Last Thursday, Lou made a costive, long overdue decision. It enchanted even the most jaded political backroom puppeteers and cynics on Guam. It buzzed though snaking lines at packed stores all over Guam, as people eagerly stimulated the economy. WhatsApps communities were energized, following the beleaguered Maga'håga’s decision to finally engage her most formidable asset in this Covid crisis environment.

The question, “Where is Carl?” had grown into a demanding crescendo even before Adelup began talking about the economic re-start of Guam. So people were genuinely thrilled and relieved by Lou’s decision to charge Carl Gutierrez with jumpstarting an economic strategy for the island.

People seemed to be ready to overlook the painfully long and tepid delay in getting Carl where he naturally belonged from the start: on the frontlines of this crisis response.

Carl isinarguably the island’s most experienced, crisis-hardened veteran. From regional economic meltdowns, multiple devastating natural disasters, and a devastating airline crash, Gutierrez has not only known what to do and when, but how to get it done; and in a place where getting anything done is treated as an impeachable offense.

Unmatched and proven.
Carl understands deliverables and is uniquely capable of summoning the widest range of disparate political and economic interests in a united effort to lift and guide Guam through whatever crisis it may face. Simply put, Carl in a crisis is Carl in his environment.

This is an indisputable, historic fact. (Yes, I meant to write ‘historic’!)

It’s a fact Carl haters hate.

It’s why Lou’s best decision since the start of the pandemic was so long in coming.

Years of personal investment in a campaign of character assassination heavily shaded the crippling decision to sideline Carl from the start of the public health emergency declaration.

Carl’s absence was noted early – and often.

Unreasonably immature, personal hatred for Carl Gutierrez fueled a consuming plague of bad counsel and unwise invectives, influencing Lou’s inner circle and her bias.

This same, spoiled input is responsible for the misspent opportunity to capitalize on the effusive outpouring of goodwill in the wake of Lou’s most strategic decision since the start of the is crisis on Guam, to forge a personal capital and recovery program; to restore credibility and trust with the people of Guam.

That, of course, didn’t happen.

By Monday morning, instead of a victory lap and rounds of talk radio, Lou was skewered like a Wuhan voodoo doll on the island airwaves and blasted with scorn and derision on social media.

A week later, child….and the heat has not let up!

Lou’s serious swerve last week hasn’t  made headlines since it was announced. Sucking the air out of that good news, and resuscitating recall plots and protest marches, Jayne Flores’ uninspired and insipid “quarantine shepherd” fable is a whitewash grift.

SHAMELESS. OBLIVIOUS. BITCHINESS. After more than a decade trying to frame Carl Gutierrez as a corrupt and abusive governor, tone deaf Jayne Flores was oblivious to her implied snark that the people of Guam are ‘sheeple’ in need of shepherding; and that we should be grateful for the abuse of government authority and clear refusal to follow local laws. No wonder Jayne could not acknowledge the heroic duties Lou assigned to Carl Gutierrez. The moment she says something nice - and honest - about Carl her face would crack faster than her credibility after the tragic “Quarantine Shepherds” tale that left Lou, served up like a burnt Lou-mpia.

In a jaundiced letter to the editor of the Guam Post, last Sunday, Jayne slid off her high horse long enough to wallow in the mud pit of politics. She bathed in hypocrisy, as she studiously ignored the surging support for Lou’s most magnanimous – and shrewd – political gesture, since creating a cabinet-level senior post for the former governor and Democrat “powerhouse.”

Like Jayne once said about Carl Gutierrez: “this isn’t some regular gachong walking down the village street.”

Carl is no “gachong”and he doesn’t think walking down a village street makes you regular. To him, everybody is somebody. The value of that narrative over the increasingly disrespectful and demeaning hostility directed at Lou all week long, is incalculable.

Jayne ignored the good news, the opportunity and the value presented by Lou’s decision last Thursday. Yet, she went with an ill-conceived justification of corruption and implied sheeple reference, that not only cheated Lou out of a much-needed victory lap, but it re-kindled raging scorn and renewed recall efforts.

The dopey attempt to sweep widespread speculation of fraud, corruption and abuse under a dirty rug and call it “shepherding” is some looney tune leftist shit. It has only stoked the simmering cauldron of public discontent with Lou and Josh.

Try as they might, this administration just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Lou fumbles from blunder to scandal.

Clearly, Janella lacks what it takes for such a prime time role as comm director for the governor. Unfortunately for Lou, Jayne, who is widely rumored to be Janella’s replacement, is obviously no better equipped to fill the enormous communications black hole at Adelup - despite her considerable age difference and so-called background as a “serious” journalist.

