The Epstein War has begun.

 I have a friend who bought this really nice sports car a few years back, and he wouldn't let his nineteen year old son at the time get within a hundred yards of it. No matter how much the kid begged him, he would say no. He just couldn't trust him with such an expensive and exotic car. 

I was reminded of my friend when I woke up to the news this morning of America and Israel jointly invading Iran. Donald Trump, eager to get the Epstein mess from the headlines, decided that he would put American allies in the Middle East, and the lives of countless individuals at risk. He did this, by the way, without congressional approval. 

The moment Donald Trump got the keys to our very advanced and expensive military apparatus, we all knew that we were in trouble. Like a nineteen year old in control of an exotic sports car, he just couldn't help himself. He had to test it out.  All that power at his fingertips was intoxicating.  Throw in this Epstein mess, and his inability to get it off the front-page, and you just knew something like this was coming. 

"The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,"

I hear ya Mr. Trump. We know, of course, whose lives will not be lost in such a conflict: That of your sons, or the sons and daughters of your billionaire class friends. So much for being an isolationist and being an "America first" president. I can only imagine what the MAGA cult members are going through right now. This is NOT what they voted for, and yet they cannot abandon their Dear Leader.

Relax MAGA.  Just one more sip of the Kool-Aid and it will all go away.  

The Field Negro Power Rankings. (FNPR)

 

10. Joy Reid: She dropped down a little bit. But she is still out here contributing important social commentary and capturing the zeitgeist of our time.

09. Ryan Coogler: This brother is doing amazing things in cinema and kicking down doors in Hollyweird. Extra points for keeping it real to his Oakland, California roots. I still don't understand what he is saying sometimes, but that's ok. That kind of authenticity is exactly why he is on this list.

08. Wes Moore:  He is still on the list, even though the GOP smear machine is going after him really hard. The current president of the United Sates is so threatened  by him that he singled him to be uninvited to the National Governors Association meeting.  No worries, Wes. That's a good thing.    

07. Don Lemon: "I will not stop now". Good for him. And these bogus charges filed by the felon's justice department will not hold up in court. 

06. Joe Neguse: New to the list, because of his oratorical skills, and the brilliant way he takes down the right-wing hypocrites who come before him in congress. 

05. Ketanji Brown-Jackson: She will stay on this list for awhile, because having a FN on the Supreme Court is extremely important.  Someone has to be there to counter Uncle Clarence. 

04. Jasmine Crockett: All that conservative hate means more FN love. 

03. Dr. Lisa Cook:  Current Federal Reserve Governor who trump is desperately trying to have removed. She is eminently qualified for the job, but she is a black woman, so in the eyes of the racist in chief,  that makes her a threat.  She is fighting back, though, and her case is now before the Supreme Court. 

02. Keith Ellison: The Attorney General of the state of Minnesota has had his hands full fighting off the power play by a regime hell bent on making fascism the norm. He won the latest round. ICE is on their way out of  Minnesota. Sadly, two innocent Americans lost their lives as a result of them being there in the first place.

01. Abby Phillip: Every night she calmly and effectively exposes the hypocrisy of the right on her CNN cable news show. The fact that she routinely has guests like Charles Blow, Bakari Sellers, and Jemele Hill on her show gets her extra FN points.  

 

Monkeying around.

 

A shockingly racist trope (to some) depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife as apes was posted by the current president from his personal Truth Social account, has caused even some of his most loyal supporters to condemn it. Even Tim Scott excused himself from his house duties to write that of all the racist things he has seen from the White House, this was the most racist. (Tim, we would love to hear the second most racist thing you have seen, since you clearly did not condemn them for that.) Those of us who know Trump as the virulent racist that he is, are not surprised at the thoughts going through his head about the Obamas at almost twelve o-clock in the middle of the night. What's surprising is that he would actually post it for all the world to see.  This, to me, is a clear sign that he is suffering from some form of dementia.  

The current president of the United States posting racist memes from the White House about a former president is a horrible look for us as Americans. (And please spare us the lie that it was posted by some "staffer". Unless Trump sleeps with his "staffer" at night, that is not a plausible excuse.) People are mocking us on the world stage, and the usual suspects here in America who support his racist and xenophobic policies, are shocked that he would post something like this so publicly, what many of them say in private.

