SOMETHING ABOUT THIS RUSSIAN STORY STINKS - MATT TAIBBI

Nearly a decade and a half after the Iraq-WMD faceplant, the American press is again asked to co-sign a dubious intelligence assessment

In an extraordinary development Thursday, the Obama administration announced a series of sanctions against Russia. Thirty-five Russian nationals will be expelled from the country. President Obama issued a terse statement seeming to blame Russia for the hack of the Democratic National Committee emails. 

These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," he wrote.

Russia at first pledged, darkly, to retaliate, then backed off. The Russian press today is even reporting that Vladimir Putin is inviting "the children of American diplomats" to "visit the Christmas tree in the Kremlin," as characteristically loathsome/menacing/sarcastic a Putin response as you'll find. 

This dramatic story puts the news media in a jackpot. Absent independent verification, reporters will have to rely upon the secret assessments of intelligence agencies to cover the story at all.

Many reporters I know are quietly freaking out about having to go through that again. We all remember the WMD fiasco.

"It's déjà vu all over again" is how one friend put it. 

You can see awkwardness reflected in the headlines that flew around the Internet Thursday. Some news agencies seemed split on whether to unequivocally declare that Russian hacking took place, or whether to hedge bets and put it all on the government to make that declaration, using "Obama says" formulations. 

The New York Times was more aggressive, writing flatly, "Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking." It backed up its story with a link to a joint FBI/Homeland Security report that details how Russian civilian and military intelligence services (termed "RIS" in the report) twice breached the defenses of "a U.S. political party," presumably the Democrats.

This report is long on jargon but short on specifics. More than half of it is just a list of suggestions for preventive measures.

At one point we learn that the code name the U.S. intelligence community has given to Russian cyber shenanigans is GRIZZLY STEPPE, a sexy enough detail.

But we don't learn much at all about what led our government to determine a) that these hacks were directed by the Russian government, or b) they were undertaken with the aim of influencing the election, and in particular to help elect Donald Trump.

The problem with this story is that, like the Iraq-WMD mess, it takes place in the middle of a highly politicized environment during which the motives of all the relevant actors are suspect. Nothing quite adds up.

If the American security agencies had smoking-gun evidence that the Russians had an organized campaign to derail the U.S. presidential election and deliver the White House to Trump, then expelling a few dozen diplomats after the election seems like an oddly weak and ill-timed response. Voices in both parties are saying this now. 

Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham noted the "small price" Russia paid for its "brazen attack." The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, said Thursday that taken alone, the Obama response is "insufficient" as a response to "attacks on the United States by a foreign power."

The "small price" is an eyebrow-raiser. Also, like the WMD story, there's an element of salesmanship the government is using to push the hacking narrative that should make reporters nervous. Take this line in Obama's statement about mistreatment of American diplomats in Moscow:

"Moreover, our diplomats have experienced an unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow by Russian security services and police over the last year."

This appears to refer to an incident this summer in which an American diplomat was beaten outside the diplomatic compound in Moscow. That followed a 2013 case in which a U.S. diplomat named Ryan Fogle was arrested in similar fashion.

Fogle was unequivocally described as a CIA agent in many Russian reports. Photos of Fogle's shpionsky rekvisit, or spy kit – including wigs and a city map that were allegedly on his person – became the source of many jokes in the Russian press and social media. Similar to this hacking story here in the states, ordinary Russians seemed split on what to believe.

If the Russians messed with an election, that's enough on its own to warrant a massive response – miles worse than heavy-handed responses to ordinary spying episodes. Obama mentioning these humdrum tradecraft skirmishes feels like he's throwing something in to bolster an otherwise thin case.

Adding to the problem is that in the last months of the campaign, and also in the time since the election, we've seen an epidemic of factually loose, clearly politically motivated reporting about Russia. Democrat-leaning pundits have been unnervingly quick to use phrases like "Russia hacked the election."

This has led to widespread confusion among news audiences over whether the Russians hacked the DNC emails (a story that has at least been backed by some evidence, even if it hasn't always been great evidence), or whether Russians hacked vote tallies in critical states (a far more outlandish tale backed by no credible evidence).

As noted in The Intercept and other outlets, an Economist/YouGov poll conducted this month shows that 50 percent of all Clinton voters believe the Russians hacked vote tallies.

This number is nearly as disturbing as the 62 percent of Trump voters who believe the preposterous, un-sourced Trump/Alex Jones contention that "millions" of undocumented immigrants voted in the election.

Then there was the episode in which the Washington Post ran that breathless story about Russians aiding the spread of "fake news." That irresponsible story turned out to have been largely based on one highly dubious source called "PropOrNot" that identified 200 different American alternative media organizations as "useful idiots" of the Russian state.

The Post eventually distanced itself from the story, saying it "does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot's findings." This was a very strange thing to say in a statement that isn't an outright retraction. The idea that it's OK to publish an allegation when you yourself are not confident in what your source is saying is a major departure from what was previously thought to be the norm in a paper like the Post.

There have been other excesses. An interview with Julian Assange by an Italian newspaper has been bastardized in Western re-writes, with papers like The Guardian crediting Assange with "praise" of Trump and seemingly flattering comments about Russia that are not supported by the actual text. (The Guardian has now "amended" a number of the passages in the report in question). 

And reports by some Democrat-friendly reporters – like Kurt Eichenwald, who has birthed some real head-scratchers this year, including what he admitted was a baseless claim that Trump spent time in an institution in 1990 – have attempted to argue that Trump surrogates may have been liaising with the Russians because they either visited Russia or appeared on the RT network. Similar reporting about Russian scheming has been based entirely on unnamed security sources.

Now we have this sanctions story, which presents a new conundrum. It appears that a large segment of the press is biting hard on the core allegations of electoral interference emanating from the Obama administration.

Did the Russians do it? Very possibly, in which case it should be reported to the max. But the press right now is flying blind. Plowing ahead with credulous accounts is problematic because so many different feasible scenarios are in play. 

On one end of the spectrum, America could have just been the victim of a virtual coup d'etat engineered by a combination of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which would be among the most serious things to ever happen to our democracy.

But this could also just be a cynical ass-covering campaign, by a Democratic Party that has seemed keen to deflect attention from its own electoral failures.

The outgoing Democrats could just be using an over-interpreted intelligence "assessment" to delegitimize the incoming Trump administration and force Trump into an embarrassing political situation: Does he ease up on Russia and look like a patsy, or escalate even further with a nuclear-armed power?

It could also be something in between. Perhaps the FSB didn't commission the hack, but merely enabled it somehow. Or maybe the Russians did hack the DNC, but the WikiLeaks material actually came from someone else? There is even a published report to that effect, with a former British ambassador as a source, not that it's any more believable than anything else here.

We just don't know, which is the problem.

We ought to have learned from the Judith Miller episode. Not only do governments lie, they won't hesitate to burn news agencies. In a desperate moment, they'll use any sucker they can find to get a point across.

I have no problem believing that Vladimir Putin tried to influence the American election. He's gangster-spook-scum of the lowest order and capable of anything. And Donald Trump, too, was swine enough during the campaign to publicly hope the Russians would disclose Hillary Clinton's emails. So a lot of this is very believable.

But we've been burned before in stories like this, to disastrous effect. Which makes it surprising we're not trying harder to avoid getting fooled again.

J.LO LATEST TRYST WITH DRAKE, SIMPLY ANGLING FOR P.DIDDY?

Icheoku said it before and is saying it here again that Jennifer Lopez has only been in love and been loved once and can never find another true love, regardless of how many men she sleeps with or is seen with. She can outdo Liz Taylor and other Hollywood infamous 'pick and drop men' for all she wants and can, but until she resolves the monster inside her, the need to seek utopia, she can never truly be happy nor ever find the  loving man which she craves for. Icheoku is emphatic that all these her sleeping around and picking and dropping men is but a cry for help by a woman who could not find true love and is acting out in desperation. It is nothing else and it is not the fault of these many men who are now numbering in their tens. Jennifer Lopez is the reason Jennifer Lopez is sleeping around and cannot find a heart's delight. 

