Troy

I'm late to the party. Happy belated birthday @aka Contrarian! Here are a few famous people who were also born in August of 1932: Melvin Van Peebles, V. S. Naipaul, Mel Tillis, Peter O’Toole, Meir Kahane, Edward Kennedy sadly not are still alive Kahane was assassinated in middle age and Van Peebles died during the pandemic and was the oldest of the bunch making it to 89. I hope you family appreciates the gem you are. They should be recording your every word you have so much history, family and societal, it should be recorded. Have you heard of story corps: https://storycorps.org/participate/

Name a right "granted by nature," that can't be taken away by a law.

Suicide bombers, Kamikaze Pilot, religious zealots who chose to be burned at the stake than renounce their religion, everything you turn around someone else is burning themselves alive for a cause... The first two engaged in a lot of planning... There is no shortage of people willing "...to give up their lives for a cause they feel is greater than themselves." Wait, am I agreeing with @Pioneer1😉

@frankster are you trying to suggest that the vaccine is an attempt to kill to sterilize people? If so, wouldn't it have been easier just to not administer a vaccine and let many millions more people die? It wasn't just the last generation folks have been saying that since Christianity started. I agree with you and Pioneer humanity is pretty resilient. I'm not saying humanity is ending anytime soon. All I'm saying is that we had it easier than young adults do today -- all things being equal. College, Housing, Insurance it is all just so much more expensive now -- even going to a restaurant and having a couple of cocktails is just so much more expensive than it was when I was a young adult.

@harry brown's post makes me thing about this book: Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

I dunno bruh, "knowledge" given your analogy can allow that scrambled-up book I described become information. Crackpots can find meaning in anything. Information is its own thing, independent of an observer. I would not fixate too much on the hyper-whte nationalism bit. I think it is just a tactic he uses to divide and concur. He is no more beholden to them as he is to you or I. Besides there are plenty of Black people who are Trump supporters. He had no problem hosting Jim Brown and Kayne West in the Oval Office. A true racist would not cavort with Black men. Agreed; for we have very little choice...

Exactly. Does a book contain information? From your perspective only if you can read it. From my perspective even if you can’t read it it’s still information. Now, if you took that same book and randomly scrambled all of the letters and characters in it to the person who is illiterate there is no difference, but the person who can read the information is gone. The people are going to change anything a third are too apathetic to even vote let alone revolt. Another third are behind the president. Off the remaining third most are scared or too concerned with their own welfare to do anything. This is where checks and balances are supposed to prevent shit from running off the rails. Time will tell.

@Delano it was for a customer. I’m not deep enough to be reading that kind of stuff 🙂 I’ll refer him to the book you suggested. Even thrift books is charging $558.

Just because one doesn’t understand, it does not exclude it from being information, does it? Sure, but there’s always another Putin right behind Putin. He is not exactly a unicorn. If he did not maintain a strong presence someone else will come by and take control. The risk our country faces. Is that the guard rails in place to prevent a Putin from emerging here. Left unchecked Trump can become a Putin. Crossing Trump can be dangerous not just financially but physically. His supporters are attacking politicians!? If I were in a position to be a threat to him, I would be very careful what I say or do that might upset him— he is not playing around.

Please share a link to wear one may be purchased. That is what I was thinking I was judging by the cover 🙂 it is.

Hey @Delano Have you heard of this book: The Magickian: A Study in Effective Magick by Phillip Cooper someone was trying to sell a used copy for $500 on Amazon. Someone was trying to buy one from me, but I can't find any wholesale copies.

Yes sir Ayana Gray

You are a very kind and sweet person @Mel Hopkins with the ability to find the beauty in everyone. Thank YOU!

Oh, he was sued, so he must’ve done something illegal or very bad. I gather it’s not just about banging some younger woman... I read the beginning of this conversation and see that he assaulted the woman that’s not cool. What is going on with Shannon Sharpe? It sounds like his troubles are self-inflicted.

Cool! There are definitely older women who would go after younger men, especially if they kept themselves together and are financially secure, I’m not talking about getting married or anything, but certainly hooking up. Male exotic dancers are in demand for a reason and of course, they stories of women going to Jamaica… Obviously, a higher percentage of men go after younger women. You don’t hear about wealthy older women setting up rings to procure young men as in the Jeffrey Epstein case. I’m not aware of the particulars of Shannon Sharpe situation. However, a man in his 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s, hooking up with someone 30 years younger is not unusual or particularly noteworthy. If Shannon was Joe Nobody we wouldn’t be talking about him.

I was just thinking the same thing relative to Katrina and 911. Both seem a life time ago. It is hard to imagine Trump‘s presidencies feeling that way, but as ProfD wrote; The events of 911 created a great deal of patriotism many people flew American flags during that time. I’d imagine most FBAs were either directly effected or knew someone who is directly effected by both 911 and or Katrina.

I’m not sure what you guess are talking about, crime rates are down continuing a long term trend. Car thief is way down, more than other categories.

that is a myth generated during a time when we would rather be anything but African. Yep unfortunately that is the way it works. Ego do you think invented and promulgated idea of race? actually that is what YOU are doing by continuing to promote the white man’s idea of race. her is just one man, very powerful one, but just one man and far from representative of the generations of write people coming after him.

Pioneer even a cursory knowledge of American history tells you that race in America was about ancestry. This is a country where white men would rape their enslaved women then enslave their own children. It didn’t matter what they looked like. They were all treated as black. The whole notion of passing wouldn’t even be necessary, but in this country passing as a thing because again it being black is not about what you look like You heard of the man, Walter White he ran the NAACP for years. he is what you would call a White man but he was accepted in the black community as Black. He did have African ancestry. I think it was a grandmother or something. The way you choose to group people is at odds with the way they were grouped in this country for most of its existence. The concept of race needs to be put in the dust bin of history. The reality racism really is on its way out despite the media fixation on a relative handful of wing nuts

Maybe your data, indeed you consciousness, will end up in a digital repository and you will be effectively immortal. We will either live in a utopia or dystopia. The tech will make one of these outcomes possible. I doubt there will be anything in between.

Well one can do both contemplate mortality AND enjoy life. Well that one went over my head. Apparently Cynique, understood it was a joke given the emoji used.

@Pioneer1 I saw Moonlight. I did not think anything special about it. It was a film like Daughters of the Dust, which did not make the list a slow art film. I think the Matrix should have made the list as it was written by a Black woman who was robbed of credit. especially if you are gonna include films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. It is not clear how they have defined a "Black Movie." The Spike Lee joints are Black movies, many of these are just white movies with a Black actors. Roots belongs on the list to including films like Wild Style is just strange. I guess Roots was a mini series and does not qualify... but still Wild Style is grasping for straws 🙂

He seems like someone that might interest you. If you click the book cover, you will find an AI generated podcast that describes the book pretty well.

That thought occurred to me too. Wait, what? Do you mean "home" literally or metaphorically? @aka Contrarian if you get the answer please share. 🙂 I think if we knew the answer, and if there was a chance things, would be better you'd have billions checking out within the year.

Hey @Delano are you aware of this Brother? @Pioneer1 before you say anything I already know Randolph does meet you criteria of being Black. I'm publishing a fictionalized account of his life: