aka Contrarian

Ahhh the highly-exulted Farrakhan. Like me, he's still hangin around. We're the same age. He resides here in Chicago, living in a mansion, leading a life of luxury. Lucky him. He found his mission in life. Between devoting 50 years to bad mouthing Jews, he puts on a sad face when admitting he knew Malcolm was on Elijah Muhammads hit list. Bean pie sales have also served him well.

...I'm inclined to agree with Mel when it comes to the subject of cancer. She said something to the effect that cancer is our DNA - our body turning on itself;almost a natural process. There may never be a cure for it; only treatment. Mental illness comes with the territory of having a brain and has also always plagued Mankind. It really boils down to simply being a deviation from the "norm", a guideline that is nothing more than the way a majority of the population behaves. Just like homo sexuality, which has always been around, even among animals. We make life complicated by looking for things to blame on the ubiquitous "they" of conspiracy theory origins - which have also always been around creating suspicions among the long suffering masses. What would black folks do if they didn't have their melanin free cousins to blame for their shortcomings???😵‍💫 Time to go look at the "beehive". There are some tree cutters inspecting a huge dead tree across the street which also poses a hazard. Maybe they've been sent by the Aliens and perhaps - I can hitch a ride on their UFO and blow this pop stand. 🥴

As some one who grew up, hovering under the specter of such diseases as Diphtheria, Typhoid Fever, Whooping Cough and Small Pox, I have a great appreciation for the vaccines that prevented me from catching these dreaded diseases. And a scar on my upper left arm as a reminder of my small pox vaccination. Back then, they didn't have shots for chicken pox or mumps or the measles, which was attributed to my needing to wear glasses at the age of 12, but by the time I had kids they did and, thankfully, a vaccine for polio as well. And for this I was grateful. When I contracted covid pneumonia a few years ago, my complete recovery was attributed to my having previously received 2 covid shots. So, needless to say, I'm not in sync with RFK when it comes to vaccines. But, like him, I do have some unorthodox views, and I submit that autism has always been around; there just wasn't a name for it. There've always been people referred to as being ,"slow" or "retarded" or just plain "off", folks who weren't crazy or stupid but just didn't conform to what was considered "normal". My mother said of her younger sister, who she named me after, that she was neither dumb nor crazy but just seemed to exist in her own world. Today, anybody fitting this description is placed on the autistic spectrum. Some folks are even voluntarily diagnosing themselves as sufferring from some degree of autism. Like sexual orientation, - it's complicated. I'm wondeting if RFK did a survey asking mothers of autistic children whether they popped Tylenol pills during their pregnancy? If he didn't, then he should go somewhere and sit down. Plus, there has to be a significant number of women who did take Tylenol and didn't have an autistic child. Trump is really desperate for his Administration to be recognized for doing something spectacularly noteworthy. Wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't campaign for RFK to be nominated for a Nobel Prize in medicine. It's a crazy world

Finally! a win.😼

I imagine places like Stone Hinge and the site of the great pyramids give off a certain energy. I've heard that at the museum in Atlanta where a slave block and shackles are on display you can just feel a pall of despair. The same thing is reported at a similiar display at an Atlantic seaport in West Africa where slave ships took off for America.

@Troy I found the video interesting and pretty much typical of what 100-year-old- people have to say. As far as age is concerned, I adhere to the old cliche about it being just a number. 92 - 29, whatever. Let's hear it for your 96- year-old acquaintence who's still driving! On August 18th, 1951, at the age of 18, I celebrated my "golden" birthday! And golden I was. Just graduated from high school and was poised to enter my first year at the University of Illinois where a whole new world awaited me. The most enduring lessons I learned there, however, were not in the books. I learned who I was, and basicsally I'm still that same person. I've never stopped being that 18-year-old who viewed the world through skeptical eyes, and preferred to do this from a place of comfort in a situation where I didn't have to exert myself too much. Hence, my 30-year job as a "flexible" clerk at the Post Office, - where I completed my lessons in life, penning a weekly newspaper column along the way. I married a guy who understood me, and who made me laugh. We shared a love of jazz and movie trivia and - each other. One month after our 50th wedding anniversary, he passed. I miss him every day. Every time I smell a particular cologne I think of him. Certain songs tug at my heart. A widow's pension is part of my monthly income. In addition to giving birth to 5 kids, after retiring from my job, I self-published 5 books - which obviously were not best-sellers. I am neither religious nor nurturing. No baking brownies for me, but Nana is still referred to as being "cool". I do miss my siblings and all my krazy friends who've passed on. They contributed so much to what was fun and unique about my life. I do not consider myself an inspiration, and I have no advice to offer any one, nor have I yet discovered what my purpose for being here is. I agree that longevity does have a lot to do with luck. I've never watched my diet, never given up sugar, red meat and have a heavy hand with the salt shaker. 'Smoked and drank up into my 70s. But here I am, - until I'm not...

