GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Saturday, October 23, 2021

ALEC BALDWIN GUILTY OF SOMETHING: GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE DO.

ICHEOKU says it does not make sense that the President Donald John Trump impersonator did not intend to shoot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when he shot her dead at his Rust film set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He picked up the gun, pointed it at her direction, aimed it at her and then squeezed the trigger, letting off the hot leads that flew towards her and penetrated her body, killing her instantly. 

Somebody died as a result of Alec Baldwin's action of firing a loaded gun. All that is left now is to decide the level of his culpability, but he cannot walk away Scott-free from every responsibility; at least, he is guilty of reckless endangerment. He broke all the safety rules of gun handling by not treating the gun as loaded; pointing it at a person when he did not intend to discharge it and pulled the trigger without checking the vicinity for the presence of other possible victims.

He may have been playing with the gun or was mistaken as to the true nature of the bullets inside the gun, whether they were live or blank bullets; but the fact that he aimed and pointed the gun at the victim, imposes some level of responsibility on him. He acted in reckless indifference to human life and complete disregard for the safety of others not to cause harm to them. He should not have pointed and aimed the gun at people or alternatively, aimed it elsewhere. Why did he point the gun at her and then followed it up by pulling the trigger.  

It is a given that Alec Baldwin is weird and somehow stranger than normal. He attacked someone in a New York cafe and have had several other run-ins with cameramen and journalists. He attacked paparazzis and have also been involved in many fisticuffs in the past. He has also used profanities and used racial and homophobic slurs; and also berated his daughter. His rashness and mercurial temper is well known, so it is possible that he was having one of such his angry episode of ravaging fits when he trust the gun forward and pulled the trigger, causing the death of Halyna Hutchins. 

He may not have intended to fire the gun and kill her; and possibly did not even know that the gun was loaded when he was handed the gun, but the end result was the death of a young woman and somebody is responsible for causing her death and that somebody is Alec Baldwin. He is responsible for his actions and he owed Haylna Hutchins the duty of care not to harm or kill her; and also to ensure that the gun did not contain live bullets. So, he can be as remorseful as he wants to be, he failed in his responsibility and should have thought about the consequences of his action before letting the bullets fly out of the barrel of the gun.

Therefore he should and ought to be held accountable, if not for murder or manslaughter, for some other less included offense such as unlawful endangerment and/or assault. Halyna Hutchins is someone's daughter, sister, aunt, mother and wife, and Alec Baldwin has deprived these people her continuous love and affection. Their loved one was lost by reckless and/or negligent misuse of a firearm of Alec Baldwin. At 63 years he is old enough to know not to kid around with a gun and it does not matter whether or not he knew the gun was loaded. The responsibility of handling a firearm is strict and only he alone is responsible for discharging it and killing Halyna Hutchins.

A diligent and well trained gun handler or user should have first checked the chamber of the gun to see if the gun was loaded and cleared it before playing with it. If it was handed to him, he should have asked questions and rechecked it himself before firing it. But Alec Baldwin belongs to the woke culture nut jobs who are anti NRA and the Second Amendment, and was not properly trained as a certified gun handler and went on to kill another man's daughter. It is not right as Halyna Hutchins did not deserve to be killed just like that, on her job, leaving her husband a widower and her children motherless; not by Alec Baldwin and not by any other person. 

Alec Baldwin did the crime and he should do the time. It is not a defense to homicide that the gun was handed to him by another in a movie set as he could have used a fake gun. Such can only mitigate the degree of homicide but cannot completely excuse it. While he lacked the intent to kill her, he had the intent to pull the trigger and this could be read as an implied or transferred intent to commit an act of wanton disregard for human life. Therefore he should be arrested immediately without any further delay and charged for causing the death of Halyna Hutchins; and let the court decide if what he did amounts to an excusable homicide, whether accidental or otherwise, or a reckless endangerment. 

If convicted, depending on the sentencing guidelines of New Mexico, he will most likely still be in prison when President Donald John Trump regains the White House in 2024; and you wonder who will then play his role mimicking the former president on Saturday Night Live. It is obvious too that a wrongful death action will be headed his way as well, as the bereaved family of Haylna Hutchins deserves to be compensated for her wrongful death. It is sad that such a rising Hollywood cinematographer had to loss her life in the hands of Alec Baldwin. May her soul now rest and to the grieving family, the fortitude to bear her sudden but otherwise avoidable death. To Alec Baldwin, it counts to many of his infra-digs and MAGA-nation got no sympathy for him. #LockHimUp.

Friday, October 22, 2021

ADMIRAL LEVINE: ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE AMERICAN WOMEN FOLKS, HURRAY!

ICHEOKU says first they told us that Caitlyn Jenner was the "Woman of the Year" and now that Admiral Levine has become the "First Woman Four Star General", ever. Very soon, they will also probably crown Pete Buttigieg the first and best "Nursing Mother of the Year" for bonding with two un-aborted babies from other people's cells, while our nation is suffering from a broken supply chain. Speaking of placing self over the country. 

How about Admiral Michelle Howard or is she no longer a four star general and in fact, the first female to make that rank in the Navy. She became an admiral long before the advent of this now newly designated "first female" admiral, a transgendered male, Richard Levine. Does her gender not count towards this recognition or is the replacement agenda now in such a full swing that even a real woman has to be replaced? It must be unsettling and very insulting to these real women who had worked their butts off to achieve what they achieved in life, seeing these political correctness-manufactured women take the place of pride of their womanhood. It is not fair and it is not right. 

Bruce Jenner now Caitlyn Jenner and Richard Levine now Rachel Levine are both biological males and you wonder what biological females really think about men continuously encroaching on their gender space, displacing and replacing them. Why are women allowing this travesty or is it not worth fighting for? Why are they tolerating this continuing invasion and incursion into their space by men, when women do not get the same privilege to disturb the groove of men. It is an attack on the female gender as each gender's space should and ought to be respected and things rightfully theirs, reserved for them and given to them. Meanwhile, no woman has ever been named the "Man of the Year" or the "First male Admiral", so why are these men being named to female rightful positions and it is ok by women? 

Anyway, blame the woke culture invasion which is continuously eroding our values as a people, imposing some idiotic classifications or rather reclassifications of genders in an effort to blend gender and make us a genderless society. Why is the woke attack only on women or at least, appears to be so; and why not also on men too? Why is woke culture taking undue advantage of women, taking things rightfully theirs and giving them to men and not vice versa; or is woke culture anti women and built around depriving and exploiting women and raising hell at the expense of real women. 

Why are women even allowing this continuing attacks on their gender  or have they lost the will to fight and win their battles. Women should put their feet down and maintain that all things female must be left for females. Enough of the attacks on females. We should all be guided by the biblical verse of Matthew 22:21 as fairness is a precursor to every peaceful co-existence. Lets be kind to one another and learn to respect each other's space, as it makes a mockery of womanhood to improvise for females when real females are abundantly available. 

Why settle for fake women when there are original and genuine women; and will men tolerate a similar displacement were the table to turn. So, no, Levine is not the first woman admiral; a first transgender admiral, may be. Enough of the confusion as we are messing up with our children's minds, wondering what is going on with having two husbands, two daddies, two mommies and now the latest addition, a male first woman first four star general. Congratulations General Levine.

