Troy

Thank you I see you are lightening up 🙂 I had to look up UFC. Yeah I can see that; he looks like the type. I just looked up Candace Owens according to Wikipedia she was born April 29, 1989 is an American conservative commentator and activist. She is known for her pro-Trump stance and her criticism of Black Lives Matter and of the Democratic Party. She is the Director of Communications at the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA. I still don't understand why she is "a thing." After looking her up I don't find her nearly as cute... she is repulsive to me now 😞

Really? In that case, I guess it really does not matter to much where you live. What the best part of living down under as far as you are concerned? I have to visit.

Help me understand what this means to me (or which link I should read first).

Again, I suggest that you check out some conservative radio. If you still own a radio go to the AM dial between the religious programming, sports, and news, you'll find plenty of conservative people praising Trump -- but don't listen too long you might get converted LOL!

Whoa, that late 60s -- My God! As far as the government trying to put things right it is WAY TOO late for that. The Tasmanians were exterminated... I don't even know where to begin. Is there are large Black community where you live @Floyd Collins or @Delano or does that type of thing matter to you? What is the most appealing thing about Australia -- something that you can't find in the US? @Chevdove, that white woman responsible for Emmett's death was not threatened by him, nor did she need the protection of white folks. She admitted she lied... a purely evil woman. Actually when that white boy came out in white face imitating Michael that was funny!

OK it is not really @Delano and I debating, The debaters are Joe Rogan and Candace Owens -- two people I never heard of before today, but who must be pretty prominent. I listened to few of Joe's interviews while working today he did a 3-hour interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson, which is pretty big. At any rate, Joe's arguments are the same as mine and Del's reasoning, though I'm sure he'll probably reject this statement, is fundamentally the same as Candice's -- rejecting the findings of the entire scientific community. Joe spends a lot of time convincing Candance that because of her celebrity it is important how she communicates her position on climate change. I'd argue that it is Joe providing Candice a platform which is the problem. The more Candice spoke the more people she has the opportunity to convince -- and she is quite convincing as foine as she is LOL!

YES! you are right again @Delano! The Earth ain't going anywhere for at least a few billion years. It is the stupid planet's inhabitants whose days are numbered.

I just watched the Friday broadcast of Bill Maher's politically incorrect. A white woman explained why so many white women voted for Trump. They basically followed their husband's lead believing they would be better off. It was not as much about race or gender but about self interest. Which is one of the reasons many Black people voted for Trump -- selfish reasons.

Again @Cynique you are allowing what you think to cloud your judgement. While you and I might think 45 and West are laughing stocks. Many in this country do not. It is for this reason the Republicans will likely retain control of the Senate and have a good chance to retain control of the House. Check out some right wing radio for 30 minutes and you'll see what I mean. Not everyone thinks Kanye West is a nutcase. Some believe his is indeed a genius, establishing a relationship with the most powerful politician on Earth to increase his own wealth. Facts? Much of what Kanye said was nonsense. Just because Kanye has lunch with the president does not mean we need to hear his 25-minute nonsensical rant. How is the pubic served by this? What did we learn? 45 benefited from this publicity more than anyone else. Again, the media is being manipulated by 45, and as a result many of us (not you of course) are being manipulated as well.

@Floyd Collins, that is probably because Europeans essentially eradicated the indigenousness populations and collectively make up better than 85% of the population today. Black people are a small minority. There are probably more Black people in Detroit than there are in all of Australia. In other words, White Australians are not threatened by Black people on any level. It is not because the white folks in Australia are more civilized, just more effective in establishing and maintaining their dominance. It is not a uniquely American problem. You can read stories about this type of xenophobia fueled racism, in places like Germany and France. Great Britain is certainly not immune to this either. Another poster @Delano lives in Australia too.

People are evil and stupid. Some racist in Detroit fired his shotgun at a 14 year old kid who knocked on his door looking for directions. The guy lied and saying he tripped causing him to accidently shoot at the kid. However his own security camera showed the truth. Fortunately this low life will likely go to prison.

@Delano, ok, techically you are right. But seriously man, how was anyone supposed what you were talking about? You turned the conversation to the issue of race back in September and conversation has continued along the thread ever since. Perhaps a bit more of an introduction to your links would be helpful in avoiding confusion in these situations. @Chevdove you've lost me. Hiwever, the bottom line is that white folks have, throughtout history, have perpetrated great evils against other white people. White people have never been at a loss to find a rationale for hating each other. Sometimes it is religion other times it is just a line in the sand. What we know as racism is just another mechanism. Racism is not nearly as old however as you suggest. Racism was a recent concoction to justify the perpetual enslavement of Africans -- essentially equating us with animals. Educated people always knew better, but up until the last 100 years, or so, most people were not educated, so this fraud of race was easily spread. The stupidity persists because there are beneficaries and so many people are poorly educated. So while racism is indeed a problem, the state of our educational system -- for the reasons just described -- is a more serious problem. You are not going to end racism by converting racists to rational humans. They need to die out. We just cant keep crearing new racists...

Yeah... the Earth, as we know it, is doomed. Someone pass me a beer!

@Delano, your question is based upon a false assumption. I think they are bith interestion otherwise i would nit engage in conversation about them. Kaepernick however strikes me as earnest. He is a positive influence while Kayne is an embarrassment. Kanye does have the benefit of being more independent, while Colin was dependent upon the NFL for his platform. Of course it does, and the is exactly why i bitching. Kayne is a distortion of the truth, he gets too much attention. Trumpers running around using kaynes ramblings to justify their racism. See YOU may think the media is "...exposing Trump for the fool that he is..." when this is clearly not the case as the nan the the freaking POTUS! To be clear @Cynique I wrote: My statement has nothing to do with Republicans.

@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?