Powerful predators.

"President Trump, on his way to a fundraiser in North Carolina, weighed in the scandal engulfing Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. The allegations were made public by the New York Times on Thursday.

“I’ve know Harvey Weinstein a long time. I’m not at all surprised to see it,” Trump said in response to a question.

According to the the New York Times report, Weinstein used his powerful position in Hollywood to lure women to his hotel room, where they were subject to unwanted advanced and physical contact. In another incident, reported by HuffPost, Weinstein cornered a woman in a hallway and, when she rejected his advances, forced her to watch him masturbate.

He was subsequently asked by CNN’s Elizabeth’s Landers how Weinstein’s conduct differed from the conduct Trump bragged about on the infamous Access Hollywood tape, which was released one year ago today.

Trump responded that the tapes were merely “locker room” talk, before moving quickly to the next question. (Trump did not make the comments in a locker ro

“[W]hen you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump is heard saying on the tape, which was recorded in 2005. “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.

At least 15 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual harassment and assault. In many cases, Trump has not even bothered to respond to the accusations. In other cases, he promised “proof” of his innocence, but did not deliver.

In one prominent case  former People Magazine Natasha Stoynoff has six independent witnesses that back up her allegations of sexual assault against Trump. Stoynoff said Trump “pushed her against a wall, shoved his tongue in her mouth, and told her they were going to have an affair.”

Trump’s eagerness to condemn Weinstein stands in sharp contrast to his defense of Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes, two allies who were kicked out of Fox News after multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Trump said he didn’t think O’Reilly did anything wrong and called him “a good person.” Similarly, he questioned the veracity of the women accusing Ailes and called him a “very good person.” Ailes subsequently became an adviser to the Trump campaign.

Weinstein gave $1.4 million to Democrats since 1992. Some Democrats have donated money they received from Weinstein to charity." [Source]

So to clarify: Democrats find out that one of theirs is a sexual harasser and they return the money that he gives them.

Republicans find out that one of theirs is a sexual harasser and they elect him president.   

 

*Pic from vox.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drinking coffee while black, and the Democrats have a debate.

I, like most working professionals, will sometimes hit up Starbucks or my local coffee shop in the mornings before I get my work on.

Sometimes there is nothing like a little jolt of java to get your juices flowing.

This is, of course, unless you happen to be a black man in America.

Tonight my racism chase takes me to Cincinnati, Ohio.   

"It was just another morning in Cincinnati, Ohio for 29-year-old Charles Harrell when he was making his way back from a early morning coffee run. Filming his trip, Harrell recorded his interaction with police officer Baron Osterman, who can be seen trailing behind Harrell on a bicycle. Sharing that the police office asked if he “had a problem,” Harrell noted that this was a normal occurrence in his hometown.

 

“This is what we have to go through in Cincinnati, harassment” he said. “You can’t be a black man and enjoy your morning, because the police are going to harass you in Cincinnati, Ohio.”

 

As the video continues to roll, Osterman approaches Harrell for allegedly crossing against the light. In response, Harrell admits that he was frightened by the officer’s trailing of him, stating, “You were scaring me, sir. I don’t know why you’re following me anyway. You followed me all the way down the street.” Osterman then demands that Harrell put his phone and coffee on the ground. Refusing to lay his objects down, Harrell instead offers his I.D., and the officer become physical, warning him: “Don’t reach around.” Harrell is pinned against the wall and handcuffed.

 

According to Cincinnati.com, this is not the first time Officer Osterman has been linked to the use of excessive force. He reportedly was involved in the death of a black man, Nathaniel Jones, in 2003 in a local White Castle restaurant. The Citizen Complaint Authority ruled that Osterman and his fellow officer James Pike used excessive force in subduing Jones in 2004. They were both cleared in 2008 and awarded financial compensation.

 

Harrell was arrested for a pedestrian violation, resisting arrest and possession of a small amount of marijuana. The police department released a statement saying that the incident was up for internal review. Watch the footage of the incident below: [Video and story]

 

I hope, for his sake, Charles had decaf.  

