KSPN-2, the local cable news channel reported tonight that District Judge Alex Munson has quashed the subpoenas for Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and four Corrections officials to appear at a Feb. 17. evidentiary hearing. They haven't posted the streaming video yet, but it can be accessed later through their home page.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said it requested the hearing to discover whether Qing Mei Cheng's transfer under escort from prison to Fitial's residence could have affected her trial on human smuggling charges.
More later... going out the door.
Monday, February 8, 2010
CNMI paper implies First Amendment Retaliation
The Marianas Variety suggests, without making a specific accusation, that political retribution is behind the CNMI Department of Public Health pulling its advertising.
That would be troubling, if true -- and illegal. For example, in a quick search for First Amendment Retaliation by governments I found cases from Mississippi and Puerto Rico.
If possible, the newspaper's relations with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and his administration have become more strained since his re-election, capped by their reporting the governor's controversial massage by a woman who was in federal custody.
I'm hesitant to say more, because the piece is more editorial opening salvo than news story. Tomorrow is another day.
However (heh), I did rummage through some back issues that were squirreled away and DPH doesn't seem to be the only government agency that is migrating away from the Variety and staying with the Saipan Tribune.
Evidently, the Variety learned this Friday, which makes the bare-bones reporting more understandable. Additionally, the paper claims that "Variety reporters covering the executive branch are also not getting replies to their requests for information and comments."
I had wondered why they were getting 'scooped' on stories that are essentially press release journalism.
That would be troubling, if true -- and illegal. For example, in a quick search for First Amendment Retaliation by governments I found cases from Mississippi and Puerto Rico.
If possible, the newspaper's relations with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and his administration have become more strained since his re-election, capped by their reporting the governor's controversial massage by a woman who was in federal custody.
I'm hesitant to say more, because the piece is more editorial opening salvo than news story. Tomorrow is another day.
However (heh), I did rummage through some back issues that were squirreled away and DPH doesn't seem to be the only government agency that is migrating away from the Variety and staying with the Saipan Tribune.
Evidently, the Variety learned this Friday, which makes the bare-bones reporting more understandable. Additionally, the paper claims that "Variety reporters covering the executive branch are also not getting replies to their requests for information and comments."
I had wondered why they were getting 'scooped' on stories that are essentially press release journalism.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Obama rasa
Everyone wants a crack at President Barack Obama: demonizers to tell him off, while acolytes would probably be happy just to touch a hem on his garments. Personally, I'm still trying to figure out who is and exactly what the hell he's up to.
Some think they will get their chance this March when he stops over in Guam. My term: I haven't seen anyone phrase it that way, but Guam's still a prime coaling station. Check the oil, kick the tires, stretch your legs and it's on the road again.
Oh, yeah; "he will speak with U.S. service members on the island," according to press secretary Robert Gibbs. Stalwart young men and women, clean cut (no t-shirt slogans and signs) and in the forefront where America's homeland security begins. This sounds like a script borrowed from the latter-day George Bush.
That's not meant to be as flippant and cynical as it sounds: it's what I'd do -- I could probably write the speech. The Guam activists and CNMI politicians looking for meetings and visits will very likely be disappointed. 'Bulwark' will be used once, 'defense' and 'security' several times. Japan will be mentioned, very diplomatically because of the new government's hardened stance on Marines in Okinawa.
It's been a cold winter in Washington figuratively and literally. Time to slide away from the domestic ruckus for a foreign policy War On Terror set-piece. "We're good guys," Indonesians will be told. (Like most of our Muslim allies, their draconian laws will be glossed -- though if anyone drops the word 'madrasa' into the comments I'll attempt to throttle them digitally) "WE are the good guys," he'll assure Australians... and we really wish you'd pony up some troops.
There will be pictures of shy, smiling students and Obama's kids will probably meet a koala. I predict... success.
Somewhere, I picked up the essentially useless nugget that, unlike airliners, Air Force One lands with enough fuel to get out of Dodge. They don't exactly keep the motor running, but that's one of many precautions. I'm sure that's part of the reason for the Guam stop, as is adjusting to different time zones. You don't want your President sounding incoherent due to jet lag.
