Open to New Ideas
Joined November 2014
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There's quite a bunch of unsung ?heroes no pun intended in the okjazz stable. Keep highlighting them.
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Fred Masiga retweeted
"Cuando te mueres, no sabes que estás muerto, no sufres por ello, pero es duro para el resto. Lo mismo pasa cuando eres imbécil"
Albert Einstein
Fred Masiga retweeted
I have been holding my tongue about something that happened during the Ohio gubernatorial race. I refused to speak while the election was underway because I did not want my words mistaken for an attempt to influence anyone’s vote.
But now that the election is over, I have something to say.
For nearly twenty years, my ministry has taken me among the homeless, the abused, the exploited, and the forgotten. I have sat with victims of sexual violence and witnessed the lifelong wounds of childhood trauma.
What Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign did to Amy Acton was among the most morally repulsive things I have witnessed in American politics.
They took a woman whose stepfather was indicted for raping her when she was twelve years old and featured her mother, from whom she had been estranged for nearly fifty years, in a political advertisement attacking her credibility.
The advertisement challenged Acton’s account of her childhood without mentioning the sexual abuse allegations or the circumstances of that estrangement. When people expressed their horror, the campaign defended it.
Imagine examining another person’s childhood suffering and fractured family relationships, then deciding those wounds might help win an election.
Anyone who has worked with survivors of childhood sexual abuse understands the painful realities of denial, betrayal, shame, and estrangement. A child growing into a successful adult does not erase what happened. Nor does a parent’s denial make that suffering disappear.
I find it equally disturbing that an elderly mother, whom Acton herself described as unwell, was brought into this spectacle. Whatever her own struggles or responsibility for the past, exploiting that fractured relationship was grotesque.
To everyone who defended this, consider the message you sent to survivors. To the young woman whose family refuses to believe her. To the man who has carried the shame of childhood abuse for forty years. To the frightened child who has yet to tell anyone.
What did you teach them about the value of their suffering?
I am a priest. I believe in repentance, forgiveness, and redemption. But none of those things requires me to pretend that deliberate cruelty is anything less than a grave moral failure.
Your political allegiance does not absolve you of moral responsibility. You do not get to set aside your conscience during an election and retrieve it afterward.
If your loyalty requires you to defend the exploitation of a childhood sexual abuse survivor, your loyalty has become an idol. And if your conscience cannot recognize the wrong here, examine what political tribalism has done to it.
This is not about Republicans or Democrats. We have a choice as a people: continue excusing cruelty from our preferred political camp, or summon the courage to condemn it wherever it appears.
Amy Acton deserved better. Every survivor who watched this unfold deserved better.
And God help us if we have reached the point where winning an election matters more than protecting the dignity of a wounded human being.
This is an absolute banger. Weka the entire song, tafadhali.
🎶 "Kombo na nga Mandola eh,
Mandola, Lobanzo te mama
Kombo na nga Mandola eh,
Mandola, Lobanzo te mama" ~ Djo Mpoyi
In this timeless composition by the legendary Simaro Lutumba, Djo Mpoyi showcases the full extent of his vocal talent in a song rich with wisdom and philosophy. The lyrics reflect on how some friends suddenly change their attitude and behavior when they achieve success and rise in social status.
A classic reminder of the realities of friendship, loyalty, and human nature.
🎵 Stay tuned to Jabulani Radio for more great African music memories.
jabulaniradio.com
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Fred Masiga retweeted
Gerçek, kasabanın fahişesi gibidir. Onu herkes tanır, ama sokakta görünce kimse selam vermeye cesaret edemez.
Wolfgang Borchert
Fred Masiga retweeted
30 LAWS OF MILITARY CAREER THAT CAN EQUALLY HELP YOU IN LIFE.
1.) Your rifle and your ammo are more important than your life. Better be dead than lose them.
2.) You can never be the winner in any argument with your superior. Even when you have won.
3.) Every commander needs your advice but not in public.
4.) If there is a competition, don't come first, and don't come last.
5.) Your soldiers are the backbone of your work. Treat them well.
6.) If you offend a higher authority, carry your cross.
7.) If your soldier offends a higher authority, carry his cross.
8.) Remember that the smartest and most intelligent officers often do not get to the top. Only the most loyal ones do.
9.) Don't be deceived. Many commanders do not like eye service.
10.) Never "contest" a woman with your superior. It is the fastest way to die and many have gone that way.
11.) The wife of your superior is either a goldmine or a landmine. If you are not sure of which she is, avoid her.
12.) Be brave. Even if you are a coward.
13.) If your superior admires your girlfriend, surrender her. If he admires your wife, stand by her. A girlfriend is an accolade. An accolade can be lost without dire consequences. Your wife is your crown. You are nothing without her.
14.) Don't ever beg for mercy. It is the foremost manifestation of weakness and the military environment has no respect for weaklings.
15.) Don't ever solicit for "welfare". If you are "issued", be very thankful.
16.) Don't look for your seniors. Let them look for you. If they look for you, don't keep them waiting.
17.) If you don't like a colleague, let him know you don't like him. If he takes steps to warm up to you, don't embrace him. Accommodate him.
