ProfD

It is mainly in America that gender roles have become fluid. Look at any other part of the world and there is little to no gender confusion. Here in America the pussification of men is real. Some folks have nerve to come up with a label...toxic masculinity. What the f8ck is that. The war on masculinity is an effort to marginalize the power of white men. Every other man is collateral damage especially Black men. I'm not against the liberation of women or the alphabet soup movement. Live and let live. Nobody should be marginalized or mistreated. Just don't come against masculine men. A few days ago, Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a football game. The game was postponed. Here comes the snowflakes who want to shut down football. Regardless of whether or not one has the slightest interest in football is irrelevant. Football is a man's sport. Men know the risk when they choose to play the game. Nobody is forced to play or watch it. Yet, those who support the war on masculinity would just as soon turn football from hit and tackle into a game of touch with flags. A few years ago, they started having these big azz dudes wear pink accessories to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). It wasn't enough to put up a banner or use a few pink lights in the stadium. Nope. Wear pink fellas. The NFL is over 70% Black men. I've seen this train-wreck coming for many years now. This too shall pass. In my eternal optimism, I know that cisgender will ultimately survive because human beings cannot without it. @Troy, I hope brotha Umar Johnson opens that school before 2030.

Well, as an old alpha-male, I hate the changes I'm seeing in the decline of masculinity and chivalry especially among Black men.

Rep. McCarthy is down by 11 failed votes if anyone is keeping score. The biggest insult was a few from the GOP floating Rep. Byron Donalds (FL) as a potential candidate for House Speaker. They even had nerve to reference Fredrick Douglass and quote Martin Luther King Jr. Congress has adjourned until noon and will resume the circus again tomorrow.

The Japanese dancers were excellent too. It's great to see all of these young people dancing their azz off to our *old* music.

Usually an injured player gives a thumbs up or wave as they're carted off the field. We didn't get that Monday night. Today, Damar Hamlin squeezed his mom's hand and communicated in writing. Delayed reaction as a thumbs up. IMO, once doctors determine Safety Damar Hamlin's event was a rare occurrence and relay that message, the NFL will reassure fans that while football can be a violent sport, it's still relatively safe. Also, the NFL will continue to insure every stadium is equipped with CPR trained staff and medical equipment which they already had in place. NFL will return to business as usual.

It really doesn't take too much of my time. I'm not running around with a picket sign and a megaphone begging n8gglets to unify. Like a minister, I drop jewels in real-life conversations with people I encounter and keep it moving. No tithes or offerings required.

Well, I haven't been around that long but I've thoroughly enjoyed your contributions here. I've read through some of the archives too. Whenever the sun decides to set in our lives, I'm grateful to have been able to meet, converse and laugh with you in the virtual world.

Truth. IMO, that is one of the most fun aspects of being an adult.

Not really. I was mainly responding to your comment about people over 40 years old but it could apply to wealthy women too.

@Stefan and @richardmurray, while it's not my place to mediate, I'm always hopeful that folks can find a common ground of constructive dialog.

Only if the pool is restricted to peers. Eligibility increases if an individual is willing to cast a wider net in terms of age, demographic and expectations.

Gaddafi was a threat to racism white supremacy. A united Africa and uplifting Black people is the last thing they want on this planet.

I started a similar thread yesterday regarding the GOP and House Speaker. The dysfunction is hilarious.

@Chevdove, thanks for the excellent identification and background on the Pointer Sisters. The Pointer Sisters thrived in the 1970s which was a great time for Black music and arguably its best decade. There were so many groups, bands, artists and musicians. The downside to the 1970s music scene was alcohol and drug use was rampant. No surprise the sisters had their struggles. Amazing to live through and talk about it. Here is my favorite Pointer Sisters song. It was written and produced by the late great, legendary Allen Toussaint from New Orleans. I'm grateful the best of Black music has been recorded. Even when the artists are no longer relevant musically and/or with us on this side of glory, we still have their music.

It's been 100 years since the last time the party in control of the House had a hard time electing a Speaker. The GOP has a narrow majority in the House and Rep. Kevin McCarthy wants to be the Speaker. Yet, McCarthy is about 20 votes within his own party short of getting it. So far, over 2 days, he has failed 6 times to secure enough votes. Congress decided to adjourn until noon tomorrow. Then, they will resume wasting taxpayers dollars.