 

Finally, I am watching the democrats debate each other, and Bernie is doing his usual shouting about Wall Street, and Hillary is trying her best to tell the people what they want to hear by wrapping herself around his Oness.

 

The moderators are having a much easier job with this one, because there are only two people and they are both, for the most part, sticking to the issues. No my d**k is bigger than yours shouting match going on with these two.

 

Bernie is telling Hillary to release her transcript of her speeches on Wall Street and I believe that she should. She has to stop hiding behind this argument that she will do it when ALL of her opponents to the same. That argument just has disingenuous written all over it.  And worse, it is giving Donald trump and the New York Times cover for their disgraceful refusal to release the transcript of his "off the record"  conversation with the Time's editorial board where he allegedly told them that his entire campaign when it comes to immigration might be a scam. 

 

Sorry Joe Concha, I get the whole confidentiality thing, but this man is running to be the president of the United States for crying out loud. Nothing a presidential candidate thinks or have said in the past should be kept from the American people. 

 

This election is way too important to allow a scam artist to pull the wool over our eyes.

 

Oh wait....too late.

 

*Pic from rawstory.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Dead or in jail."

I just read a touching essay from a young man named Wilbert L. Cooper.

Here it is:

'"The day you were born, there was a pine box and a prison cell built with your name on it."

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, my father said that to me countless times, especially just as I was walking out the door. The first time I remember hearing those words, I had to have been about six or seven; I was so young I didn't really understand what he meant. I had yet to grasp the burden that comes with being young and black and male in America. It just sounded scary, and after hearing it—given what little I understood about race at the time—I was left with the distinct feeling that I was cursed.

But that was dad's way. He always tried to speak to me like I was a little man. And not because he was on some cheap machismo trip or because he had a taste for the macabre—it was because he legitimately thought if I didn't understand this lesson early on, I might not make it to age 25.

 

The phrase "dead or in jail" loomed large over my adolescence, as I think it does for many young black men today. The New York Times estimates that there are 1.5 million "prime age" black men in America who are "missing" from society today, meaning they are either behind bars or pushing up daisies. How they got there is a confluence of the micro and the macro—individual choices and a game with incredibly high stakes that's been fixed against them from the start.

Allowing your child to play that game without understanding the rules is tantamount to leading them to slaughter. My parents understood this, not just as blacks who lived through the Civil Rights era but as retired police officers who saw the way race played out on streets and inside the municipal courts in the city of Cleveland.

The storied legacy of the premature death of black men (homicide is still our greatest killer, according to CDC data) has arguably been eclipsed by the mass incarceration of black nonviolent drug offenders. And although President Obama's administration has advanced sentencing reforms and clemency initiatives that will help reign in this injustice, we're going to be living with the fallout for generations.

 

Right now, blacks make up 12 percent of the population, but almost 60 percent of those doing time in state prison for drug-related offenses—and according to the Sentencing Project, these black prisoners are serving almost as much time for their drug offenses as whites are for actually violent crimes.

That is the great equalizer of the black American experience, whether you grow up in the whitest suburbs like I did or in the grimiest ghettos: Interacting with police is fraught with peril and inequity. Despite my familial connections to law enforcement—two of my great-uncles, both my parents, my uncle, and my sister have all served or are serving on the force in Cleveland—I know that sick scenes like the unnecessary arrest of Prairie View A&M grad Sandra Bland, who died in custody, or the brutal treatment of black teens at Craig Ranch North Community Pool in McKinney, Texas, earlier this summer are not exceptions to the rule. They are the norm—indignities etched into the everyday experience of being black in America. And even I—with my white friends and my media job and my master's degree in publishing—can still get caught up in that when I get stopped by the cops. Although we live in a country with an unhealthy obsession with status and wealth, whether you're in a Pinto or a Porsche, wearing a hoodie or Helmut Lang, when the law comes down on you, you're still a nigger.

