Troy

@Cynique, as someone who actively ignores the popular media i can tell you kanye's visit got a ton of attention. It is for this reason he has such a huge platform and is why his words really matter. If kanye were talking sense, he would not get nearly as much attention from the media, nor would he have invited to the white house. Because of this, the media do Black people a disservice. The electoral college is what it is, it got Obama into the white house too. The media gave trump a superior and undeserved platform and we are all paying the price now.

Yeah Madeira getting hit with a storm like this is unprecedented. I guess you heard the ominous warnings issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: "Governments around the the world must take "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" to avoid disastrous levels of global warming, says a stark new report from the global scientific authority on climate change." Does this, or the article you posted, change your opinion on climate change, or is it much ado about nothing? That storm the hit florida a couple days ago was the strongest one to hit that part of the state... ever -- or since they have been keeping records.

@Cynique of course the media will cover this bullshit... that is what they do. This is quite lucrative for them. I always said, all of the media attention given to trump help put him in the whitehouse. So now we are all talking about Kanye's ramblings when more substantive and important conversations are not covered or perhaps not even being had. I guess I'm tried of Black icons being destroyed (Jim Brown, Cosby -- even tavis smiley) and people like Kanye being elevated.

@Chevdove are you familiar with feudalism? Do you two (pioneer and chevdove) understand the reasons for any if the world's major wars, why they occurred and who killed who, today and historically? You do realize, despite social media hype to the contrary, that far and away most Black people are killed by other Black people. Either, I'm not smart enough to understand this explaination for sexism stemming from racism, or it makes no sense. I'm pretty sure it is the later. Racism is the least of our worries. The greed of the oligarchs and plutocrats is much more a concern of mine. @Delano what is the connection of the article you posted to this conversation?

This was the most thoughtful response I received in reaction to my question to my question: Dear Troy, I really enjoy your book posts and look forward to each. You asked if anyone from MS could tell you why the festival is poorly attended bt Black people here. I'm going to attempt an answer but you will have a hard time believing it. My husband and I moved here in late April and it has been an eye opening experience. There is very little in the way of publicity here and that is the case for most social events even the statewide ones. For instance, the state fair is this month and there have been no tv ads and very little in the way of print. If you don't already know about the goings on in your area of the state, there is almost no way of finding out as folks don't tell you what is going on. They are not particularly friendly that way. There are few book stores here. Each county or town might have one library. I told my local librarians about the book festival and also the annual writers conference neither of which they attend or were aware of. I told some folks about both and they were amazed to know MS had a writers guild. Imagine my surprise because these are lifelong Mississippians. I had a rude awakening when I attended a Black business meeting (3 people have been attending) and found out that Black people here do not support Black businesses. I was told by more than one Black business owner to not let on that the business is Black owned. Now I never expect White folks to support Black businesses but I do expect Black people. Apparently the crap/slave mentality is alive and very well here. If Black folks find out you own a business, they make comments about not wanting to make you rich or some other comment to that effect. The word gets spread and your business goes belly up. I've heard some of this and seen it first hand. My husband told me this (he was raised down here) and I didn't believe him. I was born and bred in Chicago. Black folks their spread the word and and buy Black. Not here. We're here because are on a fixed income and rents in Chicago are skyrocketing. My mother-in-law left a home to my hubby so here we are. Eventually we'll be back in Chicago. In the meantime, we're doing what we can to change minds and attitudes here. I joined the local chapter of the MS Writers Guild (presently all White) and had a small event at my county library. They offered to carry a copy of my book. I had a stroke and could not attend the festival although I'm on the mailing list and keep up. I saw some of it on Book-TV. I'm glad you were able to attend. Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to meet in the future, Keep up your good work. It is needed and appreciated.

Hi @Floyd Collins, I read the book's description on Amazon, and you lead with, "Due to the subject matter of this book and of its authenticity, there are some intentional grammatical errors. " Consider deleting that sentence. Any serious reader would likely reject the book on the line alone. Do you really mean grammatical errors (bad punctuation misspelled words, etc.) or are you are writing the way people speak (informal writing)? Do you have a family photo?

