aka Contrarian

@Pioneer1Why don't you just mind your own business and keep your stupid, unsolicited advice to yourself? Doing that seems to be a problem for YOU.

@Pioneer1what is it with you and all your silly attempts at humor? In another post you suggested I take LSD if I wanted to expand my mind. Now after smugly announcing that you are too intelligent to be affected by marajuana, you suggest, for no discernable reason, that I should start smoking weed. In another goofy post you proposed that you and Chevdov find me a man since I mentioned that I was bored, and in yet another thread you snidely implied that you were "sexually hararrassing" me. It would be different if such attempts at humor were clever but they are, instead, lame since, in regard to the last one, I am 90 years old, and you are too old and over the hill to be my boy toy. And I have no intention of complaining to Troy about your buffoonery. Nor have I nor any other female regular on this site ever done so. We handle you ourselves. Now, (I have to keep reminding myself to refer to Marijuana as "weed", not "pot" or "reefer" as it was called in my day when jazz musicians were who mostly "toked" it.) I just read somewhere that said if you can remember your dreams you are lucid not dreaming. As of late, every time I doze off, I enter into a vivid dream world where I'm always trying to overcome obstacles that are impeding my progress. The people in the dreams are mostly dead friends and family members and the scenarios are repetitive. I am inclined to attribute this to the BP meds and all the otc supplements I take. e.g. garlic caps, ginger root, ginko biloba, and magnesium. And the cocktail of fruit juice I drink each morning that contains blueberry and strawberry concentrates, pomegrant, mango, pineapple, lemon, and orange juice. I make a big container of this concoction and store it in the fridge. Half way through the week, it has fermented and is quite potent. I really get a buzz from my morning glass of it. So between my meds and my fruit cocktail, who needs weed? I am to the point where my entire existence consists of me just alternating equally between the wake world and the dream world. It's weird. The longer I live the more aware I become of another environment available to me by simply closing my eyes...

Gee, I missed some of this conversation. Parts of it are new to me and must've occurred when I was trying to get my bearings after my e-mail was hacked and my computer broke down, and I was reinstating my account here. @Mel HopkinsI had no idea what you were going through during that time! My dear brave girl, how impressed but not surprised I am by the way you rose to the occasion and displayed your true grit in coping with the crises that tested and gave meaning to why you are here! "Life is the question, love is the answer." You go, Girl! I feel inadequate because my journey has not veered off into paths that called for me to be courageous as I trudge along, knowing that I know not. But being old does present challenges and - I.Am.Still.Here.

I've never smoked weed. It wasn't readily available when I was coming into my hey day. I did drink, finally settling on vodka as my drink of choice. I started smoking in college where every body smoked PallMalls - so we could bum our own brand, we joked. Everyome in my family smoked cigarettes or cigars so I was a pro and gave smoking lessons to my college dorm mates. Years later I would into run into people who complained that if it hadnt been for me, they'd never have taken up this bad habit! A very good friend of mine and a former student of my smoking classes moved to California. About 10 years later she came for a visit. After we sat down to chat and up date each other, we each pulled out our pack of cigarettes to light up and - wadda ya know, we both smoked MORE Menthols. Long thin brown 100s which had just come on the market. Her daughter told me that on her death bed a few years back, my friend asked for a cigarette and managed to just utter my name and chuckle... I was ordinarily just a half-pack-a-day smoker but chain smoked when I played cards or was out partying. When I retired from my job in 1992, I quit smoking and drinking.It wasn't something I wanted to just lay around the house and do. (Instead I elected to write and self publish several books.) My husband had also given up smoking and went from a pack-a-day to not wanting to even be around cigarette smoke. Reformed smokers are the worst. Well, as you can see, I have a lot of time on my hands and since I'm now able to access this site on my phone, its very easy to go on line and come here to bore people with what has become a compulsion to share my thoughts.zzzz I wish Mel would come back, and Chevdov would show up more often. I feel out-numbered. And where is Troy??? Oh well, I'm done

Visiting day at the joint.

There are several other videos out there going into detail about the conspiracy theories and alien involvement in connection with the solar eclipse. I'm trying to get a link from my son to post.

