Hello and welcome to whatever this is. So I've been missing for a couple of weeks, and what do we have? Well, apparently the biggest attack on Linux I've ever seen, and somebody's entire home folder got deleted after downloading a global theme. Complete and utter chaos. Great. So let's start right away with the global theme thing, since it's the closer to kitty and I know more of it. Firstly, how? Just how could something like this have happened? Well, most themes on the kitty store are actually not just themes, like the color scheme is just a file with a lot of colors and the plasma theme is a folder with a lot of SVGs and so on. However, some themes require to change the behavior of the components too. Take the login animation theme. That one needs to be able to set a custom animation, and then there's the SDDM theme to customize the login screen, which also might want to move things around a bit. All of that, which requires changes to the behavior of components, is usually implemented via QML files, which is a markup language that uses JavaScript under the hood. Which runs code? Of course, it's not just about the themes. Widgets are another example of something that necessarily has to run code. The main difference is that you know we just can run code, but you don't really know that themes do too. Finally, we have global themes. Most people think of those as a sort of collection of different specific themes, like a plasma theme and a color scheme and a cursor theme and so on. But truly, they can be much more complex than that. Kitty Plasma is extremely modular under the hood, and global themes are allowed to use that modularity, however they want, and much more than you would expect. You shouldn't be surprised if they were even able to replace your entire desktop with some custom component. So, necessarily, they run code as well, mostly through QML, so what happened? Well, it seems like the theme on the store had some JavaScript code to handle a temporary config folder. This folder would be then deleted, maybe after installation. The directory of this config folder is specified in a file in a theme, and everything was fine. However, someone decided, someone else decided to fork that theme, and accidentally, they did not set a new config directory. Thus, the code that handled the config directory said, hey, let's just delete the config directory, and according to our file, the config directory is set to nothing. So let's just wipe out the home folder, yeah. It's not the first time such a mistake is made, even from reviewed packages from your distributions. Another important incident was this theme client, which, again, through a badly guarded RM command, accidentally deleted all user data under certain circumstances. The faulty global theme has been removed within hours, and it was a recent theme with very few actual installs. The KD store is up and running since something like 10 years ago, at least, and this is the first time something like this happens. Please note that you can still absolutely download safely color schemes, plasma themes, cursor themes, and more, since those do not run any code. And that by simply checking for a few genuine reviews of global themes, you can still safely install those two. Still, this shouldn't have happened. Discussion immediately began on how to address this and make sure that it never happens again. Firstly, the warning message. Whenever you enter the store in KD Plasma, there's a bit of a little message at the top that tells you, hey, all of this content comes from users like you, and it was interviewed by your distra, so be careful. It's pretty clear that this message can work for Plasma theme, where a bad theme could make your desktop ugly or even unusable, but global themes running arbitrary code, that's not enough. KD Dell developers have immediately added a new property, sorry, distinguishing the safe and unsafe store sections, and they have implemented new warning messages, much more noticeable and much more clear about the fact that, yes, underviewed code is being run. Secondly, there's active efforts by Marco, I think, in making sure that the global themes won't be able to run arbitrary code. This would mean losing a lot of cool functionalities, like SDDM themes and widgets, but for global themes, of course. But you can still install those extra carefully by yourself instead of being part of the global theme. This way global themes would become a safe category on the store as well. The lock screen is already out, and that was probably one of the most dangerous components, and more might be removed in the future. Thirdly, when you click on apply after selecting a global theme, there's a dialogue that asks you, hey, which components exactly would you like to apply? And you can choose. Well, we would like to add a clear warning message telling you which components are safe to apply and which ones currently run arbitrary code. The latter would probably be unticked by default, thus giving you the option to select them if you want, but still preserving a safe install out of the box. And fourth, the KT Store dialogue in KT Plasma currently gives you all the content sorted by the most recent. This is cool because you see different themes and widgets every time you open it, but also probably we should display the themes and widgets with the most downloads or the highest rating first. This way, the themes that you are most likely to click are also the safest ones. By the way, here's an entire discussion, no, sorry, by the way, there's an entire discussion that could be about how the store manages the ratings, but we don't have time for that right now. And finally, there's the long-term big deal. Can we actually review manually all of the content submitted to the KT Store? At least the potentially dangerous one. This is a big question and I would like to apologize, because I initially thought this was completely impossible and even strongly argued against it in Brody Robertson videos about this in the comments. And however, other KT developers have the opinion that this is currently feasible, and let's see what it would take. So firstly, it would still, I think, be impossible to review all the current theme and widgets on the store. However, most of them are Plasma 5 widgets and what we could do is to hide all widgets or themes and ask them to resubmit them with Plasma 6 as the goal platform, and we could start looking into the already ported Plasma 6 items. We should expect something like two to four widgets or themes to be submitted each week, which sounds feasible to manually review. However, this would have to be done in collaboration with Plink, which is the service that actually manages the store and due to the complexity of the idea, probably somebody would have to get paid to do it and paid by whom is more of a long-term or a medium-term goal right now. This is as much in-depth as I can go with the time that I get with this format. I hope I managed to convince you, or some of you, that some parts of the store are still safe to use and that we KD developers are taking this issue very seriously, even though, yes, I acted a bit not the correct way in Brody Robertson comments. And we are actively working on steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Before I switch to the next segment though, I would like to remind all of you that, even if you think this is just a video or just a livestream, all of this takes work. We're talking about hours of research, writing often, hours of recording, and for most videos, there's also the editor's work. Some videos are written by me, some are even done by external collaborators that are more knowledgeable than me in some areas. All of this takes time, effort, and, most importantly, money. I have a donation goal of 1,000 euros every month and currently I have 420 bucks from Patreon, which is great. You can join there. You'll be able to see all the scripts in advance. You can write me messages. I usually respond. There's a dedicated community for that and you'll be supporting this show. If you prefer, by the way, there's also LibraPay, open source, Co-Fi, which takes less fees, along with the option to just send me some money over people. I'm extremely thankful to all of those people who donate and allow me to experiment with this channel as much as I do, pretty much without sponsorships. And by the way, I've been told that it's somebody's, like, some donor's birthday in just less than two hours, so happy early birthday, I guess. Finally, let's get to Aspley, because yes, that's the name that somebody gave to the backdoor that was introduced in the latest version of the XZ, is that how you pronounce it? Compression package is just, wow. I know that you already know about it, because everybody's been talking about it, but let's do a deep dive, because it's worth it. Given that I'm less of an expert here, the following is mostly inspired by articles from Wired, bohas.org, ducani.org, which is the project of the maintainer, raheve.substack.com, and more. All sources will be linked in the video description as soon as the livestream ends, so let's start at the beginning. XZ is a file format designed by developer Lasik Collin et al. between 2005 and 2008. This is now a package used pretty much in any modern distribution to compress and uncompress archives. If you use Macintosh with Umbrew, you probably also use that package. And yet, as it is customary in the open source world, at least, its development is severely underfunded and mostly driven by just Lasik Collin, who, as we will see, seems to be occasionally overwhelmed by the amount of work necessary to maintain it. In this context, a developer or a group of developers under the name of Jia Tan, started contributing to the project. They had already done a pull request to live archive and their late 2021 patches seem genuine. Those patches are sent to the XZ Devil mailing list and Collin merges them in this project. In April of 2022, Jia Tan sends another patch to the mailing list, and yet again, this patch is valid and innocuous. After a few days, another user under the name of Jigar Kumar, I don't know how it's pronounced, complains that the patch has not yet been merged. They do so in a quite aggressive tone. Patches spent years on this mailing list. 5.2.0 release was seven years ago. There is no reason to think that anything is coming soon. In May, the patch by Jia hasn't still been merged. Again, Kumar says, over one month and no closer to being merged. Not a surprise. And yet again, in June, is there any progress on this? Jia, I see you have recent comments.  