Nonqaba said ...

Donald Trump’s lawyers will make sure, his criminal cases do not see the light of day before November 2024, but he understands the English language. Delay does not translate into delete, destroy, decompose, deactivate or debunk. His cases will be waiting for him after the presidential election. The justice system has loopholes, but they were designed to make justice thoroughly fair for everyone affected. Unfortunately, it is abused and you need money to loop yourself out of the wheels of justice. Donald Trump has mega-millions for that but none to pay the State of New York $464 million plus the daily interest. He won’t be in a courtroom before the presidential election because the U.S. Supreme Court, has his back. How do you know? Because of his confidence about it. He’s very cocky as if he has a secret why, the Supreme Court is in his corner. Delay is not delete, no matter what he tells himself. He continues to put rust on the wheels of justice because he thinks he will be back in the

Indoor forest. We'll throw out plastic trees when we move. Change of address is either by choice or circumstances and it involves pruning our belongings, especially things we used once or twice and are gathering dust in the garage or attic.  Kids, especially teens, find it hard to adjust after bankruptcy or divorce and getting rid of things that used to define them, like skis or dirt bikes. Some parents are transferred to bigger cities like New York where rents are exorbitant and there’s no backyard like the one they had in Alabama. They might be moving to an apartment building. They’ll be lucky if they find a condo unit that has two parking spaces, not one like the rest of the building. Therefore, there’s no garage to store junk. Moving forces us to audit. There are things we cannot take with us because of the trimmed space so we either sell them or donate them to Salvation Army and Value Village thrift stores. The audit reveals that we didn’t use them that much. We bought them be

The voter is alone in the voting booth, but there is this ice-cold drop on his head about what the boss has been saying for weeks. “We must not vote for them. We will lose everything we’ve worked for. This farm will be sold. Trucks too. What will happen to that pretty daughter of yours who wants to be a lawyer? She will drop out, and do god knows what. We must not vote for them. You and I were born here. We must keep our values. Don’t vote for them .” The voter is alone in the voting booth, but he forgets that. He thinks somehow, the boss will find out he voted ‘ for them. ’ Bosses intimidate workers into voting for the Brown Party, not the Yellow Party. The intimidation can be subtle, or blatant. The boss can also give workers benefits he has been with holding illegally for the past four years, just because the presidential election is a few months away. It is a bribe, a double illegal bribe, but workers don’t know that. When do employers start voter intimidation? Headlines. Certain s

You're just a manager. You don't own the orange.  Internet riches has led to the debate about college. Is the four years worth it, if you cannot get a job after making your parents proud, on graduation day? Sometimes graduation certificates nurture unrealistic expectations. We want to dive into the deep end of the pool and become managers. What we should be doing is to check out the board of directors of companies we like, while we are still in college. Unfortunately, the salary, dental and health benefits, the car, housing allowance etc. are the reasons why we gravitate towards certain companies. The board of directors (BOD) will tell us what we will be ‘managing.’ Managers manage someone’s property, invention, vision and the future. Thanks to the internet, BOD information is easily available. It was important in ancient times when fathers wanted to ‘marry off’ daughters to the right families, or wanted sons-in-matrimony that would safeguard daughters’ inheritance. Arranged ma

Lara Trump and chickpeas.81?   " Open 8 days a week.” Are my eyes playing tricks on me? No, they are not, because this is the second time I’m seeing this banner at a particular steak house in town. The first time was in St. Vital, the second time was today, on my way to one of the factory outlets. I don’t go very often because sometimes their prices are higher than regular mall prices. Shhhh! Don’t tell a soul. I digress. Where was I? Yes, 8 days a week. Thanks to Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-matrimony, now I realize that it’s not a typo on the banner. It’s intentional. It’s to ruffle some days of the week feathers. That way, this steakhouse is always bubbling mentally, and we know where to go when we feel like meaty delights. Lara Trump is in the news. It is reported that she said the U.S. has 81 states. It is two things. It was slip of the tongue or a declaration of intent. I take issue with that slippage because we were taught History and Geography the hard way. We sp

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dumb. It has absolutely no brains. How can you say? It shows you’re clueless about technology. I am. Very proud too. The little I know comes from @mkbdhd, the YouTuber who explains technology very clearly for zero-tech people like me. If artificial intelligence is so intelligent, why doesn’t it recognize my name? I type it everyday, so it’s not a typo. Fine. I’ll make some concessions. AI doesn’t know my name because it’s not an English name, but how about the machine I use to write my thoughts? 1.  Why doesn’t AI tell me to clean my screen? I thought I need new glasses. No I don’t, the screen is just dirty. 2.  Why doesn’t AI tell me to clean the keyboard? All the letters look the same now. 3.  Why doesn’t AI remind me that for two days running, I forgot to power off this machine, pull that power cord out before I go to sleep? 4.  Why doesn’t AI tell me the cheap-o headphones I’m using are past their due date, like when milk goes bad? They usually last

