Jamaica - Land of Sun, Fun, and Jungle Justice

Jamaica has always been promoted as a tourist destination that is welcoming to all visitors who want to get away from their monotonous lives and enjoy a country with a warm climate, beautiful beaches, and participate in other cultural aspects of an island. The attractive side of the island is promoted on million dollar advertisements throughout North America and Europe. But, although the sun and fun notoriety are popular, the dark side of the island, such as the prevalence of jungle justice, is hidden quite well. In April 2019 Shantae Skyers, a beautiful 8 years old child, did not return from school at her customary time. Her decomposed body was found five days later in the bushes of Sterling Castle Heights, St. Andrew. A 20 something year of a man with a mental disability, Miguel Williams, with no previous criminal record became the town's suspect. Instead of waiting for the police to do their investigation, an angry mob took justice into their own hands and viciously attacked, beat, and set Miguel Williams' body on fire. During the brutality, one woman in the community, known to be a "Christian" remarked that the mob should have outed the fire for Williams to feel pain then relight the body! Now, as a result of a police investigation, men have been taken into custody for the rape and murder of Shantae Skyers. So, does that mean that Williams was innocently and senselessly murdered and his family's house burned down without cause? But, this is certainly not the first time that mob justice in Jamaica has taken place. In 2013, Dwayne Jones was beaten, stabbed, shot, and ran over by a car by a Jamaican mob for his homosexual preference. In fact, throughout time, there have been countless incidents of Jamaican mobs taking justice into their own hands with beatings and murders committed without any arrests.  It must stop - let the police and court do their job!

Dwayne Jones Murdered

Broward County Community Stands Up to Parkland Shooting Victim's Mom

As Lori Alhadeff wept for her daughter who was murdered in the Parkland High School massacre, she spoke in front of cameras in favor of control. Her name was subsequently entered in the November 2018 ballot to run for a seat on the Broward County School Board. Sympathetic to her grief and passionate at her stance on gun control and positive messages, Broward County citizens voted for Adhadeff to become a member of the school board. However, her plea for gun control and other causes were overshadowed since she turned her focus to Robert Runci, the Broward County Public Schools Superintendent.  She made it her mission to do all that was possible to remove him as the superintendent with the aid of her supporters including the Sun Sentinel. All previous accolades and praises that Superintendent Runcie received from his own school board, national associations, and the community were not important to Adhadeff, the inexperienced school board member. She dug up all that she could possibly find to smear the superintendent's name in her effort to replace him with a  person who quite possibly would not have reacted any better to a horrific mass shooting on a school campus despite vigorous Code Red policies, procedures, and drills at all Broward County schools. But, the Broward County community came out in full force to town hall meetings and spoke passionately in their defense of Mr. Runci. People from a wide cross-section ranging from parents to even a city mayor made their voices heard, and the overwhelming support was quite clear when the majority of the Broward County School Board members voted in favor of keeping Mr. Runcie. Now, Mr. Runcie must watch his back as the devious intentions of Alhadeff is still present despite her hypocritical assurance that she will "work" with him.

Ralph Northam - Only the Tip of an Iceberg

Whether or not Ralph Northam is different from who he was in his younger days, as he claims, the fact is that photos in the yearbook indicate that he was associated with hurtful, racist practices while in medical school or more than likely many years prior to 1984. But, the racist photos do not only expose Northam's hidden life, but it opens the door of curiosity on:

1. A racist culture that was prevalent and apparently acceptable at, of all the places, a medical school!? For a yearbook to be published with such offensive photos of costumes that are associated with hatred of a race without any editorial scrutiny makes one wonder what editorial oversight was in place at the medical school to prevent such hurtful material from being published.

2. The lack of attentiveness in screening this candidate prior to endorsing him to run for governor since proper vetting would have certainly uncovered this yearbook that anyone could have easily gotten a hold of. It shows that no focus was given by his political party associates to digging into the past of a wealthy, white doctor who has now become a total embarrassment to them.

3. The scary thought that any of these doctors dressed in black-face or the KKK hood and robe is attending to Blacks or any minority race patients is very troubling. Moreover, the thought of Northam's graduating class or even other graduating classes from that medical school attending to people of color is frightening at the least.

4. Why Northam would be so clueless and nonchalant about admitting to blackening his face to depict Michael Jackson is mind-boggling. But, then he would not have any clue on the hurt and pain caused by the blackface caricature because he clearly indicated that he is not Black and doesn't know what it means to be Black.

Ralph Northam is the tip of an iceberg of the pain that one group of people have suffered so long after the abolition of slavery. "How long - not long....." is an opening lines from a Dr. Martin Luther King speech as he tried to encourage Blacks that changes would be coming soon. Fifty years later, in a country where racism has once again become the norm in support of the country's leadership policies, sadly Blacks and other people of color have a long, long way to go be "judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin". 

Is the Federal Shutdown a Wake Up Call for All Workers in the U.S.?

The federal shut down could be a wake up call not only for federal workers but for all those in the United States who believe that their jobs are secure, so they will always receive a paycheck. Well, the federal shutdown shows that no job is secure! The resourcefulness of people in developing countries means that such a shutdown would not affect them greatly since they are usually finding methods to survive even with meagre paying jobs. However, in the United States, the comfortable, high spending, living-above-means mentality that most have come to expect have left many in a bind.  Certainly, it is difficult for those workers whose pay is barely above the minimum wage since they are always trying to survive the high cost of living. But, for those high paying federal workers who are now feeling the effects of not having a paycheck, one has to wonder if they never saved from those hefty federal incomes for a rainy day. The federal shutdown should never have happened and hopefully it will end soon. But, it also should be used as a teachable period of this era for Americans to not come to expect that their lives will always be comfortable even if they they have a federal job.

Broward County Witch Hunters Jump On The Bandwagon After Parkland School Shooting

Now it is the time for Broward County witch hunters to jump on the blame game bandwagon and go after every possible person who held high positions that have been associated with the Parkland High School shooting in Florida. This was a sad, unforeseen incident that whoever was the superintendent, on the board, the sheriff, principal, vice principals, assistant principals etc. etc., no one could have possible anticipated or re-acted in the 100% perfect manner that the Broward County witch hunters are now expecting. Instead of focusing on the serious gun control issues, the main cause of the incident, the Broward County mob has placed their dissatisfaction on the once highly regarded school administrators who have so quickly become incompetent to them. But, that is typical of the American society who will laud a person with high praises on one day but will quickly become influenced with any groups that have established a trending cause against the person who they once lauded. The cause now is to get rid of Superintendent Robert Runcie, an African American, and quite possibly replace him with their own, another human being who would have done absolutely no better to control the Parkland shooting under the circumstances when all in America have free access to guns. But, it is America so this type of jumping on the blame game bandwagon is certainly expected for those who have nothing better to do.