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.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

ISRAELI - PALESTINE CONFLICT, NO END IN SIGHT!

When will this madness end? When will this internecine war come to an end? When will enough be really enough in the Middle East? Every now and then there is a flare-up of age-long hostilities between biblical brothers and no one seem to have a handle on it? December 27th, 2008 so soon after the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, his kindred in Israel let loose their dogs of war and from the skies came bolts of fire to scotch the recalcitrant rocket-firing Hamas nuisance. A sledge-hammer being used where a scalpel may be needed, one might say?
No, says Icheoku, as the Hamas nuisance needs to and should be put to an end once and for all. According to an Israeli, Avraham Chen-Chatam, 57, the Israelis need to finish this once and for all and strike back as hard as it can be very painful to Hamas. The result, over two (200) hundred Palestines have been killed in retaliation for one Israeli killed by a Hamas-streaking Qassam rocket and there appears to be no end in sight. The bombardments continues despite calls from various world leaders to end hostilities. According to the Israeli government, the campaign is open-ended and is aimed at stopping Hamas rocket and mortar attacks that is traumatizing her population. This round of hostilities started so soon following the end of a six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas; which truce ended just last Friday, December 26th, 2008.
Reports reaching Icheokudotcom, has it that Israeli warplanes dropped more than 100 tons of bombs on identified installations in Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday December 27th, 2008, in what is reputed as one of the bloodiest days in decades of the Middle East conflict. What does Hamas have to offer in response to fire and brimstone raining from the skies over Gaza from the under-bellies of United States of America supplied F-16 fighter planes but the chants of Allah Alkabr? But unknown to these "fanatics" they need to do more to protect themselves from a reaction to their provocation than simply calling on their god to come down and fight for them. A good starting point is to stop the provocative Qassam rocket firing into southern Israel which provoked this current retaliatory bombardment of Hamas infrastructures in Gaza strip. For every action, there is a reaction and there is always so much a people can take under such circumstance since the Israeli government has a duty to protect her citizenry.
Pictured below are some bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police, victims of Israeli air-strike as they lay dead on the ground at their Gaza City's main security compound; while above right is the lone fatality of Hamas Qassam rocket attack in the Israeli town of Netivot. Although Hamas vowed to fight on, saying they will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood, according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum; but Icheoku asks what is the wisdom behind such strategy?
This morbid mentality is very foolish as it is simply suicidal and the world is getting tired of the provocative antics of Hamas who continually fires rocket into southern Israel as agent provocateur of the conflict. Hamas should know that they are unevenly matched with the Israeli military hence a military solution to the conflict is not probable nor likely. A more savvy group would have used the least torturous means to negotiate a fair bargain for the people of Palestine instead of their present head-on collision approach with a far weightier military. What all these show is an unseriousness on the part of the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine people for a conclusive resolution of this problem; maybe they will lose the reason for their existence were a resounding solution ever reached, hence their choice of gun-powder confrontation.
How many Palestines and Israelis will have to lose their lives before Hamas and their rabid supporters realise that they are fighting an unwinnable battle against the mighty Israeli forces with the backing and tacit approval of Washington? Simply put, it is foolhardy.
Pictured here left is the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said that Israel knows how to give proper response, at the right time, in the right way and responsibly.
Icheoku says, the Israeli security agencies should consider decapitating some of the present crop of die-hard absolutist Hamas leaders and see if the incoming ones might play ball with a negotiated settlement of the intractable problems between both entities. Icheoku's position seem to be in tandem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who confirmed that Hamas' political leaders could soon be targeted. According to Livni, Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody in Hamas is immune.
But the hard charging and loud-talking Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in a show of "bravado" or rather defiance, declared that his movement would not be cowed. The other actor in this macabre theater, the Palestine President, Mahmud Abbas, pictured above right, is however walking a thin line not to be seen as sleeping with the "enemy" and at the same time secretly wishing that the Israelis could do a job he could not himself do - the overthrow of Hamas in Gaza. However the Israelis appears ready to fight with the Defence Minister Ehud Barak vowing to expand the operation if necessary. According to Barak, there is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting!

Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming Israeli show of force, it was not clear their offensive would halt the barrage of rocket-fire from Hamas controlled Gaza strip which Hamas took since June 2007. Some rockets got into Israel as at the time of this report despite the massive air bombardment of Gaza. Also similar Israeli past efforts such as their operation against Hezbollah never achieved their stated objective.
The United States of America on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years. According to White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, Hamas are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people. The White House also called for the cease-fire to be restored saying that they need to stop the escalation. Continuing, the White House said, "we have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot in politics and one foot in terror."

That Israel has always hoped for and wanted quiet for the residents of the South and that they should enjoy genuine calm and be free of the threat of unceasing Qassam and mortar attacks that have disrupted life in the South for a very long period,"
Hamas with its 20,000 fighters is no match to the mighty Israeli military with its fighting prowess, which is now being accused of using disproportionate against the rocket firers. But shouldn't Hamas have known this fact all these months of provocative rocket firing into southern Israel?
Icheoku says the stated objective of Hamas and such other extremists of the Middle East to annihilate Israel and completely wipe Israel off the map is a mere wishful Utopian thinking of a deranged warped mind. It is not going to happen and this fact should get into their head, fast and sooner. The best solution is a negotiated settlement where the two feuding foes can live side by side in each identifiable independent communes or states. Until Hamas becomes rational and reasonable to realize that their belligerent and bellicose approach can only visit pain and suffering on her population, no meaningful peace can ever come to the middle east and the whole world will periodically wake up to the same cycle of mayhem going on between the Israelis and the Middle Eastern extremists as represented in Hamas and Hezbollah.

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