vegas2k

[vegas2k]

The Pentagon Won’t Track Troops Deployed on U.S. Soil. So We Will.

Pentagon press releases say 20,000 federal troops have deployed to support ICE across the country. The real number may be markedly higher.

[vegas2k]

Blues has evolved from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves imported from West Africa and rural Africans into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States. Although blues (as it is now known) can be seen as a musical style based on both European harmonic structure and the African call-and-response tradition that transformed into an interplay of voice and guitar, the blues form itself bears no resemblance to the melodic styles of the West African griots. Additionally, there are theories that the four-beats-per-measure structure of the blues might have its origins in the Native American tradition of pow wow drumming. Some scholars identify strong influences on the blues from the melodic structures of certain West African musical styles of the savanna and sahel. Lucy Durran finds similarities with the melodies of the Bambara people, and to a lesser degree, the Soninke people and Wolof people, but not as much of the Mandinka people. Gerard Kubik finds similarities to the melodic styles of both the west African savanna and central Africa, both of which were sources of enslaved people.

No specific African musical form can be identified as the single direct ancestor of the blues. However the call-and-response format can be traced back to the music of Africa. That blue notes predate their use in blues and have an African origin is attested to by "A Negro Love Song", by the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, from his African Suite for Piano, written in 1898, which contains blue third and seventh notes.

The Diddley bow (a homemade one-stringed instrument found in parts of the American South sometimes referred to as a jitterbug or a one-string in the early twentieth century) and the banjo are African-derived instruments that may have helped in the transfer of African performance techniques into the early blues instrumental vocabulary. The banjo seems to be directly imported from West African music. It is similar to the musical instrument that griots and other Africans such as the Igbo played (called halam or akonting by African peoples such as the Wolof, Fula and Mandinka). However, in the 1920s, when country blues began to be recorded, the use of the banjo in blues music was quite marginal and limited to individuals such as Papa Charlie Jackson and later Gus Cannon.

Blues music also adopted elements from the "Ethiopian airs", minstrel shows and Negro spirituals, including instrumental and harmonic accompaniment. The style also was closely related to ragtime, which developed at about the same time, though the blues better preserved "the original melodic patterns of African music"

[vegas2k]

Okay, the missing minute was the camera's fault.... what is this then?

[vegas2k]

Are you shittenating me? Higher education used to be FREE?????

[vegas2k]

🤔 Who should be held accountable for racist AI content?

Previously, we talked about the rise of short-form AI avatars styled to look like Black women often voiceless, sexualized, and designed to mimic OnlyFans-style content.

As disturbing as that is, an even more dangerous trend is growing: long-form scripted videos built with AI tools that act out violent racial stereotypes and fantasies.

In the slides featured here, you’ll see anonymous accounts using AI to mimic the likeness, tone, and voice of Black people and insert them into racist, animalistic, or politically manipulative scenarios. These videos are gaining traction across platforms, spreading quickly and becoming harder to trace.

This is not just content. This is racism performed through simulation. This is race play disguised as entertainment.

And as AI tools become more realistic and accessible, this hate is being created faster and more anonymously than ever.

These videos are built on data and that data is already biased.

Tools like Google Genie, Runway, and others are trained on content scraped from the internet, filled with racially charged imagery and stereotypes. AI doesn’t remove bias, it amplifies it.

AI is now not just reflecting racism, but performing it, with no accountability.

Who is creating this?

Who is watching it?

And what does it say that this is what’s being automated and amplified?

[vegas2k]

does anyone have that quote that goes something like 'white germans under the nazis lived just fine as long as they were loyal to the state, gave their children to the army, and paid their taxes, and in this sense many americans would be comfortable living under fascism' trying to find who said it but google is giving me jack shit

[vegas2k]

History of Black People Used as targets.

[vegas2k]

The target games found in traveling carnival shows, seashore resorts and fairgrounds throughout the nation were among the most racially aggressive of all popular games. One popular carnival game which featured names like “Dump the Nigger,” “African Dip,” or “Coon Dip” did not require directly hitting a Black person, but hitting the target device attached to a delicately balanced plank upon which a Black person sat. The target, if hit squarely, caused the sitter to be dumped into the tank below.

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/games/

[vegas2k]

 At the end, thirty feet or so from the counter that closed the entrance, a grinning Negro face bobbed and grimaced through a hole in the back curtain painted to represent a jungle river. The Negro’s head came right out of the spread terrific jaws of a crocodile. “Hit the nigger in the head, get a good ten cent seegar,” the barker said. “Three balls for a dime, folks. Try your skill and accuracy. Hit the nigger baby on the head get a handsome cane and pennant.

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/oct12/index.htm

[vegas2k]

[vegas2k]

“Americans overall are bad at science. Scared of math. Poor at physics and engineering. Resistant to evolution. The consequence is that you breed a generation of people who do not know what science is nor how and why it works. You have mortgaged the future financial security of your nation. Innovations in science and technology are the basis of tomorrow’s economy. “Just look back 1,000 years ago at the Middle East, where math and science flourished in Baghdad. Algebra and algorithms were invented in the Middle East. So were Arabic numerals, the numbers we still use today. But when a new cleric emerged during the 12th century, he declared math and science to be earthly pursuits, and good Muslims should be concerned about spiritual affairs. The scientists drifted away, and scientific literacy faded from that part of the world. "Today, too many Americans mistake clouds for UFOs, believe in alien abductions, reject evolution, fear the number 13 and negative numbers, and freak out about supermoons that really aren’t any bigger than regular old full moons. This science illiteracy is a threat to the nation.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson

[vegas2k]

I cannot believe how stupid this is. What do they learn in school? And if you don't know things, why don't you shut the fuck up?

20-25 million people from nations all over the world died fighting against the Nazis. The US didnt even show up for years after it started. They sat and watched everyone else fight and die.

Rest of conversation -

REPORTER: So, just to clarify—your position is that France owes its entire existence to the United States?

LEAVITT: Absolutely. If it weren’t for the U.S., the French would be speaking German right now. That’s just a fact.

REPORTER: Interesting. Because if it weren’t for France, we wouldn’t even have the United States. Ever heard of the American Revolution? France bankrolled it. Sent troops. Fought Britain on multiple fronts. And, oh yeah—gave us the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of freedom. Do we only acknowledge history when it’s convenient?

LEAVITT: Well, the United States has been the beacon of global freedom—

REPORTER: Right, and who gave us the actual beacon? The French. And let’s not forget, France won World War I before the U.S. even entered it. So by your logic, does that mean Americans should be thanking the French for not speaking German in 1918?

LEAVITT: That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying—

REPORTER: Also, if we’re going down this road—how about the Louisiana Purchase? You know, that huge chunk of land that doubled the size of America? Bought it from the French. Are we sending them a thank-you note?

LEAVITT: Look, I think we’re getting off track here. The point is—

REPORTER: The point is, we didn’t just swoop in and save the day while France sat around waiting. Nations cooperate, trade, and yes, sometimes even rescue each other.

17. März 2025

[vegas2k]

Several documentaries publically treating Luigi Mangione as guilty before his trial even started got released over the past 2 months.

Here's the billion dollar companies behind them.

[vegas2k]

The psychiatrist who wrote the criteria for narcissism just made an extremely important point about what’s wrong with diagnosing Trump with mental disorders

Dr. Allen Frances says in speculating about Trump’s mental health, we are doing a disservice to those who do suffer from mental illness. In a series of tweets, he explained why he doesn’t think Trump is a narcissist — and how harmful it can be for us to keep assuming that he is.

[vegas2k]