New Developments in the world.

More and more Millennials according to polls embrace socialism. Why is this? The answer is easy. Since the 1960's, there has been an increase of automation. Deindustralization and a changing economy have shift more jobs from industrial to post-industrial (relating to service jobs, technological jobs, and jobs requiring more STEM based experience). By 1980, there has been a more dominant control of the U.S. economy by the 1%. Reaganomics and other economic policies shifted wealth from the poor and the working class into the super wealthy This has caused a growing economic inequality in America plus worldwide. Wage stagnation, and the growth of Wall Street profits including new record strikes are ever real. Many people have to work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet. It is not normal for a man or a woman to work 2-3 jobs just to pay the bills. One in five Millennials live below the poverty line. There has been the growth of protests in Lebanon, D.C. Africa, Brazil, the UK, Canada, Iraq, and other places of the world seeking economic justice and freedom.

This massive class struggle has not been witnessed in the world in decades. In America alone, about 32,000 human beings (Chicago teachers) have strike after the longest GM workers' strike in 30 years While this is going on, the Trump administration has promoted overtly authoritarian policies like cutting funds to HBCUs, placing immigrant children in internment camps, praising authoritarian rulers like Putin, and refusing to respect legal subpoenas. Many of the super rich refuse to massively concede to anyone, because they want their centrist status quo. It is a historical fact that WEB DuBois, Dr. King, Norman Thomas, and other people like Claudia Jones embraced many socialistic ideals. Either the people and the working class control the power of this world or the oligarchy does. I believe that the working class and the people should control the economic and political power of this world.

Vindman's firsthand account of the Trump-Ukraine call directly challenges Sondland's testimony. Slowly, but surely, the case against Trump is thorough. You have credible witness after credible witness saying that Trump acted inappropriately in trying to find dirt on the Bidens. These witnesses have used stories, documents, and firsthand accounts in saying their stories. These people are very honorable, honest, and courageous. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vidnman is the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert. His family escaped from the Soviet Union. He worked hard to be the best that he can be in his occupation. He was so troubled by Trump's July 2019 phone call that he reported this concerns to his superiors. Vindman said that Trump has undermined national security and that parts of the phone call transcript has been omitted. While this is going on, more and more Americans want Trump impeached. The House will move to open hearings. This is a turning point as many GOP members are silent. Trump, FOX, and other operatives smearing Vindman as a spy is the essence of disrespect to not only honorable military people but to the American people in general. The irony is that Trump is the one who has spewed lies, bigotry, and hatred plus he has undermined our democracy in enumerable ways. It is important to note that Vindman heard the Trump call during real time. He knows what he is talking about.


One of the most important stories in the world now is the historic wildfires in California. It's found from Southern to Northern California. The California Governor Gavin Newson declared a state of Emergency on Sunday. About 200,000 people in many areas of California have evacuated from their homes. Families then and now have grabbed their stuff and other possessions in the short amount of time before fire comes onto their properties. Many areas have little to no lights, because Pacific Gas and Electric shut down some of their electricity (via involuntarily created blackouts) in order to fight the fires in their view. Many areas are without cell phone service. These tragedies prove that capitalism is not omnipotent. California is the richest state in America, and has the fifth largest economy on Earth. It is home to Silicon Valley, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood. The Kincade fire in Northern California has destroyed about 30,000 acres of land, and it's only 10 percent contained. The death of Baghdadi involves many developments in the Middle East. al-Baghdadi was a murderer and an evil person. Since the 1990's, we have seen the West execute possibly unending wars in the Middle East. From the Persian Gulf war to the war on terror, we have seen massive foreign policy tensions. These wars from conflicts in Libya, Iraq, Syria, etc. have caused millions of people to die, millions leaving their countries to be refugees, and causing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. The war crimes done by ISIS and U.S. imperialists are without justification. ISIS executing innocent journalists is wrong. Also, what happened in Ahu Ghraib was wrong too. Baghdadi was part of the Sunni rebellion against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. He was detained by U.S. forces in 2004, and he was caught after the 2004 siege of Fallujah. While we have these conflicts in the world, the Democrats are wanting the House to vote on the impeachment inquiry. Trump seeking to seize the oil in Iraq and Syria shows that Trump isn't some anti-war person. He is a slick hawk who desires the thievery of the resources of sovereign nations instead of true reconciliation in the Middle East. In Lebanon, Chile, America, and in other places of the world, heroic people are using protests, strikes, and other actions to make their voices heard.

Some sad news is that John Witherspoon recently passed away at the age of 77. He was a comedian and an actor who saw it all. He lived to see the legends expressed themselves from Richard Pryor to Eddie Murphy. As from Detroit, his brother wrote songs for Motown. His brother wrote What Becomes of the Brokenhearted for Jimmy Ruffin. John Witherspoon loved to play the trumpet and the French horn. He has been on WKRP in Cincinnati, House Party, The Wayans Brothers show, Hill Street Blues, and other shows. He is known by the younger generation as being in the Boondocks and the movie Friday. He loved his wife Angela Robinson and his children. His gift was that he showed a type of honesty that few will ever show in public. He was introspective and realized that humor can enrich the lives of so many people. I send condolences to his family and friends.

Rest in Power Brother John Witherspoon.




By Timothy

Monday Information in Late October of 2019.

After World War II, the change in automobile design was apparent. There was the popularization of the ponton style. This was when running boards were gone and fenders were incorporated into the body.  Some of the early examples of this style were the Soviet GAZ-M20 Pobeda (1946), British Standard Vanguard (1947), United States Studebaker Champion and Kaiser (1946), as well as the low-production Czech luxury Tatra T600 Tatraplan (1946) and the Italian Cisitalia 220 sports car (1947). New innovations about automobile design and production came about in 1949. America saw the introduction of high compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands. Hudson introduced the step down design with the 1948 Commodore. That placed the passenger compartment down inside the perimeter of the frame that was one of the first new design postwar cars made and feature the trend setting slab side styling. The unibody/strut suspended 1951 Ford Consel joined the 1948 Morris Monitor and 1949 Rover P4 in the automobile market in the United Kingdom. In Italy, Enzo Ferrari was starting his 250 series, just as Lancia introduced the revolutionary V6 Aurelia. During the 1950’s, engine power and vehicle speeds increased. Designs became more integrated and artful. Automobiles were marketed internationally.  Alec Issigonis' Mini and Fiat's 500 diminutive cars were introduced in Europe, while the similar kei car class became popular in Japan. The Volkswagen Beetle continued production after Hitler's evil reign and began exports to other nations, including the United States. At the same time, Nash introduced the Nash Rambler, the first successful modern compact car made in the United States,  while the standard models produced by the "Big Three" domestic automakers grew ever larger in size, featuring increasing amounts of chrome trim, and luxury was exemplified by the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. The markets in Europe expanded with new small-sized automobiles, as well as expensive grand tourers (GT), like the Ferrari America.

The car market changed a greatly in the 1960’s. The United States “Big three” automakers started to face more competition form imported cars. The European makers adopted advanced technologies and Japan emerged as a car producing nation. Japanese companies started to export some of their more popular selling cars in Japan internationally. They include the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Corona, Nissan Sunny, and Nissan Bluebird in the mid-1960’s. The success of American Motors’ compact sized Rambler models spurred GM and Ford to introduce their own downsized cars in 1960. The United States saw the focus of marketing in dealing with performance engines. That is why muscle cars became popular. In 1964, the Ford Mustang developed a new market segment of the pony car. New models to compete with the Mustang were the Chevrolet Camaro, AMC Javelin, and Plymouth Barracuda. Captive imports and badge engineering increased in American d the UK as amalgamated groups like British Motor Corporations consolidated the market. BMC’s space saving and trend setting transverse engine front wheel drive, independent suspension, and monocoque bodied Mini, which first appeared in 1959. This was marketed under the Austin and Morris names. Mini was a marque on its own right in 1969. It was marketed under the Austin and Morris names. Competition increased. The Studebaker came about which was a pioneering automaker that was shutting down. There was more consolidation with the Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia in Italy. They were acquired by larger companies. By the end of the 1960’s, the number of automobile marquees had been reduced.  Technology developments included the widespread use of independent suspensions, wider application of fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in automotive design. Innovations during the 1960s included NSU's Wankel engine, the gas turbine, and the turbocharger. Of these, the only the last endured, pioneered by General Motors, and adopted by BMW and Saab, later seeing mass-market use during the 1980s by Chrysler. Mazda continued developing its Wankel engine, in spite of problems in longevity, emissions, and fuel economy. Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz and GM, never put their designs into production because of engineering and manufacturing problems, as well as the lessons from the 1973 oil crisis. The 1970’s was a unique decade for cars, because of the 1973 oil crisis, the stricter automobile emissions control, and new safety requirements. So, more exports came by Japanese and European automakers. There was the growth of inflation and the stagnant economic conditions in many nations. Smaller-sized cars grew in popularity. The United States saw the establishment of the subcompact segment with the introduction of the AMC Gremlin, followed by the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto. The station wagons (estate, break, kombi, universal) body design was popular, as well as increasing sales of non-commercial all-wheel drive off-road vehicles.  To the end of the 20th century, the United States Big Three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) partially lost their leading position, Japan became for a while the world's leader of car production and cars began to be mass manufactured in new Asian, East European, and other countries. This era saw the Porsche, the Subaru 1000, and other designs.

