The blogmaster studied the declaration of election expenses incurred by candidates in the recent St. George North by-election and it confirmed his views about many things, one being the entanglement of the duopoly in the body politic of Barbados for the foreseeable future.
Discuss for 100 marks
NOT A WORD ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSONAGE OF THE CENTURY
THE MAN WHO SINGLEHANDEDLY HAS TOLD US MORE ABOUT THE TAPESTRY OF LIES IN WHICH WE EXIST.
NOT A WORD ABOUT A MAN WHO NEXT TO NELSON MANDELA, EMMA GOLDMANN, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL HAS CERTAINLY BEING A THE FAMOUS POLITICAL PRISONER FOR UP TO 12 YEARS.
NOT A WORD ABOUT JULIAN ASSANGE!
@Pacha
Mention was made of this matter on the Extradition blog authored by Caleb Pigrim. The PDF judgement was updated as well.
David
Very well.
We are indeed happy that Assange is going to free in two weeks, subject to appeal. To see the end of his torture is neigh.
However, this judgement is the death sentence for national security journalism, human rights and therefore the existence of us all.
It seems the judge was more mindful about his health if he were relocated to the US.
David
That was just used as an out. She agreed substantively with all the arguments made by the Americans.
@ Pachamama January 5, 2021 6:51 AM
Not even a word of support from the local media ‘cabal’ for a man who literally ‘surrendered’ his liberty all for the sake of Freedom of Speech which is the bedrock of so-called Democracy.
At least there is some remnants of natural Justice in the world even if J A finds himself now exposed to a novichok-type attack.
Julian ought to be nominated for the title of “Social Media Man of the Decade”.
For he is truly a Renaissance man fit for purpose for the Information Age.
The Miller
Yes, The presstitutes everywhere were willing to cash in on his disclosures.
However, when there was a chance to make a stand against imperial suppression of journalistic freedoms they opted to side with the global Deep State forces intent on establishing an Orwellian 984 reality. This judgment takes us very near to that position.
@ David
The money spent by the Duopoly should not surprise anyone. Since 1991, my experience showed that to run an effective campaign back then, could have easily cost a candidate about 40 or 50 thousand dollars.
I suspect that one of the reasons why the DLP does not have candidates out there in the field, has to do with a lack of funds.
Indeed, the third parties may never admit it but they have no money . I hear a lot of people talking about the disrepair of the DLP headquarters but I recall that at one stage, the condition of the BLP headquarters was a disgrace as well.Financiers don’t support parties in opposition. Not even party members support parties financially in opposition.
Looking at the money spent in the Chart above, one can easily understand , multiplying that by 60 plus candidates. It’s a big money game. Entertainment not ideas . It’s corrupt and smells to the heavens.
1984
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, initially Assange was a reliable conduit of information that opened the eyes of many, then he let himself be used by Russians to sabotage the campaign of Clinton and open the door to the presidency for Trump.
While in a lockdown of sorts he was able to enjoy conjugal visits from his lawyer, now he is too “fragile” to be deported to stand trial the man doesn’t miss a trick.
@William
This is an unfortunate state of affairs and the reason the blogmaster felt to highlight the matter after spotting the declaration in the back pages of the Nation on Sunday. We can preach like Paul this is one of the systemic issues that will sabotage attempts to democratize the process.
I too noticed the declarations and shook my head.
But William, why does an”effective” campaign cost so much money?
Please, I want to know. Seriously.
What does an effective campaign entail?
@ Donna
The candidate needs a constituency office with at least one full time employee;
Canvassing a constituency on a regular basis involves expenses. These can range from entertaining constituents to paying bills etc. they may not be huge but numerically they do add up.
If a new candidate wants to properly canvass a constituency, it may take sustained work for three years. That can easily add up to thousands of dollars even without a constituency office;
Once the actual campaign starts and other candidates get involved, these expenses rise considerably. We then get into advertising and keeping a daily supply of meals and beverages available at the office. As one who has been a candidate and campaign manager ,I can tell you that daily expenses can run from 500 per day to 2000 depending on the constituency.
Election Day expenses can average about 6-7000 dollars. Bear in mind that a lot of the money spent is not even declared.
While the party may get financing , the individual candidates still end up spending thousands.
Remember what @ David has printed is only what was declared. A lot more would have been spent.
I hope this gives you a little insight to the process. It is an expensive undertaking.
In the intelligence business people around human information collection are divided into a few categories – target, unwitting agent, useful idiot, etc
The specious argument that ‘Assange allowed himself to be used by the Russians’ is not borne out by all the circumstances after and before he became a target of American deep state forces.
We only have the words of the American deep state which is saying that Assange helped the Russians to interfere in the 2016 elections. A dubious claim still unproven by independent sources.
But even if the Russians used Assange, with truthfulness, to interfere in the 2016 elections, how is this subterranean interference any less despicable than America’s blatant interference in Russia’s elections during the 1990s. Or as recently as 2019 in Bolivia or ongoing in Venezuela for over a decade. Or the election interference cottage industry going on by the USA for over a hundred years – and over 100 times in this hemisphere alone.
