AFRICAN PLUME

By Stephen Goldstein Over the last several months the question of where SARS-CoV-2 originated, exactly how the COVID-19 pandemic began, has become an increasing focus of public discussion. The issue has become fraught and politicized, debated in the halls of Congress, on the front page of leading publications and perhaps most contentiously on cable news. The two dominant theories are that the virus was introduced into humans from an animal reservoir, or that a lab accident seeded the virus into the population of Wuhan. Recently, I joined in writing a critical review of this question with 20 other virologists, epidemiologists and evolutionary biologists from around the world. We examined all the scientific evidence available, and we came to the conclusion that SARS-CoV-2most likely originated in animals – although the possibility of a lab accident cannot be entirely dismissed. The evidence for an animal origin of SARS-CoV-2 is strong and has steadily built as we’ve learned more about th...

By Akin Ojumu Passed into law early this year to provide the much needed relief to millions of American families reeling from the severe economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is one part of Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan which also includes the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. The nearly $2 trillion legislation - one of the most expensive rescue packages in US history - was heavily criticized by the Republican Party as another wasteful giveaway by profligate Democrats to their deadbeat lazy bums voting bloc that's always looking out for government handouts. The spending package includes, among several other targeted and direct spending provisions, the following (Source: National Conference of State Legislatures): • $350 billion to help states, counties, cities and tribal governments cover increased expenditures, replenish lost revenue and mitigate economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic. • Direct payments of $1,40...

By Akin Ojumu  “…I loved you. I served you. I respected you. I did everything to make it work for you. But you turned against me. And God has turned against you. Get out of my way…” That encapsulates the latest outburst by Tunde Bakare, pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, in this new 3-minute video on YouTube.  With these people, it’s always, “I, I, I,” and “Me, Me, Me.” Nothing ever changes. The sense of entitlement is mind boggling. It’s always about them and the universe that revolves around them. They are the shining sun in their own solar system and every other surrounding planet derives life and sustenance from them. What the latest bloviating is all about is the loss of influence at the table where important decisions are made. Since Tunde Bakare no longer enjoys the usual patronage he believes he is entitled to, and has lost the relevance he used to command, he is telling all Nigerians that God has suddenly turned against Buhari. Since the man in Aso Rock no...

In a four-minute anti-government tirade during his Sunday service posted on YouTube, Pastor Greg Locke of the Global Vision Bible Church in Tennessee pastor told his congregation that he would not tolerate mask-wearers in his church. "If they go through round two and you start showing up (with) all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave," Locke in his anti-masking diatribe. "I will ask you to leave. I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church." Locke's comments come at a time when localities around the country are considering requiring face masks as the Delta variant rages through the unvaccinated population. Locke's colorful jeremiad was posted to YouTube. "I ain't playing these stupid games," he said. "A bunch of pastors talking about how much they want to see people heal and they're afraid to baptize people because of a delta variant – I'm sick of it." “Sometimes you got to stir the fools up....

  By Akin Ojumu In this video, you would hear Dutch Sheets, a prophet of the 7 mountains of dominion, claim he personally knows of 3 people who, after dying from COVID, were raised from the dead by a doctor. In fact, one of those 3 people, the death certificate had already been signed. But in a miraculous act of prophetic demonstration, the person rose from the dead and the first thing they did was to ask for a Big Mac, the iconic burger from McDonalds. Well, that last part is my itty-bitty embellishment – to add some sauce to the story and inject some cinematic dramatics into the fable.  Regrettably, prophet Dutch is unable to give us the names of these 3 people resurrected from Hades. In the prophet’s telling, these living dead cannot talk about their resurrection experience because they’ll get into trouble if they do. The deep state will come after them to make sure the dead remain dead, or as James Hadley Chase puts it, “Let the dead stay dumb.” Be that as it may, we canno...

By Akin Ojumu At the root of all the mess in the Christian Church today is the blinding love of money. Undergirding all the deception, enchantment, manipulation, immorality, self-glorification, empire building, pride, pomposity, and the rest that have come to define the Body of Christ is the fervent worship of mammon. The mayhem and chaos are all because men and women have chosen to yield their souls to be possessed by the demons of materialism and their hearts given over to the spirits of covetousness. It is the insatiable craving for stuff that have no eternal value that's responsible for the deafening cacophony of money, money, money, that rings from the parapets of the places of worship. Today, a vast majority of those we find in the ministry of saving souls are not actually motivated by a deep concern for the salvation of lost souls. They may say, and even act as though, they do, but don’t be fooled by their words and pretense. Deep down in the recesses of their soul, these pe...

By Akin Ojumu In a recent Axios/Ipsos poll, Americans who remain unvaccinated say that nothing can make them get the COVID shot. When asked how likely, if at all, would they be to get the COVID-19 vaccine, if each of the following were to happen: 1. Get the vaccine at your own doctor’s office 2. Receive paid time off from work 3. Have a celebrity or public figure endorse the vaccine 4. Community volunteer discuss the vaccine with you A vast majority of the respondents say none of these things will change their minds about getting vaccinated. No amount of paid time off or persuasion of their own personal doctor will cause them to have a change of heart about the COVID vaccine. An endorsement by a public figure or a celebrity will not work on them. A community volunteer can talk all he wants until he’s blue in the face, it’ll still yield the same result, which is “no can’t do.” Need we say more? The result of this poll should not surprise anyone. These people are die-hard pro-dying, as S...

