Not Letting Transphobic Comments Slide In The 2K18

In the 2K18, there will be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to transphobic comments.  Be prepare for when I am made aware of them for the callout to swifty follow, and I don't care whether the comments came from a friend foe or frenemy. 

When we have just exited a year in which 24 trans people lost their lives, and lost another trans woman in the first week of 2018, that's why I'm not letting transphobic comments slide, especially when they come from POC's.

Since the Texas Lege is not in session until 2019, I'll have time to keep a close watch on these out of control TERF's  (trans exterminationalist/exclusionary radical feminists) 

In addition to calling out transphobic comments from them, people within the TBLGQ community are on notice I'm not having it from y'all either. 

And I'm definitely going to put on blast self hating trans people like the TS separatists  and the HBSers (or as I call them White Women Born Transsexual).   You can feel froggy and leap if you want to.   You'll be leaping right into a verbal smackdown. . 

Anti-trans Hate Thoughts + Anti-trans Hate Speech =  Anti-trans hate violence and murders.

I am tired of TERF's. the kissing cousins to white fundamentalist, peddling the phobic 'trans women don't belong in women's spaces' narrative as my Trans sis Clara Mejias pointed out

'The idea that "women's spaces" are safe havens from violence and trauma is absurd bullshit and I'm DONE humoring that line of discussion.Cis women are violent as f**k when they find a victim they can get away with hurting, same as cis men.'-Clara Mejias

She's right..  Remember  trans woman Chrissy Polis getting attacked in 2011 in a videotaped beatdown in a suburban Maryland McDonald's by a cis woman and a at the time 14 year old juvenile girl?



Or Elizabeth Lambert violently yanking her opponent to the ground during a soccer match by her hair?

Transphobic comments and the transphobic stench they generate will not be tolerated in the 2K18's.  You've been warned.

45th Anniversary of School House Rock

Back in 1973 as my brother and I, and later my sisters watched Saturday morning cartoons on ABC, some of the advertising breaks were taken up by the Emmy Award winning educational cartoons that later became known as Schoolhouse Rock.

It ran on ABC from 1973-1985, and then was revived for a second run from 1993-1999. 

Those musical education cartoons that dropped knowledge on math, science, grammar and history have become so beloved that I and a lot of peeps own them on DVD.

I bought the 30th Anniversary DVD in 2009 when I lived in Louisville, and when I purchased it, Dawn Wilson and I spent several hours watching them and singing along to our fave ones like 'Conjunction Junction', 'Interplanet Janet',' Suffering Until Suffrage', 'Three Is A Magic Number' , 'Interjections! ' , A Noun Is A Person Place or Thing  and 'Hey Little Twelvetoes'  as the rest of our roommates and friends watched us with bemused looks on their faces .

Of course, as you probably guessed, the political junkie in me loves 'I'm Just A Bill'  which explains the legislative process an has been parodied by Saturday Night Live to lampoon 45.. 

But I was also in love with the 'Verb; That's What's Happening' one as well because it was one of the few in the original series of School House Rock videos in which the main protagonist looked like me.



So happy 45th Anniversary School House Rock!.   Those videos helped a lot of kids get to math, science, grammar and history tests. 

H&M's Racist Advertising Fail

One if the things you simply don't go that will with no questions asked get you called a racist is to refer to or compare any African descended person to an ape.

You will get called out with the quickness on it by Black People across the African Diaspora

Obviously there wasn't a Black person in the room when the Swedish headquartered H&M approved this ad that has a Black kid modeling a green hooded sweatshirt with the words 'Coolest monkey in the jungle' emblazoned on it.

And if you think I'm being harsh about calling this a 'racist advertising fail' , explain why the white child models have hoodies on with the words 'mangrove jungle survival expert'?

I'll wait for you to come up with an excuse.     An accident?   Accident my azz/.

After all the times you have seen other retailers over the years get called out for similar racist faux pas advertising crap, it's obvious that y'all not only didn't think this out but didn't have Black people in the room when y'all were brainstorming this.

As for those of you wondering why me and of Black people are going off about this, it's because of Black people for centuries have been called monkeys.   White people have been using that racist characterization of us to oppress, denigrate and dehumanize our community.