Thursday, October 21, 2021

 JE SUIS MAZI NNAMDI KANU

MNK GOES TO COURT TODAY: SHOW HIM SOME LOVE AND SOLIDARITY, JE SUIS MNK.

ICHEOKU says we are all Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Je suis MNK. Biafra Lives Matters. Stand with the IPOB leader. Appreciate him for all his wondrous sacrifices. We shall overcome. Keep hope alive

May ChukwuOkikeAbiama protect his own and keep the leader and the led alive and well IJN. May AmadiOha fight his battles for him and also fight all those levying war against the Biafran people. It is well. 

Just curious, will he now submit to the jurisdictional authority of the "Zoological Republic of Nigger Area" or enter a protest plea that he is a sovereign citizen of Biafra not amenable to Nigerian court. Anyway, foreigners are prosecutable in any country whose laws they transgressed. So, not even his British citizenship can exclude the Nigeria forum. The Iranian/British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still doing time in Tehran prison despite all the protestations of 10 Downing Street. 

May the almighty chaperon through the current ordeal. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a great man and his willingness to carry the cross of his current tribulations shows that his love for his people is abidingly boundless. Remember him in your prayers. #BiafransLivesMatters.

A HOMELAND FOR BIAFRANS: IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?

BLM

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

COVID-19 DEATHS AFTER VACCINATION: THE NEED TO EXAMINE VACCINES EFFICACY.

ICHEOKU says the effort being made by the far left liberal media and their minions to muzzle anyone who questions the efficacy of current vaccines in our stables, in the fight against the coronavirus disease aka COVID-9, should be discouraged and discontinued, in view of the many people who are still dying post vaccination. If the vaccines are working as expected and as vaccines of yore have worked, this many people will not still be dying after getting their vaccination. Too many people have already died and many more will still die, people who were fully vaccinated and it is unacceptable. But instead of banding together, asking relevant questions that will help us see a way out of the coronavirus woods and help starve off these deaths, we are at each other's throats, choking off the living daylight out of each other. 

The country is so polarized between "pro vaxxers" and "anti vaxxers" that even the medical and scientific community is polarized too, between those scientists who want to resolve the coronavirus problem and those who are indifferent due largely in part to things they hear and see in the media which disparages their conviction, political and philosophical leaning. That Americans are divided is not in doubt and every day the chasm is steadily widening and it extends to all walks of life and endeavors. But the disagreement over the coronavirus pandemic and currently available vaccines is threatening to keep us permanently rooted in our respective foxholes and trenches where we are gradually bleeding out our unity as a result.

Homosexuals are divided from straights; liberals are divided from conservatives; feminists are divided from masculinists; Christians are divided from non believers; white people are divided from black people; other racial minorities are working tirelessly so hard to be loved by white people at the expense of black people who they are steadily being displaced and replaced; democrats are divided from republicans and their disagreements are bigger today than they were in many years past; those who believe in the "BIG LIE" are divided from those who believe in the "FAT LIE"; the pro vaccine crowd are divided from the anti vaccine crowd; and of course the gap between the rich and the poor has become wider than the Grand Canyon. 

The only thing still holding Americans together and in which many still see eye to eye are sports, McDonald's and the military, admitted the division is slowly creeping into the military, with a Chief of Joint Chief of Staffs who is not making matters any better with his desire to "understand white rage". Hopefully, his quest to understand "white rage" will not make too many white risk takers in the military to become so mad that they decide to throw in their rifles and uniforms and just walk away, rather than stay put and be grumbling, unmotivated by radical changes which will corrode the very essence of a one single spirit fighting army, not previously exposed to internal disharmony. With all the threats facing America, especially from China, American military could use less to no distractions at all, bothering on which race is raging. 

The problem is that America is gradually morphing into a one-idea, one-viewpoint, hegemony where everyone is minded and required to either conform or be disassociated from. People are no longer allowed to freely express their believes and/or opinions on issues, afraid that thought police might descend on them and make their lives miserable and unlivable. It used to be that everyone was entitled to their opinion and also free to express them, regardless of how idiotic or simplistic they might be. But not any more as templates now exists for practically everything as  people are required under the penalty of excommunication to conform or be damned. 

One example is the issue of the coronavirus disease, the available vaccines and the need for everyone to be vaccinated. Americans have been funneled into a tunnel of acceptance and any disagreement is met with a harsh reprimand. Nobody is allowed to hold any divergent opinion from what "science" told us about the coronavirus; and the same enforcers who are policing others, failed to also capture the fact that the same "science" told us so many different things throughout the course of the pandemic. Now, the same people are enforcing vaccine mandates and nobody is expected to raise any objection as well; and even in many cases where already vaccinated people are still dying, they expect people to believe that the dead are just "breakthrough" cases and it that it was expected. 

But how many of these "breakthrough" cases will there be before we arrive to the conclusion that possibly, the current vaccines are not good enough to provide us with the required protection from the disease. Instead, they have introduced "booster" shots as a shortcut to the problem and you wonder how many booster shots will be given to people before they finally accept that a better vaccine is what is needed to do the job. Is it possible that these current vaccines were rushed out and that they can be improved or even better ones found? These are possibilities but which we can never get to without freeing the space for contrarian views to inhere.

Nobody is questioning "science" nor needlessly want to engage in a debate of vaccine efficacy, but there should be a space in the conversation fora for people to air their fears, grievances and misgivings, both about the coronavirus disease and the available vaccines. People should not have to lose their jobs either because of doing this. But unfortunately, the freedom as we once knew it in America is gradually evaporating such that it is now either their way or the highway, no more accommodations for different thoughts, not any more. 

But were it a gender question or homosexuality or even religion, everyone will be asked to make necessary accommodations for others who are not like them; and that we should respect their choice to be free in the land of the free and home of the brave. If these other disparate classes of people can be free to do their own thing, which ICHEOKU does not begrudge them, why then the dichotomy in dealing with people who have some other opinion about vaccinations or even the coronavirus disease. The same blanket ban on differing opinions also applies to any questioning of the efficacy of the vaccine and whether effort should be rejigged at finding new vaccines that will in fact provide immunity against the virus. 

ICHEOKU says is not an anti vexer, have been vaccinated and encourages everyone out there to get vaccinated; but the rate at which vaccinated people are still dying is a cause for some serious concern. It should not be the case as many other vaccines in the past have worked just fine, so why not these coronavirus vaccines. ICHEOKU has never heard of any child who became crippled after receiving the polio vaccine, ditto smallpox, cholera, whooping cough etc. 

But any attempt to raise these issues is met with a forceful putdown as you are branded an anti science cuckoo. But allowing room for discussing respective concerns about the vaccines should be a good thing, not a bad thing, and should be encouraged not suppressed because in the process, we might discover something that was not done right with the current vaccines, which if tweaked, could lead us to a much improved and better vaccine that will actually inoculate us from the virus. 

It is inconclusive argument to make that the vaccines have saved many lives because we don't really know if that is actually the case. So many countries in the world with less than 0.1% of vaccinated population did not suffer nearly as badly as Americans suffered with loss of lives and infection rate. What do we attribute their lucky escape from the coronavirus disaster to, assuming vaccination saved our lives? It is akin to arguing that all of us would have since perished from the coronavirus disease if the vaccines were not developed; which is another argument in idiocy because not even the 1918 flu was able to kill everybody and there was no vaccine for it. 

