A letter from the Attorney General should be sent, via our embassy in Washington, to MSNBC, and copied to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence of the Government of the US, and Nance, at his office as executive director of the Terrorist Asymmetrics Project on Strategy Tactics and Radical Ideology in Hudson, New York.

It should make an inquiry as to what evidence Nance has to substantiate his claims made in his MSNBC interview. Specifically, pertaining to US President Donald Trump’s 2,800-word executive order, what evidence does he have that TT has exported terrorists to the US, or trained or harboured terrorists desirous of entering that nation? Nance has identified himself as an expert on Al-Qaeda organisation and personalities; on asymmetric warfare, counter-insurgency, naval cryptology, terrorist strategy and tactics, and counter-ideology in combating Islamic extremists. He has been a keynote speaker and lecturer in the security industry on mitigating terrorist strategy and tactics.

In early 2001, he founded a company called Special Readiness Services International, devoted to providing security intelligence.

He has worked as an intelligence officer for the US Government’s Special Operations, Homeland Security, and intelligence agencies. He has been a guest commentator at FOX, BBC, MSNBC and CNN. And, an intelligence and security contractor in the Middle East and North Africa. He has authored books; and many articles in metropolitan newspapers in the US and Britain.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Nance was driving to Arlington when he witnessed a passenger plane fly into part of the Pentagon. This plane was driven by a terrorist. Nance distinguished himself by becoming a first responder; that is, he helped rescue the victims.

Nothing in Nance’s illustrious career before 2001 (he is now 65) equipped him with the intelligence that the US was about to face the 9/11 Twin Tower terrorist attack, the single most devastating attack on that nation in its then 225-year history.

Nineteen young men, from Saudi Arabia and other nations, trained for over five years in the US. To fly planes. Men allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda. And Nance, with all his expertise, in the military, learning Arabic, being tutored in cryptology, knew nothing. Right there in his back yard. He was reduced at the end to first-aid; rescuing victims he failed to protect.

Nance, in 2016, came up with the uncanny revelation the John Podesta email files, hacked and leaked to WikiLeaks, were fake, false, forgeries. Podesta never said they were, nor the Democrat Party, nor Julian Assange, the lead editor of WikiLeaks. Nance was promoting fake news. A falsity.

MSNBC is one of the chief antagonists to the presidency of Trump. This is one of the media organisations, together with CNN and the Washington Post, that he calls the most dishonest group in history. Regularly, this news station engages commentators and experts who are known anti-Trump propagandists.

Nance is one of this station’s “expert” commentators. In his interview with Joy Reid, desperate to find anything to fling at his apparent persecutor, he tried to drag our cockroach into his fowl business. To grind his political axe. He is a symptom of the reactionary and inflammatory response to the Trump effect.

We must clearly show that we are a non-terrorist nation; and we must keep out of these phony cuchoor-laden US media wars.

Wayne Kublalsingh via email

Just like the fantastic treatment I receive from the various other departments, I feel I must share with your readership the great job the doctors there, namely Drs Kevin Ramsahai, Charlene Noel- Baisden, Trishana Ramlal (and the many others whose names I cannot recall at the moment), are doing under the astute and distinguished stewardship of Dr Shivanand Ramdeen.

I am sure their many patients who come from all parts of our country to avail themselves of the services there would gladly endorse my sentiments.

Thank you, Sangre Grande Hospital.

Eva David-Swain Sangre Grande

For at least the last ten years, all the individuals who served as Minister of Health have expressed concern over the use of sugary drinks in schools. While some schools took the initiative and promoted a healthy lifestyle by reforming their canteens, conducting wellness programmes and observing special days of emphasis, for example World Diabetes Day, many schools did very little to promote healthy living.

The position of the Ministry of Education on the fare in school canteens was stated in a document as far back as 2007. In its Draft White Paper on Standards and Guidelines for the Operation of all Schools, there is a section on dietary services on page 74 where the following statements can be found: Paragraph 3: All school cafeterias and approved vendors must serve nutritious snacks, balanced meals and beverages as approved by the National Schools Dietary Services.

