Stefan

Patrick Mahomes stunned the football word and every friggin' White Supremacist in Super Bowl 57. Mahomes was 21 for 27 for 182 yards and he threw for three touchdowns as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagle 38-35. All on a high sprained ankle. Jalen Hurts was no slouch either. As I said on Facebook, Black History was made in Glendale, Ariz,. and Black Excellence was on display. I bet Ron DeSantis glared angrily at his TV. Ha ha ha And as I promised, here's Superman!

Earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates brushing up against each other. The only celestial object known to affect Earth is our own moon. But the moon affects only ocean tides and possibly, some really hairy humans who tend to howl at it. Here is an academic synopsis on the comet, replete with a really neat photo: The Green Comet And here is the academic data on the Syria-Turkey earthquake: Syria-Turkey earthquake created 200 mile long rupture

I don't believe conspiracy theories because many are just plain stupid or implausible. The spy balloon was Chinese. The country admitted it, but lied and said it was a weather balloon. If the U.S. wants to monitor its citizens, then U.S. intelligence agencies would not use a spy balloon when there is so much intrusive surveillance software. Why use a balloon when satellites are available? Before I set out to write anything, I make sure my facts are correct. I don't make chit up or author wild and unsubstantiated statements.

@ProfD In Florida and Texas, there is little pushback to what their respective governors are doing because the residents, teachers, state officials and politicians agree with it. Trying to use my rationale of why ordinary people with a working brain won't take on a dictator's police and military was silly. Much like your claim that China has been stealing high tech for hundreds of years. There was no high technology hundreds of years ago.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared all diversity efforts illegal, claiming they proactively encourage discrimination. Abbott's office has notified state agencies that the use of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in hiring is illegal, according to a memo obtained by ABC News. Hey, this is just a bad as Florida. Texas outlaws Diversity efforts

@ProfD You rarely do any research. Which is why I tend to question when you make sweeping statements. Such as: "US companies use a significant amount of Chinese labor to make products. It is the primary reason Americans have a harder time finding a blue collar jobs." How would you know? Do you have any stats to back that up? Did you check in with the U.S. Labor Dept. or the U.S. Commerce Dept.? Now, if you did, then provide a link. What you are ticked off at is that I used calm reasoning to make my points. I also posted links. Few do that in these discussion forums. But some make silly statements such as Pioneer1's claim that the balloon actually belonged to the U.S. because it was operating through the Chinese to spy on its own citizens. Fanciful theory. I think he was trying more to be funny than real. The people I worked with were always covering international trade. And I provided information which most would call evidence. You just reject it. I'm a Democrat. And I would consider myself to be on the Left. But I'll be damned if I am going to root for a foreign country that has proven hostile to many Asian nations and continues to threaten Taiwan. I am not condescending. I write with authority with the surety of my words. I did not generalize, I was specific. There are plenty of economic resources out there. You can avail yourself of them. And I said this before.

@ProfD I already said that if a ruler or a dictator has the military or police on their side, overthrowing them without outside help is nearly impossible. Paramount leader Xi Jinping has steadily increased his control over the country's Communist Party since he ascended to power in 2012. The people of China cannot possibly rid themselves of him. Not without a slaughter. They fear being killed by the police and the military. They are afraid of being sentenced to prison camps. They also worry what may happen to their families. It does not matter how many people in China may not like their government. Getting a billion people to collectively riot, storm government buildings, shut down government offices and try to outwit the police and military is a friggin' pipe dream. You may have an errant viewpoint of how globalism works. The people of China are not a U.S. workforce. Those who may work for American-connected companies are used to increase the wealth and technology of the Chinese nation. China demands all foreign companies that operate in the country to give up their tech. Did you know this? The U.S. does not order companies to do business with China. They do this on their own. However, U.S. Customs, the Commerce Dept., the International Trade Commission and a bevy of other agencies are always examining trade with China. But you can find this out by doing your own search on Google. The bottom line is these companies choose to do business with China. U.S.-connected companies do make money. But most believe it is not a fair exchange. China builds an advantage in its laws, rules and contracts. Chinese rules require foreign companies who want to do business in certain sectors-- such as energy, telecommunications and automaking -- to form joint ventures with local partners, which often results in the transfer of technology to the Chinese companies. And there is no way around this. Why do companies do this? It's not the companies. It's the CEO, CFO, COO - the folks with the highest corporate positions and usually those who own stock - who do this. They make millions as China gobbles up the tech. Which eventually degrades U.S. tech superiority. But this is part of Globalism.

