Police Involved Lynching - NAACP Speaks Up

 Some criticize Hollywood for the white-washing of historically non-white figures in feature films. These are the same people who celebrate the diverse cast in a play about a distinctly un-diverse group of historical figures.
These are the effete erudites who form the new Politically Correct Cultural Police.

The PCCP exaggerate every real and perceived racial slight. These are those who gasp and clutch their pearls at even the slightest micro-aggression.
The PCCP passively-aggressively lynch and bully their victims on social media.

 While covering a story about proper and acceptable racial casting - Amy Robach misspoke by referring to Blacks (Or is it 'black', 'Negro', 'African-American', or whatever the latest terminology is these days.) as 'Colored People' instead of 'People of Color'.

If the term 'Colored People' is so offensive - shouldn't the PCCP first seek to teach the NAACP a lesson?

Climate Change?

 California ALWAYS burns. This isn't news. Everyone knows to plant iceplants on hillsides and as a perimeter around one's house. Everyone knows to clear excessive brush. Everyone knows to prepare for the inevitable.

 Louisiana floods - it always has. Where do they think all the swamps came from. That's why caskets are not burried but placed in concrete enclosures above ground.

But the thing I'm noticing here in Texas are the super colonies of Crazy Ants. I thought Fire Ants were the top-dog in the ant world. Fire Ants displace most other ants and termites but the Crazy Ant is able to neutralize the Fire Ants' venom and they are displacing the Fire Ant here in many parts of Texas.

My neighborhood was built on old rice fields which had soil imported to raise our homes to at least four feet above street grade. I've had water up to my mailbox that still did not reach even halfway up my lawn. People prepared for the inevitable.

But back to these ants. Fire Ants and Crazy Ants are at war and human structures are paying the price.
There was no way we could foresee nor prepare for this invasion.

Who Knew Swimmer's Lives Mattered?

I used to swim as a kid. I learned to swim because I couldn't swim. That is to say that even after two stints at the week long sessions at our local YMCA I still could not swim.

We had a pool in our back yard and two pools in our subdivision and I refused to be the only child in my family who could not swim. I woke up early every morning and practiced not drowning every day for about a week. First on the steps then in the shallow end. Then I practiced floating, then holding my breath under water, then propelling myself from one end of the shallow water to the other. I surprised my mom about a month later by being able to swim the length of our pool.

My youngest brother had a rival in our neighborhood who he'd beat in everything. The kid's father couldn't believe that Black kids from the hood could be good in so many things. The kid's father wanted to save his son's pride so he invited us to try out for our local AAU team. The kid finally had something at which he could beat my brother. But this did not last long. After a time we were qualifying for A and AA meets. I sucked. I topped out at barely qualifying for JO's but both of my younger brothers competed at the NJO level.

So yeah, this year in Rio I was pleased to see Simone Manuel win gold as a Black American swimmer.
But I also played water polo. Though I managed to letter as a freshman and started as a senior in high school (I only played two years)  I wasn't very good. So again, I am paying attention to Ashleigh Johnson and the women's Olympic team and their quest for gold.

Rap Genius cites nine name-drops of Michael Phelps in rap lyrics. I never really payed attention. Maybe it was his weed smoking that caught their attention?
But looking at my club's newsfeed on Facebook, maybe it's his domination that makes him relevant for a group that most wouldn't think would be paying attention.

 Okay, I could understand this - a cute shot of the tall Phelps and the Short Biles.

 But my club's page also had Phelps throwing shade.

And this meme was a Black favorite.

Back in high school the basketball team and coaches would watch me swim. Seeing a Black swimmer who would actually win was not common. In water polo I was a bit of a Prima Dona. I'd start, score, sub out to talk to my football friends in the stands, sub in, score, sub out and go back to hanging out with my friends.  I was just playing so that I could show off.
But swimming and water polo were  NOT 'cool' sports at my school. Most of of the other participants were only second or third tier popular.

So yeah... Seeing so many Blacks paying attention to swimming matters to me. Maybe twenty years from now we'll see an American team filled with those from many races.

Sometimes People Get What They Deserve

Except for a few rent-free homes, I'm out of the skumlord business. Just this past month I retired from the nightclub business as well. (Although I will still do the occasional bar consulting gig.) I think I'm done with trying to help the 'hood altogether.
Well, I'll still tutor kids and check on the elderly but as far as those who should be able to do better for themselves by themselves - I'm done. Nothing has happened to me - maybe it's just the self-identification of so many as being a 'victim' that did it for me. Maybe I'm just sick of those who have been inspired by the lost direction of the BLM movement. Maybe I'm just sick of dealing with people whose only education is acquired through facebook memes. Maybe I'm around too many dumb people who are too dumb to even know that they're dumb. (I think it was Craig who pointed out the Dunning-Kruger effect or anosognosia.)

I did like Dre when he walked away from Ruthless and Deathrow - I just said, 'effit - just keep that and I'll leave you alone.'. My old partners got into financial troubles (It seems that there are very few people who can make lots of money and whose desire doesn't become to make even more money.) so they had a drug dealer buy into their shares of the business. The drug bosses had assumed that I'd stay if given a big enough 'bonus' but I walked instead. In the past month the clubs' revenue has dropped by two-thirds and it's debts have gotten worse.
I've started a new consulting gig at the worst club in town that has the worst reputation. This club has seen it's clientele and staff upgraded and it's profits grown. I need money, I even like it - it's just that there is a right way to make it.

One of my old clubs was a financial anchor in a bad part of town. Like LeBron when he left Cleveland, I've made enemies by leaving the hood.
Community leaders, politicians and business owners meet at a funeral home down the block to addresses social and political issues in this part of town. The meetings are pointless (in my opinion) because nothing ever gets accomplished.

I went to a recent meeting which focused on the closing of a chain grocery store in the Black areas. There were hundreds of people present at this meeting expressing anger at the food deserts created by the closings. The chain cited high crime, high costs and low profits for their reason of leaving the hood. It was a business move.
After listening to all the complaints I suggested that everyone present should donate $100 to a fund which could start a neighborhood grocery store. I pointed out that Hispanic and Asians owned most of the mom-and-pop stores in the area so the concept was doable. When only five of the more than one hundred people agreed to donate money to benefit the community and a worthy new business owner I asked why others balked. Almost to a person the main complaint was that they would gain nothing personally by giving this pittance away. That they wanted to be listed as an owner. That making someone else 'rich' would not help their lives.

So yeah... I'm done with Niggas (no, not Black people) - they are too dumb and selfish to even know that they are dumb and selfish.

Let The Culling Begin

I guess the Philippines have escalated their war on drugs.