The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Response" button to add your entry to the forum.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Steve,

The doctor who wears the scarves is Dr. Birx.

"You're welcome."

Steve Keene

Janalu,

Thanks.  Where do these people come from with names like that?

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Maybe the Netherlands?  Not sure.

Steve Keene

Janalu,

It seems to me that the epidemic of hysteria is much more dangerous than the Covid-19 Pandemic.  People are sitting at home fretting about something that affects less than 2% of the populaion and kills less than 0.2 % of the population.  There are suicides, heart attacks, weight problems, family disputes, political animosity, lack of treatment for non Covid health problems out of fear and many other negative consequences like drug use and alcoholism to name just two.  Then we have both the Conservatives and the Liberals vying for votes by trying to spend money we do not have to appease the unemployed.  Government officials from both sides of the aisle in Congress are using the so called crisis to try to gain political advantage that will be to our detriment.  The American people by excersing liberty will come to a happy medium between taking risks and protecting themselves, because it is in their self interest.  Let both political parties get out of the way and let people exercise the liberty that has served them so well for the past several hundred years.  The public is smarter in the aggregate than the government experts.

Hull Barbee

Lance .......... in response to your inquiry .......... I have no clue where you were but David was probably off doing his FRAT duties at that time ........ I'm pretty sure it was taken at the Castilian............ I don't think we caught him enjoying a BJ from the girl but it's possibly he had just gotten out of the showers ....... and as far as our Cheshire Cat grins , it was probably Royce and I laughing at Tommy's very small inadequacies and the girl was probably thinking " what the hell does he think he's going to do with that " !!!!!!!!!!

David Cordell

Kurt, I'd be interested in your thoughts about the current situation in Hong Kong.

Lance, I don't have an insights into the photo, and I wasn't around as much as most others because of fraternity activities. But my guess is that Tommy's nether regions were covered. Based on the direction of Royce's, Tommy's and Hull's eyes, It looks to me that the humor was near the camera, not in its field of view. I suspect that the pretty girl looked away because some impropriety near the camera. So, my guess is that the photographer is naked

Kurt Fischer

David:

Thoughts on Hong Kong.

1. HK went through nine months of demonstrations that almost always ended up in rioting.  Just as we are seeing here, there was significant property damage and people were injured.  The rioters dug up bricks from the sidewalks to throw and tossed molotov cocktails.  They attacked government buildings, but also any store owner who sided with the police.  The police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and used clubs.  And it happened every day.

2. HK's government was supposed to set up a national security law when they were split from the UK, but the government was ineffective for all these years and did not create the law.

3. The five demands of the protesters were similar in a way to the demands currently being voiced in the US.  Not the same points, but they were impossible for the government to agree to:

• Full withdrawal of the extradition bill - This was done.
• A commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality - This was partially done, but the individuals carrying out the inquiry were not acceptable to the protesters.
• Retracting the classification of protesters as "rioters" - This will not be done based on the actions taken by the protesters
• Amnesty for arrested protesters - This will not be done.  They broke the law frequently.
• Dual universal suffrage in electing the Chief Executive and Legislative Council - This will not be allowed by mainland China.
• A pseudo sixth demand has been added - Freedom from China.  - Never

4. There has always been a degree of animosity between the mainland and HK.  For some time it made sense for HK to act "uppity" to the mainland because of its comparative wealth and importance to China.  This is no longer the case.  China has at least half a dozen cities as entry points which are newer and just as wealthy as HK.  The mainlanders are motivated to show HK some humble pie.

5. The Chinese government rules over Hong Kong and allows it to have its own constitution, but it is subject to Chinese authority.  I believe the mainland Chinese government concluded HK could not manage its situation and it needed to step in.  It will not allow HK to have continuing riots and, above all, will not allow it to believe it will become free of China.

6. The result is very sad for me.  I believe HK and the pro-freedom crowd have hastened the day of authoritarian rule.  Contrary to what many in the US believe, this won't happen right away and the local government will be given a chance to operate under the new law.  But now the Chinese will be more aggressive in looking for sedition and ensuring it is prosecuted locally.  

7. I don't think the US actions to deter the national security law will have any effect except to harm the business climate in HK.  I think there is a spectrum of autonomy and HK has moved away from it somewhat, but not in a large way at this time.  Treating HK as any other Chinese city is a somewhat nuclear option and it would be far better to voice our displeasure in a more nuanced manner.  Frankly, I consider our response at this time to be theater and not diplomacy.  

