aka Contrarian

@ProfD As I learn more about the case, the more disturbed I become. I'm particularly troubled by reports that the victim and his twin brother were big husky guys who were known bullies in their neighborhood, dating back to grade school days, and that when Karmelo tried to leave the tent, they became the aggressors and pulled him back in and began assaulting him. Poor Karmelo stepped into a den of iniquity when he sought shelter under that tent. This case is being compared with the one involving Kyle Rittenhouse who shot and killled 2 unarmed demonstrators during a "woke" protest march. He was armed with an assault rifle but "feared for his life" when they challenged his presence. He was found not guilty by a jury of his white peers. This Texas situation is a tragedy on so many levels. A hard lesson for black kids to learn in America, "the land of the free white man and the home of the brave black nigga".

Frankly, I don't think Karmelo had a good case. He was where he had no business being, and he aimed to kill, rather than maime. Did he have any witnesses to back up his version?. Can he take a plea bargain?

@Troy Hey! Are you excited about the Knicks? Or is all of the hulaboo too connected with - pop culture!😉

@Pioneer1 Blah, blah, blah. You could never be accused of being an original thinker. You 've offered no new explanations for the behavior of young black offenders, just parroting what others have been saying about the criminal behavior that persists among a certain element of black youth, - getting your panties all in a bunch, and trotting out a lot specious arguments because I quipped about equal opportunity as it applies to committing crime. Rant on! If you hate it, I love it. 🥱😴

@Del at the risk of being repetitive, the community where I spent my formative years is what shaped my identity and influenced my approach to life. The suburb of Chicago where I was born and raised during the Depression was unique in many ways. It was racially integrated to the extent that Whites, many of whom were Jewish, could and did live anywhere they chose, but because of restrictive convenance regulations, Blacks could only live in a certain area, - not by the railroad tracks surprisingly, but in the middle of town; a little black "island" surrounded by a Caucasian "sea", where the interracial population co-existed and where it was not unusual for Blacks to have white neighbors who didn't flee their homestead when Blacks began moving in. This quaint little village had, overa period of time, become the final destination of Negroes leaving the South seeking a better life via The Great Migration. Although ny father was from Missouri and my mother from Tennessee, most of the slave descendants in my hometown had roots in Mississippi, Alabama. and Georgia. Because Colored and Whites observed an unwritten rule of staying in their own lanes, at that time there was very little racial strife in my town. I always suspected that this was because we Blacks were comfortable and content in our own community which could be described as a carbon copy of its white counterpart, and we were secretly amused by the idea that, in our own special way, we could match the white initiatives when it came to any civic or social undertakings. And we did. No separate but equal scenarios when it came to education, however. Whites and Blacks all attended the same high school, which back then had the reputation of being one of the best in the state. Therefore, an excellent education was ours for the taking and what I learned during my 4 years there, benefitted me throughout the rest of my life. Amongst ourselves,we black residents of this town, also had our own codes and customs. Colorism, for instance, was incidental, superceded by achievement and accomplishment. Those 2 assets were what took priority and gave status, and they always remained at the core of my value system. Nor were we deluded about the plague of the racism that sent our elders fleeing from the South. But we had the luxury of humoring our antagonists. We snickered at their notions of racial superiority and this somehow neutralized them, an approach that I use to this day, arguing on Face Book with MAGAs. Incidently the "we" I refer to, consisted mostly of the circle of people I grew up with during the 1950s, an era often described as being "bland", something that may account for the compromises that defined our lives back then. These folk are all dead now but they remained my friends throughout the years, as we always kept up with each other, always finding things to laugh about, always reminding ourselves of the carefree days of our youth, forever marveling at how we somehow managed to circumvent discrimination, always removed from turmoil which is why I do not claim that my upbringing was typical or ideal . It was, what it was.... I cite all these examples of how growing up where I did, influenced how I later maneuvered through a world where I gradually realized that Life is a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky. I am truly a child of the 1950s era. I was very much influenced by the music of those times; both the modern jazz and the luscious melodic ballads and the poetry that was their lyrics. I loved the wry intellectual humor of the comedic satirists popular back then and the film noir movies that always had an ironic twist. The fads and trends that followed temporarily captivated me, but they never replaced my affinity for those idyllic times that first enchanted me. zzzzzzzzzzz

Senseless behavior doesn't have to make sense.

