We started discussing about convergence of sequence of random variables in the last class. So we defined different notions of convergence. We talked about what convergence in almost sure sense, we talked about convergence in probability, we talked about convergence in mean squared sense and at the end we defined convergence in distributions. So let us take an example here. Let us say I have 3 random variables in this form. Let us say it takes some number here and then it has something. So this is all random variable x1 and let us say I have another one. So let me call these values here. Let us say this is a1, this is a2 and this is a3. And similarly, let me just draw another one here. It is like this. So again, all these things are same. This is a1, this is a2, this is a3 and my scaling is not correct. So let us recall the definition of unit interval probability we have defined earlier and let us say we have 3 random variables defined on this unit interval probability space like this. So this is x1, this is x2 and this is x3. So notice that the way I have drawn is here. All these random variables I am going to take only these 3 possible values a1, a2, a3 and these widths are same. I mean my scale may not be correct but assume that. So whatever this width is let us say this is like p1, whatever this is the same p1 here and this is p2 and let me let us say this is the p2 width here and let us call this as the third part as p3. So all of them have the same taking 3 values but it is just like the intervals on which they are taking these values is going to be different. So here it is taking value p2 on this interval and here it is taking the same value p2. So here it is taking the same value p2 on a different interval here. So what I mean here is that is fine. Now let us say that x4 is now again this, x5 is this, x7 is this, x8 is this, x9 is this and x4 is, x9, 10, 11 is this. Like it is now my random variables are periodic versions of this. So what we mean is xn plus 3 is simply going to be xn for all n. Now if you have a sequence for random variables like this, do you expect it to converge in almost sure sense or in probability? No, right? Because this is periodic and it is fluctuating in so much. But if you look at the distributions, so what is the distribution of x1? x1 is actually a discrete value random variable, right? Here actually it is only taking 3 values a1, a2 and a3 and it is going to take that with probability of p1, p2 and p3. And it is also again the same, is the distribution again same here. This x2 is also taking 3 values a1, a2 and a3 with what probabilities again p1, p2, p3. So if you look into these distributions, these random variables are identical. They are the same. It is just like they are putting that mass on a different intervals. Otherwise, they are the same. So this is where we want to understand convergence in the distribution. So we have to go beyond convergence in almost sure, convergence in probability and convergence mean square and we are interested in convergence in distributions, okay fine. Now what is the limiting distribution here? So if you have a sequence distribution, what will be the limiting distribution? So the limiting distribution is something which is probability that x1 is equals to a1 is p1, probability that x2 is equals to a2 equals to p2 and probably equals to x2 equals to p3, p3 or this is going to be any random variable which takes these values a1 and a2, a3 with probability p1, p2, p3. This is going to limit distribution here, okay fine. Now let us look at another sequence of random variables. I am going to define a sequence of random variables here. What is u here? u is uniform random variable. I am going to look at a sequence of scaled uniform random variable here like this u. I am going to pick scale by minus 1 to the power n by n. Now let us try to understand how the distribution of this looks like. So let us take n to be odd. If n is odd, this random variable is going to be positive random variable or negative random variable? It is going to be negative value. And then let us look at how its CDF look like. So your value, u takes value between what? 0 and 1, right? It is going to be, its smallest value is going to be when u equals to 1. In that case, it is going to be minus 1 to the power minus 1 divided by n because n is odd here, okay? And its largest value is going to be 0. So if you look into its CDF, it is going to start from minus 1 by n here and how does it go? It goes all the way up to here linearly and hits 1 here, right? And then it hits 1 here. Now if you look into the case when n is e1, how does the CDF look like? So in this case, the smallest value is going to be what? It is going to be a positive random variable when n is e1. What is going to be the smallest value? 0 and what is going to be the largest value? 1 by n and it is going to be and then it saturates here, right? It takes 1. So I have this CDF which is going to look like this for depending on whether n is odd or e1 and as n tends to infinity, what is going to happen to this? It is going to be just a function and what is, where is the jump happening? At origin, at x equals to 0, okay? Now let us understand. So we expect that in this case, the limiting distribution to be what? Which is the one which is going to take almost value 0 with probability 1, okay? So that is my limiting distribution. So my limiting distribution is just this. Now let us try to understand how my CDF converge at different points of x. So my CDFs are function of x here, right? Let us see for different values of x, how they converge. Suppose if I take a value of x here in the negative side of my real line, that is x is less than 0, okay? And if I let n go to infinity, what this value will converge to? It is going to converge to 0, right? Because this guy will keep shifting to the right side and some point whatever x you have here, it is going to go beyond that and it is always 0 and this guy is anyway 0 for x less than 0. Now if you are going to look at f of xn of x for x greater than 0, what is this going to happen? It is going to be 1, right? So this guy sequence converges to 1. That is fine and that is matching with this. When I am going to take x less than 1, this is going to be 0 and when I am going to take x strictly positive, that is going to matching with 1. Now let us look at the case when x equals to 0, okay? So when x equals to 0, so what is the value of this function at x equals to 0? It is going to be 1, right? Because we have a right continuity property and what is the value of this at x equals to 0? 0, right? So I have a sequence which is alternating between 1 and 0. Will such a sequence converge? 0, right? So it is not converging at when you are going to look at x equals to 0. So it is converging for x less than 0, converging x greater than 0 but for x equals to 0, it is not converging. So as you see this, this limiting distribution has a jump or a discontinuity at the point x equals to 0 but on all the other points, it is continuous. But now you see that at the point of discontinuity, this convergence is not happening. So in general, that is why when we said that in the definition of convergence and distribution, we said that a sequence of random variable convergence and distribution, if the CDFs convergence to the limit CDF at all points of continuity, right? That was our definition of convergence in distribution. So why will we ignore that? Because let us say if you look at the sequence of this CDF, they are converging at every point except for the point of discontinuity here. But still it is valid that this distribution we can assume, I mean we can interpret that that is converged to this point but we have to just ignore this point of discontinuity here. So just like to account for this in our definition of the convergence and distribution which we stated last time, we have explicitly stated that we look for convergence of CDFs only at the point of discontinuity of the limiting distributions. We have already discussed that distributions are somehow associated uniquely with their characteristics function, right? Because character function uniquely defines the distributions and vice versa. So then based on this, we can directly state the following result which I am just going to state without proof. So if we have a sequence of random variables and then another random variable X, then we are going to say all these three statements are equivalent. Either you say that Xn converges in X in distribution, you recall this notation. This is what we mean by converges in distribution. This is equivalent to say that if you are going to take the expectation of your random variable but not directly the random variable, expectation of some function of this random variable where this function is continuous and bounded, if the sequence of expectation converges to the expectation of the function of that limiting random variable then this is also implies that they converge in distribution. And alternative characterization of same is you look at the convergence of the characteristic function. So phi of Xn is the convergence characteristic function of my random variable X. So if you compute at some point U, then it should convergence to the characteristic function of X again computed at the same point U. And this should happen for all U. If this happens then we can again say that my sequence of random variable converges in distribution. So I am just going to skip this proof but we will take this result for granted. Please look into the proof in the book. Fine. So we have now characterized all the four kind of convergence notions we studied. Okay, now the question is what is the relation between them? So I am going to state it as a proposition. So let Xn be the sequence of random variable. Now suppose if I know that my sequence Xn converges to X in almost sure sense then this implies that Xn converges in probability to the same random variable X. Okay, so this we have already said. And now if Xn converges to X in the mean squared sense to some random variable X, then Xn converges in P again to the same random variable X. Xn converges to X in probability then Xn converges to X in distribution and D such that for all n and so what this result says is suppose if I have a sequence of random variable that convergence in mean squared in almost sure sense then that implies that it converges in probability also. The second point says that if I have a sequence of random variable that converges in mean squared sense then that also means that it converges in probability. And the third point says that if I have a sequence of random variable that converges in probability that means that it also converges in a distribution further. Now the question is okay we had shown implication in one direction what about the other directions? Is it true that P implies AS and P implies mean squared sense. So this part D answers that question partly it says that convergence and P implies convergence in mean squared sense that is this direction provided something happens under some condition not always true. It says that if there exists a random variable Y such that all my sequence of random variables are dominated by that random variable Y with probability 1 and this random variable is such that further it has finite second moment. If I can find such a random variable Y then this is true that my convergence in probability also implies convergence in mean squared sense. So this implication that convergence in P implies convergence in almost sure that is not true in most of the cases even if you look at the example we studied we have already have an example but we discussed where it converges in probability but not necessarily in the mean squared sense. So also it is not so easy to come up with conditions like when convergence in P implies convergence in mean squared sense. That