Saturday, December 16, 2017

Savant's New words in December of 2017



Well at least white women showed a little more sense in Alabama in voting for Doug Jones at about 62% than they did in Nov of 2016 when 53% of them voted for Trump. But Moore is a blatant MISOGYNIST as well as a racist. How could 35% of white women vote for him. How is it that they are more willing to vote for that misogynist reactionary than are Black MEN--93% of whom voted for Doug Jones? Professor Michael C. Dawson's studies (and studies of others as well) indicate that the political sentiments of Black America--at least 70%-- actually lean in the direction of social democracy. If only white voters thought and voted the same way-- rather than just thanking us (or thanking our sisters, at least) for doing what THEY should have done.

Well at least we've thwarted that Republican fascist misogynist Roy Moore. Did he really think we'd forgotten Selma, and all the Republican machinations to thwart the aims of the Voting Rights bill of 1965? Or that we'd be impressed by his silly palaver about how our families were better off during slavery?

I want to COMMEND my Black brothers and sisters in Alabama for depriving that pervert misogynist and racist of a senate seat in one of the reddest states of all. 92% of Black men, and 98% of Black women have shown that they know time it is! Our forebears didn't endure the brutal repression at Selma in 1965 just so we'd would use our votes to seat a misogynist racist and Republican fascist

The ways of white folks are amazing Langston Hughes once wrote. It's incredible that no matter how stupid a white racist (e.g. Miscreant White) happens to be, he (or she) always imagines himself to be superior. And as with Miscreant White, the more stupid he is the more convinced he is of his intellectual superiority. Miscreant White is probably the LEAST informed person in this thread, and definitely the least intelligent. But the delusions of whiteness makes of him a fool who imagines himself wise. 

My previous post #56761 has content confirmed by such historians as Basil Davidson, Frank Snowden, W.E.B Du Bois, Cheikh Anta Diop--and are FACTS. By the way, these ALL these historians wrote BEFORE Afro-centrism existed. But they had to reply to a FLOOD of Eurocentric falsification of history which was an intellectual outgrowth of Western imperialism, slavery and racism. Interestingly enough, ancient writers who were around had not problem with the issue of Blacks in Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Middle East. No big to them. Color was mainly a curiosity as Dr. Du Bois (literate in Greek, Latin, French, German and other languages) noted way back in 1920 (SIX DECADES before the rise of Afrocentrism, but centuries into the prevalence of a toxic Eurocentrism).

 Actually, no one knows how many Blacks there were, partly because the ancients--unlike you modern white racist fools--simply weren't all hung up on the issue. In fact, color was not an issue and race had yet to be invented. (That malignant invention is part of the pride of glory of stupid contemporary Westerners). Blacks were around, possibly millions of them in the Roman empire. Even some Roman emperors are believed now to have been black. Except that was not an issue among the Romans. It would not have occurred to them even to do a census on how many blacks, whites or Asians there were in their empire. In 1920, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois (historian, sociologist, hommes de lettres, etc) noted that in the ancient world differences in color were matters of curiosity, but little else. The ancients, said Du Bois, would have regarded as LAUGHABLE the modern world's obsession with color and race--which means that YOU would have been a prize fool and clown in their arena. Or maybe a figure of fun in one of Aristophanes' comedies.


-Savant

Sunday, September 24, 2017

The Vietnam War

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ao63AKn_rLRFBPTGpST0ktemM/view?usp=sharing



http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html

https://www.scribd.com/document/116733868/Vietnam-War-Organized-Crime-Part-2-Political-Turmoil-in-South-Vietnam 

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/10/02/viet-o02.html

https://jacobinmag.com/2017/09/vietnam-war-ken-burns-us-imperialism

https://www.salon.com/2017/09/30/ken-burns-and-lynn-novick-do-not-understand-anti-vietnam-war-protesters_partner/

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/22/ken-burns-and-lynn-novicks-vietnam-war-some-predictions/

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2014/09/16/pbs-doc-teddy-roosevelt-imperialist-killer-who-glorified-war

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/voices-sides-trace-deep-roots-conflict-vietnam-war/

https://www.blackagendareport.com/ken-burns-vietnam-documentary-or-should-i-watch-game-thrones-again

https://whowhatwhy.org/2017/09/26/jfk-ordered-full-withdrawal-vietnam-solid-evidence/

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/01/ken-burns-lynn-novick-do-vietnam-a-tale-of-two-critics/

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/21/the-killing-of-history/



https://blackagendareport.com/usa-murder-inc

https://www.blackagendareport.com/content/burn-hollywood-burn 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/burns-novick-film-promotes-myths-about-the-vietnam_us_59cc7b55e4b02ba6621ffa80

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-burns-boy-capitalist-and-the-vietnam-war-part_us_59c3ec9ee4b0c87def883608

https://mekongreview.com/americas-amnesia/


https://kennedysandking.com/reviews/ken-burns-lynn-novick-the-vietnam-war-part-one

https://kennedysandking.com/reviews/ken-burns-lynn-novick-the-vietnam-war-part-two

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Savants' New Words in August of 2017

Again, a Straw Man fallacy. Even Hitler didn't commit those atrocities until he got total power. And he was able to get total power more easily than Trump because the Weimar Republic was far more fragile (being less than 30 years old and with weak leadership and institutions). The institutions of American civil society, and the judiciary are far more stable (though also increasingly corrupt); and so absolute power can not be had so easily by Trump as by Hitler. Who knows what nightmare would await us if Trump does get absolute power? It is similarity in the attitudes and style of Trump and Fascist dictators that is noticeable. A number of scholars and writers have commented on this. But I've little doubt that if American institutions were a unstable as those in Germany in 1932 we'd be living in a Fascist America. And as Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote, if tyranny comes to America it will probably come creeping in on cat's paws. With Trump that fascist creep is beginning to sound a bit louder than cat paws. But since it will take people like him MORE TIME to gain and consolidate total power, it also means more time for us more socially and morally conscious Americans to resist the fascist creep before it becomes a tidal wave of fascism If Paul were better informed he would notice that numerous thinkers and scholars observe a similarity between Trump style of leadership and even the xenophobic, racist and militant nationalist themes of his rhetoric and similar leadership styles and reactionary rhetoric once found in Hitler and Italy's Il Duce. I'd point Paul to some articles on this, but they're probably above his mental level. And given his usual racist comment about the intelligence or mentality of Blacks of America, need I even say more about miscreants like Paul and others who form the benighted base of Trump support?  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #3218)