Human beings are animals although they pretend to be the better species. Nature has a pattern on how babies in animal country and human country explore their new environment. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi fractures that pattern in human country. Human babies envy animal babies because their parents don’t have laptops and cellphones. Animals do not sit on their fathers’ laps as he works or entertains himself at the computer. Exploring the new world can be dangerous. Don’t touch that, it’s hot, but who will give the warning because mom and dad are busy online? Not in animal country. Nature still rules. For example, geese have long necks, but they become longer when the mother detects human presence around her six babies. Don’t even think about it with mother lion. That’s why I respect wildlife photographers, who gave us images of mama and baba lion with their kids. Exploration, how do I teach my kids to kill? That is what is in mama lion’s mind as she sits there and looks at the foolish photograp

Winter spring summer or fall  is the  name of a song, or  is it  line in a song ?  I've always wondered why the songwriter started with WINTER. Why not start with spring, when everything is born again?  Anyway, try writing in winter. Spring is good for the mind and writing because I can see the wind in the trees. See? Probably not, because it doesn’t have form or colour like flowers. I think there is wind because the freshly minted green leaves move. Green is a big thing if you live in complete winter denudation, where branches are either brown or gray. My writing is like that in winter, probably because of what is happening around it. It becomes defiant like trees shorn of leaves. It’s the season. A reminder that human beings are not in charge. We cannot place certain things under a microscope and look for what is not there, and never will be. Even rude artificial intelligence cannot change the big four: fall winter spring and summer. The gentle spring wind is conducive to writing

Hotels have a problem. Yes, it’s spring and tour buses are already coming in, but they cannot fill the financial hole caused by being half full in winter. Hotels are home away from home, but they are currently under-used for two reasons. 1.  Because of the 2020 pandemic, corporate guests cannot be guaranteed anymore. Businessmen and women conduct online meetings; they don’t like airport protocols created by the pandemic; and feel uneasy about violent airplane passengers that disrupt cabin peace for online views. 2.  Hotels have not realized that money, real money is now in the hands of men and women under 30 years of age. They cannot do anything about the first problem because it’s outside their jurisdiction, but they can attempt to attract potential guests identified in the second point. Hotels already have under-used rooms called Berlin, London, Cairo, Moscow etc. Others are named after nature: Lotus Hall, Orchid Hall, Rose Hall or Sunflower Hall.  Hotels must advertise how this new

Hotels are not unique as Airbnb but they guarantee every blade in this steamer. Hotels vs Airbnb. I have my reasons for preferring hotels to Airbnb. People don’t go the same direction like water , to quote a proverb from the Zulu language. That’s why you book an Airbnb when travelling. Life is hard and short. That is why I prefer concrete hotel expectations whether it’s the smallest economy room or the presidential suite whereas, I’m on my own with Airbnb. I cannot demand a king bed, when I paid for twin beds. I get what is advertised in a hotel whether it’s a 3-star or 5-star hotel. Hotels have an obligation towards me, the guest/customer in terms of front desk when I check-in and check-out, parking security, safety at night, room readiness, hallways, elevators, bed and breakfast etc. In an Airbnb, I can be murdered by ‘friends’ I brought in to celebrate my birthday or sign a dubious deal. Equally, I’m under an obligation not to destroy hotel property, in the quest to have fun. Some A

Fumigate house before selling.  My home is always clean. What’s so special about cleaning it before putting it on the market? Sometimes it’s a jump start sale because of family problems. The home was neglected because parents moved away and left teenage kids behind. They never cleaned their rooms in their whole life. Therefore, they don’t know how to use a vacuum cleaner. Maybe the property was rented out, and the person on the rental lease sub-let it illegally to someone with many pets. In such cases, you must call in professional cleaners to detox the place. They notice things you might miss like doors you thought were light brown. It turns out they have a cream color after soapy water and a sponge. The stove and built-in microwave are included in the price but they are dirty. Some sellers invest $2 000 in new appliances rather than clean them. If not, get professionals to do it. They know the right chemicals to remove grease. They will also clean windows inside and outside. The gri

