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This and that

Finally IT took over a year before the administration and the Legislature can say that they will have to act soon to address the CNMI’s urgent fiscal challenges. They mentioned these challenges during the campaign season in 2022, and shortly after they were sworn in last year. They were supported b…
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Variations ǀ Recurring themes, forgotten realities

YOU can tell it’s election season already when you hear politicians say things that have been said in previous election seasons. Politicians today are, more or less, talking about the same old issues. And it seems that not a lot of us recall that in election after election, previous politicians — i…
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Dangerous skills gap in Malampaya

IT is becoming increasingly obvious that the operation of the Malampaya Gas Field in Palawan, the Philippines is being run by a company that is  incompetent and unqualified to manage and implement the complex system of processes involved in day-to-day operations of oil and gas exploration and produ…
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The more things change…

And the funding source is? CUC says the central government, which owes over $11 million in unpaid utility bills, will make an initial payment of $400,000 by April 1st, and submit a payment plan for the rest of its arrears. The central government’s “awakening” seems to have been triggered by the U.S…
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Variations ǀ Politics: Then, now and always

FORTY years ago, the then-12-year-old Marianas Variety reported that “House of Reps closes, fires 82 employees.” The local economy would take off before the end of the decade, but in 1984 it was still struggling to generate enough revenue to meet the financial obligations of the six-year-old Common…
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An ‘Indian giver’ called Ricky Razon

“INDIAN giver” is a pejorative expression used to describe a person who gives a “gift” and later wants it back or who expects something of equivalent worth in return for the item. It is based on cultural misunderstandings that took place between the early European colonists and the indigenous peopl…
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BC’s Tales of the Pacific ǀ The naked lady and the tsunami

BC Cook FOUR young school teachers looked out the window to view the strange behavior of the sea.  A few moments later only one of them was alive.  This is her story. An earthquake occurred in the ocean near Alaska in 1946, and while the quake caused little damage, it unleashed a tsunami that sprea…
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Variations ǀ If you’re seeking elective office

YOU will be vilified, ridiculed, denounced, unfairly criticized if not “defamed” by your political opponents and their supporters. And there is nothing new about that in the history of politics. It was much worse in the past. (Julius Caesar’s political opponents did not even try to debate him. They…
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Another day on Capital Hill

Cut government spending instead ABOUT two weeks ago, the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee conducted a public hearing on the tax-hike measures that were passed (i.e., rubber-stamped) by the House, and expressed concerns about their rationale. As the Senate floor leader noted, raising taxes on commodi…
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