It is interesting that America's popularity ROSE with the election of Obama, and then plummeted drastically with the emergence of Il Duce Don Trump. Frankly, I see Obama as a centrist politician, not the "transformative" leader many hoped he would be. Simply having a political leader with intelligence after a simpleton with a fifth grade mentality (GW Bush), and then be followed by a Fascist loon (Il Duce Don Trump) probably does make Obama look better than he is--except in the minds of right wing buffoons. But I wonder how Barack Obama would look if the GENERAL quality of American leadership was much better, and if the moral and political intelligence of the American public was much higher?  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #3217)


No American president has MADE HIMSELF look more like Hitler than has Don Trump. Actually, when one reads European commentary they more often suggest Doufus rather than Hitler as characteristic of American leaders, and much of the American public: As when a British newspaper after GW Bush's election to a second terms read "Can 55 Million People REALLY be that Dumb?" I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but we've plenty of dummies--like Paul who doesn't care about what Europeans think, partly because he doesn't care for THINKING at all. As for the expression "idiot Marxist" by Paul, it only proves Paul's idiocy. He screams "Marxist! " like a 17th Century religious fanatic screams "Witch!" .  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #3215)


Racism still prevalent 50 years after riots 30 mins ago
Stop being stupid and learn how to think logically. Your second statement is simply false, since 98% of Blacks never commit a violent crime. And the SCALE of violence by white males, domestically and elsewhere, makes street gangs in look like amateurs. Also, the data of studies are not Orwellian. But your reasoning capacities are so poor you wouldn't know the difference.  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #124)

Baltimore/Ferguson vs. Charlottesville
You ae worried about Black crime because you are a paranoid white racist. The Vast majority of crimes committed against whites are committed BY WHITES( about 85%). Not surprising since crime is usually INTRARACIAL, not interracial. But your racism makes you paranoid and stupid. if you were INTELLIGENT and SANE you'd be more worried about white criminals than about either black criminals or Muslim terrorists. On that score, we Blacks are generally more intelligent and sane than you are. When it comes to CRIME, we mainly Know that most crime is committed WITHIN the racial group to which the perpetrator belongs. We don't worry or complain much about white crime. Probably most of us could care less how much you rob, rape, pillage and kill each other while complaining about "black crime'. We care little about white crime, but about WHITE RACISM. We're not directly affected by white crime for the most part, but hardly any of us can evade the evil effects of white racism. In short, we worry about what ails us. You worry about what you IMAGINE ails you. You are deeply sick and pathological.  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #45)


Baltimore/Ferguson vs. Charlottesville
You're right. If the driver of the car had been a brown skinned Muslim Il Duce Don Trump would have been SCREAMING about ISLAMIC terrorism, and sending Islamophobic tweets around the globe. He would not have been talking about violence or hate "on all sides." He would have been screaming about MUSLIM violence, and implying (if not saying outright) that this Islamic extremism is characteristic of Muslims in general. But when it comes to WHITE RACIST terrorism, white nationalist, white supremacist and Nazi terrorism, he was noticeably TAME is his disapproval--and had to be CALLED OUT on it several times--before he would even say he words "white supremacist", "white racists." How long did it take him? Was it two days or three? It would have taken him less than TWO MINUTES to utter EXPLICIT anti-Muslim denunciations had the terrorists in Virginia been Muslim. But Trump knows who is base is. Fascist scum in the White House.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN
Baltimore/Ferguson vs. Charlottesville
No matter how you slice it MOST American terrorism is the work of white right wingers and racist like those in Virginia, whose values are basically the same as Paul. It is therefore with good reason that one black comedian said: "I'm not worried about Al Quaeda, I'm worried about Al Cracker!"

AFRICAN-AMERICAN
Racism still prevalent 50 years after riots 30 mins ago
Of course, this smart aleck reply doesn't refute the arguments I presented in post # 117. Paul's reply is a textbook fallacy: fallacy of STRAW MAN. Nonetheless, there is much research and scholarly evidence in support of the arguments I made in #117. The racial inequities in judicial and police systems greatly engenders the inflated rates of incarceration as well as crime statistics. I've seen studies and data that show this. But these are beyond the limited mental capacities of a bigot like Paul  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #122)


I think I did see some demonstrators in Europe carrying posters with Trump's face bearing a Hitler style mustache. I guess Americans of center/left persuasion aren't the only ones who suspect Trump of being a Fascist. The fascistic white nationalists, Klansmen, Nazis and other assorted lunatics among Trump supporters are just ecstatic that one of their own is now President--with or without the popular vote. The lunacy of Charlottesville, Virginia is an embarrassment on display for the whole world to see.  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #3213)


While Europe has its own reactionary fascists and racists, they seem to have the good sense not to elect them to the highest office. At least the French held their noses and voted for the neoliberal opportunist Macron rather than the Fascist Marine le Pen of the National Front. Moreover, Marine le Pen lost by a LANDSLIDE! America ELECTED the fascist Il Duce Don Trump, although (to be fair) he actually LOST the popular vote, but won the Electoral College. That partly salvages American honor. The MAJORITY did not vote for the Fascist. But a large enough minority did, nd in sufficient numbers for the Fascist to carry enough states to win the Electoral College. That fact DISHONORS America. Donald Trump should have gotten about the same amount of votes as the American Communist Party. So, it seems Europe is still not quite so backward as the USA. Maybe it's because they've EXPERIENCED Fascism first hand. Thus, when confronted with a Marine le Pen, the French essentially said "Oh hell no!" They probably have no more love for Macron than I have for the opportunist Hillary, but they have too much sense than to allow their female version of Trump to become President of the French Republic.  (Tuesday Aug 15 | post #3212)
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
Baltimore/Ferguson vs. Charlottesville

