandemic but I will leave the firemen alone out of respect for Ed Propst and his appeal and respect for their right to not take the vaccine. The main reason I was pushing so hard for everyone to …

WE can’t emphasize enough how the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force have done a great job in establishing protocols that allowed the CNMI to manage the pandemic, save lives, and motivate us to work together in getting our economy back up and running.

THE Pacific in the 1860s was a wild place, full of explorers, seafarers, heroes, scoundrels, and decent people trying to make a living and raise good families.  The man known as Black Tom was a little of all of these.

THE Sun continues to rise on a New Day for the entire world with the vaccines coming on line yet there are People who would prefer to believe “supposition” (estranged beliefs & guess work) over the empirical science and facts. Supposition can never replace or be more justifiable and auth…

FACTFULNESS, says the book’s author, Hans Rosling, MD, is “the stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.”

The following is the text of the author’s testimony submitted to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources:

FIRST and foremost, I respect and support the desire and need for Locals to maintain some form of “permanent land ownership” and there is a way to do both — “protect Land-ownership AND guarantee the Right of every American to own their house/business land.” There will never be a unanimous co…

TODAY, as we face the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, looking back provides some perspective for a path forward.

THE People will soon see the “Trial of the Senate & Governor” just as I predicted when H.B. 22-33 that asserts the Legislature’s Power to control and designate the use of ALL funds in the CNMI’s Purse. THANKS and KUDOS Rep. Tina Sablan as you are dead right in your speech that every CNMI…

THE Standing Committee of China’s National People's Congress, the highest legislative body in China, passed the Law of Coast Guard on January 22 and it was enforced on February 1, 2021.   China has been commenting on the draft law since late 2020; however, it was announced just two days afte…

I WATCHED a foot race on television the other day.  Hundreds of athletes ran through the streets of a European city along roped off roads lined with cheering crowds.  At a tight bend, the runners crowded together, some bumping occurred, and two runners fell.  One of them, dejected and defeat…

THE Covid Craze of Denial/Rejection has finally hit the CNMI as the virus finally found its way into the community and it is easy to see how only one person can be the source of an outbreak. Everything has changed because of one person and I’m not blaming the front-line worker as it could ha…

“WHEN we are afraid and under time pressure and thinking of worst-case scenarios,” Hans Rosling wrote in “Factfulness, “we tend to make really stupid decisions. Our ability to think analytically can be overwhelmed by an urge to make quick decisions and take immediate action.” Rosling, whose …