A "single white male from South Carolina" shows his true colors.

The following essay from Robyn Swirling tells you all you need to know about the GOP and the old angry white men who control that party.

'The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Thursday from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh regarding Dr. Ford’s assertion that he sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school. For weeks, I heard Republican senators and pundits assail her character and memory, as well as object to the process by which her story came to light.

I felt that it was important to go down to the Senate to bear witness, to the best of my ability, to this momentous day. I was, and am, in awe of Dr. Ford’s bravery.

Standing in the basement of a Senate office building on my lunch break, I hoped to be able to speak with a senator or two about whether they believed the research psychologist’s story and whether, even if they did, it would affect their vote. As I was about to leave to get back to my office for a meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham entered the hallway and stopped to speak with the press.

I heard every disgusting word that Sen. Graham said then ― that Dr. Ford wasn’t credible because she had waited so long to come forward. That he wouldn’t consider the merits of the claim because he disagreed with the process by which her story had not been shared earlier with the committee. But what hit me hardest was his assertion that we shouldn’t believe Dr. Ford because she couldn’t recall the exact date or location of the assault.

I couldn’t keep quiet on that. When Sen. Graham broke free from the press gaggle, I told him that I had been raped 13 years ago and that I didn’t know the exact date. Would he believe me despite that?Graham’s callous response was to say that he was sorry but that I needed to go to the police. 

I don’t believe his apology was sincere, but, more important, this exchange, along with his treatment of Dr. Ford and countless other women in his tenure in elected office, demonstrated his lack of concern for sexual assault survivors and his complete lack of understanding of the dynamics that keep us from reporting to the police.

Our stories are real. What happens to us is real. And that is true even if we do not ever disclose it to our families or friends, or report it to law enforcement. The response we’ve seen to Dr. Ford telling her story, and to the other women who have come forward about Brett Kavanaugh, is as clear an illustration as any about why people don’t report being assaulted.

Further, senators like Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake, who was confronted in an elevator Friday morning by Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, are telling the millions of women with stories just like mine that they do not consider possibly having sexually assaulted someone(s) to be disqualifying. It is a clear message that they do not believe that we matter.

Graham told me I should have gone to the police. When I was raped, as a sophomore in college, I did consider it. I’ve also considered it in the years since, though the statute of limitations has since expired. But Sen. Graham knew none of that. He only knew that, to his mind, the only way you could possibly be telling the truth was if you reported it to the police.

Survivors of sexual violence don’t report to the police for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which are that we see every day how police and our nation’s courts ― including the one on which Kavanaugh currently sits and the one to which he will likely soon be confirmed ― fail to achieve justice for us.

We don’t report because overwhelmingly the people assaulting us are our boyfriend, or friend, or family member, or coach, or clergy ― people we’ve loved and have trusted.

We don’t report because people of color and LGBTQ people are at risk of surviving violence only to face further victimization through state violence.

We don’t report because studies show that police officers commit sexual assault and domestic abuse themselves at disproportionately high rate... ...The police can’t do anything about my rape now, but Graham and his colleagues can choose to believe Dr. Ford and to give the FBI sufficient time to fully investigate her story, and Deborah Ramirez’s story, and Julie Swetnik’s story. They can choose not to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court to rule over our lives and bodies for decades to come.

The justice we can achieve now could look like withdrawing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination or declining to confirm him, and finding a new nominee who doesn’t have a mounting tally of credible sexual misconduct accusations to their name. Justice could look like nominating a new associate justice of the Supreme Court who understands that just because a survivor doesn’t remember every single detail does not mean she’s lying or is a pawn of his political opposition.

But I’m not counting on Lindsey Graham to support any of that. After all, he’s already shown us that he’s willing to cavalierly dismiss the anguished pleas of any sexual assault survivor who didn’t pursue his very narrow perception of justice.

And besides, if Dr. Ford or I had recalled the dates we were assaulted, he would surely find any other reason to ignore our voices." [Source]

As long as they can get away with it they will continue to ignore the voices of the abused and the downtrodden in society.

Don't let them get away with it. Remember to vote this November.  

Caption Saturday.

I need a caption for this pic.


  *[Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Images]

Methinks doth protest too much.

• 
  

Many of you watched some or all of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings today, and I must say, that just as I expected, it was a train wreck for preppy Brett.

He was belligerent, combative,  and acted in a bellicose manner that probably made the trump crowd proud, but just confirmed to the sane folks in America that there is another side to the carefully crafted choir boy image.