Yes, you have apologized for it, but it still doesn't change the fact you cluelessly (or willfully) did it

It's Inauguration Day For Councilmembers Cunningham and Jenkins!

Today was the public inauguration in Minneapolis for Councilmembers Phillipe Cunningham and Andrea Jenkins, Mayor Jacob Frey and their council colleagues in the Minneapolis City Hall rotunda. 

After the public inauguration, and the mayor's inauguration speech,  they and their city council colleagues immediately went to the council chambers to meet and elect a new council president and determine who the various committee chairs would be.

It's going to be an exciting but busy day for Andrea and Phillipe in Minneapolis today.  They'll find out their committee assignments, and after that get busy with the nuts and bolts work of helping to run Minneapolis.

And looking forward to hearing them talk about it the next time I get to spend quality time with either of them.

Oprah's 2018 Golden Globe Speech

I wasn't watching this year's Golden Globe Awards, and probably should have been because Oprah Winfrey made history by becoming the first Black woman to receive this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement.

And based on the online chatter I'm seeing, looks like a lot of people LOVED her acceptance speech for it to the point some people are saying the words 'Run Oprah Run!

Here's the video of the speech:

Hey 45, This Is What A 'Stable Genius' Looks Like

Funny, he looks a lot like the previous well loved Ivy League educated president who was the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review and a constitutional law scholar.

Funny, it looks a lot like this woman you hate so much, who was a National Meit Scholar back in the day and this country's previous Secretary of State.

Funny, it looks a lot like this distinguished award winning theoretical physicist

Not you. Dear Cheeto Misleader .  They also have something you don't.   Class and a vocabulary.

A person who is intelligent doesn't have to brag about it because everyone they come into contact with is already aware of their brilliance.

When you have to constantly brag about it as you do, it makes that attribute you claim to have suspect.   And that's true about a lot of things you brag about, Tiny Hands..

Number 1- Rest In Power, Christa

We are just six days into this New Year, and I now have the sad duty of announcing to you the murder of our first US trans person of 2018

I was notified by my friend Jahaira DeAlto that our first trans murder of 2018 has happened in the western Massachusetts town of North Adams yesterday

Our fallen sister is 42 year old Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien.

According to a report in the Berkshire Eagle, and reporter Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, she was found dead Friday after North Adams police responded to a 9:20 PM EST call to investigate a homicide at 107 Veazie Street.   Investigators arrived at the Veazie Street address 25 minutes later and remained at the scene throughout the evening according to the report.

It is the first homicide that has been committed in the town of North Adams since September 2013.  As to the cause of Christa's death, an autopsy will be performed Sunday in Holyoke, MA by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to answer that question.

The perpetrator of this crime is alleged to be Christa's 47 year old husband Mark Steele-Knudslien, who walked into the Adams police station at 9:09 PM EST to admit he killed his wife.  They subsequently notified North Adams police to check out the home.

Steele-Knudslien will be arraigned on a murder charge Monday morning in Northern Berkshire District Court and is being held without bail.  He was held overnight by the Adams Police Department before being taken to the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction today.

On her Facebook page are several wedding photos of the couple dated April 15, 2017

North Adams Police are also tight lipped about how and when Christa, who was active in the area trans community, produced the Miss Trans New England and other pageants and was well loved and known by many in the New England and national trans community, was killed. 

My contacts in the area are working on getting me that additional information ASAP and I will update this post as I receive it.

This is still a developing story, and as of yet, no word concerning if or when a memorial service will happen.   As soon as the details are passed on to me for a memorial service are confirmed  I'll let everyone know.

Rest in power and peace Christa!   Everyone who loved you will not rest until justice is served in this case. 

Erin Jackson Is Going To The Olympics!

24 year old Erin Jackson has only been participating in long track speed skating full time for four months.   Coming into the US Olympic Speed Skating Trials in West Allis, WI she had posted a personal best 39.51 time in the 500m back on December 23 in Salt Lake City.

But the former University of Florida engineering student and inline skater from Ocala, FL picked a great time to set new personal best times, and did so when the pressure was highest.