Another developer under the name of Desin Hans sends an email to the same mailing list asking whether Java is supported. It is, but not actively so. Collin apologizes. It's clear that my resources are too limited, thus the many emails waiting for replies. So something has to change in the long term. Kumar also sends another email to this new thread. Yet again, aggressively pressuring calling. Progress will not happen until there is a new maintainer. XZ4C has sparse commits log 2. Daniels, you are better off waiting until a new maintainer happens or fork yourself. Submitting patches here has no purpose these days. The current maintainer lost interest or doesn't care to maintain anymore. It is sad to see for a repo like this. And we finally get to a key email sent by Collin. I haven't lost interest, but my ability to care has been fairly limited mostly due to long term mental health issues, but also due to some other things. Recently, I've worked off-list a bit with Zhiyotan on XZutils and perhaps he will have a bigger role in the future, we'll see. It's also good to keep in mind that this is an unpaid hobby project. Well, the plot twist here is that we have reasons to believe that developers Jigar Kumar and Dennis Hans do not actually exist, but rather they are new aliases for the same group behind Zhiyotan. Their emails are never to be seen again in the internet. Not even in data breaches and they all have a similar style and of course, none of them has reached out for comment to anyone after all of this has happened. Most likely what we are seeing is an example of a social engineering attack. Collin is already overwhelmed and the group wants to gain access to the project more quickly, so they start pressuring Lasse as much as possible, even bringing him to admit he has long term mental health issues. Anyway, anyhow, this works. After further aggressive emails, we get to this statement from Collin. As I have hinted in earlier emails, Zhiyotan may have a bigger role in the project in the future. He has been helping me off-list and is practically a commentator already. In any case, some change in maintenance is already in progress, at least for XZutils. And thus, in January of 2023, Zhiyotan is able to merge commits on his own, indicating that he has gained trust from Collin. Around March, Zhiyotan commits the testing infrastructure that will be the key component in the backdoor later on. Interestingly enough, this part of the code does not seem to come from Zhiyotan themselves. Rather, it was made by a developer called Hans Janssen. Except of course, Hans Janssen's email also has very little activity, except for this change, and they only appear again to push for the compromised version of XZ to be included in Debian. Thus, they also are most likely a fake alias for the same developer group. In January of 2024, Zhiyotan also moved the website of the XZ project to a sub-domain of tukahani.org, XZ.tukahani.org. This has a DNS record that points to the GitHub pages, thus to which, sorry, Zhiyotan has access, thus it can now change the website too. Finally, in February, the attack begins. Due to this project being a decompressed package, the testing directory often contains raw binary code to test with. According to the readme, long before Zhiyotan started contributing to the project, many of the files have been created by hand with the next editor, thus there is no better source code than the files themselves. On the 23rd of February, Zhiyotan introduces new binary files to use as tests, with names like good, large, compressed, LZMA and so on. However, they contain a backdoor, which, however, does not do anything on its own. The following day, though, it tags and builds a new version of the project, version 5.6.0, and it publishes a tar package. However, this package actually contains one extra file that is not found in the source code of this project, build2has.m4, which adds the backdoor when building a DEB RPM package. It's not yet completely understood what this backdoor does, but it seems like it would give external users complete control over the affected machine via SSH. Zhiyotan starts emailing Richard W.M. Jones, who works at Red Hat, asking for Fedora 40 to include the compromised XZ version. At the same time, Dabian also adds that package to its unstable branch. Now, this is actually somewhat exciting, because this is the moment that Zhiyotan has been working towards for years, literally. And yet, a couple of things happen that put the whole operation at risk. Firstly, a developer called Technoravver sends a pull request to stop linking lib as an A, I managed to say it, to lib system D. This probably would have defeated the backdoor, which adds some extra pressure to Zhiyot to get it merged before such a thing happens. Over the Red Hat side of things, they start seeing valgrind errors in lib-lzma function that is the entry of the backdoor. Developer Russ Cox puts it perfectly when he says the race is on to fix this before the Linux distributions dig in too deeply. Even worse, the above mentioned lib system D pull request is also merged. Another race is on to get lib-lzma backdoor before the distros break the approach entirely. Zhiyotan, on the 9th of March, commits a couple of things.  The real issue is in the backdoor, but of course they cannot admit that, so they do this fake fix as a misdirection. But at the same time, they also update the backdoor files. They do this by updating the binary test files, saying that, and I quote, the original files were generated with a random local to my machine. To better reproduce these files in the future, a constant set was used to recreate these files. None of this is true. Regardless, a new version of XZ is immediately published, version 5.6.1, which indeed fixes the Red Hat valgrind issue. Hans Janssen, who had written the testing infrastructure, also comes back and files at Debian bug to ask for XZ utils to be upgraded to the latest version, 5.6.1. Other developers that seem just as fake as Janssen show up to support him and, couple of days later, Debian indeed updates the package. On the following day, Zhiyotan themselves file a bug to Ubuntu, asking for the package to be updated to 5.6.1 too. And finally, on the 28th, developer Andres Frond discovers the bug, or rather the backdrop. He immediately notifies Debian and other distributions. Debian rolls back to XZ 5.4.5, Arch Linux starts building XZ from Git instead of relying on the Turbo, and Red Hat assigns the critical vulnerability code of 2024-1394. The following day, Andres Frond also publishes his findings publicly. Of course, there's currently great speculation over the exact identity of Zhiyotan. Most qualified security experts seem to think that this could have only been done by a group of people, which of course raises some important questions, such as, who paid them to do this? We're talking about hiring a team of very experienced developers for years. An important part of the speculation relies on analyzing the commit history of Zhiyotan, especially the time zone and commit times. Almost all of the commits by Zhiyotan use the Chinese time zone, plus 0800. However, some commits switch between UTC plus 2 and UTC plus 3, depending on the daylight savings time, which would indicate for Zhiyotan to be working in Eastern Europe. If this were true, then the commit times would generally start from 9am and end in 6pm, which would correspond to a standard day job. On top of that, it seems like Zhiyotan often worked during multiple Chinese festivities, but there are no commits from European festivities, such as Christmas or New Year's Eve. However, the commits with those different time zones were merged by Colin, who also is in the UTC plus 2 or 3 time zone. It could be that Colin accidentally changed the time zone of the commit, but please note that other commits merged by Colin preserve the original plus 0800 time zone, so it's not so clear what the right option might be. According to a statement gave by Dave Atial, I tell, a former NSAE hacker and defender of cyber security firm immunity, twired, the majority of clues lead back to Russia, and specifically Russia's APT-29 hacking group, widely believed to work for Russia's foreign intelligence agency. Of course, it could be absolutely someone else, another group most likely. And yet again, I would like to thank Russ Cox, who has provided the most in-depth timeline and twitch I've extensively used to write this section. One final key point that I'd like to make is, yes, we've been very lucky to have discovered this attack. This could have gone wrong. Many rightfully says, hey, surely there must be lots of attacks like this that go unnoticed, and if anybody can just start maintaining some understaffed project and in a few years just throw a back door in, then surely there's lots of people doing it. But let's remember that this was a very long term, very complex and very coordinated technical and social attack. Most likely it required a lot of effort and resources, which not everybody has, not even organized groups. Nonetheless, it could be that other similar attacks happened or are currently underway, and we just don't know about them. The words aren't safe. Has any other attack vector been found on XZ? Not currently, we did find some, we I didn't do anything, but the developer community did find some other commits that were preparing probably for other attacks, but you know, everything was discovered in time, so we got lucky maybe. That was everything for this second segment.