This is the aspect of all of this that I find amusing: The pearl clutching and shock from legacy media folks and other so called "main stream" Americans.  Where has everyone been for the past fifteen years? Mr. Trump is exactly who most of us thought he was. He kicked off his run for the presidency with a racist lie about Barrack Obama, and he still won.  This should tell us all we need to know about half of the people in this country. Nothing that he says or does matter.  This upset them because he revealed himself in such a public way, and he soiled (both literally and figuratively) the dignity of the office which he holds.    

But, as I have said and written about after every other horrible and horrific thing that this man does: this too shall pass. In  a few weeks days things will all be back to normal, and we will all play pretend that we didn't see that horrific post and picture of the Obamas. Some house Negro (I see you Van Jones) will be on television telling us how presidential he looked after a speech that he read from a teleprompter, and we all will close our eyes to the madness and try to act like any of this is normal.  

Trump, of course, has refused to apologize, which is not surprising, as that would take a modicum of class and dignity. None of which Mr. Trump has. The scary thing is that Mr. Trump has never paid a political price for his racism.  And why should he? A large segment of the voting population agrees with him, and when they are alone in the voting booth they are free to let their true instincts take over. Unlike Mr. Trump, though, there is no tweet in the middle of the night for millions of people to see.

 I have some advice for my white American friends: It might be time to send Grandpa to the attic, before he embarrasses you even more.   

The House Negro Power Rankings.

*

 Kicking off Black History month with my latest House Negro Power Rankings. I am doing this because sometimes the damage from within, is much more detrimental to the long-term empowerment of a race of people, than the damage that comes from outside. 

10. Tim Scott: A slight drop for Tim, but still a powerful HN. A black senator who refuses to call out MAGA will always have major house Negro status. 

09. Candace Owens: Still trying to be relevant by shocking us with her ignorance. 

08. Amber Rose: Before there was Nicki, there was Amber. We know why Nicki is shilling for Trump (She needs those pardons), but what's Amber's excuse. 

07. Ice Cube/Snoop: These two rap legends destroyed their credibility with black folks by saying and doing all the wrong things when it comes to Trump and his MAGA movement. "All money ain't good money".   

06. Clarence Thomas: No commentary needed for this one.  

05. Larry Elder: Another Hall of Fame house Negro who has been jigging for head pats his entire career. Larry coined the phrase: "We gotta country to save".  We sure do, Larry. We have to save it from clowns like you.      

04. Stephen A. Smith: Let's give Stephen some credit. As more and more black folks start to realize what a fraud and grifter he is, he is smart enough to realize that he has to start cooning and catering to right- wingers to save his career and stay relevant.  

03. Jason Whitlock: Jason has been wearing a toupee for a minute now. It must be very tight because it's squeezing out all of his brain cells. Jason likes to come out against black folks no matter what the topic. He does it for clicks and white love. Jason is that dude who women always loathed because he is such a disgusting person inside and out. This  makes him angry and bitter, and it shows in his commentary. 

02. Byron Donalds: Byron considers himself a street smart kid from Brooklyn. To his credit, he has taken his hustle game to another level by becoming a United States Congressman and being in the running to become governor of the state of Florida. He got here by being a world class house Negro and jigging to perfection. Let's see if his party elects him to the highest office in Florida. Sadly for him,  most of them still see him as no different than the other black folks he is trying to distance himself from.

01. Nicki Minaj: This one was easy. Nicki says she loves Donald Trump, and he recently gave her one of those Trump Gold Visa Cards. She has been front and center at MAGA events with him, because in spite of what they like to say, MAGA loves when they can get a celebrity endorsement. Sadly for them, though, Nicki hasn't been relevant as a rapper for sometime. Nicki, I hope it was worth it. You are officially "trash" to black folks now, and that's hard to come back from. Enjoy the house.   

*Pic is  Hoppin Bob from the movie, Life. Long before Stephen from Django Unchained, there was Hoppin Bob.