The TT youngsters were first to strike in their Group C match at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa.

Nicholas Dillon found space in the Bermuda defence in the 23rd minute, and slipped a pass to Kathon St Hillaire who dribbled past defender David Jones before smashing home his shot from 15 yards past keeper Detre Bell.

And the TT lads held on to their 1-0 lead until the half time whistle.

The Bermuda boys, despite the early deficit, launched a series of attacks on the TT defence.

The teams attacked and counter attacked as Bermuda went in search of the equaliser which never came until the 69th minute.

Goalkeeper Montel Joseph advanced too far from his goal at the top right hand corner of his penalty area and his clearance deflectd into the path of Oneko Lowe.

The Bermuda striker took full advantage of the gift and calmly knocked the ball into an open net to knot up the scores.

Both teams went in search of a winner thereafter, but the final whistle came with no further scoring.

TT TEAM: Montel Joseph, Taryk Sampson, Isaiah Garcia, Shane Sandy, Kori Cupid, Kierron Mason, Jabari Mitchell, Noah Powder, Micah Lansiquot (Lucas- Walker), Kathon St Hillaire, Nicholas Dillon (Toussaint).

Substitutes: Denzil Smith, Simeon Bailey, Morgan Bruce De Rouche, Joshua Sitney, Josh Toussaint, Rushawn Murphy, Stephon Marcano, Joshua Leach, Taofik Lucas-Walker.

Staff of the Digicel and the Foundation visited the school to assist with a new Foundation programme entitled Centres of Excellence.

The programme aims to make the school’s environment more conducive to learning, ensuring that the students are comfortable and the facility meets international standards.

This will be achieved by physical upgrades to the school’s infrastructure making it safer and more accommodating, said a media release.

The Digicel volunteers, led by foundation’s CEO Penny Gomez painted the new bathroom block and windows, landscaping the grounds, mixing and transporting cement for the terrazzo flooring, as Arnot Lord of Cudjoe Construction and his team of workers supervised the activities.

They were greeted continuously by curious students of the school who stopped to chat with the team.

Also completing various upgrades on the school’s compound is construction company Mets and Associates owned by Dennis Metivier.

As an extra Valentine’s Day treat, all 143 students and 30 staff members of the school, as well as the construction workers and Digicel volunteers were treated to red velvet cupcakes courtesy the Digicel Foundation.

The name Marvin “Mr King” Lewis is one that many in TT would be familiar with. He has given the country such songs as Oh Laventille and Borderline, which became MTV Tempo’s regional tagline for years in the fight against crime and violence in the region.

But a dream has changed Lewis’ direction. Being the son of soca royalty, so-to-speak, (he is the son of the late Austin “King Austin” Lewis, whose Progress is often regarded as one of the best calypsoes of all time), he has been mandated from the great beyond to: “Keep it groovy and make them dance.” Lewis has since teamed up with LVT Productions, a subsidiary arm of growing band, A Team, to produce the songs mandated by his father.

He said in an interview with Newsday, “This year, after the passing of my late father, King Austin, I decided to do some writing. He passed away late last year after suffering from Alzheimer’s for a number of years. We were quite close…

“Before he passed he insisted that if I stopped singing music, the least I could do is write music and let other people sing it. I write for LVT Productions, which is an offshoot of the A Team band. They gave me some music to write as well. I wrote two songs for them.

“While driving in my vehicle one day, I felt a second presence being there. I got chills and goosebumps stood up on my hands as I heard someone humming to the melody. I stopped the rhythm and started it over and there was this song again.

Someone else was in the car humming this melody. I repeated the beat about three times and the humming kept starting over every time I started over the rhythm. Then the third time I sang the song from the top straight to the chorus as if it were something I had heard before.

“The song was really a tribute to my father. I went home, finished writing the song and I returned to LVT’s studio and sang the song for them. They wanted to record it right away, which we did.