The modern era of automobile is all about new technologies and new developments. This era has been around for 40 years. Today, cars have standardization platform sharing, computer aided design, etc. to reduce costs and development time. There are more usage of electronics for both engine management and entertainment systems. Some particular contemporary developments are the proliferation of front- and all-wheel drive, the adoption of the diesel engine, and the ubiquity of fuel injection. Most modern passenger cars are front-wheel-drive monocoque or unibody designs, with transversely mounted engines. Body styles have changed as well in the modern era. Three types, the hatchback, sedan, and sport utility vehicle dominate today's market. All originally emphasized practicality, but have mutated into today's high-powered luxury crossover SUV, sports wagon and two-volume Large MPV. The rise of pickup trucks in the United States and SUVs worldwide has changed the face of motoring with these "trucks" coming to command more than half of the world automobile market. There was also the introduction of the MPV class (smaller non-commercial passenger minivans), among the first of which were the French Renault Espace and the Chrysler minivan versions in the United States. More cars now have improved fuel efficiency and engine output. People talk about automobile emission concerns. There are computerized engine management systems. The financial crisis of 2007–2008 cut almost a third of light vehicle sales from Chrysler, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan. It also subtracted about a fourth of Honda's sales and about a seventh of sales from General Motors. Since 2009, China has become the world's largest car manufacturer with production greater than Japan, the United States, and all of Europe. Besides large growth of car production in Asian and other countries, there has been growth in transnational corporate groups, with the production of transnational automobiles sharing the same platforms as well as badge engineering or re-badging to suit different markets and consumer segments. Since the end of the 20th century, several award competitions for cars and trucks have become widely known, such as European Car of the Year, Car of the Year Japan, North American Car of the Year, World Car of the Year, Truck of the Year, and International Car of the Year. Also, a Car of the Century award was held in which in the US the Ford Model T was named as most influential car of the 20th century. The Telsa Roadster is an example of a modern car being all-electric. The Telsa Model S was a famous plug in electric vehicle. Hybrids are commonplace too.

The Perkins family has a very long history. The African American Perkins family originated in Northampton County, Virginia. Later, they traveled all across America from Maryland, North Carolina (in Rockingham, NC, Weldon, NC, etc.), and to as far as New York state. My 4th great-grandfather George Perkins I was born in Virginia at 1815. He married a woman named Esther Perkins (1816-?). Their children are Julia Perkins (1835-?), Easter Perkins (1840-1910), James Perkins (1841-?), Emily Perkins (1844-?), George Perkins II (1847-1932), and Caroline Perkins (1862-1927).  My 4th great uncle George Perkins II (1847-1932) married Fannie Lou Blackstock on the date of 1868 at Virginia. George and Fannie Perkins had the following children: Gundora (Geneva) Perkins (1868-1931), Sophronia Perkins (1870-1926), John Thomas Perkins (1874-?), Victoria Oliver Perkins (1876-1956), Louvinia Perkins (1879-1923), George D. Perkins (1880-1928), Charles A. Perkins (1884-1951), Ellen Perkins (1888-?), Fannie Perkins (1890-?), Doctor Rutherford Perkins (1891-1991), Woric Perkins (1896-1938), and Hattie Perkins (1899-?).

My 1st cousin Gundora (Geneva) Perkins (1868-1927) married Dennis Harris (1860-1928) on May 17, 1881 at Rockingham, North Carolina. The children of Geneva Perkins and Dennis Harris are Cynthia (Lucinada) Broadnax (1885-1931), Suetha P. Harris (1888-?), Dennis H. Harris (1890-1937), George T. Harris (1891-?), Linda Harris (1891-1931), Tom Harris (1893-?), and George J. Harris (1896-1954). Cynthia Broadnax married Dennis Broadnax (18881-1975) and had the following children: Ollie May Broadnax (1919-1960), Dennis Daniel  Broadnax Jr. (191401978), Jeneva Broadnax (1915-1974), Irene Broadnax (1920-2015), Wi;llie Broadnax (1923-?), Mammie Broadnax (1923-2004), David Daniel Broadnax (1925-?), Troy Lee Broadnax (1928-?), and Jesse Broadnax (1829-1997). My 3rd cousin Irene Broadnax married King David Sam William Fountain on March 31, 1936 at Henry, Virginia. This family later lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut as a product of the Great Migration. Irene Broadnax and King David Sam William Fountain (1914-1964) had the following children: Clyde William Fountain (1937-1992), Bishop Franklin David Fountain (1939-2005), Norman R. Fountain (1941-2010), Alvestico Fountain Sr. (1943-present), Erma Fountain Johnson (1946-present), Bishop Venoal Fountain (1947-2015), Jo Anne Fountain (1953-2002), Yvette Fountain Drummond (1956-present), Madeira Fountain Walker (1963-present), Donald Fountain, Robert L. Fountain, Jacqueline Fountain Campbell, Sharon Fountain Whitmore, and Zorene F. Fountain Meekins.

My 1st cousin Charles A. Perkins married Pearly Tinsley (1886-1960). Their children are James Allen Perkins (1904-1975), Ernest Perkins (1909-1937), Lettie Lee Perkins Cohen (1910-1997), Willie Mae Perkins (1913-1973), Pearl Perkins (1918-1956), Mammie Perkins (1920-?), Rachel Perkins (1922-?). My 2nd cousin James Allen Perkins (1904-1975) married Bertha Lee Wade (1905-1979) on October 11, 1922 at Henry County, Virginia.  James Allen Perkins and Bertha Lee Wade had the following children: James E. Perkins (1923-2012), Pauline Agusta Perkins (1926-present), Alvin Rufus Lee Perkins (1928-1982), Bertha M. Perkins (1931-present), Remona Leigh Perkins (1934-present), Ralph Allen Perkins (1937-2004), Betty Ann Perkins (1940-2012), Delores Perkins Wells (1943-present), and R. Otis Broadnax (1926-2006. His mother was Gertrude Braodnax). My 3rd cousin James E. Perkins married Doris Mae Cooper (1930-2009). Their children are Arnece Perkins Sims (1949-present), Everett Clinton Perkins (1965-present), Ellsworth Perkins, Kevin Perkins, and Ernest L. Perkins. These human beings are my 4th cousins. My 3rd cousin Ralph Allen Perkins married Jerline Broadnax Perkins (1940-2019) on the date of June 29, 1963 at Rockingham, North Carolina. Their children are Racquel Perkins (1975-present), and Cassandra Wrenn. They are my 4th cousins.




By Timothy

The Parts of a Car.

http://auto360hub.com/engine-oil-used-in-cars/

https://englishstudyonline.org/parts-of-a-car/

https://accessriviera.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/general-information-car-parts-mechanical-terms-in-french/

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-powerpoints/vocabulary/means-transport/parts-car/62114

https://www.sunautoservice.com/basic-car-parts-you-should-know-and-what-they-look-like/

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

Duboisian Scholar to Address BAR Gathering on “Building a Black Left”

https://blackagendareport.com/duboisian-scholar-address-bar-gathering-building-black-left

BAR Book Forum: Karla Holloway’s “A Death in Harlem”

https://blackagendareport.com/bar-book-forum-karla-holloways-death-harlem

Chinese Revolution at 70: Twists and Turns, to What?

https://blackagendareport.com/chinese-revolution-70-twists-and-turns-what

Nobody Gets Liberated Until the Defeat of the Plutocrats

https://blackagendareport.com/nobody-gets-liberated-until-defeat-plutocrats

Lessons about Reality.

This year is the 70th year anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. This Revolution existed after people had a legitimate grievance to overthrow capitalist exploitation and Western imperialist powers who exploited China for centuries. The Opium wars alone were about the British using drugs and war to oppress the Chinese people. Mao led the revolution to be a victory. I agree with Mao on some issues, and I obviously don't agree with Mao on other issues. China as it today came about in 1949. It was one of the most historic events in human history. China freed itself from Japanese imperialism after World War II and U.S. puppets like Chiang kai-shek (who had a dictatorship of the Kuomintang). The Agrarian Law of 1950 helped farmers. The 1950 Marriage Law allowed women to choose their own partners. Foot bending and concubinage were banned by the law too. Today, illiteracy is down greatly and life expectancy is higher than 60 years in China. Today, we can't say that China is totally socialistic. It has billionaires controlling the majority of the wealth. The poor in China are forced to live in crowded areas. Free speech is heavily restricted. There is massive social inequality. The one child policy is still real in China, and many independent religious minorities have been persecuted. Now, we have to understand what happened from 1949 to 2019. The fight for liberation is not new in China. Chinese workers fought the British when British municipal police in 1925 shot protesters in Shanghai. Mao allied with Stalin. Later, Mao compromised.

He worked with capitalists like Nixon as later China is integrated into global capitalism. Deng Xiaoping is the man who made market reforms. China's Maoists also allied with other reactionaries. Deng's market reforms caused social inequality, expansion of private enterprise, and corruption by bureaucrats. Then, in 1989, we saw Tienanmen Square protests where people wanted democratic rights. The working class wanted change and bureaucrats ended the protests in a bloody fashion. These problems weren't about socialism, but about Stalinism and bureaucratic corruption. Today, China is the 2nd largest economy on Earth with over 1 billion people. It is competing with America over global dominance over the world markets. While we shouldn't support the bureaucrats in China and the U.S. imperialists desiring the status quo. We should support Americans, Chinese people, and any people of any color who generally want justice and peace for all as a true goal.

Many House GOP members have stormed the impeachment inquiry the day after the bombshell testimony existed from ambassador William Taylor. Taylor's testimony was chronological, detailed, and filled with evidence. Now, we know that Trump did the act of trying to get dirt on Biden in exchange for the U.S. financial funding of Ukraine. We know that Trump did impeachable actions on many levels not only on the Ukraine issue. The question is what process will exist for impeachment to be taken against the President. Trump has lifted all sanctions on Turkey. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper has testified behind closed doors. One federal judge ordered the State Department to release Ukraine records within 30 days.


