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.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

RAYSHARD BROOKS KILING: MAYOR BOTTOMS' RUSH TO JUDGMENT AGAINST THE POLICE.

ICHEOKU says administrative rationality demands that those in power and in charge act measuredly, deliberatively and decisively; and not to allow themselves to be stampeded into taking hastily actions without first thinking them through. Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms was too quick to pronounce judgment on the policeman Garret Rolfe, who killed Rayschard Brooks and also in her demanding the resignation of the former police Chief Erika Shields. The Mayor should have waited until all the facts are in, garnered through investigation, before taking any action against Officer Rolfe who fired the fatal shots and demanding and receiving the resignation of the now former Police Chief Erika Shields. 

Now that it is true that the police officer in hot pursuit acted in self defense as Georgia State Law provides, which classifies taser as a deadly weapon, what will the Atlanta Mayor do to redress the wrong she did to the police man and woman. Will she reinstate  the police chief and also give the policeman his job back or will she sullen away in obstinacy because the killing of Rayschard was according to her, personal because it could have been any of them, people of color. It reminded ICHEOKU of Barack Obama's comment during Trayvon Martin killing by George Zimmerman that had he had a son it would just look like Trayvon. What ICHEOKU does not understand is why people of color in power always play up their skin color, while at the same time not allowing or tolerating white people to also proudly hold up their whiteness. For them, it is always about their skin color but they equally do not want you to treat them as colored people and you marvel at this obvious troubling conflict. 

Anyway, back to the lawfulness of the shooting. The Fulton County District Attorney Paul Ford Jr, while commenting on the other previously fired two Atlanta policemen who tasered two teenagers in a car during the George Floyd's protest, said that tasers are classified by Georgia State laws as a deadly weapon. It therefore naturally follows that a policeman being tasered should act to defend himself with deadly force as well. So, what exactly did the Atlanta Mayor expect a policeman to do when a deadly weapon was being deployed at him, afterall Rayschard Brooks did turn, pointed and discharge the taser at the pursing police officer. Without a doubt, Rayschard Brooks' intention was to demonize the pursuing policeman in order to escape arrest and you wonder why nobody is calling out the infra-digs perpetrated by the now deceased escapee who not only resisted arrest, fought the police, stole their weapon but fired it at the officer in his hot pursuit. 

None of the critics of the policeman is giving him a benefit that he only fired his weapon after Rayschard fired at him, notwithstanding the varying lethality of a taser and a gun. The policeman did not set out to kill Rayschard as both men were running, the police chasing Rayschard, until suddenly, fearing capture, Rayschard changed the game into a armed shooting conflict. Yes, everyone agrees that the policeman should have been more circumspect with discharging his gun, but that is besides the point. The controlling issue is whether he was authorized and allowed under the law to discharge his weapon and not how he chose to exercise the discretion. His state of mind when he fired his weapon is imperative and only he can say exactly what was running through his mind at the time his index finger made contact with the trigger. So, what every other person says or thinks about what he did is irrelevant, once it is established that he acted within the law. 

His action may be horrible but it is not unlawful and if not unlawful, there is no criminal violation, hence no criminal liability. It was not premeditated either nor was it accompanied by malice since both men were having a polite chat before Rayschard decided to become uncooperative, leading to the cascade of wrong events which culminated in his being killed. At most, the policeman could be blamed for not being more restrained and not firing his gun, but he had the supreme right to fire his gun under the circumstance and he broke no law by doing that. It was a decision which was his to make and he chose to not restrain himself and fired his gun. He chose to exercise his given prerogative under Georgia State's law which makes it permissible for a policeman to use deadly force to defend himself against a suspect's deadly weapon. A taser is classified as a deadly weapon under Georgia's extant law and he acted accordingly. 

ICHEOKU says Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was too quick to act and acted too hastily in firing the police officer and demanding and receiving the resignation of the police chief. The Mayor wanted to please her black people who were irate that another black man was killed by a white policeman and their anger is understandable. But the Mayor must understand that she is not a Mayor for only black people as other people live in Atlanta too. White people, Hispanic, Indians, Chinese, Arabs, Asians, Caribbean, Africans etc are other people who live in Atlanta and these people want to see justice done as well. These people should also factor into what black Mayor Bottoms does and this imperative should always be part of what guides her actions. Now, therefore, the Mayor must equally bravely address her black folks and explain to them why the policeman did nothing wrong and that he acted as he was authorized under the law of the State of Georgia to act. 

Thereafter, the Mayor should give back to the policeman his badge and gun and also recall the forced out police chief. That is the right call to make under the existing Georgia State law which classifies taser as a deadly weapon. The Mayor must also understand that she is a mayor for all, including the policeman and the forced out police chief, and not just the vocal black lives matter group. Both the policeman and the former police chief deserves justice as well. Fairness demands that nobody passes sentence on anybody without first examining all the facts in the case, especially where an existing law is on the accused's side. ICHEOKU says no matter how abhorable what now former policeman Garret Rolfe did might seem, he did not break the law and without breaking the law he committed no crime for which he should lose his job or in any other way be held criminally liable, period. #GIveHimBackHisBadgeAndGun. #RecallThePoliceChief

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