is the meaning of that right? What is the meaning of this? So this means that if I take set of all this omega where xn of omega the absolute value of that is upper bounded at Y of omega that set of omega should have probability 1. It may happen that this condition is violated on some omegas where that mass is 0 for example when we have a continuous value it may happen that one point this condition may not hold but that one point may have 0 mass I do not care about such points. So that we are going to come through P. So if I have almost sure first we will check whether it implies P and once I know it implies in P then this condition will come to my rescue. So it is not like I do not have a direct route here I have to go here and if after going here further if this condition holds then I have a clear I can then say something about mean squared sense. So this also in general we do not know I mean we do not have a proper conditions like this when this is going to be true. So we only whatever we know that we have stated here under these conditions this holds but if you are going to for some reason want to use that distribution can convince in distribution implies convergence P you need to provide a proof for that. It may happen that for a specific example you have in your hand conversion distribution may be also implying convergence in distribution but you need to establish that. But if you have a case where you have conversion mean squared sense you can just say that using this proposition we stated that already implies convergence in P. The ones we have in this hard lines, this continuous lines we know and when you are using this dashed lines you have to first establish this hypothesis that that exists such a Y and for the lines which we do not have you need to provide a proof before if you want to use it at all. There is one more important property that we will just write down. It says that suppose x n converges to x in let us say limit x n converges to x in m s square or m s square or in P and I have limited x n equals to y again in mean squared s and p then it must be the case that probability that x equals to y is equals to y. What it is saying is the limits are unique up to the probability unique up to the set on which we have on the set with probability 1. So, remember in the first class in the previous class we had a simple example for a where we defined x n of omega is equals to omega to the power n. You recall that example? So, for that example we said that the limiting x is 0 on all omega or we came up with another possibility where x is 0 for all omega strictly less than 1 and x at omega 1 is 1. So, these two were both possible limits according to that definitions. But then they are equivalent in the sense that they take the same values on the space which has probability 1. For that example omega raise to n we are not defining a limit for every omega. No, because this is we already said right we are interested in unit probability space, unit interval probability space. We have restricted our probabilities on our sample space to be unit interval. Now, here I have not stated. So, those are specific examples. You can take the sequence of distributions like say they are all on the some probability space. On this probability space we are defining everything these these x n's are all defined on this. So, the last point is suppose let us say I have x n equals to y in distribution. So, let us say I have I establish that I x n converges to some random variable x in distribution and y x n converges to another random variable in again distribution then it must be the case that x and y has same distribution. Let us try to at least prove the first a and b parts which will also highlight some of the or like help us revisit some of the concepts we defined before. For example, continuity of probability and all. So, let us try to prove a. We have let us assume that x n goes to x almost surely and now we need to show that that implies x n converges in p. So, let us define a set a n equals to I have defined a set a n. Now, if I want to show my x n converges in probability what I need to show? I need to show that probability of this a n as n goes to infinity is 1 that is the definition of convergence in probability. We need to show let us try to see if we can do that. So, for that we need to construct some specific sets. So, let us define b n to be all omega x n of omega sorry k x of omega to be less than omega for all k to be equals to n. See what I have done is I have I had interested in set a n which for a given n wanted included all these omegas which satisfy this condition. Now, I have slightly refined it and defined a new set where I want this condition to hold not only for n, but for all k greater than or equals to n. So, this was a particular n. Now, I wanted to hold not only for n also for n plus 2 and all the way up to infinity. So, because of this is b n is a set which is contained in a n or other way around. So, a n is contained in which is most stringent where I am asking for more this is b n right. So, b n for not only n I want is to happen for everybody. So, it may happen that some omegas this may not happen they may drop out from this. So, because of that which one is correct? This one or other way around? Other way around this one is correct right fine. Now, let us look into this sequence of b n's. Now, I want to look at so is this sequence of b n's they are monotonically increasing or decreasing. So, if I increase n right let us say I increase n from 10 to 15 earlier I wanted everything beyond 10 to satisfy. Now, I only want everything beyond 15 to satisfy. So, it should be increasing function right because as n increases I only want smaller number of sense conditions to be satisfied. So, I will have b 1 contained in b 2 like this or b n is an increasing sequence. So, we are saying that this condition should be satisfied for all k greater than 4 to n right. And a n should be satisfied for only n. So, this is like I am looking for all this omegas which satisfy this at only n. Now, here I am looking for all this omegas not only satisfied at n, but also every point after n. So, how are we saying b n is a subset of n. So, let us say something satisfied n. Is it necessary that it satisfies at n plus 1 also? It may not satisfy at this point right. So, that point may drop out of this. So, because of that a point which may be belongs to a n that need not necessarily belong to b n. Let what we are saying here b n is going to be for all this. What is the issue here? We want this to be correct. Let us take a point. Let us say some omega belongs to a n. Can you guarantee me that that also belongs to b n? Just think about it. Are you convinced or not b n is monotonically increasing? I just said let us take n equals to 1.  This should be satisfied. Now, let us take k n equals to 10. When you have 10, you want to be satisfied only after 10. So, here compared to the first case, in the second case, you have lesser condition to check right. Yeah, I mean that is what like it could be the same. That is what our convention right. We have said that unless it is a 6 subset, then I would have written like this. Okay fine. And now, whenever I have this, I know that what is my limiting b? My limiting b is going to be union of b of n right. And what is my convention in that case? What is going to be probability of b is equals to limit as n tends to infinity probability of. So, this way I just because I have a sequence which is monotone, I could apply this continuity of probability and write it like this. Now, let us take this set. Now, let us look at all these points for time being which are going to satisfy this condition. Now, what is the doubt? Convince yourself later. He is not going to convince you. So, let us say this, I have a set of this omega which satisfies this condition. Let us take up a particular omega in this case. Now, according to the limit of this limit definition here, we know that x n omega minus x of omega is going to be greater than epsilon for some for all n greater than n equals to then n epsilon. This is true right. I have just applied the definition of the limit. If for some omega this is true, I know that that omega should also belong to this b. Is that true? Because I know that if this is the case, then for some b here, so for some bn this is already satisfied right and this is union. So, that omega should belong there. So, because of that I know that my b contains this set. So, my b contains this set. So, b is contained here. Now, let us apply probability on this bn at an. If I going to take probability of bn, this is going to be, this I know trivially holds right. Probability has to be less than 1. And what I know, now let us try to invoke what is given to me. If I let this n, I want to now show that this sequence takes the value of n right. If I can somehow argue that my lower bound also goes to 1, then I as n goes to infinity, then I know that my probability as n goes to infinity is going to be 1. That is what I need to show. Now, if I am going to apply probability on this, I know that probability of b because b is a larger set than this, it must be the case that probability of b is probability of omega limit n tends to infinity xn of omega right. Because this set is contained, sorry this left right hand side is contained in this, it must be the case that this probability is less than this. But by my hypothesis, this quantity is going to be 1 because that is the definition of almost sure convergence. Now, as I let n go to infinity, so here, so here if that is the case, I know that the probability of b is lower bounded by 1. That means probability of b is 1, it has to be 1. So and if I now let n go to infinity here, so this quantity by definition as n goes to infinity, this is going to be simply p of b which I have shown to be equal to 1. So this is going to be probability of b less than or equals to limit as n tends to infinity probability of a n less than or equals to a 1 and this I have already shown you less than or equals to 1. So that is why it must be the case that this sequence is equals to 1. So it implies that this quantity implies convergence in probability. Just also let us quickly discuss this part also, this is going to be slightly easier. Now, suppose we assume x n converges to x in the mean squared sense. What does that mean? I know that to 0 goes to 0. Now, what I want? I want to say something about this because this quantity is related to convergence in probability. So how can I write this quantity in terms of this, in terms of the expectation? So do you recall any relations we studied so far? The probability of a random variable being larger than something I could express in terms of the expected Markov inequality. So if I apply Markov inequality here, what is this going to be? What is this? The upper bound is, what did Markov inequality say? Probability that this quantity is greater than epsilon is upper bounded by expected value t of square of this divided by epsilon square. Epsilon is some constant but positive constant, however small it is. And now just apply, if I let n go to infinity by my assumption that x n is already convergence in mean squared sense, this quantity should go to what? It should go to 0, however small your denominator is. If this quantity is 0, what is this quantity as n goes to infinity? It is going to be 0 and that is exactly what is the definition of convergence in probability. So let us leave it here like this c and d, you can look into the book and you have to again go through construction of such sets, do some epsilon or delta business to get the proofs. So we will just leave it there. You can just skim through the proofs but let us make sure that we understand these results for the rest. So it is saying that convergence on p implies convergence on d and we already talked about this.