@Pioneer1 most of the people agree that the woman blew Harvey for a job. This is based upon conflicting statement she provided. But don't worry, Harvey is still in a world of trouble there are still two other victims with credible cases. Still if you want to compare Cosby to Harvey; Cosby had many more accusers and he is only doing time for one. Harvey had fewer accusers and he may do time for two. Seems like Cosby was treated with the kids gloves relatively speaking.

In a perverse sense this is true. I live in Tampa, which is almost 300 miles away from where the storm hit, so I was unaffected. I was near the effected part of the state a few weeks ago they have beautiful beaches these. The losses must be devastating. Dude MOST of the people in the United States are white. White people are the suffering from the wealth inequality more than Black people are -- based upon sheer numbers. How does that square with your belief that wealth inequality is based upon race alone? I read your explanation, but it does not explain your reasoning. But don't worry about it. Saying sexism follows from racism can not be rationalized no matter how you twist words and logic.

This is the very definition of a media circus. Again the media are as responsible for use giving a shit about what a Kanye West has to say. I listened to this video, for the first time, as I posted it. The entire white house is an unscripted reality TV show. Kanye said he was as smart as Tesla. That is difficult to see based upon his behavior and words. Kanye said Trump is a "master or industry." Kanye clearly has no knowledge of 45's business dealings. It was just weird and sad seeing Jim Brown sitting there, presumably co-signing every crazy thing coming out of Kanye's month. It is not clear to me how Jim or the people he is advocating for benefits from kissing 45's butt. @Cynique, unfortunately I could not find the humor in the video you posted -- maybe the situation is too sad.

Obviously racism is a problem, but it is certainly not one of the biggest problems faced by humanity. Personally man's adverse impact on the climate is at top of my list -- that is if you really want to talk about humanity. Climate change is THE existential threat of our day. The impact of which we can see every day. In the US the growing wealth inequality leaves racism in the dust. Racism is a convenient tool to keep the masses fighting amounst ourselves while being robbed blind. As an aside; How is racism the root cause of sexism? Please explain that, or provide an example.

No, because the article you shared indicated that woman agreed to blow Weinstein in exchange for a job. While sleazy, it is not rape and probably not a crime. Are you suggesting Weinstein should go to jail for that?

Amazon Will Consider Opening Up to 3,000 Cashierless Stores by 2021 (Bloomberg, Sept 19, 2018) Amazon.com Inc. is considering a plan to open as many as 3,000 new AmazonGo cashierless stores in the next few years, according to people familiar with matter, an aggressive and costly expansion that would threaten convenience chains like 7-Eleven Inc., quick-service sandwich shops like Subway and Panera Bread, and mom-and-pop pizzerias and taco trucks. At some point the government really will have to provide some form of minimum income for our citizenry. As even more low wage jobs disappear we are going to have to go something with folks who are simply unemployable because their jobs have been eliminated by one the handful of trillion dollar companies. Obviously the Amazon Brick and Mortar bookstores can be converted into one of these employee free stores as well. Who needs people when you have Jeff Bezos and his powerful computer programs.

But do you think this particular message will resonate with the regular (non-techie, non-entrepreneurial) Black person?

Great news @JBoard -- congratulation. I'll be sure to spread the word about this accomplishment!

Help Requested I revised and edited this post and added it to my blog: https://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2018/10/08/paid-google-information-produce-use/ I'm planning to publish a book next year, basically a book of AALBC highlights. I'm going to include articles I've written, book lists I've compiled, as well as lists like the one Google is using on their Home system (The Top 50 Black Owned Websites). As always, I welcome feedback -- do you think anyone cares about Google using a website's content on their products? Do I present the information (on the blog) in a way that is at all interesting?