“The following night, after recording the song. I dreamt my father. I dreamt I got a phone call from him and I answered the phone and he was on the line. In the dream, I knew he had passed, so I kept asking, ‘Who is this? Who is this?’ And he was like, ‘But you hearing the voice, boy, why you keep asking who it is? I said, ‘But it can’t be you.’ He said, ‘How you mean is not you, and I talking to you, boy?’ He said, ‘I know you’ve gotten the message and I want you to sing it. I want you to sing it. Once you sing it, they can’t fight you. Just keep it groovy and make them dance and they will like it. You will get money’.” Lewis said he got up the next morning and decided he would defend calypso, something his father always envisioned he would do.

King Austin always told him to forget other genres of music and sing kaiso, since: “Kaiso grow yuh.” Lewis said he grew up in many calypso tents, moving around with his father when he performed.

So for Carnival 2017, Lewis is offering Legacy Music, which was born out of the conversation he believes he had with his father from beyond.

Helping him achieve this is LVT Productions, which consists of three young musicians, Keron “Trak” Robinson, Keron “Light” Harris and Brennon “Val” Virgil. The musicians, all from Laventille, have been working to produce a sound “that gives life to what was and what will be.” Robinson said LVT functions within the A Team band, which has backed some top artistes at fetes this year. The three-year-old band has carved a name for itself, being likened to legendary local band Roy Cape All Stars.

The band came into being when some former members of the Soca Unit came together. The A Team is also owned by its core members, of whom Robinson, Harris and Virgil form a part.

The new production arm of the band, LVT Productions, has done work for Blaxx, Lord Nelson, Stephen Marcelle of Dil-E-Nadan and Explainer, among others. The band tried production before but was rebranded late last year as LVT Productions.

It’s also created a rhythm, Robinson said, which captures the sound of what TT was with the new sounds of soca and calypso today. It is their hope that the merged skills of Lewis and LVT Productions that calypso and the indigenous sounds of TT would have a lasting legacy.

Lewis and LVT have blended his initial reggae sound with calypso to bring a different sound to the market. The combined forces are expected to release some songs with this blend of calypso and reggae after Carnival.

Gedeon, who was born in the US, but grew up in Trinidad, is well known for her elaborately designed books and her jewelry designs. She has several books in print, including Island Escape: My Caribbean Coloring Book, which features historical, Caribbean architecture in lush settings.

There’s also Rainforest Escape: My Island Animal, Exotic Flower and Tropical Plant Color Book.

Gedeon’s next venture is going to be Thailand Escape: My Colorful Trip Through Exotic Lands, which is set to be released in May.

Adult colouring books have been around for quite some time, but they’re all the rage these days because they are being promoted as a fun way to feel creative while engaging in a relaxing experience.

Some people say they offer the same benefits as meditating – especially if you buy the ones that feature intricate mandalas to colour.

Articles about adult colouring books online claim this activity creates a sense of nostalgia by conjuring up carefree images of childhood, and that colouring lowers blood pressure and promote a general feeling of well-being.

Many adults who collect them enjoy colouring alongside their children. It’s a fun-filled, bonding experience that offers a creative outlet for those who appreciate not having to colour Mickey Mouse.

If you’re interested in taking the plunge, you can find a wide variety of themes and levels. Take, for instance, Carnival. You can find colouring books with images of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras or you can indulge in a book that allows you to colour Venetian masks.

There are butterflies and nature scenes, animals and birds including owls. Cats, flowers, and even ocean scenes come to life. There are even religious colouring books that offer psalms in intricate designs. One of my favourite is Creative Haven Dream Doodles: A Coloring book with a Hidden Picture Twist.

The books come in various levels: beginners can find simpler patterns and then graduate to more complicated designs for colouring. Some are quite challenging. There are abstract designs that challenge your sense of patterns and fashion design that allow you to play with colour combinations. Some feature pictures that are intricate and contemplative, while others are light and whimsical. You can choose from a wide selection of coloured pencils and markers.

Thirteen nurses from Barbados, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, enrolled in a specialised one-year training programme at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISoN) in El Dorado, Trinidad in September 2016.

The training is part of a partnership with Sick- Kids-Caribbean Initiative and is being funded by the FirstCaribbean International Comtrust Foundation, the charitable arm of the regional bank CIBC FirstCaribbean.

