Columnists

Christopher Concepcion THIS year’s U.S. presidential election has taken a turn with President Joe Biden stepping down from the race this month and Vice President Kamala Harris gearing up to accept the Democratic Party nod to face off against former President Donald Trump.  An interesting turn of ev…

BC Cook “BLOOD from my fingers and wrists oozed out into the water.  That, I suppose, is what attracted the shark.” “I calculated the chances against me as, conservatively, a million to one.” As Ted Sierks plowed through the seas, racing between Los Angeles and Honolulu, he made the dreadful mistak…

Don A. Farrell The following is the text of the author’s welcoming remarks delivered Friday morning, July 26, 2024, at the American Cemetery, part of the Tinian, North Field, National Historic Landmark. GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. First, let me congratulate Mayor Edwin Aldan, his hardworkin…

FOR those wondering why the local economy is still in the dumps and, consequently, why the CNMI government is not collecting enough revenue, I suggest that you watch, in its three-hour entirety, the recent Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee hearing on MVA’s budget. (https://rb.gy/v6r0j1)    As everyon…

BC Cook FROM having traveled in Japan, I am sometimes asked to describe different aspects of Japanese culture.  Movie buffs want to talk about Toei Kyoto Studio, still used to shoot samurai-era films.  Sports fans are curious about baseball in Japan and how it differs from the American game.  Busin…

Ambrose M. Bennett THE TRUTH of the matter is I find myself saying THANK YOU more than anyone in the newspapers but yet I’m the pariah just like they (Republicans & Torres) are trying to do to Attorney Kingman. But I say on behalf of the many who can’t speak-out, THANK YOU to Attorney Kingman f…

TWO headlines from the July 12th issue of The Wall Street Journal: • “China Pays Price for Its One-Child Policy” • “Earth’s Population Should Peak Before Century” According to the Journal, the United Nations now “expects China’s population to drop to 639 million by 2100 from 1.4 billion today, a mu…

Jim Rayphand IT is something of a mind-boggle to come so far and yet still be so far away.  Such is the case with my conditional plan to run for Congress, if I can lose a certain amount of body-weight in a specific amount of time.  My close friends have taken to asking for updates. “Inquiring minds…

The following essay won third prize in the Northern Marianas Humanities Council’s 2024 My Marianas Writing Contest. IN the Pacific Ocean, lies a group of neighboring islands called the Marianas. Among the fourteen islands, one of them is my home: the beautiful island of Tinian. The home of luscious…

Ambrose M. Bennett THE TRUTH of the matter is that it’s obvious the CNMI is stuck in reverse needing to go forward. Ever since the poli-tricking that killed La Fiesta the CNMI has being slowly going backwards economically with no end in site because there has yet to be any REAL REFORMS to make the …