He would not let the democratic senators finish their questions, and he acted as if he was putting them on trial and not the other way around.

The victim, on the other hand, came across as credible and sincere. And her testimony just drove home the point that she was an average citizen who was traumatized by a powerful man, and ultimately she courageously stepped forward to tell her story.

A few other things stuck out to me as well.

Lindsey Graham auditioning for the AG job when Sessions gets fired made an absolute fool of himself. Whatever shred of dignity he had left was wiped away today by his sickening grandstanding display of faux outrage to impress Mr. trump.

John Kennedy of Louisiana invoking the religious test ("Do you believe in God?") was the icing in the cake for me. Kavanaugh of course, looked him in the eye and said that he did, and that he swore before God that he did not do what he was being accused of. 

And then there was preppy Brett crying and breaking down as he whined that the democrats and the vast left wing Clinton conspiracy was out to destroy his life.

Anyway, give me your thoughts on what went down today.

My guess is that republicans will have the votes to confirm preppy Brett, and that it will be close.

 I suspect, though, that if it goes down like I suspect that it will, Alaska and Maine will be sending new senators to Washington very soon.     


*Pic from nbcbayarea.com

One big joke.

    Donald trump must be feeling like Teddy Pendegrass when he sang the Whole Town's Laughing At Me. The only difference is that this was the entire world laughing and not just a town.

The man went in front of a body of diplomats and statesmen---- who, by their very nature, think of their country first and themselves last--- and declared to all who would listen that his administration was the greatest of all time. I can still hear the laughter from the people in the room, as the leader of the free world made a fool of himself and embarrassed his country in the process. Then, incredibly, he tried to play it off and say that the line was meant to get a few laughs, even though he clearly said that he didn't expect it. 

I get that trump is possibly insane and suffers from all types of mental and possibly physical issues. But what I don't understand is why people like Nikki Haley would stick their necks out for this man knowing that what they are saying is believable to only the most rabid and clueless of his supporters. Everyone else with even half of a brain knows that trump is lying and that those world leaders were laughing at him not with him. 

Today he held a press conference and it was as bad as his UN speech. Now we know why they don't do these things that often at the White House. It was a sad spectacle to behold. Watching the president of the United States defend an "alleged" serial sexual predator while declaring that he himself has been accused of being one.   

trump's confusing and awkward answers to the questions about the Kavanaugh accusers and women who have been victims of sexual assault, was a perfect 17-61318-A-35example of where the GOP is now when it comes to women in this country, and just how tone-deaf they are. It was the usual victim blaming from the bully pulpit. And all those old white men masquerading as republican US senators are going right along with the trump party line.

They have all decided that Brett Kavanaugh was nothing but a little virgin choir boy thirty plus years ago, and that all those female accusers (three and counting thus far ) are all liars. They have made up their minds, and the vote on Friday is just a formality.  Brett Kavanaugh, with all these dark clouds and accusations hanging over him, will be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Just ask Mitch.

Pic from ynetnews.com



                                                                                                                       

Brett's PR push.

While his accusers remain quiet, Brett Kavanaugh went on trump state television (AKA FOX) to plead his case to the older white males who make up the bulk of that  network's viewing audience.

Ironically, the person interviewing him was one of the females who stood by and watched as Roger Ailes and company created a culture where sexually harassing your co-worker was cool , and she did nothing about it.

There he was with his wife, who dutifully sat still and did her best Tammy Wynette impression. Anything to protect the franchise, huh Mrs Kavanaugh? Folks, you can go ahead and  compare her to Melania now.

Anywhoo, watching Brett Kavanaugh go on and on about what a friend he has been to women his entire life, and how much he loves and respects the fairer sex was almost laughable. The evidence that has been coming in over the past few days says otherwise. By his own admission he used to like to play the frat boy and get his drink on back in the day. So why should we believe him when he says that what these women accusing him of did not take place?  His self-serving social calendar of events he prepared at 17 for this very day? I need a break!

"We’re looking for a fair process where I can be heard and defend my integrity my lifelong record,..... My lifelong record of promoting dignity and equality for women starting with the women who knew me when I was 14 years old. I’m not going anywhere.

I want a fair process where I can defend my integrity, and I know I’m telling the truth. I know my lifelong record, and I’m not going to let false accusations drive me out of this process. I have faith in God and I have faith in the fairness of the American people.” 

I believe that those survivors want a "fair process" as well Mr. Kavanaugh. 