We no longer have a duopoly. It’s just the DLP’s last stand. Lord Drax and our construction magnates will certainly not support a hopeless opposition.
David
Is it still law that candidates can only spend a certain amount per constituent?
Do tell us what that amount is?
It would have been more accurate to write “he let himself be used by the Russians and Roger Stone to further the candidacy of Donald Trump for the US presidency”.
I really, really don’t like politics…it somehow never ends well for the people and many times not for the players either. I guess Iran amended their constitution to accommodate a red notice..
“The Iranian government has filed a “red notice” with Interpol that requests the arrest of US president Donald Trump and 47 other American officials for the assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qassem Soleimani on 3 January 2020.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is very seriously following up on pursuing and punishing those who ordered and executed this crime,” said Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as reported by Al Jazeera.
Interpol didn’t grant a previous arrest request by Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr, when he issued an international warrant in June for the arrest of Mr Trump and other officials at the Pentagon and US central command on “murder and terrorism charges”.
Rejecting the June request, Interpol said that its own constitution forbids it from taking on any “intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”.
As Mr Trump leaves office on January 20, Iran hopes it will become easier to force him to face consequences for the killing of Mr Soleimani.”
William,
If I truly believed in a candidate I would open a section of my home as the constituency office and I would provide my own food and drink AND volunteer to be the full time employee. These people don’t believe in the candidates?
@Donna
As @David says, the system is in need of fundamental overhaul. The upside,is that we have free and fair elections and we don’t have violence and we usually get back to normal very quickly.
Campaign finance would probably enhance the system but much like Integrity Legislation, it will call for publicly exposing those who pull the financial strings and remain shadows or invisible.
The major downside is that people who genuinely want to make a political contribution , would be deterred because they can’t raise or do not personally have the funds.
I think that campaign finance will become a serious topic as technology and the corporate political environment changes.
For example, white Barbadians have chosen to remain as shadows in the process but I am quite certain that other minority groups with deep pockets, will start to enter the process within ten to fifteen years. They will seek public office and attempts to “ buy votes “ will be more clearly evident.
It’s a topic that should engaged the minds of the black political class.
Unfortunately all this talking about Covid 19 has soaked up all the oxygen in the country. It will take a quantum leap to the thought leadership in the country to accomplish real change.
“Unfortunately all this talking about Covid 19 has soaked up all the oxygen in the country. It will take a quantum leap to the thought leadership in the country to accomplish real change.”
Let’s pray together🙏🙏🙏:
Today the entire planet will echo, at different times, the same prayer so that the worst does not happen, since the Covid is returning in mutated force.
There is no set time, but there will be 24 hours of prayers, which will turn into 48 hours due to time zones.
You say the prayer and share it so that we all continue in the Positive Energy of Prayer for all Humanity.
Strengthen me, Lord.
Come with me, Lord.
Protect me Lord.
Cover me with your precious blood, Lord.
Jesus, the Lord is my rock, my shield, my strength, I love you, I need you, protect me from the virus that threatens human life, protect my loved ones, protect people who are already sick, protect my Bajan Brothers & Sisters, protect all humanity
Lord Jesus, united as brothers, we beg You, through Your Infinite Mercy, do not allow COVID-19 to enter us or our homes.
Place your Angels around each house, where the family that prays in Your Holy Name takes refuge and your Word comes alive.
Let’s pray together:
Psalm 91, verses 10 and 11 *
“No harm will happen to you, nor plague will touch your home.
Because God will give orders to his angels over you, so that they protect you in all your ways “.
Amen!
Pray to the White man’s god?
No thanks!
(Quote):
Place your Angels around each house, where the family that prays in Your Holy Name takes refuge and your Word comes alive.
Let’s pray together:
Psalm 91, verses 10 and 11 *
“No harm will happen to you, nor plague will touch your home.
Because God will give orders to his angels over you, so that they protect you in all your ways “.
Amen!
Unquote).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If, as you blindly believe, your omnipotent omniscient Yahweh created everything in the universe from galaxies to microbes to viruses then you have to accept that the same god is allowing Covid to do the work of Yahweh (who is now a Chinese) as was done in your book about plagues.
So why not pray instead of relying on some science-based vaccine to save the sorry asses of you fundamentalists?
Let’s see if Yahweh can work his magic the same he worked it in Egypt during the Passover.
Amun Ra!
D.C. National Guard activated as mobs breach Capitol; one person shot; curfew imposed.
Trump supporters storm Capitol as police declare lockdown
Live Updates: Pro-Trump Mob Breaches Capitol, Halting Vote Certification
Democracy in trouble
@ Miller…
Blessings and goodwill onto you my BROTHER…
Hi David:
Please note that the expenses that each party declares are those spent between the date that elections were called and the election date.
@Grenville
Thanks
Belle warns of political fallout
by COLVILLE MOUNSEY
colvillemounsey@nationnews.com
GOVERNMENT’S HANDLING of this country’s second and largest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to be politically costly, says veteran political scientist Dr George Belle.