Now you've committed he fallacy of Red Herring. The issue was whether you were correct in equating Islam, a religion, with Nazism. And then, whether Islam is a political movement. Your reference to Communism is irrelevant in this context, and it is at least debatable (since ou bring it up) whether Hitler or Stalin was the biggest killer. Both are responsible for the deaths of tens of millions, and Hitler was in power only half as long as Stalin. But what has this to do with your equating of Islam with Nazism? Since Christian churches often supported Adolph Hitler, maybe you should equate Christianity with Nazism.  (Monday Aug 14 | post #37)


EUROPE: How do YOU view AMERICANS?
Revisiting this old thread, I wonder what European reactions are now in light of the ascendancy of Trump...not to mention the madness in Virginia.  (Monday Aug 14 | post #3209)
AFRICAN-AMERICAN


Baltimore/Ferguson vs. Charlottesville
Nazism is a political ideology and movement. Islam is a religion, one of the Abrahamic religions to be exact. Claiming that Nazism and Islam is the same makes as much sense as claiming that Nazism and Judaism or Christianity (the two other Abrahamic religions) are the same.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjK54trnRNs

https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/25/inclusive-capitalism/

https://socialistworker.org/2017/08/15/this-is-the-time-to-unite-and-fight-far-right-terror

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/opinion-racial-hate-infecting-college-kids-america-n764076

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNg9rkpD3EE

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/barack-obama-legacy-presidency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOGclgEomNM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYGe3U24ypk


 https://www.youtube.com/user/bodybuilderchic/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQxu62wLCiQ






Monday, August 7, 2017

Words.

Two thirds of Blacks aren't on welfare. And there's no shortage of economically impoverished whites on welfare. Were it not for the irrational nature of capitalism no one would need welfare. it was after all established to ease the social ruins created by the Great Depression. By the way, you're not a minority in your own country. The Native Americans are minorities in their own country thanks to European and Euro-American policies and wars of genocide.

-Savant

Actually, slavery in British territory ended long before it ended in the USA. With the rise of right wing and racist nationalists in Europe, and an essentially white supremacist (if not also Fascist) administration in the USA, I'd like to think that Blacks in both the USA and UK have better sense than to pit themselves against each other rather than our reactionary, racist enemies. Nothing could be dumber, especially in the era of Trump, than the notion of "Black British vs Afro-Americans. " Let's not be so stupid as to defeat ourselves.

-Savant

Northern activists, who frequently confronted the ugly Northern racism which King encountered in Chicago, were usually quite aware of bigotry and oppression of northern states. Even outside of the South there's a long record of discrimination and violence--particul arly by police. Racist mob violence against blacks in the North is also old news.

-Savant

Capitalism is disintegration, devoured by its own rapacious contradictions. And as it declines it is destroying civilization as well. Capitalism has also generated modern racism and the anti-intellectual stupidity

-Savant


Sunday, July 16, 2017

Savant's Words.

Your statement is simply false, and sounds like Nazi propaganda with "Black" substituted for "Jew" in Nazi narrative. Actually, most African countries as well as Caribbean ones have lower crime rates than does the USA. In fact, most countries in the whole world regardless of racial composition has a lower crime rate. Only a stupid white fascist and supremacist like Paul could fail to see that. Again, Obama made an effort-partly effective, partly not--to clean up the Republican mess of Gw Bush and Wall Street. The recession was in full swing BEFORE Obama took office,, and on its way to a Great Depression--which is almost certainly what would have happened if the Republicans had won in 2008. The wars which helped precipitate the recession was caused by the previous administration--no doubt voted for by bigots and simpletons like Paul. But all this is probably pointless now. Capitalism is dragging civilization down to the depths of barbarism. And not enough of Americans have enough imagination to even envision an alternative. Time is running out. People had better wake up soon before it's too late.

Has anyone noticed that the "leftist " states as Paul calls them are on the whole the least poor and better educated states? How about Republican strongholds like Mississippi and most of the Bible Belt--the strongest bastions of right wing Republican Reaction, and which were the strongest bastions of right wing Democrat Reaction when the Dems were the most right wing and racist party

Read Eugene Genovese's FROM REBELLION TO REVOLUTION and Herbert Aptheker's AMERICAN NEGRO SLAVE REVOLTS or CLR James' BLACK JACOBINS. Four centuries of slavery were also four centuries of perpetual, often violent, struggle. Whites haven't forgotten. And in modern times Blacks have been at the cutting edge of nearly every progressive and revolutionary struggle in America.

Millions of people are always broke in this bankrupt capitalist society, but Blacks are doubly impoverished by the combination of capitalist exploitation and structural racism. Still, one must be careful. Obviously, upper middle class and rich black men are not always broke. Many working class black men are not always broke, but often are. Why not direct your criticisms against an economic system which keeps so many people impoverished in the world's RICHEST NATION?

The interesting thing is that white racists think that being against THEM, being anti-racist, is the same as being anti-white. If I were white--and a DECENT human being--I'd be incensed that these white racists assumed that their bigotry represented me, that I'd have anything to do with such sorry excuses for a human being. I'd feel insulted that those white bigots thought that they and I had ANYTHING in common.

YOU may not care but DECENT human beings care, including decent white folk who find you disgusting or embarrassing. As I saw a placard carried by a young white person: "Even us whites are getting tired of white folks BS!" If even THEY are sick of you, you can't imagine what loathing and disdain I have for you.