@Pioneer1LOL As much as you whine and pout, you must not be having much success in your grandiose ambitions to lead your people out of bondage in your self appointed role as the savior of "afroamericans". Maybe you'd achieve more results if you'd cut out the sexual harassment.

@Delanoturns out these dire predictions floating around have their origin in the conspiracy theory community. They speak about the Cern reactor in Switzerland giving off all kinds of signals that something is on a collision course with Earth and the speculation is that it might be an asteroid know as the devils comet which is due to come this way in its regular pass by earth. This is all supposedly influenced by and connected with the sun being eclipsed by the moon And of course the religious nuts are saying all of this has been foreseen and will culminate in a cataclysmic explosion leading to the beginning of the end for the world. An amateur Astrologist acquaintance of mine complies with your observation that there are turbulent times ahead... Business as usual on the little blue planet.

Isn't the first photo the famous one taken of an assembly of famous jazz musicians who at the time played gigs at various Harlem night spots?

@Delano I'm hearing some very dire and ominous predictions in connection with the upcoming solar eclipse. What's the word from the astrology community??

Nothing to argue about if you're into religion. Jesus was not a Christian; he has been referred to as a Jewish Rabbi, and progressive biblical scholars now claim he did not "die for our sins" but was executed for challenging the authorities. Happy Easter aka Resurrection Day!

I'm puzzled. Why would the acronym DEI which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion be offensive to "AfroAmericans"? Aren't those conditions that aĺl marginalized minorities have a right to expect? Similarly, when did civil rights become the exclusive domain of America's black population?? Aren't other ethnicities entitled to equality in a country that calls itself a democracy??? I venture to say that the generation of Millenials and GenZers would put these same questions to the old school brigade of black malcontents who have come to personify the "dislike-for-the-unlike" syndrome that MLK identified as being at the root of racism and bigotry. These are the ones who give credence to my claim that many Blacks, themselves, are prejudiced and are not the least concerned about "liberty and justice for all." What they really want is to make America over in their image while retaining a black form of racial supremacy. Lol And this is also why I support the idea that a certain element of "AfroAmericans" who squat in America need to get their own diversity-free. melanin-infused country where, wallowing in the sameness of their blackness and corrupted by power they can, for instance, ban and deport any evolved LBGTQ nuisances wnoho have mutated into individuals daring to be different and true to themselves. Imo, it is not necessary to embrace these misfits but, coming froma background of being oppressed and discriminated against themselves, these curmudgeons are remiss in refusing to acknowledge and honor the right of the unorthodox to peacefully exist. The world is in a state of turmoil as usual and when it comes to a polarized America, the one thing that remains constant is the tribalism that divides rather than unites, - a situation that jeopardizes the common good. Moreover, in a nation where a vast majority of Americans distrust their government, it's, ironic that these same citizens have no qualms about doing whatever they can get away with in their ruthless pursuit of the materialistic Amercan dream. As for the speculation about which U.S. presidents did what for Blacks, and when did they do it - President Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1933 the same year I was born. I grew up during the Depression and from what I recall and what my parents said (and Dick Gregory later joked about,) the dire economic hardship caused by the stock market crash was nothing new to the black masses who had always struggled to survive. They were lucky to be eligible for the same benefits as whites via the New Deal but they continued to be denied equal opportunities because of America's entrenched racial prejudice.( this is what eventually precipitated the March on Washington in 1963.) FDR gave lip service to racial tolerance but coddled the South, never wanting to rock the boat when it came to Jim Crowism because he needed southern political support. His wife Eleanor was his charitable good will ambassador but had little effect on national policy aside from lending her approval to the black Tuskeegee airmen. President Harry Trumen deserves credit for desegregating the armed forces after WW2 and LBJ carried out what the assassinated JFK began by signing a massive civil rights bill Into law. Bill Clinton had good intentions but his heavy handed approach blemished his record. Reagan did nothingl to benefit Blacks. Joe Biden is a man of his times, a pragmatist who shed his past ways to become a pseudo Liberal, earning points by serving as VP under a black president and subsequently choosing a woman of color to be his running mate and placing other Blacks in key positions of authority on his staff and in his cabinet. America's 2 political parties are, what they are. The Democrats supposedly represent the common man with the "lifting others as we climb" mission statement that has perennially resonated with Blacks. Republicans are more representative of Capitalism and the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps motto. No bootstraps? Tough shit. "I got mine, now you get yours," is what right wing Conservatives sneer. And so it goes. Come November, America will show its true colors.

