“Shakespeare, yuh go dead before mih.” If, as children, we happened to say the same words at the same time, my sisters and I used to blurt out those six words. And we used to hear Billy Graham on the radio on Sunday mornings. All four of those sisters eventually …
Read More »Media Monitor: Is Mondello leaving a ‘shithole country’? Or returning to one?
It wasn’t, we knew then, the best of times; it wasn’t, we now know, the worst of times. When, in July 1990, Yasin Abu Bakr opened a door and, in David Rudder’s well-weighted words, showed us our other side, like Adam and Eve, we went frantically in search of a …
Read More »US Ambassador: Our security, health and cultural relations are fine, ‘ease of business’ and Venezuela are problems
“[…] The state of our bilateral investment relationship can be improved. The United States Government cannot mandate its companies to invest here, unlike others that can direct their state-owned enterprises to invest regardless of whether they make a profit or not. “Instead, US investors are attracted to countries where …
Read More »Live Wire looks on as US Embassy tries to re-write ‘live history’, after Capitol calamity
Enraged by election results that did not go his way, outgoing United States president Donald Trump incited—indirectly or not—thousands of supporters to storm Capitol Hill yesterday to… Well, the aim of yesterday’s remarkable actions remain a bit hazy. Sort of like a dog furiously chasing a car. Even if the …
Read More »Ambassador Mondello: US democracy ‘should not be defined by these moments’
“[…] We know that our democracy has been tested in the past, and it will be tested in the future. Nevertheless, we should not be defined by these moments. “Instead, we should be defined by how we bounce back…” The following press statement on yesterday’s ‘unrest’ at the US Capitol Building, during …
Read More »‘Maduro and his backers—not sanctions—are to blame’; US reject culpability for Venezuela crisis
“[…] It is Maduro and his backers—not sanctions—who are to blame for the Venezuelan people suffering dire economic, political, and human rights conditions, and have caused millions to flee their homes since he assumed power. “The Venezuela sanctions program is designed to limit the Maduro regime’s sources of revenue and …
Read More »US ambassador: Maduro responsible for Venezuelan crisis, not sanctions!
“[…] It is [Nicholás] Maduro and his backers, not sanctions, who are to blame for the millions of Venezuelans living in dire economic conditions and who have fled their homes since he assumed power…” The following is a press statement from United States ambassador Joseph N Mondello on the Venezuela …
Read More »Noble: Does chanting constitute ‘rioting’? How Griffith and TTPS failed BLM protesters
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin. We can ignore what we faced on 8 June in the Queen’s Park Savannah or face it and propose to change it. Late that evening, a video surfaced of a police …
Read More »US Embassy: Racist violence and discrimination ‘absolutely contrary to what US stands for’
“Our hearts are with the American people as we mourn the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. I know the grief from this loss weighs heavily on our US Mission, our nation, and our friends…” The following statement on the killing of unarmed, handcuffed black man, Floyd George, by …
Read More »Daly Bread: The windmills of the mind; a month of spin
Why do persons in circumstances requiring full disclosure and accountability to the public invariably send us ‘in a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel, as the images unwind like the circles that you find in the windmills …
Read More »MSJ: The problem with the Rio Treaty; and how gov’t, opposition and media got Venezuela imbroglio wrong
“[…] Central to this entire issue is the United States’ agenda with respect to Venezuela. If the US had not imposed sanctions on Venezuela there would be nothing for the government to explain about a visit by the vice-president of Venezuela, nothing to explain about the sale of fuel by …
Read More »Moses: Rowley, Young and myself had ‘cordial’ meeting with US Ambassador on Wednesday
“[…] The Prime Minister in the company of the Ministers responsible for Foreign and Caricom Affairs and for National Security held extensive and cordial discussions with US Ambassador Mondello and other officials from the US Embassy on Wednesday 20th May 2020. “Included in the wide-ranging discussions was Trinidad and Tobago’s …
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