PRESIDENT ZUMA: ALL SIGNALS TO THE BRAIN BLOCKED?

THE HONOURABLE PRESIDENT ZUMA DREAMING IN PARLIAMENT

Our beloved and Honorable President Jacob Zuma had a wonderful dream in Parliament while his beleaguered Minister of Finance was making his budget speech. He dreamed that Minister Pravin Gordhan would be locked up and that he [Zuma that is] would get away with everything.

It is clear that the Honorable President was taking a catnap and afterwards he was shaking hands with the Minister of Finance. I think he said goodbye to this good man and can't wait to re-appoint Des Van Rooyen.

The contortionist is at it again.

The Honorable President shortly after the Minister of Finance's speech in Parliament - laughing because it is quoted out of context

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PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE BRIEFING REFUGEES AMENDMENT BILL

Parliament, Cape Town 11 October 2016

I attended a Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Meeting in respect of the Refugees Amendment Bill [12-2016] in Parliament on Tuesday 11 October 2016 in the Committee Room M315, Marks Building. 

I recorded the entire briefing session by the Department of Home Affairs under the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Ms Fatima Chohan assisted by the Chief Director of Legal Services Adv. Deon Erasmus. 

You can listen to 2 hours and 11 minutes of recording by clicking here.

Phone me: 011 783 2248 or 084 456 1030. Or write me an e-mail: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za 

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Bharat Morar - cobbler, Illovo, Johannesburg

Bharat Morar - cobbler, Illovo, Johannesburg

Bharat Morar is an exceptional man! He is plying his trade as a cobbler in Illovo Post Office Centre, Johannesburg for many, many years. He told me that his is a dying trade - and yet in spite of the saying, he is still going strong after many years.

I can only salute this man: Mr Bharat Morar. Thank you for your permission to take a photograph of you and your shop.

Bharat Morar's shop in Illovo

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SPREAD JOY AROUND THE WORLD - MIKE STRICKLAND

You too can experience this

I have to post this today: Spread joy around the world. Look at this cartoon by Mike and his wife Kirsti Strickland and Dustin Haynes. I salute you for this wonderful cartoon - It is your idea that I am spreading with my blog around the world [read my post on the statistics to see it is going worldwide]. Thank you for encouraging me to do that.

And I am thinking of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

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STATISTICS OF MY BLOG & GOOGLE

NEW BLOG DIRECTION: BLOG STATISTICS & GOOGLE STATISTICS

I thank each and every person who looked at my blog and who googled my name and read what I wrote about; I do appreciate it immensely. I pray to God that you will be blessed and that you will pass this blessing onto other people as well. Let's strive to make this world a better place; consider your legacy! When you think about your legacy it extends to the future and it doesn't stop at you or your children or even at your grandchildren. It extends into future generations for many many many years. 

I am acutely aware that the legacy that people leave are not always as simple as Facebook's LIKE button. At times it is crucially painful and even shameful. Other times it is something you would be proud of. Genealogists are working with painful and gainful memories of past generations. Saturday 15 October 2016 at the West Gauteng Branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa we once again heard painful stories told by our members. My one friend told us that he longed to have something, [actually anything] in his grandpa's handwriting; eventually his grandmother gave him a note his grandpa wrote and he treasures it up to this day. Please visit the website of the GSSA and more particularly read the Newsletter published by West Gauteng Branch; of course I encourage you to read much wider than that - keep on reading!

What is your legacy? 

Now onto the statistics: As at 18 October 2016, my blog have been visited by people from:

South Africa	55
United States	38
France	14
Australia	8
United Kingdom	8
Austria	3
Germany	3
Netherlands	3
Brazil	2
New Zealand	2

Google gives the statistics that as at 18 October 2016 that 48686 people had a look at my writings. 

Once again, I thank you and trust that you have been blessed. 

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DECOLONISE SCIENCE!! A UNIVERSITY STUDENT FROM UCT CALLS FOR THIS!!

We have another brilliant mind that is calling for something extraordinary: Decolonise science.

Is suspect she must be related to our Honorable President - Science must fall and it is a Westernised concept.

Can you believe this? Of course you can - her compatriots were cheering her on. All of this happened in sacred space - where you may say anything preferably if it is stupid.

There is something seriously missing - maybe it has to do with science?

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THERE IS ALMOST ALWAYS A PROTEST ACTION AT PARLIAMENT CAPE TOWN

The Protestor 11 October 2016

The world is an upside down place to live in. 

