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The Tribune
Volume: 118 No.97, APRIL 15, 2021
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UNITED IN GRIEF By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
TWO strangers united in grief yesterday while testifying about the fate of their spouses during a Coroner’s Court inquest into the presumed deaths of people reported missing after Hurricane Dorian. Jason Farquharson said he searched seven days for his wife before learning that storm surges destroyed her house balcony and plunged her into the sea. Tervilla Caintil, meanwhile, broke into tears and said she walked among dead bodies in the Pigeon Peas before finding the lifeless body of her husband, Emmanuel Caintil. Nineteen months after the monster storm struck Abaco and Grand Bahama,
the long-awaited inquest is an effort to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the presumed deaths of at least 34 missing people and to bring some official closure to family members concerning their deaths. When Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas in September 2019, Mr Farquharson lived in New Providence while his wife, Kathleen, lived with her son in Abaco. Mr Farquharson said he couldn’t reach his wife on September 1, 2019 and didn’t reach anyone from Abaco until they arrived to New Providence seven days later. He said his stepson, Kahlel Smith, 19, eventually contacted his brother-inlaw, who later informed him SEE PAGE TWO
NOW THE CLEAN UP
AMERICA THE VIOLENT
PAGE EIGHT
THREE days after a fire burned six stalls to the ground and partially damaged two others, debris is being cleared from Potter’s Cay. See page four. (Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff)
VACCINE SUPPLIES FACING PROBLEM By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net
A PAN American Health Organisation official has said there will be a short period of “limited access” to the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine due to shipment and
UNION HITS OUT AS PLP’S CANDIDATE PUT ON LEAVE By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE union representing Water and Sewerage Corporation line staff has accused the company’s executives of victimisation and using intimidation tactics against a senior employee who is seeking a run in the next general election. WSC Senior Serviceman in the Abaco district Kirk Cornish was placed on administrative leave without pay last month shortly after he was ratified by the Progressive Liberal Party to represent North Abaco. In a letter dated March 23 obtained by The Tribune,
FRONT PORCH
SEE PAGE THREE
Mr Cornish was told his unpaid administrative leave would take effect “immediately” and was further advised to hand in all of the company’s belongings the same day. Bahamas Utility Services and Allied Workers Union president Dwayne Woods said union members were “disgusted” and “appalled” by the actions taken by WSC executives, who he claimed were attempting “ to minimise the influence of the representative trade union.” The union president further claimed that Mr Cornish was being
...BUT YOU WILL HAVE SECOND INJECTION
By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright tribunemedia.net
AS COVID-19 vaccinations continue, a senior health official has assured the public that all who’ve received a first dose are guaranteed the second jab.
SEE PAGE FIVE
PI PROJECT ‘A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
ROYAL Caribbean’s Paradise Island plans are “a double edged sword” that could improve The Bahamas’ tourism product yet “hurt” Bay Street and local entrepreneurs, it was argued yesterday. Charles Klonaris, the Downtown Nassau Partnership’s (DNP) co-chair, told Tribune Business the
PART of a plot plan produced by the Town Planning Committee for the upcoming hearing on the Paradise Island western end crown land lease. proposed Royal Beach Club project will effectively see the cruise line replicate the “all-inclusive” model pioneered by the resort
industry through keeping thousands of its passengers within the confines of its own properties/activities.
SEE BUSINESS SECTION
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
SEE PAGE THREE
STATESIDE GEORGIA CHANGED THE RULES AND LAID BARE A DARK, RACIST INTOLERANCE
PAGE NINE
PAGE 2, Thursday, April 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE THE PIGEON Peas area after it was devastated in Hurricane Dorian.
UNITED IN GRIEF FROM PAGE ONE
that his wife “did not make it”. Recounting the story as told to him by Mr Smith, Mr Farquharson said when his wife and stepson opened the door of their home to people seeking shelter, the wind tore down the door hinges and blew the door away. “They tried to block the door entrance but the winds were too strong and they started feeling the roof shaking. He told his mum to put on her tennis (shoes) and they put a blanket around her and they went on the balcony,” he said. Mr Farquharson said storm surges caused the pair to fall into the water shortly afterwards as the balcony collapsed. Mr Smith, he said, struggled to remain above the water and eventually clung to a pole on which
he blacked out “for a few minutes.” Upon regaining consciousnesses, Mr Smith saw his mother’s tennis shoes and swam toward her. He tried turning around her body, which was face down in the water, and sought help from people on a nearby boat. When he failed to get their attention, he swam to their boat and remained there until the storm passed. He never saw his mother’s body again. Mr Farquharson said his wife could not swim. He speculated that she drowned. Though DNA swabs were taken from Mr Smith, no match was found. For her part, Mrs Caintil testified that her husband did not heed her warning to evacuate the Pigeon Peas along with her and their son.
She said she left him in the shantytown and went to Murphy Town the day before the storm struck and stayed with her cousin. Her experience there was harrowing, she said, because their house collapsed. She said she walked among dead people while searching for her husband in the Pigeon Peas the day after the storm. Three days after the storm passed, she said a man named Ricky told her a dead body was near his car and that he called officials to remove the body. She said: “I ran to go look, I saw it was my husband. After that immigration came for him. They put him in a bag, zipped it up and carried him.” She said although officials removed her husband’s body, DNA swabs from her son have not returned a match.
ACTIVIST Louby Georges.
CONCERNS OVER HAITI TRAVEL BAN EXTENSION By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter Ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
ACTIVIST Louby Georges has raised concerns over the recent extension of the government’s travel ban on Haiti. In the latest emergency power orders the ban was extended for a further 30-day period. The government first banned all commercial flights and vessels from Haiti in February as a precautionary measure to prevent the risk of imported coronavirus cases from Haiti as that country entered its Carnival season. Mr Georges called it “very unfortunate” The Bahamas has decided to extend the travel ban. “There’s countless individuals whose permits have recently expired while being stuck in Haiti,” said Mr Georges. “There are Bahamian citizens who are stuck in Haiti. “What happens to the employment of these individuals being three months-four months, you know, not attending their
“There’s countless individuals whose permits have recently expired while being stuck in Haiti.” Louby Georges job? What happens when you come back? “What happens to the (house) that you’re renting? What happens to the permits? Are these individuals with expired work permits now going to be allowed through the airport and through immigration to enter the country?” “What we’re not hearing with the travel ban is a comprehensive plan on the way forward, especially for the Bahamian citizen and permanent residency holders who are stuck in Haiti.” He added: “With the decision there (are) just so many questions that are left unanswered and many more popping up everyday so it’s an opportunity for the government then to provide some clarity.”
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INSIGHT IN THE TRIBUNE EVERY MONDAY
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, April 15, 2021, PAGE 3
Vaccine supplies facing problem FROM PAGE ONE manufacturing issues. The Bahamas has administered over 15,000 doses of the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine so far. The country first received 20,000 doses as a gift from the Indian government and then another 33,600, through the PAHO generated COVAX programme. Between both sources some 53,600 doses have been received into the country since March. Dr Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director, PAHO, made the announcement during the organisation’s weekly COVID-19 webinar update, but assured the public that there will still be some access to the vaccine up to May. “The AstraZeneca manufacturer in India had problems to receive the export licence to ship to other countries,” he said. “Also, because the AstraZeneca manufacturer in South Korea had to reduce their capacity to less than 50 percent for February and March shipments so we are trying to widen access through COVAX. AstraZeneca will begin to deliver to new manufacturing sites – one in Italy and one in Spain – which will increase production. “Vaccines manufacturers have already committed 20 percent of the population of all participating countries. That is their commitment, but in the current trend
where about 70 percent of shipments will be happening starting June, but by the end of April and in May we will still have limited access.” Two days ago, the United States paused usage of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccination after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had to examine reports of rare blood-clotting disorder that emerged in six recipients. Reports said that all six of the recipients were females between the ages of 18 and 48, and all developed the clots within one to three weeks of taking the vaccination. One woman in Virginia died, and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalised in critical condition.