"I really wasn't expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can. " said Jackson. "A couple of weeks ago I was still in the 40's.  So this has all happened pretty fast."

The best she can is going to take her to Pyeongchang, South Korea and the Winter Olympics.

She went 39.22 in her first heat during the Trials Friday night, and even faster in her second heat at 39.04 to become the first Black female athlete ever to qualify for a US Olympic long track speed skating team.

Jackson finished third in the 500m, behind her Ocala, FL homegirl Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang.

February 8 and the start of the upcoming Winter Games is getting more interesting by the day with all this Black Girl Magic happening.

2017-2018 NFL Playoffs - Wild Card Weekend

I lost my shot at a 2017 TransGriot NFL prognostication threepeat title due to some unforced efforts and a disastrous sub. 500 last week of the regular season that added up to me losing by one game after the regular season was completed, but that's over now. 

Mr. Watts earned it.   Here are his picks for Wild Card Weekend.

It's NFL playoff time, and specifically NFL Wild Card Weekend   So time to get some practice in for when the 2018 regular season resumes and I go for three titles in the last four years starting in September.

NFL Wild Card Weekend 

NFL Saturday Playoff Games

#5 Tennessee (9-7) at #4 Kansas City (10-6)  on ABC/ESPN 

Ugh.  It was bad enough my hometown  team not only failed to make the playoffs, but the Tennessee Traitors did for the first time since 2008   This early Saturday game is one in which I see the team formerly known as the Oilers travel to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Chiefs

The Titans have lost three of the last four games down the stretch, but the one game they won was the divisional one against AFC South champ Jacksonville in the last week of the season that punched their playoff ticket. 

The Titans are a throwback team in that they love to run the ball, and stopping the run is the Chiefs Achilles heel.  The Traitors Titans finished the season with the number 13 ranked defense in the NFL, but has a secondary ranked a pathetic 31st out of 32 teams. 

That Titans secondary will have to confront a Chiefs squad that boasts the number 5 offense in the league even though they don't throw the ball deep that much.

However, AFC West champ Kansas City is on a roll again.   They started the season 5-0, went through a midseason 1-6 slump, and won their last four games going into this playoff game.
And yes, one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL will live up to its rep

Let's just call this one now,  Kansas City to win this game to my delight and move on to the divisional round. 

Yeah, never gonna forgive Bud Adams for moving them to Nashville.

#6 Atlanta (10-6)  at #3 Los Angeles Rams on NBC

The Saturday night game features the defending NFC champion Falcons taking on the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams/   They are hosting their first playoff game at the Coliseum in nearly 40 years and in only its second season back in LA after spending 22 years in St. Louis.

The Rams are gunning for their first playoff win since 2004, when they called St Louis home 

While the Rams were only 2-2 in their last four contests, they were 6-3 after their bye week   They are also a 2017 season worst to first story.  They were 4-12 last year but are a playoff club thanks to first year head coach Sean McVay's offense and their rapidly improving defense under Wade Phillips

Meanwhile the Falcons struggled through several must win games in the competitive NFC South just to qualify for this game,  going 3-1.   But they haven't looked like that offense juggernaut that was 11 minutes from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at NRG Stadium last year and their defense is still questionable.

The biggest question going into this game is more about the LA fans. Will they show up to fill the cavernous Coliseum for this playoff game, and if they do, how loud will it get?

They definitely have plenty to cheer about with a high flying offense ranked sixth in the league that averaged a league best 29.9 points per game . 
But the Rams were a pedestrian 4-4 at home vs 7-1 on the road.

This is going to be a close one, but I'm going to go with the Rams in this one.

NFL Sunday Playoff Games

#6 Buffalo Bills (9-7) at #3 Jacksonville Jaguars (10-6) on CBS

This is an intriguing matchup of two squads that haven't seen any parts of the NFL playoffs for a while.  The Bills last made the playoffs in 1999, only to be ousted by the Music City Miracle vs Tennessee that propelled the Titans to the Super Bowl.