A notorious Carl-hater, Jayne is compromised. She’s an aged mean-high-school-girlwho milked and primed the Carl-bashing gravy train for years, and has failed upward ever since. Her masquerade as a journalist, however, has an expiration date - as does her credibility. And she knows it, too.

That’s why Jayne would rather throw away a chance to finesse Lou’s critical pivot, in favor of a shallow flim flam piece. She’d prefer to write anything other than something nice – or actually truthful – acknowledging the important role Lou tasked Carl with.

Even if it meant relegating Lou, her gal pal and boss, to the political pit, filled with vipers and asps for another perilous week. And exposing her own fraudulence, in the process.

The moment Jayne acknowledges the high esteem Carl solicits from island business leaders… the value, scope, and scale of leadership he brings to the table at this critical period in this crisis… what remains of Jayne’s frigid credibility melts like hairy nuts in a sheepskin suit on Guam.

With zero shame, Jayne started her deceitful spin by citing a pretty dumb statement from Adelup hanger-on Cathy Flores. Cathy is one of those people probably earning way more than you, unqualified to do much of anything beside being Lou’s ‘måle. 

She is also a glaring example of the pervasive cluelessness that has come to define the Lou & Josh administration.

In her statement, Cathy noted that there were no manuals on how to do quarantine. That’s not true. A real journalist - like Jayne - would know that was a false statement.

She used it anyway. That’s the rest of THATstory.

IT TAKES LESS THAN HALF A SECOND….to return more than 13.2 million results for “Covid Quarantine Manual” - if anyone actually cares to look.

Lou deserved to bask in a hard-earned credit for once. Her bold, and decisive move with Carl, was not only good for Lou, but for Guam, too; it was the right move.

Even if Jayne - and other myopic Carl bashers - are left gnashing their brittle teeth over it. This kind of decision typifies leadership that instills confidence and trust. It was a grand time for a strategic shift for Lou.

But Lou never really had a chance to accrue much benefit before Jayne Flores threw her to the wolves to save herself from a loathsome task: saying something nice (and honest) about Carl Gutierrez, for once.

Few know what lies waiting to challenge our island in the months ahead. Guam is in need of leadership and vision. But, Lou remains surrounded by men and women, like Jayne, unable to see past their blinding petty jealousies and prideful arrogance.

None of us should be keen to see Lou fumble from one blunder to the next with this crisis response. I waited a week, hoping to see if Adelup could get a grip on this narrative and turn things around. Sadly, it looks like not even Carl will be able to save Lou from herself - and her bungling staff of incompetent sycophants and nugatory nincompoops.

Carl has been anointed with a herculean responsibility. He is known for being able to see his way through crisis and crystallize a vision for progress. Re-opening Guam, and getting the island ready for a brighter post-pandemic landscape - will be his biggest challenge yet.

It’s a goal we should all share. It’s even more incumbent upon Lou to ensure her team is on the same page, working toward a common vision.

 But, after a week, it’s still not clear, if Lou actually wants let Carl do his thing and get Guam back to work; or if the announcement was plain political phuckery to appease the demanding chorus for Carl to lead on the economic turnaround.

In addition to Jayne’s foolish short shrift of Carl’s new duties, word comes that Lou has insisted Carl take on his new strategic economic council Adelup hacks, including Tyrone Taitano andClifford Guzman. 

Clifford, is no friend of Carl. And, with the potential for his shenanigans at the Guam museum to explode in Lou’s face at any time, that’s a dicey move that may only distract from the real work ahead.

All crises come with opportunity. The opportunity this crisis presented to Lou, was to come out of this experience, beloved and honored as one of the most cherished leaders in Guam history; particularly, as the first woman elected governor.

Instead, it’s as if this administration, and all Lou’s lackeys, have set for her just the opposite goal: To be the most reviled governor ever in the history of the island.

Lou needs to swerve long and wide again - and ditch the loser werewolves and sheepsters weighing her down, while she still has a chance. If she let’s him, Carl will make Lou look good again.

Apollo amongst the shepherds

By Friedrich Heinrich Füger

The Pan’s pipe, or Pandean pipe, was the appropriate musical instrument of the Arcadian and other Grecian shepherds, and was regarded by them as the invention of Pan, their tutelary god. It was formed in general of seven hollow stems of cane or reed, fitted together by means of wax, having been previously cut to the proper lengths, and adjusted so as to form an octave; but sometimes nine were admitted, giving an equal number of notes.