Could be that constantly preaching about racism sends a subliminal message to young Blacks that behaving anyway they choose is a way to demonstrate their equality.

How myopic the above observation is. Nobody here denies the existence of the human race. That's a curious accusation coming from a "forked tongue" patriot.

Trump isn't an institution. He's a rabble rouser, a tool of a much bigger, more insidious, better organized threat known as the ultra conservative American Heritage Foundation, the source of the Project 2025 manifesto. This group is implicitly white supremist and doesn't give a damn about black agitators and their tired ol grievances, and wishful demands. Soon the black vote won't even have any leverage as elections morph into show cases for AI. Political parties, themselves, have become self-defeating and ineffective, having little to do with serving their constituencies and will gradually become replaced. Meanwhile, dividing and conquering will aid and abet this shadow right wing group's goal of turnimg America into a fascistic theocracy. They are also who will inherit MAGA when Trump leaves. His base of bigots will not simply fade away. They will become traditional with a leader who is more qualified and effective. As for black America, it will gradually disintegrate into a confetti of chameleons, getting in where they fit in....

@ProfD Don't forget about that former actor and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan, whose "trickle down" economic policies haunt us to this day, was governor of California before he served as president for 2 terms. Hopefully history won't repeat itself.

@ProfD Maybe Paramount bought BET so it could relegate all of CBS's black-oriented shows to it - a practice commonly known as "racial segregation"...

@ProfD According to the TV magazine program "Inside Edition", during the track meet where the defendant and the victim were both present, it stated to rain. One team put up an open air tent where they retreated under for shelter. The black kid decided to join them to escape the weather and the victim told him to leave since he wasn't a member of their team. They got into it and the victim who was taller and huskier became aggressive and Kamelo Anthony, fearing for his safety, produced a knife and stabbed him in the chest, killing him. Anthony might be considered a trespasser and the stand your ground defense may not apply.

I got my impression about the Karmelo Anthony case from a TV news segment that featured an interview with the victim's twin brother, and maybe his version was biased. So, did the black guy just happen to be carrying a knife with him to a track meet? There seems to be some kind of a history to the hostilities. Did this all stem from poor sportsmanship? I also understand that there are black women in the alternate jury pool.

I was also confused by the name the defendant shared with an NBA player. Now, I remember this case. Such a shame. Not so long ago a case like this would've spurred a lynch party to take the law in its own hands. They say this crime has split its community along racial lines. It's just so unfortunate how the disputes between young people nowadays can end in murder. The defendant and his white victim were on the same high school track team and there was bad blood between them with the black kid ending up stabbing the white one to death. Young black people do not seem to be aware of how hard to get away with murdering a white person is. No matter what the circumstances, the consequences are brutal, not worth ruining your life for. There's a documentary currently streaming out there called "Crash" about a white high school student who had a "mean girl" reputation and who, when her boyfriend started to get fed up with her possessiveness, she took him and his black buddy for a high speed auto ride, driving up to100 mph, ending up deliberately crashing into a brick wall, totalling the car and killing her 2 passengers. She managed to survive and the documentary focuses on how so steeped she was in her sense of entitlement, that she exhibited little remorse or guilt. But, a jury did find her guilty and she was given 15 years to life. During a phone conversation with her mother from the woman's reformatory where she is serving her time, she complained about being "bored", still showing no guilt, enabled by her doting mother who blamed the prison authorities for not catering to her daughter. And, of course, she has appealed her sentence. I don't know what the moral of these 2 cases is. But murdering someone who displeased you, is never a good idea.