The AFC South champion Jaguars aftes sucking for the entire Obama Administration, captured their first playoff berth since 2007 and their first division title since 1999 when they topped the AFC Central Division.  They get to reward their fans for their patience with a playoff game at EverBank Stadium

Jacksonville and their defense has annoyed and pissed people off in the NFL all season.  Their defense trailed only Pittsburgh in terms of sacking the quarterback, excels at creating turnovers, is the number one ranked pass defense in the league and goading opposing players into fights.

They are legit. I witnessed them beat down my Texans twice and clinch the AFC South title with a 45-7 blowout win in Jacksonville over my fave NFL squad.

Their big question mark in terms of whether they will make a long playoff run of bow out is how will Blake Bortles play?   Will we see good Blake Bortles or bad Blake Bortles?  The other problem with the Jage is them loving to play on the edge to the point they go over it and take stupid personal foul penalties.

Buffalo is only in the postseason because Andy Dalton connected on a 4th and 12 pass play for a TD to stun the Ravens.   They have the number 29th ranked run defense in the NFL, which probably is making  Leonard Fournette salivate just thinking about it 

And after Lesean McCoy sprained his ankle in their game against the Dolphins, if he can't play Sunday, their chances of pulling an upset on the Jags are as likely as me walking the Victoria's Secret fashion show   The  Bills love to run the ball, and stopping the run has been the one thing the Jags defense hasn't done well for much of the season

The Bills also have a -57 point differential they are carrying into this game, and 'Saxonville' is poised to have a wonderful day making Tyrod Taylor's playoff debut and the Bills first playoff game in the 21st Century a miserable one.

On paper, this looks like it's going to be a lopsided game, and we'll see if that plays out after the whistle blows.  I think it will     The Jaguars to move on to the divisional round   

 #5 Carolina Panthers (11-5)  at #4 New Orleans Saints (11-5) on FOX 

This is the only Wild Card weekend game that is a rematch of a regular season game, and it features two NFC South teams playing each other for the third time. 

The NFC South champion Saints have already beaten their NFC South division rivals twice in the 2017 season, smacking them in Charlotte in Week 3 of the season 34-13 and beating the Panthers in the Mercedes Benz Superdome 31-21 back on December 3.

The Saints even with a future Hall of Fame QB in Drew Brees at the helm, have reinvented themselves and developed a devastating rushing attack with tow versatile backs in Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram to complement their passing attack. 

The Saints defense has also stepped it up big time and become adept at taking the ball away.  They forced six turnovers in the two NFC South games against the Panthers alone.

The Panthers are also feeling salty because they are 6.5 point underdogs going into this game and have been an afterthought in the playoff conversation despite being two years removed from their Super Bowl 50 appearance. .  Carolina's inconsistency has also factored into why many pundits think their season will be over on Monday.

Yes, it is hard to beat an NFL team, and especially your divisional rival  three times.  This game is being played in NOLA and the Saints have a team that is quite capable of going all the way to Minneapolis for Super Bowl LI.   Carolina will put up some resistance, but the Saints will definitely want to prove it to themselves, their home crowd and a national TV audience they are a Super Bowl caliber team. ..

Saints to beat Carolina for the third time and move on to the Divisional round.

Season 2 Of 'One Day At A Time' Available January 26

Many of you TransGriot readers know how much I loved along with television critics across the country the Latinx flavored reboot of the Norman Lear classic 1970's show One Day at a Time.

In the rebooted show, it focuses on three generations of a Cuban-American family in LA headed by Afghan war vet and combat nurse  Penelope Alvarez  (Justina Machado) .  She is newly divorced from her husband Victor and is juggling her job at a doctor's office with raising her two teenage kids Alex and Elena with the help of her mother Lydia (Rita Moreno).

The fact that Justina Machado and Rita Moreno were part of this reboot was a bonus and was what got me to watch it in the first place.  After the first episode, I was hooked and kept binge watching it for several hours, then went back two days later to watch it again and catch anything I'd missed.

Season One dealt with issues including Elena's coming out, Penelope struggling with anxiety issues, dealing with the VA, faith, families being split by deportations, and the Season One closing quinceanera for Elena. 

There was even a cameo appearance by Mackenzie Phillips as Pam, the facilitating counselor for Penelope's women's veterans group. 




