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Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by 5 black former Memphis police officers. Word is for 3 minutes, those 5 ex-cops beat that 29-year old man like a "human piñata". We'll see the video soon. The whole ordeal stemmed from a traffic stop. Tyre's family says the only reason he tried to run away is because he was scared. No matter how eccentric an individual might appear to be, if they're nonviolent, there's no reason for police officers to abuse them. Police officers have plenty ways of catching up with a fleeing nonviolent suspect too. Let them go. Eat donuts and wait for them to show up at the crib. Police officers are sworn to serve and protect citizens. They have had a false sense of authority since the war on drugs. Police officers shooting and beating nonviolent folks is excessive force or worse...murder. Those 5 clowns need to go to prison. 😎

@Stefan, I also mentioned firearms training above too. I'm not advocating a wild west. I'd totally support a Black civillian defense force too. We've always needed it. We cannot depend on law enforcement to serve and protect us. Sometimes, they're part of the problem. 😎

The purpose of this post is not to bash capitalism or to advocate Marxism or Communism. As people in America and all over the world know, capitalism has provided a very high standard of living. But, there is a dark side to early capitalism. Before businesses were privately or publicly owned, the government sponsored most forms of merchant activity and international trade. The British chartered the East Indian Trade Company in 1600. Later, it became an joint-stock company. This is an organization in which stocks are bought and sold by shareholders. It became a predecessor to, if not actually the first, major corporation similar to the Fortune 500 companies traded on Wall Street today. b The commodities that the company bought and sold were cotton, sugar, tea, and spices. But, more controversial, it traded in slaves and Opium. These slaves were sent to North American colonies. This helped to create the Southern plantation system in America. Some of the wealthiest people in America between the colonial period and the Civil War were planters and slaveholders. The North in the US was by no means innocent of slavery. Before the Revolution, the North also had slaves. But, after Independence, human chattel slowly died out. But, textile mills, which depended heavily on Southern cotton, were established. Merchants and shippers from the northern coasts often sold cotton to overseas buyers. . As a result, financial institutions were established in the North to fund these businesses that revolved around slavery. These institutions included the early beginnings of Lehman Brothers, Aetna Inc, Jp Morgan Chase, and New York Life. It is estimated that 40 percent of New York's cotton revenue came indirectly through sources related to physical slavery. The continental railroad system and the steamboat industry were established to transport cotton, sugar, and other Southern crops to different parts of the country. This would build the fortunes of post-antebellum, Gilded Age tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, the great-great-great grandfather of CNN journalist Anderson Cooper. A similar situation took place in Britain. The British East Indian Company also sold slaves to Britain. Although slavery was abolished in England in 1833, thanks to the efforts of William Wilberforce, Britain still depended on Southern cotton imported from America for its textile businesses. The textile spinning would become the premiere industry of the Industrial Revolution. Over the next 100 years, the Industrial Revolution would expand to other businesses across Britain, western Europe, and America that depended on natural resources such as iron, timber, copper, coal, and petroleum(oil and gas). The financial institutions who were responsible for funding these businesses were Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyd's of London, and Barclays. Overall, I would say that slavery was just as indispensable to capitalism then as the fossil fuel industry is today. More than just the transportation sector depends on oil companies for gasoline, diesel, and kerosene to run cars, trucks, and planes. Plastics are derived from the by products of oil and gas. Petrochemicals are also used to make some of the ingredients in soaps, detergents, polishes, deodorants, synthetic fibers, paints, rubbers, fertilizers, etc. Certainly, too many to name. Even the the moral arguments made by abolitionist against planters/slaveholders are very similar to the ones made by environmentalist/climate activist against the fossil fuel industry. Slavery was considered abuse and degradation of human beings. The emissions that are produced by the fossil fuels industry(oil, gas, and coal) are considered abuse and degradation to the environment by contributing to global warming. I guess this is the reason why many extreme pro-black, social justice activist, and far left woke militants are calling for an end to capitalism as we know it, possible to be replaced by socialism or Marxism. But, capitalism is changing anyway. Today, it is morphing in to what Klaus Swab of the World Economic Forum has termed a "Fourth Industrial Revolution." This is basically a digital revolution based off of IT, Artificial Intelligence, algorithms, big data, and cloud storage of information. Also included would be electric/self driving cars from alternative sources of clean energy including wind and solar. The more pejorative term to describe these changes would be a technocracy. Others, maybe including Klaus Swab himself and Prince Charles(now King Charles), refer to it as part of a Great Reset. e