The nurses completed their first semester in the paediatric haematology/ oncology nursing programme.

The 13-week semester consisted of online learning, in-class learning at UWISoN and clinical practicum at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC).

The sessions focused on building foundational knowledge and skills in general paediatric nursing and speciality knowledge and skills in paediatric oncology nursing care. The students started Semester Two on December 5, 2016 with five weeks of online learning.

In-class learning began on February 6, 2017, and will be complemented by six weeks of clinical practicum both at EWMSC and at their home institutions, culminating with a final 12-week internship component at their home institutions.

The second cohort of students will begin the programme in May and will also include nurses from St Lucia.

CIBC FirstCaribbean’s partnership with SickKids Foundation extends from the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Barbados in 2013. The bank has pledged to provide US$1,000,000 over a seven- year period to train medical professionals specialising in the care of paediatric patients affected by cancer or blood disorders such as sickle-cell disease. The partnership is being undertaken in collaboration with the University of the West Indies.

SickKids Foundation is a charity registered in the Caribbean, among other things to fund training for Caribbean medical professionals as part of the SickKids-Caribbean Initiative (SCI) through the Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada.

Debra King, director of corporate communications at the bank and trustee of the FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation Ltd, said, “CIBC FirstCaribbean is delighted at the progress of the participants in the training programme.

We have every confidence that they will all successfully complete this vital training, which will greatly increase their capacity to care for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.” The overall objective of the SickKids-Caribbean Initiative is to enhance the care of children in the region who are affected by cancer and blood disorders, and ultimately increase the survival rates. The five-year plan developed by SickKids in association with their Caribbean partners addresses the region’s gaps in capacity to advance diagnosis and the treatment of paediatric cancer and blood disorders. It also aims to create awareness throughout the region of childhood cancers and blood disorders

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday revealed that a lobby team is being sought among Caricom leaders to steer the process, which is expected to cost the region some US$240,000.

“It is only for a short period, a specific assignment for $40,000 a month __ the period for which the lobbyist will he hired to carry out this specific exercise,” he told reporters in a news conference at the Diplomatic Lounge of the Piarco International Airport, shortly after his return to TT following the 28th Intersessional Meeting of the Heads of the Caricom Community in Georgetown, Guyana.

Rowley did not say if there was a deadline for the lobbyist team to be retained.

The Prime Minister said FATCA was one of the main items on the agenda at the two-day conference.

“The other area that was of great interest, and I would not say alarm, but strong concern is the whole question of the threat to our banking system and the threat that this poses to economic collapse in the region, if we are, in fact, to find ourselves determined as a high risk area and lose our correspondent banking facilities,” he said.

The move comes as the Rowley- led People’s National Movement (PNM) Government is seeking to bring closure to the controversial debate on the legislation with a vote on Thursday in the House of Representatives following the deliberations of a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) which had been appointed to consider dicey clauses in the legislation.

Rowley has, on more than one occasion, expressed his frustration with the Opposition for its reluctance to support the legislation.

FATCA was enacted by the US government in March 2010. It requires foreign financial institutions to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all clients who are US citizens, green card holders living in the US or abroad, or foreign entities in which US taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.

The legislation requires US citizens and green card holders with financial assets outside of the US exceeding US$500,000 to report these assets to the IRS.

Following last Monday’s sitting of the Parliament, the Opposition had called for the bill to be sent back to the JSC for one more week to complete certain aspects of the issue.

The JSC met five times between January 13 an February 1.

The Opposition has accused the Government of high-handedness in wanting to rush through the debate on the legislation in accordance with its own deadline and not the one set by the United States Treasury. Saying that FATCA continued to be a “front burner matter,” Rowley yesterday said Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, at the last meeting of regional heads in July, was detailed by Caricom to lead the Community’s response in “lobbying at the various metropolitan areas” to ensure that Caricom’s banking system is not denied access to the correspondent banks which are necessary for our trade.” He said Browne presented a report on the exercise at the just-concluded meeting.