Pause The Tribune asked Dr Barbosa if distribution of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has started in the region and what does the pause mean to the flow of vaccinations arriving. He responded: “We haven’t started distribution of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine in the region. We will be starting to distribute it in June or July. We are in negotiations with the producer to establish the final agreement to receive the vaccines. It is important to clarify that when a vaccine
A BOTTLE of the AstraZeneca vaccine is displayed in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) presents all the data related to clinical trials, a lot of information is presented about the safety of the vaccine. “When a vaccine is given authorisation for emergency use, they look into the data and the benefits of the vaccine outweighs any risk the vaccine can present. This is the same procedure that the regulators used for any vaccine or any medicine that is to be used by populations. Every vaccine can present some side effects. The problem is to see if these side effects are in a number that is acceptable.” PAHO’s assistant director went on to downplay the pause on administering the drug saying it is a standard procedure and the benefits are far more than the risks. “So, what we have with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is very important evidence that the surveillance system identified,”
he said, continuing. “We had a very small number of cases, very rare events that were detected. The United States decided to pause the vaccine use (Johnson and Johnson) for a couple of days while they review the data. “This is a standard procedure. Remember in February we had a similar situation in some countries with the Pfizer vaccine. They paused the use and then after one or two weeks and when it was totally clear they started to reuse the vaccine. This is the process now. The benefits outweigh by far any possible issues. Let us remember that COVID -19 is a very severe disease that is producing hundreds of thousands of deaths in the world. He noted that some 734,000,000 different vaccinations have been applied around the world. More than seven million people in the United States have received Johnson and Johnson shots so far,
and some 10 million doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the CDC. Dr Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO said despite ongoing transmission in many places, restrictions have been relaxed, crowds are gathering, and people are taking public transportation, often without masks. She said the region is not acting like it is in the midst of a worsening outbreak. She said: “More people have been infected with COVID in our region in the last seven days than most of the weekly case averages we saw last year. And our weekly deaths outnumber those of any week in 2020. There are simply not enough vaccines available to protect everyone in the countries at greatest risk.” She said she cannot stress enough that for most countries, vaccines are not going to stop this wave of the pandemic.
PEOPLE wait to get their first dose of the vaccine earlier this month. that with commercial flights and from the Indian government and charters where necessary. the remaining 33,600 from the “We want to do the entire PAHO-generated COVAX proarchipelago during that week gramme. Earlier this week, the which means we need to prepare Committee reported that some before that. We learned from our 15,000 Bahamians were in receipt Eleuthera experience that we need of the first dose of the vaccine. to field on the ground teams. The The Committee, in its bid to be preparation needs to be really as helpful as possible in getting strengthened. That is one of the shots into the arms of those who reasons why we are taking some truly want it, made some adjusttime, the week before and the ments to vaccination sites. week afterwards. We want to give “We are not going to stop in each island an opportunity. That New Providence, we just have is what we are mapping out right selected sites,” said Dr. Dahlnow. It is pretty daunting.” Regis. “We are not closing any It should be noted that there sites but Baha Mar and Atlantis. were originally 53,600 vaccines In terms of the other sites, we are made available – 20,000 gifted cutting back on the vaccines. We
opened up Stapledon today. We want to advance the home visits and the nursing homes. “That has been a real challenge for us. “We want to open a site, hopefully, in the inner city. We recognise that access is if you have transportation. So, we are developing a new walk up site like the Church of God of Prophecy. That is in the plan. We will announce those plans on Tuesday. We will have a press conference, but we are still working on the logistics of it.” The vaccine committee will provide an update on inoculations at its press conference next Tuesday.
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and officials at the airport as the first vaccine supplies arrived last month.
...BUT YOU WILL HAVE SECOND INJECTION FROM PAGE ONE Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, head of the National COVID-19 Consultative Committee said yesterday officials are securing the numbers needed to supply second doses. She also gave an update on the COVAX shipment. She said: “We are committed to the second dose. We will have sufficient vaccines. In terms of the arrival of the second shipment of COVAX, it is promised in May, but we will work around dates, but until it is landed we cannot plan how it is going to be used. We have had so many shifting goal posts with the arrival of vaccines that we really have to plan what we have. “And, we have to project the plan should we get more. In terms of the Indian vaccine we are working with what we have. We didn’t expect the 20,000 but we are grateful for it. We know that the president has different restrictions now, but we are grateful for what we got. If we get more we can use it because there is a demand for it.” The vaccine committee will “pause” the rollout on Saturday for evaluation purposes, simply
DR Merceline Dahl-Regis to assess supplies for first doses, second doses, mobile distribution and distribution to the Family Islands. The committee also has outside assistance as there will be lots of focus on the Family Islands. She continued: “In terms of the pause we want to really do a good job with preparation for the Family Islands. We have the benefit of support from the Rhode Island National Guard. They will be here with the King Air and offering services from April 26th to April 30th. We are going to supplement
PAGE 4, Thursday, April 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
POTTER’S CAY CLEAN UP UNDERWAY PHOTOS: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
POTTER’S Cay Dock vendors jumped into action to clean up debris left behind by Sunday’s destructive fire after allegedly waiting on government to initiate efforts. Three days after a structural fire burned six stalls to the ground and partially damaged two others, some of the vendors were seen yesterday clearing up the charred remains of their businesses. Compared to the aftermath on Monday, the area was already showing marked cleanup progress.
Motivation Marvin Cartwright, owner of Makaveli’s Restaurant and Bar, said tourist reaction to the fire damage gave him the motivation to get started. He said: “After three days of waiting on the promises by the Ministry of Health and the minister responsible for Agriculture and Fisheries Mr (Michael) Pintard. After the promises from him and four days then passed. Keep calling our phone saying that they will come tomorrow.” “We just took the initiative you know because we just tired of seeing tourists. It really wasn’t even about the clean up we just tired of seeing the tourist pass
and take pictures like constantly. “We watch yesterday over at least 50-60 different tourists and groups pass through and they just keep snapping pictures. It just wasn’t a good look because this is also a tourism place where tourist frequent.” He also explained feeling as though officials had no compassion toward the vendors who’ve suffered this tragedy. Mr Cartwright noted a recent meeting with the affected vendors and government officials. “I listened to the way that Pintard and the PS (permanent secretary) …listen to the way they speak,” the owner said. “They ain’t really sound like they was sincere in what they was really dealing with. So what I did to be honest I just exploded and walked out of that meeting because I told them exactly what my thoughts were. “I told them that I think that they were not remorseful and told them that I think they had no compassion, they have no heart. They don’t realise this is not a political issue. This is really families. I have three children in private school. I have school fees to pay. I have light bills to pay. I have internet to pay. Thank God I don’t have to pay rent and mortgage.”
He added: “I don’t have to rent, but some of these people they renting apartments and other stuff.” Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit, and Vegetables Vendors Association president Ormanique Bowe noted that officials promised dumpsters, but they have not arrived. “Yesterday afternoon, the report from central would’ve been completed. So this morning, we should’ve had the dumpsters out here, but as you can see it’s an eyesore and it’s a tourist hub,” the president said. “So therefore we decided to just take upon ourself and start the cleaning up. So hopefully tomorrow morning the dumpsters will be here and they would’ve only have to pick up the debris.” Ms Bowe said an assessment has been made and the vendors’ concerns communicated to the permanent secretary. “Estimation of what the stall value . . . six of them have been destroyed completely – we’re looking at over say about $75,000 – I’m just giving you a rough idea of that,” she noted. When asked if the vendors were pleased with government’s response, Ms Bowe said it is “too early to say”. She said vendors would give officials until Monday to respond.
“Hopefully they would move fast for the vendors to get back in place,” she replied.
The ‘Tall Boy’ stall was also destroyed by fire. Its owner, Dwain Bastian, who has been on Potter’s Cay for about 27 years said it was a “blow” because he had just pumped about $70,000 into the stall. “Well to be honest with you I took it hard but you know you gotta put everything in God’s hand,” the owner said. “I lost the stall. I lost two fishing boats. My boat, plus my friend boat.” However, he said, he had no hard feelings towards the government. “I want everybody to be on board and everybody work together. That’s how I want this to work out.
