In the lexicon of digital forensics, sockpuppetting is the act of creating multiple online identities to deceive. Unlike a simple pseudonym used for privacy, a sockpuppet is a tool of manipulation. It is an artificial persona designed to create the illusion of grassroots support, to harass dissenters, or to skew the perception of public consensus. When these digital ghosts are deployed in tandem—an "alias army"...Read More

The Jamaican landscape is often described in the binary of “hardware” and “software”. We excel at the hardware, the construction of highways, the expansion of hotel room counts, hospital building, and the drafting of complex legislative frameworks. Yet, as we survey the current state of Jamaica’s Cabinet, it is increasingly evident that our national progress is being throttled by a glitch in the “software”: the moral and corrective reflexes that should govern public life....R

There are moments in the life of a small state when the earth itself seems to whisper temptation. Jamaica may now be approaching one. Somewhere beneath our marine estate, beyond the reach of casual sight but not of determined exploration, there may lie oil—commercially meaningful oil. Enough, perhaps, to alter our balance sheets, to excite investors, to animate Cabinet briefings, and to awaken that most dangerous of national instincts: the belief that salvation has finally

by Dennis A. Minott, PhD.

The plate looks full in the brochure. But the nourishment on the ground is tragically uneven. This is not accidental. It is structural. It is what I have called, without apology, the age of Jamaican billioneering. Billioneering is not merely about the extraction of wealth. It is about the theatrical display of wealth—its amplification, its projection, and its eventual conversion into political currency. It is the high art of appearing abundantly resourced and "investable"

And a nation that teaches that lesson too well will, in time, discover that it has educated its best people to leave—and its remaining citizens to care less.

By the time a fish reaches the immense size typical of a Goliath Grouper, the toxin load can be dangerously high. Ciguatera poisoning often begins within hours of eating contaminated reef fish. Early symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, and profound weakness. In severe cases patients experience muscle pain, irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, or difficulty walking. Public health authorities & consumers should therefore exercise caution if me

In every functioning state, certain responsibilities stand above partisan manoeuvre or diplomatic fashion.  Among them, none is more fundamental than the protection of the population’s health. A government may disagree about taxation, infrastructure, or foreign alliances, but the continuity of medical care for its citizens is a sacred obligation. When that continuity is placed at risk by political calculation, the issue ceases to be administrative. It becomes a question

Why was there no trial run of direct deposits, a solution floated during negotiations in July, October, and December 2025? While Cuba reportedly left some of those overtures unanswered, one must ask: where was the legislative tweak or the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bridge the gap? Jamaica has the capacity to make such arrangements work for essential services. Instead, the government chose to wash its hands of the matter, leaving 277 specialists high and dry

Is it an exaggeration to call this an “epidemic”? I think not. If we look at the hallmarks of depression—anhedonia (loss of interest), fatigue, and a sense of hopelessness—and map them onto our national productivity figures, the correlation is staggering. We are a nation in a state of prolonged, untreated grief and systemic burnout. By pretending we are a “chilled” people, we ignore the high-cortisol reality of Jamaican life. We have one of the highest murder rates per capi

Our seismic exposure, hurricane vulnerability, grid scale and fiscal realities make FOAK SMRs an imprudent gamble. If we are serious about competitiveness, we must look beyond brute-force energy expansion and towards precision. The real opportunity lies in aligning Jamaica’s renewable trajectory with the emerging quantum frontier. Quantum is not brute force; it is precision force. This distinction matters for Jamaica. Our renewable trajectory — solar, wind, storage and

A leader who voluntarily discloses, who invites independent audit, who answers hard questions without defensiveness, strengthens legitimacy. Transparency builds resilience. When scrutiny is welcomed rather than resisted, trust deepens. Conversely, when scrutiny is framed as hostility, when legitimate questions are dismissed as partisan attacks, polarisation intensifies. The public discourse coarsens.

Yours has been a faithful, disciplined, and luminous ascent. Jamaica and the wider Caribbean await your integrity, vision, accountability, and fearless national service.

Hurricane Melissa again revealed the cost of centralised fragility. But, distributed rooftop solar offers households resilience where transmission lines repeatedly fail. When households generate energy, they gain protection from outages, fuel price shocks, and rising living costs.

Black River is one of our oldest towns of elegance, enterprise, science, and firsts: electrification, motor vehicles, cinema, trade, and progressive civic life. It carries a legacy of outward-looking innovation that must not be allowed to fade. Its river, coastline, mangroves, and wetlands form a priceless natural defence system and ecological treasure—one which Melissa has reminded us is fragile. To rebuild Black River in the same way it was before would be a national mis

For decades, our health system benefited from physicians trained in Burma, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Ghana, Hungary, India, Latin America, Nigeria, Russia, the UK, and the United States. Their children sat in our classrooms and their parents were among the most trusted doctors of our families. No one questioned their competence. Why then the sudden disdain for Jamaican youngsters graduating with Chinese diplomas? Is it because they did not enter medical school with enough

A hypothetical government programme to install a minimum capacity of 150 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload speeds in every Jamaican household would not be a mere infrastructure upgrade; it would be the foundational act of a profound national transformation, catalysing economic growth, social equity, and democratic renewal. High-speed, reliable internet is the central nervous system of modern commerce. For Jamaica, this would unlock several tiers of economic potential...

We are faced with a dilemma: The Integrity Commission had gone on record saying that there are at least eight current parliamentarians whose statutory declarations have not been certified. How, then, can the electorate go to the polls to vote intelligently and with a clear conscience on current members on both political sides without knowing their honesty and financial status? It’s like “ buying puss in bag!” Such a dilemma could be one of the reasons for apathy among most of

Wayne joined the T&T Police Service, graduating at the very top of his class, and serving faithfully in some of the most dangerous zones of North Trinidad. Roughly 30 years ago, he heeded God’s call to full-time ministry and took up the pastorate of a Nazarene congregation in Laventille, one of the most crime-plagued, drug-ravaged, gang-controlled, and economically underprivileged districts in the country. There was no fanfare or applause.Yet for 30 years, Wayne gave his

Last Sunday's  compelling Gleaner editorial reflecting on MAGA's coercing impact on American academic freedom prompted me to revisit and refine my original proposal. With A-QuEST having mentored/coached 11 Rhodes Scholars and over 1,300 PhDs and other doctorates (overwhelmingly drawn from my A-QuEST International Students educated in the USA) over the past 45 years, and, significantly, with Jamaica and CARICOM facing Haiti's urgent capacity-rebuilding needs, now humbly offer