We really don't know if the vaccines helped anybody survive the virus as many hospitalized unvaccinated people were still able to recover from the disease and long before the vaccines were ever brought on stream. So, how do we really know who was saved from dying from the coronavirus disease because of  vaccination. What if those who did not die would not have died regardless, because they have natural immunity against the virus or stronger resistance to infections general; after-all no virus ever kills everybody. 

As a people, we should come together, put our respective egos aside and begin to work as an army of one to reevaluate our approach to the coronavirus disease, find out why so many Americans have died from the disease, the worst casualty figure recorded in the world, more than China and India combined; how potent the current vaccines are and why vaccinated people are still dying from the disease. We should do ourselves this honor as a people in order to regain our preeminent position in the world and finally solve this problem which have lingered on for too long, nearly two years now. 

So many countries in the world have since fully opened up, some with nearly zero deaths; but in addition to over 700,000 deaths, over two thousand Americans are still dying from the disease today. Something is wrong with the picture and something went wrong somewhere and this is unlike America. This is where we should be concentrating our energies on rather than the divisive rhetorics which is tearing us apart; with one side trying to suppress and repress viewpoints which they don't agree with. May we all agree today to be better than we were yesterday and begin to see and appreciate the merits in each other's argument instead of shutting them down and branding them knuckleheads. 

Remember too that truth can sometimes also come from imbeciles and that broken clock is twice correct each day. What we know is what we know; and if only we can put ourselves in the shoes of others, those we are trying to muzzle and keep off the discussion space and ask ourselves, can we accept what we are dishing out to them were the tables to turn. We all can do better and let us start today doing better by allowing open discussion and debate of the efficacy of the current vaccines which we have, that we may finally solve the coronavirus pandemic problem before one million Americans perishes as a result. A house divided cannot stand and our intolerance of each other is gravely shaking our foundations as a strong country. We can be better and we can do better, so lets give both a try. #FreeUpTheSpace.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

DEATH OF GENERAL COLIN POWELL: COVID-19 AND THE VACCINE QUANDARY.

ICHEOKU says if any solace could come from the death of General Colin Luther Powell, it will be in its shinning much needed spotlight on the fact that thousands of Americans are still dying from the deadly coronavirus each day; and also the urgent need to find a vaccine that actually works. Having achieved their objective to use the coronavirus scourge to remove President Donald John Trump from the White House, the media, especially CNN, have pushed the coronavirus to the back burner. They no longer report the deaths from the coronavirus pandemic with such frenzy as they previously did. Meanwhile thousands of Americans are still dying from the disease such that more Americans have died from the coronavirus pandemic this year and since President Joe Biden took office than died from it last year when President Donald John Trump was in office. 

As a result, many American people have moved on with their lives, with some even completely forgetting that the coronavirus is still with us and still ravaging the people more than ever. The theory of, "if it wasn't in the news it did not happen" have set in, leading to the lull which has set in in the country about the coronavirus as CNN is no longer shouting the sky is falling down like Chicken Little and causing untoward panic in the land over it. With the reduced coverage, the generated hysteria in the polity have died down and everything have largely gone back to normalcy.  With it too, the effort at finding medicines and vaccines that will actually work against the virus have also somewhat been rested as well. Thousands of American people are continuously still dying from the disease including 2,000 people that just died yesterday but the news is not getting out to the people, at least not as it once used to.    

Colin Powell's death and the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of other American people who have died after getting their full vaccinations, shows that the vaccines which are currently available are not as efficacious as they should and ought to be. Otherwise, why are thousands of American people still dying from the virus, especially the several hundreds of fully vaccinated American people who have since succumbed to the killer virus. The vaccines are not providing the much needed inoculation from the coronavirus disease. Therefore efforts should be redoubled by the medical science community towards finding a vaccine which will in fact actually work or better still, improve the efficacy of the current vaccines which we have to enable the harbinger of death be put to a final end. 

ICHEOKU says has written on the issue of finding a better vaccine previously, as many vaccinated people are still dying from the disease, including those without any underlying factors. Although Colin Powell who was being treated for blood cancer myeloma, has had prostrate cancer and was at a very advanced old age, so making him more vulnerable and easily susceptible to dying from coronavirus. But his death from the virus despite being fully vaccinated, has once again trust to the fore-front the efficacy of the vaccines which we currently have. This should trigger everybody's curiosity, whether the vaccines we currently have and which we are being forced to inject into our bodies are even worth the trouble. If they are not working, why inject them? A supposedly protective shield which does not provide the much anticipated shield, a "product not fit for merchantability", is not worthy of its name and purpose? 

We have had other vaccines in the past including vaccines for polio, small pox, whooping cough, measles, influenza and so many other infections. These vaccines proved their weight in gold because once received, they provided full and complete immunity from their target diseases and for a life time, except for influenza which requires a yearly vaccination. If we have had these unquestionably effective vaccines for so long and were able to develop them many moons ago, why can't we develop today, with the technological and scientific advancement which we have now, a vaccine or vaccines which will actually be an effective and complete choke off of the coronavirus. What is the problem getting these vaccines and what is inhibiting medical sciences from discovering a silver bullet vaccine that will finally arrest the scourge and be done with it.

The problem seems to be market driven as pharmaceutical companies which are already making out like bandits, earning billions of dollars in profits from selling the current ineffective vaccines, have been disincentivized from taking their game one notch up. But for the acceptance of their current supplied vaccines, they would have still been inside laboratories conducting researches to find an effective vaccine and could have possibly found one by now. Their position probably is, why bother and why waste or spend additional billions of dollars in further research and development when they are already making huge profits from what they have already offered to the public. A case made worse because the government was so desperate to solve the coronavirus crisis and open back the economy that it embraced what the pharmaceutical companies offered them and are no longer pushing them to come up with a better product.

It is unfortunate that Colin Powell still died from the coronavirus disease despite getting his full vaccinations. But would he have gotten the vaccinations had he known that the coronavirus would still kill him, regardless of his good standing in his vaccination status? Ditto thousands of other Americans who have succumbed to the disease post getting all their vaccine shots. Will asking these questions now make ICHEOKU an anti-vaxxer or be seen as casting doubts on the efficacy of the vaccines or discouraging people from getting their shots? No, not in the least; as the intention here is to push a narrative that will persuade pharmaceutical companies to do more in order to get the people to the promise land, where a completely neutered coronavirus will have no accommodation  and will be permanently put behind us, in our rearview mirrors, for good.

That thousands of people are still dying each day from the coronavirus disease nearly two years after its debut in America is a scandal unto itself. America that is supposed to be the answer to every question and the solver of all problems the world over, but cannot seem to find a vaccine that will actually take care of the coronavirus disease, is somewhat very hard to understand. It would appear that we jumped up for joy and celebrated the coronavirus vaccines milestone rather too hastily and too early. Now, our relaxation has made it difficult to in fact actually solve the coronavirus problem as money that would have been spent on research and development towards finding a real vaccine that actually provides the desired immunity is now being spent buying vaccines that barely works. It is a confused mix.