Proudly we hail from New York City where the American stage begins here is another program with a cast of outstanding players public service time has been made available by this station for your army and your Air Force to bring you this story as proudly we hail the United States Air Force is entitled experiments in space this is the story of a project carried out in a new field of science the field of space medicine created by the United States Air Force Medical Service this project took Air Force men and machines on a dangerous and spectacular voyage into the upper atmosphere to the last frontier of flight our first actor will rise in just a moment but first young man if you're a high school graduate unmarried and otherwise qualified there's a future for you as an aviation cadet in the United States Air Force you'll receive a year of the world's finest flying training and graduate as a second lieutenant earning more than five thousand dollars a year here's the opportunity of a lifetime to serve your country and build a career that will fit you for responsible positions in both military and commercial aviation visit your army and Air Force recruiting station for details and now your army and your Air Force presents the proudly we hail production experiment in space the plane you hear is a v-47 Stratoget it's headed for the Aero Med Lab at Wright Air Development Center dating Ohio the two pilots of the controls major Clint Graves 33 World War two eighths in the front seat and first Lieutenant Bud Titus 24 a young jet fire in the rear seats are mystified by their new assignment to the Air Force Aeromedical Laboratory they know very little about aviation medicine or the work being carried on at Wright Air Force base as they cruise comfortably along their quiet full of vague misgivings and uncertainty finally but gives voice to a thought you know Clint when I graduated in the Jets last year I thought I was all through with school what goes on at this laboratory you know all they fool around with medicine bioclimatology physiology things like that they go what do they need me for well maybe they want you for a new experiment to find out which has the most brains total birds or jet jacket seriously Clint I don't like it our old outfit was the best in the Air Force I'm gonna figure an angle to get back to it lay off the angles too many of them keep a guy from flying straight and level well don't worry about me any place I want to get boy I get well in that case start calling the tower there's right up ahead Roger right tower this is Air Force jet 9-4-1-7 request landing instructions pretty good landing for an old veteran really greased it in oh well thank you pal after you open the door handling my crutches now crawl off to the old man's home yeah so this is the arrow med lab all those beautiful nurses I hope to see you're calling your clint the colonel dark well I'll be dark right good to see your clint it's been a long time hasn't not since V day in Brussels I guess right oh some celebration that was a bud meet my old flight surgeon Monty Rice I'm glad to know you are hey doc you are a colonel at that night gone quite a coincidence running into you here was not exactly a coincidence Clint I sent for you what you you sent for us Colonel but why doc what do you need guys like us for we're not medics or scientists well sometimes we need flyers here as much as we need doctors or scientists well why are we here well I'd rather you knew a little more first about the kind of work we do with the lab then perhaps your project won't come as so much of a shock that sounds ominous we're with you doc let's see the work here is the heaviest piece of equipment in our lab for a human centrifuge what the centrifuge it's a device for measuring the number of g-forces a man can stand as a jet pilot you know all about g-forces don't you Tyler Roger it's the weight of a pilot's body yeah the g is the unit of measurement we use to describe body weight under normal conditions now the centrifuge here allows us to study the effects of great accelerations on the human body to simulate certain conditions in a high-speed airplane depending on the revolutions per minute of this centrifuge we can vary the g-forces acting on the subject look at this and doc how's the work now the principle is really quite simple that gondola over there is whirled around like a bucket on the end of a string just as a stone would be pinned on the bottom of the bucket so a man in the centrifuge is pinned against the back of his seat brother that things not for me you've climbed into many jet fighters where you undergo the same forces that's what we use it for to find out how much a man can take and still be safe our physiologists have found that men spun in the centrifuge can take up to 10 G's and still move their arms and legs several of our experimenters have endured up to 17 G's in the centrifuge without blackout or redout brother and I thought I'd been on some rough mission well it isn't as bad as you think stand back and I'll show you the centrifuge in action no no no no no don't write in that thing on our account colonel we believe you know this time it'll be a dry run y'all clear okay here she goes that's seven G's now and seven G's the blood is as heavy as liquid iron your blood would be as heavy as much as that crazy merry-go-round the consulate gets up to a speed of 173 miles per hour we discovered that when a man is lying in the prone position the G forces act from back to chest and can more easily be tolerated that's how you boys will pilot rocket someday rocket not just an old-fashioned jet pilot you better start looking ahead Titus there's no doubt that aviation will eventually grow into space flight at the lab here we're just preparing for the inevitable doc I had no idea aviation medicine included such spectacular stuff why it's almost like science fiction it's by no means science fiction Clint and it's by no means also spectacular now take the valuable work Lieutenant Meadows is doing down the hall that's the side of it you should see too right down the hall here what goes on here looks like something between a model kitchen and a chem lab that's exactly what it is Meadows is working on in flight feeding problems where aircrews are sometimes kept aloft the long stretches of time oh brother look at that stake over there if that's an example they've come a long way from the K-rashes we used to get on missions oh yes Meadows has helped us develop an entire line of in-flight foods that do credit to any fine restaurant Lieutenant Meadows I was just describing your work to these gentlemen I hope you don't mind indeed not turn I'll go right ahead brother talk about being spectacular you're the most spectacular thing I've seen so far lieutenant but I'm just a plain garden variety specialist in the Air Force Medical Service well I'm trying to interest my two friends in our work Lieutenant Claire Meadows major Clint Graves my Lieutenant Bud Titus how do you do they've been assigned to us temporarily it would be nice working with you permanently lieutenant I'm I'm very good at eating steak if that interest you and not in the least you seem to me more like the type of pattern oh you mustn't mind but lieutenant these supersonic boys try to talk as fast as they fly well anyhow we've interrupted lieutenant Meadows long enough let's get on to my office where I'll tell you about the T1 suit yeah will you say that again please Colonel the T1 suit the most important project at the base right now and the reason you men are here as soon as I get this safe open you'll have a look at it so far we've kept the T1 pretty much under wraps I here she comes now this gentleman is the T1 suit that does look like something a man from Mars would wear unless we've been on the wrong track very shortly it'll be standard Air Force equipment for what masquerade no nothing quite so bizarre it's to be used for flying in the upper atmosphere up there crews meet many of the same environmental hazards that exist in space the T1 is a pressure suit you mean to be used in case of emergency that's right Clint today engineers can build planes to penetrate the upper atmosphere the only trouble is this fragile human frame of ours isn't adequate to man them it's the job of aviation on medicine to keep human factors in pace with the amazing progress of aircraft designers and engineers that's why we're developing the T1 suit Colonel I'm sorry but I said before I'm just an old-fashioned jet pilot I'm not even keeping pace with you let me put it this way but you know that without protection man will suffocate for lack of oxygen at high altitude yes around 50,000 feet the entire process of respiration comes to an end yes sir but what about pressurized cabins they take care of all that don't they they do but what happens if the cabin becomes depressurized through an accident or enemy action well it explodes in decompression right that's