The right wing says that this is a "vast left wing conspiracy" against a good man. But ask yourself this right-wingnuts: Why didn't you hear these accusations from the left about Neil Gorsuch or any of the other conservative federal Judges trump appointed to the bench? I have a theory. Maybe it's because there was nothing there to report about them. Unlike our friend Mr. Kavanugh, where we have not one, but two women who are willing to stick their necks out and come forward and relive a horrible experience from their past.

*Pic from foxnews.com

 

Tyranny affects us all.

Some of you black people in America have this twisted notion that what happens to poor immigrant and brown people do not affect you. You believe that because you were born here you somehow have currency with the racists who make our laws to strengthen institutionalized racism and white supremacy. "Yeah the president and his administration are xenophobic and racist, but I have a job now and I make $11 an hour." 

The president and his administration continues to pass law after law to marginalized immigrants, poor people, the most vulnerable among us,  and still there is no national outrage. We were outraged, and rightfully so, when we saw children  being put in cages and being separated from their families, but that too has cooled. It's as if there is just too much to be outraged about for one atrocity to hold our attention past the next news cycle.

This must be how it felt in Germany between 1933 to 1939. They all saw it coming, but they were too numb and comfortable to do anything about it. I am not a Jew, so I'm good. I still have a job. The government is still looking out for ME.

Stephen Miller and the rest of the white nationalist in the trump administration are trying to slip through a policy that would deny green card to anyone who would have had to use food stamps or some other form of public assistance. This plays well with their base (A base that relies on food stamps and public assistance more than the average American), because, to them, if you are not an American you don't deserve our handout. This shortsighted view forgets the fact that these green card holders would work and pay taxes like everyone else. And by all objective studies the average immigrant is just as hard working as the average American, and like most Americans that rely on assistance, would only be using government assistance on a short- term basis.

These are the types of policies being set by people in the most un-American way possible.
Consider the following article:

"The Department of Health and Human Services is diverting millions of dollars in funding from a number of programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, to pay for housing for the growing population of detained immigrant children.

In a letter sent to Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash., and obtained by Yahoo News, HHS Secretary Alex Azar outlined his pslan to reallocate up to $266 million in funding for the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, to the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

Nearly $80 million of that money will come from other refugee support programs within ORR, which have seen their needs significantly diminished as the Trump administration makes drastic cuts to the annual refugee numbers. The rest is being taken from other programs, including $16.7 million from Head Start, $5.7 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and $13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute. Money is also being diverted from programs dedicated to mental and maternal health, women’s shelters and substance abuse. 

According to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement obtained by Yahoo News, there were 13,312 immigrant children in federal custody as of Wednesday, Sept. 19, with ORR’s existing facilities at 92 percent capacity.

The latest figures demonstrate the continued growth of this population just one week after the New York Times reported that the number of detained immigrant children in the U.S. has soared to record highs over the last year, from 2,400 children in May of 2017 to 12,800 earlier this month. Last week, HHS confirmed its plan to extend use of an emergency shelter in Tornillo, Texas, for the third time since it opened in June, and expand capacity at the “tent city” from 400 to 3,800 beds. The estimated cost of operating such emergency facilities is $750 per child per day — approximately three times the cost of a regular ORR shelter." [Source]

See how that works? In order to pay for detaining children illegally and separating them from their parents, they cut funding to programs like Head Start, and cancer research. And still there is no outrage, because someone we believe that this is about those immigrant children and not us. "Not my problem, Uncle Sam will take care of me, I was born here." I am not disappointed with the slaves who worship at the altar of trump. I expect that from them. It's the rest of you (especially the people of color) who disappoint me. You should know better. And if it's one thing that our history should have taught you, it is that people like Donald trump---- and the folks who work for him, do not have our best interests at heart.     

Caption Saturday.

I need a caption for this pic.

*Pic fom nydailynews.com 

Racists in powerful places.

 I know that there are a lot of hidden racists in America in positions of power. (Some, like the president, not so hidden.) But does being a racist also mean that you have dumb part of your brain that always has to manifest itself?

"A New Jersey sheriff has resigned after he was caught on tape making racist remarks about African-Americans and the state's attorney general.

The Bergen County Sheriff's Office said Friday in a statement to NorthJersey.com that Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino and four of his undersheriffs resigned, effective immediately.
The statement made no mention of the offensive remarks, stating only that Sheriff's Office Chief Kevin Pell would lead the department until Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appointed an interim sheriff.

