Troy

Yeah, MasterCard and Visa make more money. when you tap, the merchant actually pays more because it’s treated as if it’s a credit card not present (non-signature) transaction. That is my understanding anyway. The system is broken and rigged! Most New Yorkers that I talk to was not in favor of Eric one of my closest friends called a “scoundrel.”

that is hard to imagine the ones in high places seem to propagate the same imagery. Sounds like the stuff of speculative fiction and the world of Wakanda. Would you feel differently if it was your mother or daughter, twirling around naked on a pole and turning tricks in the champagne room? Money, obviously. Melaniia?

You don’t need the with bald heads part. lol! The worst are those brothers rockin the dread locks with the George Jefferson hairline, I was always on the lazy side when it came to my hair so cutting it off works for me. I can’t be bothered to shave every day though. Once or twice a week generally is enough and about all I can muster.

The "Me Too" movement, the suffrage movement, the women's liberation movement, etc. profound critique of white men by white women. Exactly. We call out Black-owned businesses because white-own is the default. No one is obligated to do this work. People who do it see a need and for some reason are motivated to address often a great personal sacrifice. When you say "civil war" are you talking about one between the classes or races? Yeah. Gregory was great in his prime a terrific comedian and a humanitarian. Toward the end he was going on about contrails, for example, and it was hard to listen to as he got agitated with people who question of did not blindly buy into the conspiracy theory.

What?! OK, I have to succumb to my basin nature and find that showI Wow! did they actually use the pronoun “ther?”

The lobbyists wanted "real people" to tell their stories. There were a bunch of booksellers from across the country who participated. I rolled with folks lobbying for Racetrac and Wawa. Did you know credit card sipe fees was their second largest expense behind salaries? The margins for their operations are less 3 to 4%. MasterCard and Visa have margins of 50% enjoying an effective monopoly and a much larger war chest to keep politicians in their pockets. I used to complain about the government about allowing Google and Meta to run rough shod over the internet and our people. But they get away with it because they have greedy politicians in their pocket. Trump has exploited this to the hilt. This system is broken. I'm not even sure if it is repairable. You need legislators who are unbought and unbossed. We are grasping for straws in desperation first Obama, then Trump. Now the 33-year-old Muslim socialist in NYC has won the democratic nomination for mayor.

Absolutely -- especially since I can't offer them anything to replace that need. Who says? Sure, one could make that argument. No, but they chase them down and devour them alive eat them alive. In this country it is actual slavery. I drove pass a prison here on the Florida panhandle where there were fields inmates worked.

...yeah @Pioneer1, thick. Badu is 54. How old is that photo? Melania epitomizes that "Resting Bitch Face" phrase people have been using lately. It looks like Bill gates and Donald use the same hairdresser. What is up with Mark Z's hair? Why are these buys, like Elon Musk, so afraid of going bald?

EXACTLY! Ex-military, Trump supporter ... obviously biased by my Florida environ 😉 LOL! Yeah, they have you believing the is one race and respecting woman as equals in no time. LOL! Knowing @Pioneer1 he's found unspeakable use of her unique attribute. Seriously, is she/they an actual living human being?! I'm surprised no one has made a reality TV show of her/them or at least a documentary.

Yeah, you like 'em thick huh?

@Pioneer1 Since I have no idea what you look like THAT would be an interesting photo. In my mind's eye I see you as a bow-tied, bean pie slinging' brother. Other times I see you as a domestic beer-drinking blue-collar guy- with a decent job at "the plant." Perhaps you are both or neither... There were a couple of people who posted here years ago Zane and Thumper. Neither came close to what I thought they would be like in person. I suspect Pioneer would be the same. @Mel Hopkins invite him to GA so that we can see what he looks like 🙂

You tax dollars at work... I don't know where I learned about this video but the title of this post is what I used to find it in about 2 seconds. Initially I found the video was shocking; to see a room full of multi-billionaires supplicate themselves before the President. That alone should give you an indication of how powerful the man is. Trump is perhaps the most powerful man in human history. Reuters deliberately edited this video of billionaires bending the knee to the president in such a way to illicit the reaction I had. In context of the dinner itself it probably was not as bad as it comes across with this edit... I guess I'll have to look for the video of the entire dinner. Still If I had as much money as any of these dudes, I would not be kissing anyone's a-s -- how much more money do you need?! Side bar for @Pioneer1 😉 Melania is pretty attractive for a 55-year-old melanin challenged sister huh? She hit the jackpot huh?