Decent human beings--unlike yourself-- respect HUMAN DIGNITY, and therefore reject racism. They tend to promote freedom and equality and justice--unlike you trashy white bigots. They notice that is it right wing racists like YOU who are always blaming Blacks, Latins, Asians, Muslims, gays, immigrants and whoever else for YOUR problems. They may even recognize that many of your problems, like those of Blacks and Latins, are not wholly your fault, but rooted in unjust social conditions. They recognize that your poverty, ignorance and narrow-mindedness is largely (not solely) due to the unjust inequities in the social structures, inequities that are CLASS as well as RACIAL. But they also recognize that your problems cannot be adequately handled until you direct your stupid anger away from Blacks and other oppressed people, and join in a COMMON STRUGGLE against social injustice--which is a fight against the power of the 1%. But as long as you're are stuck on stupid, stewing in the toxic juices of your own racial hatreds and paranoia, there's little hope for you ever to become a decent human being. Until you CHANGE you will remain TRASH, impotent cretins who imagine that it is the intelligent and honorable men and women of all races who are cretins. That is all too typical of you denizens of American idiocracy. It's a choice you have to make: Do you want to be a fully human person, or depraved trash? Thus far, it seems you're choosing to be depraved trash. Your hatred diminishes you

 There's no evidence of the "dead" votes. That one of those "big lies" which Trump and other Right wing Repugnant Party (in imitation of the Nazis) simply spew forth to be swallowed by their idiot base.


My ex-wife is a Dominicana who is normally seen by North Americans as black. Her dad is about the color of Michelle Obama, and her mom (like my mom) is about the complexion of Barack. Noemi is somewhere in between those light and dark complexions. But why isn't it possible to see someone as Black and Latina? There are millions of such people in Latin America. Latin America seems to be a very mixed population.


LOL! "Fun Facts" remarkable economy with words, not to mention his incredible paralysis of analysis, clearly reveal him as a member in good standing of the Repugnant Party's idiot base

-Savant

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

More Heroes



Dorothy Height

Mary McLeod Bethune

Ruth Carol Taylor

Peggy Jones

Julie Dash

Clara Hale

More Great Information

http://library.sc.edu/blogs/scpc/2017/03/31/mlk-beyond-vietnam/

http://umhist4851.omeka.net/items/show/2


https://newsone.com/3088125/fitlivewin-fitness-expert-mocha-lee-breaks-down-the-shockwave-workout-video/ 

http://nurturingourroots.blogspot.com/2015/04/historic-civil-rights-works-of-robert.html

http://pragmaticobotsunite.com/friday-open-thread-unsolved-civil-rights-era-murders/

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/time-life-civil-rights-77359857#supporters-of-civil-rights-group-core-dancing-at-benefit-to-raise-to-picture-id50701773

https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/50th-anniversary-black-power-slogan-and-its-significance

http://www.globalresearch.ca/jamaica-marcus-garveys-economic-philosophy-has-a-capitalism-problem/5597548 


http://www.nathanielturner.com/educationandhistory.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Revolution-Campus-Martha-Biondi/dp/0520269225/ref=nosim/?tag=chickenajourn-20

https://imixwhatilike.org/2017/06/21/unique-racial-nature-baltimore-city-police-governance/

http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_Coleman-Adebayo

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/29/smithsonian-civil-rights-family/14818171/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyomia_Tyus

http://www.aaihs.org/black-women-athletes-protest-and-politics-an-interview-with-amira-rose-davis/

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-women-in-sports/pictures/black-women-athletes/wilma-rudolph-sprinting-in-1960-summer-olympics

http://origins.osu.edu/article/harlem-ferguson-lbjs-war-crime-and-americas-prison-crisis

http://www.reelsistas.com/tag/diahann-carroll/


Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Women of the Civil Rights Movement.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/spotlighting-the-work-of-women-in-the-civil-rights-movements-freedom-rides/2011/06/01/AGPH1aHH_story.html?utm_term=.a7e83f0aa666

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/04/two_freedom_riders_from_new_or.html

This is the link.

http://umhist4851.omeka.net/items/show/2

http://www.fulfillthedream.net/pages/mlk.support1.html

http://mashable.com/2015/02/05/civil-rights-women/#P86fFspx2Pqg

https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement/

http://www.essence.com/galleries/photos-iconic-women-civil-rights-movement

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/essayworks/77522-the-invisible-women-of-the-civil-rights-movement

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/517562182156766607/

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2014/female-civil-rights-leaders.html

http://www.forharriet.com/2014/02/27-black-women-activists-everyone.html#axzz4lGUGaU5p

http://ervin062.web.unc.edu/legal-and-cultural-analysis/role-african-american-women-civil-rights-movement/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9862643/ns/us_news-life/t/women-had-key-roles-civil-rights-movement/

https://nyupress.org/books/9780814716038/

http://www.crmvet.org/disc/women2.htm

https://snccdigital.org/people/ruby-doris-smith-robinson/

http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Vietnam_Civil_Rights.htm

http://www.aaihs.org/heed-the-call-black-women-anti-imperialism-and-black-anti-war-activism/

http://levinemuseumofthenewsouth.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-civil-rights-and-anti-vietnam-war.html

http://www.forharriet.com/2015/05/say-it-loud-9-black-women-in-black.html#axzz4lGUGaU5p

http://www.workers.org/2005/us/boycott_0217/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/153896512242526230/

http://www.kywcrh.org/archives/2262

http://www.theroot.com/the-women-of-sncc-1790879231

http://swampland.time.com/2013/08/23/the-sisters-of-civil-rights-get-their-due/

http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3319&context=honors_theses




More Names of Legends

Julie Dash

Peggy Jones

Ruth Carol Taylor

Mary McLeod Bethune

Dorothy Height

Selma Burke

Sadie Alexander

Rosemary R. Cloud

Jerri Lynne Johnson

Jackie Ormes

Azie Taylor Morton

Freda DeKnight

Violet Palmer

Zelda Wynn Valdes

Savant on Democratic Socialism

No, but I've considered expelling you from the USA. If we expel enough of you reactionaries and racists may yet build a prosperous democratic socialist America. Recent studies indicated that socialism is becoming more appealing to the millennial generation anyway

If SAVANT is an imbecile then Paul, my inferior, must be an insect. The troubles go back before Obama came to power. The collusion between the American ruling classes and Venezuelan elites to undermine democracy rather than allow a democratic socialism to prevail goes back before Obama, though Obama (the black mascot of US imperialism) also played his role in undermining Venezuela. "Liberals " and "Conservative s" within the American ruling class have no problems working to undermine popular resistance in other countries to Yankee capitalist hegemony. GW BUSH supported the failed coup against Chavez just as Obama later on supported the coup in Honduras. "Liberals " and "Conservative "--the fox and the wolf. Obama smiles, Trump growls but they both kill. Death to the plutocracy!

"Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a bloodsucker." Malcolm X

Tell the average American capitalist, or your garden variety "pro-market, limited government" Republican how pro-business Scandinavian social democracy. Be sure to bring a helmet to deflect flying objects and a vest to protect against bullets. Sweden has what used to be called a "mixed economy," with large public and private spheres. Also, you can have businesses which work as cooperatives rather than as capitalist enterprises. There are millions of people even in the USA involved in such enterprises, and many more in other parts of the world. As capitalism comes apart at the seams throughout the world, as it becomes decayed as feudalism decayed in the early modern period, the world may see cooperatives replacing archaic capitalist institutions. Capitalist institutions may be replaced by cooperatives as feudal institutions were once replaced by capitalist. And it's probably only a matter of time.

Paranoid stupidity runs rampant in your community and is a threat to humanity, even to white humanity. And it is the reason why a bigot and fascistic charlatan is sitting in the White House.

By the way, that "silly BS" is documented. Most victims of terrorism since 9/11 were afflicted by WHITE, right wing terrorists--which is what most terrorists in America are. Most terrorist attacks prior to 9/11 were the doings of white, homegrown right wing loons. The KKK was perhaps the oldest terrorist organization in AMerica--long before there was any ISIS, Al Quaeda or anything else. And they once numbered in the MILLIONS, and occupied seats in Congress, offices of mayor and governor, and police commissioners. Only unintelligent Americans are more afraid of Muslim terrorists than homegrown white ones.

But there are factors that these numbers do not reveal. Among them are the racial inequities in the judicial system, and also the fact that Black urban communities are more heavily police. If you're under greater surveillance than you're detected and arrested more easily and more often. If you're less heavily policed you're caught and arrested less often. There's also evidence that just as the police are more likely to kill UNARMED Blacks than armed whites, the judicial system tends to inflict heavier penalties on Blacks than on whites for the same offenses. Consider just one inconsistency: Probably the largest increases in proportion of arrests and incarcerations from at least the 1980s onward (maybe earlier with Nixon regime) is due to drug related offenses. Now even the FBI admits that whites sell and use drugs in proportions equal to if not greater than Blacks or Hispanics. But visit almost any prison and you will see Black and Latin bodies, but relatively few white ones. Turn on the TV and you see Blacks being cuffed for drug offenses, and when not Black they're Latin. But how often do one see whites arrested? And WHY is this the case of even law enforcement agencies--never known for their liberalism--acknow ledge that Blacks do not possess or sell drugs in proportions greater than whites? And there are a lot of other things I could say about this. I would like to suggest two articles on these matters for your consideration: "Black Crime Rates: What Happens when Numbers Aren't Neutral" by Kim Farbota. And also by Lisa Bloom "White People COMMIT THE MOST HENOUS Crimes, So Why is America Terrified of Black Men?" As polemical as the latter article's title sounds it's well researched, and actually an excerpt from a book called SUSPICION NATION.(Excerpt appears in May 13, 2014 edition of "Akterbet.org . In short, while there's not denying the serious problem of crime in Black communities the issue is not as simply as its made to seem by the endless stream of unexamined (and not always reliable) statistics.

 Wrong. Most terrorist attacks in the USA are by RIGHT WING, usually racist WHITE extremists.

-Savant




Sunday, March 19, 2017

More of Savant's Words

To an extent this may be by design. You know, I heard a student of mine say that he posted the words "Black Love" to see what he could find on the internet, but all (or nearly all) that came up were things about was about the same old Black man vs Black woman hate crap. Imagine (as he said happened one time) posting on Black love and finding two or three videos of Uncle Tommy Sotomayor, or vids of black women demeaning black men. I suspect it's built into the system. However, I think there's another side to this: the low cultural level of Americans generally--black, white, brown or what have you. How many people go into the internet to check out Angela Davis, William Barber (of "Moral Mondays" movement), Alicia Garza and others are talking about. Even aside from the male/female bashing, they're probably looking for porn, violence, twerking or what have you. Similarly, what do most people READ--if they read anything. Many people read mainly emails and tweets. (And here President Trump--in sharp contrast to the learned Obama--is a reflection in the highest office of the land of the social, cultural and intellectual backwardness and poverty of America. An embodiment of the collective buffoonery of the nation.) But why is this? Why is their so much backwardness, so much anti-intellectual buffoonery, so much militant ignorance and even hatred? That is something that needs addressing And why are we not having discussion about the impact of revolutionary Black women, and social implications and historical meaning of a rise of radical sisters? Why can't even the BLACK WOMEN in this thread focus thoughtful attention and reflection on this?

The whole world--at least everyone who opens his or her eyes--have WITNESSED Il Duce Don Trump's erratic behavior. But like many mindless, goose-stepping "good Germans" you have eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear, and a mind (of sorts) what does not think. As for "Fake News"--an essentially right wing concoction--I don't pay it much attention. Like most intelligent men and women I've nothing but disdain for Fox. However, I won't say it's fun watching you become unhinged. Your mindset and that of your proto-Fascist messiah Il Duce Don is a thread to democratic freedoms, and to the peace of the world. For the sake of humanity and decency, the anti-Trump resistance must continue. And there are MILLIONS of us.

Actually, Trump's behavior is soooo erratic that he has many people at various levels of society, both in America and abroad, questioning his sanity. As for Obama, my issue with him is the centrist liberalism which never transcends corrupt corporate power. His stability and intelligence has never been in question--at least not by intelligent people. And he hasn't been called "no drama Obama" without a reason. Trump is virtually the epitome lunatic drama. He's a climate change denier despite all the research in the scientific community that overwhelmingly evidences the reality of climate change, and of human involvement in it. He was a birther up until almost yesterday. He lies, and claims that he won the popular vote even though he lost it by about THREE MILLION votes. And when challenged on the FACTS, he (or his surrogate) appeals to "alternative facts." He claims that Obama bugged him during his campaign, but offered no evidence for this--not even superficial circumstantial evidence. He calls for a new arms race which would probably mean a new Cold War. He demonizes Muslims and Mexicans. Il Duce Don Trump was erratic and loony during his campaign; and to the chagrin even of some Republican leaders (who expected him to act normal or "presidential " while in office) Il Duce Don has continued to operate like a fruitcake. In temperament and leadership style Trump is more like Mussolini and Hitler, European fascists of seventy or eighty years ago than American political leaders of either Democratic or Republican party.