An alpha female who wants to be in charge and always in control, once had an opportunity to have a man who truly complimented her. A man who was both successful and confident in himself, but her immaturity forced her to hightail because of an incident in a New York nightclub. That man is Sean Combs aka P. Diddy and there will never be another perfect man for Jennifer Lopez like him. Women like and admire a man they can respect and who is not afraid to be a real man before them; not a man they can easily toss around and who is as good as any of their girlfriends. Women wants something different and which gives them reason to always be in the now, working him as a work in progress which they have to get done. P.Diddy was what the doctor Cupid prescribed for Jennifer Lopez; he was her only true love. So until she summons up the courage to damn the world and make peace with P.Diddy, she will keep on searching for that other elusive Mr Right which is not anywhere out there, because P.Diddy is it and P.Diddy is still very much a bachelor. ICHEOKU says yes, P. Diddy and J.Lo were made for each other and their hearts still beat for each other and they both need to swallow whatever ego and pride that is on the way and get back together. 

This is the cure to her sleeping around with so many men and her supposedly being unlucky in love syndrome. If she likes she can sleep with all the men in this world; if she likes she can marry more men than the duo of Liz Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor put together, married; but until her heart once again finds rest in the arms of P. Diddy, her search and sleeping around or laying in men's arms will continue indefinitely. The latest of this her cry for help, unlucky in love, men in her life saga, is the Canadian Hip Hop artist Drake, who was pictured in a cuddly pose with the Jenny from the block, her tenth man on record. ICHEOKU says her Drake encounter will also be as short lived as her other past many men, if not shorter. Drake is not the one and Drake does not possess the personality of one who who would be a Jennifer Lopez's keeper or someone she would last long with. She needs a man molded in the personality of P.Diddy, somewhat crazy and somewhat a ladies man with the means to back things up. P.Diddy is still around, so why try to settle for something like something, an imitation, when the original is still much around. There can only be one P.Diddy and that is the person Jennifer Lopez has a beating heart for, but is being held back by a society that is too judgmental and which likes to butt into other people's private and personal matters. 

So very soon Drake will also go down in history as one of the men Jennifer Lopez once screwed and dumped. And the list is long enough, from David Cruz to Wesley Snipes to Ojani Noa to Tommy Mottola to Puff Daddy to Chris Judd to Ben Affleck to Marc Anthony to Casper Smart and to now her latest fling, Drake. To say that Drake is equally lost in the wilderness of unlucky in love and not finding his heart's delight us far is also a true statement. He tried Rihana but came out short; then he was seen around Taylor Swift but that one also did not pan out well as it also went south and now Jennifer Lopez is his latest fill-up woman. Put in another way, both parties are forlorn in love troubled hearts, who are seeking for true love but unfortunately are not lucky thus far in finding it. Some school of thought even suggested that their latest cuddly picture was a mere show, possibly put up to get the attention of or annoy someone or towards some prospective business venture. But regardless, they are living a lie and deceiving each other doing this lovey-dovey cuddling in the arms of each other because they are both other people's woman and man respectively.  Drake is not the right type for Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Lopez is not the right type for Drake either. They both belong to some other people; they need partners that will compliment them and not ones who will be in competition with them as they have similar qualities. 

Unfortunately for Jennifer Lopez, she has refused to grow up as she still attaches so much importance to her girlfriends instead of realizing the transition which parties to a marriage make when they get married. Girlfriends and boyfriends for the guy, becomes a thing of the past and merely secondary, but never allowed to retain or occupy the premier position which they did in the past single life. So it is rather foolish and ignorant for Jennifer Lopez to suggest in a December 2015 magazine interview that her girlfriends were as important as her husband. In her own words, "I think I realized they were as important — if not more important — when I divorced Marc. I just realized that I had been through that a couple of times and there they still were. Like they say, 'Men come and go, but my girlfriends are always there for me." Icheoku says here lies her problem for not realizing that she sacrificed her girlfriends when she got married. If she continues with this her misplaced priority, settling down or finding any man good enough to nurture a permanent long lasting relationship with will prove an unattainable goal.  Girlfriends will always remain who they are - they tell you what you want to hear and strive to be allowed around and not saying or doing anything to rock the boat, regardless of how irrational the circumstance or skewed a position which Jennifer took. 

Their only interest is to maintain the relationship and nothing more, hence even if Jennifer was wrong, they will always tell her that she was right, regardless. Therefore, it was a huge mistake for her to continue to keep those girlfriends around when she got married, especially because some of them who are not married might even be jealous of her and were bent on screwing things up for her. From a personal experience, a friend of a friend once wanted to move in after successfully engineering her friend to act in irresponsible manner that led to her being evicted. When asked why she did what she did, her only answer was that her friend was foolish and stupid to have acted as she acted and queried if someone told you to jump into an active volcano, would you? So it was her problem which she brought unto herself by heeding advice from her unmarried girlfriends. Such may be Jennifer Lopez's albatross and she is not realizing that as all these men could not be all monsters and she is the only one who is a Mother Theresa therein. Icheoku disagrees too and refuses to accept her off the cuff explanation that she is "more the good girl who was falling in love as opposed to the naughty girl who was running around." 

As far as Icheoku is concerned Jennifer Lopez is the problem because after ten men, it is safe to vouchsafe that something is wrong somewhere short of those ten men. She has to do some introspection and have a conversation with herself to actually find out where her problem is coming from. At best, it might be another case of a Hillary Clinton who lost an election because of Hillary Clinton; but instead of looking in the mirror is busy searching the entire wide world for the reason she lost the last presidential election. Admitted that women find it extremely difficult to own up or take responsibility for their actions or any other thing that went wrong, because it is never their fault, but the present 'catch and release' being practiced by Jennifer Lopez is entirely her fault, whether or not she is grown-up enough to accept it. Icheoku says as long as she remains in denial and lying to herself, that long will her being unlucky in love continue; as only her can help herself and do the needful to stay put with one man. Her honor is on the line; so is her pride, dignity and self respect; all of which she seems to have thrown away in a nonchalant way, all in the name of liberty and women emancipation. But decent men will stay away and not want to be stewed in a nearly public sewer, just like another man.

What point she is trying to prove is beyond Icheoku as her conduct thus far is not anything better than a glorified prostitute who is just hawking her body for whatever gratification that comes with it. How many men does she actually have to go through or are indeed enough for her to sample before she settle down; especially for a mother of two twins, one of which is a female and you wonder how delighted she will be watching her daughter grow up to be a man-changing nymph like her. What type of morality is she impacting on her female fans and what type of an ambassador is she to the family that raised her or does she really think what her mother and aunties are happy and not thinking negatively about her philandering ways. The most laughable part of the whole thing is her constant passing of the buck and blaming others for her foibles. Just listen to her: "Everybody has seen that I make mistakes. Every single album I have ever made is about love. But I am not going to give up. I have to look at what I do wrong. I rush in, I get swept up, I ignore the signs. But so many of us are guilty of these things. Each time it goes wrong it’s hard. I get really hurt but I have to let myself go: ‘What did I do? What can I learn?’ And as hard and as hurtful as things get, I want to believe I will be able to go one step higher. I’ve got to hope that if I keep going I will eventually get it right. I still believe in love; the nirvana man, he’s out there somewhere. But you just have to work at it. You have to work at everything." 