18.) A lie is an abomination - and a critical part of initiative.
19.) If you are lucky to have stumbled on "mega" money, maintain your old lifestyle. If you can't maintain your old lifestyle, maintain a low profile. Camouflage and concealment are not only for the warfront. "Shine" is one reason things are seen.
20.) Remember that drinking, smoking and womanizing are prominent features of the job yet, no medals are allocated for them.
21.) Don't look too smart before your superiors. Instead, look stupid before them. People are generally comfortable with stupid people whom they can easily control.
22.) Wait for your time.
23.) Know that the enemy's degree of training is dependent on yours. If he is well trained, then, you are poorly trained. If he is poorly trained, you are well trained.
24.) You are a soldier. Not a priest.
25.) If you are tired of the job, resign.
26.) Never reject a gift from a superior except in protest of a salient point. It is the greatest indirect show of disloyalty.
27.) Be everywhere. Every time.
28.) History never remembers soldiers but Kings, Queens and Politicians.
29.) Remember wars are won by soldiers, but credit go to the generals.
30.) Respect Humanity but don't over trust humans.
Now you know!
Fred Masiga retweeted
THE KIKUYU VILLAGE GIRL WHO BECAME A QUEEN IN BUGANDA
Lady Zibiah Wangari Ngatho was a Kenyan woman of Kikuyu origin who became one of the wives of Kabaka Edward Muteesa II of Buganda, the king of Buganda and Uganda’s first president.
Her story is remarkable because she was a Kenyan woman who became part of the Ugandan royal family of the Great Buganda Kingdom during the colonial era...thus by virtue of becoming a King's wife, she became a Royal in another Country.
Zibiah was born in September 1920 in Thogoto, in present-day Kiambu County, Kenya. Her parents were reportedly Reverend Ishmael Ngatho and Alexandra Njeri.
She studied nursing and midwifery at Mengo Hospital in Uganda, where her life became connected to the Buganda royal family. In 1950, she married Kabaka Muteesa II and became known as Lady Zibiah Ngatho of Buganda. She was reportedly four years older than the Kabaka.
The couple had a daughter, Princess Stella Alexandria Sserwamutanda Ndagire, who was born in Nairobi in 1951. (Note that my daughter from the Kenyan Luo lady, was named after my mom.. Sserwamutanda)
Zibiah also pursued a professional career rather than remaining solely within the royal household. Reports indicate that she worked in Uganda’s public service, particularly in community development, and retired in April 1973 after serving in several towns.
Her marriage took place during a period of major political change in Buganda and Uganda. Muteesa II was forced into exile in Britain in 1966 following a political conflict with Prime Minister Milton Obote. He died in London in November 1969, aged 45.
According to a September 2026 report by BBEG Media, Lady Zibiah Ngatho died in 2019 at the age of 99. Her life remains an interesting example of the historical connections between Kenya and Uganda through royal marriages, education and public service.
Fred Masiga retweeted
Baba Raila Odinga was unable to be President FIVE TIMES because his core supporters were arrogant & rude … HE Edwin Sifuna must make sure his supporters don’t make same mistake!
Fred Masiga retweeted
年轻人问苏格拉底：为什么那些满嘴仁义道德的人，往往最贪婪？
苏格拉底指着桌上的烤肉反问：如果我想拿走你手里这块肉，最省力的办法是什么？
年轻人脱口而出：拿刀逼我交出来！
苏格拉底摇头：太蠢了，你会拼命反抗，我也会受伤。
年轻人又猜：那拿钱跟我买？
苏格拉底笑了：那我就得付出代价。最聪明的办法，是我先发明一套道德标准，告诉所有人“吃肉是自私下流的，只有把肉让给别人的人，才配得上高尚的灵魂”。
年轻人愣住了。
苏格拉底继续说：等你为了证明自己高尚，乖乖把肉奉上时，我不仅白吃了你的肉，还能站在道德制高点上给你发一张“好人卡”。如果你敢护食，根本不用我动手，周围其他饿着肚子装高尚的人就会先把你撕碎。
所有的道德绑架，底层逻辑只有四个字：免费抢劫。
Fred Masiga retweeted
Twenty-three years ago, when I was studying philosophy in Italy, one of the most interesting questions that occupied my mind was whether human beings genuinely arrive at truth through reason, or merely acquire a sufficiently sophisticated vocabulary to explain why they continue to deceive themselves.
I remember a professor who, during a lecture on epistemology, declared with an entirely serious expression:
“It is difficult to find black socks in a dark room, unless they smell!”
I must admit that such a statement would hardly find a place in an academic treatise, but I immediately recognised in it an unexpectedly serious philosophical problem, formulated with an economy of means of which certain German idealists could only dream.
Imagine Kant confronted with this situation. Before searching for the socks, he would probably begin by examining the conditions under which their existence could become an object of possible experience. Hegel would establish that darkness and the socks stand in a dialectical relationship, whose resolution is yet to be accomplished through the very movement of Spirit. And Heidegger would undoubtedly devote several hundred pages to the being-of-the-sock-in-darkness before raising the question of whether smell might not constitute an authentic mode of disclosing presence.
