By Raffique Shah
May 31, 2015
If, in what may be described as normal countries, a week in politics is a long time, in abnormal Trinidad and Tobago, a week can be likened to a lifetime. Last week, most scribes and commentators in the media engaged in heated exchanges over the latest bacchanal in the Integrity Commission.
Today, few remember what that furore was about or who the protagonists were.
Continue reading Karma, boy, karma
Re-elected Fifa president claims timing of arrests of officials had been motivated by revenge
By Owen Gibson in Zurich
Saturday 30 May 2015 – theguardian.com
Newly re-elected Fifa president Sepp Blatter has launched an astonishing attack on the US justice system and the British media in the wake of the string of bribery charges against senior officials that plunged world football into chaos last week.
As he denied being the unnamed high-ranking official who authorised the payment of a $10m bribe to disgraced former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, as alleged in last week’s US indictment, Blatter targeted his enemies and warned: “I forgive but I don’t forget.”
Continue reading Blatter accuses US authorities and British press of campaign to topple him
By Carolyn Kissoon
May 29, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
POLITICAL Leader of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner turned up for the 1.30p.m sitting of Parliament today and apologised for being absent on Wednesday. “I was in prison” he said.
He made the statement before the Prime Minister question and answer segment in the Parliament. Warner was the lone politician on the Opposition beach. Members of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) are boycotting the Parliament as a result of the suspension of Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Continue reading Jack sorry for missing Parliament: I was in prison
Sepp Blatter re-elected as FIFA president after Prince Ali concedes
May 29, 2015 – rt.com
FIFA’s long-time head Joseph “Sepp” Blatter has won his fifth presidential term after his opponent, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, withdrew before the voting went into the second round.
Blatter got 133 votes in the first round. He needed at least 139 out of the 209 votes cast on Friday to win outright. The vote was about to progress into the second round where a simple majority would have been enough, when Blatter’s opponent Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein said that he had withdrawn from the race.
Continue reading Sepp Blatter re-elected as Fifa president
Charlie Charlie challenge reaches T&T schools
By Camille Hunte
May 28, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
President of the National Parent/Teacher Association Zena Ramatali is warning against the “Charlie Charlie” game which has been trending globally over the last few days and is now being played by children in local schools.
The game is said to be a simplified version of the “Ouija Board” and summons a Mexican “demon” by the name of Charlie. The “Charlie Charlie Challenge” as it is being called entails placing two pencils on a piece of paper in the shape of the cross with the words “yes” and “no’ written in each quadrant.
Continue reading Why are our educators so superstitious?
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FIFA is convening to elect a president, choosing between Sepp Blatter and Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein. If Blatter, currently under pressure over a massive corruption scandal, wins the vote, it will be his fifth term.
Blatter said there would be no problem if ‘two other countries’ – meaning England and the USA – were awarded World Cups in 2018 and 2022
Sepp Blatter implied in his president’s address at the FIFA Congress that the £100million corruption scandal was a Western conspiracy. Blatter claimed things would be different if two other countries had emerged from the envelopes.
He meant England for 2018 and USA for 2022 – a dig at the British media who have led the anti-Blatter agenda and the FBI, whose investigations led to seven arrests and 14 officials indicted on bribery and kickback charges by the US Attorney.
Continue reading FIFA convenes for election session amidst corruption scandal
Notoriously-corrupt FIFA heads arrested in early morning raid during annual meeting
By Lauren McCauley
May 27, 2015 – commondreams.org
While the early morning raid and arrest of several high-ranking officials with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) captivated the international news circuit Wednesday morning, many observers were left wondering: With so many corrupt bankers, politicians, and other one-percenters still free to walk the streets here in the United States, why has the U.S. Department of Justice set its sights on FIFA?
Continue reading Given Rampant White-Collar Crime, FIFA Raid Raises Questions About DOJ Priorities
Putin: FIFA-linked arrests are US attempt to thwart Blatter re-election
May 28, 2015 – rt.com
The FIFA-linked arrests on the eve of the re-election of the organization’s chief are an obvious attempt to thwart Sepp Blatter’s re-appointment, Vladimir Putin said, answering journalists’ questions. He added it’s another example of US meddling abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the US could be selfishly motivated for its own gain, as was the case with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.
Continue reading Putin Lashes U.S. on FIFA Probe
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 27, 2015
The shooting and killing of unarmed 17 year-old African-American male Trayvon Martin on 26 February 2012 in Sanford, Florida; the 24 November 2014 “no indictment for officer Wilson” verdict arrived at by the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, in regard to the shooting and killing of the unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown and the subsequent 3 December “no indictment” verdict by a grand jury in Staten Island, New York City, in favor of a white police officer in the New York Police Department (NYPD), Daniel Pantaleo, for the “chokehold death” of an unarmed, forty-six year-old African-American man, Eric Garner; the 2 March 2015 killing of 12 year-old African-American male Tamir in Cleveland; the 6 March 2015 shooting and killing of unarmed 19 year- old African-American male Tony Terrell Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin; the 7 April 2015 killing of unarmed African-American man 50 year-old Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina; and the 19 April 2015 death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore speak massive volumes as to the omnipresence of racial tensions/distrust between the Black community and white police officers in the United States.
Continue reading Decoding racial tensions in United States: Updated
UPDATE: MAY 28, 2015 Jack leaves prison in an ambulance
JACK Warner, who woke on Wednesday as a free man, but went to sleep accused and imprisoned, was able to make bail this afternoon, and leave the Frederick Street prison in Port of Spain. He left in a prison ambulance.
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$2.5 Million Bail but Warner Remains in Custody
By Rickie Ramdass
May 27, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
JACK Warner was this afternoon granted $2.5 million bail but has failed to secure his release. In addiiton, his attorney were unable to secure an emergency sitting of a judge in the High Court, to consider his bail application. Warner is now at an unknown location. It is uncertain whether he will spend the night at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca, or at a police station.
Continue reading Warner on $2.5M bail