Ain’t no say to point finger at this one…let’s get on board. Let’s clean it up and let’s get the construction started.” He stated: “This is our livelihood and you know we gotta try to get our shop back in operation because we have our family to feed and stuff like that so we gotta do what we gotta and then as help come along you gotta first put one foot there first and then another step will come.” Lincoln Bain of Bahamian Evolution said he assisted by facilitating two dump trucks, among other things, to help remove the mess.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, April 15, 2021, PAGE 5
UNION HITS OUT AS PLP’S CANDIDATE PUT ON LEAVE
FROM PAGE ONE
victimised for politically motivated reasons. “The Executives have placed Mr Cornish on administrative leave without pay, and as well as without consultation and agreement with the employee or the union,” he told reporters during a press conference held outside WSC headquarters yesterday. “This administrative leave is in contravention to and is a breach of the industrial agreement between the Water and Sewerage Corporation and the Bahamas Utilities Services and Allied Workers Union dated July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2018.” “… BUSAWU is of the opinion that there is no official candidate for elections until all of the mentioned prerequisites are met, and thereafter the individual himself would have had to make application for political leave in accordance with article 13.11 of the industrial agreement. “However, the Water and Sewerage Corporation’s executives chose to intimidate, discriminate and victimise Mr Cornish by placing him on unapplied for administrative leave without pay.” Having served at WSC for 28 years, Mr Cornish said he was disappointed by the actions taken against him and added he plans to take legal action against the company. “I’m looking to be reinstated and compensated for the time lost and as I reflect on it, it isn’t really for myself. It’s for what is lawful in our country,” he said. “I would like to believe the Bahamas at this point in our existence is more mature, more responsible to actually engage in fair game. “My name was placed in front line politics because of my character, my integrity, my hard work, commitment, dedication, determination and I serve my community at the Water and Sewerage corporation for 28 years and I think I did an outstanding job. My record would reflect.” Asked if he was surprised by the move, the Abaco resident said while he was not completely shocked, he did not expect that officials would act so quickly. “It didn’t surprise me,” he said. “I was more surprised at how soon because of our industrial agreement, I would’ve thought I would’ve been given the opportunity to become a ratified candidate in the official election. “However, it doesn’t surprise me that they did it.” Attorney Wayne Munroe, who is representing Mr Cornish, also raised concerns with the legalities of the move. “In my considered opinion, there is no election in the Bahamas,”
Mr Munroe said. “There is no vacancy in Parliament for North Abaco. When there becomes a vacancy, Mr Cornish will only become a candidate if and when he is ratified. That may never happen.” “And so, to act as if something has happened that has never happened, is in my judgement, not legal and not correct. The honourable prime minister is someone who constantly says we’re not having an election this year aye? So, clearly there’s nothing to vie for unless he is lying again and so the bottom line to it is, when he becomes a candidate, when there is a vacancy, at that point it will be appropriate for there to be political leave.” Yesterday, Mr Woods demanded that the utility provider reinstate Mr Cornish and “right the injustice” committed against him. He also called on officials to address long standing issues that have plagued the union, citing unfair promotion practices, postponement of Christmas bonuses and officials alleged failure to “pay overtime” to workers in Abaco following
“I’m looking to be reinstated and compensated for the time lost and as I reflect on it, it isn’t really for myself. It’s for what is lawful in our country.” Kirk Cornish Hurricane Dorian among other things. In a statement last night WSC strenuously denied victimising Mr Cornish and insisted it’s actions were entirely above board. The company also said they were shocked to learn about yesterday’s press conference and criticised Mr Woods for “seeking to disrupt the harmony that has been maintained at the Corporation.” “WSC has not victimised any staff member and takes umbrage with such reckless commentary,” the water provider said in a statement. “In recent weeks, Mr Kirk Cornish – a member of our line staff – accepted a political nomination in North Abaco from the Progressive Liberal Party. “It is common practise, pursuant to General Orders, that whenever a political candidate is ratified and accepts a party nomination, he is called upon to resign and/or tenders his resignation.” “This is the case with at least three other candidates who are now running for Mr. Cornish’s own party and, undoubtedly, will likely be the case if the same occurs for the governing party. “ “Notably, three other public servants were ratified by the PLP - Zane
BAHAMAS Utility Services and Allied Workers Union president Dwayne Woods. Photos: Racardo Thomas
WSC Senior Serviceman in the Abaco district Kirk Cornish. ATTORNEY Wayne Munroe.
Lightbourne, Wayde Watson and Jamahl Strachan. They all had to resign. Certain private sector jobs will also require the same of those who are ratified.” WSC also went on to reference a section in the industrial agreement in response to claims that company executives had acted unlawfully. The statement read: “Article 13.11 of the Industrial Agreement states: ‘Employees, vying for National Election, are to be given time off without pay to prepare for the same. “Such persons are to resume their duties within one month after the election, if unsuccessful. This Article speaks to political leave.” “Firstly, that article says nothing about a candidate applying for leave. It says they will be given time off without pay to vie and that, if unsuccessful, can return one month post-election. The Article undergirds WSC’s action which was to immediately place Cornish on unpaid leave.” “The argument that Mr Cornish’s nomination somehow doesn’t materialise until the government-mandated nomination day is imprudent and void of rationale. “The assertion that a newly nominated political candidate has to apply for leave – rather than the place of employment immediately providing for the same – is absurd; such an assertion is not stated anywhere. “Any candidate seeking political office - in the public sector and certainly in much of the private sector - and who serves as part of the regular staff has, from time immemorial, done the honourable thing and tendered their resignations. Cornish is a regular member of the staff - not a consultant, not a political appointee, etc.”
PAGE 6, Thursday, April 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
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Study finds people want more than watchdogs for journalists NEW YORK (AP) — A study of the US public’s attitude toward the press reveals that distrust goes deeper than partisanship and down to how journalists define their very mission. In short: Americans want more than a watchdog. The study, released Wednesday by the Media Insight Project, a collaboration between the American Press Institute and The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research, suggests ways that news organisations can reach people they may be turning off now. “In some ways, this study suggests that our job is broader and bigger than we’ve defined it,” said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute. The study defines five core principles or beliefs that drive most journalists: keep watch on public officials and the powerful; amplify voices that often go unheard; society works better with information out in the open; the more facts people have the closer they will get to the truth; and it’s necessary to spotlight a community’s problems to solve them. Yet the survey, which asked nonjournalists a series of questions designed to measure support for each of those ideas, found unqualified majority support for only one of them. Two-thirds of those surveyed fully supported the fact-finding mission.
Principle Half of the public embraced the principle that it’s important for the media to give a voice to the less powerful, according to the survey, and slightly less than half fully supported the roles of oversight and promoting transparency. Less than a third of the respondents agreed completely with the idea that it’s important to aggressively point out problems. Only 11% of the public, most of them liberals, offered full support to all five ideas. “I do believe they should be a watchdog on the government, but I don’t think they should lean either way,” said Annabell Hawkins, 41, a stay-at-home mother from Lawton, Oklahoma. “When I grew up watching the news it seemed pretty neutral. You’d get either side. But now it doesn’t seem like that.” Hawkins said she believed the news media spent far too much time criticising former President Donald Trump and rarely gave him credit for anything good he did while in office. “I just want the facts about what happened so I can make up my own mind,” said Patrick Gideons, a 64-year-old former petroleum industry supervisor who lives south of Houston. He lacks faith in the news media because he believes it offers too much opinion. Gideons, though, said he gets most of his news through social media, which is skilled in directing followers toward beliefs they are comfortable with. He said he knows only one person who subscribes to a newspaper anymore — his 91-year-old father. Polls show how the public’s attitude toward the press has soured over the past 50 years and, in this
century, how it has become much more partisan. In 2000, a Gallup poll found 53% of Democrats said they trusted the media, compared with 47% of Republicans. In the last full year of the Trump presidency, Gallup found trust went up to 73% among Democrats and plunged to 10% among Republicans. The survey’s findings point to some ways news organisations can combat the negativity. Half a century ago, when newspapers were flourishing and before the internet and cable television led to an explosion in opinionated news, the public’s view of the role of journalists was more compatible to how journalists viewed the job themselves, Rosenstiel said. “We were the tough guys, we were the cops,” he said.