Paragraph 4: Foods that are high in sugar, salt, sodium, monosodium glutamate, fat or caffeine content shall not be sold at schools.

Those paragraphs were contained in a January 2007 document.

Hopefully the ban will be implemented and the Ministries of Health and Education will initiate health promotion activities for parents and students, and also the general population.

Ian Green Couva .

Facing these nightmarish figures, the best that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley can proffer is a measly comment that the “murders are nothing short of traumatising for the entire nation.” Rowley seems to be full of talk and no action. Those comments alone reflect the lack of vision the Government has for the country. This notwithstanding the money poured into the coffers of the Ministry of National Security over the years.

Our entire crime-fighting system needs to be overhauled and brought into the 21st century. By contrast, Chicago in the US, with a population of 2.7 million, had 762 murders in 2016.

This prompted newly installed President Donald Trump to offer support via the National Guard.

Rowley, you are in charge of TT . The citizens expect you do be proactive and put things in place to deal with the murder rate.

While the acting Commissioner of Police was offering to send home two senior officers recently, he was miffed when questioned about the murder rate. Apparently, he does not seem to think that solving murders should be a measurable aspect of his performance.

TT should be even more concerned because Trump has mandated the Department of Homeland Security to give him, in the next 90 days, a list of additional countries that may pose a threat to US national security.

Given the comments of US Ambassador Estrada that, on a per capita basis, TT has the highest number of citizens leaving the country to fight for ISIS, we should not be surprised if we are a prime candidate for US visa restrictions or outright bans.

This, of course, will only be exacerbated by the failure of both the Government and Opposition to pass the FATCA legislation by this month.

Linus F Didier Mt Hope

“It is a sad day for women when judges will sit and deliberate and find not one female act that can qualify for the finals,” Ramlal said, adding that women participants spend up to $10,000 to produce a song and get ready for the competition stage.

“Yet none of the women who moved the crowds could have scored enough points,” Ramlal stated, adding that there are hundreds of negative remarks to the organisers, Southex, on social media regarding the matter.

She said singers were asked to pay $200 and fill out a form which outlined the criteria for judging. Fifteen points were awarded for vocals and ten for crowd response.

Ramlal said the men faltered in the semi-finals yet they got the nod from the judges and this, she says, is totally unfair to all the female contestants in the competition which, according to her, has denied women the right to be part of the finals.

Ramlal’s 2017 chutney soca song, “Batawo Lakari” is popular on radio. She spent a total of $10,000 to produce her song and to pay for back-up dancers, costumes, hairstyles and make-up at the semi-final round.

She said it is clear that women will never be judged fairly despite their talent and their hard work and called on promoters to come up with a parallel competition for women.

“We need change now,” she said, adding that she is fighting for herself and all women in the music industry across the board.

Ramlal said the Dindial sisters, Rasika and Hemlata, are “divas of the art” as they are in demand in many countries.

“Once these ladies hit the stage they exploded and people responded by screaming and jumping. Yet they could not make it to the finals.” She said Rawytee Ramroop has a wonderful voice and had people dancing along with her when she performed at the semi-finals at LIV Nightclub in La Romaine on Saturday night. “Asha Kamachee looked lovely and sang perfectly yet her name was never called for the finals,” said Ramlal who made it to the finals on two occasions and to the semi-finals three times.

CEO of Southex, George Singh, said the judges’ decision is final and he cannot change the fact that the women did not make enough marks to qualify for the final round.

The finals of CSM will take place on February 11 at Skinners Park in San Fernando.

She said the group is yet to receive renewal of the subvention, which was last given in 2015.

“It was our expectation that it would be renewed for the next three years, but that did not happen. We have been trying to meet with the minister to find out if Government is interested in funding our work, which we think is very important, because blind lives matter.

But we have not been able to secure that meeting,” Campbell said.

“We thought we would go to the media, make a fuss and hopefully get the meeting so we would know exactly if Government is prepared to fund us and to what extent so that we could continue with our work.” PAVI had been receiving $520,000 a year. However, Campbell said it submitted a new figure of about $1.5 million, as the group is in the process of training new officers.