In an interview with the
MIDWEEK NATION,
Belle said that currently public sentiment has shifted and that many persons now believe that the Mia Amor Mottley-led administration has dropped the ball with regards to this latest outbreak.
However, his academic colleague Peter Wickham is of the view that the majority of Barbadians understand that Government is battling with a series of tough circumstances and that any political fallout is going to be short-lived.
According to Belle, among the shortcomings that are likely to reflect poorly on the political scorecard was the decision to keep the borders open to UK flights at a time when a new and faster spreading strain of the virus was raging in that major tourism source market.
He also argued that the decision to pay the accommodation of visitors in quarantine who have been impacted by the long delays in COVID-19 test results has also left a bitter taste in the mouths of Barbadians. Belle contended that persons who chose to travel in the midst of a pandemic were doing so at their own risk and therefore the taxpayers of Barbados should not be made to pay for a decision that others made with their eyes wide open to the facts. “I personally believe that if it comes down to a choice between the locals and the tourists, the locals should be the ones dealt with; otherwise, it is going to cost you politically. A person in the midst of a pandemic would normally take a decision that they are not going to take a vacation at this time or that they are not going to travel. So, if they take a vacation at this time, then they are taking the risk and should take the losses that accompany that decision. If you decide to come into a war zone, do not complain if you get shot by accident,” Belle said.
However, the former University of the West Indies lecturer said the position was quite salvageable, as ultimately history will judge the Government on how they handled the pandemic in its entirety.
“Initially, people were saying that the Government was handling the pandemic well. If the cumulative opinion is that Government handled it badly in the end, then that would translate into a political negative eventually or immediately. What is happening now has the potential to be politically negative, but it will come down to how quickly they can address things
and reverse certain policies. I don’t think that any big lot of planes should be coming in now even though we are in the midst of the tourist season. This seems to be a case of responding to the pressure of the hoteliers; we have to control the amount of people coming in a strict way,” he said.
In recent weeks, Government has been grappling with a severe backlog of test results due to a combination of the system being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, an outdated cataloguing system and technical issues. This has resulted in visitors being stuck in the rooms of their quarantine hotel for much longer than the promised 72-hour turnaround time.
In addition to preserving Barbados’ tourism brand, the Government is battling several clusters of the virus, with the positive case numbers surging to over 800, a development which put a spotlight on Government’s continued insistence on an open-door policy.
Wickham contends that with no General Election on the horizon, any potential political fallout would soon fade. He said that Government must be given credit for maintaining a balance between safeguarding locals while looking after the bread and butter tourism industry.
“In the final analysis, this is the first issue that has come up since the COVID-19 issue has started. Persons must remember that one of Government’s first initiatives was to give a $600 allowance to vulnerable families and throughout all of this Barbadians have been placed upfront and centre. We have to appreciate that it is the tourists that butter our bread and what Government is trying to do at this time is save face,” said Wickham, who acknowledged that the testing backlog has been a major blotch on the COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
“I think this is going to be as short-term an issue as the others have been. Were we voting now, I believe that it would have made a difference, but I do not think elections are on the cards in the near term. My hope is that this issue would have been resolved in two or three weeks,” he added.
He
also argued that the decision to pay the accommodation of visitors in quarantine who have been impacted by the long delays in COVID-19 test results, has also left a bitter taste in the mouths of
Barbadians.
Source: Nation
DLP member of Rum n Coke fame is reported to have resigned from the DLP.
@ Mariposa
@CCC
What is going on? Are you out there?
He was one of the young ones for whom there were high expectations. It is noteworthy he was shadowing health.
Wait i didnt know i was a threat
Thought i was only a nuisance
#####banfrombu
Whatever happened to the Kemar Stuart court case?
@David January 13, 2021 12:35 PM “DLP member of Rum n Coke fame is reported to have resigned from the DLP.”
WHY???
Becausin’ I know you iz a man in the political know.
@Simple Simon
Ask Verla!
Hopefully she will announce a slate of candidates soon.
@ac
Continue with your lies.
David where are Mariposa post
U do refer to Mariposa as ac
Five or more post went missing go ahead u have buried your head deep in the anus of the Blp
@ Mariposa
Aare your posts being deleted?
How do you know Mariposa’s post are missing? Did she IM you?
I am glad she is up and about and not out with covid-19.
Hal ask David
He knows how to play dirty games.
Next he might ban me because i out him as being a little garden invader with dirty tricks
David i dare u to post all of Mariposa comments that u have blocked yesterday evening and today
You call me a liar
Now prove me wrong
@Mariposa
Here is what I do when David blocks my comments [real (0) or imaginary (5)]
I create a new name, clear my cookies, delete my history, shut down, log back on, create a new name, pick on someone so as to generate a new ‘image’ and then post away.
Hope that helps. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
@Angela Cox, ac and Marpussi
You are a LIAR!
My oh my
That response speaks about the real David that you are
You refused multiple times yesterday and some today to post Mariposa comments
Yes u did David BU
No matter how many times u say the word Liar the word cannot change a truth
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.