In a recording first reported by WNYC News earlier this week, Saudino can be heard making derogatory remarks about black people and disparaging Murphy for his policies and rhetoric. The recording, according to WNYC News, was from Jan. 16.

"He talked about the whole thing, the marijuana, sanctuary state ... better criminal justice reform," Saudino says in the recording. "Christ almighty, in other words, let the blacks come in, do whatever the f--- they want, smoke their marijuana, do this, do that, and don't worry about it. You know, we'll tie the hands of cops."

The remarks caught the attention of numerous local politicians, including Murphy, who demanded Saudino's resignation on Thursday.

"Without question, the comments made on that recording are appalling, and anyone using racist, homophobic, and hateful language is unfit for public office," Murphy told WNYC in a statement. "If indeed that is Sheriff Saudino's voice on the recording, he must resign."

New Jersey state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) told NorthJersey.com that she plans to ask the state's Democratic Party chairman if Saudino, who previously identified as a Republican but switched parties prior to his most recent run for office, could be expelled from the party.

"I want it made very clear,'' Weinberg said on NJTV. "This is completely opposite from what the Democratic Party stands for, what Gov. Murphy stands for and what the legislature stands for."' '[Source]

Folks, this is New Jersey, not Mississippi.

 An East Texas school superintendent knows about the history and genetic makeup of black NFL quarterbacks but doesn’t know how to use Facebook.

Lynn Redden is superintendent of the Onalaska Independent School District in the Piney Woods, about 75 miles north of Houston. Lynn Redden is also a fucking idiot. Redden decided that he had something to say about black Houston Texas quarterback Deshaun Watson performance on Sunday, so he waited a few days to really iron out a position that made the most sense and truly encapsulated his feelings about not only the game, but also Watson’s contributions to his team.

On Tuesday, Redden wrote on Houston Chronicle’s Facebook page: “That may have been the most inept quarterback decision I’ve seen in the NFL. When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a black quarterback.”

I imagine Redden then leaned back in his folding chair, turned his “Make America Great Again” hat around, cracked his knuckles and a cold brew and thought, “nailed it.”
Redden realized that he’s racist had made a huge mistake and quickly deleted his post. For the record, the mistake wasn’t that he said it, because he wrote it so clearly he meant it. It was that he posted it to a public page, which he thought was private. Anything he says after this fact is bullshit but we will continue.

Thankfully for the black children who attend school in the Onalaska Independent School District, reader Matt Ericksen captured an image of the comment and alerted the newspaper.....

Redden has apologized for everyone seeing the inner workings of his brain and his true feelings on black quarterbacks being exposed. He even explained that some people may have been taking his comments out of context and noted that he wasn’t being racist but was merely talking about black quarterbacks struggles over the years.

“Over the history of the NFL, they have had limited success,” Redden told the Chronicle. See, soooo not racist at all.

So now the school district wants to talk with Redden about his comments and his contract but the over/under on whether Redden loses his job is about the same as the percentage of black kids in the school district." [Source]

This was Texas, so that's more like it.

*Pic from usatoday.com

Open thread.

It's open thread night, people, and I need your thoughts on a few things:

The main topic in America these days is the alleged Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault against a then 15 year old girl.

Will it derail his chance to be the deciding vote in eliminating Roe v. Wade and a  woman's right to do as she pleases with her own body?

I am seeing a lot of signs pointing towards him being guilty as charged. But I don't want to "rush to judgement". I am trying to give Kavanaugh the fairness that republicans failed to give his accuser.

Anyway, even with everything going on, do you think he will still be confirmed? Or do you think the spotlight is shining too brightly on him and his fellow republicans to go through with his confirmation?

The other big question mark is about the accuser: Should she testify Monday and face the republican kangaroo court?  Or should the FBI conduct a further investigation as she requested before she goes forward with her testimony? 

And should "Baggage Claim Becky" be added to the ling list of white folks who rely on the police to make them feel more comfortable when they interact with black folks? 

Finally, should the racist school superintendent in Texas be allowed to keep his job after exposing that he is a flat out racist by accident on social media?



  

Stormy, you were wrong for this one.

• 

I was going to do a serious post tonight about the political climate and how it effects how we deal with natural disasters in this country.

I was, until I saw that Mario Kart Toad was trending on twitter. Me being the curios field Negro that I am, I decided to give it a quick look.

Honestly, I wish that I hadn't done that, because it ruined my entire day and possibly my week.

