America First? Trump's NPD on the Diplomatic Stage

This week America's 45th  President's niece's book came out. It was so good I finished it in two days. From the very beginning (prologue) I was happy that Mary Trump is a licensed therapist, because she described her uncle as having met all nine tenets required to be diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (sidebar you only need to meet 5).

I'm not writing this because Trump is a narcissist...I mean we all knew that. However, I want to look at how his personality disorder has affected America's foreign policy.As you can imagine...not very well. Mary Trump described President Trump as dismissive, abusive, a bully, a predator, a thief....and the list goes on. Trump's niece Mary L. Trump, says in her book that she was afraid that the same way Trump related to family members is how he would lead the country. She was right.

photo courtesy RollingStone Magazine.

Former US Ambassadors have described Trump's foreign policy as an "up is down and down is up." Some of us call that gas lighting (a manipulation technique). Others call it peeing on someone's leg and telling them it's raining...which is colloquial for gas lighting. However, in addition to gas lighting, Trump has also been described as finding any way to use any national tragedy as a tool to air his personal grievances with other world leaders. Some say Trump cannot comprehend grief, but can only understand grievances... or that he's easily distracted by petty grudges.

ooohh...that last description hurt....even for me.  But it's true. How is a President supposed to mediate international disputes when he's dealing with these demons. Word  is 45 is in no way a mediator. Rather, he's turning up the heat on already hostile international tensions. He's hostile towards allies to the USA like Japan and South Korea. If 45 can't mediate between US allies, then, how could he have mediated the conflict over Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The answer is that he can't. No shade. Trump bullies his allies a lot of times over the phone (like his phone call with the Australian President where he abrutly ended the call). It makes for a tense international climate.  

Remember, this past January Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general, was killed by a US air strike. The International community was shook. Everyone was thinking, how will Iran retaliate? And Did Trump have a strategy in place just in case Iran took action? 

ANSWER: Negative. There was no strategy. According to American diplomats the only plan was to stroke Trump's ego...at every step. Which meant Trump was no match for Iran who was all strategy on their end....Let that sink in...Scary isn't it?

A narcissist with no plan to stop the American people from being prime target for international retaliation and no negotiation skills. Mary Trump, in her book Too Much and Never Enough, tells us dysfunction is what she saw happening all along with her uncle as POTUS.

He could never have a plan for the people, because he's a narcissist which means it's never about the country..it's always about him.

Now this may be confusing to some of you, who are very literal..especially since Trump has led with the motto "America First." Let's look closer shall we... America First Diplomacy is wholly narcissistic.

Diplomacy means learning from eachother and being a team player.

If you're a team player, you don't put yourself first.You work it out together...

If you're a leader, you don't put your country first. You negotiate with other leaders so everyone wins. 

And if you're familiar with NPD you're aware that narcissists always tell on themselves...

America First???

Americans will let the world know on 11/3/2020

The way we treat eachother...Our Hair

Many of you last week saw the Crown Act's official campaign all up and down your timelines on Jul 3 official CROWN day in the USA.

The CROWN act is the official act addressing hair discrimination in the workplace and in public schools in the USA. As applied, this act benefits black women and children that want to wear their hair in braids, locks, afros,...or however we choose.

California was the first state to enact the CROWN act in July 2019. After California came New York, then New Jersey and there's a campaign for the rest of the country to follow. This campaign sparked what you saw last weekend for the CROWN Act to have it's day July 3rd. This year marked the first year CROWN day was recognized. So on July 3rd, if you scrolled up and down your timelines you saw your friends post photos of themselves that looked like this.

Politicians and celebrities joined in CROWN day and also posted their photo of themselves rocking their natural hair with the filter.

However, that's not why we're here right now. We're here, because as proud as I am for my sisters benefitting from the CROWN act, I'm concerned about my sisters overseas.

In Western European countries like UK and France women of color are fighting against hair discrimination through activists groups, because there's no specific law on point which protects against hair discrimination.


For example, in France there's a group called Sciences Curl which was founded at Sciences Po, one of France's premier universities. SciencesCurl  speaks out against the marginilization of women of color and against hair discrimination. It also supports  activities like "Free Her Fro" which educates women about care for their hair.

In the UK, there's a push for protection against hair discrimination to included in the UK Equality Act. Currently, there's no law in the UKwhich specifically addresses hair discrimination.

 However, in 2018  a woman in the UK won 8,500 pounds in a hair discrimination suit after she was repeatedly sent home from her school for having an afro. The school said her afro was too big and against the guidelines. The school has since taken down the guidelines but did not accept that it's actions were discriminatory. Hence why individuals such as Emma Dabiri (author of the book above) has called for the UK equality act to include hair. There's currently a petition to include hair in the UK Equality Act on change.org. Click here to sign

In reading this I was curious to see what happens in sub-saharan Africa. I'm firstgen Nigerian American and I know all to well how conservative workplace rules can be in Nigeria. So I decided to see what happens in other African countries as well. . . and I was disappointed.

