Troy

Whoa, @Mel Hopkins I'm not accustomed to such sardonicism from you. Most people will move through this life without being murdered :-) That said it seems like Roe V Wade as has a better than even money chance of being overturned. More unwanted children will mean more crime and poverty. Murders are already on the rise... maybe you are right. Guest FAS, please consider creating an account -- so that I don't have to manually approve each of your comments -- thanks. @Maurice, maybe everyone's bad breath set him off. On a related note: Neil deGrasse Tyson. Posted the following tweet which resulted in a shitstorm of negative reaction: Neil followed the next day with the following post of Facebook, which makes me wonder why anyone of moderate celebrity would post anything on social media. Neil seems to think like so many other that you can change the world via social media. At best you provide fodder for people to ridicule you. I guess this "controversy" will help raise the profile of Neil brand as he emerges from hiding after his sexual assault allegation was resolved in his favor. We live in a weird world. The data he presented as "facts" is controversial as well. Fr example the number of deaths he associated to medical errors was disputed to Twitter by actually physicians. But physicians are of course biased which tells you that you can learn anything in a tweet. You really have to research everything or else you are being lied to... TweetStorm NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON·MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2019·READING TIME: 2 MINUTES Yesterday, a Tweet I posted in reaction to the horrific mass shootings in America over the previous 48 hours, killing 34 people, spawned mixed and highly critical responses. If you missed it, I offered a short list of largely preventable causes of death, along with their average two-day death toll in the United States. They significantly exceeded the death toll from the two days of mass shootings, including the number of people (40) who on average die from handgun homicides every two days. I then noted that we tend to react emotionally to spectacular incidences of death, with the implication that more common causes of death trigger milder responses within us. My intent was to offer objectively true information that might help shape conversations and reactions to preventable ways we die. Where I miscalculated was that I genuinely believed the Tweet would be helpful to anyone trying to save lives in America. What I learned from the range of reactions is that for many people, some information –-my Tweet in particular -- can be true but unhelpful, especially at a time when many people are either still in shock, or trying to heal – or both. So if you are one of those people, I apologize for not knowing in advance what effect my Tweet could have on you. I am therefore thankful for the candor and depth of critical reactions shared in my Twitter feed. As an educator, I personally value knowing with precision and accuracy what reaction anything that I say (or write) will instill in my audience, and I got this one wrong. Respectfully Submitted Neil deGrasse Tyson

Yeah it is all fucked up. There is no reason to believe it will get better anytime soon.

I really Eddie Kendricks music and iften played it. Once my ex said she did nit care fir hus music. I was actually very surprised to hear her say that, I assumed his music, like Curtis Mayfield's was universally enjoyed by Black folks. Black people are not a monolith huh? Or liking Curtis Mayfield and Eddie Kendricks is a "test" for Blackness. It certainly is better than @Pioneer1's skin color test 😉

I just added Todd's book about his father to the website. Mayfield is actually one of my favorite artists. I always discover interesting books on "What Are You Reading?" threads. Hopefully more folks will chime in.

@Pioneer1 i know you don't read the poetry forum, but i think you will like @Ldvirtue's poem

Thanks for sharing that.

“The Authors Guild’s 2018 Author Income Survey, the largest survey of writing-related earnings by American authors ever conducted finds incomes falling to historic lows to a median of $6,080 in 2017, down 42 percent from 2009.” Read the conclusions drawn from the survey here. There are many additional reason for this decline, not mentioned by the authors guild, because as a bookseller I see the problem from a different angle. During the same period my revenue from the sales of books has declined as well. This is the reason there are fewer booksellers online, or offline, than there were 10 years ago. The major reason: Amazon. I sell books anyway they can be sold; I sell books directly; send readers to the author's, publisher's, and even other indie booksellers; and I sell books as an affiliate of Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble. The vast majority of readers chose to purchase books from Amazon. Last year Amazon cut affiliate commission in half to 4%. Effectively cutting my book sales revenue in 1/2 overnight. Amazon also pressures authors, through their KDP Select program to give away free books for a period, to keep ebook prices below $2.99 (99 cents is not uncommon), and to give Amazon the exclusive right to sell their ebook (this would normally be laughable if Amazon were not a monopoly). Authors do this in exchange for some "promotion" and higher "royalties." As a result, I'm increasingly earning 4% on the sale of a 99 cent eBook. My commissions earned from Amazon, on the sale of books, have plummeted. A question for the author: What incentive do I have to sell an ebook that I will generate less than 4 pennies in revenue? What am I doing about it. I'm working to bypass Amazon completely and to ultimately drop all of my Amazon affiliate links. I've already turned down listing books of authors who have given Amazon exclusive right to sell. But I'm also working with some of these authors to sell their book through their own websites. I'm also working on a commission model that allows both the author and any bookseller to make more money on the sale of a book than we would if we went through Amazon. Let's be clear: Amazon has a monopoly on the sale of Black books. When we give a corporation that much power over our culture, we are all impoverished not just economically but spiritually.