First the DA BEARS, now my other home team, the Fightin Illini, are blown out, losing to Indiana 63 to 10!! Maybe these teams should change their colors from orange and blue!

Tell me more about ,"places of power"! Sounds like an interesting dynamic.

The big bee hive....

There is a brief time frame in the afternoon usually when I go out for my drivevway-strolling, that there is not a soul in sight, no traffic, no birds flying, or squirrels scampering, or dogs yapping, just me in a vacuum. Then people start coming home from work and everything comes back to life. There is a big mall adjoining this area and it is my gateway to the real world. Meanwhile, the big beehive just sits there, cloistered in the tree. My daughter did call the village animal control dept to report it but the aliens who work there told her to just leave it alone for now. I may post a picture soon...

With apologies to Troy, the post below appeared on FaceBook/META. "Republicans introduce bills in Oklahoma to force every public university to create a "Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza" with a statue and label him a "martyr for truth, faith, and free speech." Senate Bill 1188, introduced by state senator Shane Jett, would create a "Charlie Kirk Speech Day" in Oklahoma to occur on October 14th and it would include statewide "programs and discussions promoting open dialogue and the protection of Constitutional rights." Senate Bill 1187 would require every institution of education within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education to create a "Charlie Kirk Free Speech Plaza" that must include "a statue of Charlie Kirk sitting at a table with an empty seat across from him" or else "a statue of Charlie Kirk and his wife standing and holding their children in their arms as a central element of the square or plaza design." This is absolutely reprehensible. Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be killed and his murder is a national tragedy, but he was a racist demagogue who made the world an uglier place. He raked in tens of millions of dollars pushing white supremacist lies, pro-gun propaganda, and intentionally divisive rhetoric. He's not a martyr, but rather a prime example of the kind of man that Americans should strive against becoming. He was a "Christian" who rejected the true teachings of Christ at every turn. It's not enough for Republicans that we condemn this hateful man's deaths. They want us to lionize and canonize him as if he were one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. People are getting fired for merely sharing exact quotes from Kirk that cast him in an unflattering light. Republican Congressman Troy Nehls went so far as to say that Charlie Kirk would have been the 13th disciple of Jesus Christ if he had lived during biblical times. These people have completely lost their minds!" (end of quote) Right before my eyes, America is heading toward a Fascistic Theocracy. Colin Kaepernak was condemned for taking the knee at football games. Now The NFL and AFL owners are all OK with observing a moment of silence for Charlie before the start of games. White mainstream America is showing its true colors. But - the Liberal commumity is hangin in there, talking a good game.How will it all end? Hopefully I'll be watching the outcome from another place.

Thanks for the belated birthday greetings!😁 I can't get over it ! There's a big ICE brouhaha going on in the town where I live, - demonstrations, cops, and arrests. helicopters overhead, TV camera trucks and reporters everywhere, and the only way I know about this is because I'm watching it on the local TV newscasts. I reside in this town but all these goings-on are not around my block! Where i now live is not my home town birth place, and was once a vast prairie land until about 50 years ago when all the vegetation was cleared away for housing development and a new sub division sprung up overnight.. Quite Quaint. Rows of similarly built ranch style houses separated by driveways. Lots of trees and shrubbery on neat lawns. I've been living here with one of my daughters since 2011 and I' ve always found it a rather strange place sorta isolated yet bustling. Tornadoes bypass it, rain storms and flooding often go around it. It's not unusual for the moon and the sun to be in the sky at the same time. My neighbors are a mix of Whites, Hispanics, Indians, and Blacks and we all pretty much keep to ourselves. There are no children on this block, only a lot of dogs who get regularly walked by their owners. Somebody joked that this area was once a native American burial ground. The latest thing to spark casual conversation among neighborhood residents is what looks like a huge beehive lodged in the tree in front of my house, even though there are NO bees flying anywhere around... Nobody can figure out what it is and where it suddenly came from. Everybody just casts leery glances at it, careful not to disturb it. I, of course, I think aliens put it there to monitor us. That would explain all the strange things always happening in my atmosphere.

ABC network is running a tribute to Robert Redford tonight. A lot of folks are boycotting ABC because it suspended Jimmy Kimmel, and they will have mixed emotions about missing this program. I'll go ahead and watch it because Jimmy ain't worried about this BS. He'll probably watch it himself. ABC is also runnimg Steve Harvey "Celebrity Family Feud" reruns to fill Kimmel's nightly time slot. I'm sure they're doing this to try and get on the good side of black people. I don't think this ploy will work nor will it win Steve Harvey any fans. A lotta Blacks already consider him a sell-out.

@TroyOK. I forgot that things changed when FaceBook became META - and Zuckerburg dispensed with fact checkers after the last election. And, presumably "Facebook Jail" no longer exists My post was mostly in response to your saying you doubted if the average person would say bad things using their real name. Right now FaceBook posters in great numbers are saying bad things about Charlie Kirk - and each other and they are not doing it anonymously. The same goes for a lot of well known people. Kirk's death has sparked a great outcry btw, i'm not responsible for what I post here after midnight 😝

No, I'm who is remembeting incorrectly. Or, more accuratelty, not rememering at all. I do recall Paul Newman riding the bike and singing "Raindrops" but not the circumstances of this.

