Stormy, you were wrong for this one.

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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.

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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

Open thread night.

 I need your thought on a few things:

Is trump to blame for all these incidents of racism that seem to be popping up everywhere? Or were they there all along and social media is just allowing us to see more of it now?

Is Eric trump's comment about Bob Woodward writing his book to make "shekels" a dog whistle to trump's base?

Are you troubled that the detention of migrant children are at its highest levels ever?

Are you worried that Russian bombers were flying near to Alaska recently?

Would trump and his disaster team treat the people of Puerto Rico this way if there were mostly white folks on the island? 

What do you think happened in Dallas where that police officer shot and killed the apartment owner and claims that she thought it was her own apartment? 

Feel free to post about anything else is on your mind.

Another storm. Do we have enough paper towels?

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Dear America, your president's approval rating just dipped  below 36% or 38%, depending on which poll you believe. Imagine having unemployment below 4% and a booming economy (thank you president Obama), and you still can't crack the 40% approval mark.

But can you blame America for not liking this guy? Just today, for instance, he started what is a solemn day of remembrance in our country by tweeting about, and criticizing the justice department. Then he made a fool of himself on his way to a memorial service for the brave souls who fought off terrorist on a hijacked airline, by fist pumping and acting as if he was on his way to a pep rally. 

But this is the same guy who bragged about having the tallest building in New York after the Twin Towers were destroyed on that tragic day. The man has no soul and no morals. He even lied about donating funds to a 9/11 fund for crying out loud. Why do we expect him to be any different now that he is president.

Anyway, there is a serious storm heading towards the East Coast of the United States, and folks in places like North and South Carolina are bracing for the worst. It is of little comfort to us that the aforementioned president is supposed to be leading the country during what could be a serious natural disaster.

Just today the president had a "Brownie" moment by declaring that FEMA's efforts after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico was  an "incredible unsung success". Really? Three thousand people dead and the island still devastated and he wants us to believe that his agency, FEMA, did "an incredible job?
And I am just now hearing that this summer the trump administration transferred over ten million dollars from FEMA to ICE in order to lock down our borders and keep the brown people out. Great! Kill more Americans in order to keep immigrants out. This, by the way, happened right before hurricane season. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that this coming storm does not do any serious damage and that there will be no loss of life. Also, that we won't have to see Melania touring disaster areas in her Christian Louboutin pumps, and president trump trying out his jump shot with paper towels. 

*Pic from nbcnews.com

Female issues.

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I saw the US Open women's final yesterday, and  I must say that it was full f excitement and drama. I was happy for the young Haitian American. (Yes, she is also Haitian. I know that the main stream media would like us to believe that she is only Japanese, but that's not the case.) But it was sad to see that sexism still exits in this sport. I play and watch a lot of tennis, and there is no way a male player on the tour would have been given a game penalty in the finals of a major like Serena was yesterday.

Serena is the greatest player of all time, and she is the least popular among a certain segment of the population, primarily because she is unapologetic about standing up for her race and sex, and this tends to drive some people crazy.  "Just shut up and play", and collect your money doing something that we all wish that we could do, is what those same folks who dislike her would tell her and athletes like LeBron James to do.

I felt bad for Naomi Osaka yesterday, because the truth is that she was on her way to beating Serena, and having this incident just took away from what was supposed to be the greatest moment of her life.

Finally, speaking of women, I watched some of the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, and it was terrifying. It was terrifying to me because I know that the man will be confirmed regardless of what he says. He  will be the swing vote in turning back the right of a woman to determine what to do with her own body, and ultimately send us back to the days of back room abortions.  And yes, he might have committed perjury, but one little act of perjury will not stop the right-wing agenda.

Forget all his daughters and the girls basketball team that he trotted out for the optics. If those little girls only knew that the man that they were helping to sit on the supreme court could have a negative impact on their lives in the coming years.

He claims that Roe V. Wade is settled law, implying that he will not rule to overturn it. But that's hogwash. Precedent does not prevent the court from overturning what we consider well settled law. Just remember, Plessy  v. Ferguson was the law of the land for sixty years before it was overturned. It can happen. And you heard it here first. If and when Kavanaugh gets on the Supreme Court, the days of women choosing what to do with their own bodies will be over in the not too distant future.

*Pic from news.sky.com 

Caption Saturday and issues with twitter.

"We've temporarily limited some of your account features

thefieldnegro
@fieldnegro

What happened?

We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically, for:

1. Violating our rules against hateful conduct.
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     thefieldnegro
     @fieldnegro

     @kanyewest "Gods" don't coon for racists.

     8:24 AM - 8 Sep 2018

As a result, we’ve temporarily limited some of your account features. While in this state, you can still browse Twitter, but you’re limited to only sending Direct Messages to your followers –– no Tweets, Retweets, follows, or likes. Learn more. Your account will be restored to full functionality in: 12 hours and 0 minutes.

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So let me get this straight. Donald trump and others can go on twitter rant all kinds of foul crap but I get suspended for calling Kanye West a "coon." Alright Jack, we see how you roll. 

Anywhoo, I need your caption for the following pic. 

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*Pic from  Reuters via dailymail.co.uk

When white nationalism becomes a political ideology.

The following essay was written over a year ago for Slate online by Jamelle Bouie. 

I believe that given all that has been going on of late, it is a good time to post it.

"Before the election, when Donald Trump was still just an unlikely presidential nominee, a conservative under the pseudonym “Publius Decius Mus,” wrote a remarkable essay in support of Trump. The pseudonym alone gave a glimpse into the writer’s thinking. The real-life Decius was a Roman consul who sacrificed himself to the gods for the sake of his embattled army. And in the same way, our internet Decius called on conservatives to embrace Trump—to back the vulgarian who mocked their ideals—for the sake of saving the country as they knew it. “The ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners with no tradition of, taste for, or experience in liberty means that the electorate grows more left, more Democratic, less Republican, less republican, and less traditionally American with every cycle,” he wrote, hailing the real estate mogul as the only figure who understood the stakes, who would beat back these “foreigners” and preserve America’s democratic tradition as Decius saw it. Not a tradition of pluralism, but one of exclusion, in which white Americans stand as the only legitimate players in political life. A dictatorship of the herrenvolk.

“Decius”—since revealed as Michael Anton, a former George W. Bush administration speechwriter—now works for President Trump. And he isn’t the only figure in the Trump circle who holds these views. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, his former aide Stephen Miller, and right-wing media mogul Stephen Bannon occupy prominent positions in the present administration. Like Anton, they hold deep antagonism to immigrants and immigration, opposition to their equality within American society, and nostalgia for a time when prosperity was the province of the native-born and a select few “assimilated” immigrants. But these aren’t just ideologues with jobs in a friendly administration. They are the architects of Trump’s policy, the executors of a frighteningly coherent political ideology.

What is that ideology? Most Americans think of “racism” in individualized terms. To call someone a “racist,” then, is to pass judgment on his or her character—a declaration that this person doesn’t belong in polite society. It’s why, when faced with the accusation, Americans often rush to deny any prejudice. I don’t have a racist bone in my body, goes the cliché. But individualized prejudice is just one way to think of racism. There’s also institutional bias or systemic outcomes—the things that lead critics to deem the criminal justice system as “racist.” And beyond the material, there’s racism as ideology—a structured worldview defined by support for race hierarchy and racial caste.

Racist ideology ebbs and flows through our history, changing with the shape of American society and the contours of American life. When the South was a vast archipelago of human bondage and labor camps, racist ideology took the form of a widespread belief in black inferiority and underlay the forceful defenses of slavery. When segregation was law and legislators defended lynching on the Senate floor—even though anti-racism had claimed a small foothold in the national consciousness—racist ideology was a virulent and violent “white supremacy.” America still has white supremacists, and they still terrorize nonwhites with harassment and violence. But now that most Americans share a nominal commitment to racial equality—such that the country celebrated at the election of its first black president, more than eight years ago—explicitly racist ideology has cloaked itself in a kind of “nationalism,” outside the mainstream, but not far from its borders.

This nationalism, white nationalism, was the ideology of Anton’s essay, driven by contempt for immigrants and foreigners of all stripes. A century ago, in the preface to Madison Grant’s The Passing of the Great Race, a then-popular work of scientific racism, American eugenicist Henry Fairfield Osborn ably summed up this worldview, which now holds the White House.