Consumers The study indicates now that consumers are interested in news that highlights potential solutions to problems and want to hear about things that are working, he said. “We tend to think that stories that celebrate the good things in society are soft stories, kind of wimpy,” he said. “But they may be more important than we think in providing a full and accurate picture of the world.” People who put greater emphasis on loyalty and authority tend to be more sceptical of the core values that journalists try to uphold, as opposed to those who give greater weight to fairness, the study found. Changes in the way a story is framed can make it more widely appealing to different audiences. In one example, researchers took a story about a canceled recreation centre project in a low-income neighbourhood and emphasised the element, less prominent in the original story, that the parks director had diverted funds designated for the project by the city’s mayor. The change led to the story being seen as more trusted and appealing by a broader set of the public, especially those who place value in authority. The nationwide survey was conducted with 2,727 adults in the fall of 2019, with a second set of interviews done last August with 1,155 people who had completed the first survey. The study found that majorities of Americans believe that the media doesn’t care about them and tries to cover up its mistakes. Despite the negativity, Rosenstiel said he believes there’s room for both sides to come to a better understanding of each other. Believe it or not, most journalists are pretty sincere, said Rosenstiel, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. “Regular people should note that when journalists say they are just doing their job, they actually mean that,” he said, “because they define their job a certain way. “They’re not lying. “They really don’t think of themselves as secret agents of the Democratic Party. They have these set of principles that they think they’re upholding.” (This article is by DAVID BAUDER, AP Media Writer)
The way to the average Bahamian voter’s heart is through his stomach EDITOR, The Tribune. THE political framework of The Bahamas is stubbornly rudimentary, to the extent that Bahamians with a low IQ can comprehend the basics of politics. This has been the case since the iteration of the Bay Street Boys in the United Bahamian Party in the 1950s when few Black Bahamians had a high school and tertiary education. With the Free National Movement and the Progressive Liberal Party, candidates during the election season are rarely called upon by the overwhelming majority of the voting population to roll up their sleeves and articulate their party’s campaign platform and proposed policies. For the average candidates of the two main political organisations, campaigning, especially in the Blackbelt communities, can hardly be described as a rough sledding process. That’s because the
LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net
average Bahamian, caught up in the euphoria of the rallies and the election season, typically leave their brains at the door of the convention centre where a political event is being held. Politicians know that the way to a typical Bahamian voter’s heart is through his stomach. That’s why free food, free drinks and free entertainment are provided at most political events for those in attendance. To the politician, this is a tacit reciprocal process, which is aimed at persuading the electorate to vote a certain way, which is manipulative and condescending to the people he wants to vote for him. This reciprocity reminds the writer of the shrewd strategy used by members of the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon and the Family International cult organisation of
David Berg. Both cults are notorious for showering prospective recruits with love and attention, while they shrewdly avoid divulging what their groups actually teach. While the average Bahamian is hardly on the radar of certain politicians, he is made to feel important during the campaign season. I have witnessed with my own eyes drug addicts and riff-raffs wearing political paraphernalia while in the company of prominent political henchmen in the lead-up to election - individuals they otherwise would’ve never had the opportunity to mingle with. It is time that Bahamians wise-up and demand that this archaic form of politics be abandoned, as it is an insult to our intelligence. KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama. April 7, 2021.
The vaccine: A well deserved thank you EDITOR, The Tribune. WHEN things go wrong, we are quick to complain. When things go right, it’s rarely noticed. Imagine my delight today when my son and I went to have our vaccines at the Loyola Hall and found everything to be extremely well-organised and efficient. Thank you to the Ministry of Health, the Rotary Club, and other
volunteers who made our visit go so smoothly! And all those who are “on the fence” about having the vaccine, please do so at your earliest convenience. The sooner we can get rid of this virus, the sooner our lives and the Bahamian economy can rebound. AMANDA M GRAHAM Nassau, April 12, 2021.
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, April 15, 2021, PAGE 7
Third man charged in connection with $3m cocaine seizure By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
MICHAEL Taylor outside court. Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff
MAN LAUNCHES APPEAL AGAINST 35-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MAN convicted of attempting to murder three men at a cemetery in East Grand Bahama over three years ago has launched an appeal against his 35-year prison sentence. In 2016, Doyle Mackey was charged with the murders of brothers Carlos and Carlton Hamilton, and the attempted murder of Jermaine Ferguson aka “Jenkins”, John Edgecombe, aka “Rasta”, and Joshua Williams. The charges stemmed from a multiple shooting incident that occurred in McLean’s Town Cemetery in Eastern Grand Bahama in November of that year. During his trial, the jury returned a hung verdict on the murders; however, they found Mackey guilty of the attempted murders of Ferguson, Edgecombe and Williams with verdicts of 11-1, 10-2 and 11-1 respectively.
Sentenced He was subsequently sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for three counts of attempted murder, which were ordered to run concurrently starting from the day of conviction, less any time he spent on remand before being convicted. At the time of sentencing, Justice Estelle Gray-Evans noted that Mackey – who admitted at his trial to being a drug dealer and firing shots at the men in self-defence – showed no remorse and failed to accept responsibility for the part he had played in causing serious injuries to the complainants who could have lost their lives that day, along with two other men who were murdered at the cemetery. Yesterday, Mackey’s attorney, Carlson Shurland appealed his conviction after arguing that the evidence of attempted murder presented during the trial was not adequate or sufficient to go to a jury to make out the case for which Mackey was convicted. During the virtual hearing before Justices Milton Evans, Carolita Bethel and Roy Jones, Mr Shurland also asserted that
some of the submissions of the case were “flawed” and needed to be addressed in a retrial. “You cannot compartmentalise the murder and the attempted murders because it’s all a part of one transaction,” he stated. “The only reason the Crown is saying the other three are alive is because they did not die from that particular overt act of trying to kill two others. And my submission is that is all speculation... and you will see from the Crown’s case (that) they have nothing to suggest how they even arrived at that conclusion”. Stating his client was alleging selfdefence, Mr Shurland insisted no evidence of attempted murder existed. He also claimed the learned judge “accepted that there was no evidence, direct or otherwise, that can be attributed to Mr Mackey having the intention to kill or shoot anyone” in the no case submission. However, the panel said they did not agree with the attorney’s interpretation of the judge’s assertions. On another ground, Mr Shurland further accused the prosecution of making improper comments during the course of the proceedings when they described the appellant as a “liar, a hit man and mastermind of the crime”. He also said he found an issue with the prosecutor referring to the “deceased men” as “lambs who were led to the slaughter”. “Some of the comments that were made by the prosecutor I felt, and I submit, were out of place and out of order,” he said. “They were emotive, and they were extremely prejudicial and every time I saw she said it I objected.” Yesterday, Mr Shurland also said he intended to file a ground of appeal against what his client believed was an unduly harsh and severe prison sentence. However, his current submissions before the panel did not include any arguments contesting the 35-year sentence. As a result, the appellate panel of justices adjourned the matter to April 29 to give Mr Shurland an opportunity to submit an amended submission in respect to Mackey’s sentence. Crown attorney Neil Brathwaite will also present his submissions on that date.
PROBATION FOR MAKING FALSE REPORT By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 20-YEAR-OLD man, who lied to police officers when he told them that two men had robbed him of his car at gunpoint, was placed on six months probation yesterday. Police arrested Mark Pratt after he caused the “wasteful employment of police time and resources” by knowingly filing a false complaint on April 2. The court was told that around 5pm that day,
Pratt told police he was near R M Bailey park servicing his vehicle when two men dressed in dark clothing approached him. The prosecution said Pratt claimed that one of the assailants then produced a handgun before both suspects got in his car and fled the scene. After he requested police action, officers investigating the matter made inquiries at the Migrafill monitoring centre. After receiving information from officials there, they arrested Pratt and took him to a local station for questioning.
ARRESTS OVER UNLICENSED FIREARM
FOUR men were arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm on Tuesday, police reported. Shortly after 4pm, officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force Operations Unit were on routine patrol in the area of the old Paradise Island bridge when the occupants of a silver coloured Toyota Passo aroused suspicion. The officers stopped the vehicle and conducted a field search. During the process, one of the officers found a black pistol containing five live rounds of ammunition. As a result, four male suspects were arrested and taken into custody. Police said investigations are continuing.
During his interview, the accused admitted making a false report and was subsequently charged. When Pratt appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes yesterday, he pleaded guilty. He also said he committed the offence because he “just wanted to get his car back”. In response, Magistrate Forbes told Pratt that if that was the case, he should have just filed a complaint for his stolen car instead of alleging that he was robbed at gunpoint. He insisted it was “unwise” for the accused to tell police a certain crime had been committed when it had not and urged him to exercise “better common sense” in the future. As a result, he placed Pratt on six months’ probation. He warned him if he failed to be of good behaviour during that time frame, he would be fined $500 or sentenced to three months in prison in the event he was unable to pay the monetary penalty.
A THIRD man was yesterday charged in the Magistrate’s Court in connection with a recent seizure of more than $3m worth of cocaine. The drugs were recovered by officers during a drug bust in Eleuthera late last month. Michael Taylor, 37, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes accused of being in possession of a quantity of cocaine with intent to supply. The prosecution alleged he imported the drugs into the country on March 29. He was further accused of conspiring to possess and import the drugs sometime between March 22 and 29. During the hearing, he denied the allegations and the case was adjourned to September 1 for trial.
