Craig? (Sorcerer Supreme)
Really?
How does one get an invitation?

(Damn, has it been THAT long? I don't even know which prompts to use to post this)

SeeNew
Can't get on your site because you've gone 'invite only'?
Man, it's not my fault that I learned so much that it's hard to relate to 'regular people'.
Abagond.
Keep trying to teach the masses.
Free Man - Keep teaching them how to own their own.
Brohammas - How are Mrshammas and the Littlehammases?

Damb (sic), I miss Birdeye, Dennark Vesey, Thor Daddy, Undercoverbrother, Mandissa, Submariner, DMG and the rest of the hard-hitting niccas who could throw and take a lick (Hot piss and all - SeeNew).

I miss "School".

I'm in the middle of an experiment by working two minimum wage jobs (Okay, I'm cheating. My house, cars and insurance are paid for) to prove that it can be done.
It sucks
Since October - I'm finna' quit.
Eff that.
Y'all win.
I'm too old and comfortable to struggle.
The Bible says that of much learning there is no end - I don't need to know everything

Like a Basquiat painting - it's ugly as shit but it has a value of more than most people can afford.

Bully Prevention Month?

October is Bully Prevention Month?
Really?
Yeah, well...
I'm sitting this one out as well.

Back in the day, we got whooped!
Back in the day, we got cut from teams (we didn't have a B-team).
Back in the day, we didn't get trophies for nothing.
Back in the day, we would get into fights.
Back in the day, we would 'play the dozens'.

Bag, rag, case, whatever your local term was for The Dozens, everyone played.
Or else...
Either you'd learn to tell better jokes, learn to laugh at yourself, or you'd learn to fight.
These days, name calling is bullying?
Sissy-please...
(Oh, wait. 'Sissy' is no longer allowed to be used to describe someone else.)
'Octoroon, please!' is still the funniest retort given on the internet - these days, one would be banned for violating the TOS.

The Dozens is bullying?
Man, my house was The Gauntlet most nights!
My mom was gone and my dad would be at work so we had lots of freedom.
If someone got the best of one of my siblings or myself, we'd gang up on them.
No, not in a fight but in jokes.
Most of my best friends would go home mad.
A few would go home having survived or having won the night.
They were just jokes.
Sometimes brutal and honest but they were still just jokes.
No one died, a few cried and a few even wanted to fight - but they were just jokes.

Honestly, this generation and this time is not for me and I refuse to fit in.
There are just too many over-confident and under-competent sissies who were coddled by their mothers and given participation trophies.
Back in the day we'd call them pussies.
But I guess that's no longer alright.

... It Was the Worst of Times.

Sure, judging by the stock market, the economy is doing swell.
But not everyone has a job with benefits and a 401k.

My knees are too bad for me to run any distance any more so I walk.
Usually it's the same route - about a mile out of my neighborhood to a major street, about a mile down that street to another major street, about two miles down that street to another major street, a mile down that street to enter my neighborhood from the other side, and then a mile back home.
It's about six miles at a moderate pace.

From the city bus to ambulance drivers to other people I know who happen to be driving by - EVERYONE seems to stop to see if I need a ride somewhere.
My casual attire should alert them that I'm just getting my miles in but I guess I do appreciate their concern.

The thing I notice on my walks is the inordinate amount of homeless people I see.
There are people living under bridges, people living in the woods, people squatting in storage units, people living in cars parked in empty lots, people living in trailers behind businesses, ... .

The area has many 24 hour service stations, cheap hotels, a Walgreens, a Waffle House and is bifurcated by a highway and has whatever else attracts meth/opioid addicts to the area during the wee hours of the night.
Sure, I'd seen these vagrants at night on my way home from the clubs but I never knew they actually lived in the area.
The odd thing is - they are all white.
(Apparently, the sundown town a few miles down I-10 cracked down on vagrancy a couple of years ago so Billy-Bob and Methany had to move to more comfortable digs.)

The dirty clothes, missing teeth, pitted skin on sunken faces, and musty smell are what one would expect to find in someone who lived in a Hooverville.
White Pride tattoos abound on this group of people as they beg more affluent Black people for spare change.