Jennifer Lopez or J.LO, Icheoku says the problem lies squarely with you and only you can resolve it because any willing woman can make her marriage or any other romantic relationship work. It requires hardwork and it requires her putting her man above every other thing including her girlfriends. In Mayor of Casterbridge, Michael's wife told him that a mistake is a mistake but once too often and thats exactly the case with Jennifer Lopez with men and it is about time all these her excuses stopped. The choice is hers to make and she at liberty to so do - either to want to settle down or not to settle down. She has to decide what exactly it is that she wants and seeks in a man, understanding that there is no complete or perfect man out there; and then prioritize what is important to her and then pull the lever accordingly. Marriage is not akin to playing blackjack in Las Vegas; it is not shopping for shoes either, where one keeps on trying shoes until one find a perfect fit. If she actually believes in love and not simply infatuated with her childhood Cinderella story, then she must curb her expectations and help mold her next catch into the man she wants him to be; or better still run back to P.Diddy which Icheoku highly recommends as the most partner appropriate man to her which she has ever dated. Goodluck J.LO and may the new year help you find that man you are looking for.

OBAMA'S FULL-BLOWN, YEAR-END TEMPER TANTRUM - an article by LIZ PEEK.

Let’s be honest: President Obama is throwing a good old-fashioned foot-stomping world class temper tantrum. He is just beside himself that the stupid American voter elected Donald Trump. How could the country willfully dismiss the erudite recommendation of nearly every news organization in the nation – as well as Obama’s personal plea that not electing Hillary would be a personal insult to him? How could young people not respond to Obama’s call to “bend the arc of history in a better direction?” It is beyond comprehension.

But it happened, and Obama is having an extremely difficult time dealing with what may be his first-ever serious setback. This is a man described by his closest advisor, Valerie Jarrett, as “just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” More flattering, Jarrett noted that “I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. …” He is so smart, said Jarrett, that “he’s been bored to death his whole life.”

Very few people surround themselves with people capable of such uncompromising adoration. It isn’t healthy. But Obama is different. He has been told over and over – even by the Nobel Committee that awarded him their coveted Peace Prize on spec– that he is extraordinary. So when a man like The Donald bests him, a man Obama clearly considers a joke, he is undone.

That is certainly the way he is behaving. Not for Obama the normal gracious withdrawal into political stasis; no, he wants to prove in these waning weeks of his presidency that he was right all along. That his agenda is what The People want, even if they don’t know it. That putting America’s valuable natural resources permanently off limits is the correct thing to do, because only Obama can see the future. That taking over vast swatches of the west is in the best interests of the reluctant residents there, because only Obama will protect our environment. That publicly confronting Russia for cyber misbehavior after years of looking the other way is called for, even if it complicates diplomacy in a number of theaters. Because Obama knows best.

He also knows what is best for Israelis. Upending long-standing tradition, he has allowed our only true ally – and the only democracy -- in the Middle East to be further isolated and compromised, in the interests, we are told, of seeking a meaningful peace. The reality is that Obama fully expected that by dint of his winning personality, superior insight and sympathy for the Muslim people, to conquer the divides in that region. 

He was shocked that his Cairo speech did not cause the waters to part, and the wounds to heal. And he is angry that, in his mind, Bibi Netanyahu has stood between him and fulfilling this key legacy achievement. As he revealed in 2010 to an interviewer with Time magazine, “[Getting peace in the Middle East] is just really hard”; notably, this came as a surprise.

Make no mistake: we do need to rein in Russian misbehavior. Putin is a dangerous adversary and should never have been allowed out of the penalty box inflicted by drooping oil prices. But, Obama gave him running room by putting him in charge of the Syrian debacle and making him a key figure in the Iran nuke deal. So important were those quests to Obama that our president chose to ignore Moscow’s serial aggressions and misbehavior. Indeed, after the conclusion of the Iran accord, Obama called Putin to thank him for his help. Is it any wonder that an emboldened Putin felt he could act out his hostility to Hillary Clinton?

Obama is having a difficult time passing the baton, because he thinks the baton should be his in perpetuity. Unlike most of his predecessors, Obama intends to stay involved in his party’s politics, and to continue living in the nation’s capital, better to keep his finger on the pulse. Whether Democrats want him involved, since after eight years of his leadership the party’s pulse is barely discernible, remains to be seen.  

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has once again outfoxed President Obama. His response to Obama’s eviction of 35 diplomats and other grave-sounding but ultimately unimportant retaliatory measures? Instead of engaging in traditional diplomatic tit for tat, the Russian leader has invited the children of U.S. diplomats to the Kremlin for a holiday party. Who looks like the adult in the room? 

RONDA ROUSEY DEFEATED YET AGAIN, TIME TO HANG IT UP.

Icheoku says once beaten, twice shy; but what happens when beaten twice? Possibly four times shy and as they say, rather than the third, the fourth is now the charm as Icheoku calls on Ronda Rousey to paddle her canoe elsewhere outside the UFC octagon. Ronda Rousey was defeated by Brazilian Amanda Nunes with a TKO in just 48 minutes of the very first round of their scheduled five rounds in their championship fight UFC 207 in Las Vegas. 

Icheoku says when one thought that Holly Holm destroyed her in her first defeat, here comes the Brazilian pugilist Amanda Nunes handing her the fastest defeat in her storied UFC career. Congratulations Amanda Nunes and to Ronda Rousey, happy retirement from the Ultimate Fighting Club. So long. 

OBAMA'S RUSSIAN SANCTIONS, SIMPY REACTIONARY?

ICHEOKU says why did the security agencies not proactively nab "The Russians" in the act as they were hacking those emails, rather than now claiming or rather asserting that "The Russians" hacked the emails to influence the election in favor of Donald John Trump. As far as Icheoku is concerned, this is yet another face saving grandstanding and piling up for the devastating loss of an election which they arrogantly thought was bagged already. All their attempts to explain away their abysmal failure and very poor showing in the election, from all manners of laughable explanations and schemes including a recount and attempted influence of the electors at the Electoral College, having failed; they are now staging their last final act - lets punish The Russians for influencing our election. Icheoku says really; and assuming The Russians influenced the election, will that be the first time a country ever influenced an election in another country? The Venezuelans would gladly attest to this regarding their late President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicholas Maduro elections; ditto Nigerians with their President Muhammadu Buhari election; Israelis and the attempt to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; as well as with the last successful Brexit vote which President Barack Obama weighed in against while visiting the United Kingdom few weeks to the election. 

Which country interferes more in other countries governance more than the United States of America; usually under the ruse of spreading democracy and ensuring that the peoples votes counted and that their wishes were respected? What kind of democracy is it that America practises when Hillary Clinton becomes an anointed candidate of a party, only waiting to be coronated Queen; while her opponent Bernie Sanders is actively walled off from ever standing any chance by the Democratic Party honchos who deployed all manners of favoritisms to ensure a preordained outcome including leaking debate questions to Hillary Clinton? How else could American people have known the real Hillary Clinton if not for those leaked emails? What if The Russians, assuming they did, were only ensuring that Americans truly know who they were voting for before voting; and in that way, help ensure that they truly voted for the best non conniving candidate to occupy their White House? There are simply so many what ifs involved in the last election and the campaign leading to it. Why is it okay for America to help other countries "spread" democracy but it is not okay for The Russians, assuming they did, to help America sustain its own democracy? Why is it that nobody is mad about what those emails revealed concerning the character of Hillary Clinton; but are raising hell over who possibly disclosed the contents of her character? 