It is about time a redirection of focus and attention is made back to the laboratory to do right for all those still suffering from the coronavirus disease and the thousands of people who will still perish from it. Let Colin Powell's death not be in vain and let him be among the last of the very few more people who will die from the coronavirus, especially after receiving their full vaccinations. The current vaccines were initially presented to the public as interim vaccines, stop gap measure vaccines, pending the final development of the actual main vaccines. But unfortunately, instead of putting more effort at attaining the promised final fully developed vaccines, the FDA and CDC were persuaded to approve the interim vaccines, first as a temporary vaccines and now as the permanent panacea for the coronavirus. They fell short, they are not effective and people are still dying as a result.

This changed reality was not the original set out objective or deal reached with the American people. This is why thousands of people are still dying from the coronavirus disease because pharmaceutical companies did not bring forth the awaited improved versions of their interim vaccines. They need to do it now in order to save many more American people from perishing in the coronavirus inferno. Colin Powell should not have died and neither the other thousands of American people who were fully vaccinated. Enough of the placing of market considerations and profits motives far and above providing real healthcare protection for the people. Let the people have real vaccines that actually work and which will in fact inoculate them from the coronavirus disease. Do it for Colin Powell as that will be the best way to honor him, a dear tribute to his lifetime of service to the country. Rest on General Powell.

Monday, October 18, 2021

COLIN POWELL: DEAD AT 84, ADIEU.

ICHEOKU says he will be one of the highest profile casualty of the coronavirus pandemic disease and he was fully vaccinated. But at 84 years, he was old enough to have died from natural causes. General Colin L Powell, former Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died from complications of the killer virus COVID-19. May his soul now rest. 

Hopefully he will met Donald Rumsfeld on the other side and probably Saddam Hussein too, so that they can continue with the "There are things we know we don't know" theory and also propagating the WMD hoax before the United Nations Security council and prosecuting the "mother of all wars" operation "shock and awe" bombardment of Baghdad. What would Saddam Hussein say? What a very ephemeral world. Adieu General.

BUHARI IS CLEVER, RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT: JONATHAN CAUSED THE BUHARI PROBLEM.

ICHEOKU says ever feeling indignant about Buubuu, remember who made it possible for him to enter Aso Rock, the man from Otuoke. Whenever ICHEOKU remembers the very incompetent, clueless and cowardly President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan, whatever existing distaste against President Muhammadu Buhari simply dissipates and in its place, a craving for a Buhari with a modicum of human kindness, a Buhari that would be more fair and a Buhari that will be killing less Nigerians, regardless of their provocations. But life is what it is and Nigerians are left with what fate threw their way, a Buhari that is unapologetically Buhari. Although it has not been easy for Nigerians this past six years of his presidency, but at least nobody is in any doubt about who is in charge in Nigeria and he registers this FYI maximumly and absolutely. Like the biblical Rehoboam, he is gleefully chastising Nigerians with scorpions and "lovin it" like McDonald's. 

As always, it is usually better to have a raving lunatic in power than a cowardly, docile, indecisive, uninspiring and timid fellow in power or rather having the appearance of being in power. Jonathan was so unimpressive and so weak that even his wife Dame Patience rode him freely like a donkey and got away with the impression of wielding the actual power in Aso Rock. But where is Aisha Buhari today? In a forced self exile in Dubai as all her efforts at asserting herself in Aso Rock was firmly, resolutely rebuffed. Where is Olusegun Obasanjo today, exercising pseudo presidential authority in a quasi presidential office of his own inside Abeokuta Rock? An act which he perfected so well when the Otuoke man was in Aso Rock that so many governors were paying homage and making pilgrimages to Ota to get their marching orders. 

Where is any Northerner now playing the role of Edwin Clarke, asserting authority and ordering what must be done inside Aso Rock and frequently countermanding Buhari's wishes like Edwin Clark did on numerous occasions during Jonathan's presidency. But no, everyone is now cowering in one corner, having realized and afraid of the awesome powers of the Federal government of Nigeria as wielded in Aso Rock. Where are the "party in power" governors ganging up against the man in Aso Rock or any group of Northern governors criticizing or insulting or challenging Buhari's wishes. But the then governor of neighboring Rivers State to Jonathan's home State of Bayelsa, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, became famous for being the foremost attacker of President Goodluck Jonathan and successfully coopted another South-south Edo State's Governor Adams Oshiomhole to join the anti Jonathan resistance group. 

But the same Rotimi Amaechi who is now the current Transportation Minister, who said then that the reason he fell out with Jonathan was because of Jonathan's failure to develop the South-south, is busy building railway lines to Niger Republic but has not built one rail line in his own Rivers State and/or the South-south region. How does he plan to explain this paradox long after he is no longer a minister? The same Adams Oshiomhole who helped bring down the Jonathan's presidency later bitterly found out that he was just used and dumped; out of power and consigned to such a heap of political irrelevance that they took his chairmanship of the APC and also Edo State away from him. Where is the Atiku's gang of of seven including Bukola Saraki, Babangida Aliyu, Rotimi Amaechi and other party officials and serving governors who were a menace to Jonathan's presidency? 

Do we have their equivalents today from either the North or the APC? Where are the frequent defections from the ruling party government in power to the opposition party that were rampant then? Instead, many politicians including governors, senators, members of House of Representatives and others are now queuing up, begging to be allowed to defect into the ruling APC government at the center. Even the Abdulsalam Abubakar's peace committee which consulted Jonathan out of Aso Rock has been made so redundant that they hardly now have any access to Aso Rock, not any more. Their leader Abdulsalam has equally gone eerie quiet and cannot dare speak against the man on top, afraid that the government might decide to call up investigation into the N16 billion power supply contract which he got during Obasanjo administration but failed to execute. 

Where are the pretend men of "God" and GOs today going to Aso Rock to register their dissatisfaction and grievances against the president, marching on the streets in protests and unceasingly attacking Jonathan when he was in Aso Rock? What happened to these "holier than thou MOGs with direct telephone lines to heaven where "God" regularly speaks to them? All of them have gone radio silent, afraid of the awesome powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria, aware that the current lord of manor does not shy away from deploying it. Practically every Nigerian public figure has enriched themselves from the coffers of the Nigerian State and they are deathly afraid of being investigated. They know that the present occupant of Aso Rock is ruthlessly very mean and will not hesitate to send his hound dogs after them; and he dishes his vengeance in large doses. They are all guilty and the guilty is always afraid of retribution.

Even the Niger Delta activists and militants who were a thorn in Jonathan's flesh throughout his days in Aso Rock have all turned into humbled pipeline maiguards, intimidated into guarding their own natural resources for the benefit of their Fulani overlords/owners. Where is the Asari Dokubo, Tomopolo, General Boyloaf and other laughable and scornful wanna-bee militant "generals' now that their militancy is needed most. But they know that present day Aso Rock is ruthless and shows no mercy, and does not suffer fools lightly. They are aware that a man who kills bandits in  his own Katsina State will not hesitate to wipe out bandits from other States, regardless of the color of the name under which they operate. They know and they are afraid to die and have made a calculated decision to live to fight another day, some day when Buhari is no longer in Aso Rock.