“It maintains that we are at great risk and a decision was taken at this meeting to encourage all countries to move with great urgency to ensure that we pass the necessary legislation to ensure that we are compliant with the international standards that are demanded of us and that we ensure that we make every effort to lobby in the relevant quarters so that our case is made known and we do not get treated adversely by accident,” Rowley said.

“Against this background, the work of the Prime Minister of Antigua Barbuda indicated that he had identified by that effort, that adequate lobbying arrangements be put in place but there was a cost to that and that cost is US$240,000.” Rowley said the heads have agreed that the cost of the lobby team should be incurred.

“The lobby should be hired and put to work to join the efforts made by Caricom to ensure that we stave off any further de-risking or loss of correspondent banking access because we, at the level of Caricom, understand the devastating effects that that is having on those territories which are already exposed to it and could have to those countries which may lose their correspondent banking business,” he said.

Commenting on the development yesterday, Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said the regional leaders should have shown some fortitude.

“On the last occasion on Monday, I took note of the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament and he did indicate he was on the way to Guyana to meet Caricom leaders to discuss FATCA,” he said.

“I got the impression that the Caricom leaders were meeting in Georgetown to surrender and to discuss the rate of their compliance rather than a critical appraisal of the FATCA.” Moonilal noted the initiative involving professors Kenneth Hall and Compton Bourne and former Barbados prime minister Owen Arthur, who had met recently in New York to discuss “a critical appraisal of the FATCA and the extent to which it hinders trade and development in the region.” “But the prime ministers of the Caribbean appear to have surrendered and the leaders should be showing more fortitude on these matters.” Moonilal said the region had produced late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, late Grenada prime minister Maurice Bishop and former Guyana president Cheddi Jagan and other distinguished leaders of the last generation.

“And they would turn in their collective graves when they here that the Caricom leaders surrender to this level of economic imperialism,” he said.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar, in a letter dated January 13, 2017, wrote to President Trump asking him whether his government intends to nullify the FATCA.

According to police reports at around 5 am, officers of the Inter- Agency Task Force which comprised of police and soldiers went to the Dan Kelly home of Mykel Lancaster, 32, to execute a search warrant. It is alleged that Lancaster began firing at the police officers. The officers returned fire hitting him in the head and other parts of the body. He was conveyed to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he died short time later.

Police say he was wanted by the police for murder, shootings and other serious crimes.

Residents, whose homes were searched minutes earlier and who claimed they had witnessed the incident, disputed the claim by police officers that Lancaster shot at them forcing them to return fire. Residents claim Lancaster was killed in cold blood which prompted them to protest.

The first action taken by residents was to throw burning debris along the EMR in the vicinity of the Central Market, Beetham flyover while others blocked several routes along Picton and John John causing traffic to be backed up. Another group of young men then set fire to a car along the EMR while there are unconfirmed reports of others firing at some passing vehicles.

Police sources said their walkie talkies kept busy as officers who were witnessing the incidents began asking their colleagues for assistance to quell the situation. Officers from the IATF, Port-of-Spain CID, Guard and Emergency Branch and units from the Police Service responded promptly and began removing the lighted debris from the roadway while some began removing other debris along the roadways from the hills of Laventille. The protesters played a game of cat and mouse with the officers moving from one place to another, also firing shots into the air.

The unruly and disruptive behaviour of the mostly young persons prompted senior police officers to instruct that the area be cordoned off and persons involved in the disruptive activity to be arrested.

The San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation and Port-of-Spain City Corporation assisted in removing the debris. Head of the IATF Snr Supt Simbonath Rajkumar visited the scene along with senior officers from the Port-of-Spain division. They carried out patrols in the John John and Dan Kelly areas and attempted to speak with the residents of the area.

Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon visited the scene and spoke with residents and asked them to desist from acts of lawlessness. Residents agreed but when they left they returned to lighting the roadway.

At around 3 pm they returned to the John John Towers and lit more debris and police and soldiers had to return and remove it.

Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams was given a report on the incident and Sunday Newsday understands a directive was issued to have Dan Kelly, Picton, John John and surrounding areas heavily patrolled pending further instructions.

No one was detained for the incident.

Yesterday senior officers advised that anyone who is found blocking the roadway or carrying out any acts of violence would be apprehended. Based on the protests, police believe similar incidents are being planned in the Laventille area.