ICHEOKU bemoans the righteous indignation as at best biased and heavily skewed; and solely driven just to suit certain bruised ego and hurt feeling over an election which was clearly lost and convincingly won by another. What an inexplicable narrative, especially coming from a president who was once caught on hot mic telling Dimitri Medvedev to tell Putin that he will deal over nuclear weapons after his elections. This is a president too who emphatically told the world that nobody can hack American elections and chided then candidate Donald Trump to man up and stop whining and to go campaign for votes. This is a president who repeatedly told American people and the world at large that Donald Trump can never be elected president and not under his watch; and now that he has been forced to swallow his vomit is turning tricks before our eyes with pretended indignation at the Russians for allegedly rigging the same elections he said is rigging-proof. The current narrative is a mission in foolery which must not be allowed to stand by the incoming president Trump. What else is indeed the ultimate goal here if not to try and restart the engines of a Cold War which the world breathed a relief that it was finally over, sputtered to death. Icheoku says please not in our name and PE Donald John Trump must add it to the list of things to reverse upon his inauguration.

The problem in Syria started when attempted influence of Syrian election to get President Assad out of office failed. That the United States of America had their hands in all the above elections is without doubt; begging the question what then is the difference between these and what the Russians allegedly did with regard to the last American election? It is the name of the game that countries always try to influence outcomes overseas that will be favorable to their own overall beneficial interest. So assuming the Russians did influence the election, are they not allowed to have a preference over the candidates running for the presidency and try as they allegedly did to achieve their desired objective; or is it a case of only the Americans reserve the right to so do but not other countries? Edward Snowden the whistle blowing former NSA contractor is on the run today and holding away in Russia because of his leaked information about extensive spying activities by the United States government including eavesdropping on telephone calls of its allies such as Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. So what exactly is the beef here other than a lost election which did not go down with the Washington entrenched interest and they are heaving to take their pound of flesh, albeit as a consolatory prize. At least if they lost the election and disgracefully so, let them blame the Russians and convincingly so, by now punishing the Russians. 

That the Russians are competitors in the international arena is a fact and that they would like to be respected as co-equal player is also an undeniable objective of theirs. But whether the Russians actually want to see America destroyed, Icheoku does not think so and says that there is a need to seek rapprochement with the Russians instead of the current attempt to re-litigate a Cold War several decades after the Berlin Wall came down. The world at large would benefit more from a world in which the two great powers are on the same page trying to solve numerous problems afflicting the world rather than going back to the trenches of the old East and West divide. To this effect therefore, Icheoku condemns the latest sanctions and expulsions placed against the Russians as a needless wielding of the proverbial big stick. If true that they hacked the emails, it was just an added impetus to the wind underneath the sail of President Elect Donald John Trump election victory, but definitely not the sole reason he won. The country was tired of the trajectory of the last eight years and wanted a change and they voted for change. Furthermore the 33,000 deleted emails were not deleted by the Russians and this went a long way in adding to the doubtful character of Hillary Clinton which further isolated some discerning voters. 

Traditionally political parties do not usually win three straight terms in American presidential elections and this time was not going to be any different and it was not. Then add an unapologetic assault on American cultural landscape with policies that tended to dilute and water down White people's hold on the country and you have a perfect storm of operation change the direction and Americans trooped out to say enough. But instead of analyzing these situations, vested powers are just looking for a scapegoat to hold responsible for the election outcome and they found it in the usual suspect, the Russians. There is no need for this and there is no need to start tensions all over again as the world has enough on its plate already. As the Russians are being chastised and made the bogey man, America has lost its influence in the Middle East  and were not even invited to a ceasefire peace agreement reached by the same The Russians and Turkey over Syria; needless to add that Turkey is a (former) ally and a member of the NATO. American relationship with Israel is also under serious threat with the long simmering cold face-off between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Obama culminating in the latest non veto of an anti-Israeli settlement vote in the United Nations. Meanwhile Iran with an active anti-America hardline policies is being cuddled with payments and a free range over the Middle East but The Russians are the enemy, right? 

Icheoku is prayerful that this latest anti Russian actions would be part of the things to go under the incoming Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. America does not need all these hiccups in our relationship with Russia because the two countries cannot remain in perpetual and constant war mode for the rest of this life. Time to move on has since come and both countries can together achieve more with a respectful cooperation between each other. Enough of all these war mongering antics influenced by the military industrial complex to keep the arms industry humming and their bank accounts black. Funny enough nobody is questioning the contents of those emails and their relevance to the health of American democracy; but instead people are more interested and paying more attention in who leaked them and now this punishment. It is also interesting that the security agencies who are supposed to protect against such external intrusions are not being held accountable for failing to nip The Russians' hacking in the bud. Anyway, January 20, 2017 cannot come any sooner as the current haywire actions and policy mania need to halt immediately and be stopped cold. Time to turn the page has come and America can do more with more friends than enemies, including the Russians. 

DEBBIE REYNOLDS FOLLOWS HER DAUGHTER, DEAD AT 84.

ICHEOKU says were William Shakespeare penning this, he would mold it in the character and plot of Romeo and Juliet; except that this time it was a mother's love for her child. Her beloved daughter succumbed to a massive heart attack and a distrust mother who finds completion in her deceased daughter found no reason to go on keep on living. She went to bed and woke up to a massive stroke; and the rest as they say is now history as she too has also transited to the world beyond, hopefully to rejoin her daughter. Whether the dead knows that they are dead and recognizes themselves over there is one thing; but regardless, Debbie Reynolds did not want to remain an earthling going through the pangs of mourning the loss of a beloved daughter. Icheoku says she is probably happier now that the burden of pinning away because of Carrie Fisher's death has been lifted off her shoulders. 

One of her Icheoku's favorite statement: “I’m very religious. I believe that things happen and you have to go along with them. You don’t have to be angry and become an ugly person. You don’t have to become what the people are, who are attacking you. Love blinds all. I just had to grow up and realize that.” 

Her daughter, Carrie Fisher, 60, died of massive heart attack on Tuesday December 27, 2016 and at 84, Debbie could not bear it and wished death would also take her away; and less than 24 hours later, her wish was granted as a massive stroke claimed her life. Now, instead of supervising her daughter's funeral arrangements and burial, she will most likely be laid side by side with her daughter in a wake keep and buried alongside each other. Icheoku says what a life we all live, which end or how it will end, none of us knows a jack about; and here, a mother's love has once again prevailed. This is atypical of together in life and together in death, as what love binds together, not even death can put asunder. May their souls Rest In Peace.

OBAMA'S I COULD HAVE WON THE ELECTION: UNHINGED?

Icheoku says losing an election is one thing, but recovering from the loss is entirely a different ball game altogether. Americans are finding out, albeit grudgingly, that President Barack Obama is finding it very difficult to understand his rejection and all that he stood for, including a non existent legacy, in the last election. Nearly two months thereafter, the man whose ego was shattered to smithereens, could hardly believe that American people who previously elected him twice, flatly said no more Obama; never again, regardless of the cloak of a Hillary Clinton. 

Unfortunately, Barack Obama misread the height of the frustration in the land and that a frustrated people have no more love left for him. But instead of accepting this rejection in good faith, like a petulant child, he is throwing fits and tantrums over the shellacking which he received last November 8, 2016. Yes, the election was about him and his legacy and he severally mouthed off so, on so many occasions and circumstances, which made some people feel that Obama was not just campaigning for Hillary Clinton but was also campaigning for his own third term agenda, keep my legacy intact. The election was such a vehement rejection of what Obama stood for that some schools of thought are beginning to posit that had Hillary Clinton not run on Obama's legacy, she could possibly have been elected president of America. But a contriving and ever-calculating woman, who set out initially to run as her own independent self, miscalculated that there was still some rain check to be cashed on Obama and pivoted. She owned up or rather mortgaged her presidential run to Obama and literally wore a cloak of an Obama's third term surrogate. She was rejected as none of the things Obama wanted to continue, through a Hillary Clinton's presidency, were things American people want to continue pursuing. The result was a resounding 306 to 236 Electoral Votes thumping by President Elect Donald John Trump. 