The Upshur family has a long history. They originated from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. from there, many of the Upshur family migrated into Maryland, New Jersey, and as far north as New York state. My 5th great grandfather was Benjamin Brickhouse I. He was born in 1750. She married Polly Brickhouse (1760-?), and they had a child named Benjamin Brickhouse II (1791-1878). Benjamin Brickhouse was born in Northampton County, Virginia, and she married Eliza Collins (1805-?). Their children are Johnson Brickhouse (1826-?) and Benjamin Brickhouse. Johnson Brickhouse or my 3rd great grandfather was a member of the 9th Colored Infantry as being part of the Union during the Civil War. He was enlisted in 1863. Johnson Brickhouse married Julia Perkins (1835-?), and their daughter was Anna Eliza Brickhouse (1857-1921). Ann Eliza Brickhouse was my 3rd great aunt. She at first married James Burton Jr. (1848-1931) and later she married James Kelly (1846-?) on February 12, 1893 at Northampton County, Virginia.  Anna Eliza Brickhouse and James Burton Jr. had the following children: Juliet Brickhouse (1875-1972), Nollar Rosa Burton Upshur (1877-1961), Sadie Brickhouse (1880-1952), Virginia (aka Jennie) Burton (1883-1968), Isaac Burton (1885-1972), Preston Burton (1888-1957), David Burton (1890-1946), Margaret (Maggie) Burton (1887-?), David Burton (1887-?), and Henry Burton (1886-?). Anna Eliza Brickhouse had the following children with James Kelly: Lloyd S. Kelly (1894-?), Lillie Kelly (1894-?), Charles Kelly (1896-?), John Kelly (1902-?), and Helen Kelly (1898-?). Nollar Rosa Upshur was my 1st cousin. She was born on September 6, 1877 at Northampton County, Virginia. She married Ruben Benjamin Upshur on April 26, 1898 at Northampton County, Virginia. Their children are part of the Upshur family, and they are related to me. Nollar and Ruben Upshur had the following children: Ollief S. Upshur (1899-1995), James Velvet Upshur (1901-1975), Milton Alfred Upshur (1904-1977), Marrie Uprshu (1906-?), Eskie Upshur (1907-?0, Reuben Upshur (1909-1938), Curtis V. Usphur (1913-1984), Alice G. Upshur (1915-1938), Andrew Phillip Upshur (1915-1995), Baylise Upshur (1919-2014), Belle E. Upshur (1921-?), Evangeline Virginia Upshur (1921-1995), and Helen Burton Upshur (1926-2006). My 2nd cousin Andrew Phillip Upshur was born on April 21, 1915 at Exmore, Northampton, Virginia. She married Hazel Virginia Douglas on April 27, 1948 at Northampton County, Virginia. Andrew Phillip Upshur lived in New York state (in Buffalo) before his passing, and he was a member of the U.S. Army during World War II. Their child was Andrew Philip Usphur Jr. (who was born on April 5, 1954. He is my 3rd cousin. He is from Buffalo, NY). She married Teria Ashe Upshur . Andrew Upshur Jr. and Teria Upshur’s children are Jordan Upshur and Langston Upshur (these two children are my 4th cousins). 


Now, many people in the world are struggling against the system of oligarchy. It is no secret that the oligarchs benefit from war and austerity. Constantly, many people believe in the two extremes of American exceptional perfection and the other extreme of every American being irredeemable or permanently nefarious. In life, you see that America's imperfections can never be justified, while we recognize the fact of numerous Americans are trying to live up to the ideals of democracy, equality, freedom, liberty, and other attributes of justice. The mass media is capitalist driven, because most of the media in the Western world are run by capitalists. The problem with the moderates is that their centrism "consensus" leaves out the poor, the homeless, and other people among the oppressed. Dreaming big refutes the ideology of the moderates. It took big dreams to cause the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, sending humans to the Moon, and other policies. To solve these problems , we must dream courageously, organize plans, work with the people, and constantly never give up. The evils of imperialism, the evils of racism, and colonialism must be exposed too. Either power must be in the hands of the few or power should be in the hands of the people (and we need a redistribution of economic and political power). I believe in the latter view completely.

 By Tiothy

We Live in a Very Historic Time.

We live in crossroads in our time in America. For the first time in decades, we could actually witness a President being impeached and possibly removed from office. There are private photos of an indicted Giuliani associate having close ties to Trump and his inner circle. We have whistleblowers outlined many sworn testimony about how Trump led the charge to use Giuliani and others to try to talk with Ukraine in attempting to bring dirt about the Bidens for political reasons. We have seen massive stonewalling by the Trump team. We have seen many in the Trump camp disregard subpoenas. There is a total capitulation among many GOP leaders to Trump's agenda filled with militarism, xenophobia, racism, and anti-democratic rights. While Trump administration's officials lie and call witnesses as having no credible, we have detailed notes and documents proving the corruption found in the Trump administration. Trump has lied that his opponents hate America. In one rally, he brags about wanting to remain President for 16 years which is impossible unless the Constitution is overthrown.

Trump is an authoritarian who believes that the executive branch should have supreme control of the country (which is against the separation of powers that states that all three branches of government are equal in power). That is why Florida Governor Ron Desantis ordered his political committee to return the $50,000 donation sent to him by a Giuliani associate. His Presidency didn't exist out of thin air. The massive economic inequality, oligarchy, racism, and corruption were pieces of the fuel for the rise of Trump. He was President by the undemocratic Electoral College not by the popular vote (as most Americans didn't vote for Trump in 2016). Trump's unconstitutional policies are clear. What is also clear is that it doesn't have to be this way. The rights of black people, immigrants, women, and all oppressed are important to preserved and enhanced.

One of the most offensive statements from Trump is that he compared the legal, constitutional investigation against him to a lynching. Immediately, many people criticized him, but Lindsey Graham from South Carolina supports Trump's statement. Graham is a neophyte and a disgrace. This investigation is no where near a lynching in any way shape or form. Lynching is the brutal murder of innocent men, women, and children via violent, murderous terrorism. Black people have been the victims of lynching for a long time. That is why people in the Civil Rights Movement and the black freedom movement worked so hard to eradicate lynching in America plus the world. That is why the African American National Museum of History and Culture exists in D.C. and the National Lynching Museum exists in the Deep South. They were formed to let us know that never again, and that black people deserve total justice without compromise.

Trump's statement is not only racist, but it trivializes the evil of lynching against African Americans. Trump knows what he is doing, since tons of people in Trump's base are stone cold racists. Now, CNN reported of their poll that as high as 50% of Americans want Trump impeached and removed from office. Only the Senate can remove Trump from office after the impeachment from the House. Graham should be ashamed of himself. The Washington Post reported that Russia and Hungary helped to sour Trump on Ukraine. The U.S. top diplomat William Taylor was told Trump wanted aid withheld until Ukraine said that it would investigate Joe Biden. William Taylor said that there was a direct line from Ukraine plot to Trump. His sworn testimony collaborates what many whitleblowers have said, and Giuliani is under investigation now.

One of the most important news is the statue of Eugene Bullard being placed at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia. I heard of Eugene Bullard for many years now. He was the first black American fighter pilot of American history. He participated in World War I. He experienced massive discrimination as he lived during the early 20th century. Yet, he displayed courage and resiliency in his life. Harriett Bullard White or his distant cousin cried with tears of joy over his statue being displayed on October 9, 2019. The ceremony had members of the Air Force, Bullard's relatives, and the surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen present. He was born in Columbus, Georgia. He came into Scotland and then to France to be part of the French Foreign Legion. He received his wings as a member of the Aéronautique Militaire in May 191. His ancestors came from Haiti. We know that the Haitians led the Haitian Revolution that freed them from tyranny. Eugene Bullard fought in World War II to defeat the Nazis at Orleans, France. Bullard received 15 decorations from the government of France. He was a true soldier, an advocate for civil rights (as he defended the right of Paul Robeson to speak, etc.), and he was a champion for freedom.

Nous croyons en la liberté. Le sacrifice des Afro-Américains et de tous les peuples épris de liberté est très important.

Je crois en la justice.


By Timothy

Monday Updates.

The African American Collins family lived in the Eastern Shore of Virginia for centuries. They are related to me in many ways. First, it is important to go way back. My 2nd great grandfather was Harry Bailey. He was born in 1855 in Virginia. His mother was Emily Bull. Harry Bailey married Esther Brickhouse Bailey (1862-1955) on 1882 in Locus Mount, Virginia. Harry Bailey and Esther Brickhouse Bailey had the following children: Carlton Bailey (1883-?), Effie Sarah Bailey Bryant (1891-1977), Ida Bailey (1892-1910), Calvin Bailey (1892-1954), Carrie Bailey (1895-?), Evaline Bailey (1895-?), and James Bailey (1896-?). Effie Sarah Bailey Brant was my great-grandmother who was born on June 13, 1891 at Virginia. Her first husband was Jacob Collins (1869-1928). Effie Sarah Bailey Bryant and Jacob Collins married on the date of July 4, 1909 at Northampton County, Virginia. Their child was my great-uncle Wilbert Collins (1909-1990). Effie’s 2nd husband was William Henry Bryant (1892-1962). Wilbert Collins married Lillian Mapp to have the following children: Ralph William Collins (1928-2008), Mallie G. Collins (1930-present), and Richard Collins (1935-?). Wilbert Collins was born in Northampton County, Virginia and he passed away at Philadelphia on June 22, 1990. Lillian Mapp Collins lived from October 15, 1909 at Virginia to May 26, 1996 at Philadelphia. My 2nd cousin Iris P. Douglas-Collins (1955-1995) married Archie Lee Collins Jr. (1952-1994). Their child was Archie Lee Collins III, who has links in Florida. Iris P. Douglas’s mother was Dorothy Mae D. (1937-2014), whose father was James Curtis D. (1915-1992), whose father was Carl Doggett (1886-1968), and whose father was Adam D. Archie Lee Collins III is my 2nd cousin. His father was Archie Lee Collins Jr., whose father was Archie Lee Collins (born in 1933), whose father was George Henry Collins (1897-1965), whose father was Douglas Collins (1877-1920), whose father was Caleb Collins Jr. (his wife was Peggy Bailey. Caleb Collins lived from 1834-1920), whose father was Caleb Collins (whose wife was Adah). Caleb Collins lived from 1834 to 1920. Adah Collins lived from 1838 to 1896. Caleb Collins’ father was Major Collins (1816-1877) and Lakey Collins (1810-?) was his wife.