As always, a long winded answer.  But thanks for asking.

Lowell Tuttle

Kurt, wasn't the main issue of the riots that those arrested in HK were always tried in HK, and Mainland (as well as the governor) were changing to being tried in the mainland instead of in HK?

Jerry May

Youngest is 40 today but ......

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Does anyone suspect that George Soros is one of the financiers of the anarchists and looters being paid to go to New York City and other cities, to cause destruction and mass mayhem behind the protesters who have marched through the cities?  Does anyone wonder why DeBlasio refuses to call in the National Guard to protect the property from the looters who run about in the darkness in gangs, deliberately luring the police in one direction while they loot in an opposite direction?  And then we have Gov. Cuomo chastizing the New York police for not doing enough to protect the stores and property?   Huh?

And can someone define what a White Supremacist is to me, as it seems that anyone who is 'white" is now considered to be one, yet I don't consider myself one.  

Does anyone on this forum agree that the anarchists want to destroy the US as it currently stands, to remake it in the vision of Soros and other radicals?  Isn't that their aim, ultimately?  The fact that a black man was murdered is not what they are rioting about, but that injustice was simply the spark that allowed them to begin their charade once again, picking up where they left off in earlier rioting instances. 

Another note bandied about in the news yesterday was the former CEO of BET saying that the only way to remedy the scene we have in our cities lately, is to give out 14 trillion dollars in payments to all black citizens, as reparations to them owed by the white citizens.   Does anyone think that is going to happen?

Kurt Fischer

Lowell:

The beginning of the 2019 unrest in Hong Kong was tied to a proposed extradition treaty.  This would have been been with Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.  (All of these are considered by the Chinese as being part of China).

It all started with a Hong Kong man murdering his girlfriend while in Taiwan, then fleeing back to Hong Kong.  Taiwan asked HK to return the man for trial, but HK indicated it had no formal extradition treaty with Taiwan and couldn't do it.  The combined extradition treaty was the proposal to resolve the issue.

People in HK are very wary of being tried for crimes in mainland China.  Over the years there have been numerous instances of individuals "disappearing" in HK and showing up in China.  Not a huge number, but very well publicized and visible.  Invariably, these individuals receive harsh treatment and end up making some form of public confession for their crimes.

Nobody in HK wants to be tried in mainland China and this was the beginning of massive protests.  I believe the first two protests turned out around 1 million and 3 million people each. But then the protests turned violent and the protesters developed their "five demand" mantra.  And that's where we are now.

Sandra Spieker (Ringo)

George Soros Conspiracy Resurfaces Using Old 'Paid Protestor' YouTube Video: 'How Gulible Can You Be?' - Headline from Newsweek.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Janalu:  I wouldn't consider you a white supermacist unless you are a member or sympathizer of the KKK and/or any number of other groups that you probably could see listed at the Anti Defamation League's website or the Southern Poverty Law Center's website. You might want to explore Frontline's archive of programs - I know they've conducted top notch research on how these groups have evolved in the last ten, probably five years.  

I think any white person, despite his/her/their background and history, may examine what racist thinking, actions he/she/they have made in the past and recently.  Not so much a question of whether or not you are a racist, but what choices, what organizations, what behaviors support racism, specifically institutional racism. It's a discernment process of wanting to not contribute and perpetuate racism.  So don't worry about feeling accused or defensive or guilty.  Just put yourself in problem solving mode.  I'll post some suggestions from black people about how to begin a little later today.  

Later now:  I tried copying and pasting but couldn't include each post in its entirety.  I'll try again.  Other chores are calling.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Lance,

My grandmother lived on a tiny farm in Tom Green County, where there was nothing around her.  Her big activity of each week was playing the piano at the tiny church down the road and singing with the choir, what there was of it.  She was bored to tears most of the time.  I doubt that she ever saw a hanging or a KKK member anywhere, although she knew about them, since her family did get newspapers.

My other grandmother knew of the KKK, since she lived in the McKinney TX area.  She also knew about hangings, but I never heard her speak of any that happened in her neighborhood, which was also very rural.  She was very religious and always was kind to everyone, and would prepare meals with black ladies at her church, when there was a family in need, due to illness or bad luck situations.  I'm sure she read about the evilness lurking around TX in that era, from the newspapers and the usual gossip going around, but again, I don't think she witnessed any, because I feel quite sure she would have told me about such an awful thing.  She told me about everthing else!

Will answer your other questions later...........