-Savant

Monday, March 6, 2017

REVOLUTIONARY BLACK WOMEN: You're AWESOME!

http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/T20F5K1NTT5CPS2EV


There are new movements emerging, movement of liberation, of which Black Lives Matter is probably the best known. But there are many arising throughout the country, even globally.
Of course, Black people have been struggling for liberation since we arrived here in chains. Slave revolts, abolitionism, varying forms of Black nationalism, civil rights movements, labor and socialism, and increasingly black feminism. You name it, we've been there.
But what's so remarkable about current movements, in contrast to most past movements, is the rise of SISTERS as LEADERS of our movements. BLM was mainly founded by Black women. Even in cinema, we have sisters coming out with films like FREE ANGELA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS, or SELMA.
At least two of my Black female students have been active in Baltimore since at least the time of the Freddie Gray murder by Bmore's fascist pig cops.
These are not the sisters whom you will often find in Topix.)But, of course, the more politically advanced brothers are not very often found here either.)
But they are charting a path forward.

Now the vital roles of Black women in the Struggle is not new. As long as there has been a liberation struggle sisters were there. But they were often the unsung heroines of the movement. Some movements, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, may have actually been initiated by Black women.(At least one historian whose name escapes me now argues that it was not only black women, but WORKING CLASS sisters who ignited Montgomery in 1955. And it was the Movement they ignited which drop kicked Dr. King into his world historical leadership).
Over half of SNCC was made up of women. About 55%--60% of the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and early 70s were women.
But women usually didn't have much place in leadership. Leadership often was centered around some charismatic brother. And often when the System took him out (or if he sold out) the Movement faltered.
With the rise of Black women leadership new forms of organization are emerging. Probably the early SNCC, with its emphasis on COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP and participatory democracy, is the form that we are seeing in this era of rising black female leadership. It was precisely this emphasis on grassroots organizing and democratic collective leadership that was emphasized by Ella Baker, an elder who helped 1960s youth found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee--which was the left wing of the civil rights movement.
This is itself a potentially revolutionary phenomenon. For if we want to form a new society, then we must break with old ideas such as the Great Man theory of leadership, or hierarchical and authoritarian forms such as the Leninist vanguard party.
The common people must become their own liberators--they must be SELF-LIBERATING. And the new forms of leadership and organization emerging with the rising of radical Black women activists opens perhaps a path to this great historical development.

In the EMERGING new movements Black women are increasingly the primary leadership. Take a look at Dr. Keeanga Taylor's book, FROM BLACK LIVES MATTER TO BLACK LIBERATION

Among my Black students, I seem to see more women playing leading roles in the new activism. I cannot prove it by scientific means unless a study is done of those student activists in the Baltimore area. Thus far my impression does correspond with what scholars seem to be finding in their general studies of the new movements.
It is not the participation of Black women in large numbers that is new. That has always been the case. It is the increasing prominence of their LEADERSHIP, and the emergence of a different style of leadership in this context that is new. Probably most members of the SCLC, SNCC and the BLACK PANTHER PARTY were women. I KNOW that to be the case with SNCC and BLACK PANTHERS. But most leading roles were played by the brothers. I don't recall reading that there were leading female in SCLC or the NAACP back during the days of the civil rights movement. There were some but not many in SNCC and the Black Panthers.
In the NEW movements women are more prominent, in some cases even the MAJORITY of the leadership.

One thing to be noted is that the new movements are not so church-centered as the previous movements (especially the previous movements in the South). Church institutions are usually centered around the leadership of some charismatic minister, usually a man. They are not democratic institutions.
The new movements emphasize more grassroots focus and decentralized collective leadership more compatible with democracy than older forms of leadership, which were largely ecclesiastical and patriarchal.
Churches, in terms of their membership, are overwhelmingly majority female, but the leadership usually male. This has been accepted by most people (male and female) for centuries, but may now be less and less accepted.
The acceptance by MOST Blacks (male and female), and most people of EVERY ethnicity of patriarchal norms and leadership models, largely explains why women were not as prominent in previous Black movements.(The same was true of previous progressive movements of all kinds except when they were women's movements. Labor, Abolitionism and others were male dominated in leadership).
The decline in the legitimacy of patriarchal norms and leadership have opened up a space for talented and dedicated sisters to exercise leadership and new perspectives.

Savant's Words in March of 2017


REVOLUTIONARY BLACK WOMEN: You're AWESOME!

Probably the person to whose post you're responding is a troll. But as for your comments, what I find remarkable is that the VAST MAJORITY of Black people, male and female, are NOT tossing each other under the bus; and that's the important thing to remember. While I cannot claim that most Blacks are revolutionary and committed in a politically conscious way to Struggle, most do identify with each other. Even the often talked about "black on black crime" is essentially the activity of 1% of the population; and not even in the worst ghettoes (contrary to common belief) are anywhere near a majority of the people involved in violent activity. Most befriend and love each other however fraught are their relations with all kinds of social challenges and contradiction. Moreover, the REVOLUTIONARY women fomenting new movements are about BLACK PEOPLE--women, men and children. Conscious young brothers are doing likewise. And as I explained to Harrisson, these sisters and brothers are a lot more progressive in their gender politics than were even the most advanced activists of the 1960s. But they have the advantage of standing on the shoulders of giants. Malcolm X, friend and ally of Fannie Lou Hamer, only began to challenge conservative gender attitudes in the last year of his life. (He was apparently inspired by some of the more left wing leaders of the African revolution whom he met). The Panthers only began systematically challenging patriarchal gender ideas and politics in the early 1970s, by which time they were already declining under the weight of COINTELPRO repression. Contemporary activists BEGIN with advanced gender politics that it took the 1960s activists and thinkers years to reach. (And not all even reached it). We may be entering a new era of liberation if we can survive and overcome the horrors of Trumpist fascism.  (14 hrs ago | post #42)

Trump, I believe, is a fake populist, like the fascists in Germany and Italy about70-80 years ago. His job is to misdirect the potential rebellion of the white poor and middle class, and turn their ferocity on Latin immigrants, Muslims and African Americans. The important thing now is education of the people, and the building of a liberating movement, not the fascistic tendency of Il Duce Don Trump. And here, the work of revolutionary black women and men is vital. Fortunately, the political right wing gets little traction in Black America (even though many of s hold conservative cultural values). But we must prepare the Resistance to fascistic repression if it comes. I'm afraid our REVOLUTIONARY sisters may now be a primary target. We must have their backs.