They wanted riots to occur. The media was all but begging people to hit the streets and raise hell after the video is shown. They wanted Black police officers to be the "face" of police brutality and a good old fashioned uprising would be the perfect traumatic event needed to burn that image into the psyche of society and take the heat off of racist White cops committing most of the murders and brutality. It would also be a good cover to began purging Black cops off of police departments around the nation. After all....who would come to their rescue if THEY are seen as the enemy as well? Outside of a mob in New York who allegedly attacked a police car, nothing major happened.

I acknowledged her position was correct, she also identified our point of difference. In the process I learned something about language and myself. So in my way of thinking that is a gain. You see admitting an error as a loss.

Therein lies the reality of the situation. That's why white Americans own more firearms than any other country on the planet. White Americas aren't stockpiling firearms to go hunting. They're not out killing food. They are prepared for war. 😎

@Pioneer1 If you are proposing we form our own break away society with our own government then I am in. If you are proposing we form a new entity to exist as a sub-partition in an already fragmented and very easily controlled government of divided and conquered peoples then I pass. If it was just talk then it doesnt matter anyway.

Rodney campbell I agree. To a larger extent it is the PARENTS' responsibility to see to it that their children grow up properly educated and well rounded. Ideally we'd have a proper public educational system in society to assist with this, but even if we don't....it's still our responsibility to properly raise our children to be productive and successful adults. That's the main job of a parent. One of the problems with this society is that most of the parents themselves are ignorant, uneducated, and highly dysfunctional. Infact, you have 2 or 3 generations of dysfunction going back to the 60s!

The problem with the Hindu Vedas is...they can't be trusted because they allegedly originated with the Aryan invaders of India. The Aryans were the racist Caucasians who were responsible for raping and destroying the mighty Indus Valley civilization. I've heard others who argues that the Vedas existed before the Aryans arrived. But they were in the minority.

Stefan I just gave you the fact. It's up to you to accept them or not. The word "slavery" is derived from the term for the Slavic people of Eastern Europe. Plain and simple. Take it or leave it.....but it would be WISE to put education over ego.

Lol....I'm not "desperate" for it, but I enjoy it. Why else do you think I actually post on this message board? If I didn't want any attention, I'd just be a lurker. Now....... Is there anything WRONG with wanting attention?

I tend to categorize people....so in my opinion not all Black Republicans are the same. I have more respect for the older Black Republicans who were more Conservative and traditionalist in their political and social ideology than these blind Trump-supporting Black Republicans today. Most of whom smoke weed, talk trash, and live dysfunctional lives while promoting Trump. Atleast in the old days I could count on the traditionalist and Conservative Black people to promote solid family structures, not be afraid to criticize homosexuality (although I'm not quite as against it as I was when I was religious), and were very critical of the moral decline in the AfroAmerican community. We don't have a lot of THOSE type of Black Republicans today. People like Tony Brown, Herman Cain, Thomas Sowell.......TRUE Conservatives. This is why I say we as AfroAmericans need to form OUR OWN party and promote OUR OWN values instead of falling in line with the Democrats or Republicans who don't have our best interests in mind.

There are rules in art. Most fields have rules but innovation or creativity goes beyond those rules. Or rather is not constrained by the structure or politics.

@Delano My first impulse was to use the laughing emoji. While what you wrote is funny, I also understand you are being serious. BTW, I enjoyed all three Matrix movies.

