Rasta Government

Grennan was an unheralded genius, with an uncommon talent for improvisation throughout the song without distracting from the vocals or arrangement. Some even credit him with creating the 'one drop' as well as precursors to the 'disco' beat. Paul Simon flew here at the height of his fame to record Mother and Child Reunion with Grennan at Torrington Bridge. I can listen to Mother and Child or The Harder They Come ten times straight just for the drum track. He incorporates a dozen improvisations in the first few bars alone, so essentially i t's a different song every time. It's counterintuitive, since drumming, or any rhythm track, is basically there for it's predictability. I wonder how many millions have heard those songs, but never heard his genius. -RG 'Teach the youths'

No matter how wicked the criminals are, yo u can't drop them in a hole and forget them. As night follows day, when the cover is eventually removed, there will be people in that hole that shouldn't be there. Those people will never forgive you, and many have learned some dangerous things in there. The St. James murder level was something closer to a war zone overseas than a parish in Jamaica. I heard them say that the communities are finally breathing again. They can hold a little birthday or christmas party. Who's rights are we talking about? Why can't they convene a judicial panel to address the issue of the murder suspects. Explain to the judges that you have reason to believe these people are producing most of the violence. Neither the police, the government, the opposition, or the community wants to let them out. The only thing for us to decide is the method and time needed to build a case and charge them. Our criminal justice system has been starved of investme...

The first unaccompanied American pilots to fly into Russia during WWII didn’t know what to expect. They were sheepishly pulled aside by briefing officers, who told them that the flight maps they had would be of little use, and asked them to note any landmarks they saw on the way so that the mapping could be improved. After entering Russian territory, the pilots drifted off their course to gawk at the ruins of towns as they came over the horizon. They had never seen such devastation. Entire cities hammered to dust by the Germans, as well as Russia’s own ‘scorched earth’ policy. They had flown thousands of kilometers, deep into the country’s heartland, realizing something else. They had not seen a single road. The railroad and the Manych canal were there, but little else in the way of transportation infrastructure, save for horse trails and paths for agricultural vehicles. Russia would now have to recover from a brutal war with a stunted economy. The lack of a modern road network to...

Such a shame. Another bright young black leader caught up in this little foolishness. Shows a lack of mentorship in the party as well. The smart ones know that there is decent money to be made in legitimate business once you don't abuse your public image and relationships (esp. in the industry you oversaw while in office). But now, unless the investigation finds something bigger, his career is put on hold for who knows how long because of birthday cake? All the same it's a good lesson for the young politicos. Carelessness and overconfidence don't mix with politics. Often, those that have had success in the private sector have seen enough of the high life that they don't feel the need to recreate the roman emperor environment using taxpayer dollars. SMH. Just unnecessary. With his brains and a little business experience he could have had all the 'million dollar cake' he wanted.  -RG Surprise parties for Wheatly, PetroJam chairman cost $2.6m — AG...

It's not just newspapers. The match commentary is biased as well. They are very careful not to disparage the black stars, lest they damage the team franchise value, but it's open season on the mid-tier players. Subtle negative comments that magnify their mistakes and minimize their best plays, or give undue credit to whites involved in the play. This has been going on for decades. Sometimes it's so blatant I have to change the channel. It's part of the reason important games broadcast to black audiences are often aired with local commentary. Soon those audiences might demand neutral commentary for all games. -RG Raheem Sterling accuses British newspapers of fuelling Racism

Globally 40 million still enslaved, but billions more caught in a trap. Only a quarter of adults of working age in the world are in full time employment, and of those, how many in subsistence jobs? Billions more in part time or seasonal jobs, those given up looking for work, the uneducated youth and women stuck in patriarchal societies with too many mouths to feed. Governments merrily quote unemployment figures of 5 or 10% and sweep the 30 and 40% underemployed under the rug. The 'lucky ones' are promised the world in school, but quickly boxed in with an entry-level paycheck, somehow finding the business knowledge, access to capital, and property rights that true entrepreneurship requires just out of reach. Underemployment is the new slavery. -RG In response to: Slavery still 'very real, widespread' — ILO