Since that bolt of lighting struck Barack Obama, he has never recovered and might never actually recover, at least not fully. The devastating loss took a huge toll on him that he is increasingly hedging on the fringe of ridiculousness, if not an outright losing of his mind. He has canvassed every sundry manner of reason why the election was lost, from the sublime to the utter foolish; and has now descended into the sewer, trying to explain an inexplicable event. So far he has refused to own up to some responsibility for the lost election; admitted a lot of it lies squarely on his shoulders. A man who was ready to swallow his vomit to protect his ego, who once told Trump to stop whining because no one can rig American elections but has since changed his position to allege Russian interference and that the Russians rigged the election for Trump. A man who blames Hillary Clinton for not campaigning hard enough but forgot that he wore the face of Obama and the candidacy of Hillary Clinton as he traversed the land literally begging Americans that his legacy was on the ballot and that they should vote to sustain it. A man who admonished African American voters in North Carolina to please vote to help honor him by keeping his legacy. 

A man who probably campaigned even more than the candidate herself, selling a legacy theme which no one was buying nor bought. Suddenly he wants to throw Hillary Clinton under the bus by dismissing her as not being good enough a candidate and who could not and did not mount a winnable campaign. According to his latest acute malaria induced misremember of the last campaign, Obama has proclaimed that he would have won the election had he been on the ballot and campaigned against Donald Trump. Icheoku says Obama was on the ballot as he personally said so several times that his legacy ws on the ballot. He campaigned fiercely begging American people to honor his presidency by voting to ensure that no harm came to his legacy but now is telling American people what again? How else could Obama have campaigned more than he did, owning the campaign and making Hillary Clinton an aside or rather side kick, but was still rejected. American people disavowal of his policies and the trajectory of the country was such that in one campaign stop in Michigan, fewer than 1000 people showed up to listen to whatever the heck a sitting American President Obama had to say about his legacy that should be sustained. Seriously speaking, Icheoku says President Barack Obama actually cost Hillary Clinton the election as many people who would have voted for Hillary Clinton believing that she would chart a different course, did not, afraid she will continue the Obama crap.

In the defeated President Barack Obama's own words, he said: "I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it." Icheoku says it is not true as no vision was marketable to the American people. President Barack Obama did run and President Obama failed to articulate it and President Obama also failed to mobilize a majority of American people to rally around it. For every intent and purpose, President Obama was only wearing the mask of Hillary Clinton during the last campaign election as  it was obvious to the American people who actually was behind the mask, but they said bluntly, no, thanks, but no Obama again. Yet without shame nor any compunction, he still goes about trying to put together his pieces that was smashed on November 8, 2016. Icheoku says never in the recent history of American presidency has any president been this haughty, in denial and full of it; and his failure to admit and take responsibility for the lost election rubs many people on the wrong side.  Even the Clintons would on hind sight, be ruefully regretting why they did not embark on that journey without the baggage of an Obama eight years which saw America somewhat diminished in stature, lagging in strides and failing to project maximum power and its known exceptionalism.  

What a lousy statement from a lousy president, heavy on speeches and grandiose grandiloquence, but who is definitely short on performance. A knee jerk, touchy feely president, who failed to provide direction and the leadership Americans can believe in. A president who drew a redline and failed to back it up. A president who watched as a fragile world tumbled into an inferno. A president who murdered African King Gaddafi just because he can and nothing more. Gaddafi gave up his nuclear program; Gaddafi paid compensation for Lockerbie bombing; Gaddafi gave up his two spy agents who were fingered in the bombing as well as the German nightclub; Gaddafi opened his vast oil reserves for American and Western oil companies and Gaddafi pledged a new order; yet Obama had him killed and this was a man who called Obama his son and son of Africa and wished Obama could be president forever. It was not as if Donald Trump did not campaign against Obama's policies and government direction; he was not shy about his intention to do havoc to all of them including his executive orders induced policies. He told American people what he is going to do with everything and anything Obama. Obama on the other hand was defending his actions and begged American people to please help him defend his legacy by voting for the other gal, but they decided. Yet Obama had the temerity to barefacedly assert that he could have won the election had he ran? 

Icheoku says possibly he was counting on African Americans turning out in large numbers for him; but he forgot that many of this constituency were left holding the plate by his government and feeling so shafted, would not have enthusiastically trooped out as they did in 2008 and again in 2012; thinking that without any reelection holdups post 2012 that he would be more bold in doing certain things specifically for the African American community. Something like the Marshall Plan for Europe which rebuilt Europe after the world wars; but he laughed it off. So how does any sane person explain that one guy ran against everything and anything Obama with a promise to reverse them and won. Then the other gal ran as an Obama incarnate with promise to maintain all his legacy programs and was rejected and lost. Simply put, a vote against President Barack Obama, a total knock of whatever his hands ever touched and now he cannot take it. Icheoku says this guy needs to get off whatever high horse or substance he is on; his reality is completely detached and has thus far taken a form of an illusion. In the final analysis, President Barack Obama at least owes Hillary Clinton the decency to stop punting the reason for the very bad outcome of the last election solely to her because the president is equally culpable, if not solely responsible.  Just like Obama would have taken the credit had Hillary won, so should he take the responsibility for his failure to have her elected. Enough of these lame excuses and explanations because they are becoming both laughable and nauseating.

XMAS GREETINGS FROM PRESIDENT ELECT DONALD JOHN TRUMP TO YOU.

ICHEOKU says from President-Elect Donald John Trump to you, a wondrous joyful Christmas. Merry Xmas everyone.

MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY: THE LIGHT WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL OVER DARKNESS.

Icheoku says thanks to President-Elect Donald John Trump, Christians and other men and women of goodwill in America and the world over can once again proudly celebrate the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Master Jesus Christ, whose day of birth Christians mark on Christmas. The attempt of this past eight years to suppress and equalize the symbolism of that day has failed and like every other previous attempt at wishing Christianity to go away failed, Barack Hussein Obama did not succeed with his Muslim agenda over America. Good riddance. Just 27 more days and he will become part of history which no sane person wants to relive again. Merry Xmas America and lets party like it is 1999. Our Lord and Savior liveth and sits upon the throne of God and has once again prevailed. 

SULTAN CELEBRATED VISIT TO ENUGU: GOVERNOR UGWUANYI GOOFED BIG TIME.

Icheoku says the problem with Nigeria and the principal reason why the country has not taken flight, several decades after it celebrated her independence, is largely due to the quality and caliber of people who are usually in charge of affairs therein, the so called leaders. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has now joined this club of clueless, vision-less, leaders, who set non progressive priorities and who are preoccupied with frivolities and non essential and ineffectual enterprises. That a governor of a state with so much dire needs should embark on a jamboree of hosting an Islamic leader of the Fulani Sokoto Caliphate with the peoples tax payers money and when the same visiting leader has not called to order his people, the terrorists Fulani cattle rearing nomads, who are terrorizing the people of Enugu State, smacks of someone simply out of touch and lacking in desire, the protection of the people. What a slap on the face of the people of Enugu State, who are watching in awe, as their elected governor lavishes such undeserved and unmerited attention, hosting the Sultan of Sokoto in Enugu State and with the peoples money. 

Icheoku queries what did the Sultan do to merit such honored attention by the people of Enugu State, who have suffered untold hardship and so many loss of lives in the hands of the Sultan's nomadic Fulani cattle people? Why honor the Sultan by inviting to and hosting him in Enugu State at the expense of the people and so very near to Christmas? It is an insult on the peoples sensibilities and it is hereby unequivocally condemned by Icheoku as not properly thought through; and should be condemned by every decent human being who is burning with a great desire to see a better and more functional Nigeria. Enugu State people have suffered untold economic hardship and loss of lives in the hands of these terrorist Fulani nomads who are supposed to answer to Sultan Saad Abubakar. But each time, following their rampage and massacre, only speeches come out of the Sultanate in reaction, without any of the miscreants ever being held to account. No compensation or apology was ever paid to the victims of their atrocities and a governor of these victims is cavorting with the leader of the killers and maimers of his people. Enugu State people have also lost some of their sons and daughters to the IPOB cause in the hands of an army and security agencies largely dominated by the Sultan's people. The Sultan also has the ears of President Muhammadu Buhari; but the Sultan has never said a word or put a word through to the president to stop this wanton and indiscriminate killing of Biafran unarmed protesters and in a democratically free society; yet this is the guy the governor was hosting with the peoples money? 