Probably the same recommendation could be well made for white women, and white men too. Yet none of this would make one a revolutionary. You are a revolutionary insofar as you are committed to bringing on a FUNDAMENTAL transformation of society, a radical transformation of values, and a radical transformation of interhuman (and Human/Nature) relations. Mindless individuals sometimes do well in school. Some very creative thinkers have little or no formal schooling. When education is designed for LIBERATION (both in school and out) then we can talk about schooling and education as REVOLUTIONARY.  (20 hrs ago | post #40)


One point you make really does concern me: Negative fools like Uncle Tom Sotomayor or SBT are not a majority, not even CLOSE to a majority, that COULD change. That is why it is needful for positive and socially conscious Black folk, male and female, to do whatever we can to reconstruct community and support the new movements. It is true that the negative haters like Uncle Tom Soto or even "IT IS" are still a minority, they seem to get more support in both tradition media and much of the social media. If you limit yourself to the trash online, especially in YouTube or Topix, you'd get the impression that all or most Black men and women despise each other. You'd get the impression that Black men all (or mostly) regard our sisters as "bed wenches", "ratchet females," or what have you. You'd get the impression that all or most Black women think that all or most black men worship the ground that white women walk on, that we all dream of some "angelic white women" (in words of "IT IS," and that even the most politically conscious brother (no to mention the others) are all obsessed with pursuing white p**sy. If the majority of Black men and women could be convinced of the idiocies the run through the minds (or at least posts and videos) of these silly Negroes, the Struggle would be subverted and the community destroyed. So, this negative tendency must be fought.

Well OhReally (under whatever new name) is well known for his deficiencies. But assuming--for I cannot be certain and there's reason to doubt--but assuming you at capable of improvement, let me suggest that you take a look at Chapter 3 of A CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC by Prof. Patrick Hurley. It's a chapter on "Informal Fallacies." The "fallacies of relevance" are to be found in 3.2, among which are listed "Argument Against the Person" (i.e. "Argumentum Ad Hominem"). Read it, indeed read the whole chapter, if you CAN read that well. But perhaps you should start with Chapter 1 first. Find out what an argument is, and how one distinguishes premises from conclusion. Examine carefully the sections on Induction and Deduction, and the criteria for evaluation of each. Then go to Chapter 3 to learn about fallacies which you and most of your contemporaries pour forth like water on line. If you can do just that--even if it takes you a year--it will probably boost your meagre intelligence--that is, if we can assume that improvement is possible for you.  (21 hrs ago | post #686)


Certainly no one in Toix has excelled me in capacity for analysis, and I doubt that any can--least of all you reactionaries in this thread and in AA Forum generally. I could probably teach you the rudiments of logic, of good deductive and inductive reasoning. But I suspect you are unwilling, possibly incapable, of learning.  (21 hrs ago | post #685)


An common feature of white privilege is that whites don't have to offer credible reasons for what they say. Indeed, they may feel that they don't have to have ANY reasons whatsoever. Don Trump can simply say--in bald contradiction to available facts--that he won the majority of the popular vote. He can later say--with ZERO evidence--that he was wire tapped by Obama. And, of course, when push comes to shove white reactionaries can claim that they have "alternative facts." In another thread some white simpleton said that I was a Muslim terrorist (without knowing anything about my alleged religious beliefs nor having any evidence of any terrorist activity or associations on my part). I don't recall him retracting his statement when I informed him that I was an AGNOSTIC, have NO record of violence, and an actually against terrorism--includi ng right wing white terrorism which is most common in the USA. I do recall other white racists chiming to defend his position, also without evidence. Or again, the lies about Obama. There are LEGITIMATE grounds upon which Obama can be critiqued. But the jibberish one normally heard was about Obama being an illegal alien, a Muslim Communist, someone plotting to "pull the plug on grandma," etc.---all of which were idiotic fabrications with either NO evidence or nothing remotely even resembling credible evidence. So, you can be an ANTI-RACIST, and white racists will insist that YOU are the racist. You may never has insulted ALL whites, or whites in general, as they continuously insult Blacks as a whole with stereotypical generalizations and denunciation. Yet minus ANY EVIDENCE those same white racist who have defamed you will accuse you of having defamed the white race. It is no surprise that hostility toward whites among some Blacks is intensified in this place; and that I hear at least more ENLIGHTENED whites saying things like "Even white people are getting tired of white folks b_."  (21 hrs ago | post #684)


Trump exchange with black journalist sparks outrage
That statement is objectively true no matter how many red "X" marks it received  (21 hrs ago | post #152)


Most beautiful women (or women, period) date and marry within their own race. And that includes Black women. Beautiful women-black, white, brown nd other--do date and even marry "out.". But they are (like all women) an exception rather than the rule. The claim that beautiful black women date only or mostly white men is a myth, just like the myth that rich or "successful " black men date only or mostly white (or other non-Black) women. As for IR couples, most are like all other couples: couples in which NEITHER is a gorgeous person, but mainly average. The average Black woman (or man) in an IR relation is, well, AVERAGE. Not surprising since MOST PEOPLE of all races and genders are average. At least this is so in the REAL WORLD. But who knows what happens in subjective perception and imagination?  (21 hrs ago | post #832)