I do recall Marion Barry smoking crack and snarling "the biatch set me up!" That is what many people are going to remember him for. That incident turned Barry into a national punchline when Jay Leno chided him for daring to run for re-election. Leno said he even had a campaign slogan for Barry: "Give me another crack at it!" Smoking weed and smoking crack are not the same. Today, one can say they smoked marijuana when young or when in college. Knowledge that you smoked crack will deliver frowns and derision. For years. Barry was known to drink heavily and use drugs. His chasing of women was not a scandal since he thought it was part of his job. If remaining in office despite powerful individuals wanting him out is deemed a success, then call the man a success. He was a politician and knew how to play the White man was against him game. I never needed a Mayor to uplift me. That was my job. Barry had a good run. But he will never be a hero to me. Barack Obama is still beloved around the world. That is the difference. One writer's view of Marion Barry

@ProfD I disagree with you. China is a enemy of the U.S. and its government opposes free thought and free will. When reading, I rarely skim anything. I separate U.S. foreign policy from another nation's military, social and technological intent. Your line about the U.S. creating adversaries is straight from Socialist and Commie news newspapers that were sold on the streets of Greenwich Village in the 1970's. You are not breaking new ground here. I'm on the side of Humanity and Freedom.

@ProfD Actually, the smart people in the Black Community with a heart do not think about becoming rich. Only the selfish and greedy do. So, I disagree with you. There are thousands of Black people who are compassionate and want to better the lives of Black people across the country. You'll find them volunteering with the homeless, with the jobless, with the depressed or formerly incarcerated. If they are professionals, they may opt to offer legal, financial or business advice. If they are good at making meals, they bring food to community gatherings. If they are good public speakers, they do that. I abhor those who poke fun at the struggling or have made a misstep or two. It's not how many times you fall down that God looks at. It's how many times you get up.

@Rodney campbell This is not a Website for writers. It is a discussion group. You are not a writer. And you will never be one unless you take a basic writing course. You need to learn how to create a two or three sentence introduction and then separate whatever you're thinking of at the moment into paragraphs. Stop addressing me with your comments. I don't read them. Reading your sentences is tedious and nothing is gained.

The Afro American Mayor you are talking about is not the late Marion Barry was it? Guy ended up a national Black embarrassment. Even after he was caught and videotaped smoking crack, the Black residents of D.C. re-elected him. Asians overwhelmingly voted for Obama. So did Latinos. But we've been losing their support because of nasty propaganda from the Dark Side.

I wanna know how what should have been a funny thread got taken down into something so serious and foreboding. Stay with the funny. I nominate Pioneer1 to pimp out Marjorie Taylor Green. I mean every man gonna want a woman with a pie face.

@ProfD I love you, man! But you were complaining. This is why I have been saying we NEED a new Voting Rights Bill. The reason why as you claim Afro Americans ( I like this term) aren't fighting for a new bill right now is due to the financial turmoil and the uncertainty they face. If we can silence the knuckleheads and the turncoats and build a multi-ethnic political coalition as Obama did, we can get this accomplished. But it's going to take time and many well versed spokespeople who know how to smash Woke and CRT accusations to bits.