 

I think that's why the last few years have been so terrifying for me as I've seen the names cycle through from Trayvon Martin to Kimani Gray to Victor White to Eric Garner to Michael Brown to Tamir Rice to Walter Scott to Freddie Gray to Samuel DuBose. I know that no matter how well I play the game, no matter how cognizant I am of the rules, it could happen to me. I think about it when I walk past the police station at the end of my block in Brooklyn. I ask myself: Is today going to be the day they are going to fuck with me? And if so, what will I do? Every time a new video shot on police cameras and bystander's cell phones emerges with yet another black life being smothered across the screen, I feel myself getting one step closer to a kind of nihilism about this country and my place in it.

I can relate to the blinding, hot rage I've seen swallow up so many other brothers of my generation, from the pain they foolishly inflict against one another because their arms can't reach the system to the pain they inflict upon themselves because they are trying to escape the realities of the everyday.

 

 It's in those fits of anger that I wonder, Were we always destined to live and die this way, like savages in the street or alone in cold cells? And if this is it, why did our parents have us at all? Why bring us into this world where our lives are short and wracked with pain?" [Read more]

 

Powerful and sad words. You have to feel for some of these young brothers out here.

 

But give the author credit, he understands that his reality is not like that of a "typical American". And he also understands that no matter what he accomplishes in life he will still be treated and viewed  differently by certain people in America.  

 

Because of what I do for a living I have been to countless prisons in my life, and I have to tell you that it's always a sad and depressing experience. While you know that some of the people you see there deserve to be right where they are, you also know that a large percentage of them should have been back in society a long time ago, or worse, should not have been in there in the first place.

 

But we can't give up. We have to encourage these young men of color to hit their books, get their priorities right, and respect their families and their communities. 

 

There will always be injustice and prejudice in the world,  but we can't let them use it as an excuse not to thrive. We just have to do our best to minimize it and make sure that those who practice it are called out when they do.

 

*Pic from huffingtonpost.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

The man "doth protest too much".

OK Grant and Jalen, enough already. Grant, did you really have to write a response (in the New York Times of all places) to Jalen's comments? Come on brother, methinks you are a bit too sensitive.

"..it was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends narrating this interesting documentary about their moment in time and calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke “Uncle Toms” and, to some degree, disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic and commitment to each other and to me. I should have guessed there was something regrettable in the documentary when I received a Twitter apology from Jalen before its premiere. I am aware Jalen has gone to some length to explain his remarks about my family in numerous interviews, so I believe he has some admiration for them.

In his garbled but sweeping comment that Duke recruits only “black players that were ‘Uncle Toms,’ ” Jalen seems to change the usual meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two-parent, middle-class families. He leaves us all guessing exactly what he believes today.

I am beyond fortunate to have two parents who are still working well into their 60s. They received great educations and use them every day. My parents taught me a personal ethic I try to live by and pass on to my children.

I come from a strong legacy of black Americans. My namesake, Henry Hill, my father’s father, was a day laborer in Baltimore. He could not read or write until he was taught to do so by my grandmother. His first present to my dad was a set of encyclopedias, which I now have. He wanted his only child, my father, to have a good education, so he made numerous sacrifices to see that he got an education, including attending Yale.

This is part of our great tradition as black Americans. We aspire for the best or better for our children and work hard to make that happen for them. Jalen’s mother is part of our great black tradition and made the same sacrifices for him.

My teammates at Duke — all of them, black and white — were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball. I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.

It is insulting and ignorant to suggest that men like Johnny Dawkins (coach at Stanford), Tommy Amaker (coach at Harvard), Billy King (general manager of the Nets), Tony Lang (coach of the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan), Thomas Hill (small-business owner in Texas), Jeff Capel (former coach at Oklahoma and Virginia Commonwealth), Kenny Blakeney (assistant coach at Harvard), Jay Williams (ESPN analyst), Shane Battier (Memphis Grizzlies) and Chris Duhon (Orlando Magic) ever sold out their race." [Article]

Grant, I am going to have to disagree with one person on your list: Billy King. I will leave it at that. But those of you from Philly will know what I am talking about... Still, we get it, you had to defend your family's honor. You also had to defend yourself against accusations of jigging your way through Duke. I defended you last night, (BTW, in that article I referred to Hubert Davis as a Dukie. To all of you Tar heel fans out there, I offer my sincerest apology.) but I cannot defend your response. The whole New York Times thing kind of feels like overkill. I sure hope Coach K didn't give you a call and asked you to pen something. After all, it's not good for recruiting to have even well "polished" young men thinking twice about your school because other folks in their community view it in a negative light.

