@OluwatobiAjayiJ Germany, Japan, and South Korea? Really?
These 3 countries are literally US Vasal states!!!
Japan hosts 120 US military bases. Germany - 119, South Korea - 79.
@FeppleWinks@Eloka51 The OP didn't make that assertion as well. He basically gave a historical perspective on what gave Jaja legitimacy over other canoe and war houses.
Imo has no say in how the Amanyanabo emerges. Only the Jaja ruling house decides that.
Happy new year!
@FeppleWinks@Eloka51 The court has ruled on this.. Opobo is the private estate of King Jaja and his descendants forever!!!
As long as there is Opobi, a Jaja will always be the Amayanabo!!!
You know, it’s funny when people hear that Pope Leo XIV has a math degree, taught physics, and wrote a thesis on monastic leadership, they act like it's some wild plot twist. The Catholic Church has always been low-key obsessed with education. I mean, did you know nearly every pope since the Renaissance has had a PhD? Benedict XVI had five. Cardinals today basically need doctorate-level expertise to even get a seat at the table. Leo XIV isn't an outlier; he's following a 2,000-year-old playbook where faith and reason are BFFs. This is the same institution that gave us the Big Bang theory (thanks to a Jesuit priest, Georges Lemaître) and the guy who invented genetics (shoutout to Gregor Mendel, the pea-plant-obsessed Augustinian friar). Yet somehow, we still think of the Church as just incense and hymns.
The Church's duality; defending doctrinal tradition while pioneering intellectual frontiers, is its defining paradox. Consider the Vatican's astronomical observatory, which has operated since 1582, or the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which has included members like Hawking and Einstein.
Let's break it down. Those monks and nuns you picture copying manuscripts in candlelit monasteries? They weren't just praying, they were preserving ancient Greek philosophy, advancing math, and basically saving Western civilisation during the Dark Ages. Fast-forward to today, and the Vatican still runs its own space telescope (yes, really, Jesuit brothers track asteroids). The Chúrch condemned Galileo, sure, but now it funds ethical stem-cell research and partners with IBM on AI ethics. It's like the ultimate comeback story: "Oops, we messed up on heliocentrism; here's a think tank on quantum physics."
And let's talk about those religious orders. Jesuits? They basically invented the modern university system. The Jesuits founded in 1540, by a chap called Ignatius Loyala, (half monk, half soldier) ran over 800 universities globally. Franciscans gave us Occam's Razor; you know, that "simplest explanation is best" rule you learned in science class? That came from a 14th-century friar who loved logic more than the Pope loved his fancy hat. The Dominicans had Thomas Aquinas, who merged Aristotle's philosophy with theology. Augustinians, Leo XIV's crew, were all about community and critical thinking, traits he took to Peru, where he spent 20 years teaching in slums while quietly holding dual citizenship. The guy's got more layers than a medieval manuscript.
But here's the upper-cut: the Church thrives on this weird paradox. It's conservative enough to make your grandma nod approvingly ("No women priests? Classic.") but progressive enough to have a Pope who trash-talks eco deniers and slams border politics. Leo XIV fits right in; he's a Republican primary voter who also called Trump's family separations "illicit," a social media critic who warns bishops not to be divisive online. It's like the Church says, "We'll debate evolution with Darwinians by day and chant Latin psalms by night and we'll look good doing both."
So next time someone acts shocked that a pope knows quantum physics or tweets about refugees, just smile. The Catholic Church has been playing 4D chess with knowledge for centuries. It's not a relic; it's a living library, where friars argue about black holes over breakfast and nuns run coding bootcamps. Leo XIV? He's just the latest chapter in a story where faith doesn't fear science…It fuels it.
I've been in Toronto for a while, but I'm still Albertan enough to think I understand what's going on. Let me translate for my fellow easterners.
Remember how you felt when Donald Trump put tariffs on your prestige industries in a manner that seemed unfair and irrational? And rational or not, it hurt your economy and cost you jobs? And how do you feel, knowing that Trump is still vowing to move Canada's car and steel industries to the U.S.?
Remember how you felt that your own political autonomy and sovereignty was being challenged by the proposal to become a 51st state? That it felt like an "indecent proposal"? And even if it was just an empty taunt, it showed disrespect -- like if a stranger made a marriage proposal to someone who was already married?
Well, Ottawa has been doing that to Alberta for generations. And it's been rewarded election after election by Ontario and Quebec voters. If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on the support of Paul.
Donald Trump has an excuse: his job is America First. Nothing else matters. What's Mark Carney's excuse? What's Canada's excuse?
Trump imposed tariffs on us, typically 10% or 25%. Ottawa blocked Alberta and Saskatchewan pipelines, banned tankers, required a "gender analysis" on new industrial projects, imposed a production cap and threatened to "transition" the industry (i.e., shut it down).
That's like a 100% tariff -- it's a veto.
Alberta and Saskatchewan voted for a grand total of three Liberal MPs. But Alberta and Saskatchewan are not the deciders. They're just the people who keep paying the bills for the whole country.
You're about to see something very interesting. In the last Quebec referendum, the entire Canadian establishment sent a message: we love you, please come back, we'll work it out within Canada. Quebec received countless political, economic and constitutional favours -- plus a lot of cash.
You might even say that Quebec separatism has been a sham for decades: it's just a good cop/bad cop way of fleecing Alberta. It's not serious. It's the permanent revolution. It's theatrical. What is more revealing than Bloc Québécois MPs collecting their Parliamentary pensions?
But watch for the opposite towards Alberta. There's a genuine hatred towards Alberta, and Alberta-ness. The only Albertans respected by the CBC are underminers, like Naheed Nenshi and Rachel Notley, who promised to destroy the industry from the inside. Albertans with Alberta-ness are shunned, demonized, mocked, attacked. Look at how the CBC has tried to destroy Danielle Smith. She was the only female premier in Canada for years; normally she'd be a CBC favourite on DEI grounds alone. But she's the "wrong" kind of woman, she's too Albertan, so they hate her and lie about her daily.
But buckle up now. Every national media company, every national corporation, every bank, every NGO, every "community activist" will be deployed to denigrate and smear Albertans who are just tired of Ottawa's war on the west.
Again, if you're from Toronto or Montreal and need help imagining things, picture Trump-style taxes, tariffs, and other economic warfare for 40 years -- going back to the National Energy Program of the 1980s, and even earlier.
All from your own country.
Albertan's aren't even angry. They're just done.
Friendly tip: if you're a politician or journalist using the same language you did with the trucker convoy ("you're racist"; "you're a fringe minority with unacceptable views"; "you're a crackpot"), you're not trying to persuade, you're demonstrating that you hate Alberta, or at least Alberta-ness, too.
It's an interesting Venn diagram: the people who called for a "Team Canada" approach and who promised to end internal trade barriers are the same ones denigrating Albertans who are asking for an end to Ottawa's sanctions. (And what is a pipeline ban, other than a non-tariff barrier?)
The Canadian establishment demonized Trump as a bully, an economic illiterate and an unreliable friend and ally. They are all of those things and worse towards Albertans. At least Trump kept telling Canada he "cherished" us, as he shook us down. Carney, Trudeau, Guilbeault -- they genuinely hate Alberta, and it shows.