David Cordell

Lance,

I considered your post to be highly offensive and insulting, so I deleted it. Don't push me.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Steve Keene

Hollis,

What is the feeling in St. Louis about the three police officers who were shot by an attempted assassin among the peaceful protestors?  You have gone a long way on facebook defending the looters and lawbreakers, even implying that it was white people camouflaged among the blacks that were doing the evil unlawful acts.  I just don't understand that thinking.  Why would a racist white person care to even be involved in the George Floyd controvery?  I guess if social distancing really prevents Covid 19 transmission, then we are going to see the karma fallout in the next 14 days against all those involved.

David Cordell

Lance, 

There are other sites that would welcome your posting of photos of lynchings and insults of another classmate's grandmother.

You may have considered your comment to have been sarcastic. I considered it to be mean, thus unwelcome on this site. Not only that, you repeated the same line of commentary in another post, addressed toward a second classmate. By the way, whether the classmate is actually offended or not, I will decide whether the comment is appropriate for this site.

I grant some slack to some people sometimes, and sometimes I contact individuals privately to urge them to lighten up. You have taken far more than your share of slack. You know that your M.O. is to push boundaries. That doesn't work here.

As for your comment about my alleged hypocrisy, it is only the latest in a long line of your insults and complaints about me and my decisions on this forum, which is yet another reason that you might choose to post elsewhere. You may have noticed that the repeated insults and complaints haven't had much effect. 

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

So Lance,

If your lineage goes back to mid-1800 in Georgia, what was the struggle with morality and race in your family?

I assume, just as you did with my grandmother, that there was some.  Do you wish to talk about it?

Even if there was struggle in those former years, how does that justify what is happening with anarachy and looting today?  If it was wrong in former years to be callous, cruel and evil, does that mean that those who loot today and cause destruction to other's property are justified as a reciprocal action toward people of the past?  (insert one of the Bible's verses here, please)   I have gleaned from the Bible that it is never okay to be cruel or evil, and I assume that you, too, have learned that.  So then, evilness today would not be justified under any circumstance, correct?  If someone slugged you in high school, would you be justified in slugging that person in the same way today, were you to meet up with him somewhere?  Wouldn't you take the higher road and offer you hand for a handshake instead, as a professed Christian?  Hm-m-m-m?

Are we forever cursed because our ancestors engaged in slavery?  Are other countries who have had slavery cursed forever as well?  

I remember that when the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon and enslaved for many years, they were eventually released after Cyrus The Great rode into Persia and disrupted rule.  The Jews returned to Israel and began life again where they left off.  So isn't that the way of the world, more or less, with some hiccups thrown in?

It will take a long time for the scars of slavery to heal, but the healing has already started in some ways.  We know that the Black injustice is a work in progress, and they will continue to have more and more opportunities offered. Nevertheless, don't you think that as time goes on, the Blacks will begin to let "the chips on their shoulders finally heal?"  Isn't it foolish for them to continue to carry a grudge, or cudgel, since that basically only produces frustration and keeps them in a rut?  Don't they also need to make a sincere effort to make use of opportunities and take responsibility to improve, by way of their own efforts?

David Cordell

Lance said: "I'm equally happy to remain in denial of the lynchings in America."

David replies, "Denial? I don't deny that there have been lynchings. Likewise, I don't deny that you sit on the toilet every day, but I don't want to see a photo of either on this website."

That said, read the comments on the top of the Message Forum webpage. Respectful discussions of current events are welcome, including the George Floyd case and the subsequent protests, rioting, looting, arson, and shootings. 

David Cordell

Hollis, marrying a yankee is certainly a major social faux pas. Similarly, my father married my mother, daughter of Italian immigrants, while the U.S. was at war with Italy in Septermber 1942.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Hollis,

Your ancestors living in Marshall TX., is interesting to hear.  Did their offspring teach you any German?  I enjoyed visiting that little town a while back, with my daughter.  We went there for a 'home tour' I thought would be a fun thing, since I love to go inside of interesting-looking houses of years past.  They DID have quite a few homes opened up that were such a treat to view!  They were all decorated so nicely too, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with all the welcoming owners.

Have you seen the different styles of homes there?  I enjoy the cottage style houses and the Victorian ones the most.  My daughter liked them all too, especially the homes with litttle rooms tucked into attic spaces.  Those were her favorites.

The whole town had interesting history and a unique style of its own, to offer.  We saw Karnack too, just briefly, where Lady Bird grew up.  Pretty cypress trees everywhere around the river and swamp.

Great fun!  Interesting place!