GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Friday, April 18, 2008

CNN, NOT THIS TIME!

The Chinese won't take it! They are not Nigeria whose government lacked the necessary backbone to confront what the Chinese news agency referred to as a news terrorist organisation, CNN. The Cable News Network has on numerous occasions in the past maligned and disparaged Nigeria and Nigerians with their sometimes very biased "news" reportage or editorial or documentary of a jaundiced eye with which they see black men, Africa and Nigeria in particular. Look at the demeaning sneer of doll-baby Lou Dobbs and the vituperation he pours on every non white American both on his gig at CNN and his morning radio show on 9.10AM station; discussing his endless illegal immigration matter like his great forebears got visas from native Americans before breaching their shores into the new found land. It is also needless to mention that majority of the colored anchors on CNN have been sent "away" starting with the very award winning Bernard Shaw of the first Gulf war fame.
In their infamous documentary "How to rob a bank" CNN portrayed Nigerians in the United States of America as "criminals" who are engaging in all sorts of criminal behaviour especially fraudulent credit and bank activities. Majority of Nigerians in the United States are decent men and women whose home government has failed them and who are trying to eke a living; and while some of them have succeeded they are numerous others who are still to realise their fabled American dream. Then in between these two groups may be a handful of "deviants" whose infractions CNN has ballooned into a "criminality of a people". CNN ignored these honorable men and women but instead spent over ninety minutes of valuable airtime portraying a people as criminals. It was only at the tail end of the said documentary that CNN tangentially mentioned a few Nigerians who were showcasing their rich cultural heritage at an Independence party. It is also pointless to say that the so called ephemeral "positive" coverage was for less than five minutes of the entire documentary. It is always about sensationalism and their coverage of the Niger Delta of Nigeria freedom fighters caused a serious stir in the world of Nigerians in Diaspora. The relevant Nigeria Embassy officials were contacted to protest such an asinine coverage of a people and to demand an apology and a retraction from CNN but to no avail. CNN treated it as a news item and that they saw no need to apologise; Nigerians as well as their supposed officials cowered down. But the damage to reputation is already done and the stain will not easily wash away, if ever. The need or usefulness of a Nigeria Ambassador in the United States and/or diplomatic officials who could not forcefully protect her peoples' interest or her country's image leaves much to be desired.
Now, a beast of burden, the Chinese has been stirred and they are not taking it. They have demanded an apology and surely they will get it from CNN. This is a country whose diplomatic officials are worth every dime being spent on their missions. CNN's offence to the Chinese pales in comparison to the vicious, offensive and "criminal" documentary here above referenced. Jack Cafferty of Cafferty Files of CNN referred to Chinese leaders as a bunch of goons and thugs and to Chinese made products as junks. Quoting the said statement, he said "we continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff we're buying from Walmart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last fifty years". China through her Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu protested to CNN saying "we are shocked by and strongly condemn the malicious attacks on the Chinese people by CNN's Cafferty. We demand CNN and Cafferty himself take back the malicious vile remarks and apologise to the Chinese people". So far CNN had tried to explain away the remark as not disparaging to the Chinese people but was merely referencing their leaders; but the Chinese authorities will not take any of that but insisted that CNN do more as well as Cafferty himself with a threat to close down CNN's Bureau in China.
The rat race is on and hopefully the Chinese will extract a tooth from CNN's mouth this time. It is called international pressure-cooker diplomacy and it is earned over a period of time. But when a country such as Nigeria is being ruled then by a despotic person in the person of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo whose very corruption the entire world knows about and whom the world knows, strictly speaking does not have the real mandate of the people of Nigeria to rule them, then they see him and the country that tolerated his rule as a bunch of spineless people who could not muster enough vigour to mount any major offensive against CNN or mobilize the advertising corporation to boycott CNN. There is need for the goonbahs who have held Nigeria in a throttle-choke hold all these years to yield power and vacate the scene so that Nigerians can start having a real say in who governs them. This way, whenever there is an infra-dignity treatment meted to Nigeria or Nigerians, at least the government will know that her people will support every counter offensive measure it may deem fit and proper in response to such unwarranted rabidity against her people. It is called a government with real mandate. Is there any person the world over who is not proud of the drama playing itself out with the American Presidential primaries? It symbolises the beauty of a working democracy. Only in America! God Bless America! At the end of the day, whoever emerges will assert himself/herself as American President with authority to do everything necessary in the interest of the American people with conviction that his actions are sanctioned and will be supported by the populace, necessary implication being that where a sanction is called for it will be forcefully met. This somewhat collective responsibility, which the people feel by having freely elected their president and by extension their government, provides the government the much needed muscle to affect matters, including effective diplomacy.
Commentator's Note: we later realised that the Chinese have abstracted their pound of flesh from the ever bullish CNN; CNN have apologised to the Chinese as was demanded. According to sources, CNN issued an apology late on Friday April 18th 2007 stating that " it was not Mr. Cafferty's nor CNN's intent to cause offense to the Chinese people, and we would apologise to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way" - BUT THIS "ANYONE" DOES NOT INCLUDE NIGERIANS FOR THE DISPARAGING "HOW TO ROB A BANK" DOCUMENTARY!

1 comment:

  1. Since this publication, a lot of things have happened concerning this impasse:-Chinese authorities have rebuffed CNN apology as shallow and not from the heart. Also a Chinese head-dresser in New York has filed a $1.3billion dollar USD lawsuit against CNN for defamation of the 1.3billion Chinese people. Calculated damages is $1.00 per a Chinese should it result in settlement. But who are the Chnese to muzzle our media? Free speech is anathema to the Chinese "goon & thugs" but they should remember that in America we have free speech and that America is not yet under their control politically. But what manner of a lawyer took this brief anyway? This is one of the reasons why people have such a disregard for lawyers as being lowly bottom feeders.

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