Rasta Government

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

The world has given career politicians a bad reputation, accusing them of only serving their own interests at taxpayers expense. The preference is therefore to attract people who have had success outside of public life and to bring that approach to serve the people. Given our fiscal situation, many public officials are given 'basket to carry water'. How do you convince someone to leave their successful private endeavor and dabble in public service, only to be left in the cold when the political climate moves on? The more disparity there is between power and compensation (including retirement benefits) is the more temptation for corruption when in office. -RG In response to: Ferguson willing to lead MPs fight for more pay, better insurance

Those children that parents or regular teachers can't handle are not to be abandoned, many of them suffer from high energy and ADHD. That energy can be very valuable later in life with the right attention now. Those students with persistent learning and behaviour problems need to be separated from the rest of the class (or school) and given the proper focus in an environment with more teachers per student. For even a large school or school district this would only require relatively few extra teachers with special training. Teachers that get the most improvement out of the most challenging students need to be compensated. -RG In response to: Classroom dream crushed - Unruly students cause new teacher to consider switching to housekeeping and Parenting education project to be expanded, says Green

JFK was a born leader. Both he and Bobby became socially conscious in office. But Bobby hated Johnson (JFKs VP, an ambitious, ruthless political animal) and they ridiculed him as a Texas country bumpkin. In their haste to get rid of him with an exposé article, it leaked, and Johnson took a chance before they could strike. JFK wanted to end Vietnam abruptly, and leave the middle east (with all that oil) to itself. You're talking trillions of USD profit in today's dollars. That was a different time. Johnson's defense allies and texas oil friends would have killed 10 Kennedy's for that kind of money. Throw in Cuba, the mafia, the bay of pigs, the Ngô brothers, Hoover's tenure, Pinchot-Meyer etc. etc. It was just too many powerful enemies to have at the same time. Johnson (and many others) feared their father, but Joe mysteriously got a stroke in 1961. Johnson knew every Kennedy enemy personally, and he simply gathered them all at the same table and said: 'Here...

When will it become acceptable to talk about the effects on a small country like Jamaica of losing it's 'best and brightest' for 70+ years. Can remittances replace the loss of examples and mentors in our communities? How do we convince Jamaicans abroad that nobody there will care about them as much as their fellow Jamaicans? We here also have to accept that when we start to grow, those that fly in from other places will not care about us as much as Jamaicans that might return. -RG In response to: One in two high skilled C'bean citizens migrating, says UNESCO report