The birthday girl |
Her proud mom Miss Vie, (Joan, my views: Search results for violet edwards (joan-myviews.blogspot.com) didn't miss a beat.
Ms. Violet Edwards |
The birthday girl |
Ms. Violet Edwards |
Consul General Oliver Mair, joins a performer on stage |
With my friends Carol and Judy |
Empress Unique was excellent |
Sometimes politicians seem so overwhelmed by the problems they face that their solutions make no sense at all.
Or maybe they just say things when they are drunk.π«.
I am not implying that Prime Minister Andrew Holness is a drunkard. Not at all, I don't even know if he drinks, but I couldn't help wondering what part of his brain conjured up the idea of establishing a new ministry in his government!
This he threw out at the recent JLP conference as a possible solution to the increasing violence in the country!
When did increased bureaucracy ever solve a problem in the world Mr. Prime Minister?
In my book, more bureaucracy only opens up other avenues for more corruption.
Poor Auditor General. Poor Jamaica!
Already this little country of under three million souls has some sixteen ministries plus a bag of junior ministers without portfolios operating out of the Prime Minister's office.
Only God knows what they all do!
At a recent function in Mobay, the highly respected Chief Justice had to reiterate a well known fact.
Harsh punishment cannot solve crime if people are not being caught and convicted.
For if people know their chances of being caught and convicted are zero, what's the deterrent?
That's when he exposed the shocking fact that Jamaica has the LOWEST CONVICTION RATE IN THE REGION.
LESS THAN A 30%!
We already have large, expensive Justice and Security ministries, so shouldn't he be concentrating on how to get the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution and the Police within these two ministries, to become more effective, rather than piling up another bureaucracy?
If we head into 2024 with this type of bankrupt thinking, we are really in serious trouble!
Unfortunately I never knew about that until I got to the park.
And guess what, these mosquitoes even love air conditioning, as there they were in the lady's room too!
I had hoped to see a bobcat though but alas, all I saw was these two squirrels, both of which were fast asleep. Oh well I had never seen squirrels sleeping before π.
And I shouldn't complain too much about the mosquitoes too much for as I strolled on the elevated walkway, I wondered if the notice above was an exaggearation for only one mosquito visited me.
It's a lovely, nature trail in Coconut Creek, Florida though and it had a lot of visitors when I went there on Sunday.
However, take the mosquito warning seriously. And would you believe the coincidence, for as I escaped into my car, there was a program on the radio with panelists discussion on mosquito borne diseases!π
Uncle Rudy is surely doing well and looking sharp on his birthday ❤️.
88 years strong.
With daughter Carolyn.
As long as the strong continue to oppress and tyrannize the weak and vulnerable there is a role for militants/guerillas.
For how else can the victimized win/regain their freedom from those with superior arms?
Remember, it was militants, also dubbed terrorists by the well-armed oppressors and their powerful supporters, who brought the fight and eventually justice in the United Kingdom (the IRA), South Africa (the ANC) etc.
Freedom fighters should never lose their humanity in their struggle though, and that is what HAMAS, under the leadership of Mohammed Deif, did on October 7th, when they invaded sections of Israel, killed, maimed, and kidnapped innocent women and children, instead of those who had their heels on their necks.
I had no idea the so-called free press in the USA which influences so much of the world, was so biased until they started to report on this bloody tragedy. For if you had just come from Mars, you could be excused if you thought this latest flare-up in that region happened in a vacuum. For, the main media houses seemed to be in competition among themselves to determine who could sound more like the official spokespeople of the Israeli government! As to News Nation, which was only launched in 2020 as a cable news station, they in my book, have the most unhinged reportage on the Gaza affair.
In the USA, where press freedom is supposedly held up as being sacred, suddenly all criticism of the Israeli government’s actions which led to the inexcusable actions by HAMAS, are condemned by the traditional media organizations as either anti-Semitic, taken out of context or simply censored.
This despite the fact that the Israeli government comprised of Likud and other far-right malevolent parties and led by Netanyahu since 2022, is extremely unpopular and has been facing massive resistance at home.
For it is not all Israelis inside and outside of the Zionist state who support the oppression and the campaign by settlers operating under the protection of the Israeli Defense Force, to murder and terrorize Palestinians to steal their land, as is the regular practice in the West Bank.
So, while HAMAS has to be condemned for the brutal attack on civilians on October 7th which left some 1200 civilians dead and more than 240 taken hostages, the vicious retaliation on all civilians in Gaza by the Israeli army which killed almost 7000 children in 40 days is beyond the pale.
Interestingly, in the US, most of the voices that condemn Putin for his brutal attacks on civilians in Ukraine saw little wrong with what could only be described as the start of a genocidal campaign against innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
In this latest campaign, the Israeli government has not only relentlessly bombed over a million civilians, destroyed their homes, all possessions, even bombing hospitals carelessly but also, later deprived those who managed to survive, of food, water, and electricity.
This is simply beyond evil.
“When war is declared, truth is the first casualty' declared by Samuel Johnson and what we were told by most of the mainstream media in the USA, is the most blatant evidence of this I have ever seen.
You know, the US and Israel had long boasted about Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East but what the world is now getting full evidence of is that what really exists there, is a vicious apartheid system.
As I write, there is a temporary respite from the bombing as some Israeli hostages are being released as well as Palestinian ‘prisoners.’
This exposes is the truth behind the popular perception that Gaza is the largest prison in the world. For we now understand the trivial grounds they had been using to create prisoners there. For prominent among these ‘prisoners’ are women and children who were detained and locked up indefinitely without due process, for ‘crimes’ as trivial as tweeting or throwing stones at Israeli soldiers guarding settlers who stole their lands after killing and maiming their parents and relatives!
According to well-respected Dr. Gabor Mate in an interview with Piers Morgan, ‘a poll in 2005, found that the most traumatized children in the world were to be found in Gaza.’
That was long before the unconscionable bombing in Gaza since October 2023, he emphasized.
Dr. Mate is a child of Holocaust victims and is one of the many Israelis worldwide, who are vocal and passionately opposed to the continuing vicious treatment of Palestinians by the Israelis.
The US media tells us how traumatized Israelis are, and the Israeli government insists that this pause in the bombing is only temporary and they will resume the campaign shortly.
The world cannot sit by and allow that country with the backing of the powerful USA, to continue this vicious and unconscionable campaign against women and children in Gaza. (Thank goodness they fired Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahuy who flippantly suggested using nuclear weapons on the Palestinians!)
For murder, destruction, land grab, and brutality can only lead to the creation of more HAMAS.’
Dare I remind them that it was Einstein who declared that ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”!
Link; https://youtu.be/CMtMFg4LTho.
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It took me quite a while to find this address on Google Maps, but I am happy I persisted. Yup, for when I couldn't find how to get there I was just about to undress when my mind instructed me to try once more.
Dr. Bailey (center) opens her newest pharmacy. At right is R. Oliver Mair, Jamaica's Consul General in Florida |