Even President Muhammadu Buhari's lopsided and skewed appointments of mostly his Northern people to positions of power and authority did not get any condemnation from the Sultanate either. So what exactly did the Sultan do for the people of Enugu State to merit this lavish honor by the Enugu State government and with the peoples money? That the governor shut down all markets and businesses in Enugu State during this infamous visit is also very nauseating and you wonder whose interest was the governor of Enugu State and in Enugu State's Government House serving and protecting? Why shut down the peoples means of livelihood simply because an Islamic leader of the Sokoto Caliphate was visiting Enugu State? Icheoku says, are Enugu State people now part of the dominion of the Sultan of Sokoto that his visit should suffer the people such great inconvenience and loss of income; and since when was the capitulation completed? This is a governor  who would not and/or have refused to raise and promote any Igbo King or even Enugu State King, but is happily and slavishly genuflecting and bowing to other people's King called Sultan. The usual argument against an Igbo king is that Igbo people are too republican to have a king; yet same Igbo person, a governor of Enugu Igbo State, who is supposedly anti Igbo King, is happily bowing and genuflecting before another people's king. 

What an irony in stupidity and a mentality mired in subservient slavery that was in total display. It is akin to someone who hates and would not take care of his own wife but marvels and admires another man's own wife who is being taken good care of. If you don't want a King why then do you care so much about another peoples King? It is similar to Nigerians, who will not obey laws and rules in Nigeria but on traveling abroad or visiting other peoples country, readily conform to every minuscule of rules and regulations and laws and even ordinary custom that operates in those other countries. It is this same conformance to civilized behavior while abroad that saw Oba Akiolu of Lagos clutching his own dinner box, which he went to personally buy himself and walking back to his hotel room while in London a few months ago. So the question remains, why do these Nigerians only put on their best behavior while in other peoples country and would not replicate same while in their own country, Nigeria? Icheoku is totally flabbergasted that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who would not help organize or re-organize the floundering Oha-Na-Eze Ndigbo into a more formidable Igbo pressure group nor help reposition MASSOB and/or IPOB as a feared muscle to Oha-n-eze Ndigbo, is busily suckling up to the Sultan of Sokoto Saad Abubakar, giggling like a bride who is being proposed to or a child who just saw his long gone mother or a beneficiary who just happened on his mentor. 

Icheoku has no problem with any dignitary visiting wherever they want to visit; but certainly not on the peoples tax payers money; especially under the current tensed atmosphere of great tribal agitation for self determination pervading in Nigeria and the Southeast in particular. Does this governor not really care about the true feeling of the people he is governing, regarding his August visitor and his Fulani people, who are killing the governor's people of Enugu State and destroying their means of livelihood, their farmlands. Query, would the Sokoto State government reciprocate such honor should an Igbo King or Enugu State King go visiting Sokoto state? At least the last time Icheoku checked, the Biafran surrender did not amount to a complete capitulation into slavery to the Fulani North. The declaration of no victor, no vanquished, was the official state policy at the end of the war, so why this voluntary backpedalling into second class servitude by according the ruler of the Fulani Sokoto Caliphate such state visit which forced all markets in Enugu State to close in his honor. Who will make up for the lost time and income by these traders; especially with Christmas just a few short days away. Simply put, were Enugu State and Nigeria a functioning democracy, without deadly retribution, what Governor Ifeanyi Uqwuanyi did was enough ground to invoke articles of impeachment to shame and remove him from office. If he likes or loves other peoples Kings, he should endeavor to get his own King and celebrate and honor him like the people of Sokoto did and still do to their Sultan. Like Ijele masquerade, the king does not make himself, the people do. What a mentally enslaved, servile human-being, this governor is and his duty is supposed to be champion in chief of the people of Enugu State and protect their utmost interest. What a jerk; indeed quite pitiful. 

ANDREI KARLOV: RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY ASSASSINATED.

Icheoku says how anyone is expected to guard and protect against this sort of madness is beyond any meaningful comprehension. A trained police officer, trained to protect and serve, turned out to be an Islamist terrorist who used his service  pistol to assassinate a foreign diplomat on his own country's soil. This is the height of betrayal, both to his country Turkey that trained and paid him; as well as the foreign dignitary on his own country Russia's diplomatic mission to the country. It does not make any sense neither is there anything to understand in the whole stupidity that saw a country's ambassador, the pseudo-president and chief representative of the country, being gunned down and so publicly. It is tantamount to assassinating a visiting country's president on the host country's soil which ordinarily translates to a declaration of war.

However, that the gruesome act was captured on video and is being so publicly aired on also defies the logic of self-censor and the argument of not empowering such terrorist or help provide them free media with which to propagate their warped ideology. What happened to the time-honored respectful practice of not showing such grotesque act which normally accompanies such acts? Where was the respect accorded to the ambassador, whose killing was so publicly aired as, well as his painful twitching of face as he was falling down to his death due to the barrage of hot leads piercing his backside? Why was the sound of the gunfire and also the madman's rants carried too. Why was this exception to the rule allowed in the case of the assassinated Russian ambassador to Turkey, whose assassination is being shown on the Internet as well as on some reputable websites and news organizations? Even the terrorist who pulled the trigger is being shown  as he sneaked up behind the ambassador, firmed his both hands and pulled the trigger, with the ambassador face of pain as he fell down dying. Worse all, why let his crooked  political message air or is there a concert here to try and provide justification for the heinous act of terrorist assassination of a country's ambassador? 

Regardless, Icheoku condemns in its entirety the callous murder of Andrei Karlov as both cowardly and unprecedented; and hereby joins numerous others calling for investigation into the incident. If as is being claimed the assassin was an off-duty police officer, what was he doing within the vicinity with a fully loaded service pistol? How did he manage to gain access to so close behind the ambassador and opened fire without any immediate retaliatory resistance. How did he know the itinerary of the ambassador and that the ambassador would be at the Art Gallery at the time he crept up to kill him. Further, why were there no security details protecting the ambassador, knowing fully well the fluidly nature of security in Turkey, especially in recent times? As far as Icheoku is concerned, the assassination is more than provocative and you wonder why the gunman was summarily killed instead of demobilizing him and taking him alive for interrogation. Now he is dead and possibly died with the conspiracy that led to his dastardly act; and you wonder if the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan is even safe himself, judging by such crazies as this sworn police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, many of whom might still be merely bidding their own time to strike. 

It is definitely a new world out there which we all are facing to live and put up with. Things are increasingly falling apart and no one knows the point in which they will start to hilt. Like America's ambassador Stevens in Benghazi, Andrei Karlov was murdered by Islamist terrorist, admitted no one knows how widely spread his ilk are spread within the Turkish police and other armed security forces; begging the question, who is safe and who is next. How many Mevlut Mert Altintas are there still lurking around, clean shaved and dressed up in black suit like responsible citizens but who at any given opportunity will turn rogue and commit such a treasonous act. As things stand now in this treacherous world where things are barreling down the steep hill, only the swearing in of PE Donald John Trump and his joining forces with the Russian Vladimir and other coalition of the willing to seriously tackle these monsters who are creeping everywhere will restore hope to humanity. Any other attempt to fight these urchins with a divided focus will only spell disaster for a world already on the ropes. These islamist terrorists mad dogs need to be urgently reined in, either by summarily dispatch or long prison sentences. Enough of this continuing maddening global insecurity.  May the soul of Andrei Karlov rest in peace. Icheoku's condolence to his family and country. Adieu. 