In the meantime, Taylor was granted $10,000 bail. His court appearance came one week after Brandon Miller, 28, and Johnnie Emil, 45, were charged in connection with the same incident. Police alleged Miller was found in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera with a quantity of cocaine, which they accused him of importing into the country on March 29. They further alleged Miller, along with Emil, conspired to possess and import the “dangerous drugs” into the country, with the intent to supply sometime between March 22 and 29. In March, police said local law enforcement — assisted by the US Coast Guard, US Customs and Border Protection and the US Drug Enforcement Administration — launched a comprehensive investigation after they received intelligence concerning an aircraft inbound
to the country with suspected cocaine on board. At the time, Assistant Commissioner of Police Solomon Cash reported that an aircraft had landed at Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera airstrip on March 28. He said when officials “commenced surveillance exercises”, they observed two individuals leaving the aircraft. “They were searched, however, nothing (was) found in their possession. That operation continued on into the night. As the surveillance team and a search team continued their operation at the airstrip, sometime this morning at 9am, that surveillance team and the operational search team recovered from the airstrip some six multi-coloured bags each containing a large quantity of suspected cocaine. I can tell you when we completed the count it was 155 packages with the street value of $3.1m.”
PAGE 8, Thursday, April 15, 2021
THE TRIBUNE
America the Violent pulled over for not having tags displayed on his SUV, but the temporary dealer plate is visible in the officer’s body camera video. The lieutenant had recently bought the car.”
“Everyone else would rank in descending order on the basis of their proximity to those deemed most superior. The ranking would continue downward until one arrived at the very bottom – African captives transported to build the New World and to serve the victors for all their days, one generation after the next, for twelve generations.” - Isabel Wilkerson
Humiliated
A
CONCATENATION of recent brutal events in America are knottily stitched together in a star-spangled and blood-soaked banner of racial and gun violence that stretches from the inception of America to the present day. As the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer accused of “seconddegree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd” continued in Minnesota, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a black man, was killed this past Sunday approximately 10 miles away by a white police officer during a traffic stop. The female officer who killed him said it was a mistake, that she intended to Taser and not shoot him with her nine millimetre gun. It seems inexplicable given the weighty and significant differences between a Taser and a gun. Yet again, the level of force used seemed excessive and unwarranted for a “minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanour warrant”. The unrelenting assault, the unfettered violence against black men by police in America includes the report of an incident last December during a traffic stop in which a second lieutenant in the US Army Medical Corps, Caron
Nazario, who is black and Latino, was pepper-sprayed, kicked, handcuffed and humiliated by a police officer. One of the officers commanded Nazario, dressed in army fatigues, to obey him, stating: “You’re fixin’ to ride the lighting, son,” an expression that means to be put to death by the electric chair. “Son” is a dehumanizing synonym for “boy”, a common term used to emasculate black men. The hysterical policeman was basically saying, “Watch yourself (N-word) or you could end up dead.” As reported on CBS news online: “Attorney Jonathan Arthur, who is representing Nazario in a lawsuit filed earlier this month against the two officers [in the incident], said that he was afraid if he took his hands out of view, something even worse would happen. ‘‘To unbuckle his seatbelt, to do anything, any misstep – he was afraid that they were going to kill him,” Arthur [observed]… “The incident report said that Nazario was initially
The strikes against Lieutenant Nazario were numerous: he is a black, articulate man in uniform driving a brand new SUV, who was not subservient or obsequious, all offensive to many whites, who would view his manner and status as an affront to white superiority. He had to be humiliated, to “learn his place”. No matter the background or biography of a black man or woman in America, they are often automatically characterized as feral animals demanding the application of brutal force such as would be employed in animal control. White privilege is not solely about proactively using such privilege to gain the upper hand or some benefit. It is also about the pass one automatically gets for being white, such as a police officer treating a white driver at a traffic stop with respect and care. Had the lieutenant in the car been white he would likely have been treated with deference and even camaraderie by the police. Just having been born white is a passport cum privilege for accruing benefits in a country or system in which white people are deemed superior. In such a system there is the concomitant reflexive denial of black equality and more so, frenzied antipathy to: black talent, black beauty, black imagination, black intelligence, black artistry, black elegance, black pride, history and culture.
THIS photo provided by Ben Crump Law, PLLC. shows Daunte Wright and his son Daunte Jr., at his first birthday party. Duante was killed this past Sunday by a white police officer during a traffic stop. (Ben Crump Law, PLLC. via AP)
IN this image made from Windsor, (Va.) Police video, a police officer speaks with Caron Nazario during a traffic stop on Dec. 20, 2020, in Windsor, Va. (Windsor Police via AP). Barack Obama, an ethically and intellectually superior man to the intellectually and morally deficient Donald Trump, had to endure enervating attacks on his citizenship and good character. If Obama possessed the seedy profile of Trump he would have never been elected as President. But a failed businessman and congenital liar like Trump, with his encyclopedia of deficiencies, was elected President of the United States. This is what white privilege looks like. One often gets a pass for having been born “white”. A classic American Express advertising slogan of the 1980s touted: “Membership has its privileges.” The same may be said of being white in America. Tiger Woods initially determined that he was not black in America. He styled himself as Cablinasian until his marriage to a white woman ended after liaisons with other white women became public, rocking his golfing career and celebrity status. After an accident in 2017, one reporter noted: “Tiger Woods, once the fresh-faced future of golf, stared into the police camera with a forlorn look and hooded eyes. A 41-year-old man who has famously insisted on his mixed racial heritage was identified in the arrest report with one word: black.”
Cataclysm Alongside the ongoing killing of black men and women in America is the cataclysm of mass shootings, including the recent killing of eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, in a suburb north of Atlanta in Georgia and deaths in Boulder, Colorado. The origins of America’s violence, including racial violence, is brilliantly chronicled in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson, an exploration of America’s “hidden caste system”. “More than a century and a half before the American Revolution, a human hierarchy had evolved on the contested soil of what would become the United States, a concept of birthright, the temptation of entitled expansion that would set in motion the world’s first democracy and, with it, a ranking of human value and usage. “It would twist the minds of men as greed and selfreverence eclipsed human conscience to take land and human bodies that the
conquering men convinced themselves they had a right to. “If they were to convert this wilderness and civilize it to their likening, they decided they would need to conquer, enslave, or remove the people already on it and transport those they deemed lesser beings to tame and work the land to extract wealth that lay in the rich soil and shorelines. “To justify their plans, they took pre-existing notions of their own centrality, reinforced by their self-interested interpretation of the Bible, and created a hierarchy of who could do what, who could own what, who was on top and who was on the bottom and who was in between. “There emerged a ladder of humanity, global in nature, as the upper-rung people, who descend from Europe with rungs inside the designation, the English Protestants at the very top as their guns and resources would ultimately prevail in their bloody fight over North America.” In a post entitled, Genocide of Indigenous People, the American Holocaust Museum notes the violence upon which America was founded: “When European settlers arrived in the Americas, historians estimate there were over 10 million Native Americans living there. By 1900, their estimated population was under 300,000. “Native Americans were subjected to many different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying the community. “In the late 1800s, blankets from smallpox patients were distributed to Native Americans in order to spread disease. “There were several wars, and violence was encouraged; for example, European settlers were paid for each Penobscot person they killed. In the 19th century, 4,000 Cherokee people died on the Trail of Tears, a forced march from the southern US to Oklahoma.” As the History Channel observed: “The US government [authorized] over 1,500 wars, attacks and raids on Indians, the most of any country in the world against its Indigenous people.” There was a deliberate war of extermination.
