The Tribune

Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on TEST KITS FLIGHT: PM confirms protocol breach; Sands – ‘I intend to continue my work‘

TEST KITS FLIGHT: PM confirms protocol breach; Sands – ‘I intend to continue my work‘

By telling Minnis and the public in no uncertain terms that he has no intention of resigning and every intention of remaining minister of health, Sands is making it known to everyone that he considers himself untouchable by Minnis and therefore unanswerable to either him or the Bahamian people for having broken various laws in the course of personally 'approving' and participating in a corrupt quid-pro-quo arrangement. Here's where we find out just how tiny Minnis's rat sized balls really are.

Sands's record to date clearly shows he's no more indispensable to our public healthcare system than Frank Smith was to our PHA. Minnis should have appointed a special Czar from day-one to deal with the Red China Virus. I can think of a half-dozen senior/leading medical doctors with the integrity, medical smarts, vitality and common sense who should have held that Czar position and spared the Bahamian people all of the poor decision making that has occurred under Sands.

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on TEST KITS FLIGHT: PM confirms protocol breach; Sands – ‘I intend to continue my work‘

TEST KITS FLIGHT: PM confirms protocol breach; Sands – ‘I intend to continue my work‘

Sands said, "It’s after someone asks you a question that you then try to determine what the answer is. I was focused on getting supplies, not on who these people are.”

In other words, Sands didn't seem to care whether the wealthy Americans, whom he purports to have personally 'authorised' to disembark their plane, were possible carriers of the Covid-19 virus. And it was not until the next day (after much public furor) that Sands presumably required that they be tested.

He went on to say, “You get a call, a WhatsApp message, an email, and it’s bam bam bam, no sitting down, no stopping and asking whether if I ask somebody to approve flight they will get vexed."

Translation: "I'm too busy as minister of health right now to have to worry about silly little things like complying with the law."

It's here we see Sands both shamefully and shamelessly engaged in self-aggrandizing behaviour. He's basically saying he regards himself as being much more important than the rest of us and, as such, need not comply with the laws that all of us must abide by or face outrageous fines and/or imprisonment for many years. Sands obviously considers himself a member of the political elite and, as such, does not believe the laws of the land apply to him.

Sands finally said, “I am quite frankly shocked at how far to the left this conversation has gone. When you’re trying to solve problems for the public, sometimes it requires you to dig deep, to beg and we’ve done a lot of begging based on relationships that you have established over the years with individuals and institutions and universities and countries. It’s called networking. Failing that, you cannot mount a response.”

Translation: "When begging one should not regard one's own self as being subject to the laws of the land". And heaven knows we have become a nation of beggars under the Minnis-led government. But the many thousands of poor Bahamians out there daily begging for food to help ease the hunger of themselves and their family members must fully comply with all the laws of the land or risk being arrested and subject to thousands of dollars in fines and/or prison terms of 5 years or more.

It now seems we live in a country where the law no longer applies equally to all. And that is fundamentally unconstitutional, most unfair and just plain wrong. We cannot have one set of laws, rules and orders for the vast majority of less well-off struggling Bahamians, and another set for for the wealthy political elite and foreigners.

We also now see Minnis, Sands, D'Aguilar, the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, the Director of Immigration, and others beholden to these officials, all circling their wagons in an effort to spin and twist the facts in the hope of bamboozling and hoodwinking the Bahamian people. Bottom line: Many laws have been broken, including by the Americans involved, to achieve what can only be described as a glaring and most corrupt quid-pro-quo arrangement.

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on PM announces phase IB in reopening economy, six people allowed to disembark test kits plane

PM announces phase IB in reopening economy, six people allowed to disembark test kits plane

With regards to the two American permanent residents who were allowed into the country to bring COVID-19 test kits last week, the Prime Minister instead of two people being allowed in, six people (all related) were on the plane. All have tested negative for COVID-19 and are under mandatory 14-day quarantine. The Ministry of Health will issue a statement on the issue on Monday.

Sands has already announced to the public that he only 'authorised' two-Americans to disembark the same plane that carried the diagnostic test kits. Is Minnis once again saying Sands lied to all of us? Is Sands going to acknowledge this coming Monday that the other four individuals deplaned without his 'consent'?

Carl Bethel has already informed the news media that only the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority could have authorised the landing of the plane and the deplaning of its six passengers during the declared state of emergency that our country is in. Apparently Sands had absolutely no authority to do so. And the Director of the Civil Aviation Authority has already publicly stated that he gave no such authority for the plane to land or for anyone to deplane once it had landed. Does this mean that all six members of the family who deplaned have entered the Bahamas illegally, i.e. committed a crime, and as a result their permanent residency status should be revoked forthwith?

It certainly seems Minnis is taking absolutely no responsibility in this most appalling and disgraceful matter that shows the dichotomy of the The Bahamas under his government into one hell hole of a country for the downtrodden "have nots", and one majestic paradise playground of a country for the wealthy "haves". Truly shameful given Minnis seems content for the laws, rules and orders that apply to the most unfortunate "have nots" to be very different from those that actually apply to the fortunate and privileged "haves".