why we've developed this T1 suit it's a vital piece of emergency equipment if cabin pressure drops the suit is built to inflate automatically it forms a protective envelope of its own for the man inside it has anyone tried it yet no we're only approaching that final stage now test with personnel that's the job I want you to do for us why us because Clint here has the kind of all around flying experience we need moreover he majored in biophysics at college sounds like interesting work doc wait a minute all I ever thought about Colonel in college was flying jets where do I fit in as Clint's co-pilot I assume the two of you would make a good team that and your difference in age among other factors which we check made the two of you seem to be excellent for the kind of experimental work that must be done well frankly sir I'm not so sure I go for this deal well I guess orders are orders no no no no but that's not the way I want now that I've had the chance to explain the job to you in person I want things on a voluntary basis some of the work might be dangerous it deals largely with the unknown the final decision is your you are listening to the proud to be hail production experiment in space the return in just a moment for the second act daring and imagination courage and science these have propelled us straight into the jet age the age of airspeed faster than sound of flight into the farthest frontiers of the sky young man how would you like to master one of those jet planes sleek powerful aircraft which represents the last word in military aviation they're considered safer to fly than the old propeller plane if you qualify for and successfully complete the interesting exacting training of an aviation cadet you'll have the chance as a pilot in the United States Air Force practicing a challenging career in the service of your country you'll start as a second lieutenant earning more than five thousand dollars a year if you're between nineteen and twenty six and a half in good health single and meet mental and educational requirements you're eligible to apply for the sixteen month flight training course see if you can qualify at your nearest Air Force base or local United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station you are listening to proudly we hail and now we present the second act of the experiment in space come on over you know it's not a bad officer club they got here right pull up a chair and enjoy it but you've been sitting on the back of your neck around here for two days about time you told doc whether you volunteer for the T1 project or not all right all right don't rush me I I spent the afternoon being briefed on the first test they're gonna run on the suit in the altitude chamber you should have been there well I never did like those overgrown pressure cookers Clint nope the T1 ain't for this fly boy oh you were right when you call yourself just an old-fashioned jet pilot these new ideas can it do so do you don't they boy look Clint you're not gonna get a rise out of me that way I don't care easy but this this screwy suit just isn't my me looking for you Clint hey can I see a minute yeah sure thing that this is us bud yeah I've asked lieutenant Meadows to keep you company while I go over a few things with Clint we won't be long oh take your time Colonel well well well well sit down lieutenant it's a pleasure thank you well you've been dropping any more fresh jet jockeys in the deep freeze over at your lab I guess I did seem cold when we met but you have to admit you were pretty brash well if brash means being knocked into a flat spin you're quite right there you go again wouldn't you say that line of yours will flame out some day hey you're some gal you dig jet guy enough to find my way around the flight line you forget I'm in the Air Force oh no no not for a minute it gives us so much in common seriously lieutenant I want to apologize for the stuffy way I treated you I didn't realize you were one of Colonel Rice's volunteers oh I admire the job you're doing wait a minute I'm well I mean you see it's like this what I what I mean now lieutenant this modesty is I'm becoming stay as brash as you are okay lieutenant if you like me brash that's what I'll be how's about dinner tonight for a start oh sorry I yeah I have some important lab worth to see oh what about tomorrow night more lab work well when oh wait a minute wait a minute is this a stall Friday and I'm really sorry I can't make it sooner all right all right Friday it is and now believe it or not I have to get back to the wait a minute Lieutenant the Colonel ordered you to stay with me keep me company I heard him like you I volunteered for the job what happened you're losing your fatal grip where go I know Claire she went back to her land oh yes yes that's that's right Colonel you know people are sure busy around here now Clint's told me you've decided the T1 isn't for you sorry I won't be here for our altitude chamber test on Friday on Friday huh well who says I won't be here Friday Colonel I volunteer what well but what made you change your mind well I'll tell you Clint I've got some important lab work of my own Benson you understand clearly how we want the altitude chamber operated on this experiment oh yes sir evacuate pressure up to 50,000 feet according to the Brookings graph I have a control memo right in front of me I'm not a member boys stay on intercom all the time the automatic computers will figure most of the information for let me stress one thing report immediately if you have even the slightest suspicion of some malfunction malfunction I got a heavy date tonight but it'd be doing her a favor if you got deflated now go on get in what's the rush we got reserve feet and we any last-minute questions Clint but oh take her away doc good luck see you in a rock bag at Benson right there altitude 23,000 feet sir hold them there a minute Benson how's it going boys let pipe cinch fine be especially alert from now on you'll be working in red line density stage two Benson altitude 40,000 feet sir hold it a minute Benson Clint you're at angels 40 Roger doc how about you bud no complaints sir stage three Ben hold that level a moment Benson you're at 50,000 feet we'd never know all the instruments check out perfectly on the board out here 50,000 feet is what we call the functional border of space that's as far as respiration is concerned we'll hold you there a couple of more minutes and then start repressurizing looks like some air pads blue I can't have to be pressurized slowly or your suits level to blow up to how bad is he I can't know what about you it's too much of a chance I will do Benson depressurize SOP complete but Colonel what about graves think his suit can take it the other man's time reserve is running out pull out the stops Benson stage one yes sir 6000 feet sir open her up not too bad the tubes that didn't blow out crazy not take it easy but you'll be okay in a few minutes three of the tubes blew out in suit thank the Lord the other 12 hell yeah I felt like a mule kick me in a stomach hey look here's how it happened a valve clock it was close huh I'm sorry I couldn't do better for you you found out something we had to know does that mean we have to start all over again I should say not no we learned what we wanted to from the chamber the next step is to redesign the valves according to what we learned today then we'll test the suit in flight next few weeks Clinton Bud put in long hours working with Colonel Rice on the suit and Bud is doubly busy because he's also courting Clare meadow the two pilots run more than a dozen tests on the suit most of them in flight between flights Colonel Rice and his staff modify the suit make infinitely small adjustments and readjustments which are suggested by the reports of the two pilots and the mass of statistical information the instruments record finally the colonel is ready to order a full production model on the T1 suit but first there's one thing they must know can a man bail out in it at the functional border of space where no one has ever tried it before and survive that's the big question then one gray dawn Clint Graves Bud Titus Colonel Rice and a third pilot Jake Evans sit quietly in the ready room taking pure oxygen preparing for the big hop that's enough oxygen boys let me check over your suit once more but yes sir I've been in the suit so much recently Colonel I ought to wear it for pajamas I'll just stay wide awake this morning but that's all I ask level off one thing about it there's no turbulence up here well this is where I get off right Colonel run over the checklist with Jake once again but location here Jack battery and radio Jack bailout bottle Jack GI regulator that covers it any sign of decompression sickness but okay then we're ready to complete the test prepare for bailout and take good care of that oxygen bottle Roger doc and by the open Bombay Clint it's all yours but proceed with bailout but