Puff Daddy seems to personify the old saying that notes "You can take the nigga out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the nigga." A multi millionaire who could be a philanthropic Renaissance Man but he chooses to be a pimping weapons dealer. tsk-tsk.

I always look up things that I don't know the answer to or that I'm curious about. i don't waste time trying to remember what I never knew. I:'ve always been about expanding my mind! This is the case with most people - except for those with narrow minds who only want to reinforce what limited knowledge the have stored in their memory and are deluded enough to believe that they already know everything there is to know.

Hummmm. I dont know why I'm a "Johnny-come-lately" to this thread because I grew up during the golden era of Hollywood, and musicals were a major part of what was shown on the "silver screen" aka the movie theaters which brought the land of dreams right into neighborhoods all over Amrica. I go waaaay back with this subject and I literally had a front row seat to what was being shown back in the day for public entertainment at the cost of a 10-cent admission fee. Only, I didn't even have to pay that because my mother worked as a ladies' room attendent at the local movie theater in my idyllic little midwestern home town located 20-something miles west of Chicago. So, I was able to do what we called "going to the show" for free. As a mere child, before TV was ever heard of, I was a regular movie-goer and the first musical film I remember seeing in 1939 was "The Wizard of Oz", which was made even more spectacular because it was in technicolor, a new technology in the movie industry! From then on, I was hooked on musicals and whenever I accompanied my mother to do her chores in the mornings before the theater opened, I would tap dance up and down the winding marble stair case that was a center piece in this beautiful palace that featured the classical architecture style of movie houses back then. All that was missing was a chocolate Fred Astaire to complete my impression of Ginger Rogers! A few years later in the mid 1940s, I was thrilled to view one of the first full length motion pictures with an all black cast; a musical entitled "A Cabin in the Sky" starring the legendary Lena Horne! It was full of mugging black stereotypes but enjoyable nonetheless. When TV came on the scene during the early '50s, black folks became more visible in the public eye, doing what they were deemed to be best at doing; grinnin and singin' and dancin'. Nat Cole even had his own TV show but it didn't last long because his being black made it difficult to attract sponsors. Yes, Flip Wilson was successful in captivating audiences during the '60s, and it suffices to say that a lot of this was due to the "Geraldine" character he played in drag. What really fostered an appreciation for musical theater back then was the long running Don Cornelius' Soul Train TV show, featuring Motown, R&B, and Pop recording artists performing their hits and, of course, the legendary soul train line that provided a mini-musical show case for a parade of all the latest steps and improvised dance moves. Over the years my taste for musicals did, as the poster Steinsman suggested, change. The music I eventually came to prefer was JAZZ which I wanted to hear played by small combos, or sung by sultry songtresses in dim, intimate, little venues charging a 2-drink minimum cover charge. And so it goes... I liked the original "Color Purple" movie and the musical version of it on stage also. When the remake of it debuted, I had little interest in seeing it. It's now available on cable TV but I'd much prefer to watch the movie about Bayard Rustin who I remember from his role in organizing the March on Washington during the Civil Rights era which I also lived through... Nowadays, black folks are almost over represented in the entertainment industry. There they were recently, as they have been for the past few years, on stage at all the award shows, clutching their trophies, fighting back tears, blubbering about how, as a child watching movies and TV, they had yearned to see people "who looked like them" on camera and now, here they were, being recognized for their talent, bringing their testimonies to a close by urging all the young black kids out there to hold on to their dreams, blah, blah, blah, (and not to worry about losing weight because being fat is now "in" ) . I do feel guilty because, as a child, all I cared about was a good story and if white folks were striving to impress me and everybody else with their talent, so be it. If these expectations were fulfilled in an all-black movie, that was even better. But I never cared about seeing a black James Bond any more than I wanted to watch a white guy playing John Shaft. Now I'm a crazy old lady who can't half see or hear, hobbling around, only bothering to watch the news, and documentaries and true crime prorams and listen to music from by gone days with strong melodies and exquisite lyrics, still cheering on the local sports teams, but not really looking forward to what the future holds. C'est la vie. Well, I've rambled and reminisced long enough. The ol night owl is ready to pack it in. Good Evening. zzzzzzzzz