In Congo, there was a scandal in 2018 when a university student was turned away from school because she wore her hair like this.

The University stated the woman's hair was an "uncombed afro". The student was forced to change her hair to a ponytail so she could continue attending the University.

Like seriously WTF! Could you imagine if an African student in the USA got sent home from an entire University because of the words "uncombed afro"(!!)

woo hoo hoo!! we would be up in arms. 

However, a Congolese university sends a Congolese student home and she is set to change her hairstyle...it's saddening that this got no attention. I know we're in 2020, but there's no news that the university changed it's policy.

I must say, even with the CROWN act, we still have work to do. As disappointed as I am in the Congolese University, I must say that even in states that have enacted the CROWN act in the US, the result would be the same if we don't push that the law includes every place of accomodation.

In New Jersey, the CROWN act is thoroughly inclusive as follows

...and that list goes on and on.

If the law isn't thoroughly inclusive then we may see a university perform hairstyle discrimination. Now, the university may not say uncombed afro(geesh), but there would be plenty a loophole. So we still have to push for our sisters here and our sisters across the pond. #fistsupafrosout

Judges behaving Badly?

As we're living in our new day where Black Lives Matter, sponsors are dropping racially offensive logos and Karen's (frustrated by this) are going wild, we seem to have forgotten about the systems in place that have put people of color in the USA behind (for quite some time).

In any case, attention is being paid to Judges behaving badly. Like a woman who was sentenced to 496 days for failure to pay traffic tickets...or a Judge who literally invaded the jury's province...(like while they were deliberating) and told the jurors to free a sex offender because "God spoke to him."

In these cases and others, the Judges are barely ever rebuked for their behavior. Of course there's a suspension or a slap on the wrist, but you never really hear about them being removed from the bench. They'll retire, there will be a party, and I'm sure they'll have cake.

For more information about this click here. 

Are you in?

          Did you get this week's digest? Click the photo above to check it out!

This guy...

So I have a backstory to this, a week ago I was on YouTube binge watching documentaries about General Sani Abacha's regime in Nigeria. I have family members that were living in Nigeria at the time and I must say it was a very scary time. People were afraid to say their mind in public, we were afraid about what to say over the phone, but most importantly, people became very poor. I mean you could tell that people weren't eating. What was normal weight in the USA was deemed 'fat' because everyone was extremely thin and their necks were extremely long.

Why?.....Theft. And not just any type of theft, but millions of dollars worth in theft. One incident involved more than $308 million dollars being stolen from the Nigerian people and stashed in an offshore account....in Jersey. Honestly, it wasn't until last week that I learned there was a country called Jersey. Of course it's off the coast of England which would explain why America has a state called "New Jersey."

I honestly feel like Abacha and other corrupt leaders spun a globe and their finger landed on the least suspected nation. For a long time they stashed money there thinking it would never be touched. Maybe the Jersey government is right and they needed to go through a process to release the funds or maybe they were just as corrupt and they needed time to make that money back (I'm just planting a seed...I'm really hoping that didn't happen).

In any case, a meeting took place where the American government returned the money to Nigeria. Guys, those of us who live in the USA know that the American government taxed the holy hell out of that money before they turned it over.

This is a good thing that for once should not be applauded. I'm passively watching the last remnants of one of the most corrupt leaders. Some of us remember Abacha's wife trying to flee Nigeria with stolen money after her husband was assassinated (and why wouldn't she when she knows how her husband's legacy affected Nigerians). Now in the age of social media we see the same widow posing with other Nigerian leaders, Abacha's daughters as socialites. I shake my head. People who should be outcasts are not just embraced...they're celebrated.

As that happens the announcement surfaces that $308 million dollars is being returned as if we're supposed to jump. Newsflash, the money is taxed, and on top of that, other countries have taken their share of what 100% belonged to Nigerians. So let's not get caught up because we're told the money is going to strategic projects...this wasn't charity money, it belonged to Nigerians all along.

LEGENDARY LEGACY: AN EXCELLENT LIFE

It's an astonishing loss. One that shook me to my core. 

I cannot explain my emotions at this time. I only know one thing. That is, in order to fully honor Kobe's legacy, we have to be excellent in everything we do, because Kobe was true excellence. His life and his legacy are a motivation. I feel for his wife and his children. May he, his daughter, and all on the flight today Rest In Power.

Harbin ICE Festival!!!!

Every year I'm excited to see Harbin ICE Fest!! 

It started last Friday January 5th.

So much nicer than the ice we've been having on the East Coast USA for sure!! 

Hey a girl can dream, maybe I'll go next year. Check out the photos HERE