Thus conservation of that race which has given us the true spirit of Americanism is not a matter either of racial pride or of racial prejudice; it is a matter of love of country, of a true sentiment which is based upon knowledge and the lessons of history rather than upon the sentimentalism which is fostered by ignorance. If I were asked: What is the greatest danger which threatens the American republic to-day? I would certainly reply: The gradual dying out among our people of those hereditary traits through which the principles of our religious, political and social foundations were laid down and their insidious replacement by traits of less noble.

 This is Decius’ view. It was essentially the ideology behind Trump's campaign, defined by its hostility toward Muslims, marked by its reliance on racist stereotypes of Hispanic immigrants, and not so subtly contemptuous of black Americans. Now, it all but drives Trump’s administration, voiced by key figures and expressed through policy.

The ideological leader of the Trump movement is Sessions, hailed by Bannon for “developing populist nation-state policies” from his somewhat isolated perch in the Senate. Bannon, who avoids the spotlight, gives away the game in his praise of Sessions. “In America and Europe, working people are reasserting their right to control their own destinies,” he wrote in a recent statement to the Washington Post, blasting the “cosmopolitan elites in the media that live in a handful of our larger cities.” Given the demographics of Trump’s support—given the demographics of Europe—this definition of “working people” can mean only one thing: white people. And “cosmopolitan elites” has a long history as a euphemism for Jews and other minorities.

Sessions at least does us the service of being clear about his ideas and priorities. “In seven years we’ll have the highest percentage of Americans, non-native born, since the founding of the republic,” he said in a 2015 interview with Bannon. He continued:

Some people think we’ve always had these numbers, and it’s not so; it’s very unusual; it’s a radical change. When the numbers reached about this high in 1924, the president and Congress changed the policy, and it slowed down immigration significantly. We then assimilated through 1965 and created really the solid middle class of America, with assimilated immigrants, and it was good for America.

In 1924, Congress passed the Johnson–Reed Act, which placed strict limits on immigration. But these weren’t neutral limits, broadly applicable to migrants from all parts of the globe. They were national limits—racial limits. The stakes, for proponents of the law, were nothing less than the survival of an Anglo-Saxon America. In Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, the late historian John Higham notes how lawmakers and legislators conceived of the project of immigration restriction. “Its champions now largely ignored the economic arguments they had advanced in behalf of the first quota law three years before,” he writes. “Instead, they talked about preserving a ‘distinct American type,’ about keeping America for Americans, or about saving the Nordic race from being swamped.”

To that end, the Johnson–Reed Act placed tight quotas on Southern and Eastern Europeans, particularly Italians and Jews, Africans, and Middle Easterners. It barred Asian immigration entirely. “Without offense, but with regard to the salvation of our own, let us shut the door and assimilate what we have, and let us breed pure American citizens and develop our own American resources,” declared South Carolina Sen. Ellison DuRant Smith during debates over the law. This, for Sessions, is the right approach. Or, as White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said to the Post, “Sen. Sessions laid a bit of groundwork ... on matters like trade and illegal immigration. It was candidate Trump then who was able to elevate those twin pillars in a way that cast it through the lens of what’s good for the American worker.”[More]

Tonight the trump administration is scrambling to find the person who leaked to the world what we all suspected: That the White House (and the person who occupies it) is a dysfunctional mess.

Open thread.

It's  nice to be back in the swing of things and catching up on the home front.

There has been a lot of serious news about this president over the past few days. Having said that, I need to know your thoughts on a couple of things:

Bob Woodward , he of Watergate fame,  just wrote an explosive new book about the president and the crazy s*** he has been doing in the White House since being elected. It is aptly called "Fear", and I need to know how much of the book you think is accurate.

And today, in what has to be unprecedented in American history, one of the folks in trump's inner circle decided to pen an oped for the New York Times. 

First, who do you think wrote it?

And second,  do you believe that the person who wrote it is a hero for penning this anonymous letter?
Or, do you think that he/she is a coward for not resigning and stating all of their concerns, publicly?

Break.

I'm out on vacay, field hands.

I am trying to keep my bucket list checks going.

Holla at you soon.