Several residents of Dan Kelly who claimed to have witnessed shooting say they will be going to the Police Complaints Authority on Monday to give an account of what transpired and accused the police of not being truthful. Police responded yesterday by claiming that Lancaster is believed to have been involved in a series of homicides and shootings aligned with serious crimes.

They executed a search warrant at his home because of information they received.

Residents informed Dillon during his visit that they wanted an emergency town meeting to air their grievances and one is scheduled to be held on Tuesday evening.

Verse after verse, Lady Gypsy (Lynette Steele) knocked Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his Government for failing “to take care of his own” since coming into office in 2015 .

In her cleverly constructed song “Plight of My People”, Lady Gypsy was able to win over the patrons who even raised placards in support of her going to the “Big Yard”, Queen’s Park Savannah, Portof- Spain, for the Calypso Monarch final at Dimanche Gras on Carnival Sunday night .

Her brother, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, a former arts, culture and community development minister under the People’s Partnership administration, took in her performance from under a tent on stage, cheering her on as she walked off the stage with the crowd still calling for more .

Armed with a bell and her rallying cry of “ring the bell”, wearing a red body suit, Lady Gypsy delivered her song, in which she also apologised for her strong stance against the party .

“Please don’t get me wrong/I am PNM strong and I will stand and defend my party/ but when my pocket dry and empty/everyone is my enemy/All the thing with Carnival village, now calypsonians can’t make a cent/ Great is the PNM/ I go sing that and pay my rent,” she sang. “I want to ring de bell ring/ wake up Mother Theresa/ she might be closer to God than you and me/so please say a prayer for we.” Yesterday, there was a strong showing of women at the National Calypso Monarch semi-finals—19 women fought valiantly against 22 of their male counterparts for a place in the finals on Sunday .

Also giving a good account of herself was Maria Bhola La Caille who would best be remembered for her rib-tickling calypso “I Love You” in 2007 which took her to the “Big Yard.” Back then it was about former PNM labour minister, Larry Achong. Yesterday, La Caille, who once worked in the Office of the President when George Maxwell Richards held the presidency, sang “My First Lady” which poked fun at President Anthony Carmona and his wife Reema .

A woman was dressed in an outfit similar to the one worn by Carmona’s wife at function overseas which caused a stir on social media .

Not to be left out was Heather McIntosh singing “Games” a calypso that detailed the controversy involving gymnasts Thema Williams and Marissa Dick on the way to Rio Olympics last year .

Five young gymnasts from Tots and Tumblers School showed of their skills during the performance much to the delight of the crowd .

Wearing black and silver, Karene Asche singing her social commentary “Caught in the Whirlwind” told young people it was “time to stand up and be counted” and told leaders that “while our nation bleeds/we keep turning our heads away.” Then there was Queen Victoria (The Call to Pray), Marvellous Marva (A Strange Place) Terri Lyons (The Phrase) among the women. Among the men competing in the first half of the programme were former calypso monarch Kurt Allen with his political commentary “My Corn Tree.” Complete with garden boots and fork in hand, Allen who lives in the hills wanted to know who was responsible for the state of the country .

Twenty calypsonians performed in the first half which got going at 12.05 pm yesterday .

Most of the topics placed focus on the state of the nation with its rising crime and violence and black youths going astray. Musi

He made the statement yesterday against the backdrop of last Wednesday night’s incident in which Trinidad and Tobago sporting ambassador Dwight Yorke was blocked from boarding a flight to the United States after he was red-flagged by officials in Qatar.

Yorke was expected to get a connecting flight from Qatar to Miami, and then to TT, but was unable to do so because a visit to Iran in 2015 prevented him from entering the US. Yorke was in Qatar performing commentary for BeIN Sports TV for Thursday’s Europe League match featuring Manchester United against St Etienne.

The former Manchester United star, who is reported to have said that he felt like a criminal, was due to arrive in TT to participate in Carnival celebrations.

