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.

Monday, May 18, 2020

CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN: LIFT THE LOCKDOWN, REOPEN AMERICA NOW.

ICHEOKU says it is easy to say stay the course with the continued lockdown of the country when you are privileged to work from home. If you are a talking head on television pontificating the imperativeness of remain sheltered because of your guaranteed income, it is also easy. If you are part of the Hollywood crowd whose bank accounts are busting to the seams and you have no difficulty meeting your monthly obligations on bill payments, it is also easy. Other rich fellows equally can stay sheltered until thy kingdom of vaccine comes as they can afford to do so. But when your ability to feed your family and also meet other monthly bills obligations, including rents, electricity, insurances is greatly encumbered by the shelter in place and you cannot do your job from home and needs to get out, move around for work in order to earn your living, then the country should have been reopened since many moons ago. 

People need to earn money to sustain their livelihood and it is increasingly becoming very difficult to do this remaining quarantined. The $1200 stimulus check was spent upfront before they even arrived as people borrowed on it. It was not even enough for one month's rent for those who had it intact when it arrived, talkless of now three months arrears of rents, feeding and other incidental expenses majority of Americans are faced with from month to month. As the president appositely said, the cure should not be far worse than the disease, but it is somewhat proving itself to be true as many people are now wondering if there was any merit in even shutting down the country in the first place. Thousands of people died regardless and it is possible that around the same number of people would have died anyway had the country stayed open. ICHEOKU says it is very doubtful if those making the rule even understand what majority of American people are going through, otherwise nobody would have contemplated any extended lockdown. 

The primary reason for the initial lockdown of the country was to ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed but not that the coronavirus disease goes away or that people are no longer infected or die anymore. They had insisted that the curve must first flatten before the shutdown can be lifted; but now that the pandemonium created has been controlled with flattened curve and the hospitals were not overwhelmed, they have shifted the narrative to first finding a cure and/or vaccine before reopening the country. ICHEOKU is emphatic that at the rate this people are going to shift the goalpost that even if a vaccine or cure was found today, they will insist that all the 360 million Americans first get vaccinated before the country reopens. Now, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that there might never be a vaccine for the coronavirus and the retort is, does that mean that the countries of the world, including America will never be reopened ever again. 

Being alive is a risk unto itself and there are other things which kill people including cancer, accidents, drug overdoses, suicides and homicides. All every sane person prays for is the ability to cope with living amidst some tolerable risks that could be reasonably managed, not a risk-free life. The coronavirus has done its worse as medical science and health practitioners now have a better understanding on handling it. This now makes it a tolerable risk which everyone can and should be prepared to adjust to and live with. Therefore the country should be reopened as the contract with Americans for which Americans yielded to the shutdown instruction, was that the country will come back to business once the coronavirus pandemic submits to a reasonable management. Contracts are entered with the expectation that parties thereto will honor their part of the bargain by keeping to its letters. American people have performed their part and now is for the authorities to also do their part by completely lifting the lockdown. 

The pain and suffering is getting unbearably too much and anyone still advocating for a continued lockdown is heartless and merciless. People are dying; children are starving; bills are piling up and domestic violence is rising as frustrated parents can no longer stand each other's inability to put food on the table. A matter made worse because there is no time definite when the lockdown will be completely lifted, making planing extremely difficult. The bad news is that many of those insisting on extended lockdown cannot survive for one week on the monthly wage being earned by the working poor of America. They do not understand what the dire situation is really like, with no food in the stomach; the reason they sound so oafish with their statements. None of them have helped pay for the rent, food and/or other bills for those under the water of the continued lockdown. They are not in their shoes and have no idea what the suffering in the country really feels like. 

Anyway, suffice it to say that the initial purpose of the shelter in place have been achieved, hospitals were not overwhelmed and the nation now have a better understanding of how to reasonably manage the coronavirus. Personal hygiene, masks and social distancing where possible are ways to keep the coronavirus at bay. Also, we now know that the elderly and the very sick are more susceptible to the disease and measures can be put in place to safeguard them. So, the nation can get back to its daily business now in order to save whatever remains of the economy and prevent it from going a complete belly up. Let the vulnerable be protected, let the infected be hospitalized and treated; and let those who are healthy and able return to their jobs immediately. Enough of the damage being inflicted on America, its society, psychology and economy, end the lockdown now. #ReopenAmericaNow!

No comments:

Post a Comment