When I say, oh, if you could come up, so today, I changed the word a little bit last night. So when we ask people, take a few notes, take a little pattern, and put those back on. Is this in the word? Yes. Oh, my mother. Yes.  This one right here. Okay, one note. You can list your point to it. Yeah, but I actually wrote in here to say Karen Rose will play with candles. And then from there, if you would grab one of those moves, and just bring it down front here, and then I will talk about the ribbon leaving, and then I'll come down and join you so that people look to it. Now, are those? No, they're just leaning on the fabric. So whichever one you grab. Okay. We're only using one. Right, I just went for 90 for a little while. Oh, I see. I can't see the string. Yeah, that was my attempt to do fishing a little bit, and I couldn't even see what I was doing. And I thought people are going to have a hard time doing the ribbon. I see. One. And then when it's all done, when we went out to the people, we could just lean it right here. I'll come up and say those closing words, and make sure you stop right here. Okay. Closing invitation in one second. Wonderful. Oh, yeah, I just hope you share everything. Okay. I'm just going to go ahead. Do you know what this is? It says, do you know what this is? Oh, I like your sandwich. Sam? Oh, I just see you right here. There's the word just. Did you put it in the dishwasher? No. You just said it right here. Okay. Okay. So there's the most red. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, it was moving a little bit. I don't know. It's not going to work. Thanks to you. I thought it let's just sink in. Oops! Yeah. Now it's moving a little bit into the effort you teams are constantly making. Yeah. You guys. We really appreciate it. This is the first, and this is the south. It's going, I'm thinking. It's very, very, very cool. And we see those publishers. And they look great, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please let's all join in a few moments of centering silence. Please remain seated as we sing our in-gathering hymn, which is number 1069 in the teal hymnal. And also the words are written in your order of service. On this beautiful day, which for me in the summer is excellent because it's cool and breezy, and I love it. Welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Unitarian Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Karen Rose Gredler, and on behalf of the entire congregation, I would like to extend a special welcome to any visitors who are with us this morning.  Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service and to visit the library, which is directly across from the center doors of this auditorium. Bring your beverages and your questions. Members of our staff and lay ministry will be on hand to welcome you. You may also look for persons holding teal stoneware coffee mugs. These are FUS members knowledgeable about our faith community who will be happy to speak with you and answer any questions you have. Experienced guides are generally available to give a building tour after each service, and I do believe someone signed up to do that today, so if you would like to learn more about this sustainably designed edition or our National Landmark Meeting House across the parking lot, please meet right up here, immediately after the service, near the large glass windows on your left. I'd now like to acknowledge those individuals who help our services run smoothly. This morning for the 9 o'clock service, we have Pete Daley on sound, Tom Boykoff, and John McGevna are our lay ministers. Dorot Bergen is our greeter, and Ostrom Dorot, again Pam McMullen, are our ushers, and Chip Quadet and Helena McGiven are, and I'm butchering their last name, I'm sorry about that, are doing coffee and lemonade for us back in the kitchen, and the tour guide will be John Powell. Please note the announcements in the red floors insert to your order of service. This is the insert, and it includes upcoming events at the society and provides more information about today's activities and other interesting things that will be going on soon, so please take a look at that. Again, welcome. We hope today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. Thank you. We come together this morning to celebrate as seekers and companions. We enter into this celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day, joyfully allowing ourselves the beauty of this time together in which we may rest our cares and sorrows and allow our hearts and spirits to be uplifted. Summer solstice is one of the most ancient of human festivals. Each year it occurs on, or around June 21st, the midway point in the year when the sun is highest in the sky and the days are longer than the nights. In ancient times, people all over the northern hemisphere would celebrate with bonfires, games, and feasting. So I invite you to come into this time and this place, drink in the beauty and community that surrounds you, and become centered here and now. The solstice teaches us that darkness comes and darkness goes. The solstice teaches us that light comes and light goes. The solstice teaches us calmly, silently, to be calm, silent. The solstice teaches us that as we circle the sun, everything flies. The solstice teaches us to remember the dark, to remember the light, to remember time, the seasons, and love. May we always remember the power of love as we circle the sun. And if you will rise now in body or spirit, as we light our chalice and call in our directions. So if you will please turn to the brightening east. Spirit of the east, home of the rising sun, we welcome you this morning. We feel the embrace of spring winds stirring our minds. We hear the soft rustle of air through leaves. We feel life renewing itself again and again. Here knowledge is born on light, swift wings. We kindle this fire today in the east and invoke the spirit of air. Flow with us, wind of life. Let there be truth and knowledge. Spirit of the air, be with us. Now please turn to the blazing south. Spirit of the south, spirit of the noonday sun, we welcome you into our circle today. We feel the blast of summer wind igniting passions. We hear the sharp crackle of dancing flames. Here transformation rains. Here cleansing fires temper and renew. The sun at the noon of this majesty illuminates the world and ignites the spark of life within us all. We kindle this fire today in the south and invoke the spirit of fire. Flow with us, O flame of life. Let there be passion and inspiration. Spirit of fire be with us today. And if you will please turn to the watery west. Spirit of the west, spirit of failing light of the setting sun. We feel the caress of autumn wind awakening dreams. We hear the ebbing and flowing of the sea. Here intuition rains. Here emotion flickers in the depths of the dark springs. The well fills with the waters at the bosom of the earth. The cup overflows with deep wisdom. We kindle this fire today in the west and invoke the spirit of water. Flow within us well of life. Let there be wisdom and intuition. Spirits of the water be with us. Please turn now to the frozen north. Spirit of the north, spring of the star, strewn among the midnight sky. We feel the bite of winter wind chilling hearts and bone. We hear the crunch of snow beneath our feet. Here winter grasps the land. Here darkness rains. Dreams are born and nurtured. The seeds of peace are sown. The visions of a new world are nourished. We kindle this fire today in the north and invoke the spirit of earth. Grow within us tree of life. Let there be strength and courage. Spirits of the earth be with us tonight. And now as we light our chalice symbolizing our center, please join together in the words printed in your order of service. In this small flamed well, the beacon light of lanterns guiding travelers home, the warmth of hearth fires tended through the generations, the transforming energy of furnaces and the power and life of our sun. May these blessings, warmth and light giving energy be kindled in each of us. And before we join together in song, if you will turn and greet those around you. Please be seated. If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it. Or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is that time. The sharing of joys and sorrows is our time in the spirit of acceptance and support to share with one another some special event or circumstance that has affected your life or the life of a loved one in recent days or weeks. This is not a time for general announcements or political opinion. And as you share, please remember that our listeners are not limited to the people in this room as our service is broadcast. So for the next few minutes, anyone who wishes is invited to step to the front of the auditorium. Light a candle and using the microphone provided by Tom, our lay minister, briefly share with us your message. You may also come forward to wordlessly light a candle and return to your seat.  Tom, I would like to begin if you would light one candle for Dawn and Scott Wavra. Scott is across the street at the Veterans Hospital with pneumonia and congestive heart failure. And so we're sending our love and our strength to that family this morning. I light this candle because of a special joy and that's that my dad is better and he's with us today. This candle is for my sister, not because anything in particular is going on for her, but just because I think she has felt the absence her whole life of people lighting candles for her. I'm Jim O'Brien, I'm lighting a candle of welcome to my high school classmates who are having their reunion in Madison. It's their 65th, it's our 65th reunion. Do the math. I just want you all to know what a great group of teens we have. I just spent a week with them at Camp Friendship and they were with developmentally disabled and physically disabled campers from age 13 to 72, I think. And the compassion and gentleness that our teens showed was really amazing and I was so proud to be associated with them. This candle is for my sister who is balancing her dialysis treatments with caring for her 91-year-old mother who has been in kind of a steep decline in these last few months. Tom, if you would light one last candle for all those joys and all those sorrows that live in the fullness and the tenderness of our hearts. And if you will rise in body or spirit for our next hymn, which is number 163. It's a day comes from the Cherokee tradition. When the earth was first made, it was very dark and the animals were very afraid. One day, Bear said, I have seen light on the other side of the world but the people will not share. Perhaps we could steal some for ourselves. The others thought this was a splendid idea and started to discuss who should go first. I'll go, said Fox.  Possum tried next. He wrapped the light in his tail and he tried to drag it back but it was too hot and he dropped it and that is why no Possum has fur on his tail. Crow said, let me try and he went off to steal the light but when he got close it singed all of his beautiful feathers and he turned black. He was so afraid he ran away. Finally, grandmother Spider said, I'll go. When she reached the light she was surprised by how hot it was. She thought of a plan and began to spin and spin with her silky web. Soon she had enough for a bag. She approached the light and quick as a flash tucked the light into her bag. When she got back the animals were triumphant. Hooray for grandmother Spider, they all shouted. Grandmother Spider was happy to give them the light. We should hang the light in the sky so all can be warmed by it, she said. The other animals thought that this was a good idea but how could they get the light into the sky? I will go, said Vulture. He took the bag of light and put it on his head. It was hot but he could stand it. He flew higher and higher as the bag got hotter and hotter. He climbed higher and his feathers turned black.   