As you all may or may not know, Stormy Daniels has completed her tell- all book, and in it...I can't even write anymore. I will just let you read the following:

 "On Tuesday, the Guardian published some tidbits from Stormy Daniels’ forthcoming memoir, but you probably only heard about her graphic description of President Trump: “He knows he has an unusual penis … It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool.”*

She added, brutally: “I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart.”

Oof. As a longtime Mario Kart “mushroom character” player, my world was turned upside down, just like that. Where do I go from here?

To start, I would ask Daniels and her editor, in invoking “the mushroom character in Mario Kart,” to please respect this icon by referring to him by his name: Toad. And I have to wonder: Is Stephanie Clifford a gamer? A big Mario Kart fan? If so, I assume she doesn’t care for Toad, because if she did, I don’t think her mind would automatically reach for that image when recalling famous, terrible sex." 

But I don’t mean to shame the president, or Daniels’ choice of words for his genitals. I am simply mourning that Toad, in my view the best Mario Kart character—both as a personified mushroom and as a racer—will now forever be associated with an “unusual” penis." [Source] 

To all you folks who loved to play Mario games back in the day, this must be devastating. 

To all you trump supporters out there, now you have something else to fantasize about.   

Pic from wikipedia.com

  

Kavanaugh's victim speaks out.

And now the latest on trump's boy, Brett Kavanaugh. I must admit that unless the alleged victim came forward I was not going to be convinced that he sexually assaulted her many moons ago while he was in high school. But now, as things would have it, a woman has come forward to say that she is the woman that preppy Brett held down while they were in high school and tried to get his freak on while his boys assisted.

"A woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by US President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has identified herself in an interview with the Washington Post.

Christine Blasey Ford says Mr Kavanaugh was drunk when he pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothing when they were both teenagers.

Mr Kavanaugh denied the allegations when they first surfaced last week.
Top Democrat Dianne Feinstein called for his nomination to be put on hold.

Mrs Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University, told the Post she had decided to go public as her privacy was "being chipped away.

She believed the incident happened in 1982, when she was 15 and Mr Kavanaugh was 17.
He was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, and she was studying at a nearby high school.

In the words of the Washington Post, "While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it.
"When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth."

Mrs Ford, 51, is further quoted as saying that she managed to break free.
"I thought he [Mr Kavanaugh] might inadvertently kill me," she told the Post." [Source]

Oh, and there is something else: She actually passed a lie detector test, and she told her husband and psychiatrist about the assault over five years ago. 

Of course, the GOP being the party of Donald trump and Clarence Thomas has no problem with this type of behavior. It is par for the course in their world: Just a bunch of entitled assholes having some fun at the expense of some "chick."

Dianne Feinstein does not escape m outrage with this story. She had this information back in July and is now deciding to spring it on us. There should have been questions for him about this alleged assault during the confirmation hearings last week. 

But I have a suggestion: Let's strap up Kavanaugh to lie detector and see where he comes out. Yeah I know, it' means nothing in a court of law, but in the court of public opinion it could make all the difference in the wold. 

Caption Saturday.

•   

I need a caption for this pic.

*Pic from the palmerrepot.com

Et tu, Brett?

  I tweeted about this earlier, and it's worth repeating: The irony of this alleged Brett Kavanaugh sex scandal is that the man who would take away a woman's right to chose could be derailed by the #Me Too Movement.

It was a  long time ago, and the alleged victim does not want to come forward. But when you read about the details of the allegations, you can't help but be disturbed by them. More than one boy holds the alleged victim down while Kavanaugh assaults her. Not good. One of the accused said that he does not recall. That's always a tell. Not that he didn't do it, but he does not recall.

Sadly, as was the case with Clarence Thomas (Anita Hill was right), Kavanaugh probably will be confirmed. We will never know what happened Kavanaugh and his classmates that day, but if the alleged victim is right, she must be thinking that there is no justice in the world.

Kavanaugh, of course, is denying all of the allegations:  "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation," Kavanaugh said in a statement issued by the White House. "I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” 

And today the republicans released letter of support from 65 women. Of course that is all totally irrelevant. Unless those women were there on the day this alleged assault took place, their letters mean nothing. Republicans should have spent more time vetting this guy instead of collecting the names of women in his life.

Finally, to my friends in the Carolinas, please  be careful out there. We don't want another Maria on our hands, And we certainly don't want to hear the president lying about the death toll to suit his own political needs. 

*Pic from usatoday.com