Well @Tony Lindsaywhat book will it be for August?

I did not. Why bother when most of them are lying and will almost certainly do the bidding of their corporate masters as soon as they are in office? Call me when the democratic primary is about to take place.

Hi Joel post a link to you website or your book's ISBN13

See that is the thing, I do not know 45's motives. I think it is his nature and it has worked for him. My focus was on the reaction folks have to his posts. When they reply to his posts it elevates them and more people seem them. Which encourages him even more. Imagine if these authors invested their time sharing and commenting on AALBC's posts and the other entities they purport to support. Trolling 45 is just wasted energy that could be put to better use.

Dude! You can't lead with "Like Troy said..." then proceed to say nothing I agree with lol! Baltimore is no different than any other city. Baltimore has some good areas and bad ones. No other city is immune to any of the ills plaguing B'more. A decaying public school system, hyper-incarcerating, opioids, low wage jobs, lack of affordable housing all largerly due to greedy corporations taking control of everything while politicans on both sides help or do nothing. This not a Baltimore problem. It is a national one.

Learn More about John A. Williams

@LGilman, I just added your event to our book event calendar. It looks like October will be a busy month in Minnesota. Good luck with your inaugural event!

@emilyquirq, really? You gotta do better than this to promote some nondescript amazon affiliate website. I removed your hyperlink. Here is a link to learn more about Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

I'm reading a few books but am primarily focused on Evil Never Sleeps: Tales of Light and Darkness, by Robert Fleming. Robert is one of America’s most accomplished writers. He has written poetry, novels, nonfiction articles, and has reviewed over 60 books for AALBC. His work spans over 40 years. It seems to me that writers like Robert should be better known, but he is just your run of the mill late-middle-aged Black man {yawn}. He’s not Caribbean or African, he’s not LGBT, he does not have a white parent, he can’t rap or dunk a basketball, he wasn’t gang banger or previously incarcerated. He is the kind of writer that I always complain about being ignored by the mainstream media. Robert's accomplishments will never go viral on twitter despite his significant contributions to our literature.

Who was Ebony's target market? The Black masses? As opposed to the Bkack bougouise? @Delano you mean JPC not EMO right?

I know he is the POTUS and all, but I'll never understand why people give a flying f*ck what 45 has to say on twitter on anywhere else. We use to call it “poppin' shit.” If you get upset or bent out of shape everytime someone pops some shit you'll never be very happy and the shit talker will just target you because that is how he has fun. Bitchin' and moanin' about what 45 says is not gonna stop him; in fact it will fire him up and keep him going. People crying over his silly comments is what fuels him and his base. We really need to concern ourselves with his actions. Unless he croaks first 45 will serve out his term (sorry @Delano), and he is very likely to win a second. Unfortunately, some of my twitter followers also follow 45 and seemingly comment on his every post -- so now I have to see 45 tweets when I react to a comment on a link I've posted. I'm going to have to actually unfriend some otherwise cool people just to avoid seeing these dumb tweets. On a positive note the US Government managed to fine Facebook 5 Billion dollars. Of course this is just the cost of doing business for Facebook and will have no impact until they throw Mark and his ilk in prison for their crimes. And to think we have Brothers doing time for doing nothing at all -- guilty of being poor.

A "What you are reading thread" has not been created in sometime. Please @Maurice, feel free to start a new one!

Why couldn't it last? This story would make a good documentary or book.

Yeah I like Kamala. She got that good hair 😉

Buddy we've been down this road: We'll describe Bkack women as seeking white standards of beauty due to centuries of indoctrination. The women will say it has nothing to with indoctrination, or self hate it is a matter of choice. Women are free to style their hair anyway they please and men have no say in the matter. We'll argue that position is a direct consequence of being oppressed by Europeans for hundreds of years. This notion will be rejected on the basis that men are clueless and even argue if some women choose straight blond weaves/wigs it is because this is what Black men want. We'll attempt to soften our approach and explain that Black women's natural hair is beautiful and that they even more beautiful went they style their hair naturally. The ladies will reject this as well citing how natural styles are not accepted in the work place and most brothers, if they are honest, really don't want their women sporting natural styles. Meanwhile the Koreans who own the beauty supply stores grow rich in our communities and Black women are more stressed today than in the 50s...

Mel these writers intended to get paid, but Ebony apparently could not or would not pay them. The writers were robbed it is not their faults that they were not paid. This happens all the time. None of the articles I read, which all seem to be copied from the same source, failed mention that EMO failed to pay for the magazine. Apparently none of the reporters bothered to t3ead the liquidation petition. The quote, from the article I linked to says; “EMO is unaffected by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy announcement regarding the dissolution of JPC. EMO is not able to comment further and is not familiar with the facts or events of the JPC business.” If EMO did not pay JPC, then this quote is a lie. Man you can't really trust anything you read on the web... thanks for the elucidation. EMO's failure to pay JPC is an important detail. Now Mel, how is EMO getting off the hook for not paying JPC?

50% off. Please share the info. Regarding everything else. Ok.