Social media is currrently swarming with threads and reels and memes of people going by their real names, many of them famous, badmouthing Charlie Kirk. When you post on FaceBook/META , your name and profile picture automatically come up and are a link to your home page. FaceBook will ban you and put you "in jail" if you get too outrageous or profane. The trolls are busy, too , injecting their propaganda. One of these people spamming the boards is a black minister by the name of Rev. Dr. Howard John Wesley. His soeech condemning Kirk has gone viral.

Next time the movie comes on TMC l'll have to check it out. This might be an example of the "Mandela Effect" where one version doesnt jibe with the version recalled from the past. Sometimes this is because one version is the Director's cut. Or, the false memory aspect kicks in.

I'd characterize the relationship between Butch and Sundance as more of a "Bro-mance". I didn't get the impression that they shared Robert Redford's girlfriend. In "Broke Back Mountain" the 2 guys both were later divorced by their wives. In real life, actor Jake Gyllenhaal did admit to being heartbroken over Heath Ledger's death from an overdose.

The Charlie Kirk shooting is a bizarre but pivotal case that has further polarized the nation which is at the tipping point for civil unrest. Tyler Robertson is the shooter, and his roommate is supposedly a "trannie" who he's romantically involved with. He also gives some indication of belonging to one of the right wing militant online INCEL groups made up of "white-guys-who-can't-get-laid" dorks who have "axes to grind". What I found stunning about Tyler was how he seemed totally oblivious to the seriousness of his crime, didn't cover his tracks well and nonchalantly confessed what he'd done to some of his friends. Typical of his generation, he thinks he's invincible. He was also indignant at his father for urging him to turn himself in, and remains adamant and defiant about why he "took Charlie out": because he was tired of his hate speech! Allegedly, his father received a million dollar donation for Tyler's defense fund which he announced his intent to, instead, give to Kirk's wife and kids! I don't know why everyone thinks millionaire Charlie's family needs financial support! btw. The black Viking football player denied the rumors about him offering to set up a fund for Kirk's wife and kids. Meanwhile, Utah law enforcemement officials have announced they will be seeking the death penalty for the 22 year old sharp shooter whose parents are staunch MAGAs. A Battle between the Martyrs may be on the horizon.

Well, - they were 2 lonely, awkward cowboys in a tent on a moutain. I don't know what an authentic scenario called for. The movie was based on a book, I believe.

@DelanoYes, no doubt about it, Redford made his mark in many areas of the film industry as well being a philanthropic political Liberal. Someone said it's his life America should be celebratimg instead of the bigoted Charlie Kirk's. I agree! I was caught off guard by how many people who, like Prod D, thought about me when they heard of Redford's passing. -and called me! Yes, I was a fan of his but down through the years, for me his greatest claim to fame was always sharing a birthday with me! (Sorry, ProfD, for being so brusque with you. ) Btw, Delano, have you ever seen the movie "Broke Back Mountain"?

"The Secret" was a best selling book that came out around 2006 and was highly recommended by Oprah. It was about practical magic and dealt mostly with the laws of attraction, positive thinking and energizing mental images. I didn't find anything especially new between its pages. I also experimented with mantras and chants back then. Tina Turna is said to have chanted her way to a highly successful career via a Buddhist mantra! Another popular book of this genre was "Seth Speaks" written by a women who claimed a spirit named "Seth" would take over her body after she knocked off a quart of beer. She/he recommended imagining an outcome to your dilemmas and then relegating the negative endings to a parallel universe where they could be dissipated... I've just kinda created my little personal rituals created through trial and error and.... i've had some success.

Ummm, the death of an 89 year old man who lived a long and productive life and died surrounded by loved ones is hardly a cause for me to be heartbroken. Especially since I'm not a sentimental slob. C'est la vie. That was one school of thought about this film classic.

News media is reporting the death of screen icon and heartthrob, Robert Redford. He was 89. And, like me, he was born on August 18th. He's the second celeb born on this date to pass this year. Malcolm Jamal Warner was also born on August 18th. Oh, well... 👋 Rest in Peace, Bobby. 💥 "THE WAY YOU WERE"

Social media isn't all about politics! I repeat: It's about POP CULTURE and that covers a broad scope. It's also a way to touch basis with faraway family and long lost friends and be up on community events. Above all, you have the option to pick and choose what you want to check out and to what degree you choose to involve yourself. If it's not your thing, - fine. Different strokes for different folks. When it comes to scorning social media, are you bragging, - or complaining? My reference to the 1950s mindset was a joke and had to do with how, during this sedate era, it was typical to place a lot of emphasis on things like civilty and being conversant on a lot of different subjects. Obviously this is a thing of the past.