By Akin Ojumu It is a love-hate relationship between me and books. On the one hand, I hate reading. To pick up a book and read often feels like waterboarding or tooth extraction without anesthesia to me. On the other hand, I hate being ignorant and love to know things. So, what I do is, I force myself to endure the pain and agony of the tooth extraction; I make myself read just so I can gain the knowledge I desire. This week, I’m reading the book, “The Conservative Mind – From Burke to Eliot,” by Russell Kirk. This book, originally published in 1953, has been in my library for more than 15 years, but I have not gotten around to really reading it. I decided to pick it up now because of what conservatism has become in the current political climate in America – and by extension the world. Conservatism, as a political ideology, used to be known and respected for its serious intellectualism, breath of scholarship, and depth of thought. In these days of Trumpism and Palinism, the badge of ho...

Steve Doocy: 99 percent of people who are dying from COVID are unvaccinated. Brian Kilmeade: That's their choice. Steve Doocy: They...they don't want to die.  Steve Doocy: Uhm...so they are...uhm...the administration and the government is saying, "We need the mask mandate to protect the unvaccinated." Brian Kilmeade: That..that...that's not...that's not their job. It's not their job to protect anybody.

By Wale Ojo-Lanre  Honestly, I regretted listening and harkening to them all. And I am putting out this article to warn others. To call others to beware and be clinical about  COVID-19 vaccine matter. Had I known. I don't know. It was not my fault.  But was it my fault?  That I foolishly believed in them. And stupidly listened to them. That I patiently adhered to their admonitions. And their sermons about the COVID-19 Vaccine. They talked, and are still talking, about COVID-19 vaccine. They preached, and are still preaching, about the COVID-19 vaccine. Walahi, I was swayed by their overt and covert messages about the COVID-19 vaccine. The only thing I did not do was to make myself a transmitter of their publicity stunt about the COVID 19 vaccine. But I listened to them. And don't blame me too. Blame the fact that I love reading. The fact that I belong to two professions – journalism and law which require from you a robust sense of critical thinking and agrarian inqui...

By Akin Ojumu For some, it is the 3rd wave. In other places, it is the 4th or 5th wave. Whatever wave it is in your neck of the woods, this new surge of COVID-19, which is driven primarily by the highly contagious delta variant, is a pandemic of the unvaccinated anarchists and saboteur. Those getting infected, coming down sick, and dying, are mostly folks who have not been vaccinated. The new delta variant finds a welcoming home in places where the rate of vaccination is pretty low. In a news briefing Friday, the Director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the most recent seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases was roughly 26,300 – a nearly 70 percent jump over the previous average. New hospital admissions went up 36 percent to about 2,790 per day. Daily deaths edged up 26 percent to 211 per day – a sobering figure given that deaths appeared to be declining in recent weeks, Walensky said. (NBC News). Last week, the average COVID-19 incidence was 11 new cases per 100,000 people in s...

Time is for everyone, but it's no one's best buddy; it is an equal opportunity truth teller.  Our biological clock is ever ticking.  If you don't make the hay while the sun shines, time will simply pass you by. Ageing can seem like a scary prospect, but a wealth of scientific studies have found that youth isn't all it's cracked up to be. There are plenty of cases in which human beings peak well into middle and old age. Teenagers, for instance, may have vitality on their side, but older people are generally more psychologically stable. And so it goes with several phenomena people experience as they age. Many of the points mark the middle of an age range that scientists have identified, which means they are all determined by averages. Some are also surveys, not controlled trials, so there is a possibility the self-reports don't capture the most accurate picture. But in many cases, the numbers keep cropping up for a reason, which is that life isn't a downhill s...

By Akin Ojumu It used to be that the risk of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID was highest among the elderly, those who are immune-compromised or have pre-existing medical conditions like hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, etc. That demographic profile changed dramatically with the approval of COVID vaccines and commencement of mass vaccinations around the world. The COVID vaccines, as a game changer, helped turn the tide in the battle against SARS-CoV-2. What we find these days is that the prevailing predisposing characteristics of those getting infected with, hospitalized for, and dying from COVID-19 have nothing to do with demographics. In these unusual times, a common thread that runs through the vast majority of people infected, hospitalized and dying from COVID is the fact that they are gullible, duped, and obstinate. Nearly all of the new COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths now occur amongst those who seem to have entered into a lottery of death. These a...

By Akin Ojumu Never in my lifetime has the Body of Christ seen this level of ignorance in its rank. At no other time in the history of the Church have we witnessed such a widespread shallowness in the understanding of the truth of God. At a time when information is in the palm of everyone’s hands and when with just a few taps and clicks access is granted into yottabytes of knowledge, a deluge of cluelessness enshrouds the Ekklesia. There are about 50 main versions of the English Bible today. Wycliffe Global Alliance reported that at least some portion of the Bible has been translated into 3,350 languages. This number includes over 680 languages with complete Bible translations, over 1,500 languages with complete New Testaments, and over 1,000 with some Bible portions and stories. With such a rich resource, you’d think the Body of Christ will be bursting at the seams with Bible scholars and that the Household of Faith will be swimming in the understanding of the Word of God. Alas, such ...