Close on the heels of the ads featuring gold garnished sneakers bearing the Re-elect Trump brand, is a TV commercial featuring Donald tRump hawking for the modest price of $59.00, a "patriotic" Bible guaranteed to inspire God to Bless America. Holding the leather bound holy book in his raised little pudgy hand, flanked by two gigantic American flags, a salivating Donnie gives his spiel, hardly able to keep a straight face as he anticipates a flood of orders from his faithful following. What a perfect embodiment of the dire warning political pundit, Sinclair Lewis, predicted years ago. to wit: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, and carrying a bible." Elsewhere in the news, Robert Kennedy has selected a female Asian Progressive as his presidential running mate. Nobody seemed more stunned than she was in her deer-in-the-headlights TV sound byte. And NBC will have to pay out a ton of money to rescind its hiring of a 2016 election denier, January 6th defender, and former Republican National Committee head. They hired her to give more balance to their news reporting, but they got so much flack from their liberal Talking Heads who thought she'd be more at home on Fox News, that NBC execs backtracked and broke her contract. She gone. Since Fani fired her stud muffin, she's back on the case. Puffy's mansion ransacked and wrecked by a crew of Feds, looking for a weapons stash. Conspiracy rumors already circulating about the Baltimore bridge collapse being a terrorist attack. 10-4, your night owl news reporter signing off...zzzzzzzzz

In 2024 AD, it's not relevant where Christianity originated inasmuch as it has undergone so much modification. But, as usual, a straw man argument is trotted out, polluting this discussion, supplying answers for questions that weren't asked, blurring the issue with a lot of geographical subterfuge, while over looking the simple question I asked pioneer. Which was: why do you question the devotion of black folks to Christianity when you, yourself, are so attached to the Bible and its fables and so firm in your belief in God? Can't you figure out that the degree to which people embrace their creed is commensurate with their need to be blessed? Your motivation seems to be a need to dispute anything connected with the Bible which doesn't comply with your interpretations, in order to give the impression that you are omniscient. tsk-tsk

Black people who fall under the sway of Christianity do so for the same reason as white folks do. After all, as ProfD infers Christianity is just a whitewashed version of an Egyptian religion whose Jesus counterpart was Horus. You are all familiar with that claim. Same guy, different color. These "buddhas" like Christ and Horus are central to all religions, all charismatic figures offering salvation. Obviously, religion fills a need. It's the "opiate of the masses". When you tell down trodden people of all colors existing in the throes of oppression/depression, that they will be justly rewarded when they die by going to heaven, a paradise that washes away all their cares, and that all they have to do to get there is to pledge allegiance to a father figure and his son, then gullible desperate people believe it! That, along with endeavoring to resist the evil perpetrated by the satanic enemy of their savior, becomes a way of life that helps them cope and survive, as flawed a formula as this is, it offers HOPE. I don't know why pioneer poses this question. Does he ask himself why he reveres the Bible and believes that God exists. What he criticizes is an off shoot of his mind set, cloaked in faith. Nobody asked me, but from my own personal experiences, I imagine that there is a higher power which you can download into your spiritual computer and program the daily miracles that get you through life. Feel free to remind me how "I know that I know nothing". źzzzzzzzz