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on Wilchcombe connected Sands with Americans who brought test kits

Wilchcombe connected Sands with Americans who brought test kits

Mr Wilchcombe said his contacts were people in the medical and science fields, which allowed them to secure the supplies.

“I know them, they said they wanted to help, they called me up and we went from there. I passed it on to the government.”

Well blow me away!! You mean to tell me Obie Wilchcombe got more contacts with big wigs in the medical and sciences fields than our country's PM Minnis and Minister of Health Sands combined, both of whom like to think of themselves as the dynamic duo of medical doctors in charge of saving the Bahamian people from the deadly Covid-19 virus!!! Surely this Obie tale can't be true!!!!

While we're at it, perhaps Perry Christie could put PM Minnis and Finance Minister Turnquest in touch with some foreign experts in the field of banking and economics who might be able to help our country out with its dire lack of money situation. I'm sure PM Minnis and DPM Turnquest would gladly let the Christie-recommended experts fly here in their private jet and remain in the Bahamas after they have unloaded and turned over to the government the bag loads of money they would surely bring as the 'quid' for the 'quo' in the quid pro quo exchange.

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ISpeakFacts 4 years, 6 months ago on Davis calls for Sands' resignation

Davis calls for Sands' resignation

Minnis and Sands both need to resign, they've shown time and time again that they aren't fit to lead this country. Hurricane Dorian is a prime example, over 8 months in and bodies are still in the trailer behind the clinic!!!

The only thing they're good at is licking the boots of their Red Chinese masters, reminder that Sands was hesitant to keep borders closed with Red China after he and the other Min. of Health dumbies had a meeting with said Chinese masters, Sands was also gloating back in January saying the virus was no concern to the Caribbean... now look where we are 5 months into 2020!

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on Davis calls for Sands' resignation

Davis calls for Sands' resignation

What really scares the dickens out of me now is the fact that another hurricance season is less than 30 days away and meteorologists are already finding record high water temperatures in the Atlantic. I have often said Minnis has jinxed our country and its people. Sadly, we have as a people committed way too many transgressions with impunity for way too long a period of time.

Perhaps Minnis as PM is the price we are being made to pay as penance for having offended God. All I know is, everytime we think it can't possibly get any worse under the Minnis-led FNM government, somehow it usually does. One thing is for sure though, returning the governance of our country to the PLP political elite of yore is certainly not the answer for ending our current period of penance - but neither is re-electing most of the present bunch of FNM MPs, especially Minnis.

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on Probe begins over patient snubbed for wearing his shoes

Probe begins over patient snubbed for wearing his shoes

Frederick Smith unfortunately thinks wearing a white robe absolves him of any responsibility to exercise reasonable discretion and common sense in the treatment of his patients. As many as one in ten physicians suffer from self-aggrandizing behaviour. But even so, "my way or the highway" behaviour has no place in the practice of medicine and therefore should never be condoned or tolerated. That's just 101 med school !

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bahamianson 4 years, 6 months ago on INSIGHT: Trump's eagerness to open up could be the last thing we need

INSIGHT: Trump's eagerness to open up could be the last thing we need

Trump might be eager , but he Andrew Cuomo , Desantis , the Governor of Georgia make their own decisions, don't blame Trump for any governor whom opens up early, it is the Governor's decisions.

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Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 6 months ago on No cruise tourists for five months (at least)

No cruise tourists for five months (at least)

Nassau Cruise Port's projections for the numbers of cruise ship passenger arrivals to the Bahamas during the next year or so and over the next decade are truly wishful thinking and more like pie in the sky.

Had the risks associated with the current $130 million bond offering been given proper recognition, the interest rate on the bonds would have been set well upwards of 20% rather than 8%. And even at a much higher interest rate than one offered, it will take investors with an unusual appetite for great risk to subscribe for any of these bonds.

Never under estimate the the lasting impact on the human mind and human behaviour of prolonged instances of traumatising fear. The global Covid-19 crisis will undoubtedly cause permanent transformational changes in leisure travel, both by sea and by air. Many of the cruise ship companies are likely to go belly up, even with significant near term financial support by certain governments, especially the US. The same goes for some of the largest airlines......recently the share price of American Airlines began trading below $10, and even Warren Buffet has now dumped all of his shareholdings in various airlines saying that the industry will never be the same.

There's much carnage to come in the cruise line travel industry around the world and I suspect this is one of the reasons why the promoters were so anxious to proceed with this $130 million bond offering.

Just think about it for a moment. Only the truly brain-dead would even consider taking a cruise on one of these monstrous floating hotels that are impossible to keep clean. And who wants to take a cruise with a bunch of brain-dead suicidal idiots who are easily attracted to rock bottom discounts simply because they have so little money and don't value their lives. Not exactly the best kind of company to be couped up with anywhere. These gigantic over-sized ships have proven themselves to be superb incubators for the norovirus and more lately the deadly Covid-19 virus. For sensible people, life's just too short to let the cruise ship industry pre-maturely end it for a deeply discounted cruise anywhere.

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