A new car era came about by the late 19th and early 20th century. The American George B. Selden filed for a patent on May 8, 1879. His application included the engine and the 4 wheeled car.  Selden filed a series of amendments to his application which stretched out the legal process. This resulted in a delay of 16 years before the patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the United States. Selden licensed his patent to most major American automakers, collecting a fee on every car they produced. The first production of automobiles was done by Karl Benz in 1886 at Germany. It was under license in France by Emile Roger. There were numerous others including tricycle builders Rudolf Egg, Edward Butler, and Leon Bolee. Bollée, using a 650 cc (40 cu in) engine of his own design, enabled his driver, Jamin, to average 45 kilometres per hour (28.0 mph) in the 1897 Paris-Tourville rally. By 1900, mass production of automobiles had begun in France and the United States. The first company that was created to build automobiles exclusively was Panhard et Levassor in France. It introduced the first four cylinder engine. It was formed in 1889. Panhard et Levassor was quickly followed by Puegeot 2 years later. By the start of the 29th century, the automobile industry started to take off in Western Europe. 30,204 cars were produced in the region by 1903. This represented 48.8% of the world automobile production in that year. In America, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea created the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893. This was the first automobile manufacturing company. The Autocar Company was created in 1897 with innovations still in use. It remains the oldest operation motor vehicle manufacturer in the Untied States. Yet, it was Ransom E. Olds and his Olds Motor Vehicle Company (or called Oldsmobile later) that dominated that era with the introduction of the Oldsmobile Curved Dash. It was on its own production line in 1901. The Thomas B. Jeffrey Company formed the world’s second mass mass-produced automobile, and 1,500 Ramblers were built and sold in its first year, representing one-sixth of all existing motorcars in the United States at the time. Within a year, Cadillac (formed from the Henry Ford Company), Winton, and Ford were also producing cars in the thousands. The Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904. They continued to build horse-drawn vehicles until 1919.
The first motor in Central Europe was produced by the Austrian-Hungarian company called  Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra in today's Czech Republic) in 1897, the Präsident automobile. In 1898, Louis Renault had the De Dion-Bouton modified, with fixed drive shaft and differential making it the first possible hot rod in history.

Renault and his brothers were part of the car industry. There was massive innovation during the early 1900’s. There were changes in basic vehicle architecture, body styles, and controls. Many veteran cars used a tiller instead of a wheel for steering. By 1903, Rambler standardized on the steering wheel. It moved the drive’s position to the left hand side of the vehicle. Chain drive was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare. Renault introduced drum brakes in 1902. In 1903, the Dutch designer Jacobus Spijker built the first four wheel drive racing car. It was never competed, and it would be 1965 and the Jensen FF before four wheel drive was used on a production car. After a few years, new technologies were used by hundreds of producers worldwide. Steam, electricity, and petrol gasoline powered cars competed for decades. By the 1910’s, petrol/gasoline and international combustion engines were dominant in the car industry.  Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and engine displacement ranged to more than a dozen liters. Many modern advances, including gas/electric hybrids, multi-valve engines, overhead camshafts, and four-wheel drive, were attempted, and discarded at this time. The oil industry grew including the gasoline industry. They replaced coal oil, kerosene, vegetable and animal oils. Music was used in car culture. The veteran era has cars introduced as novelties not in a high level of usage by the public yet. Car breakdown was common.

Fuel was difficult to get. Major breakthroughs in proving the usefulness of the automobile came with the historic long-distance drive of Bertha Benz in 1888, when she traveled more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, to make people aware of the potential of the vehicles her husband, Karl Benz, manufactured, and after Horatio Nelson Jackson's successful transcontinental drive across the United States in 1903. Lots of older cars made were made with an assembly line which would help mass produce cars which some company's still use today because it's more efficient. The Brass or Edwardian era lasted form 1905 to 1918. Many vehicles used brass. It was filled with experimentation. The Stanley Steamer ran over 120 mph. Panhard et Levassor's Système Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognizable and standardized automobiles were created. This system specified front-engined, rear-wheel drive internal combustion engined cars with a sliding gear transmission. Traditional coach-style vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard runabouts lost favor with the introduction of tonneaus and other less-expensive touring bodies. The Model T was in existence. The ignition system was popularized. Key developments included the electric ignition system (by dynamotor on the Arnold in 1898, though Robert Bosch, 1903, tends to get the credit), independent suspension (actually conceived by Bollée in 1873). and four-wheel brakes (by the Arrol-Johnston Company of Scotland in 1909). Leaf springs were widely used for suspension, though many other systems were still in use, with angle steel taking over from armored wood as the frame material of choice. Transmissions and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the infinitely variable system familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass also made its debut, patented by John Wood in England in 1905. (It would not become standard equipment until 1926, on a Rickenbacker). Car companies in America, Europe, and Japan like the Mitsubishi Model A made by Mitsubishi. 

The Vintage era lasted from 1918 (or the end of World War II) to the end of 1929 (with the Wall Street crash). This era saw cars like the 1926 Bugatti Type 35, the 1929 Austin Seven, and the 1929 Alfo Romeo 6C. This time saw the front engine car dominating society and standardized controls being the norm. In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open and by 1929, 90% were closed. Rapidly, there was the development of the internal combustion engine. There were multi-valve and overhead camshaft engines were produced at the high end. This time saw V8, V12, and even V16 engines. They were used by mostly the super rich.  Also in 1919, hydraulic brakes were invented by Malcolm Loughead (co-founder of Lockheed); they were adopted by Duesenberg for their 1921 Model A. Three years later, Hermann Rieseler of Vulcan Motor invented the first automatic transmission, which had two-speed planetary gearbox, torque converter, and lockup clutch; it never entered production. (It would only become an available option in 1940). Just at the end of the vintage era, tempered glass (now standard equipment in side windows) was invented in France. The revolutionary ponton design of cars with lenders, running boards, and other non compact ledge elements was created. Mass production of these cars started after WWII. American auto companies in the 1920s expected they would soon sell six million cars a year, but did not do so until 1955. Numerous companies disappeared. Between 1922 and 1925, the number of U.S. passenger car builders decreased from 175 to 70. H. A. Tarantous, managing editor of "MoToR Member Society of Automotive Engineers", in a New York Times article from 1925, suggested many were unable to raise production and cope with falling prices (due to assembly line production), especially for low-priced cars. The new pyroxylin-based paints, eight cylinder engine, four wheel brakes, and balloon tires as the biggest trends for 1925. The prewar era of cars was from 1930 to after World War Ii. This time saw saloon or sedan body styles. There was runabouts, phaetons, and touring cars. There was the front wheel drive being introduced by Andre Citroen. In the same vein, independent suspension was originally conceived by Amédée Bollée in 1873, but not put in production until appearing on the low-volume Mercedes-Benz 380 in 1933, which prodded American makers to use it more widely. In 1930, the number of auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured, thanks in part to the effects of the Great Depression.


By Timothy

Phony Progressives Follow Trump Lead on Venezuela

https://blackagendareport.com/phony-progressives-follow-trump-lead-venezuela

The IMF.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/ecuador-imf-killing-spree/5691857

US Interventions in Canada – A Brief History

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-interventions-canada-brief-history/5692479

Defending the Culture.

A lot of news are coming out. The U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland gave his testimony to the House impeachment investigators. He is a GOP donor. He said that he was disappointed that Trump won't have a meeting until they spoke with Giuliani. He said that Trump ordered diplomats to work with Giuliani on Ukraine (in order to get dirt on Biden). His view is that he wasn't aware until later that Giuliani wanted the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens. Rick Perry is resigning very soon as Energy Secretary. Trump wants to host the G7 Summit at his own resort. Pelosi said that this plan is unconstitutional, because the President can't accept gifts or payments from foreign governments. The White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that his administration does it all of the time when asked if he had described Trump doing a quid pro quo. Mulvaney admitted that getting Ukraine to investigate the Democrats was a factor in holding up hundreds and millions of dollars in aid. Later, Mulvaney and the Trump allies denied a quid pro quo situation. The reality is that the lies, contradictions, the xenophobia, the bigotry, and deception of the Trump administration is overtly obvious. There is apparently a ceasefire agreement done by the U.S. and Turkey. The agreement disarms the Kurdish YPG, and it is about promotion of a border zone helping Turkey. It is blatantly about appeasement to Turkish extremists, and it is a further betrayal of the Kurdish people. The authoritarian Erdogan got everything that he wanted.Trump said that Turkey should clean everything out. That implies that the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds was worth the agreement (which is a perverted, sick thing to say).

One advice in life that people should follow is to be careful of culture vultures. A culture vulture is a person who exploits people or a culture for profit under the veneer of being for the people (but he or she isn't). There are many examples of culture vultures. DJ Vlad has his show where he interviews mostly African Americans about their lives, music, and social mores. Later, a black woman named Christina Santi is suing DJ Vlad (whose real name is Lybonvny) for racial and sexual discrimination. She accuses DJ Vlad of making racist and sexist comments about her. The comedian Mike Rappaport is not only a fraud, but a hypocrite. He said that he is down for the cause. He made a racist comment about the human being Kenya Moore. He disrespected Janet Jackson when Janet is an iconic legend. He vulgarly called Spike Lee an offensive word. He said that he would drop any NFL player who protested against racial injustice on 9/11. He made sexist comments about black women journalists who criticized his antics. So, I knew what these people are all about. Rappaport (he needs Higher Learning) acts like since he know about the hip hop group The Tribe Called Quest, then he can say what he wants without criticism. No, it doesn't work that way. Gina Rodriguez is an actress who has been caught criticizing the black community for promoting our interests, and she said the n word (which afterwards she gave her token apology). Gary Owens allowing his wife to use the n word is not only disrespectful, but it is a form of cowardice. I'm from Virginia. I know how these vultures get down. Bill Maher said the n word, defends any policy of Israel, and has been accused of verbal and physical abuse of black women for years. I know my tea now. If I really wanted too, I could expose how these people act behind closed doors some more, Yet, I won't do it. The lesson is here is that this time is the time of discernment. We don't have to hate anybody. We can just show the truth, and the truth reveals all.

Today, also more people need to be exposed. This racist lowlife Michael Rappaport recently said that Kenya Moore got "ashy" ankles. This is the same person who compared Kenya Moore to a gorilla. He is so bold against black women like a coward, but he won't talk to rich white people like that since he is on code. Then, this liar Rappaport said that Kenya made it racial. No, he made it racial by also disrespecting black women journalists with vulgar references to them. He made it racial by calling Spike Lee a vulgar term. He made it racial by disrespecting Kenya Moore multiple times.These culture vultures think that because they marry a black person, say slang like "yo yo yo", etc. that this gives them a pass to do what they want. No, they get no passes. More especially black men need to call these jokers out to their faces. I fear no man walking this Earth. DJ Vlad and others are culture vultures.