If you're like me, currently impaired by a short attention span, you want a quick fix - immediate gratification when catching up on the news. If anything is too long and drawn out I, and a lot of other people, are not motivated to read it. We want instant gratification. A headline is not a title. It's a concise summary of what the article is about. Editors often make them clever and provocative to catch the reader's eye. Nowadays I get most of my news from TV. I take it all with a grain of salt. Most people do. I don't know anybody who totally trusts the media anymore except maybe the Yahoos who watch Fox "News". Bottom line, folks eventually end up gravitating toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear. Things that reinforce the opinionated conspiracy theories that everyone harbors in an ongoing pursuit of the "truth" which is simply a word and, unless it involves math, is more-or-less a concoction of cherry-picked factoids made up of other words that are just words. Yada, yada, yada. I will now step down from my soap box and move on... Good Night. zzzzzz

A lot depends on whether or not the powers-that-be want America to remain the leader of the free world. National pride and tradition wiil play a part. Altho Trump is a meglo-maniac, he's an isolationist when it comes to global affairs. He just wants to be America's dictator. And if elected, he is salivating over the chance to punish all of his political enemies. Then there's the question of preserving democracy. America is not handling well the idea of an all inclusive society that has spawned a cancel culture and political correctness. It is basically a tribal nation full of bigots and religious hypocrites. Democracy has become expendable. Maybe things will sort themselves out and if they do, niggaz will have to settle for maybe moving up a notch on the totem pole. Forget reparations.

Am I making myself clear when I compare humans and ants? The simile I was trying to make was as a child, I wondered if there are entities observing and controlling the fate of humans the way humans can look down and affect the fate of ants - an infinite scenario that makes humans both omnipotent and insignificant, depending where they are in the pecking order.

@ProfDAmerica is currently involved in a political campaign not a cold war. But a cold civil war becomes a possibility if Trump is put back in office or refuses to accept defeat. If Trump is re-elected, a global threat would ensue because of the effect it would have on the NATO treaty and the aid to Ukraine, both of which he opposes. The Retrumpican's threat to end Social Security and Medicare and their abortion policies could also trigger domestic upheaval. Things could really get hectic if Trump and his Congressional flunkies refuse to certify a Biden win. It's not about what America is; it's about what America may become. And what it becomes could involve an ongoing hostile conflict: a cold war.

When I was a precocious little girl, once while observing the ant hills thriving in the crevices of the sidewalks around my neighbirhood, I found myself wondering if there are to humans, what humans are to ants... So, I went in the house and came back with a teaspoon of sugar and sprinkled it all over the ant hills. And, although I felt omnipotent, the ants just scrambled around. Now I feel a kinship with ants, although I don't do alot of scrambling at my age, with my sore knee and all.

America and Russia were involved in "cold" war for 30 years. There were no battlefields or armed attacks. These 2 superpowers just rattled sabers and engaged in one-upsmanship confrontations within the confines of the UN. The Cuban crises during JFK's presidency was the closest the USA and the Soviet Union ever came to a hot war. Fortunately a trade off was agreed upon to avoid a nuclear holocaust. In the present, a war between the blue states and the red states could take place in Congress between the Retrumpicans and Democrats which would involve each side trying to invoke the Constitution to justify their devious shenanigans, These tactics could result in a permanent stale mate that would, in turn, lead to the country slowly collapsing. This is pretty much what happened to the Roman Empire. The alternative would be for a few courageous statesmen to step up and put country above party and attempt to initiate compromises. This would entail neutralizing those jackals who have taken over the Republican party along with the "woke" left wing Progressives. A recipe for chaos. Time will tell. Maybe a Phoenix will rise from the ashes. Meanwhile my knee continues to slowly heal. But like America, I will never be the same.

I didn't watch the State of the Union address. I figured I could catch the sound bytes and high(?) lights later. The reviews, which all seem to be limited to Biden supporters, said ol Joe gave a good accounting of himself. But from what I saw, he came across as a crotchety ol geezer telling kids to stay off his lawn. I don't believe he changed many minds, and I just think the Dems could pick some one more impressive to run against tRump. This spawn of Satan looks like he might reclaim the presidency. And if he gets back in, he has promised that heads will roll, as he goes on a vengeful rampage. If he loses he will, of course, claim the election was rigged. And all hell will break loose! Heaven help amerika Oh well. I'll just count on the outcome being predetermined, and I won't worry. November's a way off, and I don't make long range plans at my age. Y'all have fun. See ya but I wouldn't wanna be ya!