News about tenants refusing to leave houses they rented, might force families to talk each other, more. There are hundreds of movies about children going to court to question a parent’s will. Why would father leave the family home to his wife of two years, who is barely 25? That is fiction. In real life, we don’t live in family homes we inherited.  You know the story: “I don’t see myself living in that town, ever again.” We never go back for one reason or the other, and the family home remains unoccupied, weeds all around, an open invitation to  squatters. We might think renting it out is a better option. Not anymore. Stories about tenants refusing to leave when the lease has expired are on the rise. That might be a wrong impression. Maybe we are seeing more cases now because aggrieved owners are going online about their plight, caused by provincial and state laws that favour the illegal occupation. Families don’t talk to each other. That’s why we wait until we see the family home in t

Introduction:  We are seeing online stories about strangers removing FOR SALE signs and occupying houses. This piece is another property-related problem, tenants refusing to leave after eviction or end of lease. Cash flow. That’s why some people buy houses or condos to rent them out. Somebody like author Robert Kiyosaki, a big advocate of cash flow, will buy the whole apartment building. Renting out your house or part of it, is still cash flowing in, but what happens when tenants stop the flow by refusing to pay rent or moving out at the end of the lease? No problem. It covers all possibilities and the tenant signed every page before moving in. On paper yes. Reported cases in Ontario Canada show that some tenants dig in and refuse to move out. They don’t open the door for the landlord and police. Here is a sample of cases before the Landlord and Tenant Board in Ontario. 1. A family bought a small farm but tenants refuse to move out. 2. A woman with a small daughter bought a semi-detach

Religion is the ‘opium of the people.’ This is attributed to Karl Marx, the German philosopher who died in exile in England. I’m using it reluctantly because I’ve never read any of his books. I’m aware of the quote because it has been rehashed a million times. What I know about religion leads me to one conclusion. Religion and language are siblings, children of the same parents. Indeed, religion is the mother and father. In ancient times, in what is now known as Canada, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, people and the gods understood each other. They spoke the same language. That was fundamental because religion is basically praying to dead people, for example Islam, Judaism, Christianity or Buddhism. Religion travels, carried by men with guns, looking for slaves and gold. Once it lands, religion becomes the emperor, the conqueror or Her Royal Majesty. Language is inextricably linked to religion, like teeth and the tongue. Therefore, when men with guns and foreign flags land in Africa, the

World Trade Center burns, result of the 9/11 terror attack attributed to Islamic extremist Osama-bin-Laden.  Students in American universities remember September 11, 2001, the terrorist attack on America. They do, if they have History or Aviation classes, but how many of them have visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City? On that day, terrorists hijacked planes on American soil and bombed the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, another plane attacked the Pentagon and one crashed in Pennsylvania. Hijackers were suicide bombers so dead men tell no tales, but American intelligence attribute that unprecedented, coordinated aviation attack on what it calls Al-Qaeda, an extremist Islamic group. Forgotten Firefighters According to History books, 2,977 people died, including 343 firefighters. Students in American universities are there to study facts and figures therefore, they will remember those fire fighters. The world doesn’t, because we don’t remember what happened ye

old blog 28 January, 2024. We are ruled by the camera, to such an extent that sometimes governments make decisions based on public opinion. And what is public opinion? People marching in the streets. Not really. That is a fraction of public opinion because the majority of voters are at home watching television. We will only know how they feel about issues, come voting day. They are shy and don’t carry signs and sing on the street. Protest marches are designed for the camera. Strategies, costumes, placards, bull horns, everything is designed for the camera. I was just not aware how much, until yesterday, when I saw man wearing a vest written: LEGAL OBSERVER. Legal? That means he is expecting trouble, which will result in a criminal case or something. But, who is he working for, organizers of the protest march, the police or he’s a law student?  I don’t think it’s funny though because anything can happen in a small space occupied by a crowd mad at something. What aggravates matters are c

Peaceful protest ceases to be peaceful once it is obstructive. In fact, it takes a dangerous turn and presupposes it is right, it is the truth. That is down right impossible. The ‘truth’ has two sides, like saying the sun is square in shape and other side saying it is round. Truth is subjective. It is political. It is territorial. It is religious. It is partnership-based e.g. NATO and OPEC. Real peaceful protest takes that into consideration, that we see the world through different lenses and that not carrying placards or shouting in the streets or campus, does not mean we don't have opinions about whatever issue is currently in the cauldron. Peaceful protest recognizes her right to protest and my right not to. Peaceful protest is peaceful because it is not obstructive. Sometimes protests turn into dictatorship. I cannot carry a placard about a certain dictator, then block an entrance to an institution or prevent other people from going about their daily lives. Dictatorship. That i