The funding was previously used for PAVI’s major initiative – the Adjustment to Blindness Programme.

“People who lose their sight are disoriented, miserable, hopeless, lose independence, are dependent on family and generally have difficulty in coping. We bring them through it and help them to use the cane, use the stove again, look after their personal hygiene and so on.

“We do other things with corporate sponsorship that would expand from that,” Campbell said.

She said the group tried to force the minister’s hand last December when a group showed up unannounced at her office.

While they did not meet with the minister, Campbell said the minister’s personal advisor assured them a meeting would be arranged in January.

“So far we have not gotten that meeting and we are not getting any assurance as to when we would. We always planned that if we don’t get the meeting we would go public,” Campbell said.

PAVI has a membership of about 150- 200 members, but there are also support groups in Couva, Siparia, Port-of-Spain and Curepe where people who have lost their sight can get together to support each other.

Contacted for comment, Minister Crichlow- Cockburn said she is quite willing to meet with Campbell.

“I tried contacting her over the weekend because one of my colleagues indicated to me that they were trying to meet with me. I was given a number, but it seemed that it was not her personal number, but the organisation’s number, so that is why I wasn’t able to touch base with her,” Crichlow-Cockburn explained.

“For many of us this growing concern about the rising spate of violence, especially murder, translates to fear, a fear that when we kiss and say goodbye to our loved ones, our children each morning, we or they, may not return home at the end of the day,” said director of the CORE Foundation Angelo Scope.

Added to the fear, Scope said, that a primary concern is the issue of public confidence in the State’s capacity to protect citizens and ensure justice.

Criminologist Dr Dianne Williams, who called for citizens to take responsibility for their security and work with the police to take back their communities from criminals, addressed the opening on Monday of CORE’s Citizens Safety and Security Conference at the Ministry of Legal Affairs auditorium in Port-of-Spain.

Williams said citizens blame the police for inefficiencies in the security service. “But are we doing the right thing? Or are we so fixated on blaming somebody else because we do not want to accept our role in the problem,” she asked. “If we are not a part of the solution,” she said, “we are a part of the problem.” Noting a general lack of trust in the police, Williams said, “We badtalk police officers without realising they are us.

A lot of the applicants fail the polygraphs. That is an indictment on us and the children we are raising.” If a police officer is corrupt, she said, that officer is either someone’s husband, son or grandson and it is their responsibility to pull him up, instead of craving benefits from corrupt activity.

“We have the responsibility and the power to police each other, which we do not do,” she said.

At the funerals of youths who engage in certain types of behaviour, Williams said, grandmothers in particular, would say, “He was such a good boy”, because he would, “put food on the table – at the risk of another grandmother’s grandchild. “It is our responsibility to police our children,” she insisted.

Noting the many negative influences that children are subjected to in the home by errant parents, Williams said, “When these children become corrupt police officers, we complain.

But the corrupt police officers who we feel we cannot trust to work with us to solve crime (are) a reflection of us.”

Khan referred to a newspaper article earlier this year in which the writer said Archie identified the jury system as the cause of delays in the criminal justice system and called for its abolition.

He said the article cited Archie as saying a criminal case took two years of the court’s time and ended with no conviction.

Khan said the CJ was referring to the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder, a case in which he (Khan) was lead prosecutor. He said the article quoted him (Khan) as saying, “only a dictator or a fool would support the abolition of trial by jury in this country.” He said the article further quoted him as saying, “This is a multi-racial and multi-religious society and we cannot have a single judge determining whether an accused person should be convicted and sentenced to death or a long term of imprisonment.” Khan reiterated that trial by jury is the right of all citizens. “It must be emphasised that trial by jury is more than a mere instrument of justice in that it affords our ordinary, God-fearing citizens of good character an opportunity to participate in the criminal justice system in the delivery of justice. Indeed the jury as an institution is the cornerstone of the criminal justice system in this country and as such it is indispensable to our participatory democracy.” He added that, “Massa Day is not done in this country. He has reincarnated, metaphorically speaking, in jacket and tie/knife and fork, Afro and Indo-Saxon who are of the view that the descendants of field slaves should not participate in the delivery of justice in this country. They rule this country in the interests of the parasitic oligarchy who continue to suck the blood and sweat of our people!” Khan made the comments while delivering opening remarks at a three-day Advanced Criminal Trial Advocacy Programme organised last week by the LAAA at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s.

