Kalexander2

@Pioneer1: Upper and middle-class Blacks who oppose proximity to low income housing, for whatever reason fall in the same category as your accurate assertion that Blacks ruin communities, deteriorate, and ugly-fy physical attractiveness of neighborhoods. Yes, we do; because that's what we've learned to do. And it is something that will not change anytime soon. Certainly, no more White supremacy will change. Moreover, the resolution you propose: "you help poor people by providing them with descent paying jobs as well as making housing, education, and other basic necessities affordable for them," is the one thing that'll never happen. Unless we make it happen.

@Pioneer1: I unequivocally disagree; not only what Jews, whites, etc., to do each other is of significant importance to trhe world, it is especially important to Black folk, if for nothing than indicators of what to expect. Your signature also, necessarily suggests caring what they do to each other to understand White supremacy. Whether it is their religion, economics, or tradition; it has also become religion, economics, and tradition of Black folks. Assimilation is far reaching and the hope for many. Which I do believe should change, too.

@Pioneer1: "To be human is to err," so yes, I do believe NK, the jobs market, and other marginal improvements were coincidental mistakes. And if not, 'consequences' of the positives are going to more than make-up for any perceived improvements. The people who put DT in office are not stupid, they are modern-day criminals who support authoritarian leaders; where they may not make mistakes, there are only their crimes to pay for. And oh, he's already using release of those prisoners to image improve his image. Even it works there is still his wrongs that outweigh his positives. DT's only 'ace' in the hole is his base and the Republican Congress. If only there were honor among thieves!!

@Mel Hopkins: As with any venture, there's always the best and better way to benefit; offering cryptocurrency platforms may very well be the best way for Black investors to get involved. That involves manipulation, bold approaches, and deceit seem to always work for the short-run. Remember, banking was a moral success story until the usury was implemented and paper replaced gold, values we placed objects. The question is how much more our human morality are we willing to give-up, in the name of modern success, post slavery? Some things we can make happen, but for Black folk it's mostly about things that's happened us, and even that doesn't account for the way our fractured lives have somehow been held together. Now, I'm about to go off script for a moment here with a totally controversial POV. Going into financial product ventures market today call for completely joining the fray; diving in head first rather than a quick dip. To start justifying, looking at this as an equalitarian method for helping our people is the first step towards something sinister, in my opinion. No, we should not just sit around waiting for the change we need to fall from the sky, either. Nor do I know of any alternative means Black folk can embark on. No one else knows either, which is the point I'm attempting to make here. Shovels break as with all tools some are better than others. Some people get their tools on credit, others with symbolic valuables like cash. I would not feel comforable, to outright try to sell a glass of ice-water to someone living in Alaska. Nor am I of the opinion we should do to each other what Whites do to us, just because some else will get them if I don't. With some reservations, I'm like Sam Cooke's African American song: "A Change is Gonna Come."

@Mel Hopkins, questioning validity, very clever women. Now, no, Iran have not claimed responsibility, but the chatter (around here) is the missiles came from the province of Golan Heights, or Damascus. Neither side is talking a lot about the attacks and retaliatory responses. I'm closer the Israeli/Egypt/Jordanian/Syrian border areas. I intend to get a closer look next week when I go the Alaa (a vacation area). Israel is on high alert, Jews are spending nights in nuclear fall-out shelters, walking around carrying automatic weaponry. Arab Palestinians are going about their lives normally.

You got it, brother!

The Israeli military said 20 rockets were fired at its positions in the occupied Golan Heights overnight. It responded by launching what a spokesman called "one of the broadest aerial operations in recent years". There was no immediate comment from Iran, whose deployment of troops to Syria to back the government in the country's civil war has alarmed Israel. Iran has repeatedly called for an end to the existence of the Jewish state. Israel's military had been anticipating an attack by Iranian forces after reportedly carrying out a number of strikes on their facilities in Syria in recent months. They included one on an airbase in April that killed seven Iranian troops.

The Israeli military said 20 rockets were fired at its positions in the occupied Golan Heights overnight. It responded by launching what a spokesman called "one of the broadest aerial operations in recent years". There was no immediate comment from Iran, whose deployment of troops to Syria to back the government in the country's civil war has alarmed Israel. Iran has repeatedly called for an end to the existence of the Jewish state. Israel's military had been anticipating an attack by Iranian forces after reportedly carrying out a number of strikes on their facilities in Syria in recent months. They included one on an airbase in April that killed seven Iranian troops.