Holocaust The holocaust of indigenous peoples and slavery in America were enforced through an arsenal of violence: guns, sadistic beatings, amputations of slaves, Jim
Crow laws, rapes, lynchings, arm and leg chains, the stitching up of black men and women for crimes they did not commit, capital punishment, unjust sentences, the cruel beating of blacks in the back of police cars and in jail cells, mass incarceration, voter suppression laws, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and various biological experiments and other weapons of mass intimidation and destruction. Despite this cruel and unusual treatment, some have the blithe audacity to query why many black people in America and the world seethe about such depravity. The unrelenting killing in America of black men and women by the police, which has come into greater light in the past few decades, is but the tip of a titantic iceberg of violence and brutality in America since its founding. Many Bahamians are fairly recently coming to appreciate this history. But this violence remains a clear and present danger. If a black Bahamian man, no matter if he served at the commanding heights of politics, the judiciary, religious life or business in The Bahamas is caught at a traffic stop in the wrong place in America, he too may end up pepper-sprayed, on the ground, handcuffed and humiliated, or even worse. To fully appreciate the degree and extent of racial hatred and white supremacy is to understand the compelling history Wilkerson describes in Caste, which is a must-read for those who seek to understand America the Violent. Wilkerson declares: “The Nazis needed no one to teach them how to hate... But what they did was they sent researchers to the United States to study Jim Crow laws here in the United States, to study and to research how the United States had managed to subordinate and subjugate its African American population.” The Democratic Party in America once served as the locus for the Confederacy. The locus of the Confederacy is now resident in the Republican Party. Those white and black Bahamians who continue to revere the latter and who all too easily discount its supremacist agenda, are either purposefully or ignorantly in denial. The brilliant James Baldwin summed up the white supremacist reality in America, which still reigns supreme: “The reason people think it’s important to be white is that they think it’s important not to be black.”
THE TRIBUNE
Thursday, April 15, 2021, PAGE 9
Georgia changed the rules and laid bare a dark, racist intolerance D
OESN’T it seem like the United States is coming apart at the seams? Consider the following: America is fundamentally a federation of 50 states and a variety of territories, “commonwealth” entitles, etc. It’s a giant sprawling nation whose founders correctly anticipated the sorts of centrifugal forces that we see right now. The issue of states’ rights has been unleashed again. The current iteration of the existential states’ rights debates probably began when Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it certainly does not now look like America was ready for a black President 12 years ago, no matter how proud of themselves were the majority of its voters who elected him. Well, maybe a majority of Americans were ready for a black President. But as we saw in the last two general elections, a very healthy minority of them were not. Now, after four years of Donald Trump laying bare for all the world to see America’s enduring racial intolerance, it seems like the lid has been truly prized off this Pandora’s Box of dark, racist intolerance. The Republican Party has become the magnet for what seems perilously close to an electoral majority of Americans who are not only still not ready for a black President but who are also unprepared to accept the inexorable reality that whites are becoming a statistical minority in the United States, and that enough women are willing to join the political fight that their voices can no longer be ignored. So where do states’ rights come in? The notorious Georgia election law is a good example. Peach State Republicans and their mostly white, mostly male base of support did not like the outcome of the January US Senate run-off elections. In those two contests, two incumbent white establishment senators – one a retired business tycoon and the other the wealthy wife of a financial insider – were upset by a young Jewish activist and an old-fashioned Bible-thumping black preacher.
It was a Hollywood script, and you can be certain you will see its reenactment on the big (or, more likely, small Amazon Prime or Netflix) screen soon. Georgia Republicans, and their colleagues in many other states, were sufficiently dissatisfied with the election results that they tried to tip the balance in their favour by resorting to a time-tested device. They decided to change the rules. While the details of the new Georgia election law
to join with New York and Massachusetts, which held significant advantages in colonial times and retain many of them today? We all sort of understand this. What sets America apart from other sprawling global empires like Russia, China and Brazil is that the US from the start set out to manage itself as a democracy in which, at least theoretically, the ultimate power to determine its government and operating policies would be predictably and reliably determined
GEORGIA Gov. Brian Kemp speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol on Saturday, April 3, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
IN THIS Jan. 5, 2021, photo, voters wait in line to cast their ballots in Georgia’s Senate runoff election in Atlanta. (AP Photo/ Brynn Anderson, file) passed by the state legislature and proudly signed by Governor Brian Kemp are vitally important for voters in the state, the bigger point is that states’ rights are back in the centre of the national political debate. States’ rights means that individual states have the ability to enact rules and legislation that suit them and a majority in their elected legislatures, sometimes at variance with the course of the central American federal government.
Constitution This was one of the fundamental tenets of the American constitution, which was a document forged by compulsory compromise. The framers of the constitution understood that the mix of disparate colonies in the centre of North America would never see economics nor politics in the same uniform way. That’s why there are two senators from Wyoming and two from California, two from Rhode Island and two from Texas. Without such protections, why would South Carolina agree
by citizen voters in the course of regular elections. Now the Georgia election law has threatened all that. Maybe this law will produce an election next year that will restore to power a Republican senator from Georgia in 2023. Maybe black and other minority voters in the state will sigh resignedly and trudge on with their lives knowing that for a couple of years things were different but The Man will eventually prevail. Again. Maybe not. Maybe the drama takes a different turn. While Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and other prominent Democrats launch venomous grenades at the Georgia election law, politicians are unlikely to determine its fate. Even the justly famous Stacey Abrams, whose determined voter registration and voter turnout movement turned the January election in a stunning direction, probably cannot overturn the new law without help. That help will have to come from the American federal judiciary. But wait. Isn’t the American federal judiciary the same bunch of jurists that
The city on the hill has lost its shine
W
hile the essential democratic human right to vote is being debated and assaulted, the even more basic human democratic right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness seems to be threatened in the United States. Each morning’s newspaper front page or broadcast imparts new accounts of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers, hateful incidents of anti-Asian bullying or sexual predation by respected public figures. One pundit opined that the universe appears to be conspiring to compel some kind of resolution to the discordant forces unleashed by the undisciplined, demagogic, selfish presidency of Donald Trump. But it is unfair and inaccurate to blame all this on Trump, convenient as that might be. And it’s not as though he tries to evade responsibility for it. On the contrary, though his maleficent voice is muffled these days, he nevertheless clearly takes pride in his continuing influence on daily American political and social life. Racial intolerance, hateful acts and disgraceful, ignorant behaviour are hardly new in American life. Not so long ago in the still-short arc
of American history, overt racial segregation was alive and well in many parts of the US, Asian-Americans were interred by a fearful government and women remained mostly economically disenfranchised. Such is life, and certainly not only in America. Ignominious and reprehensible individual behaviour and inequitable government policies happen every day in every nation on earth. But if you are going to proclaim that you are the “shining city on the hill,” as Ronald Reagan once proudly and famously did, and if you continue to maintain America is the template for good and democratic values in the world - as US politicians of both parties continue to regularly do - then you have to accept the sceptical scrutiny of the rest of the world when you behave as some Americans are now doing. There is hope, arising from what might at first glance seem to be an improbable source. Maybe, just maybe, Joe Biden is going to turn out to be the kind of transformative leader the US needs at this time of its extreme tribulation. Even if only he and his family have been paying attention for decades, he has long been preparing for becoming President. Let’s see how he does.
Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled US Senate just spent four years packing with more than 200 “conservative” judges. Yes, it is. The Biden Justice Department is reportedly considering legal challenges to the Georgia law. Will they pursue that course, and if so, what will be the results? There are no guarantees either way in such a situation. Sometimes appointed judges confound their political sponsors and issue surprising rulings. Landmark American civil rights
cases in the 1950s, for instance, were decided in broadly liberal fashion by a Supreme Court led by a Republican appointee who was supposed to be a reliable conservative. But a smart bettor might anticipate a less liberal interpretation by judges appointed by Republicans specifically to forestall any such outcome. That leaves one remaining constitutional remedy. While the American judiciary interprets the constitutionality of laws, the American legislature enacts those laws.
Biden’s Democrats control – barely – the American legislature now. Republicans are itching to recapture at least one house in that legislature next year. Will the Democratic-controlled Congress tackle legislation designed to overrule laws such as the Georgia Voter Law? Would any Republicans be willing to join such an effort? Current conventional wisdom suggests the odds are stacked against the overturn of the Georgia law. But you never know.
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Why do British royals live such long lives? By S. JAY OLSHANSKY, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago IN THE UK it is customary to receive a personalized message from the queen on your 100th birthday – such is the relative rarity of reaching the milestone. Prince Philip was just a couple months off, dying at the age of 99 years and 10 months on April 9, 2021. The last notable royal death before his was that of the Queen Mother in 2002. She was 101-years-old. Reaching such a ripe old age isn’t uncommon among the British ruling family – in fact, my analysis shows that on average they live an additional 30 years compared with their subjects. I looked at the duration of life of the last six British monarchs, along with the longevity of their spouses and children – in total 27 royals. What it reveals is a fascinating and familiar story for those of us who study ageing and longevity for a living. As a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, I had previously observed the exact same phenomenon among US Presidents – they also tend to live decades longer than the general population they serve.