There is a lot of language to describe Rappaport, and we know what those words are. Recently, one singer from Boyz II Men (who is Shawn Stockman) defended Gina Rodriquez using the n word by saying the lie that all Latinos are black. No black person should use that word. Not every Latino is black. There are Afro-Latinos and they are black. That's it. I'm from Virginia. Ever since the reparations discussions are coming on and more black people are expressing wokeness in the net, some people are trying to force black people to allow non-black people call them the n word. We should reject that premise. No one is calling my mother or my relatives the n word in any shape or form period. I don't tolerate that mess. Some of our people need to stop tap dancing and start embracing reality.

Some very sad news is the passing of Elijah Cummings yesterday on Thursday morning. He was 68 years old. He loved his city of Baltimore, Maryland where he was born and raised. He made many accomplishments and made history. This is not about politics. It is about a man who sacrificed a lot for his country. He married the love of his life (who is his wife Sister Maya Rockeymoore. She is the chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party since December 2018) and had many children. He loved black people and all people. Just before his transition, he fought to find the truth in dealing with the Ukraine scandal. He graduated from Howard University which is one of the greatest HBCUs in the world. He studied law. He was part of the Maryland House of Delegates before he was in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first African American in Maryland to be named Speaker Pro Tempore or the second highest position in the House of Delegates. Baltimore lost a champion for civil rights and justice, but his influences permanently will shine brightly in America plus the world.

Rest in Power Brother Elijah Cummings.


Timothy

Black Activists Targeted -- by FBI and Killers Unknown: Glen Ford on the Real News

https://blackagendareport.com/black-activists-targeted-fbi-and-killers-unknown-glen-ford-real-news-1

Botham Jean and America’s Apartheid Police State

https://blackagendareport.com/botham-jean-and-americas-apartheid-police-state

Haiti and the Convenience of Imperial Amnesia

https://blackagendareport.com/haiti-and-convenience-imperial-amnesia

The Ohio Democratic Debate and Other News.

The debates among the 12 human beings on stage started with eloquent denunciations of the policies of Donald Trump. They cited his corruption, suppression of transparency, non-cooperation with legal subpoenas, and other acts that merit impeachment. Many candidates attacked Elizabeth Warren, since she is the front-runner. The people who did so aren't just Biden. They include Buttigeig, Beto O'Rourke, and Amy Klobuchar. Ironically, Beto criticized Warren, but Warren issued details about how her wealth tax proposal would be implemented. Andrew Yang talked about how automation has ended many jobs. He is right. Warren said bad trade deals contributed to job losses, and she is right. Yang wanted the decriminalization of the possession of the small amounts of opioids (along with treatment and counseling for those who have addiction). Yang also wants a universal basic income for Americans (in 1,000 dollars per month. Rich people don't need a UBI. I have no issues with poor or middle class people receiving it as long as social programs aren't cut in the process). The candidates debated health care between universal health care and some Medicare for all choice mixed with private health care. Julian Castro wanted a wealth tax and an inheritance tax. Cory Booker wanted to address child poverty. Elizabeth Warren was calm cool, and collected when her policies were criticized. The candidates talked about foreign policy. Tulsi Gabbard gave her take about Syria. She wanted an end to the war in Syria, but she disagreed with how Trump went about it involving the Kurdish people being abandoned. She compared the Syrian war to a war for regime change. Buttigeig disagreed with Gabbard on Syria. Klobuchar saying that Israel is a beacon of democracy is very telling as a Google search can show how racism, discrimination, and the harsh mistreatment of Palestinians are found in Israel. Not all Israelis are responsible for these evils, but there is no peace without an end to occupation (and a promotion of true equality and justice among both Israelis and Palestinians). Netanyahu has been accused of financial corruption, and he's a far right zealot. It is no secret that many of the candidates on that stage are in favor of militarism in the region. We don't need endless wars. We want diplomacy, real solutions, and investments to build up the Middle East. Bernie Sanders did well, especially after he had a heart attack. He spoke out against income inequality, oligarchical control of resources, and Trump's criminality.



All of the candidates agreed with each other about exposing Trump for promoting a further disaster in Syria when many ISIS criminals have escaped prisons. Kamala Harris talked about women and reproductive issues. Julian Castro said that police violence is a gun violence issue. He is right. Cory Booker wanted reconciliation among the people in debate stage, and he said that we support women because women are people period. The candidates debated gun control. They agreed on promoting gun control, but they disagreed on how to proceed. There should be a ban on the importation of assault weapons and other actions. There should be a ban on the loopholes that gun manufacturers have involving gun violence. They discussed about the opioid epidemic too. Senator Kamala Harris wanted drug companies executives to go to prison if they are complicit in the opioid crisis. She is right. I disagree with CNN showing ads from the NumbersUSA group (which is an anti-immigrant group with ties to the white supremacist John Tanton). Many candidates either wanted to regulate Big tech companies or break them up with antitrust policies. Kamala Harris wanted Elizabeth Warren to allow Twitter to ban Trump from Twitter. Kamala's request was reasonable as Twitter is a private company. Trump has slandered people, intimidated witnesses, and spewed overt hate and bigotry.



Once again, Rand Paul is lying about socialism. Socialism is not about genocide or death. Socialism is about the government control of the means of production. It is also about workers' control of the means of production. It deals with the workers owning their own economic power. People have the right to disagree with it, but not every socialist is complicit in murder and genocide. Rand Paul is the same person who compared student loan debt forgiveness to giving people heroin. He hypocritically claims to support free market fundamentalism, but voted for earmarks in Kentucky (which was a government give away). He made the inaccurate statement that fatherless homes and a lack of morals contributed to the rebellion in Baltimore (which is straight up bigoted and ignores police brutality and social injustices), but his son was arrested for drunk driving. He believes that America is a Christian nation, which is a violation of the Constitution. The Constitution says that there is no religious test. Also, many of the Founders like Jefferson weren't Christians. They were Deists, some were Christians, and others were openly hostile to Christianity like Thomas Paine. There is no establishment of religion as cited in the First Amendment. I believe in the separation of church and state. I believe in God also. One of his former aides is Jack "Southern Avenger" Hunter, who believed in neo-Confederate views. Rand Paul opposes an expansion of health care rights publicly for people. He is not some anti-war hero. He is a reactionary extremist.



The murderer, now ex-cop Aaron Dean has been charged with murder. Aaron murdered a young Sister named Atatiana Jefferson in front of her nephew. The murder was so unjustified that the Forth Worth police organization has no choice but to let that murderer go from his job. Atatiana's life is gone physically. She won't see her relatives on this Earth anymore. She won't witness a lot of things in life, and that is so sad. Likewise, we want justice. There is absolutely no excuse for Dean's actions. Dean violated deescalation protocols, and violations of use of force policies. Dean should at least go to prison for life. We do send prayers and condolences to the Jefferson family. We are further inspired to do what is right, speak up in favor of justice, and walk righteously to defend the truth.



There is a lot of controversy with Lebron James. Lebron James recently said that one man named Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was misinformed and didn't have the right response to criticize China's response to Hong Kong protesters. Lebron James also said that Daryl Morey must be careful what he says on social media like Twitter, and he said whether he agrees with Morey's comments or not is another matter. Immediately, people have criticized him or Lebron. My view is that we as black people must stay on code. Even though I disagree with Lebron James' views, I don't view his statements as a justification to call this man out of his name. We can agree to disagree. This is normal. Many of us don't agree with our friends on every issue, and that's fine. I respectfully disagree with Lebron James on this issue, since freedom can't wait. We, as black people, know exactly what it is like to be oppressed and maligned because of our color. Dr. King was right to say that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. China's government has forsaken its socialist and revolutionary roots by its actions not only against Hong Kong protesters, but against their own citizens in many areas of China. It is no secret that the Chinese government has policies that overtly violate the freedom of speech and other democratic rights. Being a revolutionary means that you have to take risks, and many people won't like you. That is the name is of the cause. We will be hated by many for standing up, but the crown of glory is more important than political correctness. Yes, we know that NGOs and the CIA fund many of these movements overseas. Also, it is true that the vast majority of these democratic freedom fighters in Hong Kong aren't puppets. They are independent, courageous, and they deserve our support plus solidarity. We not only want Hong Kong to maintain its rights. We want all of China to embrace total democratic freedom. We want America to do the same, since America has its issues of police brutality, racism, discrimination, economic deprivation, homelessness, etc. We want any nation and any people worldwide to reach its highest potentials. We hold dear the concept of justice for all as all people are created equal.





By Timothy

Back From China, LeBron James Speaks Out On NBA Controversy

 https://www.npr.org/2019/10/15/770305688/back-from-china-lebron-james-speaks-out-on-nba-controversy

Black Woman Who Filmed Shooting Of Botham Jean Claimed She Was Fired From Her Job In Retaliation

https://theblackdetour.com/black-woman-who-filmed-shooting-of-botham-jean/

The Danger of Dear White People

https://whispersofawomanist.com/2019/08/13/the-danger-of-dear-white-people/

On Forgiveness.

https://whispersofawomanist.com/2019/10/07/on-forgiveness/

Monday Updates.

A haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single nucleotide polymorphism mutation. A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent. So, haplogroups are like codes that signify where your ancestry came from genetically. Haplogroups relate to a single line of descent. Y chromosome haplogroups (Y-DNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) halplogroups are used to define human genetic populations. The Y-DNA is passed solely along the patrilineal line from father to son. The mtDNA is passed down the matrilineal line (from the mother to the offspring of both sexes). Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents’ genetic material. My paternal haplogroup is called E-CTS3764.1. I came from a group of people on my paternal side of my family from eastern Africa over 275,000 years ago. Later, my paternal line came to the Red Sea and met with the haplogroup of DE-M145. My paternal line came from haplogroup E-M96. My paternal line stems from a branch of haplogroup E called E-M132, which is seen at low frequencies in the Bahamas on the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, and Long Island. This is likely the part of historical movement of African and Creole slaves before and after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire by 1807. Over 25% of slaves transported to the Bahamas during the slave trade were from West and Central Africa, which is consistent with the most common location of E-M132. Lower numbers of slaves were taken from other ports in Africa, including those along the Gold Coast, the Windward Coast, and the Bight of Biafra. Many African ethnic groups were victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, including the Fulani and Hausa, two groups in which my haplogroup are heavily represented by.