At the last possible second he threw the light into the sky as hard as he could and that sun hung bright and beautiful, warming all the land as it does to this day. So each year at our winter solstice service we have the drum battle of the Holly King and the Oak King. And every year at winter solstice, as it has been, the Oak King wins the crown. And last year after the solstice, one of the kids who always plays either Holly or Oak, said to me, how come we don't ever give the Holly King a chance to win it back? And today's service was born. So we've got to give the Holly King a fighting chance today. So I invite you to enter with us into a time of myth and legend to hear the tale of two immortal brothers, twins, as alike and as different as day and night. No one knows which of the two is older. I am. Oh, I am. For both are said to have existed since the dawn of time. In frosty darkness I am born and in frosty darkness I die, only to be reborn again and again. I rule over autumn and winter, the times of harvest, of aging, of wisdom, and of rest. I am the Holly King, he of the... And I am the Oak King. In warm luminescence I am born and in warm luminescence I die, only to be reborn again and again and again. I rule over spring and summer, the times of planting, of growth, of learning, and of renewal. I am the Oak King. You already said that. Like many brothers, the Oak King and the Holly King sometimes don't get along. He calls me names. He steals my stuff. Sometimes they don't know how to share. Why should I share? I'm the king. Sometimes they even fight. Fight? He kills me every summer to steal my crown. He's planning to off me right now.  Fortunately, even the most stubborn person can learn to get along with others. I'm not stubborn.  I'll be nice, but only if he apologizes. Fortunately, even families that have been estranged for years. Centuries. Millennia. Don't correct me. For millennia cannot be reconciled. You wish. It begins with learning to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Ha! His only worth lies in the crown he gives me each summer. And man, it's so easy to take it from him. Dignity. He's about as dignified as a chimpanzee screeching for a banana. Take that back. It begins with learning to respect even those you disagree with. I respect him. And by respect, I mean loathe with the passion of a thousand sons. That was uncalled for. And once you learn to affirm each other's worth and respect one another you can work on ways to overcome your differences. We have ways. Yeah, really effective ways. My favorite begins with a trudge and ends with a thud. Ways that do not involve violence. Oh. We're going to try one of those nonviolent ways today. We are. Do I have to? Do you want to turn it where in the crown? He's just going to try to hurt me to get it. Well, it is my turn. He's not going to hurt you. He's not. I'm not. No, you're not. You're going to have a little contest. Like a duel? Or a nuclear arms race? No. You may notice behind you. There's a drum. I'm really good at drums. I like drums. You wish. Your Majesties. Okay. Please pick up your drum. Why does he get to pick his first? Because he's the incumbent. Not for long. Holly King, please pick up your drum. All right. Let's do this. Not so fast. Ours is an interdependent world. And those of us living in it should have a say in how our world is run. So I would like to ask all of you. Help me, please. Pick a team. Team Oak or team Holly. You can participate by clapping, stomping, cheering along with your chosen King. Oak King, you are the current ruler of the known universe. So your side gets to go first. We so got this. Anybody on team Oak? Now, Holly King, if you please. Follow me, my good and loyal Holly things. I think Holly has a little bit of an advantage there. So let's speed it up a little bit. Take turns. Must admit defeat. Hand over that crown, tree boy. All right. You get the crown, but only on one condition. Mortal. Yep. What condition in six months at the winter solstice. You will give your brother a chance to win it back and you will not try to hurt him to get it. Another drum battle. I couldn't go for that. Good. Now give him the crown. All right. All right. All hail the Holly King. Give the man a round of applause. Many thanks to Rob and Sam for being such good sports this morning and wearing faux greenery on their heads. Thank you. And if you will rise and body your spirit to join in our next him, which is in the teal hymnal number 1070. Please be seated. There is an ancient Slavic tale that reminds us of the power of renewal each day symbolized in the rising of the sun. The sun brings new life to those who are weary and worn and helps us to find the inner light and power within to face a new day. The story says that once a man came to the end of the world and looked around. He was very tired because he had walked from the beginning of the world and his food had run out long ago. There before him he saw a red house with curtains at the windows and smoke making a lazy trail in the sky. With hope in his heart he knocked at the door. After a moment an old woman in black opened the door. Please said the man I have walked from the beginning of the world. Please may I come inside and rest.  My daughter will be home soon she said and then we will eat. Moments later a girl in a bright scarlet dress entered the room. Her face shone with light and her smile lit up the whole house. When the man looked at her he suddenly felt renewed as though he were young again. My dear said the old woman we have a guest. This wanderer has walked from the beginning of the world. What a lot you must have seen said the girl. Her voice sounded like honey dropping from a spoon. After dinner in the warmth of the house with a full stomach the man began to grow sleepy. Seeing this the old woman showed him to a bed in the corner and as he was drifting off to sleep he saw the girl remove her scarlet dress and lie down in another part of the room. Her mother took the dress which shined with a light of its own and hung it beside the fireplace.  At once the room grew dark and the man fell into a deep sleep. Just before dawn he woke to hear the old woman singing a quiet song to the girl saying come my little son the night is growing old get up and go about your work. At once the girl rose and put on her dress suddenly the room was flooded with light and the girl was gone ever after the man spoke of the girl who lives in the red house at the end of the world and sometimes he would look up at the shakai seeing the sun riding high across the heavens and he would smile and he would wave as though he was waving to an old friend. Summer solstice is a time to think of new beginnings to delight in the rising of each new days and opportunity for new life, new ideas. It is also a time to clean out the cobwebs to get rid of things we no longer need to get rid of those stories and the thoughts that we tell ourselves that hold us back. In order to move forward it's helpful to make room for new ideas by letting go of the old. So let us take a few moments to think of those patterns or habits in our own lives that hold us back from reaching our goals those patterns or habits that we no longer want in our lives. Today we're symbolically putting an end to those habits or those stories or those thoughts that live within us making room for more positive ones to grow Karen Rose is going to light this candle to let the fire burn away the old and now we can create new intentions for moving forward. So hopefully you picked up a ribbon on your way into the service. If you didn't we have two baskets up here of ribbons. So what we'd like you to do is to think about what you would like to bring into your life and we're going to let these ribbons hold all of our wishes our intentions for this season. This is also a time to look around and notice our connections with one another. Look around at these people who hold us in our hearts during difficult times who celebrate our joys who support our own journeys. Let us realize how blessed with abundance that we truly are. Hold your ribbon in your hands pull in that wonderful summertime energy feel that brilliant sun's light shining down illuminating you warming you and your spirit as this powerful light shines down think of the wishes you have for this summer maybe you're swimming in the ocean maybe you're visiting with family or friends maybe you're starting a new project maybe you're hanging out in a backyard hammock whatever you wish take a few moments now and think about all that you want to create for your summer what are your hopes for yourself for your family for our community for the world let the light of the sun shine on our hopes let those hopes be held in the weave of these ribbons so I encourage you to come forward and weave your ribbon into our web creating a visual representation of both our hopes and our dreams and our connections in life and in community I'll be hanging these outside somewhere figure that out on Tuesday and throughout the summer the sun will shed light on our intentions while the earth will embrace and hold our wishes helping them manifest for a beautiful summer earth bring your fire and compassion of the sun into our beings so that like the sun we may shine lend us earth and water air and fire fill us with these elements these powers of creation that we may tend them because they are your garden and we may be happy and at one with you so may it be and I now invite you into the giving and receiving of today's offering in the summer months our offering goes to the continued work of the society and we thank you for your generosity and I invite you to rise embody your spirit for our closing hymn number 1067 may we be grateful this day for the spirits who joined us in our circle the earth the water the fire and the air thank you for blessing us and being with us as the wheel turns and as we have rejoiced in the strength of the light the circle is open but never broken Mary meet Mary part and Mary meet again as we leave this place may you know fully and deeply the blessings of each of your heart seasons the inward turning of winter springtime's lush renewal the effortless steady growth of summer and autumn's rich harvest may your passage from season to season be blessed eased by hands to hold and by the light of love to guide you on blessed be go in peace and please be seated for the postlude