Through his lawyers, Cohen filed a letter calling Avenatti’s claims “inaccurate,” but he didn’t provide any evidence to contradict them. Akerman said, “This is the reason that the White House wanted to get rid of this search warrant, why they attacked the search warrant. What these allegations — what this evidence is going to do is totally undercut congressman Nunes’s whole attack on Christopher Steele and the dossier he put together. It’s going to provide evidence of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians and the break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters. And the hacking of all of those e-mails. And the use of those e-mails to get Trump elected. I mean all of this starts to fit together. Even Rudy Giuliani basically gives us the best point here. Cohen just did these things. He buried things.” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) should be sweating bullets right now. He has built Trump’s defense of discrediting the Steele Dossier. The reason why the White House and Trump are freaked out is that Michael Cohen is the connection between the Trump campaign, Trump’s businesses, and the Stormy Daniels case. Michael Cohen is the link that places all the Trump scandals under the same roof. Michael Cohen can connect the dots on the TRump Russia conspiracy. The evidence in the Cohen investigation could expose Trump’s payouts to Stormy Daniels and other women.

"Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number," the 1994 debut from R&B singer Aaliyah, was co-produced by Kelly ... a track he had written for her. Kelly was 27, Aaliyah was 15. In a 1994 interview she called him her “best friend in the whole wide world”, and in August year they were married at a Chicago suburb Sheraton with a forged marriage certificate falsely stating Aaliyah was 18. Divorce proceedings began two days later when her family learned of the wedding. The marriage was annulled by fall. Aaliyah received $100 from Kelly as part of a settlement also stating she would not pursue legal action and neither would publicly discuss the matter (Kelly has long denied the pair had a sexual relationship). The song went platinum. Aaliyah was died eight years later. I'm a jazz and blues kind of guy, even in those music genre's underage female sensitivities come forth. Nothing new, and probably harmless in the sense of 'redeeming values,' so to speak. In Kelly's case the marriage, with or without PAPER, is acceptable; and his music pose no dangers. It does, however, go right to the idea of parent rearing children, like the brother alluded to. Again, these are the times we live in, and everyone's justifying their part. For us males, sexual indulgence has always been a selective process when it is convenient for us, even before the turn of the 11th century. To place a time on the demonization of the sex issue is quite mis-placed. At a time when an 80-year Bill Cosby is facing a prison sentence (involving adult women) that may never see him a man free again, this discussion is appropriate.

Stephanie Baskek wrote, 05/04/2018: "When there’s a gold rush on, the thing to do is not to dig. Instead, sell shovels to all the suckers who think they’ll get rich digging for gold. This is one of the lessons that investigative reporter Corey Pein learned when he moved to San Francisco at the height of the Silicon Valley start-up boom. In his analogy, the gold rush is the tech boom, and the suckers are all the start-up wannabes who flock to the Bay Area for a slice of the venture-capital pie. And all of us, the consumers, who fell for the excitement of the gig economy and the lure of a free social network that promised to never sell our data? We’re suckers, too." Cryptocurrencies are the modern-day 'Gold Rush,' this could be gold mine for Blacks with a few dollars to invest, but leveraging the benefits is going to take some 'creative' financial/economic smarts. CAREFUL!

payment made to Michael Cohen by a Russian oligarch was meant to buy access to Trump. Natasha Bertrand of The Atlantic and MSNBC reported: Bertrand said, “This is just when Michael Avenatti broke the news on Twitter essentially. I called up Steve Ryan’s cell and said, what is this about? He said he didn’t want to discuss it but did entertain a few of my questions. He said it was not a payment and incorrect to call it a payment. He said he acknowledged this transaction occurred but took issue with calling it a payment. When I spoke to Michael Avenatti later he told me to say it was not a payment is completely inaccurate. Seems they’re parsing a bit but the key is that Michael Cohen was looking for new clients after the election, and after Donald Trump’s inauguration. And whether or not those new clients like the Russian oligarch who hired him and paid him $500,000 were trying to gain access to the administration remains to be seen, but many people in both Trump’s world and in Cohen’s world tell me that it seems clear that this was meant to gain access to the president.” If people in both Trump and Cohen world believe that the Russians were trying to buy access to the Trump presidency, it raises the question of criminality. If Cohen took the money and Trump met with the oligarch, it isn’t a crime at that point. The criminal liability kicks in if the oligarch got access to Trump, asked him to do something in exchange for money, and he did it, that is a crime. The only question remain is, was the payment to Stormy Daniels a benefit DT enjoyed, and whether DT knew about the oligarch's payment to Cohen? Indeed, the plot(s) thickens! And, Somehow lost in all the other news headlines over the past two days is a report from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that confirms Russian attacks on the U.S. elections systems during the 2016 election cycle. And in confirming what happened, the Committee also explained how the Russian cyber-attacks compromised the systems in 18 states in such a way that vote totals were manipulated in favor of Donald Trump. This should be bigger news, but the report was downplayed because Republicans are in charge of the Committee (which is led by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina). If Democrats were in charge we’d probably see headlines that announced hard evidence of Russia rigging the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win. According to the Intelligence Committee Report“Summary of Initial Findings:” “Cyber actors affiliated with the Russian government scanned state systems extensively throughout the 2016 election cycle. These cyber actors made attempts to access numerous state election systems, and in some cases accessed voter registration databases.” “At least 18 states had election systems targeted by Russian-affiliated cyber actors in some fashion. Almost all of the states that were targeted observed vulnerability scanning directed at their Secretary of State websites or voter registration infrastructure.” “In some states, the Russian-affiliated cyber actors conducted malicious access attempts on voting-related websites, Russian-affiliated cyber actors were able to gain access to restricted elements of election infrastructure. In these states, these cyber actors were in a position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data.” So this means that the Committee has proven that “Russian-affiliated cyber actors” accessed voter registration date and “were in a position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data.” Brother Troy, I'd like you send my $50 bucks to African American Youth Harvest Foundation (AAYHF), in my name PLEASE!