Season Two promises more of the same.  It will deal with Penelope now adding going back to school on her crowded plate, xenophobia, and adjusting to Elena being out.   There also promises to be more humorous moments in the multigenerational Alvarez household

But I and every other fan of the show will have to wait until January 26 to see it.

Shut Up Fool Awards- First Fool Of 2018 Edition

New Year, same ongoing mission to call out the fool, fools or group of fools in our midst.

Now more than ever with the Trump Misadministration War on Facts raging, it's even more important to expose idiocy wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.

So let's get to the business of gleefully calling out fools for the New Year.

Honorable mention number one is Donald Trump, for bragging on Twitter his nuke launch button was bigger than Kim Jong Un Fool's

Um dude. nuclear war is nothing to play with or joke about.

Honorable mention number two is FOX Noise.  The GOP propaganda channel is peddling racism once again by claiming that the DC grand jury that Mueller is working with is not fair and impartial because it has 11 African Americans on it.

Hmm, y'all would be saying jack if it had 11 white men on it.   And FYI, DC is 61% Black

Honorable mention number three is Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  The White House Minister of Propaganda was busted by Jake Tapper when he called her out for using the line 'people aren't entitled to your own facts.'

She's a disgrace to the position.

Honorable mention number four is Donald Trump, Jr for making the ridiculous claim that Ellen DeGeneres is running a shadow government to undermine his father.

Frankly Junior, Ellen would make a better POTUS than your dad has proven to be.


This week's first SUF winner for 2018 I'm staying in H-town for and it's Demetria Smith.

After failed campaigns for Houston city council in 2013 and Houston mayor in 2015, Smith is currently running for the Democratic  nomination for Texas governor.

She showed up Wednesday night at the January Houston GLBT Caucus meeting to seek their endorsement.   Never mind the fact she opposed HERO and dissed trans women to do so. 

Because there was a long line of candidates wishing to speak and who are vying for the coveted Houston GLBT Caucus endorsement, everyone was limited to one minute.  When her time was up, she tried to pull an Omarosa, acted a fool  and refused to give up the mic, then went home and posted videos on her FB page trying to claim 'the LGBTs are silencing me.' 

Naw boo boo kitty.  You didn't think the Houston TBLGQ community and this blogger would forget you were a HERO opponent?   And then you have the unmitigated gall to come up in our organizational space ask for the endorsement because you know it crucial to winning in Houston, in which 25% of the statewide vote total comes from, act an ass and then want to play the victim? 

Not on my watch Miss Thang.    And yeah, I have a long memory and receipts when it comes to people who attack my trans community that I am an unapologetic member of. 

Methinks you came into the Caucus meeting to start a scene and try to pursue the Ben Hall route to political defeat 

You are not 'protecting all Texas citizens rights' when you advocate for discrimination against TBLGQ Texans'

FYI:  peddling transphobia for political gain is not a successful road to political victory in Texas.   Ask former state reps Debbie Riddle and Gilbert Pena about that. 

Another FYI Demetria, there are a lot of parents of trans kids in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and other parts of the state who  won't appreciate your anti-trans dog whistle bathroom rhetoric either.   And they vote.

But hey, keep peddling that anti gay hate in your soon to be failed run for governor 

Have several sections of seats at NRG stadium and shut up fool!

What A Difference A SB 6 Free Year Makes!

One year ago today a group of us were gathered at Houston City Hall to await a press conference from Austin in which Lt Governor Dan 'Potty Man' Patrick (R) and Sen Lois 'Locker Room' Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) , giddy over the election of Donald Trump, were there along with several Republican state senators and that sellout state senator Eddie Lucio, Jr (DINO-Brownsville) to announce the filing of the unjust anti-trans SB 6 bill.

Patrick and Kolkhorst had their say, and then we had our not only in the press conference from the City Hall rotunda along with Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), but during the regular and Special Oppression Session.    Before that press conference I'd already had a discussion with Sen Garcia about what needed to be done along with other H-town leaders.

We said what we needed to say along with our allies, then rolled up our sleeves and got to work killing an unjust bill that no one outside the state of Texas thought we had a prayer of stopping.

We made multiple trips to Austin to talk to legislators.  We waited hours to testify in in hearing rooms that were standing room only at some points until others were opened to handle the overflow crowd of Texans from across the state determined to have their 2 minutes to testify against this waste of legislative time in the Senate SB 6 hearing.

