Troy

There were two. You could have easily find them as I asked multiple times. Here is the most recently asked question: Period. End of story. 'Nuff said. @Pioneer1 what specifically in the quoted statement you disagree with?

Evidence of what Frankster?

@Pioneer1 Just two glasses of wine nothing that would impair me There is actually a bug in the software when sometimes I cannot contribute a response to a post and when I can, I can't edit it. That was the case with my last post. Now that you have quoted it I'm not going back to edit it. I just deal with it, as there is supposed to be a completely revamped version of the software coming out soon. I meant to write What?! in reaction your reaction to Dr. Clarke's statement below: The problem is there is no way to do this objectively. Sure, but you can't do this based upon how one looks. Your joke, "Well, the fact is White people...aka Contr I mean....uh....aka Caucasians....lol." illustrated this. There are other more objective ways of grouping people.

One of the things I like about running this site is the stuff I learn. Someone ordered the book Negro with Guns yesterday; I was not really familiar with the book nor was I familiar with Robert F. Williams, the author of the book. Negro with Guns is considered "the most important intellectual influence on the Black Pather Party." He also helped found Radio Free Dixie which was broadcast out of Cuba, where he lived in exile for e time, and could be heard all over the south, NY and LA. During the Vietnam War it was it was rebroadcast in Vietnam. Now I appreciate Williams was probably popular in his day, but I'm disappointed I was not familiar with him until now. Coincidentally their memoirs, Memoirs of Robert and Mabel Williams: African American Freedom, Armed Resistance, and International Solidarity will be published next week

Well, the Nation has its own paper, The Final Call, an award-winning member of the NNPA. More people should read it -- even if you are not interested in the NOI. I hope @Pioneer1 and @ProfD are not doing that. I don't recall reading anything they have written indicating that. I sure they were great events. If I lived in DC I probably I would have attended too, but I was not interested in traveling to deal with the humongous crowds listening to speeches. That is just not my thing... Given the dwindling numbers of the members of the NOI it's impact will continue to wane. Particularly as the nation becomes more secular.

No, the situation does not move me to nausea either. The idea that incompetent even evil white men are running things is not a new concept -- at least not to Black people. America, clearly, rewards this type of behavior. Indeed, western civilization is founded and grew rich because of it. The difference today is there were enough smart and "moral" people around to keep things from running off the rails. I'm afraid we don't have that in place, as our best and brightest are preoccupied figuring out ways to keep on a meta platform for an additional millisecond or building AI to accomplish the same thing...

Whar!? I guess you’ll just continue to dodge my very simple questions. I read the passage. It sounds like a contemporary interpretation of an event. That’s self evident by the use of the word “white” to describe people in the time of Bilal That that quoted section can’t possibly be a direct quote as Bilal didn’t write or speak English I can guarantee you any text in his native language would not have translated to what was quoted.. Besides, this is the same person saying that everyone descended from Adam and Eve… you know what never mind.

The short answer is I really don’t know and you don’t know how many people Farrakhan has kept out of prison either You act like Farrakhan, is doing the work single-handedly or if he wasn’t there, the work of the NOI wouldn’t be getting done. I’m not trying to diminish minister Farrakhan‘s accomplishments as a leader — he is an excellent leader. I just think you’re overstating his impact. The million man March was a long time ago and you’d be hard pressed to find anything that’s come of it that has lasted until today. Besides, the impact of the nation of Islam seems to be in decline since the million man March. I don’t know if that’s true but it seems like it based upon living in Harlem two blocks away from Mosque number seven. maybe because Malcolm’s estrangement from the nation weakened its presence.

Pioneer, have you ever raised kids? The reason I ask is because what you've described is what the vast majority of us have done for all of recorded history -- without giving up bacon I've seen Farrakhan speak and he was perhaps the most compelling speaker I ever heard in person. The NOI trains their minister well. But people like Malcolm, Farrakhan, Khalid Muhammad do not come around very often. Who is the next charismatic leader of the NOI?

Y'all might find this article on the meltdown between Musk and Trump interesting.

@ProfD that nuisance is lost on @Pioneer1. Pioneer you have dodged my simple question about the racial identity of the two girls. Is that because you realize it will expose your flawed logic as it relates to a genetic basis for race? I'm surprised would even say that Clarke was "wrong" about this. Clarke illustrated that fact that it was known that there is only one human race was known before it the evidence of the human genome was even started. That @Pioneer1 is why there is no genetic test for race. Pioneer what does the fact that there can't be a genetic test for race tell you? Can you answer that question?