Thanks, sister Hopkins very interesting, I too am still foggy on cryptocurrencies. I saw that bitcoin is being promoted, really-hard, by conservative and financial network sites. Like anything humans put value on, there's somebody standing by to exploit it. The catholic church was the corruption of gold and the dollar. I need to watch the video though.

Yes, the Russian/Congress connection's been suggested before, not only donations but actual payments from a media source I can't remember, last year. Disclosed by a house judiciary democrat. Russian billionaires who attended the 'old boy's' inauguration is another story in and of itself, the good stuff save for last. Whoever said politicians were smart criminals; fighting over the booty (loot). Yeah, brother troy matters are going worse for the people until long after the dust clears. Especially if Trump is impeached by his own party, and he will be, all Black folk need is bullet proof vests and stay away from the windows. I SAY, LET WHITE FOLKS TEAR THIS SH*T UP, we'll pick-up the slack. Though I'll be returning home as an ex-patriot, if they let me.

Maybe bribes, maybe consultant fees; if definitively unknown, Muller's going to settle for payments for helping Trump win = collusion + treason for working with a foreign adversary against the U.S. WOW, what headlines that'll make, not to mention the history books. To improve a global image and favor with the majority of Americans. I can almost see it now: America convicts and sentence U.S. President to life in prison for treason! Okay, I'm woke now!!!

@Troy, I believe the brother was alluding to recent events concerning Cohen, I think. You're right though, nothing new is being related. "In an explosive development that could prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, The New York Times is reporting that a Russian oligarch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the same shell company that Michael Cohen used to pay off Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. According to the report, “A shell company [Essential Consultants L.L.C] that Michael D. Cohen used to pay hush money to a pornographic film actress [Stormy Daniels] received payments totaling more than $1 million from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch [Columbus Nova, an investment firm in New York whose biggest client is a company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch.] and several corporations with business before the Trump administration, according to documents and interviews.” Financial records reviewed by The New York Times show that Mr. Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer and longtime fixer, used the shell company, Essential Consultants L.L.C., for an array of business activities that went far beyond what was publicly known. Transactions totaling at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants starting shortly before Mr. Trump was elected president and continuing to this January, the records show."

@richardmurray: Doubt sister Hopkins meant where that's going, but i'll leave it up her to check it up!

Russian oligarchs are mostly wealthy Russian Jews, a few scattered non-Jewish Russians. Jared Kushner, Michael Cohen, and more than half of Congress cohorts support these oligarchs. So, of course they helped Trump win even to just win favor with Putin; my question is WHY SUPPORT TRUMP's presidency on the one hand, and on the other pretend to support democratic principles. I FIND IT AMAZING that under every tree, every war, every crying child there's a Jewish connection! Would reparations for decendants of slaves been realized if Jews offered an apology, I wonder?

@ Richard Murray: Not exactly, Mr. Murray; a child can be programed to be whatever the parent wants; priest, serial killer, politician, fool, wise man, etc. Although a child can learn to be any of these things without guidance, there is always some external/internal influence. However, just as there's no guarantee a machine will take the program it's imbrued with, or continue functioning as expected, nor is it guaranteed a child will turn-out as expected. For instance, Donald Trump, constantly ridiculed by his father who said he was too soft, weak, a loser, etc., find validation by pointing out the faults in others, calling them losers, "you're the loser, not me because I can make you suffer." This is to say not all guidance turns out opposite, some just turn out to be side-ways or misguided.

Yes, brother Troy, everyone's in it for her/his self, to survive; by any means necessary. It's all just disappointing and discouraging to say the least!

