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.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

WAEL SAID ABBAS GHONIM, THROWS MUBARAK A GAUNTLET?

Icheoku says the time has never been so ripe and the moment rightfully so come, that for the survival of the quaking Mubarak led Egyptian government, it has to crackdown now and so hard on the stringing-out protesters in Tahrir Square. Such crackdown in order to shake the resolve of those protesters must be so bloody so red that Tienanmen Square will look like a child's play. The government of Mubarak must visit with vengeance the iniquities and angst of the past three weeks on these protesters; a crackdown so vicious in intensity that they will see enough red to scatter throughout the four corners of the globe? Such ruthlessness on fellow Egyptians is the only thing that will save the regime's skin, the resolve of these protesters considered; and in order to enable them survive what has come to be known as Revolution 2.0!


For the Mubarak regime to survive, now is the time to bring out the sledge-hammer to hammer down those 'dissidents' at Tahrir Square. Sixteen days and counting with each passing day emboldening the protesters and forcing the regime to sacrifice one thing after another; forgetting that until Mubarak is also sacrificed those protesters will not be placated. The regime have to shut out the country from the outside world and clean out Tahrir Square the best way despotic government knows best; such that blood will continue to flow until the River Nile once again turns red, but this time not because of a plague but with the blood of Egyptians massacred for standing up for democracy! That is the only other choice left for Mubarak here since he has decided to dig in and the protesters are not going anywhere either. According to the face of the protest, Wael Said Abbas Ghonim, President Hosni Mubarak should either go or have him (Ghonim) killed; and Icheoku hedges bet on the later? Icheoku says this sure sounds like two extreme positions which gives no room for manoeuvre or negotiation and this battle of the will is now more likely to boil over with an unpalatable result.

After watching Mr. Ghonim's interview with a CNN correspondent in Cairo, so many questions came rushing down our minds and begging for answers:- who is this man; what are his affiliations both political and religious; what were his antecedents of activism and why has Google suddenly become an activists nest, executives freely mixing business with politics? In the said interview, Ghonim threw caution to the winds, offering himself up to be murdered just to prove a point that he is not afraid to die for democracy? But unbeknownst to this guy, he is not in America or speaking to an audience that usually rationalizes issues and soon he may get what he bargained for and the heavens will not fall. Icheoku appreciates what he is doing and admires his bravery going up against an entrenched military offshoot government that has practically been in power since 1952; admitted Mubarak has been president for 30 years only, but people do such things with a lot of caution but not foolish bravado. Icheoku believes that Ghonim has made his point and would have joined the negotiation efforts currently underway; but for him to denounce all negotiations is an invitation for anarchy and no reasonable mind thinks the government in Egypt will allow him destroy the country or even the administration or even humiliate President Hosni Mubarak. The operating procedure usually is for the lesser of the mortals to go and this is our fears that soon and very soon, when the crack-down on the protesters eventually beins, that Mr Wael Said Abbas Ghonim might be specifically targeted as an expendable pawn in the unfolding game of chess playing itself out in Egypt.


One school of thought on the Egyptian crisis even went further to question how really grass-root is the uprising, that in a country of over eighty million people, only about one hundred thousand people are protesting the Egyptian government? To this group Icheoku says, they should prove their superiority by organising ten million man march throughout Egypt to showcase their strength in numbers and until then, the world is hearing the vocal chords of those few who are adamantly protesting Mubarak's open-ended stay in government. Icheoku's heart is with those protesting Egyptians but we believe that the cardinal objective of the protest was achieved when Mubarak agreed to step down and now all parties should join hands to ensure that he keeps his promise and in an orderly fashion. We condemn any attempt at unduly over-rushing the transition and having waited for thirty years, six additional months will not be too daunting a period to effectively trade Mubarak for someone else. A chaotic disorderly Egypt is not an option for Mubarak being rushed out 'NOW'; so Egyptians and the world must help him organize a transition that will endure and an Egypt that will be there for our future generations yet unborn. Nothing else matters, nothing else counts; not even one million martyr-ready Ghonims.


Icheoku says if the negotiation is called off, what other wind is left in the sail of those protesting the regime; since they neither have overwhelming disruptive numbers of protesters to shut down the government nor the instrument of cohesion to otherwise achieve their objective. There is already enough of Egyptian blood (302 people dead) shed so far to water the planted seed of democracy in Egypt and such obstinate foreclosing of any negotiation with the government, tantamount to hardening of the hearts (akin to the pharaoh who will not let go the Israelites, so it may be an Egyptian thing not to compromise) will only accelerate to more ugliness. January 25 till February 10 is such a long time for such a number of people to be protesting a government which has dug in and will only go on its term; so why bother thinking they will bulge now or just throw their honcho under the bus just because one Ghonim said so?  It must not remain this my way or the highway and Icheoku hopes these parties will hearken to a wise council and come to a meeting point instead of being strung out with their positions. Like his hero, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ghonim has provoked a thought and Icheoku hopes he will ride out the storm and achieve democracy for the people of Egypt. 


Icheoku says, if like Ghonim himself conceded that Mubarak has "sacrificed a lot" for Egypt and ought to be treated with dignity, does it not therefore make sense to just indulge him with the six months he is asking for to make a seamless transition instead of rushing him out of the house he helped build like a common thief? There is some contradictions here and Icheoku only hopes that this Ghonim is not part of some clandestine organisation trying to cause unnecessary upheaval in Egypt. SIX MONTHS AIN'T TOO MUCH TO ASK. Icheoku admires the courage of Ghonim, trying to make a difference in Egypt and we wish him God's speed; however we would rather he does not take positions of extremism in this matter as there are principally two egos at play here - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's and that of the protesters. Let a common reachable goal be agreed now so that both parties retains something of value of their ego in order not to humiliate either. Simply put, both parties should try and meet each other half way and let there be peaceful transition. Icheoku warns that should negotiations fail and the government becomes agitated enough to become edgy or feel that they have been overly cornered, Egyptian blood will flow and the River Nile will turn red!

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