Some think they will get their chance this March when he stops over in Guam. My term: I haven't seen anyone phrase it that way, but Guam's still a prime coaling station. Check the oil, kick the tires, stretch your legs and it's on the road again.
Oh, yeah; "he will speak with U.S. service members on the island," according to press secretary Robert Gibbs. Stalwart young men and women, clean cut (no t-shirt slogans and signs) and in the forefront where America's homeland security begins. This sounds like a script borrowed from the latter-day George Bush.
That's not meant to be as flippant and cynical as it sounds: it's what I'd do -- I could probably write the speech. The Guam activists and CNMI politicians looking for meetings and visits will very likely be disappointed. 'Bulwark' will be used once, 'defense' and 'security' several times. Japan will be mentioned, very diplomatically because of the new government's hardened stance on Marines in Okinawa.
It's been a cold winter in Washington figuratively and literally. Time to slide away from the domestic ruckus for a foreign policy War On Terror set-piece. "We're good guys," Indonesians will be told. (Like most of our Muslim allies, their draconian laws will be glossed -- though if anyone drops the word 'madrasa' into the comments I'll attempt to throttle them digitally) "WE are the good guys," he'll assure Australians... and we really wish you'd pony up some troops.
There will be pictures of shy, smiling students and Obama's kids will probably meet a koala. I predict... success.
Somewhere, I picked up the essentially useless nugget that, unlike airliners, Air Force One lands with enough fuel to get out of Dodge. They don't exactly keep the motor running, but that's one of many precautions. I'm sure that's part of the reason for the Guam stop, as is adjusting to different time zones. You don't want your President sounding incoherent due to jet lag.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Ai adai in court
The lawyers have had their day in court, and now the CNMI Supreme Court says the Northern Islands will have to elect their mayor, again.
Not that it matters to anyone except the candidates and the employees either would hire. As far as I know an Acting Mayor is still appointed when the Mayor actually leaves Saipan; most of the 'residents' vote here. The office's main function (besides employment) seems to be offering quick marriages.
My main interest in the case stems from Judge David Wiseman ordering disqualified voters to unsecret their ballots. Jaw-dropping, though mitigated by the argument that, after all, they committed fraud by saying they had lived in the Northern Islands at some point. Still, once you've broken the rules once, well, why not lie about your vote too?
The Marianas Variety just printed the press release on this one.
Guest host
With District Judge Alex Munson off-island, Wiseman was the Designated Judge, ordering that the latest group trying to reach Guam illegally "shall not be removed from the Corrections facility without an order from the court or direction from the U.S. Marshals Service." The Variety mined that nugget, which the Saipan Tribune missed.
This one could easily have turned tragic, from the narrative printed in the Variety. Inexperienced people in rubber rafts, leaving in the dark and with only the vaguest idea of where they were going is a recipe for disaster. It's comic now.
Slow motions
The masseuse that was loose --though under guard -- continues to dominate local headlines. More in the Marianas Variety, which gave the U.S. Attorney's argument to hold a hearing front page coverage Monday with the headline (Gov. Benigno R.) "Fitial’s massage by detainee a personal service".
That's a quote from the motion, which just makes it the opinion of Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O'Malley. I've actually heard a misbegotten soul argue the opposite, though it seems that line of reasoning would have about as much chance as a landlubber putting to sea in a rubber boat.
A day later, the Saipan Tribune offers up the more factual "US govt: Federal court has authority to order evidentiary hearing" on page six. To be fair, maybe the Tribune couldn't get a copy of the Friday motion until Monday. Both stories were old news anyway: from Florida, Wendy Doromal got a copy of the motion and posted a pdf Friday.
In any case, these motions and the evidentiary hearing are just preliminaries. Watch your local newspaper for more.
Not that it matters to anyone except the candidates and the employees either would hire. As far as I know an Acting Mayor is still appointed when the Mayor actually leaves Saipan; most of the 'residents' vote here. The office's main function (besides employment) seems to be offering quick marriages.
My main interest in the case stems from Judge David Wiseman ordering disqualified voters to unsecret their ballots. Jaw-dropping, though mitigated by the argument that, after all, they committed fraud by saying they had lived in the Northern Islands at some point. Still, once you've broken the rules once, well, why not lie about your vote too?