@ProfD There was no high technology hundreds of years ago. So China could not have been stealing any. One can discover just how China became a world power ... but you're going to have do some reading. You will not find the full answer from one source. And that is what I do. I read. But I mostly read analyses. Personally, I don't care to revisit how China became so powerful and threatening. But I know a lot of their expertise and industrial knowledge came through outsourcing and illegal technology transfers. How China steals U.S. high tech I wrote numerous news stories on transporting raw materials and finished product to and from Mexico and China. I also attended myriad conferences where these topics were discussed. The U.S. practically gave away its industrial advantage through greedy corporations that did not want to pay U.S. workers the salaries their talent called for. So they opted to transfer many operations to other countries where the costs were much lower. This was outsourcing. Their first choice was Mexico. Under NAFTA, many companies closed plants in the U.S. and went south of the border. I am sure many remember Ross Perot's warning of "that great sucking sound" as Mexico vacuumed up U.S. company after U.S. company. I'm simplifying this. There was great trauma in the corporate manufacturing world and great fear among workers that "my company might be next." But it turned out many Mexicans refused to work cheap, demanding higher pay, health benefits, even childcare centers. Especially in the car making Maquiladora corridor. In Mexico's Federal District, (Mexico City and other regions in central Mexico) wages were high enough that at some companies pay was a dollar or two below U.S. hourly wages. So U.S. companies then began eyeing Taiwan, China and other Asian nations. This did not happen overnight. But as wages in Asia rose and some companies blanched at Pacific ocean shipping costs, some production was transferred back to Mexico. The bottom line is that China is a huge country with more than a billion people. It's second in population behind India. Under its current leadership, China stands ready to knock off the U.S. and assume world domination. This is a much abbreviated version. But I repeat, there are plenty of other sources.

There must be a whole bunch of giggling taking place around the world. Even though House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised that his caucus members would avoid playing childish games during President Joe Biden's State of the Union Speech - they did anyway. MAGA Republicans showed the world just how stupid, immature and psychotic they actually are. Why? Because they knew they could get away with it and they knew their antics would play really well back home. So, to all the Black people who voted for Trump and still lean to the Right because you think solely of your income and how much better you are than those who are poor - this is what you want to be associated with? Ignorance? You're still thrilled with the MAGA crowd? Your egos still allow you to look down upon those who earn low wages and are struggling? Or do you think like that that clown Nels who was constantly lambasting most Black people as uneducated, criminally minded and basically useless in his bid for the title of House Negro of the new millennium? At least one Republican, Utah Senator Mitt Romney, upheld some dignity for the occasion, seeing serial liar and fraudster George Santos in the center aisle. Romney berated Santos: "You don't belong here," his words audible enough to be heard by those close to them.

@ProfD Well, we cannot in some places. I'd rather deal with Reality instead of complaining.

There is a great need for a second Voting Rights Bill. The problem with many in these Discussion forums is that they refuse to acknowledge reality. We need a law that guarantees our Right to Vote. Black people never figured in the Colonists' plans for the future. I don't give a hoot about Bernie Sanders or AOC. But they believed they had the votes in the House to implement their Socialist agenda. I would not rely on either to deliver a roll of toilet paper.

The NYPD relies on statistical assessments - period.

@ProfD China has not been doing the same chit for hundreds of years. There was no high-tech hundreds of years ago. And as recently as the early 20th Century, foreign influence still bedeviled China. For example, Hong Kong had been taken over and ruled by the British. Many parts of the country was still beset by internecine warfare. China could not threaten another country. It was too busy fending off incursions. I'd be careful before making sweeping statements without understanding the underlying background and history.

That witch will not win. She is just Bernie Sanders with saggy boobs. The two them wasted a chance to give People of Color another Voting Rights Bill. Preferring instead to shove a bunch of socialist demands into their Build Back Better Bill which of course, failed.

