aka Contrarian

Hummmm. I never checked out the content of this thread before. Its headline said it all for me. My late night curiosity kicked in, however, and here I am. I must say, I agree with Troy's critique of Sly and Ali when it comes to - profound wisdom. As for Sly's music, I never realized its impact, I just enjoyed it and thought he had a tight little band made more innovative by its instrumentation. As for that goof ball, Terrance Howard, he also boasts being able to write backwards. Puleeze. I'm right-handed and I can write backwards with my left hand. Something I do on a regular basis becausd it's good exercise for the brain. Anyway, how significant is it that one of the first things that popped into my head at the news of Sly's death was his reputation for always being late or a no-show at his gigs, and the toll drugs took on his career. I didn't know he was responsible for Miles Davis introducing electronic music into jazz, (something that earned Miles the accusation of being a "sell-out" by jazz purists). I know Miles and Prince became tight and I assumed Prince was who got him into that mode. Coincidentally, Brian Wilson, the last living survivor of the Beach Boys died the same week Sly did. They were both innovators in their field of music. They may be somewhere jamming. I love that - it resonnates with me as an alternate to RIP, atho l'm so tired of living i need some rest. zzzzzzzzzzz.

Like anybody really cares. You're a nusiance not a threat. źzzzzzzzzzz

Well. Puffy's trial is ready to go to the jury. I'm thinking it might be a hung jury. As much contempt as I have acquired for men in my final years, I don't greatly sympathize with skanks who try to capitalize off of being ex skanks.

No what? You ain't gonna stay in your lane and out of my business with your false scenarios fueled by your inflated ego?

With the well being of millions of innocent people at stake, mere men continue to do what they've done down through the ages: play chicken in a quest to be "king the hill" as Iran and Israel violate the cease fire agreement Trump was taking bows for. War. What's it good for?

What was the second race?

Trump publicly announced that he was going to wait 2 weeks to see how things played out between Iran and Israel, then days after this declaration, America launched a secret attack on Iran and destroyed its nuclear facilities. There is "no honor among thieves". That's how Trump rolls. He has no scruples or diplomacy. He's a sneaky liar. Meanwhile, Israel is beside itself with joy and full of praise for Trump who yearns to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize like Obama, who he envies. This is the guy running America. smh.

@Pioneer1There would be no going back and forth if you'd keep your snide remarks to yourself. Implicit in your interaction with me is always the idea that you're indulging an old lady whose feelings you don't want to hurt because you think she has "a thing" for you. That's why you're always claiming that I'm "not foolin anybody". And why you lied and said I was regularly contacting you off line. When I reject your phony attempts at being "Mr. Nice Guy", then you resort to your false strawman scenarios or switch into your double entendre routine replete with the pictures. 😴 So, just stay in your lane and ignore me and there won't be any further bickering.

And the real pioneer emerges. The dufus who can't just accept his obnoxious presumptuousness being rejected without resorting to distorted innuendo. No surprises here.

George Gershwin, who was Jewish, may have deliberately given a black vibe to "Porgy and Bess a black folk opera , but musicians like Cole Porter and Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin and Lerner & Lowe and Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael et al, didn't borrow from blacks. They just wrote great songs One of John Coletrane's most popular renditions "My Favorite Things", is a song featured in "The Sound of Music" a musical scored by Rogers and Hammerstein. Most of the black male quartets from the 1970s and '80s agree that the 4 Freshmen, a white group, set the bar for the harmony they incorporated into their R&B style music. I hesitate to attribute everything to being black in origin. Especially since there is only one race.

If you grew up during the 1950s, you'd know that many of the popular melodious love ballads of the day with their exquisite lyrics were songs taken from Broadway stage hits showcasing the works of such talented white composers as Cole Porter, and these classics became known as the "standards" that make up the American song book. Not only did black vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday include these works in their repertoire, but black jazz musicians like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane recorded their interpretations of them. Good music is good music no matter the origin or style. Music is the universal language.

There you go making up scenarios. I am perfectly content in the company of myself. I'm trying to retreat and preserve my privacy so I can engage in my favorite passtimes. Who needs somebody in my space, sitting beside me on the bed? Not me. MYOB.

This is almost as bad as niggaz resenting white rappers who trespass on black territory. 😉

Of course you would imagine that. That's how your malicious mentality operates. You conjure up false scenarios about people so you can launch the strawman bullshit that you substitute for reality and use as an excuse to ridicule.

@frankster If you're ever in Chicago, check out the Field Museum, home of Sue, the T-Rex reconstructed from the fossil remains of a dinosaur found around a hill in southwestern South Dakota.

But there is not a huge difference between getting a million people to turn out for a single event which results in no future goals being accomplished, which is the case of both Kamala and Farrakhan. It's the same paradigm. The post Civil Rights generation has been so quick to mininimize the positive effects of this movement, calling its accomplishments too moderate and misguided yet they can't exude enough praise for Farrakhan and his fiery oratory and quasi military group of henchmen and humble females in pseudo garb playing at being pious, all of which is confined to a small segment of the black population. Whatever. I remain unimpressed. We pick our heroes. To each his own.

HoHum. Kamala Harris (like BaracK Obama) was able to inspire millions of black people to come together - and vote for her but, as with Farrakhan, being able to do this proved nothing when it came to meaningful reform. Her accomplishment has been dismissed, particularly by black men, so pardon me if I remain unimpressed with Farrakhan's meager accomplishments.

It seems to me that when it comes to Homo Sapiens, it is a species made up of human creatures with superficial differences. Species is primarily determined by its ability to interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring within its group, and it is reproductively isolated from other groupsThis means that members of the same species can successfully mate and create offspring that are also able to reproduce, while members of different species cannot interbreed in this species. Imo, this debate could be resolved by simply defining terms instead of wallowing in subterfuge.

America's black population is put at 49 million or 14% of the total population. The NOI represents a blip on this radar. Gifted orators and dynamic leaders like Farrakhan crowd the ranks of the black clergy who head the churches which have always been the backbone of the black community and the "good intentions - that pave the pathway to hell" . In Chicago's case, Farrakhan got some concrete input from another of the city's black kingpins, Larry Hoover.

What does any of that have to do with Farrakhan being extraordinary? It just proves he can't perform miracles. It doesn't take anything special to tell people to do what's best for themselves. It's not about him being brilliant, it's about them being vulnerable.

To me, this whole argument about race is ambiguous. As someone who loves language and defers to the "it-is-what-it- is" school of thought, I don't really have any strong convictions on the subject. I don't think it's contradictory to accept the idea that there is only one race; the human race but like music, race comes in many versions and arrangements. Nor do I think the scientific determination invalidates the aesthetic one. Science can be just as fluid as art.

Why be so silly as to compare me to him? I am neither a minister, nor a black leader! But as you said, MINISTER Farrakhan was doing his job which consists of what thousands of ministers all over the country do; upifting sinners - with varying degrees of success. Nor is there any way of knowing how many followed the directive he issued at the Million Man March. There was no appreciable change in black progress after that event. It was business as usual, with Farrakhan lIving like a King while his comparatively modest following sold bean pies and the black masses continued their errant ways! Just another hustling black preacher.

All of which adds up to the very mundane conclusion that there is nothing extraordinary about Minister Farrakhan.