TRUMP BRINGS BACK CHRISTMAS TO AMERICA, MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA !

Icheoku says once again it is good to be American and celebrating Christmas without shame or apology for who we are and what we believe in. Muslims celebrate their Ramadan without shame or apology; Jews celebrate their Hanukka without shame or apology; Blacks celebrate their Kwanza without shame or apology; Mexicans celebrate their Cinco de Mayo without shame or apology; so why must Christians be reticent or be blackmailed into not proudly celebrating their own festivity of Christmas? Why should they not mark the birthday of their Lord and savior Jesus Christ with fanfare, just because some haters will hate anyway, regardless. President-elect Donald John Trump has given us reason to be proud Christians once again and this Christmas is like no other in the last eight years of apologies and hiding behind holidays. The holiday is for a reason and the reason is the birth of Jesus Christ; and in the spirit of the season, Icheoku says Merry Christmas America and to the world at large that wished for this moment again. Thanks to President-elect Donald John Trump who saved Christmas. Hurray!

HILLARY CLINTON: THE "RUSSIANS" WHO HACKED THE ELECTION.

Icheoku says a hopelessly shameless people and their ever changing narrative on why their heavily flawed and irreparably damaged candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost the last election.  It is the Russians; just blame the Russians for everything that went wrong with the last election and it will simply be explained away. The Russians made it impossible for Hillary Clinton, the unelectable American reject and would have been first female president of America, to be accepted by a people who detest her and her corrupt practises as well as her stonewalling about everything preceding the election. Yes, it is the Russians, provided the Russians are cloaked as Hilary Clinton and no one other person else.

Icheoku says as long as Hillary Clinton remains in denial and refuses to look in a mirror to see the reason she lost the election starring back at her; that long will she remain traumatized over her latest rejection by the American people and that long will her recovery take, if ever. The fact of the matter is that Hillary Clinton was a damaged candidate right from the get go, that but for all the gang up against her opponent and winner of the last election, she would have lost more votes than she came up with. Her dislike by American people is such that even the women-issues champion in chief, Oprah Winfrey, had to beg Americans to please vote for her even if they don't like her. Madonna even went to the extreme by promising Americans blow job if only they would hold their nose of dislike and pull the lever for Hillary Clinton. That a candidate who could hardly attract 500 people in a 700 persons arena when her opponent was attracting 27,000 people in a 12,000 persons arena, is looking for someone else to blame for her failed presidential bid, shows a person who is very far detached from the truth. This is a woman who has overstayed her welcome in the public arena and has made so much enemies and offended so many people in the process and way before her latest gambit, looking elsewhere for a fall guy to blame. It is very unfortunate indeed that anyone could be this so farther removed from her reality that you wonder how she processes information generally. 

First she did not campaign as forcefully and effectively as any candidate seriously desiring the office of the president would. She was over-confident in her victory; especially against a "reality television star" Donald Trump; added to the power of the incumbent president and her former president husband including a very biased media which were all amassed against her opponent. Then she started pulling her different rabbits from her bag of tricks trying to hoodwink Americans into voting her by default of their distancing themselves from Donald Trump. There was Alicia Machado, the fat washed-out "beauty" contestant who thought she could sway some unhappy ugly menopausal feminists but failed, as she did not succeed in bringing enough of them over to effect the outcome of the election. She then pulled the rabbit of the Khan family but it also bombed out as Americans were looking at some serious issues facing the nation rather then some puerile emotive nonsensical. Thereafter she pulled the rabbit of some strange women with their tales of sexual assaults including one who alleged that she was publicly groped in an airplane 30 plus odd years ago and you wonder who could possibly believe such tale by the moonlight. Lastly, her team pulled the rabbit of Access Hollywood locker-room jive-talk, thinking they finally nailed her opponent into submission.

It was apparent to keen political watchers and observers that throughout the last campaign that Hillary Clinton never campaigned on the strength of what she was going to do for American people or do differently from the lackluster Obama government. She was only telling Americans why they should not vote for Donald Trump and that Trump is the bogey man that must run away from and run to her for safety and protection. So who campaigns on such negative vote for me and expect to coast to victory; especially facing such a bulldozer and never say never personality as Donald Trump. But no, it must be something other than her incompetent campaign that did her in. This is a woman who deleted 33,000 emails and rather than explaining what happened, decided to stonewall Americans about it and when Americans remembered and stonewalled her from entering their White House, she is pointing accusing finger at the Russians, instead of doing some introspection to see the culprit residing within herself. This is a woman who barely won the frail grey haired grandpa Bernie Sanders in her party's primaries, which Americans later found out was a result of conspiracy by top Democratic Party officials including leaked debate questions. Icheoku says but for the gang up and the full investment of a Hilary Clinton for first female president agenda by her side and the White House, Hillary Clinton would not have been the candidate of the Democratic Party in the last election. 

It is also on record that Hillary Clinton refused to do any press conference or answer questions on her past criminal activities for over 200 days during the last campaign circle. It is also on record that she did not campaign throughout the month of August, preferring instead to do no harm and quietly tiptoe into the White House; while her opponent traversed the land like a maniac who is possessed by get a favorable outcome and it paid off. It is also a fact that Hillary Clinton had health issues which was masked until that video of her bumbling head surfaced, which saw her being propped up on both side as they loaded her into a van; yet she would rather none of these impacted the outcome of the last election as it is much easier to make the Russians the bogey men that stole her election victory. Then she was captured on video calling over 33 million Americans "irredeemable deplorables" and she thought these disparaged hardworking Americans would suddenly develop amnesia about the insult when they went to the polling booths to cast their votes. A woman whose campaign attacked the Catholic Church as well as the Evangelicals of America and who refused to heed the advise of New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan to distance herself from the remarks; yet she is making the Russians the hatchet men who did her election in?

When all the powerful unions and bodies of organizations including the police, firemen, board patrols, NASCAR, NRA, retired officers as well as Christian bodies were endorsing Donald Trump and throwing their support behind him, Hilary Clinton thought it was a joke as she figured her support in California and New York among LGBTQ community would trounce them all. She forgot that there is strength in number and that any strategic thinking candidate will rather make a play for the electoral college and not the numerical strength of just California and New York. This is a woman who had opportunity to pick a real Hispanic vice presidential candidate to lock in Hispanic bloc vote; but instead, settled for a fellow white Caucasian hillbilly from Virginia who speaks Spanish, thinking that speaking Spanish is enough incentive for Spanish voters. This is a woman who also had opportunity to lock in black American votes by choosing a black vice presidential candidate but rejected a wise counsel to choose Senator Cory Booker as her vice presidential candidate. So instead of doing some introspection and telling herself the truth that had she chosen Cory Booker, may be black Americans would feel vested enough in her election and trooped out en-masse to make it happen. Ditto would her picking Julio Castro, the HUD Secretary who is a bona fide Spanish American have yielded a better Spanish votes; but instead it is the Russians. 

That Hillary Clinton is drab and does not inspire anyone is a fact which led Colin Powell to describe her as "not transformational." She did not light any fire in anyone except probably Huma Abedi who was already daydreaming about being the most powerful person in a Hillary Clinton's presidency. Hillary Clinton has a funny waspy voice that is very irritating to listen to; she does not connect with anyone and has no wow factor going for her. She tried feigning to be everything to everybody and it came out as the fake which it is; the worse of it all being when she went to a black radio station and claimed to keep hot sauce in her bag always. Icheoku never felt revulsed about Hillary Clinton as that day and would bet if a search is conducted in her bag this minute, no hot sauce would be found therein. Hillary Clinton lost so many Americans long before the last election campaign including a wide segment of women who have not forgiven her husband for messing around with so many women; who regrettably did not get any protection from Hillary Clinton when they were being victimized by her philandering husband Bill Clinton. Monica Lewinsky, Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and so on readily come flooding to mind; and the fact that some of these women made national appearances during the last election campaign to remind Americans their ordeal was also overlooked by Hillary Clinton as possibly contributing to her loss; just blame the Russians. 