@Chevdove There is no international agreement allowing for overflights by spy balloons. If there were, someone would have brought this up already. Has anyone? Spying by air is akin to plotting the murder of a country's ruler. It is taken quite seriously. What you may be thinking of are reciprocal overflight agreements for commercial aviation. These are usually bilateral agreements between nations. But they preclude using a commercial aircraft for spying purposes. Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was blown out of the sky on Sept. 1, 1983 by a Soviet Sukhoi SU-15 interceptor aircraft after the KAL flight mistakenly strayed into Soviet air space. The unarmed Boeing 747 jet crashed off Sakhalin Island killing all 269 onboard, Included a Georgia congressman. The jet had taken off from New York City, touched down in Anchorage, Alaska, then was to continue on to South Korea's capital Seoul. But the Soviets alleged the aircraft was on a spy mission for the U.S., an allegation which was never proven. But the KAL jet was 200 miles into Soviet territory. BTW, it is easy to attach spy cameras to the wings of any aircraft. Rodney campbell - What are we supposed to be digging for and digging into what? The information on this incident, save the nonsense that has already leaked out, is classified. ProfD - You don't think China is a bully and do you really consider this country a Nation of Color? China is a vicious oppressor and international tech thief, leeching off dumb ass Black African rulers who happily sign agreements leveraging their country's best assets in exchange for promises of infrastructure improvements. All due to historical reluctance of western nations to refuse financial and technological aid to the continent. That is slowly changing for some. China has spies everywhere in U.S. corporations and plants. The country steals design plans, product models and information and data as often as you change your shorts. Do you know how I got to know Troy? Years go, he posted a thread on China informing the world that it would imprison U.S. citizens inside China if the United States put Chinese spies on trial. You still think China is an honorable nation? You never saw videos of the Tiananmen Square protests? You don't know China has been illegally occupying Tibet for years in defiance of international law? Ask the Dalai Lama. China replaced him with a fake. You don't know about the country's brutal repression of minority Uyghurs? China intrudes on Taiwanese air space every friggin' week. Its huge navy tries to intimidate U.S. Navy ships all the time in the Pacific. China has been lending African nations money. But the language in the event of loan default is worse than creepy. Kenya could lose its port of Mobassa if it defaults. China wants control of Africa's vast mineral deposits. And its playing the role of Fallon the Financier to get this done. China's growing financial stranglehold on Africa Nope, you're wrong. Balloons do not show up on radar as aircraft do. U.S. did not detect Chinese spy balloons

@Chevdove You are one intelligent and thoughtful woman. Most have little clue what kings the dragon's diadems refer to. But there are seven kings, the Apostle John wrote. "Five have fallen, one is and one has not yet arrived. But when he does, he will remain a short while." John wrote these scriptures under vision while imprisoned on the Greek Island of Patmos in the year 100. John was the last of the original Apostles. The first king is ancient Egypt of the time of the Pharoahs, the second is Assyria (King Sennacherib) and the third is ancient Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar). Those three dragon heads have a single diadem because they stood alone. But the fourth is a dual kingdom, Medo-Persia which conquered the once thought impregnable walled city of Babylon in just one night. In the Bible Book of Daniel, this dual kingdom is represented by a ram. The Bible skips over the bloody wars, revolts and obvious savagery of this time. Media once dominated this partnership until Cyrus the Second ascended the Persian throne. He united the Persian forces to throw off the Median yoke. In 550 B.C.E. the Medes under the command of Astyages (Ishtumegu) and the Persians under Cyrus met in battle. But the army of Astyages revolted against him and brought Astyages in fetters to Cyrus. Cyrus then seized the capital of Media, Ecbatana. From then on Media played a secondary role in the Medo-Persian Empire. (History of the Persian Empire). That's two horns on the dragon's fourth head. In time, Medo-Persia was supplanted by the Greeks or the Macedonians, under Alexander the Great. In his vision, Daniel saw Greece as a hairy he-goat. He prophesied the male goat would engage the ram in battle, whup its ass and stomp it. Which actually happened. But the great horn which represented the ruler of Greece would be cut off and four smaller horns would spring up after. Alexander the Great died suddenly at 33 and the Greek kingdom was divided among four of his generals. As the Greeks petered out, Rome began to dominate. But there were actually two Roman Empires, East and West. Two more horns on another dragon head. How many heads and horns is that? Six heads and eight horns. Still with me? Now, who or what is the seventh head? And why does this king remain only a short while? Because when compared with the previous kings' longevity and centuries in power, this seventh king would not be around that long - according to John's prophecy. Confused yet? No wonder you're asking your bartender for a Green Comet on the rocks. But remember, the Bible warns folks away from spiritism and searching for omens.

The prophecies in Revelation are NOT to be taken literally. Whoever heard of a seven headed dragon with ten horns and ten diadems? That dragon represents seven Biblical world powers or world dominating political powers. Just read Revelation 17:10.

@Pioneer1 Calm down, son. I am no fan of AOC or Progressives.