Maybe these are representative of the 33% who give unwavering support to our current POTUS.
Maybe, given a more level playing field, these are some of those who got left behind.
Maybe having to actually compete for jobs left them unprepared.
Maybe, for these, the only way to excel was for the good-ole-boy network to still exist.
I really don't know?

I'm Still Sitting This One Out But...

The media - mainstream and social - are not Donald Trump's friends.

For every Ted Nugent, there is an Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam's recent concert poster was less than flattering in their portrayal of the POTUS.

And then there is Michael Moore being, well... Michael Moore.

And I guess Omarosa decided she needed a fat pay check and thought she would cash in while she could.

Even Trump's team (Not Giuliani this time.) failed in their attempt at support.

It's been a tough week for Donald - but what week hasn't been.

Honestly, I'm fairly indifferent towards Trump.

I like that he moved the American embassy to Jerusalem.

I'm against the elimination of ICE and in favor of enforcing our immigration laws (separated families and all).

I like that Trump criticized the Federal Reserve but why not throw in the World Bank and IMF while he was at it.

Sure, he's an indecorous ass but that was the point.

Trump was elected to show us how effed-up we actually are.

He cannot damage our republic, he can only call attention to how effed-up everything has been for quite some time.

Not Another Incel ?

Damn, ol' boy near Houston shoots up a school because some girl rebuffed his advances?
And he was bullied by coaches?
Nigga, please?

It's just this whole trophy-for-nothing, never been spanked (whooped) generation - they're soft.
Shiiid.... I've been cut from teams, cussed out and grabbed by coaches, denied by women, jumped by enemies, lost in joke battles in front large crowds, fired from jobs, and on and on.
Shit happens - suck it up.
Life is cold - get a sweater.
Rub some dirt or spit on your wounds and keep it moving.

We never had safe spaces.
Aggressions were real, not micro.
The Dozens was a game, not bullying.
Black eyes were embarrassing, not life threatening.
Belts, Hot Wheel tracks, paddles, switches, and whatever else may have been handy were tools for punishment, not cause for arrest.

I'm with Trump - Make America Great Again!
I like the Madmen style of life - well dressed and attractive people getting all the benefits.
No, not the racism of the time, but the reaction to that racism brought about the Civil Rights movement and legislation which addressed the issue.
It was a time of action, not a time of complaining.
Nothing was just given - everything was earned.
I liked being the only Black person in situations because I was better, not because of Affirmative Action.
The challenge was fun.
The losses made the wins even more enjoyable.

Maybe I'm becoming an old curmudgeon like Big Don.

WTF in an 'Incel'? (Wristcel, Baldcel, ...)

Like someone with Asbergers who has learned to assimilate into the general population - maybe there are Incels who have learned to over-compensate, they've learned to fake da' funk and appear 'normal'.

 Once again, I blame the Kardashians.
Only these women could turn Kanye into an Alt-Right favorite and have their mom turn America's one time golden boy into a woman.
And you know it must make 1488ers and Incels mad whenever they see these women with 'lowly' Black rappers and athletes.

Maybe even mad enough to hate and kill.

It's not that I no longer have opinion or points of view - I just realise that in the grand scheme of things, they just don't matter.

This is a whole new world, with new 'victims', and they can have it.

I once advised the son of an ex to be careful when choosing a girlfriend.

I told him that 90% of his mistakes would be caused by the influence of a girl.

I recently spoke to the kid and his mom after he had been fired from a job. (He was letting girls sneak into the movie theater at which he was working.)

He went over his poor choices and discovered that most of the times he had gotten into trouble that he was trying to impress a girl.

'Dude, just be good at something, and then be good at something else. Competence breeds confidence and confidence and personality get the girls.', I advised.

I'd hate to see the kid join one of these groups because he lacks game.

Come to think of it, Alfalfa does kind-of resemble the guys on Reddit who post about their plight.

When did being a member of The Heeman Woman Haters become a thing?

Entertain Me

Okay, I couldn't pull up the clip where Mookie asks Pino to list all of his favorites :
Basketball - Magic Johnson
Movie Star - Eddie Murphy
Musician - Prince ('Bruuuce!')
The thing is, as long as they're just there to entertain they're alright.
Even Laura Ingraham could deal with LeBron as long as he would just 'shut up and dribble'.