Finally, I see that a republiclown up in New York has a great idea about how to get you Negroes working again:

"BUFFALO – Jack Davis a congressional candidate caused controversy by saying that Latinos should be deported and African Americans should be bused to farms to pick crops.

Buffalo News reports:

Several sources who were in the Feb. 20 endorsement interview with Davis confirmed his comments, which echo those he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008, when he said: “We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work.”' [Source]

Of course they will Mr. Davis. It's not like we aren't going to pay them this time.

"Stand by your man".

Where is Tammy Wynette when you need her?

Obamaholics please pass on this post. I get sick and tired of reading your e-mails and your comments whenever I am critical of your boy, and I am afraid this is going to be one of those times.

So anywhooo, it seems the O man dissed his AG for his A-merry-cans are cowards when it comes to race comments. Yep, while talking to the New York Times the O man found it necessary to chastise his top lawyer.


“I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language,”


Why? Because he offended some conservatives and sensitive white folks? Come on O man, don't buy into what the drive by media is selling. You knew the full context of his speech and you know that what he said was dead on. So why the apology? Look, I can understand you not commenting on the subject and choosing not to weigh in on the controversy. You are, after all, the president of all the people, we get that. But why not just say no comment? Leave it alone, that news cycle is way behind us. I don't care if the NYT asked you a direct question, the proper answer would have been we have moved on, and I don't want to comment on that any further. I am quite sure that the reporter would not have pressed you. We are talking about the New York Times here, not the Post.

I have been letting his O ness slide with a lot, because unlike Rush and the repubs, I want him to succeed. I let him slide when he announced more faith based programs. I let him slide when he kept the frat boy's cuts on funding for stem cell research. I let him slide when he broke his promise and allowed lobbyist in his administration. I let him slide when he pushed back the timeline to withdraw from Iraq, and escalated in Afghanistan. I let him slide when he announced that he was not pursuing criminal prosecutions for those people who tortured captives. I let him slide when he didn't put an end to the frat boy's rendition program. And finally, I let him slide even after he refused to place windfall profit taxes on Big Oil. See, there is a lot I let him slide with, but I can't let him slide with dissing his AG. Not when the man was telling the truth.

“I’m not somebody who believes that constantly talking about race somehow solves racial tensions,.....I think what solves racial tensions is fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure that people have health care, ensuring that every kid is learning out there. I think if we do that, then we’ll probably have more fruitful conversations.”


Okay O man, I get it: we will all still be racist, but there won't be any "racial tensions". As long as we have food, shelter, and health care, we all can be content racist. Now that, my friends, is the A-merry-can way.

"RACISM AND THE RACE"

I want to thank a regular reader of the field's blog, for sending me an e-mail with the link to an interesting article.

Thank you Vaughn, and you are right; I don't think I will be doing my Carl Lewis imitation down Broad Street in my birthday suit.

Here is the article from the "New York Times," which was written by a gentleman by the name of Charles Blow:

"This is supposed to be the Democrats’ year of destiny. Bush is hobbling out of office, the economy is in the toilet, voters are sick of the war and the party’s wunderkind candidate is raking in money hand over fist.

So why is the presidential race a statistical dead heat? The pundits have offered a host of reasons, but one in particular deserves more exploration: racism.
Barack Obama’s candidacy has shed some light on the extremes of racism in America — how much has dissipated (especially among younger people) and how much remains.

According to a July New York Times/CBS News poll, when whites were asked whether they would be willing to vote for a black candidate, 5 percent confessed that they would not. That’s not so bad, right? But wait. The pollsters then rephrased the question to get a more accurate portrait of the sentiment. They asked the same whites if most of the people they knew would vote for a black candidate. Nineteen percent said that those they knew would not. Depending on how many people they know and how well they know them, this universe of voters could be substantial. That’s bad.

Welcome to the murky world of modern racism, where most of the open animus has been replaced by a shadowy bias that is difficult to measure. As Obama gently put it in his race speech, today’s racial “resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company.” However, they can be — and possibly will be — expressed in the privacy of the voting booth."

More here:

I think I will cut back my workouts now. And tomorrow, I think I will have a big fat cheese steak for lunch.

Watch out for those gays, they are coming to an adoption center near you.

“I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption....”

Hmmm, that's pretty straight talk there Mr.Morton. Seems like you are just another phony ass republican who likes to moralize from your high horse, and to stick your neck into other people's private lives. You don't believe in "gay adoptions"? Well who the fuck died and made you the moral authority of such things? I don't like to see mofos in short sleeve dress shirts, but that ain't none of my damn business if someone chooses to wear them. "Both parents"? I thought gay couples were just that, a couple.

But I see your peeps trying to wiggle out of this one, they must have realized how totally ignorant your little statement sounds to the rest of us with a brain. See, this is what happens when you have been a republican all your life. You think things like gay couples living together, leading totally normal lives, adopting children; and being some of the most productive citizens in our society, is the stuff of movie scripts. It's not. It's the kind of shit that is happening all over the country and in places like Philly every day. I know some of those people, and they are doing a hell of a job raising their children. And you want to be president? Damn! What's scary is that in my heart, I believe that you are going to win, no matter how fucked up and insane you are. Because at the end of the day; A-merry-cans will not let that narrow Negro with the funny name be their leader. So it looks like you are it. But the thought of four more years with a leader who thinks the way you do, is terrifying.

"John McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue,’’ Tucker Bounds, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement.“He was not endorsing any federal legislation.’’

First of all motherfucker, your name is "Tucker", so I am not going to believe a damn thing you say. It's that simple. Like we don't know that Mr. Straight talk said exactly what he means. But nice try, I think most people know where your boy stands, and I actually think it will help him with a large segment of the A-merry-can population, so relax. The folks over at FOX will make a hero out of him for this too. See, that's the difference between him and Obama, he tells the truth, and he wants to bring back good old American family values. Oh, you mean the one with the high divorce rate, and the fucked up dysfunctional families? Those family values?

But not to worry Mr. Morton, those blind ideologues will stand behind you no matter what. Ideology over principal, that's the A-merry-can way.

Patrick Sammon, the president of Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, said in a statement: “We are pleased that Senator McCain clarified the remarks and we thank the Senator for once again re-iterating his belief that issues concerning marriage and family laws should be left up to the states — not the federal government.”

Gee, I guess every group has their version of a house Negro.

Throw Missy from the plane.

Looks like Mr. Morton (because he is always salty) flashed his famous temper at a New York Times reporter on Friday. And I gotta tell you, I saw film clips of the little dust up, and I swear I thought they were going to throw Missy from the damn plane. Memo to Missy: Never ask tough questions when you are over twenty thousand feet in the air with Mr. Morton.

But I have to give Elisabeth Bumiller her props; she asked a tough question, and she kept pushing for the truth. "You said you never had a conversation with [John] Kerry about being Vice President." Oh come on now Elisabeth, he lied. Just like all politricksters and others of his ilk do. But then Mr. Morton lashed into poor Elisabeth. He got in her face, and for a moment there I thought he was going to have Hotel Hanoi flash backs. "Elisabeth you look just like one of those 'gooks' I hate s0 damn much right about now, I sure hope you have a parachute."