Jonathan was a very weak leader and he was had by almost everyone, including ambassadors from some useless countries who had unlimited and unrestricted access to him. Imagine allowing even a Togolese ambassador frequent and direct access to Aso Rock then that the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs became nearly redundant. Today, Jonathan has been turned into an errand boy for Aso Rock and it is apparent that he prefers to be going as dispatched "envoy" of President Muhammadu Buhari rather than be the president himself. It is a minds game, the pauper mentality, where a servant believes that his only rightful place in the house is in the kitchen but not on the dinning table. He could have similarly used Olusegun Obasanjo and retained his political protection, but Edwin Clark insisted that the government was an Ijaw government and should be left for Ijaws.

Now, you can never hear Jonathan raise his voice to condemn Aso Rock's atrocities or ever attack the man on top; unlike when he called the man who made him president a motor park tout. Jonathan is afraid of Buhari because Jonathan stole money from Nigeria treasury; he was corrupt as president, the reason he did not win the $5 million Mo Ibrahim Foundation leadership award for former African leaders. Jonathan is aware that his corruption file is fully compiled and ready to go for his prosecution, and that Buhari is using it as a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, to ensure his good behavior and disposition towards his presidency by preventing him from ever raising his voice or opening his mouth against him and his government. 

It is called the art of really being in power as so many Nigerians have sinned and fallen short of glory, mired in neck-deep corruption, and can easily be indicted whenever Buhari decides. They are at the mercy of Aso Rock and this have purchased President Muhammadu Buhari all the peace and quiet he needs from the Nigerian elites. As for the bottom dwellers, they don't matter as his agents of the State can take care of business for him, including a police and DSS and NDSC that are not accountable to Nigerians but takes their orders directly from Aso Rock.

Today the military can freely discharge their duty without being hamstrung or being required to first seek clearance and approval from Aso Rock before descending on troubled spots. Unlike when COAS Ihejirika had to literary beg Jonathan to allow the army to storm Katsina Emirate to recover caches of imported weapons and ammunitions stored there, but which Jonathan turned down and denied him permission to proceed. Today's Aso Rock is also unlike the days of DSS Director Ekpenyong begging Jonathan to permit his department to storm Nasarawa State to avenge the killing of 150 officers of the directorate in Egon. 

It is also unlike when NSA director Patrick Aziza had to beg Jonathan for permission to arrest then perennial presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari for inciting violence and insurrection in Nigeria but which Jonathan also turned down, afraid of the reaction from the North. It is also unlike when Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa was murdered alongside the same Patrick Aziza in a Navy plane in Bayelsa due to a very incompetent fella in Aso Rock, who was deathly afraid of every ant in Nigeria that he wears bullet proof vests everywhere he goes outside his bedroom in Aso Rock. The same forces turned around and killed his NSA and the governor just because they could. Which top government official have been assassinated under Buhari and which officers deaths have not been avenged?

Governance requires maximum fearlessness and not being timid. As a leader, one has to be either feared or respected, but Jonathan had none of that and it led to his pitiful ouster from Aso Rock. It makes ICHEOKU sad each time he remembers what was lost as a result of Jonathan's wishy washy period in Aso Rock which led to Buhari's emergence. Jonathan had said that no Nigerian blood is worth his presidency, yet today more than 100,000 Nigerians have lost their blood as a result of Jonathan's weakness and timidity which made it possible for Buhari to come to power. Those murdered Nigerians, both those killed by the agents of the State and those killed by Fulani herdsmen will find it very difficult to forgive Jonathan and not blame him for their deaths, because it would have cost less blood to retain him in Aso Rock than has been spilled so far, since he left. 

Those who made his presidency laughable have since understood that the offices of DSS and EFCC can bite. They also now know that the military can come down heavily upon them. They are also finding out that police can fire live bullets. Above all, the media, including television and social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, now know that they can no longer report whatever they like. Nigerians also have realized that Barack Obama could not have possibly pulled off the stunt of 2015 which helped take Jonathan out of Aso Rock, were it in today's Aso Rock. It is good to have a man with real balls of steel in Aso Rock and despite all his shortcomings, Buhari is more presidential than the Otuoke man. Hopefully in 2023 a person in his mold, but with a better capacity and some degree of human kindness, will be elected to succeed him. But another Jonathan should never be contemplated nor ever allowed a berth in Aso Rock. A reformed Buhari, yes; but an improved Jonathan, no.

Sunday, October 17, 2021

RAPE ON A TRAIN AND FAILURE TO AID: BLAME ANTI MASCULINITY/GENDER WAR?

ICHEOKU says it appears that the good old days when men rushed to help women in trouble is gone and the be your brother's keeper or as in this case, your sister's helper, which imposed the duty to aid someone in trouble is no more. Why have we as a people drifted so far apart that we are losing the basic essential humanity in all of us. That a woman was so publicly raped on a train with other riders watching and did nothing to help her, is rather very troubling to say the least. It is a very unusual development for an American society and you wonder why.

Could it be because of the unceasing attacks on masculinity and the barrage of insults levied on men by leftist feminists activists bent on rubbishing the obvious differences between men and women. They continuously disparage men at any given opportunity and working overtime to force a genderless society upon America. So, is it possible that men are gradually making a calculated decision to let women take care of themselves and their businesses however they see fit, including protecting themselves in such situation as this. These feminist females have severally expressed their desire to be left to their devices, emphasizing that there is no difference between women and men, and that anything men can do, women can do better. Is this possibly one instance where men decided to sit things out? 

In the good old days America when men were allowed to be men and admired for their valor and bravery, when men opened car doors as well as other doors for appreciative ladies to walk in; when men sacrificed themselves to save women and toiled so hard to take care of women, this creep who pulled of this rape in a public train would not have dared do it. If he tried, he would not have been alive to face arrest and eventual prosecution as he would have been summarily put down and done with ever before the police arrived. But our society has since evolved and continuously evolving, and somewhat rapidly cascading into an abyss due to the activities of some crazed out wild eyed feminists females bent on waging a relentless war against men.

Men are steadily feeling unwanted, diminished, disrespected, disparaged and completely reduced to mere laughing stock simply because of the fact of their biology. In some circles, it is even now tabooed to be seen as a masculine man and even worse if the man has an opinion, is strong, brave and courageous. Some men are even being ridiculed as either mansplaining or imbued with toxic masculinity. So, why would men still rush to the aid of a woman in trouble when they know that they will not be appreciated but demonized? Why would men come to the aid of a woman in trouble when they have been told that women do not need men and that women are equal to the task and can save themselves if they are in trouble. 

The other time it was a woman in some crocodile exhibition somewhere who found herself struggling to free her trapped wrist in the jaws of an alligator, when a man eventually intervened to force the alligator to release her wrist. There are so many other occasions and instances when such stronger muscle and greater courage were needed, requiring men's intervention to set things straight; but they are not usually appreciated to encourage their further interventions. It is a known fact that relationship between the sexes in America has deteriorated due largely to this endless attacks and disparagement of men. Even masculinity detoxification has also entered our lexicon in a move to level the playing field and make America a genderless society. With it should also come the shouldering of responsibility equally, some people argue.