My topic this morning is not a happy one it is my belief that the libertarian movement has a destructive pro-war pro-imperial fifth column and Some of this goes back a long time. I Remember a good many libertarians early on Who said that they believed in all the libertarian positions except with respect to a non-interventionist foreign policy and That attitude has been especially prevalent today among European libertarians Who slavishly endorse u.s. global leadership and these Example they believe NATO should not only exist forever, but it should expand and even become a global force you find so many of those kinds of hawkish pro-imperial libertarians endorsing the US led proxy war in Ukraine today now to them For a non-interventionist foreign policy is at best a Luxury option They can choose to adopt it or they can choose to adopt a much more hawkish policy. I would argue that as a fundamental error That Foreign policy avoiding war avoiding needless interventions is Not only a crucial issue. It is the most crucial issue As Randolph Bourne observed more than a century ago war is the health of the state and indeed So many government abuses so many expansion of government power have taken place because of our foreign policy because of involvement in wars and constant preparation for wars and The logic in that I think is unassailable The requirements of an imperial foreign policy are fairly simple you can't run a global empire on the cheap You can't do it. It requires high taxes It requires pervasive regulations all of course in the name of national security It leads to a powerful excessively powerful executive That is the origin of the imperial presidency that we're now dealing with That has so eclipsed the legislative branch and The judicial branch in terms of power It leads to pervasive secrecy Everything gets classified, you know, we have now nearly two billion classified documents all to protect back sides within the bureaucracy and to make it difficult for Critics to monitor what the government is doing We have spying and so many other abuses of civil liberties domestic spying not as It was sold to the American people with the creation of the CIA in 1947 To monitor possible foreign threats and deal with that Too many libertarians that come to government propaganda on foreign policy, especially on issues of war and peace so they fall for the hyped threats and the terrible crisis of the day And so many of them are bought into the slogan we must defend freedom and democracy And they don't mean in the United States. They mean around the world The reaction to the Ukraine war I think illustrates the problem Students for Liberty put numerous articles on an their website with respect to that topic More than half a dozen in just the first couple months All of them Endure strong support for Ukraine some even hinted and rather hinted Quite clearly About the need for Western military intervention No opposing pieces were published during that period. I am most familiar with the problem of the pro-war pro-imperial fifth column During my years at the Cato Institute Cato started out being staunchly non-interventionist and it was That at the time that I joined the Institute in 1985 anyone who argued even that Well, NATO may have been useful when it was created but has Outlived its exist its usefulness That was regarded as a horribly squishy position even if one Wanted to argue that the Europeans were now fully capable of providing for their own defense But it's gotten a lot worse in recent years For one thing the Institute clearly is de-deemphasizing Defense and foreign policy. I have a couple of examples of of that in 2017 for the 40th anniversary of the Institute's founding They produced a video About a 20-minute video on the work of the Institute and what it had accomplished over the years fine Defense and foreign policy got about 45 seconds in that 20-minute video and All of that was devoted to our work against conscription which Let's be blunt was not exactly a front burner issue in 2017 Nothing about Iraq Nothing about Syria nothing about Libya nothing about the Balkan Wars Which we had vehemently opposed and yet That wasn't considered very important Or recently a few years ago The foreign and defense policy program was downgraded within the bureaucratic chart Where it once had a vice president in charge of Those two specific programs that was now put under a new vice president as one of five programs including immigration trade and so on So again a luxury option that was clearly the message the Development that has worried me the most is the Institute's surprisingly militant anti Russia stance with regard to the Ukraine War The initial Statement put out by the defense and foreign policy department about three days after the Russian invasion Russia's invasion is in contravention of international law and shows a flagrant disregard for the truth sanctions focused on the Russian state are justified and the only reason that the phrase on the Russian state was included was because I Gave a screaming fit when I saw the original version and made absolutely no distinction It was just a blanket endorsement of sanctions I have argued for years and so many others including other skater skaters scholars have argued that sanctions are both cruel and ineffectual They're cruel because they victimize innocent people in the target country and they're utterly ineffectual and Research has shown this quite clearly in Compelling the regime to do what the US government wants it to do And yet here you have an Institute Supposedly libertarian endorsing that kind of policy worse than that we've now seen several Kato scholars in Dors both economic and military aid Ukraine They simply quibble about The extent of the military aid Javelin anti-tank weapons fine F-16 is probably not and then you debate about the Range of destructive weapons in between now fortunately the Institute and its scholars continue to oppose direct to US military intervention but They've largely embraced the current proxy war Which has been a horribly cruel to the people of Ukraine especially and to the people of Russia Going back to sanctions. I mean you have sanctions. So you put a 50 year old shopkeeper Who sells nesting dolls in st. Petersburg out of business? Because cruise ships are forbidden to stop there Great. So what have you accomplished? That's going to compel Vladimir Putin to withdraw forces from Ukraine Apparently, that's the logic. That's the logic of sanctions. That's the logic now embraced That by a good many people at the Kato Institute. I could go into detail about Statements made by Kato scholars Cultural studies fellow Kathy young for example who I Here is now left the Institute Which is a good thing for the Institute Said in the May 20 2023 issue of reason magazine that Ukraine's liberal democracy deserves USAID Ukraine has already paid its dues as a would-be Liberal democracy unless one buys into the Kremlin narratives about the 2014 US sponsored coup used in quotes It is clear that Ukrainians have Collectively cast their lot with liberty anybody who's studying what's going on in Ukraine today Knows that that is utterly utterly false Vice-president for international affairs Ian Vasquez the person who now supervises defense and foreign policy and for other areas republished an article in February 2023 That he had written shortly following Ukraine's Maiden revolution That statement that article Absolutely embraced the theory that this was a spontaneous revolution The United States and the other Western powers had nothing to do with it. It was an expression of Ukrainian distaste for the the elected president and a Statement of liberty That could have just been easily written by the US State Department There I don't think you'd find any daylight because that was the official US government account. It is also Thoroughly misleading senior fellow Tom Palmer in a May 2022 speech before Students for Liberty Embraced nearly every talking point About the Ukraine war put out by the State Department and the CIA Even denied that NATO expansion into Russia's immediate neighborhood into Turning Ukraine into a NATO military asset played any role in the Kremlin's decision to launch the invasion of February of 2022 Absolutely denied that that was that was echoing Russian propaganda Well, unfortunately for him NATO Secretary General just came clean on that admitting that the Russian military response was at least in large part a Response to an ever larger NATO Getting ever closer to the Russian border. So I I hope that Mr. Palmer Engages with Secretary General Yen Stoltenberg and Tells him how he was wrong like clearly NATO did not play any role in this I hate to say it, but Some of this goes back as far as the Persian Gulf War Palmer and even more so vice president Brink Lindsay and Vice President Jerry Taylor all Embraced the need to go to war with with Iraq Absolutely essential couldn't avoid it that Was certainly distressing coming from the Kato Institute in any way sure you perform But they spent far more of their time attacking anybody who opposed Going to war including their own colleagues. He took the non-interventionist position and That created an impression Valid one that Kato was divided on the issue of non-interventionism in this case that Shows a lack of commitment to a central principle of libertarianism As I said at the beginning you cannot Be a lip they an Imperial libertarian you cannot Embrace a policy of u.s. Military intervention around the world and hope to have a small Constitutional government at home that will not last it cannot last With friends like these I would argue the Liberty Movement doesn't need any enemies Foreign policy is not a luxury option So-called libertarians who embrace American Empire Undermine the cause of freedom at home and around the world We should call them what they really are Imperial apologists and pro-war fifth columnists Thank you very much


Welcome back to the breakfast. Well, it's time for a hot topic and today we'll be having one hot topic one very hot topic And we have as a guest to discuss this very hot topic Mr. Abraham great public affairs analysts is joining us from Canada. Good morning, Mr. Great Good morning to you. Thank you for having me once again. How are you doing? I'm actually fantastic. It is working. Oh good I'm just I'm just playing around with your your your name. It's great to have great on the program So it's great. It's great to have great on the program today Welcome. It's also great to be with you. Yes, so Mr. Great 19 days from now we'll be having a new president in Abuja and that's I made petitions at the presidential election tribunals What should Nigerians be expecting is one of the things we'll be taking a look at today also We want to be taking a look at the impact and changes that electoral art 2022 has brought to our polity and democracy So let's start with the impact and the changes that this new electoral at the amended electoral art has brought to the to the fore this time around I think Well, I would think one of the major premise of the uh, or what necessitated the uh amendment of the electoral act which has led to the uh 2022 electoral act Is the digitalization of our voting voting system? That's why we had to upgrade from the electoral act of 2010 into the electoral act of 2022 Now, um, we have made a lot of progress in terms of legislature and, you know, uh You know, um policies Under the ninth assembly particularly towards the end of the administration a lot of progress is made because every country That is going to move forward to actually have policies that are in invoke You know policies that are current or policies that you know meet the needs of those people However, saying that we still see from the aftermath of the election that there