But seriously, can you imagine if this had been the "O" man? They are killing the guy (Obama) because one of his foreign policy advisers called the Ice Queen a "monster"....ahhh hello? She is a fucking monster. I mean the poor lady had to resign for crying out loud. That shit led every major newscast on Friday. But not a peep about straight talk damn near throwing poor Missy from the plane. "Why are you so angry?" she asked him. ~~Because I am 72 years old and I am running out of time. And if that uppity Negro from Illinois wins this presidential election I will never get another shot~~~~OK, he didn't quite say that, but somehow you just know he was thinking it.

Now folks will try to say it's because it was a New York Times reporter and Mr. Morton isn't feeling the Times right about now. But trust me on this one, girlfriend could have been with "The Watchtower" and Mr. Morton would have flipped on her. This is how he acts when he is caught in a lie. Just check his history. And Chris you want me to vote for this mofo? I don't think so.

I don't look too hot in nuclear gray.

"I wanna hold your hand"

"That nigger ain't shit"

This is what I hear some knucklehead saying about me (I am sure he wanted me to hear) while talking to a group of other knuckleheads in the lobby area of my 9-5 plantation today.

Of course I would have loved to have done a pirouette, step in his grill, and ask the mother fucker just who the fuck he was talking about? But I couldn't. I had to take the high road and pretend I didn't even hear the little motherfucker. It's one of the things I hate about my job. I have to be the bigger man all the time and take shit like this from folks, who for whatever reason, feeel that I, or the system, messed over them at some point in their miserable ass lives.

So that little incident today, and watching all the pundits tonight, had me thinking about the "O" man's diss of Hillary. Of course it wasn't really a dis. Girlfriend, bright red dress and all, tried to grandstand the "O' man and pretend she was his friend by offering her hand (or so she says) while the two were getting ready for the State Of The Union Address. And this is when some photographer caught what he must have thought was the shot of a life time. [see sidebar] The "O" man, seeming to turn his back on the Ice Queen, right at the moment she was reaching out to shake his hand.

Sadly, the "O" man lied and said he didn't see her. “I was surprised by the reports this morning. There was a photograph in the [New York] Times about me sort of turning away. I was turning away because Claire [Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri] asked me a question as Senator Kennedy was reaching for me.”......come on "O" man, you saw her. But so what? Now Hillary is making a big fucking deal over a small dis. Anything to score political points. "Well, I reached my hand out in friendship and unity and my hand is still reaching out,”... And I look forward to shaking his hand sometime soon.” That sound you hear is me throwing up. Are you kidding me? The truth of the matter is I think there is too much faux civility in politics. I would have respected Hillary more if she went over to the "O" man and Teddy Liberal and said: "So you two pieces of shits think that your little announcement today is going to slow me down? Well fuck both of you." I mean she could have just leaned over and whispered it, and no one would have been the wiser. But the phony ass I want to shake your hand move for all the world to see was just pure crap. And I would have respected the "O" man more if he admitted, as the New York Times reported, that he was dissed by the Ice Queen before, and wasn't trying to be dissed again. (Once bitten twice shy) I mean who would could blame him? But he is a politician, and they don't act like real people. Real people say stuff like...well, "that nigger aint shit". Not that Hillary would have said that, although I am sure she might have been thinking it :)

Sow now all the televison pundits have picked up on this little photo. It's getting more screen time than the Manning brothers for crying out loud. Some of these pundits are all over the "O" man for not being civil to the lady, and the National Organization of Women has made a cause celebre out of this shit: Men behaving badly. Funny how Hillary can be a poor damsel in distress when it suits her, and a tough as nails take no prisoner war-hawk when she has to take that route. Hey, that's why she is a politician I guess.

But this is the problem with politics, you can never be honest because you want to get elected. I am sure the "O" man's handlers are reviewing that little picture over and over again to see what the negative effects might have been. Now they are thinking; minimize the damage, get in nice guy mode to the quickness. Can't have all those women across A-merry-ca thinking the "O" man dissed a lady.

I bet they will be real nice and cordial to each other at tomorrow night's debate. The "O" man will be a perfect gentleman, and that hand Hillary claims she is holding out will finally be taken.