Strange things have been happening in America for some time, especially since the pandemic; but a 35 year old man publicly assaulting a woman in a public transit train, with onlookers watching without coming to the aid of the victim, definitely seems to top everything all off. Why were these co-riders so indifferent to the woman's plight and did not become her Good Samaritan. That the assault continued until the eventual 911 call was made and dispatched officer arrived and met the assault still going on, tells everything anybody wants to know about the willful indifference and unwillingness to aid the victim exhibited by the riders on the train; most of who were presumably males coming back from work or pubs and at such hour on Friday night. 

Were they afraid that the attacker could be armed and paralyzed by fear of getting hurt, or decided to just enjoy a free live porn? Why were they so shellshocked into paralysis. What overcame Fiston Ngoy's mind that he went such full throttle without a care in the world about the crime he was committing and so publicly, in the presence of witnesses? Was he under the influence of fentanyl or other opiates that distorted his mind so much that he was living in hallucinatory dystopia when he committed the crimes. It is indeed quite disturbing and should shock every conscience that a human being was capable of exerting such terror on a woman and that people present did not lift a finger to help her. 

Is it possible too that the onlookers made a calculated decision not to get involved in something that they might be roped into or were afraid that in the course of rendering help, that they might be hurt or railroaded into the whole criminal misbehavior. Yes, they should have done something about it, except that the same police now saying this, always advise people not to confront criminals including bank robbers who tellers are told to always just hand them the money as it is insured by the FDIC; and carjackers who we are also told to always turn over our car keys to and walk away. 

What if the attacker was armed with a gun and somebody had gone to help the victim and was shot and killed? Will people and the police not have apportioned some blame to the aider for doing a work which he was not trained and equipped to do, being not a law enforcement officer? Why did the victim not even fight back and in the process her fellow riders would have been compelled to assist her. Not even the emergency chord in the train was pulled by the woman or other riders which would have alerted the train engineer that something bad was going on aboard his train. Was she knocked out or slammed unto the floor of the train and what was she wearing that the animal easily penetrated her. 

ICHEOKU says is not blaming her for anything in what she suffered, just trying to analyze the whole circumstances to see if it was otherwise avoidable, and why the attacker successful had his way with her, with or without any other third party stepping in to help her. A lot of people were on that train who should have done something to help her stop the attacker but they did not do so. It shows the unraveling of the bond hitherto holding the American society, caused by nut jobs who are relentless in sowing divisions and pitting one gender against the other and one race against the other, that today, Americans are more divided and uncaring than ever. 

So, Fiston Ngoy is black, but what color is the victim? Is she also black which probably could explain why the white co-riders decided not to step in, not knowing if there is a relationship between them. In this days of Tik Tok cheap fame, the riders might have also concluded that the attacker and attacked were doing a Tok Tok challenge or dare to be uploaded on social media for a viral video. ICHEOKU says is only theorizing what in the world that could have persuaded the onlookers not to intervene and come to the aid of the woman. Some Americans intervened to save hundreds of French people in a train in France but why did these other Americans not intervene to save an American woman in a train in America? 

Hopefully, they will put him away for a very long time and also provide the victim with all the counseling and psychological treatment which she will ever require to help her deal with the trauma. Although the police said that she will get through the horror filled nightmare but it wont be easy. Not only was she raped, but she was raped by a complete stranger and so publicly, on a train while many people watched. It is enough to give her a lifetime PTSD. But why did it take such a long before before saving the victim or does the transportation authority not have ride-along police officers on their trains? It is horrendous and could have been stopped if there was a live video feed to the engineer of the train about the situational wellness on his train's cars. May God provide the victim some comfort and give her much needed healing IJN.

Saturday, October 16, 2021

PRESIDENT BIDEN'S PERFORMANCE INDEX WORRYING: DO YOU MISS ME YET - TRUMP.

"COVID is still raging, our supply chains are crashing with little product in our stores, we were humiliated in Afghanistan, our border is a complete disaster, gas prices and inflation are zooming upward, violent criminals and blood thirsty gangs are taking over our streets, illegal aliens and deadly drug cartels are taking over our borders. Inflation is taking over our economy. China is taking over our jobs and yes, the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan. How’s Biden doing? Do you miss me yet?" - President Trump.

ICHEOKU says Americans were warned but like the Pharaoh of Egypt, they hardened their hearts and now everyone is suffering the consequences of their rash decision to cut off their nose just to spite their face. The anti Trump forces cajoled Americans into taking out a man who is unabashedly patriotic and who loves his country like no other. Like the Jews of the old who chanted release Barnabas for us and kill Jesus Christ, Americans removed their strongest advocate from the White House and replaced him with a vanilla Joe who bids on time to fix everything, instead of holding his officers to account for all the mishaps of this past nine months. 

Now, everyone is stewing in the irresponsible decision of November 3rd 2020 and we are not even one full year gone into a four year administration. At the rate things are currently going, America will most likely be on its knees before too long, with many people begging for a reversal of trajectory and wishing if there could be an immediate opportunity at a do over of their votes of November 3rd, 2020. President Joe Biden is not to blame for what is happening, rather blame Americans who went against the grain of available information on his incompetency to serve in the office and still voted as they did. 

ICHEOKU is not bothered nor gives a damn as it might be a way the almighty God is punishing Americans for not appreciating all that President Donald John Trump did for the country while in office and rejected him instead. They wanted Barnabas instead of Jesus and they got Barnabas, so let them marinate in it while the joyride lingers. There were several signs everywhere preceding to the last election, but despite all the flashing danger signs warning Americans to beware of the choices they made on November 3rd, 2020, majority of people still voted to hand over the affairs of their country to a man who even his former boss Barack Obama warned everyone was not competent to handle the business of running America. 

Barack Obama first counseled his former vice president not to run for the office, in his famous line, please Joe you don't have to do this, you really don't. He also said concerning Joe Biden's competency for the office, "don't underestimate Biden's ability to fuck things up" and "And you know who really doesn't have it, Joe Biden." Obama refused to endorse Joe Biden during the Democratic Party's primaries and did not donate to his campaign, neither did his wife Michelle Obama, which made Joe Biden to quip that Obama hadn't lifted a finger to help him see through the South Carolina primaries. Even Obama's belated and very reluctant endorsement was rather tepid as he silently prayed that Americans got his tip-off and will do the right thing and not elect Joe Biden president. 

President Joe Biden is someone who has been a public servant and in the public eyes for such a long time that we all practically know him, including his capacity, ability and competence. That he also constantly displayed senior moments throughout last year's presidential campaign, showing acute frailty and memory deficit as well as other signs of fatigue, which together shot off many red alerts is true. But despite all of these obvious incompetency, Americans conveniently ignored it and voted as they did, the consequences of which is the fork on the road in which Americans are now trapped, asking themselves how did they read it so wrongly and whether, as one commentator put it, they were stupid morons who fell for Biden's false promises. 

Since his January 20th 2021 inauguration, many things have soured for Americans, from increased nepotistic hiring in the White House which saw sons and daughters and wife of his cronies hired as White House staffers. Then the lack of holding his key appointees responsible and accountable for unsatisfactory performance of the duties for which they were hired. There was the Afghanistan withdrawal scandal but despite it, the Secretary of Defense is still in office. There is the continuing southern border immigration nightmare, yet both the immigration tsar (tsarina) and the Secretary of Homeland Security are still holding their appointments. 