And the professor would probably simply open the window.
I remember how seriously we took philosophical distinctions in those days, how diligently we discussed the limits of sensory knowledge, the reliability of perception, and the relationships between essence and appearance, while life, with its characteristically unceremonious sense of humour, continually presented us with examples capable of ruining an entire seminar in less than five minutes.
Because there is one detail in the story of the socks that deserves attention: sometimes the very quality we would prefer an object not to possess turns out to be the only reliable means of finding it.
And this, of course, applies to considerably more than socks.
After twenty-three years of reading, reflection, and quite a few encounters with people who hold an extraordinarily high opinion of their own intellectual importance, I am beginning to suspect that the professor demonstrated remarkable perceptiveness. Certain phenomena remain entirely invisible until they begin to reveal their presence in ways that no sophisticated terminology can conceal.
To this day, I remember that lecture with particular pleasure, because a single pair of imaginary socks managed to call into question all our self-confidence as young philosophers, armed with Kant, Hegel, and the unshakeable conviction that human knowledge was an exceptionally serious business.
Or we could simply have opened the window.
In either case, philosophy would have made a certain amount of progress.
Fred Masiga retweeted
October 29, 1618. Walter Raleigh asked to inspect the axe before they used it on him, ran his thumb along the edge, and said it was sharp medicine that would cure all his diseases.
Then the executioner hesitated, and Raleigh told him to strike.
He was being killed for a fifteen year old treason conviction that everyone knew was rigged, revived to satisfy the Spanish ambassador over something Raleigh's son had done in South America.
Raleigh's career under Elizabeth I was the Elizabethan age in one man. He put down a Catholic rising in Munster, became Captain of the Queen's Guard in 1587, and worked as a privateer, which is the polite term for a pirate with a royal licence.
In 1591 he secretly married Bess Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting, which the Queen regarded as a personal betrayal, and both of them went to the Tower for a month.
He bought his way back with the capture of the Madre de Deus in 1592, a Portuguese carrack whose cargo was worth a staggering amount, and in 1595 he was commissioned to go and find El Dorado.
He went to Guiana, found no golden city, and wrote a book about it that was more persuasive than the evidence warranted. That book is why he kept believing in it for the next twenty years.
Then Elizabeth died, and James I came south from Scotland with one overriding foreign policy goal, which was peace with Spain.
Raleigh was the most famous Spain-hating privateer in England. He was the opposite of everything the new reign wanted.
In 1603 he was accused of involvement in a plot to put Arbella Stuart on the throne. The trial was a disgrace even by the standards of the time. The main evidence was a confession from Lord Cobham, who retracted it and then re-made it, and Raleigh was denied the right to have Cobham brought into court to face him. The prosecutor Edward Coke abused him from the bench.
Raleigh defended himself so well that the trial started turning public opinion in his favour, which is a rare thing for a man already convicted in everyone's mind.
He was condemned, then reprieved at the last moment, and spent the next thirteen years in the Tower.
And that is where he did the work he should be remembered for. He had rooms, his wife and son with him at times, a garden and a laboratory, and he wrote The History of the World, an enormous unfinished book that got as far as 130 BC and was a bestseller for a century. It was one of Oliver Cromwell's recommended books for his son.
He also kept telling anybody who would listen that there was a gold mine in Guiana.
In 1617, James was broke. So he let Raleigh out to go and find it, with one absolute condition. Do not fight the Spanish.
The expedition was a catastrophe. Disease wrecked the crews. Raleigh fell ill and stayed in Trinidad while his son Walter led the party up the Orinoco.
They attacked the Spanish settlement of San Thomé. Walter Raleigh the younger was killed in it, along with Spanish settlers.
So Raleigh came home with no gold, no son, and a war crime against a country his king was trying to befriend.
The Spanish ambassador, the Count of Gondomar, who had enormous influence at James's court, demanded his death.
And here is the mechanism, which is the bit that makes it so cold. James did not need a new trial. Raleigh was still a condemned man under the 1603 sentence, which had only ever been suspended. All James had to do was let the original sentence take effect.
He was executed for a treason he almost certainly did not commit, in order to punish him for something he had not personally done.
On October 29, 1618, at Old Palace Yard in Westminster, he turned up extravagantly dressed and in evidently good humour. He gave a long speech denying the treason. He asked to see the axe and made the line about sharp medicine. He told the crowd that the heart was what mattered, not which way his head lay on the block.
When the executioner froze, he said strike, man, strike.
It took two blows.
His wife Bess took his head home and kept it. In 1660 it was found and buried at St Mary's Church in West Horsley, where his son Carew is also buried. His body is under the chancel of St Margaret's, Westminster, next to the Abbey.
James got his Spanish peace, briefly. Within four years his son was in Madrid failing to arrange a Spanish marriage and England was sliding toward the war with Spain that Raleigh had spent his whole life arguing for.
The last thing he ever wrote, reportedly in his Bible the night before, was a short poem ending on the hope that the Lord would raise him up.