AN AGE-OLD STORY The ruling UK. monarchs from Queen Victoria onward lived an average of 75 years. And this longevity will continue to rise with each day that Queen Elizabeth II – currently age 95 – lives. Their spouses survived even longer, reaching an average age of 83.5 years. If Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, who died of suspected typhoid fever at age 42 in 1861, is removed from the equation, the average duration of the life of the spouses of the monarchs was an astonishing 91.7 years. By contrast, the average life duration of the wider UK population for the years the monarchs were born throughout this period was only 46 years, according to figures from the Human Mortality Database. For example, the typical life expectancy at birth for a female in the UK in 1819 was just under 41 years. Queen Victoria, also born in 1819, was 81 when she died. By the time Elizabeth II was born in 1926, life expectancy at birth for females in the UK had risen to 62 – the Queen has already surpassed that by some 33 years. Such differences in lifespan – with some members
of the royal family living to an age double that expected of the general population – are considered in ageing circles to be extremely large, but not uncommon. Lifespan differences of this magnitude are the result of a combination of genetic as well as social and behavioural influences. No one can live long without first having won the genetic lottery at birth. To maximise the chances of achieving exceptional longevity – upward of 85-years-old – you must begin by being lucky enough to have long-lived parents. But even for those blessed with the gift at birth of the potential for a long life, this is no guarantee you’ll outlive your contemporaries. The next challenge is to avoid behaviours that shorten life. That list is long – it is a lot easier to shorten life than extend it – but among the most well known are smoking, eating in excess and lack of exercise. And then there is the influence of poverty and privilege. Being born into or living in poverty has been shown to be one of the most important factors that shortens lifespan – and it is here that perhaps the royals have the greatest advantage. Further evidence of
IN this June 19, 1962 file photo, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip travel by open carriage around the track prior to the race programme at Ascot, England. (AP Photo/File) privilege being a crucial ingredient in the recipe for exceptional longevity can be seen in the fact that the children of the last six UK monarchs that died from natural causes lived an average of 69.7 years. This is some 23 years more than the average age of British subjects over that period. A PRIVILEGED EXISTENCE Put simply, British monarchs and their families live so much longer than their subjects for the same reason other subgroups of the population across the globe live longer than contemporaries born in the same year:
privilege over poverty. A famous study conducted in Manchester, England, in 2017 demonstrated vast differences in life expectancy depending on the conditions of where people lived. Access to higher education and economic status was directly correlated with longer life, while lower education, income and poverty were linked to shorter lives. In the US, similar studies of life expectancy by county, census tract and zip code demonstrated the same phenomenon. In fact, there are multiple instances of dramatic differences in longevity among people living as close as across the street from each other – caused by differences in
poverty and privilege. Differences in duration of life are first defined by genetics, but it is then heavily mediated by education, income, health care, clean water, food, indoor living and working environments, and the overall effects of high or low socioeconomic status. The long life of Prince Philip is a cause for celebrating the progress of medical science in being able to keep people alive for longer. But it is in part the result of a privilege denied to many and a reminder that humanity has a long way to go to equalize the chances of living a long life. theconversation.com
ANTARCTICA’S ICE SHELVES ARE TREMBLING AS GLOBAL TEMPERATURES RISE –
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS UP TO US By ELLA GILBERT, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Climate Science, University of Reading
I
MAGES of colossal chunks of ice plunging into the sea accompany almost every news story about climate change. It can often make the problem seem remote, as if the effects of rising global temperatures are playing out elsewhere. But the break-up of the world’s vast reservoirs of frozen water – and, in particular, Antarctic ice shelves – will have consequences for all of us. Before we can appreciate how, we need to understand what’s driving this process. Ice shelves are gigantic floating platforms of ice that form where continental ice meets the sea. They’re found in Greenland, northern Canada and the Russian Arctic, but the largest loom around the edges of Antarctica. They are fed by frozen rivers of ice called glaciers, which flow down from the steep Antarctic ice sheet. Ice shelves act as a barrier to glaciers, so when they disappear, it’s like pulling the plug in a sink, allowing glaciers to flow freely into the ocean, where they contribute to sea level rise.
Splintered If you cast your mind back to 2002, you may remember the sudden demise of Larsen B, an ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula – the tail-like land mass which stretches out from the West Antarctic mainland – which splintered over just six weeks. Before Larsen B broke up, satellite images showed meltwater collecting in huge ponds on the surface, the precursor to a process called “hydrofracturing”, which literally means “cracking by water”. Ice shelves are not solid blocks of ice: they’re made up of layers with fresh snow at the top, which contains lots of air gaps. Over many seasons, layers of snow build up and become compacted, with the bottom of the shelf containing the densest ice. In the middle, there is a porous medium called firn, which contains air pockets that soak up meltwater every summer like a sponge. In the Antarctic summer, ice shelves get warm enough to melt at the surface. That meltwater trickles into the firn layer, where it refreezes when temperatures dip below freezing again. If the rate of melting every year is greater than the rate at which that firn can be replenished by fresh snow, then those air pockets eventually fill up, causing the ice shelf to become one solid chunk. If that happens, then the following
summer when melting occurs, the water has nowhere to go and so collects in ponds on the surface. That is what we can see in the satellite images of Larsen B before it collapsed. At this stage, meltwater begins to flow into crevasses and cracks within the ice shelf. The weight of water filling these rifts causes them to widen and deepen, until suddenly, all at once, the cracks reach the bottom of the shelf and the whole thing disintegrates. Scientists believe the collapse of Larsen B was caused by a combination of persistently warm weather and a background of ongoing atmospheric warming, which drove unusually high melt rates. After its collapse, the glaciers that previously fed Larsen B sped up, spitting more ice into the ocean than before. Currently, the Antarctic Peninsula, an area that has seen more than half its ice shelves lose mass, is responsible for around 25 percent of all ice loss from Antarctica. It holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by around 24cm. THREE FUTURE OUTCOMES But what might happen to the rest of Antarctica’s ice shelves in the future is still uncertain. As the climate warms, ice shelves are more likely to collapse and accelerate global sea level rise, but by how much? This is something myself and a colleague have explored in a new study. We used the latest modelling techniques to predict the susceptibility of ice shelves to hydrofracturing at 1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C of global warming – scenarios that are all still plausible. Like with Larsen B, the presence of liquid water on the surface of an ice shelf indicates that it is becoming less stable, and so vulnerable to collapse by hydrofracturing. In our paper, we identified four ice shelves – including two on the Antarctic Peninsula – which are at risk of collapse if global temperatures rise 4°C above the pre-industrial average. If both were to disintegrate, the glaciers they hold back could account for tens of cm of sea level rise – 10-20 percent of what’s predicted this century. But limiting global warming to 2°C would halve the amount of ice shelf area at risk of collapse around Antarctica. At 1.5°C, just 14 percent of Antarctica’s ice shelf area would be at risk. Cutting that risk reduces the likelihood of this vast and remote continent significantly contributing to sea level rise. Clearly, reducing climate change will be better not just for Antarctica, but for the world. theconversation.com
THE TRIBUNE
PONZI SCHEMER BERNIE MADOFF DIES IN PRISON By MICHAEL BALSAMO AND TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Madoff, the infamous architect of an epic securities swindle that burned thousands of investors, outfoxed regulators and earned him a 150-year prison term, died behind bars early Wednesday. He was 82. Madoff’s death at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by his lawyer and the Bureau of Prisons. Last year, Madoff’s lawyers unsuccessfully asked a court to release him from prison during the coronavirus pandemic, saying he suffered from end-stage renal disease and other chronic medical conditions. His death was due to natural causes, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. For decades, Madoff enjoyed an image as a self-made financial guru whose Midas touch defied market fluctuations. A former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, he attracted a devoted legion of investment clients — from Florida retirees to celebrities such as film director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. But his investment advisory business was exposed in 2008 as a Ponzi scheme that wiped out people’s fortunes and ruined charities. He became so hated he wore a bulletproof vest to court. The fraud was believed to be the largest in Wall Street’s history. Over the years, courtappointed trustees labouring to unwind the scheme have recovered more than $14 billion of an estimated $17.5 billion investors put into Madoff’s business. At the time of Madoff’s arrest, fake account statements were telling clients they had holdings worth $60 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty in March 2009 to securities fraud and other charges, saying he was “deeply sorry and ashamed.” After several months living under house arrest at his $7 million Manhattan penthouse apartment, he was led off to jail in handcuffs to scattered applause from angry investors in the courtroom. “He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values,” former investor Tom Fitzmaurice told the judge at the sentencing. “He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife ... could live a life of luxury beyond belief.” Madoff’s attorney in recent years, Brandon Sample, said in a statement that the financier had “lived with guilt and remorse for his crimes” up until his death. “Although the crimes Bernie was convicted of have come to define who he was — he was also a father and a husband. He was soft spoken and an intellectual. Bernie was by no means perfect. But no man is,” Sample said. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to the maximum possible term. “Here, the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of irresponsible manipulation of the system is not merely a bloodless financial crime that takes place just on paper, but it is instead ... one that takes a staggering human toll,” Chin said. A judge issued a forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $80 million in assets his wife, Ruth, had claimed were hers. The order left her with $2.5 million. The scandal also exacted a personal toll on the family: One of his sons, Mark, killed himself on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest in 2010. Madoff’s brother, Peter, who helped run the business, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012, despite claims he was in the dark about his brother’s misdeeds.