Now, the nation is facing acute shortages of basic goods due to disruptions in the transportation sector, yet the Secretary of Transportation is still fidgeting like a trapped mouse, unable to resolve the problem, at least not yet. Gasoline prices have skyrocketed as well as cost of electricity and groceries, but the Secretary of Energy and Agriculture are still firmly rooted on their seats. Crimes are shooting off the roof and nobody in the Department of Justice has been held to account for what is going on. Labor shortages and work strikes, including people who have walked off from their jobs rather than get the vaccine and you wonder what the Secretary of Health and Human Services is doing about it; and then we can also throw in the Secretary of Labor into the mix.

ICHEOKU says does not know about you, but many people are beginning to miss the good old days of the twittering president, at least he kept every one of his appointees on their toes, guessing when he will twitter them out of office, you're fired! At least they knew then that only performance and loyalty kept their jobs and they strove very hard not to be the next person to find out that they have been fired through a presidential tweet. But now, the current appointees are not even afraid of the White House anymore and many of them are basking on the president's greatly diminished capacity not to truly understand how badly things are currently going. A fully functional president would have been so incensed to have either fired many of these people or at least rejig their portfolios. 

As a people, we deserve everything we are currently experiencing under the Biden's administration because our hatred for President Donald John Trump brought us to the present self hurt. It was our chosen self immolation as we should not have rejected the former president. President Trump gave it his all and served without ever taking his salary, just for his pure altruistic undiluted love for the country, yet we threw him out of the White House. Coronavirus disease is still here with us, still infecting more people and still killing many people that just yesterday alone over 3,000 Americans lost their lives to the virus. Americans were persuaded then that the disease was killing Americans because of Trump's incompetence, but nobody has opined if the same theory still holds valid today? 

If we survive the next three years and three months, going forward, we must be smarter in choosing who steers our common destiny. We must stop letting nonsensical sentiments cloud our judgment in elections, such that who will protect our interest more will always trump over our acute maniacal partisanship. Or put another way, we must stop using mundane things such as our hurt feelings determine who we put in the White House or any other house of authority. ICHEOKU says is not disappointed in President Joe Biden because what is happening were anticipated, the reason we campaigned to retain President Donald John Tump in office. Unfortunately, the Deep State felt otherwise and now everyone is feeling it. It was avoidable and preventable, but we did not choose wisely. It is sad.

Friday, October 15, 2021

HENRIETTA LACKS: WAS ONLY GOOD FOR HER CELLS BUT NOT WORTHY OF MENTION.

ICHEOKU says but for the World Health Organization bestowing her an otherwise overdue recognition for being the source code of medical and scientific breakthroughs which has helped millions of cervical cancer patients, many people including this writer would never have heard that a black woman named Henrietta Lacks once walked this earth. But she had cervical cancer and while undergoing treatment in Washington DC in 1953, her cervical cells were secretly harvested and used in developing many vaccines and modeled treatments and management of cervical cancer as well as other diseases. 

As a result, millions of women's lives have been saved and still being saved; many scientific medical breakthroughs were recorded including discovering the human papilloma virus (HPV) and polio vaccines, drugs for Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS) treatment and cancer. Her cells are also aiding the COVID-19 research. But America refused to acknowledge her nor gave her, her rightfully earned place in the annals of history for her role in unearthing these discoveries and palliatives. But ICHEOKU is not surprised, as her case was just one of such examples where black Americans contributions to humanity were intentionally played down and suppressed lest they will become full bona fide human beings with awesome mental quotients. 

It followed a pattern which continuously diminished and minimized black Americans contribution in American history, including so many inventions of theirs that were either outrightly hijacked or passed off and named after white men as black people were not good enough to invent anything or contribute any meaningful tangible thing to humanity's wellbeing. Speaking about such keep them hidden syndrome and the real McCoy and his oil filter, the traffic light and refrigerated trucks come to mind, including other sundry inventions which black people brought about but which they were not given credit for, until very recently.

It was the same story with white slave masters who constantly slept with black women slaves including the wives of their slaves; and fathered a lot of children with them but refused to acknowledge their paternity. Instead they were forbidden under penalty of extreme torture and punishment, including sale, indentured servitude and lynching by hanging from ever speaking a word about their dirty liaisons. Even the late South Carolina Senator Strum Thurmond had such illicit relationship which resulted in an unacknowledged child who remained incognito until the good ole boy passed away at 100 years old in 2003. 

The daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams died at 87 years in 2013 and for her 70 years on this earth kept the senator's secret secret. It is their thing, the code of co-existence to "never be seen or loudly heard outside", the "know your place" racial hierarchy in America which somewhat still prevails till today, admitted in more subtle forms.

By honoring Henrietta Lacks, WHO has somewhat ameliorated some wrong done to her and her family, first by stealing her cells and second, by not acknowledging her for all the inroads made finding cures for so many diseases through her cells. WHO should take further step by endowing a chair in her name in a medical research institution and that way help to immortalize her. Her surviving family deserves substantial compensation and profit sharing from all the drugs developed from using her cells. It is not enough to just give a plaque or certificate of recognition, more needs to be done including making a real cash compensation. Companies making fortune from her cells need to also pony up for all their major breakthroughs

Paying compensation to her family or establishing an endowment in her name will be a more tangible way to really honor her, advance racial equity in health and science and truly recognize women, particularly women of color for their incredible contribution to medical science. She saved countless lives and her immortal cell line, HeLa cells, are still saving countless lives today and will continue to save countless lives long into the future. HPV and Polio vaccines, drugs for HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, leukemia, Parkinson syndrome disease, in-vitro fertilization, cancer, gene mapping, research on chromosomal conditions and other precision medicine are all good tidings which emanated from her cells. 

So what else can anyone ask of anybody, especially someone who has contributed this so much to humanity's betterment and general wellness. A woman whose cells became the first human cell line to ever reproduce and replicate outside the human body. What an indelible historical record; an honor which have earned etching her name in immorality. Imagine if she were a white blondie, but unfortunately she was of the "wrong" skin color, hence the need to suppressed her name and not let the world of women particularly white women, beneficiaries of her cells scientific endeavors, know that it was a black woman whose cells helped save their lives. 

It is sad that the effect of slavery and racial injustices in America lingers on til this day and you ask yourself, what will it take to finally rest that ugly chapter in America's life. Will there ever be an apology for the horrors of slavery and will there ever be compensation or what is termed reparation for the harm caused by slavery. Its other resulting injustices such as the story of Henrietta Lacks should tug at our conscience in speeding up the recompense. But it is doubtful if it will happen right now because the nation has lived with it for so long that they have literally acquiesced in it. Hopefully, progressivism will some day force a different outcome. What a woman and her wondrous gift to humanity.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

JOHN GRUDEN NOT ALONE: WHY CRUCIFY HIM FOR WHAT WE ALL ARE GUILTY OF?

ICHEOKU says like in the early days of queers and homosexuals, we all are closeted regarding our racial preferences and biases against one another. We all are Jon Gruden except that we have not been caught so far, hence the pretenses everywhere that all is well with racial relations in America and that Jon Gruden was a one off racist freak who should be pilloried and cast into the lake of fire for such abominable conduct. It is not so and like crimes, criminals are innocent until caught, prosecuted and convicted. 