My maternal halogroup is called L3e1e. This haplogroup came from women from eastern Africa from over 150,000 years ago. This branch came from a branch of L3 called L3e. Later, this line’s descendants were part of the migration of Bantu speaking people that began about 4,000 years ago. They were in Cameroon. This migration reached most of sub-Saharan Africa. Today, L3e is mostly found in central and southeast Africa. It is also found among African Americans and about one-third of Brazilians whose maternal lineages trace back to Africa in the slave-trading era, an indication that their ancestors may have originated in Angola rather than the more common slave-trading centers of the African west coast. So, members of L3 were part of the Bantu Migration. This was when black people in West Africa used agriculture, cultivation of lands, etc. They grew yams, legumes, peppers, and gourds. These were major dietary parts of the sub-Saharan diet. About 4,000 years ago, they came into southern Africa. Some remained in Western Africa. Therefore, I was born a Bantu, and I will die a Bantu (as an African American). Today, the majority of sub-Saharan African languages are Bantu.


There is another shooting of a black woman in Texas. We have an epidemic of the police shooting of black people in America. First, one neighbor called the police, because her house’s door was open plus the lights were on. Later, one police officer came into her home. The officer yelled and shot her dead in less than 30 seconds. He didn’t identify himself. He just said put your hands up and let me you’re your hands. Even the video showed no evidence that the officer’s life was in jeopardy, and the officer was never assaulted. The woman, who was killed, was a 28 year old young woman named Atatiana Koquice Jefferson. She was in the bedroom of her home. Hours after the shooting, the police presented an edited video of the shooting from a body camera. In many cases, cops are defended not only by the police union but by other officers. The officer now is on administrative leave. Jefferson was at home with her nephew. She did nothing wrong. James Smith was the neighbor who called a non-emergency number. He said that he wanted the police to check on her.  We know the truth. The truth is self-evident that an innocent black woman was murdered in cold blood by an officer who acted recklessly. There is no excuse for this. There must be justice. Black women (not just black men) experience this form of police murder constantly in America, Brazil, and other places of the world. This is not new. What is new is the increase of video footage and social media recording such injustices. We want black women, black men, and black children to flourish in their lives without injustice. That is our aim. We believe in human beings in general to have freedom and justice. The cop should face accountability for his actions. An investigation should exist, but justice should be served. The family of Atatiana Jefferson deserves that.


This is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is very accessible from beaches to gyms across the world. It's a sport that teaches us about strategy and human togetherness. In America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and other areas of the globe, men, women, and children play it all of the time. The sport is volleyball, and it is a sport that relates to teamwork, strength, and skill. In this game, two teams seek the same goal which is victory. It has been part of the Summer Olympics since 1964 in Tokyo. Since 1895, it has been played. Legends are part of the sport too like Alejandrina Mireya Luis Hernandez, Tara Battle Cross, Paula Weishoff, and Lori Endicott. Volleyball requires the development of the human physical body in a myriad of ways. It can strengthen the upper body, arms, and shoulders. It definitely deals with building up the thighs and lower legs. The cardiovascular and respirator systems are strengthened as a product of playing volleyball as well. Science has already documented that improved circulation in the body helps to spread more blood, oxygen, and nutrients all over the body. That can improve the body’s functions and grow the overall health of a human being. Volleyball requires hand eye coordination, reflexes, etc. The bones and joints are developed further as a product of volleyball too. Therefore, volleyball is an excellent athletic sport that is here to stay. Its components and contributions to athletics should always be honored and respected forever and ever. 



The history of automobiles consists of a long one. Vehicles have existed for centuries. Even thousands of years ago, there were wagons and chariots that looked similar to automobiles later on. This history is divided into different eras. They are times when the use of propulsion was different during the early days of vehicle usage and the later period defined by styling, size, and utility preferences. Back centuries ago, people wanted to find a reliable portable power unit to propel the vehicle. Back then, there were steam powered wheeled vehicles. Ferdinand Verbiest was a member of a Jesuit mission in China. He built a steam powered vehicle around 1672. He created it as a toy for the Kangxi Emperor. It was in a small scale and could not carry a driver. It could possibly be the first working steam powered vehicle (or automobile). Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier à vapeur ("steam dray"), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771. As Cugnot's design proved to be impractical, his invention was not developed in his native France. The center of innovation shifted to Great Britain. By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth, and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle on the roads in Camborne. The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789. By the 1800’s, times changed. Some people tried to make steam powered vehicles more accessible with hard breaks, multispeed transmissions, and better steering came about. Some vehicles were commercially successful until the backlash against large vehicles came about. The United Kingdom in 1865 passed the Locomotive Act that required many self-propelled vehicles on public roads to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn.  This effectively halted road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century; inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives. The law was not repealed until 1896, although the need for the red flag was removed in 1878.

In 1816, a professor at Prague Polytechic named Josef Bozek created an oil fired steam car. Walter Hancock (a builder and operator of London steam buses) in 1838 built a 2 seated car phaeton. In 1867, Canadian jeweler Henry Seth Taylor demonstrated his 4 wheeled steam buggy at the Stanstead Fair in Stanstead, Quebec, and again the following year. The basis of the buggy was a high wheeled carriage with bracing to support a two cylinder steam engine mounted on the floor. He started to build it in 1865. One of the first modern day automobiles was produced in 1873 by Frenchman Amedee Boliee in Le Mans, who built the self-propelled steam road vehicles to transport groups of passengers.  The first carriage-sized automobile suitable for use on existing wagon roads in the United States was a steam-powered vehicle invented in 1871 by Dr. J.W. Carhart, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Racine, Wisconsin. As a result, the device induced the state of Wisconsin in 1875 offered a $10,000 award to the first to produce a practical substitute for the use of horses and other animals. They wanted the machines to go faster than 5 miles per hour over a 200 mile course. The offer led to the first city to city automobile race in America. It started on July 16, 1878 in Green Bay, Wisconsin and ending in Madison, Wisconsin via Appleton, Oshkosh, Waupun, Watertown, Fort Atkinson, and Janesville. Seven vehicles only registered. Two of them started to compete. The entrees came from Green Bay and Oshkosh. The vehicle from Green Bay was faster, but it broke down before completing the race. The Oshkosh finished the 201-mile (323 km) course in 33 hours and 27 minutes, and posted an average speed of six miles per hour. In 1879, the legislature awarded half the prize. By 1828, Anyos Jedlik (who was a Hungarian man) invented an early electric motor. It powered a car. By 1834, the Bermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport invented the first American DC electric motor. He installed his motor in a small model car which he operated on a short circular track. In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells. In 1838, Scotsman Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of 4 miles per hour (6 km/h). In England, a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of tracks as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.

Sources point to different creations as the first electric car. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented a crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells. In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris. English inventor Thomas Parker, who was responsible for innovations such as electrifying the London Underground, overhead tramways in Liverpool and Birmingham, and the smokeless fuel coalite, built the first production electric car in London in 1884, using his own specially designed high-capacity rechargeable batteries. Some believe that the Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888 by the German inventor Andreas Flocken invented the first, true electric car. Electric cars were popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Electricity was used for automobiles a lot. Gasoline cars were limited back then. This changed with the advances in the internal combustion technology. Companies like the Food Motor Company used gasoline cars with more range, quicker refueling times, and a growing petroleum infrastructure (along with the mass production of gasoline vehicles) to advance more cars. Electric cars started to decline. They were nearly gone in the 1930’s. Electric cars made a huge comeback by the 1990’s and the 21st century because of the environmental impact of gasoline cars, higher gasoline prices, improvements in battery technology, and debates about peak oil. Early attempts at making and using internal combustion engines were hampered by the lack of suitable fuels, particularly liquids, therefore the earliest engines used gas mixtures. Many early experiments used gases. That is why by 1806, the Swiss engineer François Isaac de Rivaz built an engine powered by the internal combustion of a hydrogen and oxygen mixture. In 1826, the Englishman Samuel Brown tested his hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine by using it to propel a vehicle up Shooter’s Hill in south-east London. The Belgian born Etienne Lenoir’s Hippomobile with a hydrogen gas fueled one cylinder internal combustion engine made a test drive from Paris to Jonville le Pont in 1860. It covered 9 km. in about 3 hours. A later version used coal gas. A Delamare-Deboutteville vehicle was patented and trialed in 1884.

About 1870, in Vienna, Austria (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire), inventor Siegfried Marcus put a liquid-fueled internal combustion engine on a simple handcart which made him the first man to propel a vehicle by means of gasoline. Today, this car is known as "the first Marcus car." In 1883, Marcus secured a German patent for a low-voltage ignition system of the magneto type; this was his only automotive patent. This design was used for all further engines, and the four-seat "second Marcus car" of 1888/89. This ignition, in conjunction with the "rotating-brush carburetor", made the second car's design very innovative. His second car is on display at the Technical Museum in Vienna. During his lifetime, he was honored as the originator of the motorcar but his place in history was all but erased by the Nazis during World War II. Because Marcus was of Jewish descent, the Nazi propaganda office ordered his work to be destroyed, his name expunged from future textbooks, and his public memorials removed, giving credit instead to Karl Benz. Many people acknowledge that that the first really practical automobiles with petrol/gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently: Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on January 29, 1886, and began the first production of automobiles in 1888, after Bertha Benz, his wife, had proved – with the first long-distance trip in August 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back – that the horseless coach was capable of extended travel. Since 2008, a Bertha Benz Memorial Route commemorates this event.
Soon after, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart in 1889 designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile, rather than a horse-drawn carriage fitted with an engine. They also are usually credited with invention of the first motorcycle in 1886, but Italy's Enrico Bernardi of the University of Padua, in 1882, patented a 0.024 horsepower (17.9 W) 122 cc (7.4 cu in) one-cylinder petrol motor, fitting it into his son's tricycle, making it at least a candidate for the first automobile and first motorcycle;. Bernardi enlarged the tricycle in 1892 to carry two adults.