And our efforts weren't in vain.   Even though the Senate GOP majority and their sellout DINO voted for it over the objections of the rest of the Texas Senate Democrats , we were being heard, especially in the court of public opinion and most importantly by the adult legislative chamber, the Texas House.

Police chiefs across the Lone Star State spoke out against it along with business leaders.   Progressive pastors spoke up to counter the white fundamentalist ones in favor of oppressing trans Texans.  Parents of transgender kids and our allies. 

And the most important voices saying no to SB 6 were Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) and Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) the chair of the House State Affairs Committee.
 
Thanks to these two Texas Lege grownups, SB 6 never got a hearing in the House, and far right Republicans, upset about that development, floated a substitute bill that did get a hearing.

Once again the Texas trans community responded and spent the entire day at the Texas state capitol waiting until the hearing kicked off in the wee hours of the morning to express their displeasure with this attempt to legislate discrimination.

The regular session came to a close, SB 6 and HB 2899 were dead, and we could exhale for a moment until the expected Special Oppression Session was announced.


Once that happened, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on killing SB 6, now renumbered as SB 3 in its revived attempt by Patrick and Kolkhorst to pass it during the Special Oppression Session. 

Just as in the regular session, the Texas trans community handled its business and said in a collective loud voice NO to SB 3, and repeated that NO during the Senate hearing held for it.

Once again the Texas Senate passed it over the objections of Senate Democrats like Sen Garcia, and once again, thanks to Straus and Cook,  it was DOA in the Texas House until the special session ended 30 days and $800,000 taxpayer dollars later.

But the bottom line is a year later, SB 6 is still dead, and we have a chance to punish at the polls all who attempted to push through that legislative oppression. 

And the most important thing to point out is the Texas trans community won.   We stopped SB 6 and it NOT law in the Lone Star State.   

Important 2018 Texas Election Dates

For you Texans pissed off about the shenanigans, passed and attempts in SB6's case to pass unjust legislation that occured in the GOP controlled Texas legislature, just a friendly TransGriot reminder we're now five days into 2018 , which is an election year. 

What are you going to do about it besides complain?    The Texas GOP, their base voters  and their 1% allies are counting on you to throw up your hands in frustration, assume your votes won't do anything to change the situation, and stay home.

Staying at home is a vote for the status quo.

Our Lone Star State election turnout in 2014 was a pathetic 28.5% and we must do better. 

That turnout  number made Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and his fellow Texas Republicans smile because they hate high voter turnout and know their party wins in low turnout elections. . 

Yes, the Texas voter suppression law had something to do with that but as Alabama prove, you increase turnout, you overwhelm the GOP voter suppression apparatus. 

And frankly, I want to turn this state blue after having to make 8 trips to Austin during the 2017 session to kill SB 6.   I want to deliver some political payback at the polls.  But me and the Texas Black community cant do it by ourselves.    You Texas liberal progressive voters are going to have to do more than just talk in order to turn Texas blue, ,y'all need to show up at the polls and vote!  .

Tthe best way to get revenge on politicians who pissed you off is to make them ex-politicians, not sit at home on Election Day and sulk about the situation.

And it is one of my New Year's resolutions to do my part via TransGriot to help provide you Texas based readers with the information you'll need to cast informed ballots in this 2018 election cycle.

So how about trying a new strategy in 2018?   Voting the GOP bums out of office?   It's past time to pull up the adult underwear of your choice and bumrush the polls on November 5 or during early voting if you wish. 

But the first order of business is to ensure that you are registered to vote in Texas.  You should have received the new Texas voter registration card that will be good until December 31, 2019   If you wish to participate in the party primaries, you have until February 5 to get registered to vote in the Lone Star State. 

You can check your registration status  at VoteTexas.gov

Early voting for the Texas primary elections starts February 20 and runs until March 2/, with primary election day happening on March 6. 

If you miss the February 5 registration date, you still have time until October 9 o get registered for the general election.

Early voting for the November general election will start on October 22, and run until November 2
After that you'll have to wait until November 6 to handle your election business.