Our thinking is usually internalized just as William Shakespeare rightly said in Macbeth through King Duncan, speaking about his surprise at learning of the betrayal of the Thane of Cawdor for which reason he was executed, that 'there is no art in reading the mind's construction in the face'. So, yes, if there is an app for reading the minds of people, more than 90% of Jon Grudens will be uncovered. It is akin to having sex which we usually do, except in few erotica cases, mostly in our confined spaces away from prying eyes. The only difference between us all and Jon Gruden was that he was caught and unfortunately, humanity is always ever judgmental and looking for someone  to put on the stake and barbecue our sorrows and frustrations away. 

If only we are not often tuned out from the teachings and particular admonition of Jesus Christ in the parable of the adulterous woman, and learn instead to always delay in casting the first stone since we all have equally sinned and fallen short of glory, may be Joe Gruden would have found some mercy. But no, as long as it wasn't the traducers, they can afford to pretend that they never uttered similar words or nursed it internally, and that their best friends and closest confidants and good neighbors are people of the opposite race, sex and gender. It is the great pretend which the world whirls on. Should he have lost his job and forced to resign as a result, ICHEOKU says does not think so, as suspension and salary deduction penalty would have sufficed.

ICHEOKU says is not in any way holding brief for Jon Gruden nor trying to excuse what his emails contained or trying to explain them. No, the effort here is that some of the issues which he was implicated with are continuously active, alive and well with us all in America as well as the rest of the world. They only come up for discussion each time somebody in the public light is caught off guards and mistakenly lets us into the recess of their hearts that we may truly see who they are. As a world that enjoys public spectacle, we gladly convert such unfortunate people into piñata for our entertainment and ridiculing as we beat them up so badly they bleed out. 

Race relations is not the best it can be in America, neither is homosexuality freely accepted as a bona fide lifestyle. Many people despite their non vocalized or verbalization of their renunciation, still internally wages wars against people who are not their type nor belong in their community. Our deference to those "THAT ONES" is simple mere tolerance but not genuine acceptance. 

So, yes, practically everyone has that racist impulses in them including mixed-marriage couples, who sometimes in their moment of disgust and heat of passion, vocalizes and lobs racial epithets directly at their partners. Even some members of the homosexual community during heated arguments or frustration, equally lash out at each other with derogatory names such as "fag*t". So, like everything in Vegas, he should have been allowed to remain with the Las Vegas Raiders and penalized through other forms.

It is not only President Donald John Trump or President Joe Biden or President Barack Obama or now John Gruden, that has ever nursed or entertained or even voiced out words which are not pleasant at others people outside their own type zone. It is the "me and them" or "we and them" complex which everyone shares, admitted many people have a way of masking or bottling up theirs until that ouch moment when it uncontrollably escapes them or their guard fails as with a friendly banter which got leaked. 

If those emails were never leaked, nobody would even know that Jon Gruden has such a heart or even feels that way about others who are not like him. If they did not come out, no one would have ever known about the dark side of him which he kept under wraps until this leak, talk-less of ever fathoming his resignation from his $100 million ten year coaching contract with Las Vegas Raiders. Recall that the alleged emails were written some years ago and he continued coaching the team as if nothing happened, a team with majority players whose shades of skin color are different from Jon Gruden's. It is also possible too that some members of the homosexual community are in the Raiders team and/or management. 

So, it was not a mistake that he said what he said in those emails as he has always felt that way probably since he attained the age of majority simply because he was born that way. Many Americans, across all the races, share the similar background of disliking other Americans outside their type. Racial identity is a subconscious microchip which human beings are born with. It frequently triggers war between people of different skin colors and it will stay with mankind until the end of time. For one unmasked John Gruden, there are millions of other unmasked Jon Grudens still lurking in the shadows, wearing the fake mask of accepting everyone in the public, but behind closed doors and in the dark recesses of their hearts, churns volatile racial animus. 

Who would have expected such from the lovable and affable, although cocky Jon Gruden; impressionable, famous and rich fella who was constantly in the midst of black people who make up the majority of the Las Vegas Raiders. How could even the best seer have seen inside his dark heart to know of his lowly opinion of people who are different from him. ICHEOKU says must admit that he fooled so many and for far too long about his true feelings towards other people who are not like him.

He is a white guy and just like black people too, we do not necessarily, sincerely, like each other; we only tolerate one another as imperative convenience of living together demands of us all. Behind closed doors and outside public earshot, we constantly disparage each other based on our skin colors and other biases. We call each other names and we are always quick to go off on each other, especially against people who are not like us at the slightest provocation. 

It is inbred in us human beings to always protect our turf and favor those who share our essentials, including skin type, sexual orientation, common beliefs and even religious beliefs. Our kind always come before others and this is what usually passes off as racism and/or homophobia. It is the "we and them" philosophy of survival which forces us all to put down those "outsiders" before they either take what we consider belongs to us, ours or wreck our community. 

It has nothing to do with being a misogynist as women too are sometimes more horrible than Jon Gruden in the racist and homophobic department. It is ingrained in our DNA as human beings to hold opinions which may be considered repugnant to others; admitted many people have been inculcated enough or civilized enough to know how to suppress them and not let them run out randomly. But that does not mean it is not latent in all of us like a dormant volcano which can abruptly erupt any time the top blows off. 

So, he has done all he can do and as expected, by resigning his head coach position with the Las Vegas Raiders. He also said that he was sorry and never meant to hurt anyone, admitted he was only sorry because he was caught; and yes, he did not mean to hurt anyone when he shared his feelings about some people who do not belong to his type. He was simply being gossipy with his friends or whoever he sent those emails and did not hurt anyone nor refused to coach a team because it was made up of black players.

ICHEOKU says his saying that Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires was more of an oversized exaggeration as nobody has lips that big, admitted he was being caustic with his remark. Ditto, whether or not NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is a fag**t and clueless anti football "pus*y" or should not have pressured St Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher to draft "queers" (Michael Sam) into the league. 

These were mere expressions of how he felt about recent developments within the league which is remaking the league in the image of political correctness and woke culture. Many people have harped on them as well and such things would have easily passed for mere banters back in the good ole days, but not anymore. Not since liberal activism  effort to completely emasculate men and detox masculinity took over America public space discourse and determined such as intolerable speak. 

Although he should have been more circumspect with the changing times in mind, but the person he communicated the emails to is who brought him down and not necessarily the thoughts which he privately expressed. They are bad but if they were not leaked, nobody would have heard about them nor would the retribution have followed; a career ending action which has brought his coaching exploits with then Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a screeching end. 

It is fate and it comes in different forms. Like Brutus to Julius Caesar, his friend has now done him in. A Super Bowl winning NFL coach falling from such a gracious Olympian height to the grass is one story of a man who faith played a cruel joke on. His end came like fast and furious and it was with a big reverberating thud. We are now punishing people excessively n America since the advent of the dreaded #MeToo feminists anarchist movement that a man's feelings which he expressed privately has now cost him his job and his friend leaked the emails. It is another case which screams is anyone out there really your friend? It is sad.