leaves in the space through the perpetual dark blue above 40,000 feet where the stars always shine he's promise downward only the T1 suit stands between his earth-conditioned frame and sudden death in the outer regions of the atmosphere if it's good enough falling falling a free fall of 30,000 feet the longest man has ever tried and then the automatic shoot pairs open the pigs are squealing and grunting man you should have seen that farmer's face he got one look at the old T1 suit lit out of the place like he had a rocket booster in his hip-hop oh he was not such a secret for me why honey when a girl's fiancee makes history she should be told about it that makes us even clear he didn't breathe a word to me about this engagement party well like I always said doc Bud's just a shy old-fashioned anyway congratulations but every happiness to your book thank you Colonel I guess you know by now how grateful I am you had me sent here for one thing I never would have met Claire I'm grateful to you you and Clint deserve as much credit as anyone for the success of the T1 suit I just said a telegram to Washington recommending production on the T1 they make a formal model I wear at the Bud's wedding that's very apropos well I hate to break up the party but I must call it a night oh doc don't go it's still early not for me don't forget we in space medicine have a big job getting you pilot set for things to come I have to be at work first thing tomorrow morning on a new project the biggest yet young man do you have a flair for scientific subjects physics mathematics electricity astronomy as an aircraft observer in the United States Air Force you would use your technical knowledge as a rated flying officer on an Air Force flying team in an interceptor bomber reconnaissance or transport plane you'd be trained to operate the latest in electronic and radar equipment you'd be a member of a flying team trained in such skills as navigation bombardment radar interception and others you're eligible to apply if you're between 19 and 26 and a half single and have a high school diploma if you pass written and physical entrance examination you'll start on a 14 month intensive training course then graduation aircraft observer wings a commission as an Air Force Lieutenant earnings over $5,000 and an interesting assignment as flying officer in your United States Air Force this has been another program on proudly we hail presented transcribed in cooperation with this station proudly we hail is produced by the recruiting publicity center for the United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting service this is Kenneth Banghart speaking and inviting you to tune in the same station next week for another interesting story on proudly we hail


This is Politics in Hawaii with Dennis Isaki. Today we'll be speaking with Shariah Menor McNamara, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. I don't wanna take up the whole show, reading off her bio, but she has an extensive background. She is from the Big Island and it started political science, has a law and MBA degree from UH among other things. Speaking of political science, I have an interesting story, like I mentioned to Shariah. Well, at Kapa'a High School, I think it was a junior year, we had a, it was the only AP class they offered me, so it took political science. We had a good project. And my project was to repeal the motorcycle helmet law. And a few years later, they repealed it and it stands still today. Wow. Okay, anyway, Shariah has worked for the state, Hawaii state legislature, Nahua Ibo, Sony Carp, Alten Ja, Senator Kaka, and in the White House she has lived in Tokyo, New York, DC and London. She serves on many non-profit boards and been recognized by the Pacific Business Journal, Hawaii Business Magazine, among other organizations. Shariah, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me here, good to see you. Let's talk about your life first, we're only 30 minutes, but let's start from your childhood and to where we are now, Shariah. Sure, I was born in actually Tokyo, Japan because my mom was born and raised in Japan and she moved to Hawaii over 50 years ago, I believe. So yeah, she went back to have me and then came right back. So my entire life, that was pretty much raised in Hilo and went to Hilo Union, Waikea Intermediate, Waikea High School, Soprald Public School graduate. And my dad's side, my grandpa and grandma immigrated from the Philippines and my grandpa, Angelo was a laborer. And after he was let go, he just focused on his farm in Pahoa and his farm at everything. I mean, from oranges, tangerines, avocado, mountain apple, ulu, papaya, macadamia nuts. And I remember my brother and I, my brother John John and I used to spend every summer in Pahoa with my grandparents because my parents worked and they would put us to work. So we would pick all the fruits and vegetables and also even crack macadamia nuts. So there were times I cracked my thumb here and there was the kind of old fashioned way of cracking macadamia nuts. And yeah, but that was the way they fed their family. That was the way they made a living. That's the way they supported their neighbors by giving them free vegetables and fruits. So it's very community focused and all their kids, six of them all served in the public sector from secretary to a director to my dad who is a deputy managing director under Mayor Matayoshi. So my grandparents really ingrained the work ethic and the need to always support the greater community. So that's sort of my family background. I have a lot of half sisters and brothers and a one full brother, John John. But yeah, and then so once I was done with high school I went to school in LA, UCLA and spent eight years on the continent and then two years in Japan working for Sony and then made my thought, okay, it's time to come back home. So I moved back home to Hawaii and I didn't come back home with any job. So I decided, oh, it's time to go back to school. And so I went to apply to law school and got in and it was after the first year I recognized that I didn't want to practice law but I decided, you know what? I did my first year, just stick it through. So I ended up doing that.  I'm just gonna add one more year and go to get my MBA. So I did that. But in between from getting my, going to law school in the morning and then going to business school in the evening I held two jobs. One of them was the Shards in Hawaii Bowl and the other one was at the state capitol. I was a legislative aide and I was doing that time. I really found the passion. I mean, I had a lot of exciting jobs through my career in different kind of industries but it was this one that really tugged up my heart and felt that that was what I wanted to do. So after I graduated, didn't quite want to work at the state capitol but wanted to work in government affairs. And so I set my resumes to every law firm that had a government affairs division. And there was one, most of them did not respond but there was one that did but said, I mean, we don't have a position but we do want to meet with you. So I said, okay, so we had coffee, talk sorry. And then low and behold, a few days later, she said, oh, there was a job at the Chamber of Commerce opening up in government affairs. I said, oh, okay. I had no idea what the chamber was. And so I looked it up and realized it was a business organization with most of the membership, small businesses. So the mission was to advocate for business but that's what resonated because my mom owns a small business in Hilo for more than 40 years. And I've seen what she had to go through the sacrifices. The blood sweat tears to keep her doors open. So it just kind of aligned and that's where I thought, okay, I can do this. And 16 years later, I'm still at the Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii. Yeah, that's great.  You want to tell us about it? Wow, you really did your research. Okay, so my mom and dad. So after my mom's first marriage ended, she was living in Honolulu, where she had moved to Honolulu and then from Japan. And then my dad at that time was campaigning because he ran for the House of Representatives for the Makiki District. And so he's just knocking on doors and one of the doors he knocked was my mom's door, apartment door and the rest is history. And then my husband, John McNamara. So he had just moved to Oahu from Chicago at that time because he was recruited by the University of Hawaii Athletics Director at that time. And so that was in 2004. And at that time I was working at the Sheraton, Hawaii Bowl. And so we had an event at Murphy's Bar and Grill and he comes walking in and like, okay, he missed his speaking engagements. I was not too happy because I was responsible for that. And I say, he missed your speaking engagement. And he said, oh, okay. And he starts walking in, start mingling with others. And then he got, he forgot his name tags. I went up to him, you forgot your name tag.  