This was article emailed to me today. As I mentioned in another conversation, I have not been following the nonsense between Trump and Musk. However, I did read this article and found it very funny. The word "lickspittle" made me laugh out loud. I never read the word lickspittle before, but it certainly not something you wanna be LOL! (Nathan Howard/Reuters) When the end finally came, it was spectacular. Two narcissistic bullies, enjoying a marriage of diminishing convenience, finally decided to stop lying about each other. The point of no return was reached when Musk effectively accused President Trump of raping underage girls. Of course, what he overlooked while delivering this coup de grace, was how it reflected on him. If Trump really is “in the Epstein Files”—which, on Musk’s account, weren’t released due to how fully he is implicated in them—Musk knew this, and yet he was happy to serve as Trump’s lieutenant and lickspittle all the while. In fact, by his own account, Musk loved Trump “as much as a straight man can love another man”—until this week, when his feelings changed, for reasons that seem to have rather a lot to do with his own business interests and nothing to do with child rape. How sordid. How abject. How unforgivable. Once again, it is worth observing the role that social media is playing in the current chaos: Without immediate access to an audience of 220 million followers, Musk wouldn’t have been tempted (or able) to attack President Trump in ways that seem guaranteed to further complicate his life. Yes, he might have said something crazy in an interview eventually, but it is different having a slot machine for controversy always in one’s pocket. Musk’s frenzied petulance made it the best day on X in years—but it was also the perfect illustration of how destructive the platform has become. Is there a person on Earth who thinks that Musk’s use of X is good for him? Just consider how reckless Musk’s behavior was: He claimed that President Trump is “in the Epstein Files,” and that this “is the real reason they have not been made public”—and then ramified this allegation by saying “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” But everyone knows that there was a long association between Trump and Epstein, so that cannot be what Musk was referring to. Rather, he is claiming to know that Trump participated in Epstein’s crimes—child rape, sex trafficking, etc. Was Musk divulging classified information in an effort to harm the President? It would appear so, assuming such information exists. Of course, Musk could also be lying—which he has begun to do with Trumpian abandon. Perhaps we will never know. Whatever the reasons for the dissolution of their friendship, Trump and Musk are showing us, yet again, how fully social media has corrupted our culture, along with the lives of some of the most powerful people in it. There is no denying that it has been fun to watch—but in a way that should make us feel, finally and fully, sick.

“There is no such thing as a race.” —Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Author, Historian, Educator @Pioneer1 and anyone else who might reject the so-called "white man's science" and continue hold on to the concept of race. Perhaps you will consider the words of Dr. Clarke.

There will be the need to some form of government provided minimum basic income. I'm telling you many entry level jobs can be replaced with an AI today. One person can do the job of two or more people right now. What will happen in the short term is that wealth inequality will increase. The people with the most money will not be the most ethical, so they will be useless. The rest of us will be at each other throats....

@Pioneer1 interesting video. I'm not sure what we are supposed to take from it. Sounds like he was hallucinating.

Are these two really beefing on social media like two immature middle schoolers? Crazy!

@Pioneer1?

From my perspective you are drawing an analogy between a computer program (AI) and a human. If not, what are you saying and what is you point? Sure, technically AI is a computer program, but AI is not "...But the same underlying principes." AI is not BASIC, Java or even C++. AI is fundamentally different. So, in my opinion it can absolutely go "rogue." AI can reach a point when it can recursively improve itself! Try to program that using Fortran

What you describe as "detailed evidence" is not detailed evidence indeed that is would be essentially proof and we would not be having this conversation. What we have are people grasping for straws based upon interpretations. There was a written language when these carving were in place. Why didn't those people simply write there were visitors from other worlds, or people in flying machine, or people who provided other worldly technology to help us build the pyramids? "Some claim..." more conspiracy theories. The 1,400 was just the first 5 months of May 2023. Time that is a significant number, but it is not enough to convince me, because I don't know what those people saw--and neither do they. 1,400 anecdotes do not equal proof - just a lot of anecdotes. Frankster if a stadium full of people (100K or more) look up in the sky and see a flying object that they cannot identify, it is called a UFO, that is FAR from proof of extraterrestrial life. Now I believe there must be extraterrestrial life because of the reason I previously described. However, I don't think the stuff in Chariots of the Gods or Ancient Aliens is proof.

profound. you know it’s one thing when you make a typo which I’m inclined to do, but it’s a completely different thing, when AutoCorrect changes words completely when you’re moved onto another paragraph. I know I need to reread everything… “Flying salsa” was supposed to be flying saucer.