Thursday, April 15, 2021, PAGE 11
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS FEARED IN ST VINCENT AMID ERUPTIONS By DÁNICA COTO and EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Ongoing volcanic eruptions have displaced about 20% of people in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as a U.N. official on Wednesday warned of a growing humanitarian crisis. Between 16,000 to 20,000 people were evacuated under government orders before La Soufriere volcano first erupted on Friday, covering the lush green island with ash that continues to blanket communities in St. Vincent as well as Barbados and other nearby islands. About 6,000 of those evacuees are considered most vulnerable, said Didier Trebucq, United Nations resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. “So we are facing a situation with a great deal of uncertainty, and also a humanitarian crisis that is growing and may continue for weeks and months,” he said. Trebucq said that based on certain information and preliminary estimations, 20,000 people are “estimated at risk of food insecurity, given the loss of the assets in terms of livelihood like fisheries, or agriculture.” Some 4,000 people are temporarily living in 87 government shelters, while others have relocated to hotels or the homes of friends and family, officials said. Trebucq noted that many shelters are lacking basic services including drinking water. He said priority number one is water, which is being transported from nearby Caribbean nations and other contributors since water systems shut down in many parts of the island.
THIS image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Richmond Vale waterfront covered in volcanic ash, in Chateaubelair, St. Vincent, Tuesday, a day after after another eruption of the La Soufriere volcano. (Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies via AP) He said priority number two strictly adhere to COVID-19 measis meeting the needs of the 4,000 ures to avoid outbreaks. people in shelters, including cots “We cannot have that at any and basic supplies, sanitation, time, and most of all, at this time,” hygiene and emergency latrines. he said. “We are dealing with a crisis He also said a big issue is trying within the COVID crisis,” Trebucq to determine the needs of those told reporters at U.N. headquarters staying in hundreds of private in New York in a video briefing. homes across the island, adding “Many health facilities have been that registration of those evacuees affected by the ashes.” is ongoing. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves Officials also urged those remainsaid Wednesday during a press ing in communities closest to the conference broadcast by local sta- volcano to evacuate as soon as postion NBC radio that people need to sible, noting that the explosions are
ongoing and causing new pyroclastic flows. “I don’t want them to die like that,” said Richard Robertson with the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center. “It’s not a nice way to go.” Friday’s explosion produced only ash, but pyroclastic flows have multiplied as the volcano shifts shape with each new eruption, some of which have been stronger than the one recorded last week. Robertson said volcanic activity is expected to continue for days or even weeks. The volcano had a minor eruption in December after a previous eruption in 1979. An older eruption in 1902 killed some 1,600 people. Water continues to be of great concern, although Garth Saunders, minister of the island’s water and sewer authority, said Wednesday that the situation is improving and that more water supply systems are coming back on. He added that crews are prioritising bakeries so people can have basic sustenance. “We are doing our best,” he said. Trebucq said the U.N. will soon be launching an emergency appeal to support the humanitarian response and the early recovery for the next six months. He said the goal is to ensure people’s lives go back to normal as soon as possible, but that he worried about the impact on the island’s tourism and agricultural sectors. The U.N. is mobilising experts through the U.N. Environment Program in collaboration with the European Union to help remove and dispose of the ashes, he said. “This is a crisis that is going to certainly last more than six months in St. Vincent and other islands,” he said.
FORMER MINNESOTA COP CHARGED IN SHOOTING OF BLACK MOTORIST By SCOTT BAUER AND MIKE HOUSEHOLDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — A white former suburban Minneapolis police officer was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. The charge against former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was filed three days after Wright was killed during a traffic stop and as the nearby murder trial progresses for the exofficer charged with killing George Floyd last May. The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said that Potter, a 26-year veteran and training officer, intended to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead. However, protesters and Wright’s family members say there’s no excuse for the shooting and that it shows how the justice system is tilted against Blacks, noting Wright was stopped for expired car registration and ended up dead. “Certain occupations carry an immense responsibility and none more so than a sworn police officer,” Imran Ali, Washington County assistant criminal division chief, said in a statement announcing the charge against Potter. “(Potter’s) action caused the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright and she must be held accountable.” Ali said he and Washington County Attorney Pete Orput met with Wright’s family and assured them that no resources would be spared in prosecuting the case. Intent isn’t a necessary component of second-degree manslaughter in Minnesota. The charge — which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison — can be applied in circumstances where a person is suspected of causing a death by “culpable negligence” that creates an unreasonable risk and consciously takes chances to cause the death of a person. Potter, 48, was arrested Wednesday morning at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul. Her attorney did not respond to messages from The Associated Press. Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon both resigned Tuesday. Outside Potter’s home
THIS booking photo released by the Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff shows Kim Potter, a former Brooklyn Center, Minn., police officer who is charged Wednesday, with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-yearold Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. (Hennepin County Sheriff via AP) in Champlin, north of Brooklyn Center, concrete barricades and tall metal fencing had been set up and police cars were in the driveway. After Floyd’s death last year, protesters demonstrated several times at the home of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer now on trial in Floyd’s death. Police say Wright was pulled over for expired tags on Sunday, but they sought to arrest him after discovering he had an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. Body camera video that Gannon released Monday shows Potter approaching Wright as he stands outside of his car as another officer is arresting him. As Wright struggles with police, Potter shouts, “I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” before firing a single shot from a handgun in her right hand. The news release announcing the charge noted that Potter holstered her handgun on the right side and her Taser on the left. To remove the Taser — which is yellow and has a black grip — Potter would have to use her left hand, the county attorney’s statement said. Wright family attorney Ben Crump said the family appreciates the criminal case, but he again disputed
that the shooting was accidental, arguing that an experienced officer knows the difference between a Taser and a handgun. “Kim Potter executed Daunte for what amounts to no more than a minor traffic infraction and a misdemeanor warrant,” he said. Experts say cases of officers mistakenly firing their gun instead of a Taser are rare, usually less than once a year nationwide. Transit officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison after responding to a fight at a train station in Oakland, California, killing 22-year-old Oscar Grant in 2009. Mehserle testified at trial that he mistakenly pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead of his stun gun. In Oklahoma, a white volunteer sheriff’s deputy for Tulsa County, Robert Bates, was convicted of
second-degree manslaughter after accidentally firing his handgun when he meant to deploy his stun gun on Eric Harris, a Black man who was being held down by other officers in 2015. Potter was an instructor with Brooklyn Center police, according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. She was training two other officers when they stopped Wright, the association’s leader, Brian Peters, told the Star Tribune. On Tuesday night, hundreds of demonstrators again gathered at Brooklyn Center’s heavily guarded police headquarters, now ringed by concrete barriers and a tall metal fence, and where police in riot gear and National Guard soldiers stood watch. About 90 minutes before a 10 p.m. curfew, state police announced over a loudspeaker that the gathering
had been declared unlawful and ordered the crowds to disperse. Protesters launched fireworks toward the station and threw objects at officers, who launched flashbangs and gas grenades, then marched in a line to force back the crowd. The number of protesters plummeted over the next hour, until only a few remained. Police also ordered all media to leave. Brooklyn Center, a suburb just north of Minneapolis, has seen its racial demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Hispanic. Mayor Mike Elliott said Tuesday that he didn’t have at hand information on the police force’s racial diversity but that “we have very few people of colour in our department.”