@aka Contrarian yeah I've been swamped the last few weeks. I even spent a day on Captial Hill working with lobbyists to reduce credit card swipe fees -- fascinating exercise. I missed an opportunity to connect with my man @ProfD but we will catch up. @Delano I know I owe you a response. To make matter worse all my passwords were deleted from my password manger software --twice so I could not log into anything. It is a pain to login into many systems with a password... I can't even login to the admin console here it has been at least a month since I have approved a new account. I also have 2,200 unread emails in my inbox. I there is a better than even money chance that I will delete everything without reading it and change my email address.

Yeah, I've heard of your in-law: https://aalbc.com/authors/Frank+London+Brown. A collection of his short stories was published a couple of years ago (I see I need to add a couple more of his books). Lives are complex individually and collectively. Thanks for sharing your joy with us @Mel Hopkins. You are truly blessed to have the life you have had and to see your daughter celebrate her nuptials on such a grand scale! Being perhaps the only person on Earth who has had the pleasure of meeting both @aka Contrarian and Mel's mom in the flesh. I think the two would get on quite well @Mel Hopkins. What do you think? Peace & Love.

I'm sure the NY Mayor is flush enough to retire quite nicely. Is being a diplomat off the table? Remove "ultra" and I'd tend to agree with you. I'm not sure what is meant by ultra-Socialist any way. Sound like you prefer a Trump run government to a Mondavi or Bernie Sander run one. On that I'd disagree. There is no reason for anyone in the wealthiest nation in recorded history to go hungry, without no cost health care, no cost college, and low cost housing.

Preach. I literally just wrote that we should listen to older people. Sure they do. many diseases are created from mutations. Some of those mutations are inherited others happen after you’ve been alive for a while

The mainstream view of scientists of molecular biology, virology, and vaccines is that mrna vaccines do not integrate into the genome and there is no credible evidence of harmful permanent genomic alteration in humans from those vaccines. indeed, if this were a case given the millions of people who’ve been vaccinated multiple times we would’ve seen evidence of such harm. Instead, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of American deaths avoided. One video share shows a congressman, Reading a couple of phrases from report and arguing with with an actual doctor. The idea that we would stop taking vaccines because we believe they more harmful than the diseases that they prevent is just crazy to me. Talk to older people who know what polio can do or whooping cough or small pox can do. I had an aunt who died, as a child, from whooping cough. This is not ancient history still people are seemingly ignorant of history. that anti-vaxxer currently running Health and Human Services will be responsible for the deaths of many people, most of them poor.

Cause they’re well-versed in the motion of discretion. There is a name for that, gerontophilia.

Kennedy said that there is no vaccine that is not harmful to people?! I don’t understand what his motivation is. I can only assume he truly believes what he’s saying and believes he’s doing the right thing. The only alternative is that he’s evil and wants to see a lot of people suffer and die unnecessarily The financial motive I’ve heard doesn’t make any sense. There are a lot of ways of making money without contributing to the deaths of innocent, helpless people. I hope he gets measles and spreads it amongst his family and friends. I don’t wanna see anyone die, but I hope he gets really sick. Maybe that will change his mind.

I know @aka Contrarian is not 100 yet, but this video made me think of her. Older people especially the ones with all their marbles really fascinate me. I met a woman, a sister, last week who is 96. She still drives and looks great! She graduated from Hampton in the early 50s. I think longevity like anything else is a combination of genes, environment, and good or bad luck. Out living all your friends is bittersweet.

Humans did not exist prior to the formation of the African continent. So I'm not sure your reasoning is sound on this issue. Do you believe humans and dinosaurs co-exisited?

Well, who was Saint Paul? Maybe the comparison is apropos. Some Saints enslaved of a human beings.

I'm not sure what I understand what you wrote @frankster. Based upon your response do you believe Adam and Eve are the progenitors of all living humans? Math tells us there is a single female "Mitochondrial Eve" who every living human is directly descendant from and there is a male "Y-Chromonal Adam" who every man is direct descendant from. These two humans did not know each other and probably did not have live in the same millennia. We are all cousins 🙂 I don't think you are talking about these two people.

there are so many people who posted, and presumably profiting from this video. I’m not sure which one is complete, but I imagine this will at least give one the gist of what the pastor said. It is not one of the vile memes or content celebrating Kirk’s murder that I’ve heard about. I also do not think this video should be banned. I was previously unaware of this video. YouTube uses of variety of other techniques to bait me. There are many stories of Facebook sharing violent videos with young people. These are generally chalked off as algorithm glitches, but the fact of the matter is that this filing content is allowed on Facebook and all of Meadows platforms. Meta even scrap there fact, checking efforts. So I’m not sure what you’re talking about when it comes to Meta and their content moderation…

In a thick German accent: Verrry interesting…..