Hogs and Big Cups

FOTP Monday for . . . November 18th, 2024

Since 1989, I have been coming to Paradise Island in the Bahamas, a small island located over the Sidney Poitier Bridge from Nassau, the country’s capital, which is on the northern tip of New Providence, itself an island. The country is made up of more than 700 islands but only 30 are inhabited and only two of have gambling: Freeport and Nassau. The country gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1973.

Here’s a take on the place by Freedom House:

The Bahamas is a stable democracy where political rights and civil liberties are generally respected. However, the islands have a relatively high homicide rate. Harsh immigration policies, which mainly affect Haitian-Bahamians and Haitian migrants, are often executed in the absence of due process. Government corruption is a serious problem that is thought to have had significant economic consequences.

Ya think?

In the 1920s and early ’30s, during our Prohibition, the country ran alcohol out of Prince George Wharf to the United States. The bootleggers “made a fortune,” as Hyman Roth might say.