Icheoku says Americans have now heard so many reasons why Hillary Clinton lost the election; from FBI Comy letters, to Black Americans who did not troop out to vote for her; to American White women who hated their kind and broke for her opponent; to Nate Silver whose projected Hillary Clinton landslide win which depressed her voters turnout; to American chauvinistic society which frowns against strong women and did not vote for her; to all manner of sundry reasons and to now the Russians. According to her latest pathetic reason, it was a payback by Russian Tsar Vladimir Putin who has not forgiven her for what she said against him when she was Secretary of State. Icheoku says a loser of an election has never looked so lost as a Hillary Clinton clinging to every manner of incredulous reason to explain the shellacking she received. Who knows what her next reason would be, but whatever she decides to push out, Icheoku would suggest that she seek some professional counseling, a shrink, in order to get herself under control and once again regain her faculties. It is obvious that she has not recovered from her latest election loss and might not ever recover; at least not as long as she chooses to remain in denial and looking elsewhere for the reason she lost the election. Icheoku says the Russians did not cost Hillary Clinton the election, as the only RUSSIANS who were involved in the election is Hilary Clinton herself and no one else, not even Putin. Hillary Clinton is merely seeing shadows and hearing voices, both early signs of a total mental breakdown and hopefully it will not get to that. What a sore loser; an American Reject, who is on the verge of losing it completely.

MMM: A PONZI SCHEME MONEY PYRAMID TAKES ROOT IN NIGERIA.

Icheoku says one of the signs of a tanked and struggling  economy is the desperation of the people to find anything that gives them some sense of hope that things are still under control; that they will survive; regardless of the foolishness and/or unrealistic their hope or venture might sometimes be. Like a drowning person, the people are forced into a survival mode, clinging and grappling, looking for, doing things and holding unto things which other more rationally saner observers would consider rather foolish and/or not thought out through properly. They become easy preys, sitting ducks, for these predators masquerading as saviors who approach them with mouth-watering schemes of a paradise on earth. Being desperate, they easily bite the bait and before you could say Jack, they would be wishing the earth had opened up and swallowed them earlier before they were prospected, rather than remain in the place where they subsequently found themselves.

It has happened severally in the past, both in other climes and in Nigeria as well; and it is once again happening in Nigeria with proliferation of so many of those 419 "miracle-working" men and women of "God" and their fakery. These 419 false custodians of heavenly grace are promising hopelessly frantic gullible Nigerians miracle of riches; and when these victims cannot wait long enough, even after twenty years, for their own miracle of riches to come to fruition, they turn to other lurking exit route from their life's situational problems. This is the yawning gap which MMM seeks to and has come to fill and they are succeeding in ensnaring a population that is both desperate and nearing despondency and which is increasingly tethering on edge. A population which is in a mad rush to make it big and without necessarily putting in the required hard work which success always requires. Icheoku says the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox phenomenon is one such huge scam and is exploiting the two conditions which predatory scam artists are always looking for in their potential victims - need and desperation, which translates to vulnerability. 

The Russians Ponzi scheme MMM has invaded Nigeria and is currently making mince-meat lunatics out of millions of Nigerian desperadoes who fantasize about hitting the big pay day.  They have their dream cars, houses, lifestyles mapped out but do not want to travel the often thongs-strewn beaten path that yields such. This very gullible forget that there is no free lunch anywhere and that if it looks too good to be true, it might as well be so. They also forget that when you go to Las Vegas or Macau, you go there just for fun; but if you happen to land a jackpot, then it becomes an additional blessing but never the expected norm because the odds are always in favor of the house. They forget the rule of life that if you want it, you either earn it or you steal it and that bank robbery or drug pushing will not be in existence if there is any money scheme that truly doles out such fantastic largess. But regrettably, such scams usually come with sugar coated and mouth-watering promises that too often prove irresistible to their victims. This ensnaring tool, the beautiful promises, they normally fulfill to the primary baseline first responders; which they would then use to bait their intended target, the other millions of people, who would then be left holding the plate and through whom the promoters would have their payday. 

Rule number one to three of making money, there is no cheap or easy money anywhere on planet earth; so if you want it, you have to either work for it or take the high stakes risk associated with getting it. There is no shortcut or Father Christmas who loves you enough to want to double or triple your money. But the gullible and easily swayed, hopelessly overtly excited people, who usually fall prey to such bait and switch scam, often act with suspended intellect. These are the people possessed by the fantastical nonsense of get rich quick scheme, the MMM mania which is sweeping across Nigeria. Some of the people are also in dire need of staying alive and to keep hope alive, have found themselves so vulnerable that they have fallen victims to these predatory scammers. A country people which have found themselves in a state of extended miasma and are looking for any way out, are unfortunately lining themselves up for the inevitable heartbreak which will come with an assured burst of the current MMM bubble. It is the same reason the 419 men and women of "God" are cashing in on Nigerians with their pretentious miracle of riches that have provided such an instant anchor for MMM - gullibility and crave for instant riches without working for it. 

If only these Nigerians have heard about the notorious Bernard Maddof of the United States of America who made off with nearly $150 billion of other peoples money in a similar Ponzi scheme before he was finally nabbed and now serving 150 years in prison. The arrangement is simple - it is called other peoples money collective with pittance paid out as interest from the same money deposited to entice enough customers before they eventually cash out and crash the scheme. It is not if but when MMM will crash because as with every such money Ponzi scheme, the intention of the operator is simple - maximize the outtake and get out fast. That Nigerian government has not shut down MMM shows the rot that is the country's leadership; although it is practically a way of life now for so many, but a government that is worth its duties and responsibilities to the people would have since saved them the inevitable future heartbreak with a little inconvenience now of shutting it down. Icheoku says if their promised returns were realistic, there would be no banking industry in existence as everybody would empty their accounts and turn their money over to MMM. But no, the desperate deaf poor wants to cross over the great divide between haves and have nots, and are prepared to do whatever it takes. 

Those who were around in the mid eighties to early nineties, before 419 took hold and over everything, would remember that similar money schemes existed and were everywhere in Nigeria, but where are they today. The same fate awaits MMM and all those hopelessly possessed Nigerian "investors" waiting to hit the jackpot the easy way. That MMM have crashed in other countries including Zimbabwe is not enough to dissuade these vulnerable Nigerians from putting their money into such a burning fire that will consume it. In the final analysis, wonder banks never work the wonders they promise; therefore knowledgeable people do not patronize such schemes because experience shows that their activities are not sustainable and that if you get involved, you will be burnt somewhere down the road. Please fellas, if you can avoid the temptation, avoid the money virus that is now feeding off the vulnerable and gullible Nigerians who are hoping to make it big and make it out like bandits. It has hurt before and it is going to hurt again, so please get out before you go down. As PE DJT would say to people acting out, ICHEOKU says to you, please STOP IT and now.

YEEZUZ MEETS PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP

Icheoku says there is nothing with that, especially for a President-Elect Donald John Trump who pledged to be president for everyone; and nearly fifty million Kanye West's followers are a great percentage of the American population who make up the everyone. Coincidentally, both highly accomplished men dyed their hair golden for their epic meeting; athough what they discussed in the meeting is pretty much not known; but whatever it is, it has kept social media buzzing and humming.  Icheoku says such outreach is great and should be encouraged among the polity and as often as possible as it will help President-Elect Donald Trump towards making it great again. Icheoku says, approves. Salute.