The Marianas Variety just printed the press release on this one.
Guest host
With District Judge Alex Munson off-island, Wiseman was the Designated Judge, ordering that the latest group trying to reach Guam illegally "shall not be removed from the Corrections facility without an order from the court or direction from the U.S. Marshals Service." The Variety mined that nugget, which the Saipan Tribune missed.
This one could easily have turned tragic, from the narrative printed in the Variety. Inexperienced people in rubber rafts, leaving in the dark and with only the vaguest idea of where they were going is a recipe for disaster. It's comic now.
Slow motions
The masseuse that was loose --though under guard -- continues to dominate local headlines. More in the Marianas Variety, which gave the U.S. Attorney's argument to hold a hearing front page coverage Monday with the headline (Gov. Benigno R.) "Fitial’s massage by detainee a personal service".
That's a quote from the motion, which just makes it the opinion of Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O'Malley. I've actually heard a misbegotten soul argue the opposite, though it seems that line of reasoning would have about as much chance as a landlubber putting to sea in a rubber boat.
A day later, the Saipan Tribune offers up the more factual "US govt: Federal court has authority to order evidentiary hearing" on page six. To be fair, maybe the Tribune couldn't get a copy of the Friday motion until Monday. Both stories were old news anyway: from Florida, Wendy Doromal got a copy of the motion and posted a pdf Friday.
In any case, these motions and the evidentiary hearing are just preliminaries. Watch your local newspaper for more.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Questions, yes. Answers not so much
"The U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have published Question and Answers regarding filing instructions for the E-2 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Investor Classification", say two email links I just received.
Word-for-word blurbs that refer us to USCIS Questions and Answers where we learn... nothing new.
I doubt if either of my readers has a CNMI-approved lemonade stand they're trying to squeeze in under the new E-2 category, but in any case here's the first Q&A:
Word-for-word blurbs that refer us to USCIS Questions and Answers where we learn... nothing new.
I doubt if either of my readers has a CNMI-approved lemonade stand they're trying to squeeze in under the new E-2 category, but in any case here's the first Q&A:
Q. Can I file for classification as an E-2 CNMI Investor now?Paraphrased: nothing to see here; move on.
A. No. The E-2 CNMI Investor rule has not been finalized, so you cannot file for the E-2 CNMI Investor classification. All petitions filed seeking classification as an E-2 CNMI Investor will be returned to the petitioner until the final rule is published. The proposed rule was posted in the Federal Register on September 14, 2009 for a public comment period; that period is now closed.
The Dude abideth
I wasn't ready for The Big Lebowski as written by William Shakespeare. Cute idea, but a couple of examples and I was out of that website.Adam Bertocci took it a bit further. He's right, I'm wrong: the play went somewhat viral and New York performances from March 18 through April 4 have sold out.
I have to admit that if I'm killing time on television, I'll take this Coen brothers nugget over the other somewhat mindless drek that's available. It's easy to see why it would appeal to a budding screenwriter/film-maker. I'll pass on the Shakespearean, though.
Run Leia run
I only stayed around to learn this much because of the idiosyncratic url runleiarun.com: Run Leia Run all squeezed together. It seems that Bertocci also claims to have "what remains the only site on the Internet devoted to all the hands that get chopped off in the Star Wars saga." Who am I to argue with him?
And all because (George Lucas supposedly told Vanity Fair) "That's what happens when you play with swords."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Immigrant locator
It shouldn't make much difference in the CNMI and Guam but the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning on reforming its detention system.
The change that caught my eye was the proposed launch of an immigrant-detainee locator system in June. I've read countless horror stories of lawyers and family members who couldn't find detainees who disappeared into the system. Assistant secretary John T. Morton seems to have heard them also.
O'Keefe money
I'd read that the stone money brought from Palau to Yap by David Dean O'Keefe was worth less than 'traditional' money brought by canoe. The reason is obvious: he cheated.