Original proverb: nothing to write home about. Digital Variation 1.  Nothing to text home about. 2.  Nothing to SMS home about. 3.  Nothing to ‘please call me’ home about. 4.  Nothing to tweet home about. 5.  Nothing to whatsapp home about. 6.  Nothing to FaceTime home about. 7.  Nothing to DM home about. 8.  Nothing to emoji home about. 9.  Nothing to message home about. 10.  Nothing to call home about. Nonqaba waka Msimang Blogger Without Borders

Protests against Russia for invading Ukraine are no longer as massive as in 2021, when Putin launched the military offensive. However, protests globally, have a pattern.  Protests in London, Winnipeg, Montreal, Berlin, Johannesburg and Lagos have two protesters: genuine and accidental. Genuine protesters have megaphones and conduct chants. I was going to say they also have placards but changed my mind. Sometimes they are placed strategically where anyone can pick them up. I’ll take a risk and say genuine protesters also have T-shirts with messages in large letters. Accidental protesters are passers-by, who were going nowhere in particular. Maybe they took a walk down the block or went to buy juice at the convenience store. They see the action and join the march. "What are you marching for?” Accidental protesters just shrug and repeat the orchestrated chant. They can also be dangerous to the cause because they might go wild once they see television cameras. They can initiate behavi

We assume that homeless people are stark raving mad. They don’t have mental problems. That is only reserved for the elite, the rich and famous or professional athletes and actresses experiencing a slump in their careers. Not street people. We avoid them. They don’t smell like daisies. They are not like us drowning in French and Italian perfumes. We don’t look them in the eye. That is why it’s pure hypocrisy that we carry placards and march to City Hall when they are frozen to death near thrash cans or when the police shoot them dead because they look like those people that commit crime because of the color of their skin. You can test drive this hypocrisy yourself. Ask any person carrying a placard that says JUSTICE FOR ADE to tell you who Ade was. They won’t. They’ll tell you about police brutality and how the police cannot be in commissions of enquiry to investigate themselves but they will never give you a concrete reason why they are in the march to demand justice for Ade. Who was A

They have blemishes too, like in-house, marriage certificate wives. Online second wives also have a stressful day at work; school reports about misbehaving kids; car accidents at intersections and bad hair days. Men don’t see the blemishes because they are always well-groomed and make-up is so meticulous it looks natural. They look good on the cellphone screen. They don’t have parched cracked lips like in-house, marriage certificate wives. No, they don’t because they dedicate an hour to transforming themselves into the ‘ideal’ men want, with the right lip gloss and hair dye. Online second wives don’t ‘nag’ about money like in-house, marriage certificate wives because of their modus operandi (m.o.) They think aloud. About their mother’s intended surgery. About their sister’s wedding. About new clothes for the summer. About a holiday in a country where snow is a foreign object. Voila ! Men catch the wish and turn it into reality. The cellphone goes ping . Money is deposited into the onli

“I have more time than money.” What did she mean?  I apologized to her from blocking the aisle while my nose was almost on the freezer door, trying to ascertain that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. Bulk frozen peas for three dollars? I moved the grocery cart out of the way. Some of these aisles are one-way. They can’t accommodate two carts at a time and I’m a very good driver. On real roads, that is. She accepted my apology and said: “No problem. I have more time than money.” What did she mean?  She’s not here to answer the question, so I’ll give it a shot. I mulled over Donald Trump’s situation then decided to ditch it because he has both. Time to delay his criminal trials and money to pay lawyers to make it happen, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Please indulge me, while I try to join the dots between time and money. Not all things need money. There’s a Yoruba (Nigerian) proverb that: when lizards are on the wall, you don’t know which one is pregnant . Funny, how I neve

Mushroom is an acquired taste because mama and grandma warned us against eating wild mushrooms ( a-ma-khowe in Zulu). Why? They are poisonous. And did they grow big! Just popped up from nowhere, especially after the rain. We grew up. Time passed. We travelled. I ended up in the U.K. and I saw those things in the supermarkets. The English called them mushrooms and cooked them, and also threw them in salads. Well! I had to acclamatise myself to English ways, so I started eating them. I regard them as part of education, because that it is one of the good things about travelling. Food opens doors. That is how a student from Sierra Leone introduced me to okra . She doubted that I was an African. Why? Because I did not know okra . I reminded her that the continent has different shades of the sun, including food. My travels took me to New York, where I met a friend from Barbados. He bought sorrel and boiled it for me. Very refreshing drink. I befriended a student from Georgia. She took me to