The first four-wheeled petrol-driven automobile in Britain was built in Walthamstow by Frederick Bremer in 1892. Another was made in Birmingham in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester, who also patented the disc brake. The first electric starter was installed on an Arnold, an adaptation of the Benz Velo, built in Kent between 1895 and 1898. George F. Foss of Sherbrooke, Quebec built a single-cylinder gasoline car in 1896 which he drove for 4 years, ignoring city officials' warnings of arrest for his "mad antics.” In all the turmoil, many early pioneers are nearly forgotten. In 1891, John William Lambert built a three-wheeler in Ohio City, Ohio, which was destroyed in a fire the same year, while Henry Nadig constructed a four-wheeler in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is likely they were not the only ones.


By Timothy
 

Syria, Giuliani, and Other News.

The breaking news today is how 2 Giuliani Ukraine associates have been arrested. They are accused of campaign finance corruption charges. Their names are Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman said that they gave a $325,000 donation (which is a violation of the law). This leads to more scrutiny of Giuliani. Giuliani associates were given a bond of $1 million each. This is about 2 men being accused of criminal violations of the law. These people could be a flight risk. They could leave the country immediately after being released on bond. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rudy Giuliani had lunch with the two men hours before they tried to flee the country (and go into Frankfurt, Germany). That is why they were arrested very quickly. People want to know the conversation among Giuliani and Parnas plus Fruman. The 2 people are charged with donating $325,000 to a Trump Super PAC. They are linked to trying to find dirt on Joe Biden. Both men were booked at Alexandria, Virginia. Trump has denied knowing both men, but he has connections to Giuliani. Also, Trump is photographed with the men. This new scandal is vastly different from the Mueller investigation in that with the Ukraine scandal , we have transcripts, whistleblowers' testimonies being confirmed, and now 2 men being arrested for corrupt actions. Now, Democrats have subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani's associates for documents. The stonewalling by the Trump administration in dealing with the impeachment inquiry is very telling.


Freedom is a worldwide phenomenon. Today, people worldwide are protesting and fighting for justice in Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti, Iraq, France, and in America. In Ecuador, there is a strike and the IMF austerity plan that the people of Ecuador are opposing in large numbers. The Moreno government austerity program is opposed so much that the government had left its capital. The streets of Quito are filled with police, protesters, and curfews. There is a massive indigenous community in Ecuador too. The elimination of fuel subsidies have caused a widespread protests. The protests in Haiti is part of a worldwide struggle for justice. Not to many people know that Haiti has been a victim of imperialism not only by France and other European nations. It has been a victim of U.S. imperialism too. From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. Marines occupied Haiti. This was when the U.S. supported many right wing regimes in Haiti. Papa Doc and Jean Claude Duvalier were dictatorships and traitors to black people. We know that Jean Betrand Aristide was democratically elected and overthrown twice by U.S. backed coups. IMF neo-liberal economic restructuring programs have harmed Haiti. People want fuel, infrastructure, an end to poverty, and stopping the decline of the Haitian currency. The movement for freedom is also found in Algeria and Sudan. These stories represent how linked we are as human beings, and that we will overcome in the end.


There are tons of news going on. One major news is the foreign policy crisis in Syria. Turkish forces has invaded Syria. They want to establish a buffer zone in northern Syria while pushing out the Kurdish population, which has lived in the region for thousands of years. The Turkish offensive is large. Many Democrats and Republicans have criticized Trump for not supporting the Kurdish dominated SDF or the Syrian Democratic Forces (which are filed with Kurdish people). The Turkish forces have allied with many Sunni Arabic and Turkmen militias to target areas in Tal Abyad and Ras al Ain which are found east of the Euphrates River. Turkish military units are fighting the Kurdish YPG militia too. Civilian causalities exist in Turkey and in Syria. Many people are fleeing northern Syria as it is now a dangerous war zone. Turkey wants to forcibly send Syrian refugees (who live in Turkey) to go into a buffer zone in northern Syria. Erdogan and Trump had an October 6, 2019 phone call. After that call, Trump announced that he would withdrawal troops from Syria. There are over 1,000 American troops still in Syria. The only long term solution is a long term political solution where Sunnis, Shias, Turkish people, Kurdish, and others sit down and establish a common approach in solving their problems (with international assistance and support).


There are currently widespread, vicious wildfires in California. The California utility company PG&E have cut millions of people in Northern California off from electricity. In their minds, this can stop the fire, but it will only hurt innocent people trying to survive. This is why capitalism is not omnipotent. These forced blackouts exist for over 2 million people and businesses across 34 counties. Most people harmed by this policy are the poor, working class, and middle class. For years, many people have criticized Pacific Gas and Electric for its responses to wildfires. Wildfires exist across Los Angeles, and thousands are ordered to leave right now. Dozens of homes in Los Angeles are burned. In Northern California, many elderly people struggle for air. Many of their medical devices are cut off because of the forced blackouts. Now, this has been going on for years. We have the rise of finance capital using globalization as a means to permit government to allow deregulation for the maximization of profits at the expense of many people's lives. An update of infrastructure and the elimination of economic exploitation are needed in the world.

Trump's rally at Minneapolis was an example of him promoting appeals to authoritarianism. His speech was in downtown Minneapolis. He said that he bringing troops home to use them for something else. Trump criticized Ilhan Omar and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis. Trump once again slandered socialism without understanding what socialism is. Eric Trump led a chant in wanting to lock Biden and his won up. Many cops praised Trump with pro-Trump T-shirts. It is no secret that many white supremacists and far right extremists are in the police. Many of them have been caught spewing racist and sexist comments in social media. Trump blamed Democrats, the media, and other institutions without looking at mirror. He is a liar by saying that Omar is a American hating socialist. She doesn't hate America, and she isn't socialists. He used the racist language that Somali refugees in Minneapolis means that people shouldn't vote for Democrats. It is ironic that socialistic ideals are more popular among young people today than a generation ago. That is why the oligarchy hates socialism among other reasons. We must protect democratic rights, immigrant rights, the rights of black people, and the rights of all oppressed people.


By Timothy

Politics.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/robert-reich-centrists-simply-cannot-win-the-2020-election/

https://blackagendareport.com/impeachment-and-long-road-democratic-party-defeat-2020

Freedom Rider: Botham Jean, Joshua Brown and Antonio Williams

https://blackagendareport.com/freedom-rider-botham-jean-joshua-brown-and-antonio-williams

BAR Book Forum: Naa Oyo Kwate’s “Burgers in Blackface”

https://blackagendareport.com/bar-book-forum-naa-oyo-kwates-burgers-blackface

Black Lives Matter: Five Years Later.

https://blackagendareport.com/five-years-later-do-black-lives-matter

Early October 2019 Updates.

We should reject the two extremes. One extreme is how some want to support Trump We know that Trump promotes anti-immigrant racism, racism in general, sexism, extreme nationalism (in being hostile towards even legal immigration), and hostility towards democratic institutions. That is why Trump is overt in trying to make the executive branch of government supreme which is against the principle of the separation of powers (where all three branches of government are equal in power). Donald Trump's words , actions, and policies are representative of the hatred found in many quarters of America. Trump is not new. Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, and others have similar forms of bigotry. Trump is the fruit of the imperfections found in American society. Polls show that a majority of Americans support impeachment or an impeachment inquiry. The other extreme wants to sanitize the mistakes of the CIA and the FBI. For decades, the CIA has propped up coups, dictatorships, election fraud, and other evils. The FBI illegally spied on civil rights leaders and other social activists for generations. J. Edgar Hoover is known for this, and he bragged about it in his speeches plus memos. Now, Trump is trying to block testimony from a witness. That is why many Democrats are having a subpoena.

It is obvious that the Trump administration refuses to cooperate in this ongoing impeachment inquiry. This has been mentioned by the President lawyers in a letter to Congressional Democrats. Trump blocking U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is truly outrageous. Trump sending data to a secret server is telling. Trump is not acting like an innocent man. It is obvious that there was Russian meddling in the 2016 election. One Senate report confirms this reality. Michael Cohen plans on speaking with NY prosecutors to give what he knows about financial issues as it relates to Trump. One White House official called the Zelensky-Trump call as frightening. Trump is obstructing justice. Trump's corruption and other reason merits his impeachment.

One news is that Trump wanted to withdraw troops from Syria. This comes after Turkey's government will say that they will invade northern Syria where Kurdish forces are located. Turkey wants a 20 mile border zone along the Syrian/Turkey border. The Kurds have been U.S. allies for years involving in the Iraq War and the Syria Civil War. The Kurdish military contributed to the defeat of most of ISIS in Syria. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erodgan said that Turkey will have an operation in Northern Syria. The U.S. approves of this action. Some fear that this policy change will cause a bloodbath against Kurdish forces in Syria. Millions of Syrian refugees are in Turkey as a product of the civil war. Many Republicans and Democrats have vehemently opposed Trump's withdrawal policy from Syria. The Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) wants to fight the Turkish forces if they are attacked.

Since the end of the Cold War, we have witnessed more almost three decades of Middle Eastern wars from the Iraq War to the NATO wars in Libya plus Syria. Iran and Russia supported al-Assad regime. The only solution is a long term political solution where the rights of the Kurdish people, Arabic population, and other non-Arabic populations are respected. The Sunnis, the Kurds, and the Shia have to find some common ground to end these conflicts long term. The region must not be dominated by Russian interests or Western imperialistic interests. It must be controlled by the people (i.e. the working class) in the Middle East.

Some good news is that a high number of Afro-Brazilians graduated from UFRB. That is the second largest university in the black majority state of Bahia, Brazil. The graduates from the mostly black medicine class have shown their pictures online. Black Brazilians are still fighting for a just, strong education. A racist social heirachy, police brutality, and economic exploitation still exists in Brazil. White Brazilians are paid less than Black Brazilians. By the early 2000's, affirmative action programs in Brazil have helped many Afro-Brazilians to achieve a higher education with dignity plus honor. The university is called the Federal University of Reconcavo da Bahia. Former Brazilian President Lula (who is a more progressive person) has praised the Brazilian university.There are abotu 18 internalized university campsues being created in Bahia. These future leaders of medicine will do great things and we are in solidarity with Afro-Brazilian people forever and ever.


By Timothy

Politics.

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/04/buttigieg-disruption-supporting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=buttigieg-disruption-supporting&fbclid=IwAR1sn2XZaTBRqhMlwNd874ZkpcsdicxqUEey4Z7dZzhrIQGcWQTmjGF651s

Facts on Geography.