In the same issue of azcentral.com as the immigration piece, we learn that something similar is happening in the case of James O'Keefe. Now conservatives are keeping their distance from the stalwart who lured ACORN into promoting prostitution. His latest escapade allegedly involved trying to tap the phones of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.
"The truth shall set me free," he is quoted as twittering. But not pay the bail, I'd add. Whatever happens, he's done a public service. The right was energized by his expose, while politicians on the left were handed an excuse to keep their distance from ACORN demands.
I don't think so
The Yes men even tried to piggyback on O'Keefe's latest 15 minutes, claiming he played Queen Elizabeth in their latest phony website, the World Economic Forum. I believe that about as much as I believed the email copy of this press release.
No guts here, though I was pretty sure it was the Yes Men. A pretty obvious fake ("We just killed the Copenhagen Summit, we crashed many economies in 2009. Clearly the present system of rampant capitalism is not worthy of salvaging."), there was a small but real chance of some weird virus instead of more shenanigans.
Oh, this is the real site, and spokesman Adrian Monck reportedly responded that "the only defense to satire is common sense!" Umm, I had a Washington Post link I'll try to track down: the story listed some wrong-headed predictions coming out of Davos in the past.
Corporations are people too
I don't know if any corporations were in the gallery, but Justice Samuel A. Alito is a hot subject in pundit-land for the latest unguarded response to a Barack Obama pronouncement to Congress.
"Not true," lip-readers claim he muttered as the President wound down his State of the Union set-piece with the ringing words "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities." Fine words, though the Supreme Court's decision to let corporations support or oppose political candidates is only lousy, not earth-shattering. Hint: check out the campaign contributions for any major candidate in the last Presidential election.
But it makes for some ringing rhetoric (He also has a fine cartoon and links to several others.) Let's see: freedom of speech, check; right-to-bear-arms, check (XE, nee Blackwater); I wonder if we can get corporations in the jury pool.
The change that caught my eye was the proposed launch of an immigrant-detainee locator system in June. I've read countless horror stories of lawyers and family members who couldn't find detainees who disappeared into the system. Assistant secretary John T. Morton seems to have heard them also.
O'Keefe money
I'd read that the stone money brought from Palau to Yap by David Dean O'Keefe was worth less than 'traditional' money brought by canoe. The reason is obvious: he cheated.
In the same issue of azcentral.com as the immigration piece, we learn that something similar is happening in the case of James O'Keefe. Now conservatives are keeping their distance from the stalwart who lured ACORN into promoting prostitution. His latest escapade allegedly involved trying to tap the phones of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.
"The truth shall set me free," he is quoted as twittering. But not pay the bail, I'd add. Whatever happens, he's done a public service. The right was energized by his expose, while politicians on the left were handed an excuse to keep their distance from ACORN demands.
I don't think so
The Yes men even tried to piggyback on O'Keefe's latest 15 minutes, claiming he played Queen Elizabeth in their latest phony website, the World Economic Forum. I believe that about as much as I believed the email copy of this press release.
No guts here, though I was pretty sure it was the Yes Men. A pretty obvious fake ("We just killed the Copenhagen Summit, we crashed many economies in 2009. Clearly the present system of rampant capitalism is not worthy of salvaging."), there was a small but real chance of some weird virus instead of more shenanigans.
Oh, this is the real site, and spokesman Adrian Monck reportedly responded that "the only defense to satire is common sense!" Umm, I had a Washington Post link I'll try to track down: the story listed some wrong-headed predictions coming out of Davos in the past.
Corporations are people too
I don't know if any corporations were in the gallery, but Justice Samuel A. Alito is a hot subject in pundit-land for the latest unguarded response to a Barack Obama pronouncement to Congress.
"Not true," lip-readers claim he muttered as the President wound down his State of the Union set-piece with the ringing words "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities." Fine words, though the Supreme Court's decision to let corporations support or oppose political candidates is only lousy, not earth-shattering. Hint: check out the campaign contributions for any major candidate in the last Presidential election.
But it makes for some ringing rhetoric (He also has a fine cartoon and links to several others.) Let's see: freedom of speech, check; right-to-bear-arms, check (XE, nee Blackwater); I wonder if we can get corporations in the jury pool.
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