I don't know that I'd call that mother revolutionary, though she was probably acting out of fear for the son's life. (In some Bmore Facebook sites she has been charged with defending white supremacy since, as the argument goes, she directed her anger at her son, not police or the Establishment. In her own words, "I don't want my son to end up like Freddie Gray.") . I don't regard the uprising as anti-social. Fratricidal violence in the community is another matter, and even that is mainly an expression of the dysfunction which oppression usually breeds. I would on that latter issue accede to the point sometimes made by the Black Panthers in the past: "We must transform the black criminal mentality into a black revolutionary mentality." You may know if you study our history that in times when there's a high level of liberation struggle, so called "black on black crime" declines. (Black crime rate dropped 50% in Montgomery during the famous Montgomery Buss Boycott. Dropped precipitously during riots of 1960s. There were whole projects in parts of NYC, especially Harlem, in which drugs, gang violence, homicide, prostitution and even common weekend brawls virtually disappeared when the Black Panthers in alliance with other black nationalist and revolutionary group gained hegemony and declared those communities "liberated territories." That happened in my neighborhood when I was a kid and the Panthers were organizing). But with regard to gender politics, I didn't specifically have Huey P. Newton in mind even though he'd be an example of what I'm talking about. Whether we're talking about the Panthers, SNCC, SCLC, NAACP, NOI, OAAU--most of the movements in the past were mainly male oriented in LEADERSHIP, but not overwhelmingly male in terms of grassroots activism. Women and men made the Movement at the grassroots level, and women were commonly in the majority. Over half of SNCC and the Black Panther members were women. To their credit SNCC (which Ella Baker helped to found) and the Black Panthers had more sisters in leadership than did NAACP or Dr. King's SCLC (not to mention Malcolm's OAAU). Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton began to question patriarchy, but either r died(Malcolm) or their movements eclipsed (Huey) shortly thereafter. Huey and the Panthers did make PUBLIC statements of support for the emerging women's movement and even the then nascent gay rights movement. But by that time both moderate and radical Black liberation movements were declining. Contemporary movements can now BEGIN with a more progressive gender politics rather than eventually reahing this after years of struggle. A revolutionary class consciousness needs als to be an integral part of the struggle for Black Liberation  (22 hrs ago | post #38)


SEXISM is a cancer.  (Friday | post #287)


Savant isn't playing checkers, and doubts that the persons whom he is criticizing possess enough sense to play checkers. Anybody who thinks you can be a "Muslim Communist"--- i.e. an Islamic theist and a Leninist atheist--is not playing with a full deck. And some ideas are too silly to dignify with an effort of rebuttal. I don't debate people who believe the earth is flat, or that flus are caused by witchcraft. When someone says--without knowing what my actual beliefs are--that I am an Islamic terrorist (even though I'm not a theist and have engaged in NO violent activity), then this person is too simpleminded (or emotionally unstable) to debate. Everyone has a right to his or her own opinion, but all opinions are not of equal value. And some opinions are not worth taking seriously at all.  (Friday | post #1637021)


Again, you need to seek professional help. Swallowing the right wing Kool-Aid can erode your reason, and yours is seriously eroded if you believe those fabrications to be facts. They're as eerily delusional as Nazi beliefs in international conspiracies of Jewish bankers and Communists. And no, the sky isn't falling Chicken Little. See a psychiatrist.  (Friday | post #1637018)


You and all those agreeing with or judging your comments to be brilliant really ought to seek professional help. Without psychological counseling you may be a danger to yourself and others. I won't blame you because you probably can't help yourself. But you do need help. Also, I happen to be an AGNOSTIC. Look it up. You might find it a surprising discovery that agnosticism isn't compatible with either Islam or Christianity. One other thing: If you accuse someone of being a terrorist and you don't have proof, you're guilty of libel. Just so you Know: People posting libelous attacks on others online have sometimes been sued. I don't see that as worth my time, and I suspect you cannot help yourself. But if you make such accusations against the wrong person, someone who doesn't understand that you suffer from emotional troubles, you could find yourself in court.  (Friday | post #1637013)


You need to lay off the Meth or crack or whatever you're taking if you REALLY believed that tired old line about Obama be "radical left" or "Muslim" . As for Trump, you'd better concern yourself about the mentally disturbed reactionary undermining America than Obama undermining him. If anything Trump may end up sinking his own administration, and maybe the nation as well  (Friday | post #1637010)


The common identity, to the extent it still exists, is a product of our history--of which ethnicity and culture is certainly a part. Diversity by itself doesn't preclude the existence of a common identity. Otherwise, you would not have such a thing as a Jewish identity, or a French or British one. But it can be said that Black people of the USA are less cohesive as a community than we were four or five decades ago. Yes, there has always been (even during slavery) some who found what you call opportunities to improve their lives. There's hardly a society in the world where that isn't the case. But the CLASS DIVIDE is greater now that it used to be, probably much greater. Class tensions have always existed, but the general feeling was we're ultimately in the same boat--whether we like it or not. The enabled at time solidarity in common struggle. You could be an illiterate sharecropper or a destitute brother and sister in the hood (called "ghetto" in the past), and may not have liked those "uppity bourgeois negroes who think they're better than anyone else." Or maybe you were a Black bourgeois, petit-bourgeois or intellectual who so 'embarrassed by those ignorant ghetto Negroes." But ALL face Jim Crow, and all were subject to the racist terrorism of police and the KKK. All had their mobility obstructed (even though the bourgeois still lived better than the masses). Even Dr. W.E.B Du Bois found that he could be denied the right to vote in Georgia. And to win certain rights Blacks of all classes, levels of education, gender or what have you were compelled to unite. I once pointed out in a lecture than in the riots that broke out in th e1960s, and which were far bigger than those that happened in Ferguson or in Baltimore in 2015, you wouldn't have had bourgeois leaders like ex-mayor Stephanie-Rawlings Blackor Barack Obama denouncing the rioters as '"thugs" --in the SAME language used by the racist president of Baltimore's Fraternal Order of Police. At least this wouldn't happen PUBLICLY What Black community and identity will evolve into going forward, or whether it will disintegrate rather than evolve new forms, is a question I can't answer. And I doubt anyone can.