are, you know, lakuna. So there are there are no old still even in that uh electoral act particularly for me the sessions that has to do with uh, you know consequences of election mark practices like looking from Session 126, you know that word there it seems to be consequences But for me a lot of those consequences seems just repeated from the previous electoral act Or, you know, not really serious repercussion 500 000 for somebody You know, uh, that bridge election or election laws, you know, those seems to me not to be stringent You know, uh policy enough, but again these give rooms this last election give rooms again, uh for the legislature to look into the electoral act So For me, I see a lot of progress that have been made In having a new electoral act However, you could see the big gap of what we had particularly with this session 134 of that electoral act Where we're having is it in conjunction? Is it these? Is it that even though there are case laws That, you know, can justify one position or the other, you know the The the the the electoral act needed to be more explicit, you know, I would have interpreted that session to mean that By by the by the by that policy Saying in one subsection that you make 25 percent in, you know, two-third of the state and the fct I would have thought, you know, but that is not a final because we'll wait for the court to Interpret as as needed. But from my own Legal background, I would have thought that if fct was so important Then it will reflect on the Nigerian constitution that Abuja has a special electoral college status But because Nigeria does not have such status in any part of the country, you know Carrying more weight than the order Then if that was at the be the case, my simple interpretation was that instead of it to be an addendum or a joiner or a Conjunction to a subsection of the law. It would have been 134c rather than be part of b So but then I am not the judge and I'm not I don't have that legal You know Fine Finalism or so to determine what the interpretation of that laws is but literally to mean the law That is what it would mean, you know Okay, well still talking about the effect of this electoral act and one of it is the electronic transmission of results Let's look at the the ruling the judgment that was given yesterday by the supreme court In the ocean states governorship election where part of what was said is that the transmission of results via beavers Is not the only way to decide a winner Respond to that for us if you want Okay, so I mean that judgment actually excites me or probably would excite my mom As you know a relative Is is is you know celebrating and dancing now And you know is one that I I'm not really fully read the I was just following twitter feeds Because because of the fact that I know that a little bit Is so concerning to my mom I didn't want to go into it emotionally and think you know, we should be celebrating victory But it's a very very important Residence that has been laid yesterday and then here the interpretation for me is in the same alignment with what I've thought Since that election tribunal started and what I think the law is saying or what the supreme court is saying is that look It is not irf that gives the final results of what election is the final result of the election Are supposed to be under beavers And what that judgment is saying in my understanding of it even though I've you know, I've not looked at it pedantically Is that look election results are already collated from each polling unit To the collation centers and that You know party agents And party representatives Already have those results And so if we are going to take anything in the court We will be relying more on the beavers what on the beavers They are credited votes on the beavers rather relying on the irif I don't know if you understand what i'm saying. So that is a very powerful judgment that could mean a very serious precedence for the Upcoming election, but in law you cannot interpret literally and just think because one case has been Decided in this way, you know, it's definitely going to be that way Then we don't need to go to court then if we all have the answers already But this gives us room to study that case a lot more And you know, I wouldn't expect anything because I think already we can see the direction that the presidential election Petitions are already going as well. Okay, but how would you Say how would you rate? How much these Electoral acts which you are applauding as the game changer in this 2023 election How will you say it has worked? Is it playing out the way you hoped it was going to play out or there's something else that is missing because If there is no difference between this election that happened in 2023 with the electoral act of 2022 From what has been happening before now, then it makes no sense So how would you rate the performance as it were of the electoral act in the 2023 election? Both presidential and gubernatorial elections Like I said, I don't think it's a perfect act yet Uh, because there are still you know, there are still rooms for a lot of improvement Well, one big thing that these are you know Exchange in the like Nigerian electoral system is one major problem that we have had since 1959 Which is the ambiguity around our sensors have voting numbers from different region in the country In that in this case now, even though it has started since 2004 2015 election, we have now seen electronic voting to be a more a small Conquential to the outcome of our election. So you see example for example, you know We have about 90,000 or 90 million plus voters and right now is the first election in Nigeria I mean the lowest turnout now that is only not only because people did not come out There are a lot of ambiguity that has been complained of since 1959 Sensors that the british can conducted before we had the independence So it has always appears that there are some ambiguous numbers that comes from setting uh quarters Of the country that this last election seems to be telling us In fact, if you are looking at it, literally it's very difficult for you to assume And think that apc played a game and they rigged up the way the dynamics of this election It is too peculiar for you to just blanket unless you have actually been emotional for you just to be saying Oh, they rigged it. What have you it doesn't appear so it appeared to be an a very very real Maybe there are some suppression or what have you in areas, you know all over the world people do things they Propaganda they push an area. They in fact in some cases they cost traffic. It happens everywhere in the world. So For me, it's not a finer, you know, uh document, but it has made a huge difference Okay, uh, we understand that liberals of summer has just joined us. Uh, good morning, mr. Osama Yeah, I can hear you. Okay. Very good. Good morning to you Osama Yes, I corrected it a second time. Osama. Okay. Um, well, uh, let's start from From uh, Oshoon state a delicacy has been declared by the supreme court as the authentic winner of that election And then there are some things that came out of that. We're just discussing With uh, ibrahim great right now What pronouncements were made we hear or we understand that one of the things that were was was said was that, um Uh elections do not have to be The vivas is not the only means is not the only means. Yeah, the results can be declared beautiful. So What do you see let me not even say that some people feel That this is just a pointer to what they The possible outcome of the presidential elections petitions Is going to be what is your response to that? Yeah, uh, quickly let's start from um, the representative the council that I do this map up if you look at um the theme of um, uh, what do you call it? a delicate A delicate steam Is uh almost replicated in obi and article steam And so you wonder the argument can burst at um By adi tribuna in osho By this same team They would be conversing the opposites of that argument at the presidential election So these are pointers. So we understand the basics And then um Oh, yeah, the last team Is also almost replicated in Uh, to the boost the apc The presidential candidates team at the presidential election. So the argument can burst In osho, they'll be conversing the opposite of it And so that's why you know when you say a pointer, you know, and then the pronouncement of the tribunal Are elementary issues that you know, we have been blinded by sentiment too Um The electoral act is very clear Which I make had consistently repeated on um How election results are collated and announced So even though Um, a lot of people had consistently maintained. Ah, no the moment diverse was introduced Every other process should be jettison the electoral acts did not Jettison all other processes what the electoral act simply did was to compliment The manual process with an electronic process even in america in america There is no system that is completely electronic. They still also, you know have million dollars You know and all of that. So that's basically what the supreme court had that re-interrated and also to add to that um the issues of Before now Electoral act election practices had been proved Pulling units by pulling units and also The discrepancies in elections also the supreme court had re-interrated That you do the onus of proof Is on the petitioner and not on the defense To establish that irregularities were not there or that they were there So what the petitioner did in our show case in case she was to rely happily on the results Completing results from the iran If you remember in that matter the reports from The iran that was Issued to the apc candidate was different from the report That iran attacked to the acclaim to that defense And also different from the reports that was attacked to the PDP Depends and so the courts in his opinion said look The audience is still on you with the petitioner to prove this irregularity and not to resort To the discrepancies in those reports And if you remember even at the open court tribunal at the tribunal The beaver's machine that were used that were deployed in that election were examined And tallied with the number of actual voters as a gift the report of the iran And so the court in his opinion i said look you cannot pick one and And whether at discrepancies sorry that whether at discrepancies The primary source of the evidence which is the beaver's machine Should be resorted to and it was resorted to and that The outcome for the court had relied on and also the court also had not completely because the provisions are very clear that the Voters who register consistent is a document that you must reckon with in all elections That's why they found that i think section 27 had said that The overvoting it's when the number of accredited voters Number of accredited voters number of actual voters is more than the number of accredited voters by the beavers But the the electorate have also Clearly stated That you must also reckon these numbers with the number of the actual of the Register voters are stated in the register. So all of these Are what you must reckon with in determining the actual voters and overbooting And so that's basically what the courts have them and decided and and and so it's a Welcome development. It's working progress and what that also should tell us is that it is not just enough for us to amend our laws It is also very germane for us To also put machineries in place to ensure the smooth administration of that law Thank you, mr. Libera. So shama.  