Again, those articles were addressed and @frankster I believe even provided you with information to explain why. Still, I'm not surprised you refuse to answer my question about the races of the twins ... it would expose that fact that any answer you give will violate your reasoning.

@richardmurray you movie analysis was interesting but regarding the AI conversation you tend to anthropomorphize it which I don't think is the right way to think about it as it leads to you questions like the following: Which in the context of "individuality" is not relevant. Thinking of AI as a computer program is misleading. A program means creating instruction which that are followed. The results knowing the inputs are 100% predictable given the same inputs. If something happens that is wrong is a bug or a mistake which can be tracked down and fixed. AL's Large Language Models do not work the same way a computer program does. The output is not something that anyone can predict -- even with the same inputs. The results can be superhuman like the protein folding or completely novel. It is not the "If this, do that" we find in classical programing. I'd define "going rogue" as the classic "alignment problem," or worse the AI become so intelligent that it operates at such an advanced level that we would be the intellectual equivalent as mold is to humans and just as annoying.

yeah, people who watch those shows would naturally be inclined to find the arguments compelling. if you believe in any existence of alien civilizations, as I do, why wouldn’t they have visited us in the past or when dinosaurs roamed the Earth or last week? I read chariots of the gods a long time ago. Sounds like alien civilization is using the same arguments: there’s a carving that looks like a flying salsa therefore, it must be a flying saucer. I don’t buy into all arguments like that. I just believe giving a time scales and a number of star systems out there. There must’ve been some civilizations with the technology to traverse large distances and make it to earth. I just don’t think we have very much proof of it.

Linda Watkins is the lady you are thinking about. I would see her from time to time too. Yeah, she has written about 20 book reviews and articles for the site and was really good friends with Thumper. Chris Hayden was also an author. He also wrote a couple of reviews for the website too. I never met him in real life. I did a quick search and see no evidence of his death, but he may have been pseudonymously. He’d be 75 now.

I was tagged on this on Instagram. I know @aka Contrarian has been around long enough to "get" this message from one former poster to another. "deeshaphilyaw" went on to become a critically acclaimed writer nominated for a National Book Award in 2020 for her collection of short stories, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. The last time I saw Deesha was in November at the 2024 awards ceremony. I never did meet Yvette in real life. From the 'Gram: deeshaphilyaw 17h My dear friend Yvette Perry, PhD is a wonder. In addition to her work in academia, her roles at the @thegoodlisteningproject as the health equity programs lead and a member of the co-founding team, and her adventures as an art collector, Yvette is also an artist in her own right. Recently, I became the beneficiary of her creativity, brilliance, and generosity. She sent me this “junk journal” she made for me, and listen, y’all…the tears I cried as I thumbed through it OMG. It’s beautiful. It’s detailed. It’s thoughtful. It’s smart. It’s funny. And so, so sweet. It took everything I could not to post pictures of every lovingly made page. There are vintage ads, TV scripts, book excerpts, and so much more. Tucked in some of the pages are little surprises, like a gorgeous photo of Miami that Yvette took; for a too-brief time, we both lived in Miami, which is where I live now.

There are also blank pages to write on. I’m still trying to decide which thoughts and ideas of mine are worthy. Yvette’s note on the envelope references both my short story collection (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and my forthcoming novel (The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman). Very fitting given that our friendship spans the 20 years during which I wrote these books. Like so many of my friendships, ours started online (shout out to the early 2000s @aalbc message boards). And while Yvette and I haven’t seen each other in person nearly as much as we would like, I’ve always considered her friendship a treasure.

Along with the journal, Yvette also sent me a collage she made (see the next to last slide here). Eagle eyes will see that the text to the right of the church ladies is from my short story, “Jael.” Yvette gives the details of the collage on the last slide. I am thankful for my #goodartfriend!