I thought when Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy and was on its last legs, this would've been a good opportunity for a black investment group to step in and take it over. There are enough wealthy black entertainers out there to pool their funds and take over ownership of an economy flight airline company. They could've changed its name from "Spirit" Airlines to "Soul" Airborne. Byron Allen should've made this a project instead of buying air time from CBS to showcase panels of unknown comedians to fill the late night time slot made available by the termination of Stephen Colbert.

@Pioneer1 Not surprisingly you attempt to supply your own definitions and scenarios in order to make your point, and I reject your response to my philosophising about the vicissistudes of Life On the slippery slope of linguistics, "solution" is a word that exists in the limbo of infinity. My response to your opinion is that IF an answer to a problen does exist, "solution" is what it would be called. That in no way proves that every problem has a solution. Since abstract thinking always goes over your head, I rest my case. zzzzzzzz

@ProfD Imo, the problem is not whether elections are held, It's whether the loser will go quietly without claiming the outcome was rigged. Since both parties draw millions of votes, it's just hard for me to believe that either side will meekly consent to living under a type of government they passionately disapprove of, for the next 4 years. Something's gotta give, considering how divided the country has become.

So do I.

@R.E. Hayes: I'd be interested in hearing more input from you since you show promise of providing fresh and what hints at being succinct observations. @Pioneer1 Since you have no proof of that, it's nothing more than an opinion given in response to my opinion.

Here's when I hung out with PRINCE. 😉 I'm really having fun doing what it's possible to do nowadays!😜

So, what can be deduced from this situation is that it has a history, and is an ongoing situation. In reality, not all problems have solutions when you're dealing human with beings. That's a hard reality to accept.

@ProfD Cynic that I am, secure in the probability that I won't be around to witness it, I think the USA is done for. There will be no reconciliation between the conservative fascistic MAGAs and the Liberal DEI crowd. The divisions are too deep and entrenched. I think America will eventually split into 2 different nations, separately governed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

The issue is not about whether this generation is worse than the preceding ones or about finger pointing. That's all a waste of time. It concerns what to do about what is currently happening. Problem solving gets lost in the shuffle of idle reminiscing. Maybe fines and jail sentences will have an effect. Or perhaps these roving hordes of young folks will get scared straight, after a body count builds up at the hands of trigger happy cops... Such is life.

An abused wife who is a masochist stays because her mental state of mind equates pain with pleasure. If she is not masochistic she will leave and seek help from the many shelters and havens that society provides for such cases.

With the advent of summer weather, Chicago, like a few other places, is now faced with what has become the latest problem involving urban youth, wherein masses of exclusively black young people clued and enabled by the telegraph of social media, converge and congregate at a given vicinity from where they spill out into the down town business districts and public beaches, dissolving into swarms of marauding crowds roaming around, yelling and dancing, creating disturbances, engaging in minor skirmishes and vandalism and occasional gun fire, offenses that have led to police intervention and arrests. Talk about idle time being the playground of the devil! This has really discouraged ordinary adult Chicagoans and tourists of all races from venturing out to enjoy the sights and sounds of Chicago's summer time festivities. Similar gathering have been reported by white suburban teenagers on a smaller basis, while Hispanic mobs reportedly confine their swarming to their barrios. No one seems to know how to deal with the situation other than to blame parents for not controlling their children. This is a tickingtime bomb ready to explode into rioting and violent law enforcement intervention. Chicago's black Democratic mayor is tip-toeing around the issue, not wanting to alienate his black base, resorting to the familiar litany of there not being enough resources to supply these young people with wholesome recreation activities, all the while continuing to discourage calls for a 10:pm curfew. Media coverage of these outbreaks are also causing controversy. Needless to say, NOBODY is happy about the situation, but a certain segment of Chicago's black population is joining the chorus blaming "bad parenting", which they attribute to the "babies havin babies"plague that created a whole generation of young parents who are clueless about child rearing, and who empathize with, rather than discipline their kids. The latest action taken emanates from the States attorney office, where threats are being made to serve negligent parents of cited offenders, with a fine of $5,000 or up to one year sentence in jail... In addition to everything else, this is yet another situation to fan the flames of Donald Trump's campaign to blemish Chicago's image.