Well, I've been told that another guest has joined us justice Human rights lawyer has joined the conversation. Good morning, mr. Joe. Uh, who able? All right. Well, we're going to be talking to you mostly about the situation In the south east and how they are playing their politics there Oh, honey is indeed worldwide has called for the revival of the Igbo governor's forum Why have There not been a forum such as that active in that region I would say that It is the same policies people have been playing all this while and the game is this tribalistic and regional sentiment of human governance forum And And that is one of the reasons why we're not being petrified yet And especially when you even talk about it was the Igbo governor's forum You know, I do admit that some of them are in a some of them are in pity And we have a situation in Nigeria We are once you belong to a political party and another person belongs to a political party They see themselves as enemies when it comes to press input To play the game when it comes to giving dividends of democracy to the people when it comes to Them enjoying themselves and attending functions. They become one So I think they are just the impolites with the head of the people But people some would say that Indi Igbo not coming together uniting as one Having a common Political front so to speak not having a political party You know what I mean having some sort of unity amongst them, especially the leaders is the bane of development in that era They are not developing well as they showed as a section Of this country. They are not you cannot see Especially now that the APC is Putting together their principal officers. The Igbo's are not seem to be Given any kind of relevance How does that strike you as an Igbo person? Yeah, for me, I think it's an issue of Individual understanding and the selfishness because um, you cannot tell me that because you're a member of PDP And this is a member of APC And this is a member of ABDA or member of level party that you push should not walk together in order to make sure That the well-being of the people especially in that region Is first and foremost in your mind. Let me give you an example for example One for your show was the uh, governor of it is the first show was governor on that The first show was also attending functions called by Uh by the euro bars and we are other governors from APC. We attend them and first show was also Do one or two things for this thing not my name that is from PDP party and others So I think uh Yes, I you might be a little bit right that the Igbo's are not united or something like that But I have to tell you that is out of self-respect because this is the only region where I see When people come together as a people they not something about personal interest and personal again Because I don't see anything any reason why it should be so. Let me give you a typical example I once attended the forum of the ebos. I I gave them a piece of advice that we don't need further government to dress even either for us We don't need further government to build the second neither bridge for us The ebos people governors can come together and you know, contribute and do it or even invite a multinational company I have national identity lego state. So what are we talking about today? When first on that level is he lego state that he's sleeping is he first on that he's sleeping the food or or lego shell So he's a team of selfish input as far as I'm concerned Let me bring in, uh, mr. Loveros or shama mr. Loveros or shama Yeah, I can hear you.  Let's have your thought on it Yeah, uh, first and foremost, I want to say that this call also is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria can only survive on region this idea of having you know a behemoth called the federal government um And they believe that the federal government will do everything For us. It's an aberration like the misplace priority the federal government Can only do the limited it has consistently done The only way we can develop as a people is if we go back to our return And that's why you'll find that that even among lawyers you have the headway Or more what you could you call them a day? Uh, uh, a behemoth which is a the western lawyers body You have the eastern One of the eastern Block you have the midwestern region and all of that these are ways countries are consistently have developed And I'm so I also welcome the idea of having the not just Um, uh, what do you call it? The sultan governor's forum, but also having the eastern governor's forum the western governor's forum You know and all of that but it shouldn't be for jamboree or for cake sharing It should be for development. I have consistently talked about abbia state for example And how Governors has taken back, you know, waters in that place And also this issue of sit at home in in the entire eastern region for example Have consistently undermined business development in those places. I used to go to oweri a lot Even though I'm not from there. I I have a lot of friends from there I used to go to worry, but when the insecurity started I stopped going because um, you know This sit at home and all of that has a way of hospital, you know On the mining business activities and nobody there talked about it. And now I'm coming to the issue of development and the power sharing it is Not a novel thing the way politics is played in Nigeria that the winner always want to take it all Um going by the last election. We also know where the Vote from the east went to and so it is also Jamil for people who gave vote a piece to say look We should get positions first than areas that didn't give them vote This is where people talk about not putting all your eggs in one basket In 2015 it happened Uh, also it is happening now. I think it also happened to the west in um 2011 2011 up to 2015 Where the euro bus complained that they didn't even though they frustrated The effort of the pdp led government then to appoint or to gift The west um its speakership of the house of assembly and the person of monica's uh, But they also complained, but what did they do when they complained the governor and created an alliance Which you know some political parties from the nut and a slice from the east to fund the apc and the one election So so this should also be a wake-up call for politicians from the east and like justice has said Not just for selfish reasons not for ban tasks or not for sharing money But for the development of the entire eastern region and then once you start Once you begin to showcase You know a good governor naturally people will gravitate to Like it happened in lego. I can tell people for sure that it is the activities of fashion in legos That made people saw the spn As an as a credible alternative That was what even led to the shaman left government the firemen a kitty and subsequently the arabish alliance you know because Facialized administration was held by almost everybody as something different and and new from what the pdp government was then I hope and i pray that um Somebody like my very good friend them the elected governor Governor elect in abia state um uh, alexo team We use that as a As a Step things don't to kick start the development in abia and then use that opportunity to showcase You know a brand new country and a brand new style of policy Okay, uh, let me go to a ibrahim great. You have been waiting for a very long time We are talking about a new era. We're talking about a new psyche for the nigerian people, but Having a new era new psyche for our people They need to know the things that they they can contribute as well to making nigeria great Because we've been relying on the government all the time So for us to get the kind of nigeria of our dream ask the people not necessarily the government now What do you think we should start looking at? To change or to do better to make nigeria as great as we want it to be Uh, thank you. I think i'll take it from the last couple of years that my uh co-panelists are you know debating in terms of How the east you know placed the election We have to be able to understand that we need to Uh redefine our beginning, you know almost like 1999 Was a new beginning the fourth republic, but we have to go back to Why are we in this way where the east you know are voting in their own way and what have you We have to go back to the fact that This country was regional before it was put together before the armagamation So the the differences we haven't really sought out the the the issue of our differences And we saw that through the system of governance that we had before the uh before the independence the unitary system We saw that in the kind of politics that in amdiasic way, you know, I won't know what I would all Suggesting before we went for the federal system that we should have six regions That's what we're doing now, you know, uh in terms of how we describe our area south south south east southwest And the man was suggesting at a time that look let's make this country more like a parliamentary system Where each of the region will be like scotland, eagle, england, northern ireland And each of them will have their own constitution or unwritten constitution and will operate by their own courts Now that is again at the back end of what happened in the 1960s the war So the southeast have not fully recovered from this and i'm going to say it is that if we're going to be better As a nation there has to be uh, uh, uh, there has to be a committee of national unity Almost similar to what we have in the comfort, but the comfort was Hello Yes, hold on let him finish then you you respond to what he said No, no, just a side comment. I'm not Sorry Okay, okay, so I'll let others weigh in but my my belief is that I mean it is very possible. America had this for for many decades Where the east is having problem with the south and power never went to the south for I mean considerable number of years, but we're eventually able to overcome this then by You know having dialogues having cacuses cacuses discussing issue the south the east the west The north would need to come together at some point and rethink and each region Elders need to come together and say how we play politics needs to change If there's anything that I learned, you know from some part of the country Is the fact that you see that many part of the country like the western part of the country The little of the history that I know there they've had several wars They've had many wars that have separated them But at some point they have come together as a unit that you almost could not tell the difference between a kitty And uh and us you and what have you I mean I grew up that way either is religion or what have you You see that we are both christian and muslim in this family But we're still one Even though we still have a war in that part of the uh in the southwest That's the mudaka care and the labor war, but that is also more political So I think we can actually come to the point where the every part of the country can begin to see each other As one nation I think it is possible when we decide to do that So our mindset needs to change that's one area that we need to and if on a final note if I may say One other area that we need to change is that we need to come to this Mindset or come up the mindset where we think that government should do everything I blame government that they have not even attained the main thing yet According to mind slow hierarchy of need where the physiological need in the country is not even met yet So I cannot understand why people are overly reliant But at some point we need to break up from our dependency On most of which local government state government should do and expecting that is a president that most Fix every problem in uh in the country We need to go back to america and remember what they did when we were in poverty The tycoons people like uh jc mogan people like john dirac kefela These people started industry and this has already begun in nigeria And we need to change our mindset and see that we're on a trajectory into something big as a nation A huge lack of social capital is a major problem we're having in the country Let me take you go back to justice uhebu How would you suggest that we'll build social capital in this country? 