You sound like Morpheus when he was training Neo in the Matrix It's only a sophomore, wait until it graduates. Graphic designers are already complaining about AI. I am not certain when AI was implemented for graphic design but it is less than 5 years. It will get better the same way predictive text got better. Which is AI on your phone. Quite a few Astrologers think it will be beneficial for Astrology. I don't think the language of Astrology is mappable. Since often an Astrologer can't explain why they choose one meaning over another. It may be that entering text online is feeding AI. In which case the only fields outside of it's domain aren't strictly rule based.

Peaceful protests in several cities. People are hurt and disgusted all over again but there will be no violence.😎

The video is horrific. The level of inhumanity is ridiculous. More law enforcement folks could be fired and face criminal charges. They stood around and did nothing to render care to Tyre Nichols. Ben Crump is already in town. The city of Memphis might be bankrupt when the smoke clears and dust settles.😎

A couple times I've asked you all to go back and read what I've written. I haven't edited one word of my post in this thread. Read it without bias or emotion. Again, I never wrote that every citizen should be armed. I appreciate the caution/concern. But, I come from a place where I've seen it all. I'm keenly aware of my mortality. Therefore, I have nothing to fear. 😎

@ProfD I get what you were trying to explain. But you were never specific and were unclear. You said every citizen should be armed. That means little. Because immigrants and migrants are also victims of gun violence. They deserve protection as well. You also said citizens should be able to carry an equalizer. Which means different things to different people. To you, an equalizer is apparently a gun. To others it could be pepper spray, a taser or even a hammer. Even though most of us know either of these may not offer much protection to a sniper, a spree shooter or someone who wants to shoot a specific individual. Letting anyone have a gun who wants one is not the solution. There are many layers to the gun violence problem and a major component is mental illness. Any comprehensive solution must come from legislators who have, thus far, demonstrated they have little incentive in ending this scourge. Do you remember what happened to Philando Castile? He was a Black legal gun owner who lived in Minnesota. Castile had a firearm in his car when pulled over by the police. He told cops he had the gun. The cops ended up killing him anyway. This is what Troy is warning you when he said you must be careful. Cops love killing us. They do not respect Black Lives. Philando Castile was a smart and cautious gun owner

Maybe being in the moment trumps a journal it's the opposite of a cold reading where you start talking and then ask questions.

The reason why i am able to outplay the robots I compete again in Bridge is because they do not take chances. They play strictly by the rules, never going against the odds. That's how they are programmed. So their play soon becomes predictable and you can defeat them because you can anticipate what they are going to do. As far as the bidding goes, everyone who critiques the site complains about their robot partner not having common sense. So you just have to adjust to their quirkiness and bid crazy yourself. Needless to say, these tin hats are not up to speed when it comes to AI. But this is not to say that they can't also defeat you because the odds they depend on can be in their favor in accordance with the law of averages. These challenges are what keep things interesting.

@Rodney campbellWith my advancing age, which i am ever aware of, l am now pretty much living in the past, which is why I go off on these reminiscing tangents. For some reason, I have never gotten into journaling which is strange because writing is my first love.. But I am inhibited by the attitude of young people, in particular, who are notoriously ageist, displaying little interest in the past. I have actually been a witness to a broad spectrum of history. But I must confess that I was a spectator, and never an activist, living up north in a passive little suburb of Chicago, a college drop-out married with kids, watching MLK's "I have a dream" speech from the comfort of my living room, convinced that the pen was mightier than the sword, a notion that motivated me to fire off militant letters to the op-ed pages of Chicago's newspapers. @Delano Yes, I vividly remember things that happened 70 years ago, but in the present, my short term memory loss is vexing. @DelanoWhen reading the cards for friends, i would shift into a psychic mode aided and abetted by the answers to the questions i asked and gleaned information from.

You're absolutely right. There's no reason why a routine traffic stop should have ended with that man's death. What were those officers thinking if anything at all. American law enforcement has got to be the most violent in the Western world. But it goes to show that having black people in positions of power and authority doesn't guarantee justice or benefit black people individually or collectively. The Police Chief in Memphis is a black woman named C.J. Davis. Representation doesn't mean a thing.

Yes we had different perspectives but after looking up the definitions of proof evidence and semantics I see your point. So thank you for both your persistence and patience.