Geography discovery continued for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks saw the poet Homer as the founder of geography, but geography existed long before Homer was born. Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. These forms of literature or pieces of prose dealt with a large amount of geographical information. Homer believed that the world was circular ringed by a single massive ocean. The works show that the Greeks by the 8th century B.C. knew a great deal about their surroundings (including the eastern Mediterranean). The poems contained a large number of place names and descriptions. Many of these names are uncertain about their real locations. Thales of Miletus was one of the first known philosophers to have wondered about the shape of the world. He said that the world was based on water, and that all things grew out of it.  He also mentioned that many of the astronomical and mathematical rules that would allow geography to be studied scientifically. His successor was Anaximander. Anaximander was the first person to have attempted to create a scale map of the known world to the Greeks and to have introduced the gnomon to Ancient Greece. Hecataeus of Miletus created a different form of geography. He didn't deal with the mathematical calculations of Thales and Anaximander. He learned about the world by getting previous works and speaking to the sailors who came through the busy port of Miletus. From these accounts, Hecataeus created a detailed prose account about his region. Herodotus’ Histories is a work of history. It showed geographic descriptions of Egypt, Scythia, Persia, and Asia Minor. It also mentioned India. There is a description of Africa. He said that the land was surrounded by a sea. Regardless, Herodotus made important observations about geography. He is the first to have noted the process by which large rivers, such as the Nile, build up deltas, and he is also the first recorded as observing that winds tend to blow from colder regions to warmer ones.

Pythagoras was perhaps the first to propose a spherical world, arguing that the sphere was the most perfect form. This idea was embraced by Plato and Aristotle presented empirical evidence to verify this. He noted that the Earth's shadow during an eclipse is curved, and also that stars increase in height as one moves north. Eudoxus of Cnidus used the idea of a sphere to explain how the sun created differing climatic zones based on latitude. This led the Greeks to believe in a division of the world into five regions. At each of the poles was an uncharitably cold region. While extrapolating from the heat of the Sahara it was deduced that the area around the equator was unbearably hot. Between these extreme regions both the northern and southern hemispheres had a temperate belt suitable for human habitation. The Hellenistic period saw more geographical researchers. Hanno the Navigator came into Sierra Leone in Africa. Other Phoenicians possibly circumnavigated Africa. This was during the 4th century B.C. when the Greek explorer Pytheas traveled into northeast Europe and circles the British Isles.  He found many more people in those lands than expected. There were Julius Caesar’s invasions of Britain and Germany. Augustus had expeditions to Arabia Felix and Ethiopia (or Nubia). Alexander the Great traveled as far as Iran and India with his army. Many geographers and writers were with him to observe what they saw.
The ancient Greeks divided the world into three continents, Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa). The Hellespont formed the border between Europe and Asia.

The border between Asia and Libya was generally considered to be the Nile River, but some geographers, such as Herodotus objected to this. Herodotus argued that there was no difference between the people on the east and west sides of the Nile, and that the Red Sea was a better border. The relatively narrow habitable band was considered to run from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to an unknown sea somewhere east of India in the east. The southern portion of Africa was unknown (to the ancient Greeks), as was the northern portion of Europe and Asia, so it was believed that they were circled by a sea. The ancient Greeks tried to find the size of the Earth. Eratosthenes tried to calculate the Earth’s circumference by measuring the angle of the sun at two different locations. His numbers were problematic, but most of the errors cancelled themselves out. He got an accurate figure. Since the distance from the Atlantic to India was roughly known, this raised the important question of what was in the vast region east of Asia and to the west of Europe. Crates of Mallus proposed that there were in fact four inhabitable land masses, two in each hemisphere. In Rome a large globe was created depicting this world. That some of the figures Eratosthenes had used in his calculation were considerably in error became known, and Posidonius set out to get a more accurate measurement. This number actually was considerably smaller than the real one, but it became accepted that the eastern part of Asia was not a huge distance from Europe. Many Roman geographers did their own research. Strabo had works on geography. Ptolemy did his own research. By the time of 90-168 A.D, the Silk Road was in existence. Ptolemy’s Geographia helped to open up the human understanding of the nature of geography. The ancient Romans used maps, transportation, and triangulation to develop research in geography. They had land surveyors, cartographic research, engineering surveyors, and military surveyors. Around 400 A.D., a scroll map called the Peutinger Table was made of the known world to the ancient Romans, featuring the Roman road network. Besides the Roman Empire which at that time spanned from Britain to the Middle East and Africa, the map includes India, Sri Lanka and China. Cities are demarcated using hundreds of symbols. It measures 1.12 ft. high and 22.15 ft. long. The tools and principles of geography used by the Romans would be closely followed with little practical improvement for the next 700 years.

Ancient Indian geographers had their own theories on the origin of the Earth. Some of them believed that the Earth was formed by the solidification of gaseous matter and the earth’s crust is made of hard rocks (sila), clay (bhuih), and sand (asma). Theories were also propounded to explain earthquakes (bhukamp), and it was assumed that earth, air and water combined to cause earthquakes. The Arthashastra, a compendium by Kautilya (also known as Chanakya) contains a range of geographical and statistical information about the various regions of India. The composers of the Puranas divided the known world into seven continents of dwipas, Jambu Dwipa, Krauncha Dwipa, Kusha Dwipa, Plaksha Dwipa, Pushkara Dwipa, Shaka Dwipa and Shalmali Dwipa. Descriptions were provided for the climate and geography of each of the dwipas. The Vishnudharmottara Purana (compiled between 300–350 AD) contains six chapters on physical and human geography. It describes peoples, places, and seasons. Varahamihira's Brihat-Samhita gave a thorough treatment of planetary movements, rainfall, clouds and the formation of water. The mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata gave a precise estimate of the earth's circumference in his treatise Āryabhaṭīya. Aryabhata accurately calculated the Earth's circumference as 24,835 miles, which was only 0.2% smaller than the actual value of 24,902 miles. The Mughal chronicles Tuzuk-i-Jehangiri, Ain-i-Akbari and Dastur-ul-aml contained detailed geographical narratives. These were based on the earlier geographical works of India and the advances made by medieval Muslim geographers, particularly the work of Alberuni. 

Ancient Chinese geographers were abundant back then. They existed in the 5th century B.C. during the start of the Warring States period (481 B.C. – 221 B.C.). There was the work called the Yu Gong ('Tribute of Yu') chapter of the Shu Jing or Book of Documents, which describes the traditional nine provinces of ancient China, their kinds of soil, their characteristic products and economic goods, their tributary goods, their trades and vocations, their state revenues and agricultural systems, and the various rivers and lakes listed and placed accordingly. The nine provinces at the time of this geographical work were relativity small in size compared to those of modern China. The book described areas of the Yellow River (including the lower valleys of the Yangtze and the plain between them as well as the Shandong peninsula. It shows area of the west and the most northern parts of the Wei and Han Rivers along the southern parts of modern day Shanxi province). The state of Zin by the 4th century B.C. had many maps. The writings of cartographer Pei Xiu (224-271) referred to thew geometric grid and mathematically graduated scale to a map. Chinese historical texts have a geographical section. The ancient Chinese historian Ban Gu (32–92) most likely started the trend of the gazetteer in China, which became prominent in the Northern and Southern dynasties period and Sui dynasty. Local gazetteers would feature a wealth of geographic information, although its cartographic aspects were not as highly professional as the maps created by professional cartographers. Maps developed by the actions of Liu An and his associate Zuo Wu. Geographic literature became more complex with the existence of the Song dynasty (60-1279) and the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The Song dynasty poet, scholar, and government official Fan Chengda (1126–1193) wrote the geographical treatise known as the Gui Hai Yu Heng Chi. It focused primarily on the topography of the land, along with the agricultural, economic and commercial products of each region in China's southern provinces. The polymath Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) devoted a significant amount of his written work to geography, as well as a hypothesis of land formation (geomorphology) due to the evidence of marine fossils found far inland, along with bamboo fossils found underground in a region far from where bamboo was suitable to grow.

Chinese researchers discovered geographic areas outside of China. The traveler Zhang Qian (from the 2nd century B.C.) wrote about civilizations in the Middle East, India, and Central Asia. By the Tang dynasty (618-907), the Chinese diplomat Wang Xuance came into northeastern India in a place called Magadha. He wrote about India in his 7th century book Zhang Tian-zhu Guo Tu (the Illustrated Accounts of Central India). It had geographic information. Jia Dan (730-805) wrote about Iran and the Persian Gulf. Byzantine scholars wrote about geography like Stephanus of Byzantium (in the 6th century) called Ethnica. Muslims of Arabic and Persian descent were geographers too. Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber or Jabir) (721– c. 815) wrote extensively on many subjects, expanded on the wisdom of the Greek classics and engaged in experimentation in natural science. It is unclear whether he was Persian or Syrian.

In mathematical geography, Persian Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, around 1025, was the first to describe a polar equi-azimuthal equidistant projection of the celestial sphere. He was also regarded as the most skilled when it came to mapping cities and measuring the distances between them, which he did for many cities in the Middle East and western Indian subcontinent. He combined astronomical readings and mathematical equations to record degrees of latitude and longitude and to measure the heights of mountains and depths of valleys, recorded in The Chronology of the Ancient Nations. He discussed human geography and the planetary habitability of the Earth, suggesting that roughly a quarter of the Earth's surface is habitable by humans. He solved a complex geodesic equation in order to accurately compute the Earth's circumference. His estimate of 6,339.9 km for the Earth radius was only 16.8 km less than the modern value of 6,356.7 km. By Medieval times, Marco Polo came into China. Many European explorers like Henry the Navigator of Portugal traveled into the African coast and studied geographic information. The Columbian exchange, the evil slave trade, and other events of colonialism continued to exist by the late Middle Ages to the early Modern Age. Geographic studies evolved from the time of the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation. The problem with some European geographic scholars back then was that many of them had Eurocentric biases that made them ignore non-European methods in studying geography. Alexander von Humboldt studied geography all of the time. The National Geographic Society was founded in the United States in 1888 and began publication of the National Geographic magazine which became and continues to be a great popularizer of geographic information. The society has long supported geographic research and education. By the 20th century, environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography existed. Now, the study of geography has been grown by advanced technology, research, study, and other aspects of our human experiences.

By Timothy