Old movies have scenes where inmates line up to use the public prison phone. Can you imagine not owning a phone? That should be a deterrent to anyone contemplating a crime, but as they say in the movies ‘ you do crime, you do time .’ Phones are not allowed in jail but it doesn’t mean they don’t find their way in. I read somewhere that some prison guards smuggle them in for inmates, since they are not searched when they come to work.  That’s hard to believe they would break the law and bring in contraband for prisoners who are behind bars, because they broke the law. But then, the dollar buys everything, even prison wi-fi. Visitors used to be creative about smuggling in phones for their friends. Some were caught, others slipped through, now that’s power. A prisoner with a phone! Initially, phones were not allowed because authorities thought inmates will use them to plan escapes and orchestrate riots.    But that’s chicken feed now. Stakes are higher. Inmates have all the time in the wor

NFL movie, Cuba Gooding Jr plays a football star in Jerry Maguire. Tom Cruise is his agent. I was wrong. I’ve always maintained that munching popcorn in the movie theater was in trouble after 2020, the COVID-19 year. The press statement released by CINEPLEX, the chain that owns movie theaters around here, proved me wrong. Here is one of its highlights. November 9, 2023 :  “This past quarter, we achieved record box office revenues of $188.2 million and once again outpaced the North America box office by a notable 310 basis point,” Ellis Jacob, President and CEO Cineplex. I had good reasons for saying we don’t go to the cinema anymore. The first reason is where you are right now, at home or coffee shop reading this blog from your laptop. Some people also like watching movies from these devices. There are many advantages. They don’t have to get ready, bathe, wear clean clothes, take the train/bus or drive to the cinema in a snow storm. They control the screen: stop, pause, rewind or incre

The hardware store has different shapes and sizes of kitchen scales. Toys are not exclusively for kids. Adults have them and some can become an addiction with dire financial and health consequences. Example. Cellphones. The house if full of things kids can play with. Learning begins with play. A kitchen scale for example. It is about numbers and numbers rule the world, but we don’t make the connection because we tend to create borders between existence. School. Work. Sports. Pray. You can ask kids to put a small apple on the kitchen scale. Help them determine how much it weighs. Write it down. Before they eat bread, ask them to put a slice on the scale. How about two and three slices? We run out of bread and go to the store. Shopping is not in isolation. It is part of one existence and it is ruled by numbers. Kids see it at the cashier. Cashiers weigh the grapes, banana, cantaloupe, okra etc. Kids might love some mango, but you put your foot down. “They’re expensive this time of the ye

Robert Livingston Colorado Buffaloes defensive coordinator.  Cormani McClain thanked him profusely in his exit love note. It is reported that Cormani McClain released the following 18 April 2024 statement, about leaving Colorado Buffaloes. “First and foremost, I would like to thank God for giving me this chance and opportunity to play in Boulder. I would like to thank all the CU staff members and most definitely give a special thanks to Coach Livingston for all the knowledge you’ve taught me in a short space of time, and a special thanks to all the players. “After all late night thoughts and great gathered ideas, I have decided to enter the transfer portal with four years of eligibility left. Thanks to the University of Boulder Colorado and all the fans.” 1.  What speaks volumes is what Cormani McClain did not say. 2.  What speaks volumes is who he deliberately left out in the exit love note. 3.  What speaks volumes is how Coach Livingston helped him take the transfer portal decision.

Brazil and Argentina share the Iguazu Falls. I have a thing for waterfalls. I think it's the mist. Ha! Ha!  Tourism is the end product, so its recovery is joined at the hip with the recovery of  ‘cheerleaders.’  It will be a struggle to go on vacation after the pandemic, if one parent lost her/his job, because kids’ basic needs become more expensive when they enter the teenage zone. Other cheerleaders include : 1. credit worthiness. Most people use credit cards to purchase airline tickets and other expenses. Will they have them post COVID-19 or will they be paying interest accumulated during the pandemic? 2. conferences, some companies might stop having them abroad. 3. airlines’ ability or inability to bounce back. 4. diminishing number of tourists for fear of being stranded in foreign countries or at sea. 5. tour buses, some invested in the latest buses not knowing the virus will strike. 6. hotels and lodges. Some might not make it post COVID-19. 7. Locals and how they perceive to