Awesome dance routine. Those young ladies did it. The music of Soul Brotha #1 James Brown is timeless. Hard not to move when the beat drops.

Sure. There will always be exceptions. The lower status man is usually a wealthy woman's eye candy or boy toy. Paris Hilton spent a number of years running around with people below her status.

Brotha Marcus Garvey was on the right. Too bad he couldn't get buy in from his intellectual contemporary WEB DuBois. Garveyism could have unified Black folks of African descent and along with his contemporaries among African leaders made Africa a powerful continent. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was thinking along the same lines as Garvey with his United States of Africa. Of course, that's why they killed Gaddafi. Him unifying people and countries was a threat to the system.

Reading the speech it's easy to see why the great Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey had issues with certain aspects of Booker T. Washington's ideology. Self-reliance is critical to independence. But, trying to cozy up to white supremacists especially in the South was the equivalence of making deals with the devil.

The fact that the bill didn't gain any traction on POTUS Obama's watch is a testament to the fact that the issue of reparations is a non-starter among Americans. OTOH, the Anti-Asian Hate Crime bill passed through Congress with flying colors. Nevermind that there are less than 20 Asian-Americans in Congress. Reparations will take a massive movement in order to become a real issue for America. The system of racism white supremacy won't allow it. White folks are playing the long game and letting the clock run out. They know time will wash away the history of slavery from future generations of AfroAmericans.

Whether it is physical possessions or digital data, some human beings have an attachment to their stuff. Yet, unless that stuff is of some value, significance or importance to someone else, it becomes junk or trash when that individual to whom it belongs Is no longer around. In other words, one person's trash is treasure to another or vice versa applies. It's a good idea to manage physical possessions and digital data in such a way that it can be consolidated or discarded quickly. Hard drive technology has made data storage cheap enough to keep data secure offline. To Troy's point, being able to retrieve and access it could be a challenge. That goes back to how important is that stuff in the grand scheme of things. Im acutely aware of my mortality. As a result, I'm a minimalist. I purge often enough so that when I die, there won't be a whole bunch of my stuff to keep or throw away.

Think I have an understanding of your idea of black unity from reading your posts. Black unity will never include all or a majority of people. But, it can still benefit those who need help. Every culture has ties that bind the people but there are still differences among them too. Having a tie that binds is code (principles, rules, values, etc.). Code is the 1st step towards unity. From there, dynamism within the group can attack the agenda i.e. issues of importance and concern in all areas of human activity. That's why there are different organizations and religious denominations and political parties, etc. Unity requires leadership. Someone has to step up to plate who has the intelligence, personality, charm and charisma capable of galvanizing a movement. Black folks haven't seen such a figure in several decades now. It's probably gonna take a miracle. But, it's not the blonde haired, blue-eyed dude hanging up on the cross.

Since the beginning of time, men have used some form of money, power, influence, etc., to attract women. Conversely, it is unnatural for a woman to take care of a man financially. Women don't need money, power or influence to get attention from men. Most women become wealthy through inheritance or marriage. Self-made wealthy women have only been around a couple decades. There is no benefit to a wealthy woman establishing a relationship with a man of lower status.

Celebrate is relative. B'day is my personal holiday. I don't work that day. Family and friends know not to ask me for sh8t unless it's a dire emergency. I celebrate my b'day every year in self-reflection and only doing whatever I choose to do. Otherwise, there's no party bash for this old man. Haven't had one of those since I was 7 years old.

Scientifically, we know the Earth is billions of years old. It's on schedule to last another 5 billion years. Humans will not. Human beings aren't billions of years old. At least, we have not found any evidence. Of course it could be argued that as we're recycling fossil fuels... but I digress. Human beings have spent the better part of their existence trying figure out 1) the best way to survive and 2) how we got here. Humans eventually started using various methods and means of keeping track of their time on the planet and events. That's how we ended up with calendars, dates and times. These are markers and placeholders of our existence on the planet. Date and time could be construed as an arbitrary construct. That would take the joy and fun out celebrating birthdays, holidays and other milestones.