Columnists

ONE of the most pressing matters that should be discussed at the next U.S.-CNMI Covenant Section 902 consultation talks is the need to resuscitate the non-performing economy of the CNMI, particularly over the past five years. The only industry that the CNMI now has, and which is still viable, is th…

ANYONE who has observed up close how government works for, say, 30 years will most likely realize why it can’t be run like a business. “Overspending,” for example is not a bug but the main feature of government. Lack of funds will not prevent government from overspending. And a government awash wit…

Ambrose M. Bennett FIRST, I failed to mention and thank KFC for their awesome one-day MLK Day sale and Bank Pacifica for the awesome adds over the internet for Dr. King, as they even remembered it was his birthday which doesn’t always fall on MLK Day which is the third Monday.  But the TRUTH and RE…

Liana Sablan-Hofschneider  The following is the text of the testimony provided by the author to the CNMI Senate. HAFA adai and good morning, Madam President and members of this distinguished  body. I am here this morning to provide testimony  regarding H.B. 23-95. My name is Liana Sablan-Hofschneid…

Ambrose M. Bennett  THE TRUTH is Dr. King was REAL and what he did was historical as he not only changed America but he even changed most of the world and today is “a day on, not a day off” to promote his dream of “racial equality for all people of color.”  The reality is the CNMI would look & …

BC Cook THE following story comes courtesy of Father Eric Forbes’s blogsite, “paleric.”  His often insightful and never boring blogs can be found at https://paleric.blogspot.com/.  He is from Guam and often writes about Marianas history. “Sometime in 1909, Chinese fishermen discovered a canoe, with…

IN the P.I. back in the day, students as young as first graders were taught that an ever growing population would lead to Apocalypse Now. As Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University professor, would put it in his bestselling book published in 1968, “The Population Bomb,” “The battle to feed all of hum…

Rosemarie D. Embile THE first month of the new year is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the past and set intentions for the future. Welcoming 2024 with open arms encourages us to think about how to make the new year a time of growth, fulfillment, and positive change. One effective way to star…

BC Cook THERE are people who have won the lottery more than once. There are those who have been struck by lightning multiple times. But so far, Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only person officially recognized as having survived both atomic bomb blasts during the Second World War. His extraordinary story …

WHENEVER the pundits and the experts make a “prediction” they are actually just guessing, like most of us. To be sure, some guesses are better than others, and could be based on data or analysis. But they still involve an element of guesswork. Why? Because we can’t see the future. If we could, life…