@Mel Hopkins: Distribution of HUD funds go the developers, builders, and the banks; planners and local housing commissioners who determine community needs decide who get those monies. It's the slop-sided policies and plutocrats who decide community integration; and richer friends in 'lower' places, the louder their voice. HUD, an offshoot from FHA still stand for White community advancement; helped by Black community leaders. Sean Hannity is just another 'bidder' whose RFP procurement application holds greater weight. A better solution would be for more Black developers and builders influencing the community to stand-up to local housing commissioners and demand fair bidding and selection practices. But with RFP contracts going to the most popular, wealthier developers and builders which Black business (usually) depend on as sub-contractors; good luck with that! Your valid concern is one which has been in debate for at least several decades now. @Richard Murray: AND THERE IT IS, in a nutshell. Everywhere we turn the cards are stacked againsgt the Black community. And if the 'popular majority vote' fail, then there's the 'electorial college' to put the slack in favor of White advancement. Though for selection of the president, the electorial college promote policies of the majority, which States recognize.

@Richard Murray, yes sir, I don't recall hearing that specially because they promised so many ludicrous polices. But to witness this 'heartless' move in real life only adds to my sense of hatred for Trump/Carson. To think of the plight elderly Blacks, children and widows without protection from the elements, without a place to call home or hope for a future. Not even talking about how worse matters are going to get for Black folk. Or is that a 'blood red' light at the end of this tunnel?

Oh, brother Troy, it goes much deeper than that: In the process of advocating for public housing, African American policy elites had to battle both white and black opponents. The white opponents—the real estate industry, local politicians, and anxious homeowners—were well known, powerful, and responsible for racializing public housing by largely restricting it to blacks in the ghetto. Not as easily identifiable, on the other hand, were black opponents, including the black upper and middle classes, who felt their hard-earned affluence threatened by the proximity of public housing. Although black civic leaders used both class and racial criteria to criticize affluent blacks’ opposition, they stayed within the... However, Racial violence in postwar Chicago united black elites more than the issues surrounding slum clearance and public housing had. This issue generated no split between national and local elites of the sort evident in the debate on the city’s redevelopment program. Nothing represented a greater threat to all African Americans, regardless of class, geography, or affiliation, than violence targeted at a person or persons because of their race. Nothing better dramatized the restrictions that blacks experienced seeking improved housing than the harassment, intimidation, and violence committed by whites to keep blacks in the ghetto. Despite the ambivalence African Americans felt. The track record of the private housing industry in producing housing for racial minorities was woeful. Between 1940 and 1950, only 100,000 of the 9 million new private housing units produced nationally went to non-whites. Since 1940, black policy elites had recognized the importance of fighting this severe racial disparity. While they accepted the role of private enterprise in producing housing for African Americans in Chicago and other U.S. cities, they decided to confront its racially discriminatory practices. Every facet of the industry—construction, development, and finance—had long discriminated against African Americans, producing residential segregation. Black housing officials in... The above are actual quotes various source notes I keep on hand. And even this fall short of the icebergs tip, regarding White America's plan for our people! I lose patience when people, especially Blacks, take the ploy of these scientific, racist policies less than serious issues planned for my Black community. I've become much more passive about my people in America, since my absence there. While more than 90% still refuse to change reaching for the ever-elusive stars in the sky, instead of inside ourselves. I'm seriously starting to wonder whether I, myself have a problem, wasting my time with these Black concerns!

Fair-housing advocates plan to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Secretary Ben Carson for suspending an Obama-era rule requiring communities to examine and address barriers to racial integration, The Washington Post reported. Three fair-housing groups have signed onto the lawsuit, which claims the suspension was unlawful because it didn’t provide proper public notice or a chance for public comment, the Post reported. The 2015 rule required more than 1,200 communities receiving billions of federal housing dollars to draft plans to desegregate their communities — or risk losing federal funds. Carson, who described efforts to desegregate American neighborhoods as “failed socialist experiments,” suspended the rule in January, allowing local and state governments to continue receiving HUD grants without compliance with the full requirements of the Fair Housing Act, the Post reported.

Fair-housing advocates plan to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Secretary Ben Carson for suspending an Obama-era rule requiring communities to examine and address barriers to racial integration, The Washington Post reported. Three fair-housing groups have signed onto the lawsuit, which claims the suspension was unlawful because it didn’t provide proper public notice or a chance for public comment, the Post reported. The 2015 rule required more than 1,200 communities receiving billions of federal housing dollars to draft plans to desegregate their communities — or risk losing federal funds. Carson, who described efforts to desegregate American neighborhoods as “failed socialist experiments,” suspended the rule in January, allowing local and state governments to continue receiving HUD grants without compliance with the full requirements of the Fair Housing Act, the Post reported.