But commenting on the issue at a news conference, yesterday, minutes after his arrival from the 28th Intersessional Meeting of the Caricom Community in Guyana, Rowley told reporters: “Proper information needs to be had by persons who are engaging in international travel.” He added: “What has happened there is that Mr Yorke is a dual citizen and travels on a British passport sometimes.” Rowley said in Yorke using the British passport and presenting himself as a British citizen, he would have not required a visa because he would have fallen under the visa waiver which applies for a number of countries, the UK being one of them.

“So, travelling with a UK passport, and I am sure he would have done that before, would not have required a US visa.” Rowley said, however, that under the Obama administration, a new law was passed in the US which indicated that even though a waiver exists for citizens of those countries including the UK, “if such citizens had been to certain countries, Iran being one of them, then the waiver no longer applies, meaning that if you are a British citizen and you travel to a place like Iran, you would require a visa.

“And, if you did not get that visa, with your British passport, you are in effect attempting to enter the US without a visa and it is on that basis that you would be stopped.“I think that is what happened to Mr Yorke and I am sure that is something that he will address, travelling with a UK passport. If he was travelling with a TT passport he would have been very aware that we in Trinidad and Tobago require a visa to go into the US.” Rowley said Yorke’s visa was “nullified by virtue of the fact that the law now says that if you have been to Iran, Iraq or Syria, you would no longer come in without a visa.”

We hope the strange turn of events will prompt populations and governments to again reflect on the many self-contractions wrought by a blanket ban on categories of persons defined by nationality, religion or association .

Yorke, a former TT football captain and Manchester United striker holding iconic status not only in his home, but soccer worldwide, on Friday last in Qatar was debarred from boarding a flight to the United States to travel to TT for Carnival because his passport bears an Iranian immigration stamp. He will instead travel via London .

While he had spent 24 hours in Iran in 2015 for a charity football match, this stamp led to him being lumped in a class of persons somehow associated however tenuously and erroneously to terrorism .

What sin have I done to be treated like a criminal, Yorke asked himself .

The incident provoked a public outcry that largely but erroneously blamed United States President Donald Trump’s blanket immigrant ban that had in fact been struck down by a federal court, even though an irate Trump has vowed to soon bring a revised version .

However, Yorke’s denial was not based on Trump’s failed executive order, but on an Act of Congress passed last year ironically under former president Barrack Obama .

Under the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 citizens of nations exempt from needing a US visa must in fact apply in the event they had ever visited any of the seven nations, of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia .

This is not a total ban but a requirement to first apply for and obtain a US visa .

One can only speculate whether heightened paranoia at guarding the US border, now under President Trump, has led to more scrutiny and stringency in enforcing Obama’s 2015 Act. Meanwhile we ask how could the inconvenience and embarrassment meted out to Yorke have been averted? Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said that Yorke should have a TT diplomatic passport. Yet such a document is an accolade from the issuing nation but is no guarantor of respect or compliance by other nations .

One would also reason that the airport authorities in both Qatar and the United States would surely be aware of who Yorke is. Even failing that, Yorke could have supplied many telephone numbers of character-witnesses to attest to his identity and his bona fides, and so allow him to continue on his journey to his intended transit hub of Miami, Florida .

Such discretion for individuals could also be argued for all persons affected by both Obama’s Act and Trump’s executive order .

However, the Yorke case perfectly illustrates the loathsome crudeness of a blanket ban on targeted populations, a cudgel to do the job of a scalpel .

Of course, we recall the whole illogic of citing those particular seven nations for a travel ban and/ or a visa requirement when in fact no citizen of any of those countries has ever committed a terrorist act on US soil, unlike the case of Saudi Arabia whose citizens are can freely enter the US despite Saudi nationals perpetrating the infamous 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre .

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the 2015 Act will “broadly scapegoat groups based on nationality and fan the flames of discriminatory exclusion” .

A bipartisan cohort of congressmen moved the Equal Protection in Travel Bill 2016, backed by the ACLU, to moderate this Act but it failed .

As of now, if the US continues such heavy-handedness it can backfire, if foreign businessmen, professionals, artistes and sportsmen avoid such US isolationism by instead practising their expertise in more welcoming climes. In the end it is the US that will be isolated .