So anyway, we're all sitting around the table. He sat next to me, just talking story and we just could not stop talking. So one by one as people started to go, they said, oh, sure you want to ride home. I said, he said, no, no, I'll take her home. I'll take her, I'll give her a ride home. And then 15 people later, finally at the end it was just the two of us. And so he went to the restroom and he came back and I said, there's something I need to tell you. And I said, oh gosh, don't tell me what he, I don't know if, you know, I was thinking the worst at that moment because I really liked this guy.  I'm like, what? Oh, geez. He's like, I didn't live in North Shore someplace far because that taxi ride would have been really expensive. And what else, 2004, we got married in 2007. So, 17 years later. So you're pretty callable then. Yeah, most noted for your leadership at the way chamber of commerce, can you tell us about some of your work, especially during the pandemic? Yeah, Dennis, thank you so much for asking. You know, the past couple of years, obviously have been just some of the darkest moments for many from families to individuals and to our local and small businesses. So for our chamber, we had to put a halt in our regular activities because a lot of it was events phase. So obviously we could not pursue and move on with live events. So what we did was just pivot and did everything we did could possible to help our small and local businesses navigate during this time because no one had a playbook. And initially we felt that there was nothing being done, you know, no matter. And so we felt that we had to advocate even louder. And so we did. And then finally said, okay, there's a lot of carers monies out there and it's not being spent. What can we do to help businesses? So we came up with two programs. One, the Hawaii restaurant card program and two, the Hawaii business pivot program. And we proposed those two programs to Governor Eagate and fortunately he supported both of them. So as he may be familiar with the Hawaii restaurant card program, that was a $75 million program that actually pumped in more than $150 million into the economy, stabilized the restaurant industry because they were being impacted severely and saved many jobs, restaurants and the entire supply chain from the distributors to repair shops to the fishermen and farmers, right? Because the supply chain restaurant industry goes so long. So we're, you know, really humbled by the support of that program that gave the cards to those on unemployment, $500 gift cards. So they were able to at that moment spend it, maybe at their favorite restaurant that they couldn't go to at that time. So we thought it was a program that benefited all during that time in the Hawaii business pivot program. As you know, many of them had to pivot and find different ways to operate and run their business. So we ran that program as well. And that was a $25 million program. So those are some of the highlights. And we also stood up Hawaiiishiring.com which is a one-stop job center where those who were seeking employment could find jobs in search by different industries, different type of position, different islands. And we continue to add to that website. So those who want to retrain from hospitality industry to let's say technology, we have resources to help them retrain them. And we partner with the University of Hawaii, the community colleges, workforce development and really did what we could to partner with as many organizations and government as possible. So that collectively we could get back on track with economic recovery, get people back to work amongst other initiatives. So yeah, it was a tough couple of years, but through it all, many of us pushed forward and we're still not out of the woodwork as we see. Omnicron has again disrupted many of business operations as well as employees by catching the Omnicron because it's so contagious. But yeah, but we're gonna continue to push forward and work together with as many people as we can to ensure that our local mom and pop stores, small businesses can survive and thrive, hopefully as we move forward. Yeah, thanks. What about tourism in the Hawaii, tourism and lodging association and where they're going right now in the coming year? Yeah, I think many of us aren't seeing paid in terms of we need to manage tourism better and that is happening right now. HTA came up with the destination management plans and what's great about that is that there's one for each island because each island is different and it also engaged different stakeholders. So not only those in the industry, but those connected to the industry, but those outside of the industry to really get constructive feedback as to what can be done to manage tourism better? What can we do to ensure that visitors can have a positive experience and what can we do to make tourism more sustainable? So those action plans finalize some of them, it's ongoing real time. So each island has its own and checking off what has been done and what needs to be done because ultimately tourism industry is still a number one industry and we need to support it because it can't just go away overnight. But next is how can we interconnect other industries in Hawaii where there is egg, having more egg products used by the tourism industry, manufacturing companies here, how can we promote our manufacturing products made in Hawaii products to visitors more effectively? Technology, how can we incorporate more technology industry? So how can we make it more interconnected so that tourism benefits other industries as well? Because again, tourism industry is a number one industry, largest job provider in single industry. So we need to support it but we also need to manage it and do better. Recently, Governor Igay mentioned a $100 giveaway. You see it, it's similar to your restaurant card. Yeah, anything to support the working families, support, all of us here are people because it's tough time still for many of them and the cost of living is so high, affordable housing. I mean, housing is so high amongst other challenges so every dollar counts and if that $100 can go to those who need it the most, that way they can use it to the basic necessities because again, many are still struggling to get out of the situation. Similarly to a card program, it was to help those who are unemployed and also help in industry and have it a multiplier effect and to have a greater return on the initial investment of the $100. Yeah, but I heard it's gonna be tied into like a taxpayer, a tax credit. Does it mean it's gonna be only for taxpayers and not necessarily some other people that may need it? Yeah, we'll see, right? Because the legislative session just started, we need to look at the bills and as it goes through the process, it will evolve but the underlying point is that we need to address all pillars of the cost of living. Wage is one factor, they're talking about minimum wage, housing is another as well as childcare and so what can we do holistically and approach it in a more holistic way so that we can adjust all these different pillars that increase the cost of living and manage that. So, while the $100 is gonna help, we also need to look at the other pillars that are driving the cost of living. Okay, since you mentioned it, the minimum wage is a big thing. Yes. You speak for the members of the Chamber of Commerce with regards to in the past, fighting the minimum wage increase. However, many people have to work like who are three jobs to make ends meet. So what do you say to that? Yeah, in the past, we haven't supported minimum wage increases. 2019, we did not because we heard from our members that it was challenging and then 2020, we did support a minimum wage and then the legislature canceled session because that's when COVID started. Last session, 2021, we did not support an increase because as you know, many of our local businesses were still climbing out of that deep hole that COVID caused because we were nearly in a shutdown twice. So many of them depleted their savings, many of them took out loans, many of them lost revenue due to lost business. And so we felt that the timing wasn't right. And now for this session, we do support some type of increase. We recently surveyed our members to see what their thoughts are on the $18, a stepped up increase. And with Omnicron and workforce shortage amongst in the supply chain issues, there are some concerns that were expressed by members because they felt that that might be a little bit too steep and considering that they're still not a full recovery. But we understand that inflation is a huge issue and wages do need to go up. So we are gonna support subtype of increase and still assessing what that level is. And one thing to note because here in Hawaii, we're the only state in the nation that provides prepaid healthcare and it's a huge benefit, an important benefit and employers support that. But when you factor in what that cost per employee, that's another three to $4 per employee per hour. So in all the different fringe benefits that's tied into the wage level is factor in. So it's the wage level amount plus another three to four or even six if you factor in the fringe benefit. So just as we discuss minimum wage, I wanna make sure that the lawmakers understand that as they discuss what level they wanna increase it to. But we also hope that if they do increase, there'll be some type of support for local businesses whether it's tax credit or something that will help offset the increase. But again, in general, we do, we want to support and increase this session because we recognize the cost of living is extraordinarily high and prices continue to go up and many of our families are so struggling during this time. Yes, thanks for clarifying that. And as you mentioned, it's not only the direct salary, you got the benefits.  