You know police have been killing, beating the crap out of, and robbing Black folks for as long as I can remember. The media did not cover this when I was younger, but today if feels like every incident is constantly -- everyone know Sandra Bland's name, but no one knows any of the Black woman killed by police over the years back in the 70's. The 24/7 news cycles distorts reality. I'm saying this because it is very possible that police brutality may be way down compared to when I was a teen. I don't know but I would not be surprised if it is.

"Think" is the operative word here. None of the shooting of Black people I've seen involved any form of reasoning or thinking. These don't seem to be situations in which the cops involved actually thought things through. Indeed, some believe the time in which a cop stops to "think twice," can mean the difference between life and death. Of course a racist cop whose goal is too simply kill or lock as many negroes up as he can will not be stopped by kneeling, laws, public outcry, or laws.

You know when people use these hyperbolic superlatives nowadays it gets on my nerves. I know this is partially because 45 speaks this way in an effort to con people. I also know people do this as a form of praise and to be complementary but it just turns me off. Now I like Claude Anderson's ideas promote his work and sell his books. So I'm not trying to take anything away from him. But when Boyce says things like; "definitely one of the greatest thinkers of all-time" "throughout the world;" it just turns me off. Fortunately Claude is modest man. Unlike what Claude describes in this video, I believe race is a distraction. Gender is too. This is all about rich folk acquiring more wealth and holding on to it. If there is a race war do you think 45 and his homies like "100 Keg" Kavanaugh are going to be running around shooting folks? Long before Black folks were around, white were enslaving and exploiting each other. Now the fight against racism is important and must be waged, but the absence of racism will not rid of the problems economic problems we have.

Because if RGB is replaced by another white male of privilege with a sense of entitlement, the court will be f*cked for at least another generation. Hopefully a conviction will stop the wanton killing of Black people by law enforcement, but something tells me it will not.

So the jury had 9 qhite nonhispanic people on it? Assuming the jury had 12 people on it whar was the gender of tbe other two? So if colin never took a knee this guy trigger happy cop would have walked free? As far as Kavanaugh yall better hope the notorious RGB makes another 2 years...

Yes I was aware of the hidden colors films I've sold a bunch of them and helped spread the word about them. I don't mean to imply that I lost all respect for Tariq. It is just that he came across very petty and childish. I expected more than that from someone with the wherewithal and consciousness to produce the hidden colors movies. Perhaps I put him up on pedestal when the reality is that he is no different than the rest of us.

Hey @TSegal, did you write the article? There was no byline. Is Afromerica your website?

Perhaps you are right. I just saw Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 11/9 this evening. It is quite damning. It is hard to come away with any positive sentiments of your fellow man. Flint Michigan was portrayed as ethnic cleansing Obama's role was not just disappointing but shameful... Still 45 -- despite it all -- will be in office at the end of the year.

Regarding the wager: agreed per Del's clarification. We are discussing the Republican base including those "evangelicals" who want abortion outlawed. Again, if the repubican keep the senate and Kavanaugh is confirmed things will look good for 45... as far was the rest of us... winter is coming.

I don't know what form of bankruptcy 45 would be subject to. I'm not even sure if you can avoid civil penalties with bankruptcy. As a former sitting president 45 will be left far from impoverished no matter what type of bankruptcy he might undergo. Besides some slick lawyer will certainly mitigate any severe penalties. 45 will have life time secret service detail including a chauffeur. A presidential library and more... shoot he'll be able to do a book signing and charge folks hundreds or thousands of of dollars, like the Obamas. Yes, and they see that leading impeachment proceedings will hurt them with their base. Lets see how many flip on the Kavanaugh vote this weekend... OK so you are going to call "removal" the same as "assassination, or even suicide." Damn, I would not have pegged you for this. Are you really going to make me trudge through this long ass conversation to find the original bet to prove otherwise? @Delano is your understanding of the bet, that K2 voluntarily jumped in on, include you winning if 45 croaks? I'll go by your recollection, as I don't feel like reviewing the details.