Generally...I don't bother with Republicans. I don't care for political rhetoric, but there's is nasty and often needs to be fact checked. I really don't bother with Black Conservatives. Their rhetoric is usually mean spirited. Plus....the ones I hear spend more time trying to prove they are inclusive with Republicans and more important, not like those Blacks over there.
The Officer Tatum is an interesting YouTube star I learned about from a Black Republican who insists on saying "Blue Lives Matter". I listened to a couple of Tatum's shows because I like to at least hear opposing viewpoints. I have found that all people-Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Progressives, all make good points and if you hear all sides, you may come up with solutions to a lot of problems.
Also, in the Black community, we sometimes need to hear facts that aren't very nice, like in this video. There are a lot of good points that are raised and people should at least hear them.
I found, with The Officer Tatum I understand all of his points, and agree with 40%-60% of them, before he gets theatrical and into the usual name-calling.
No commentary. Just links to news articles regarding the affair, including the meeting between the US and South African Presidents. People should be interested in seeing where this goes.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/politics/fact-check-white-farmers-south-africa-trump
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce81334je72o
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/may/21/white-south-african-refugees-trump-afrikaners-black
Two links to a very good article, plus a report from MTA regarding self evacuation on the subways.
The article and MTA report address the serious situation of passengers leaving the train during lengthy delays on the subway and the report offers helpful suggestions MTA can use to address self-evacuation, most addressing communication.
At first, I was going to make my own suggestion regarding self-evacuations, however MTA addressed them. I've have ridden the subway since I was a young child and communication has always been an issue. From the days of riding trains with no air-conditioning or heat to the days where we hear automated announcements there have always been problems with communications.
According to the report, the conductor is responsible with communicating with the passengers and the train operator takes on that task when the conductor is unable. That can prove difficult when there is an emergency, like a derailment, and the train personnel is assisting in different cars. The report, though suggests making announcements along with instructions to passenger to stay inside the train, as leaving can cause electrocution or for a passenger to get hit by a moving train.
While I can understand communication problems occurring in times of an emergency on the train, I can't when the delay stems from other trains. I've been stuck behind other trains in between stations and heard one or two announcements from train personnel. Meanwhile, we are stuck for about twenty minutes. It would have been helpful if announcements had been made informing us of what is happening as well as one telling passengers to remain calm and inside the train.
I've been on trains where I don't hear or they don't make routine announcements. The newer subways have automated announcements, but there is room for train personnel to interrupt and say something. On occasion I have heard an announcement about to be made, then nothing.
Self evacuation is in part about a lack of trust. If the conductor or train operator don't keep me up to speed, I even look to bolt. I've never done that before, but I have thought about it and not hearing an announcement leads me to want to consider it. In fact, I won't ride any train that won't allow me to leave if necessary (I refuse to ride the R-46 or R-68 trains because their doors lock and I can't move from car to car).
By the way, on the night of May 24, I needed to take the 1 local train northbound at 14th Street. It was close to midnight. A number 3 express train pulled into the station on the local track. One quick announcement that I could not even hear was made. The doors closed and the train left. I didn't take that train for fear that it was making express stops and I would miss my stop. But, this is an example of what I was saying. MTA personnel do not like making announcements. The conductor was supposed to announce the train and if it was making all stops or express stops, since the train was not on the regular track.
Wrestlemania weekend was last week and I predicted the outcome of most of the matches. It doesn't matter because I didn't print my predictions before the event, but you have to trust me on this.
1) John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes (I predicted Rhodes)
2) New Day defeated
3) Jacob Fatu defeated L.A.Knight
4) Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and CM Punk
5) Jey Uso defeated
6) Drew McIntyre defeated Damian Priest
With this batch, I know who the characters are
Batman and Catwoman
When I attempted to do this blog years ago, I wanted to apply links to assist readers. For a number of reasons, it didn't work out. For one, I was still learning the blogging process. I am adding links again this time around, but I have it better organized.
On the bottom, I provided help links which don't really need to be explained. I will try to add more social service links from time to time.
On the right hand side, I have links for my favorite media and another set of links for people I think are interesting. Please note that the links do not necessarily indicate my personal views or philosophies. I did find them worth sharing because for one reason or another they had something interesting to say. From time to time I will write something brief about a link along with a reason I may watch it.
I've already said that I like pro wrestling. I don't enjoy it as much as I did years ago but I like to follow it, so I listen to the Official Jim Cornette. Jim Cornette was a good wrestling manager years ago and still has a great mind for the business. I actually agree with the most of his commentary, so I trust him to breakdown some of the things I don't get to see. The Official Jim Cornette is co-hosted by Brian Last, who makes a perfect moderator. The two of them can go into the early days when it was still called a sport or they can analyze what is happening. Most importantly, when you don't have time to or don't want to sit through the occasional hours of drivel (sorry, the product isn't as good as it was ten years ago) Cornette and Last can bring you up to speed.
I went to a comic book convention for the first time in over seven years. I divided the pictures into two....part one is for the quality shots I took, but I have no idea who the person is. The second posting is for pictures I took where I know the character.
Welcome to part one