I had a Tarot reader say the same thing. In Tarot the 9 of cups (hearts) is one of the most beneficial pip cards. However there are stronger beneficial Trump cards. You seem to remember quite a bit from 60 years ago. You didn't need to know the standard definition of the cards to know what the mean. I had a friend that wanted me to teach them Tarot. I said don't read the book. I want you to come up with your own meanings of the cards. One day I saw her with the book. She didn't trust her meanings nor my method. So I ended the lessons. I am going out in a limb with my next statement. You knew on some level that your readings were correct. Otherwise you are consciously being deceptive. Which I don't believe was the case. Were you're readings ever wrong? As an aside I don't think you can properly read Tarot or utilise any divination system without intuition. Since the cards have more than one meaning and there isn't a rational way to pick one over the other.

When your enemy builds a bomb you build a bomb. That is how Wars work, and that is how the balance of power is maintained. Politics is a distraction. Politics is all 100% lies. Politics was designed from the very beginning to be a sponge that absorbs the resources of those who will act against it. The WEAPON that has always been in use is a tactic that is designed to remove the parents from the children and to isolate the family structure from itself. The main culprit responsible are the Fathers First. The Mothers Second. The Brothers and Sisters Third. Followed closely in degrees by Family Fiends. Friends. And then Responsibilities to Family. People have been Conditioned, Programmed, Brainwashed, Indoctrinated, and Forced to not focus on their Family as The Target of their design. They have done an excellent work of refocusing everyone on useless social dynamics which people cannot have any power over such as politics religion sports and their related categories. They do a magnificent, even spectacular finished work of casting the illusion that people are somehow affecting the outcomes of a system. They do so just enough to retain control over those people. To keep them as a follower. As usual. It is the same technique as always. DIVIDE AND CONQUER. They sell people the division, and the people buy it. Once all of the arrows are facing outward and there is no unified goal, no matter how powerful any of them are individually, the fight is already over and they are already defeated. The war is won. Never blame politics for anything because it isn't anything other than a distraction. Blame yourself whenever you let it distract you to the point that you can no longer find your connections in LIFE. Personal Responsibility takes precedence over all else. Always blame the true power that causes it. THE PEOPLE. In this case as in most of this nature, it is The Parents Fault.

The brotha has a gift for running his mouth. Women impressed by an articulate Black man run the gamut from highly educated to hood boogers and everything in the middle. Beyond being bedazzled by bullsh8t, the only women who actually stick around a broke dude with the gift of gab traveling down the boulevard of unfulfilled dreams and aspirations are what I call the lonely hearts club. 🤣 The lonely hearts club women just a want a piece of man...a dude with a pulse. Those types of women will actually support a broke azz n8gglet. In that regard, considering the bar isn't very high, Umar could build a harem of women. He just wouldn't be able to support them beyond bubblegum and the bedroom depending on the tightness of his game.😎

Keeping guns out the hands of nuts should be a priority. My concern is that a bunch of nuts already have guns. There is no controlling them. Unless people who have heard and/or seen strange behavior report it. Snitching used to be a bad thing. But, if it's going to save lives, somebody better say something. Especially family member and friends and associates who know the nut(s).😎

Dude, seriously ... stop it. Everything is not connected to Slavery. And I posted the truth.

@Pioneer1 lets see....how far back should I go, hmmm. (smile) I'm just always intrigued by your views. You tend to make my facial expressions shift to the left. Then, I sit back and dissect your words - very thought-provoking @TroyYou're a deep brutha. Thanks for the 'narrow-minded clarity (you speak your truth and I can appreciate it), and you're absolutely right about, 'when we publish with am*zon exclusively we give am*zon all the money to produce the book and all the money to sell and distribute it. This just increases their strength and revenue while weakening their competition'

Everyone else.

Slavery as 400 years of free labor generating what amounts to trillions of dollars in products, goods and services was definitely the backbone of capitalism. To this day, companies and countries still pay as little as possible for human labor and fight raising wages in order to maximize profits. Capitalism thrives.😎

Brother Troy thanks for the shout out!!