62 years after india There are something I keep on saying every time sincerity of And that is what I don't see in our so called industry day Because if going by Our history since independence and we are still here now talking every day I keep on wondering Why we were in school in economies who we have talked about what we call a lot of geometric Progression and a lot of diminishing return and I believe every naive young will agree with me today That what we're experiencing in this country is diminishing return and we're not progress We're not we're not going up at all in year in year out. Okay. Look at it every four years We conduct a nation is one or the other from the umpire They are we are not growing rather we are going down But every day they go outside we come here and talk we say everything We see all these things and nobody wants to do the right And why because of selfishness and impunity because the executive itself has almost taken Every thing feeling that nothing will happen. And actually nothing will happen. Nobody's talking about development Nobody's talking about infrastructure. Nobody's talking about education. Nobody's talking about anything Just like my friends say we we need to redefine ourselves and agree at this thing The only thing that can save this country is regional government and if we cannot walk Let us see a way to go about this It's not a do or die affair that everybody should be together in the first place If it's not working, we should look for something to do. We should at this point begin to tell ourselves The truth my friend was talking about America and do you remember that did I just say you're referring to every state? That is your laws and they are operating with that but in Nigeria Who is there anything like that people are always looking at the federal government because the federal government is Thanks, everything they give little to the people look at what we're talking about today Today we were talking at the betting about local government autonomy Are we supposed to be talking about that? today the federal government Sends money to the state and the state sends to local government and look at the states hijack the money and give the local government a little Forgetting that these are even the people that are close to the the government Our family that is close to the people was he like this before? The legacy of the national wasn't like this and all the way So we got all the same because we now have selfish people and wicked people in policies That's as that place to believe that everybody now is acquiring acquiring acquiring that is just what is happening to us today Okay, well the implementation of critical microeconomic and structural policy reforms By the newly elected government can place the economy on a stronger and more sustainable path The questions now are what are these critical microeconomic Structures and policies that this new government Should put in place to move this country forward because whether we like it or not. We are One as it is and But what do we do going forward as we look at this issue of expectations from the new government? Let me start with you a liberals Yeah First and foremost, let me say here that Um, I do not agree that we need a government of national unity or a national forum or whatever And so that I was laughing at I want to decide with my brother that um If you do your own bit and I do my own Government we grow organically And so that's why I believe that the problem of Nigeria is Nigerians Not even governments Nigeria's because everybody in government today Was once critical previous governments Actually lie Mohammed. I remember how vociferous he was. You know, how things can be done better I remember first us KMO I remember Ruben Abbasi I can name con names for you even people like Good luck Jonathan when they probably were not government. They knew how government should run people like Bola met in Ubu today even Or the president Buhari when he was not in government. He knew how government should run But the moment he stepped in and every Nigerian knows how government should be Until you give them my opportunity. Just give it Nigerian small uniform small uniform You begin over here. Do you know who I am? you know so Dare to hire an artisan artisan To fix your book for you a book that is sold for Maybe 200 and I will come back and tell you guys 500 and I changed the cost for market so That is the problem. That's the attitude as a mentality. So that person gets into government office He continued with that mentality forgetting that he was once critical So what do we need all these macroeconomics microeconomics and all of these are jaguars If the right structure is not in place Where Bola met in Ubu and the APC team were in FPM As justice is there. We were both sympathetic to the ideas and the ideologies that they can burst Then how government should run how we should ensure that government at the local level, which is the the um Machinery that should Gavanize the people Should be put in place and that once the governance is the structure of governance is right Every other thing cannot begin to the we cannot begin to put everything in place You cannot have a behemoth called the federal governments Who operate as a local government? in large Mass like Nigeria and I expect that you will touch every nook and cranny. It is not possible So and that's why all these macro macroeconomics who are going to be the drivers Remember, let me take your mind back why it will fail if the structure is not addressed APC Buhari administration said they were going to create a job in a seven hundred and seventy Seven local governments Seven hundred and seventy seven thousand jobs per annum And first us k amu minister for state for labor came up with the whip barrel Um, what do you call it job creation? And at the end of the day it ended up as It started people said it was from some persons just used it as a platform To make money for themselves. Do you know why? Because it wasn't driven by the local You don't need to have a federal government's job Creation at that level once the structure is right the local governments will begin to create jobs I am I just came back from from canada. I was in the state of ontario You do not need You're practicing law in the state of ontario. You don't need to go and pay license in abata For you to practice in ontario. If you pay license in abata, you practice law in abata So it's the same thing The state of ontario provides for the people in ontario. It is the same thing with america So here we are talking about in nigeria Where the federal government wants to provide for arugungu local government in so koto wants to provide for Esa concentra local government in ando wants to provide for aggregate local government in in Lagos wants to provide for In in calabar same time provide for What about the local government in belway? It is not possible It is the people in a body boat that understands that peculiarity what they need Might not be what demand in anek better in esa concentra needs So that's why what we need is to ensure that people That have consistently clamor and campaign for a restructuring of this country and now are the ends of affair I had expected that it would begin to discuss a total overhauling of our structure at the petty structure For that governments can be put in the right perspective can be pigeonholed so that I don't need To go to abuja to begin to look for the dividends of democracy I don't need to wait for minister for walks to turn the road in a movie that takes that goes from a movie to a half year in Arochuku in abuja state the people and the government in that place Understands it feel the pain and know when to do it until we do that all this and that's where The funds using those places will be localized and local business activities will try But when you're waiting for federal government presence, they start from so koto the people in Abia we complain you start from belway the people in calabar will complain You start from Lagos does it not should we complain? So that's why let's government share its weights And rep distribute these responsibilities and then those of us who are a critical government cannot begin to look at them, you know local government by local government and not to begin to consistently look at The president with that who becomes with the emphasize who becomes the president and look more at who become a governor Becomes a local government chairman who becomes a councilor and then touch them on dividends of democracy properly Until we do all of this my brother my my sister Who will just be deceiving herself on macroeconomic macroeconomics and you know, nothing will move But so that it does not look as if I avoided your question What we need to do now first and foremost what are these dividends of macroeconomics the basic What do you call it? Pools that will drive economy. Let us speak If you fix for example, the smallest businesses in Nigeria run some power. Let us also Begin to respond Or Where the price of the petroleum product is dependent on one federal government having to fix or Give subsidy you cannot drive production that way now. Everybody's going to China to produce We need to bring down those local production And then begin those are the small smallest of the indices that will drive your macroeconomy I wish we had more time to discuss all this But one thing we have all agreed upon is that we need a revamp Of but our thinking and the way that we do things in Nigeria and we do hope that that will come to be And well, who else to drive this process than the people themselves? And we're hoping that Nigerians will stand up to their responsibility Hold the leaders accountable and then suggest the things that need to be done And also show working as we say in Nigeria. I'd like to thank you gentlemen for coming on the program Ibrahim great public affairs analyst Who is talking with us from? Canada right now and just is a hua bu human rights lawyer talking with us from abuja We also have had liberos or shoma legal practitioner talking to us here from Lagos. Thank you gentlemen for coming on the show Thank you for having me. Thank you So we'll take a short break now and when we return we'll take a peek into the world of sports. Stay with us