I've never experienced racism or even discrimination but I'm sure it exists. I've always been the acceptable Negro - even when I was the only and/or first Negro.
Sure, I've been in riots, police chases, shootouts,.. - all the hood stuff, but I've never been in any real trouble.
I'd walk away unscathed from bad situations and when once asked by a pretty blonde girl why I'd never get caught-up, 'Oh, because different rules apply', I said as I walked to a friend's car and was driven away.
The American Black Experience? I guess I've seen it on television or in movies but I never thought of Blacks as being a cohesive and monolithic group - our expectations and experiences are just too varied.

My club's social media accounts are littered with praise for Beyonce after her performance at Coachella.
It's as though people are surprised that Bey could slay at what many see as a festival for rich white kids.
But why?

Bey is just the right person at the right time.
Years ago, Larry King's son had a Pino moment when he declared that he wanted to be Black.
And why not, like Pino, all of his favorite entertainers and athletes and even the POTUS were Black.
Bey is just riding the Wakanda Forever wave and she is not seen as a threat.

Bey and her nalgones came along at a time when she (along with J-Lo and Kim-K) and other callipygian women came back into fashion.
Light skin, pretty face, long (not nappy) hair, glamorous lifestyle,... - Beyonce is an acceptable Negro made for Coachella.

The thing about Coachella is that it was never intended to appeal to a solely white audience.
One of its founders (Bill Fold from the '98 Posse) would drop by our crib for Wednesday Night poker. The last time I saw him, he had to leave early because one of his homeboys (Greg? Maybe Tiny-James?) had a piece of metal in his eye from his day job and had to be convinced to be taken to the hospital.
Their crew was named after an old Public Enemy song.
The first festival included hip-hop DJs (Among others, Raymond Leon Roker - the founder of URB magazine.), Ben Harper and the militant Rage Against the Machine.

Coachella was never about one's race - unless to you, everything is about one's race.

I'm Not Litigious

I have a friend who was the passenger when the car in which he was riding got struck by a car which ran a stop sign on a dark and rainy road.
Sure, the car struck the vehicle in which he was riding on his side of the car but my friend was fine - he even went to work at the club that night with no sign of injury.
The next morning his neck was a bit sore but not any more than it would have been had he slept on the mound of pillows with which women frequently litter their beds.

The following Monday, he received calls from lawyers, insurance companies, brokers,... - anyone trying to make money or those trying to avoid paying money.

My friend was advised to at least get checked out.

My friend went to see a doctor who sent him to see a chiropractor.
My friend told both that he was fine and that he wasn't injured.
X-rays were then ordered by the chiropractor 'just to make sure'.

The broker representing the lawyer ask my friend to lunch and asked my friend to sign a release which would allow the law firm to represent him in any insurance negotiations and to ensure that he would not be charged for his doctors visits.

The chiropractor scheduled treatments which my friend was told he was obligated - or else he would be billed for previous visits and procedures.

After a month of telling anyone who would listen - brokers, lawyers, doctors, chiropractors, insurance companies, imaging centers,... - my friend was then scheduled for an MRI ('Just in case.').

After the MRI, my friend was told he needed to see a pain management doctor for pain my friend said didn't exist. (My friend sees him tomorrow.)

No wonder our healthcare system sucks.
My friend told everyone that he just took an aspirin the night of the accident and slept just fine.
Everything should have been over.
My friend was checked out by a doctor and a chiropractor and he told them he was fine.
My friend wasted hours three times a week for a little over a month during his usual volunteer time just to satisfy the brokers/lawyers billing obligations.

My friend was told that he would get a settlement for his 'pain and suffering' even though he told each person involved that he had no pain and that he didn't suffer.

My friend told the law firm to keep the check but he was mad that they had wasted so much of his time.

Honestly, like many institutions - there is just too much profit to be made by getting over on others in the insurance business.
Their are too many levels of profit taking for even the simplest things.

(The driver of the car is getting his car fixed - as should be expected - but he is trying to milk every penny from an accident that caused no real bodily harm.)

What ever happened to honestly?