People are protesting against everything and anything. There are always people who are unsatisfied with something; actually anything. Any place that represents authority is a good place to go to with your protest march. But you have to dress up smartly, because there are photographers lurking around every corner and who knows may you get noticed. 

When I left the Portfolio Committee Meeting at Parliament on Tuesday I found these people silently and almost unobtrusively protesting against Mswati and his monarchy. They were a jovial lot of protesters and more than willing to be photograph. And then they started pointing out other people whom I should also photograph. 

The protesters against the monarchy of Mswati 11 October 2016

It was clear that they were a completely different lot of people and not in the same league as the students that are looting and burning and threatening to kill so that they can study for free!

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God still remembers even those suffering Alzheimer’s

Tree

Mrs Jenny Beck, a practising lawyer in New Zealand remembers her mother and she came to the conclusion that, in the face of her mom's Alzheimer's [if you are living in SA please get into touch with this organisation], God still remembers even those suffering from Alzheimer's - Jenny's net was cast very wide and inclusive of all the others, beside her beloved mother who suffer from this dread illness. Thank you Jenny for your expansive and all embracing insight.

I do hope that my image of this tree pays tribute to Jenny, her family and those afflicted by Alzheimer's. 

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INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND AFRICA: ONE DECADE ON

Ms Evelyn A Ankumah, Ms Angela Mudukuti, Judge Richard Goldstone & Ms Fatou Bensouda

I attended a book launch at Webber Wentzel Attorneys on 5 October 2016. The editor of the book THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND AFRICA is Ms Ankumah. The keynote was by H.E. Ms Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the ICC [about the ICC: https://www.icc-cpi.int/about].

It was hosted by Webber Wentzel Attorney and the Dutch Embassy.

African countries are now complaining and falsely accuse the ICC of "colonialism" and that the ICC is unfairly targeting African Countries. It is abundantly clear, and it was so stated in the speeches yesterday, that the bulk of the human rights violations are committed on the African continent. It is also factually correct that almost all of the matters that are presently investigated by the ICC were referred to it by the African States themselves.

You will recall how the SA Government actively assisted President Al Bashir from Sudan to escape being arrested when he visited our country. You can read a lot of literature on this matter on the internet. It was announced at the meeting yesterday that the matter will be argued in the Constitutional Court on 22 November 2016. When you click on this link, it gives you access to the papers filed in the court.

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UNCERTAINTY IN COLOMBIA AFTER VOTE AGAINST PEACE.

A Colombian busy voting - for or against peace? I do give credit to National Geographic photographer Sebastián Liste for this image.

According to news bulletins the Colombians voted against peace on 2 October 2016 and you can have a look at the National Geograpic photo essay against peace.

Just on the face of it, I ask myself a question: "Why would you vote against peace? or is it too simplistic to approach it this way?"

I however want to approach it somewhat from another angle, namely to look at the National Geographic images and to try and make sense out of that. My country South Africa have deep rural areas and it might be that an astute photographer could have taken those images somewhere in my country.

Public workers check votes after the polls closed at the Institución Educativa Nicolás Rojas in Yesca Grande, Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia. 

I do give credit to National Geographic photographer Sebastián Liste for this image.

These are interesting thoughts and ideas that are floating in my mind. I would appreciate it to hear from you. Write me a note and send it to my e-mail address: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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THE PINK LADY INTERNATIONAL FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

I took this photograph at the Jewish Ghetto in Rome at a restaurant during April 2016

My ideas about food photography changed drastically after I looked at the Pink Lady's International Food Photography competition. That is the reason why I can publish this photo as part and parcel of food photography.

My chickens' eggs

Those images are definitely not what we have to look at on Facebook - you've seen those half eaten pies with gravy all over the plate and the wording: Mwah! Or "delicious." And then everybody like it - can you imagine that? Well, you don't have to imagine it - it is in you face all over Facebook.

Enjoy the Pink Lady's photos.

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PRESIDENT OBAMA THE MENSCH

President Barack Obama shares his handkerchief with the son of the Late Israeli President Shimon Perez.

President Barack Obama is a mensch! He shared his handkerchief with the Late Israeli President Shimon Perez's son at the funeral of his father.

The official photographer of the White House Pete Souza captured this unique moment - or is it unique? I don't think so. It shows us that the high office of the White House did not dehumanise Mr Obama.

Thank you Mr Obama for this moment. Thank you Pete Souza for sharing it with us.

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