So you can only look at the base pay. Go ahead. And then many, talking with small businesses as well as serving, they wanna do everything they can to keep their employees to provide the benefits because many of our small businesses here in Hawaii are less than 25 employees, less than 10. So they're like family and many of them are flexible in providing whether it's sick leave or family leave or vacation, whatever it is. And now more than ever, businesses need to work with employees and be flexible. Let's talk about the work for shortage. That's been a huge challenge for many business across the board. Doesn't matter what industry or in the finding workers and one way to attract workers is to keep workers is to provide those benefits and to be flexible with their schedules. So that's what we encourage as well, in terms of our businesses to provide those type of opportunities as well. And then of course, where they can and we're seeing this already, many of them are increasing their wage levels as a way to attract employees, keep employees but recognizing also the cost of living issue. Yeah, that's a biggie. I know you spent a lot of time at the chamber but besides you work at the chamber, what do you say is your most memorable accomplishment? Wow, I've been 16 years at the chamber so far. There is so many to name and because we have a wonderful and a team that believes in the mission of the organization and work hard but I couldn't be more proud in the past couple of years how they've stepped up during this time to help save our small businesses, to help them navigate COVID, the pandemic in the past couple of years as well as finding new and innovative ways to help our business community during this time. And this team we have now is just, it's just, I can't say enough about them and the positive energy they bring and the desire to ensure that we do good and help our businesses. So there's a lot of projects we've done in the last 16 years that have helped businesses as well as, but I like to add one thing is or strengthening our education workforce development. So we've been investing more in that, working with high schools, working with community colleges and other type of programs and really strengthening our talent pipeline, creating different types of jobs and getting our kids excited about those types of jobs. So that's been very exciting to see how we've been so involved in education in connecting our students with work-based learning opportunities and providing them exposure to what's out there so that they will want to stay home here knowing that there are jobs out there. So that's an area, I could talk another hour about that area, but it's truly exciting to see that kind of progress going on and making a real impact on student lives as well as our talent pipeline. Okay, we have like a few minutes left. I should have asked this earlier. Okay, you know, a couple of years ago, you were hesitated to answer a question if you're running for political office and now you're running for a lieutenant governor. Okay, here's a question from a listener. What do you think you can do more as a lieutenant governor than as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii? Well, you know, for me, you know, I guess I get asked the three why's, why am I running, why OG and why me? You know, for me, my constituency right now is the business community. And I just felt that as we get back on track towards economic recovery, I wanted to serve a broader constituency and what I saw in the past couple of years and the lack of communication, the lack of connection to our communities and it just propelled me to take that leap and wanting to make an impact on a broader level. So that's why I decided to make a run for lieutenant governor. But why lieutenant governor? Because based on my role as president of the Chamber of Commerce and all my different jobs I had throughout my career, it was about collaboration. It was about bringing people together, working with different stakeholders and connecting with different stakeholders out there. So I felt that that was where the LG could serve a role in partnering with the governor from day one and being sort of that bridge built up between a communities and government, working with the legislature, working with the governor and finding collaborative solutions by listening to the communities out there across the islands. And that's where I see the LG can play a purposeful role in doing that in truly going on to the communities, listening and then being that bridge builder and being that link and helping the governor shape a policy agenda that will get us back on track towards economic recovery, expand job opportunities, really in restore trust in government. And I'm not a career politician. As you know, this is my first time running, but I can't paint from ground up, but it was a decision I felt that was important and that I wanted to do to make a broader impact for our state. And I am from Kilo. So I also believe that the neighbor island voice is not as represented. And so coming from the neighbor island specifically Kilo, I understand that firsthand. So I wanna make sure that all islands are heard and their voice is part of the process. Yeah, thanks. You look at the governor's jobs and what the governor gives them, right? Surely they won't let you do two jobs like Josh Green. Anyway, also, you're born in Japan, right? Right. So you know that you cannot run for the president of the United States, right? Yes, I'm a naturalized citizen. You're exactly right. Okay, we get a lot of women running, you know, women running. Yeah. Yeah, we're running for lieutenant governor and for governor, you know, we got women running so that's good.  What do you say to that? We need more women in leadership possessions in government. Ultimately, we wanna make sure that whoever is governor, he or she is focused on the key and critical issues and that, you know, lieutenant governor will partner with the governor. We can't have a competing agendas or a competition from day one, then it just won't work and it's not fair to the people. And so we need to ensure that whoever gets elected for lieutenant governor and governor, that they work together hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder as partners. Okay, you got it out of time. Do you got any closing statements? Yeah, Dennis, thank you so much for the opportunity. You know, it's been a tough couple of years for all of us and we're gonna push through and we need to bring that hope and optimism back and upcoming election will be critical to determine, okay, do we want same old same old or do we want fresh ideas, fresh leadership, fresh perspectives? Whatever the decision is, that's something that the voter will need to decide on. But, you know, whatever they decide on, making sure that they do vote, get their voices heard and also get engaged in the process because the more people who advocate or get active, the better we can to come up with collaborative and collective solutions. So I just thank you and just wanted to thank also everyone out there and from the chamber had all the local business, our mom and pop shops for really pushing for their determination, resilience and their grit because they've been working hard to ensure that they can keep their doors open and it's just amazing inspiring when we do talk with them and they share their story. Thank you, I understand you'll be coming to Kauai. So I'll see you with Marco Yama at Thursday, Thursday, Thursday and also at the Filipino Chamber. Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing you as well as on the full time. Go ahead. Okay, yeah, we're out of time. We hope you enjoyed listening to Sherry Menor McNamara on Think Tech Hawaii. Thank you to the viewers for joining me on Politics in Hawaii. Please help support Think Tech Hawaii and donating online to ThinkTechHawaii.com so we can continue sharing the shows with you. Aloha, mahalo, ahoiho, mahalama, pono.