The programme was carried out by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in the United States which has brought a team of senior and highly accomplished attorneys to conduct the training.

He cried shame on a nation unable to protect its citizens from criminals and recommended that murder should be categorised as first; second and third degree. He said there should be a workable plea bargaining system; recommended the implementation of the parole system; the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council in favour of the Caribbean Court of Justice and called for an end to the system of police prosecutors in the magistrate’s courts.

He told the gathering: “We have been developing our team rapidly over the last few years.

Thanks to the executive committee who have been working very hard to make this happen.” Salandy also expressed gratitude for the support given by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the International Federation.

“We look forward to TT being in the World Championships in the next few years,” he declared.

Piquart told guests at the reception last week: “This World Championship tournament in France 2017, and indeed our own gathering here tonight, are evidence that sport is a great unifier of peoples.

Handball may be a big sport in France, but here tonight, we are witness to another stage in the development of the sport in Trinidad and Tobago. We at the Embassy of France are honoured to be host to tonight’s exciting stage in the evolution of this sport in Trinidad and Tobago.

We know that this evolution will continue to be in good hands, under the capable and energetic leadership of the Trinidad and Tobago Handball Association and its energetic president, Mr Roger Salandy.” He then wished Salandy bon voyage, on the eve of his departure to Paris for the final stages of festival of handball.

Earlier the Ambassador said France occupies a prominent place in the world of sport. With 42 medals of which 10 were gold, France ended in seventh place among the most successful nations at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

He said: “It is also true that it was a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with having revived the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, after more than 2000 years of inactivity. So you can imagine that this is a very exciting time for French sport, particularly for players and fans of the sport of handball, considering that France, apart from hosting these World Championships, also comes into this tournament as defending champion.” Piquart added that, in the context of team sports in France, handball accounts for the third highest number, over half a million, of registered players and over 35 percent of the players are women.

He also stated that French men’s and women’s national teams have won 14 titles in total from among the Mediterranean, European, Olympic, and World Championships.

Salandy then explained the rudiments of handball to guests via a video presentation.

Feature race of the day will be the eighth for horses rated 75-50 ovr 1500 metres on the turf course.

Nine runners are expected to face starter Carlton Ramsaroop in the $48,000 event headed by crack sprinter Desert Dancer, newcomer Getevenintime and improving Peace N Glory.

One turfite left Santa Rosa Park with a cheque for over $38,000 for spotting the correct Hi5.

And on Saturday, they can target the singlewinner bonus in the Superfecta which has gallooned to $51,306.52.

Meanwhile, champions of 2016 in local horse racing will be officially honoured by the Arima Race Club on February 15.

The equine and human champions will be honoured at the annual Jetsam Awards ceremony, to be held at the ballroom of the Queen’s Park Oval from 7 pm.

Under the banner “Celebrate With The Stars of Horse Racing” the Horse of the Year, top jockey, apprentice, trainer, groom, owner, stallion, mare, breeder and groom will be officially named.

Ronald “Tiger” Ali will receive his award as champion jockey while Ridge Balgobin gets his as champion apprentice.

Last year’s champion trainer was Glenn Mendez but the Horse of the Year title is wide open although the ultra-consistent Thisonesforron seems to have his head in front.

Tickets for patrons attending the awards ceremony will cost $350 and can be booked at the ARC offices at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.

The tickets will afford patrons, a welcome drink, dinner and an open bar.

Meanwhile, the ARC has set up a pree-Carnival Meeting leader board with a new criteria.

According to the new criteria system, chamions will be determined by the average number of points accumulated, divided by the number of starters.

Points will be awarded — Win seven; second five; third three and fourth one point.