Family and friends have gathered to pay their last respects to one of dangerous producers, director and artist Vincent de Juma-Lewis, who was late to rest. The event, which was held in Lagos, had popular filmmaker Tunde Kelani, a representative of Lagos state government, among others in attendance. A correspondent Paul Judge was there. At a landing state in Lagos, family, friends, guests arrived to see the quintessential Vincent de Juma-Lewis' cuffs for the last time. Tears cascaded down on the faces of some, while others were there to comfort them. From there, his remains were moved to Holy Cross Cathedral at Catholic Mission Street, Lagos Island. At the church, the officiating minister, very reverend, Massinio Bernard Okodua, offers prayers for the deceased, as the congregation joins the choir to sing hymns. You give life to all things, and make them holy. And you never cease to gather people to yourselves, so that from the rising of the sun to each setting, a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name. Popular Nigerian filmmaker Tunde Kelani shares his experience working with the late de Juma-Lewis. I happened to have worked with him in NTA, where he played the pioneering role of the village headmaster, Ologa, and he carried it on stage and off stage. He was Kabyasi Aideposipo, in mainframe productions at Gugu'iwa. He comes with a lot of humility. He was famous, but didn't carry it. Kelani says the late icon's contribution to the entertainment industry will not be forgotten in a hurry. The first daughter of the deceased, Adiola Folabi, says one thing no one could take away from his father was that he was apologetic whenever he was wrong. She wished him eternal rest. What I remember the most is his voice. He had a wonderful voice, and he sang a lot, and then he taught us how to sing well. He sang a lot. He was very thoughtful, very thoughtful, and very forgiving. He can say sorry when he hurts, and I find that hard with the way we grew up. Most parents don't know how to say sorry, but my daddy will tell you he's sorry when he's sorry. He has to be with the Lord. He has no choice. Motributes poured in for Dejuma-Lewis as a son-in-law. Chukuma Osakwe recounted the moment he sought the hands of the suspect's daughter's hands in marriage. He describes him as a detribalized Nigerian. The wife of Osakwe, Adiola corroborated her husband's view, hoping to see her father's wish for Nigeria come true. I saw the sight that the rest of the world didn't see because I met a very playful man. When I arrived, he said that he'd always known and prayed that one of his children, especially the male, should marry an Igbo person, but that this is his daughter now bringing an Igbo man so that he's happy that his family is around. He wanted intertribal marriages. There's so many of them, but they always ended with hugs and kisses. So for me, those are the things I'll miss the very most. So I'm wishing him good rest. And I'm trusting that his desires for us will come to be, right? And also that his desire for this nation as regards cultural unity is something that would really, really come to be in the not-so-distant future. Vincent Dejuma-Lewis, an accomplished TV producer and director, played the role of Kabyesi in Nigeria's longest-running soap opera, Village Edmaster, which aired on the Nigerian television authority, NTA. He was one-time lecturer at the NTA College, JOS Plattus State, and manager of programs at NTA Ibadan until his retirement in 1999. The late TV star was born on the 28th of July, 1943 and passed on the 22nd of December, 2023, at the age of 80. Paul George, Plus TV News.


I was sitting in that office and hearing it for sure that it was Hodgkin's lymphoma. I was just, there's no words. You never expect something like that from a clear child, you know, and scared. But the prayer started immediately, you know. From Arab Alabama, it's about a small rural town. Not really much to do there, we got a Walmart. Kind of got church, church the Dick deal course in the Bible Belt. So we're pretty sure that you have lymphoma. Maybe not being a medical person, I was like, what exactly is that? Well, it's type of blood cancer, it's like the leukemia family. And I know a little bit, it's like, okay, leukemia, that's kind of a bad cancer. So as there's any other chance that it might be just another infection, he's like, no, we're about 90% positive lymphoma. So I just got told like I had cancer, you know, like how do you react to that? I mean, unless we don't know what that's like ever. And it's like, hey, you have a deadly disease. Do you say thank you? Do you just stand there, stare? Do you cry? I feel like I just need to stay in the Marine Corps. Because the Marine Corps can do a lot of things for me. And I feel like I can do great things in the Marine Corps as well. So I figured I should fight for it. The determination that it takes to even have an opportunity to come back to recruit training and to say yes, it definitely presents the type of individual that we want. We foster a great environment for people like that. Because in surmountable odds, you're going to accomplish the mission and that's exactly what we look for. The past 956 days of my life have been the best days of my life. Cancer took away everything, but it gave me everything. It took away my mind, my body, my spirit. But then it gave me everything. Because I realized we're not going to live forever, that we're going to die one day. One day I'm going to wake up without my wife or she's going to wake up without me. It just made me treasure every time that we have. It taught me to value friendship, that having the biggest truck or the most valued possessions don't mean a thing. Because you can't take that with you. So it's to invest in people. Forever.  May God keep each one of you in the palm of His hands. Semper Fidelis. I went to the Marine Corps. They got me through the cancer. Because they gave me the mindset that I can do anything. And I'm very thankful for that.