Is Thomas Ravenel another #MeToo casualty?

At left, famous Republican socialite Thomas Ravenel (with Ashley Jacobs), of Bravo network's Southern Charm.








Will Folks (whom I interviewed for my own radio show, years ago) has just taken his life in his hands and reported some dirt on Thomas Ravenel, the Palmetto State's own reality TV star, world-class cokehead and dropper of babies into pools.

I say "taken his life in his hands" since Folks has already heard from the lawyer of our famously-litigious ex-state-treasurer, and I hope he has the money to cover the legal fees.

From Folks' blog FITSNews, here are the goods:

[Panama City Beach, FL model and real-estate agent] Ashley Perkins, 29, alleged in a series of tweets this week that Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel – the former treasurer of South Carolina and a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and 2014 – settled a sexual assault case involving her mother two years ago.

...

It’s not immediately clear whether a law enforcement investigation into these allegations was ever initiated. In fact, it’s not immediately clear whether law enforcement was ever even notified of these allegations – which are said to have taken place in Charleston, S.C. in December of 2015. Further complicating matters, the alleged victim – a 53-year-old real estate agent who resides in Panama City Beach – reportedly signed a non-disclosure agreement during a mediation at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel in June of 2016 barring her from discussing details of the incident.

...

Perkins’ initial accusatory tweet toward Ravenel – which included images of wrist injuries allegedly inflicted on her mom by the 55-year-old reality star – was posted on April 11, but she deleted it that same day after her mother was allegedly contacted by Ravenel’s attorneys.

The next day, however, Perkins posted the allegations (and images) again – and has since re-posted them at least ten times (and referenced them in dozens of other tweets to multiple media outlets).

Perkins told us she was upset Ravenel’s attorneys were allegedly harassing her mother over these tweets – which included hashtags that referenced Ravenel and Kathryn Dennis (his ex-girlfriend, Southern Charm co-star and the mother of his two young children).

“Thomas’ attorneys emailed my mom’s attorneys the next morning (April 12),” she told us. “My mom didn’t know what they were talking about. I told her that (the tweets) were pulled and they were. Then later, Thomas’ attorney contacted my mom’s attorney again and said that I still had hashtags up that they didn’t like. They didn’t like Kathryn Dennis and Thomas being tagged.”

That’s when Perkins decided to go forward with the story.

Read the rest of it... and if you have problems with this story, for goodness sake, sue Will Folks, intrepid ex-lover of our ex-governor, not me.

I will certainly stay on this story as long as Will can afford to!

~*~


EDIT/UPDATE - 4/24/18:
FITSNews Interview: Ashley Perkins Speaks On Thomas Ravenel Allegations
The model who launched the Southern Charm sexual assault story speaks exclusively to this news site

EDIT/UPDATE - 5/3/18:
Thomas Ravenel’s #MeToo Problem Escalates
Allegations of sexual assault against reality TV star hit the mainstream after his girlfriend gives online interview

EDIT/UPDATE - 5/8/18:
Charleston SC Police Investigating Sexual Assault Claim Against Thomas Ravenel

What is to be done: Reflections on the Mother Emanuel shooting

At left: the victims of white supremacist Dylann Roof, all members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (known as "Mother Emanuel") in Charleston, South Carolina.


Left to right, from top: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Ethel Lance, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Reverend Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Myra Thompson.









When the shooting in Charleston happened (June 17), I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

All the work we have done towards racial reconciliation here in the South, all the dialogue, all the reaching-out, making alliances, supporting one another and going the final yard... POOF--I felt it all go right up in smoke, the smoke of gunpowder, the permanence of death. Holy God... REVEREND PINCKNEY???? I thought I would faint right there on the spot. No, I thought, panicked, please, NO, not Reverend Pinckney. I had to go on the radio and report this horror, and what possible words could there be? On the air, my voice quavered, and I said as simply as I could, this was exactly like a hard, sharp blow. On the head.

My co-hosts, looking stricken, just nodded silently along with me, encouraging me to go on. I was speaking for them too.

And I asked, how can white activists talk about this and not make it "about us"? Because its not about us.

One of my co-hosts, the amazing Double-A, disagreed. Of course this is about us. A self-identified white supremacist shot these people and we are white. We must always make it clear that this person does not speak for us, that this person is a dangerous renegade. He is the proverbial LONE GUNMAN.

Yes, okay. That is true... but of course, we do not want to claim him as one of us. And we don't have to, that is one of the main privileges of whiteness, isn't it? White sociopaths are... sociopaths first. Black sociopaths are... black first. Black criminals represent their race, while white criminals are just anomalies, outliers, sicko-crackpots safely apart from the rest of us... surely they do not represent the entire white race.

Do they?

Some black children will be afraid of us now. They are already afraid; they do not stop to ask, are all whites dangerous? They already know the answer to that by what they have seen. They act accordingly. They will avoid us, cross to the other side of the street when a group of us approach. They are looking at the record, they see what is right in front of them.

I wept passing the local historic black church close to my home, Reedy River Baptist, when I saw the marquee out front advertising Wednesday night Bible Study. YOU HAVE RUINED THIS FOR US, YOU MISERABLE FUCK DYLANN ROOF... At this point, I would no sooner walk in there for Bible study than I would go to Mars. A white person was welcomed for Bible study, and he drew his gun. On the air, I recalled the warmth and kindness of folks when I first moved South over 28 years ago, didn't know the neighborhoods and ended up at an all-black AA meeting. I was welcomed as one of their own, although they did wryly ask where I was from. Their kindness hit me hard, because I knew in the reverse situation, the black person in an all-white AA meeting would not be welcomed warmly, but probably just ignored or possibly chatted with on a superficial level (and *I* would be the one to do that). I was ashamed of what I knew then, and now.

The next time one of us strays in, or deliberately goes in, what will be the response? If it is suspicious and/or hostile, can we blame them? Maybe the response SHOULD be suspicious and/or hostile.

Even as I wept after the news of the shootings, the arraignment of Dylann Roof nearly drove me under. All that incredible, unbounded forgiveness reminded me of why I flunked out of Christianity so spectacularly. I have a hard time with forgiveness. (Irish Alzheimer's: you forget everything but the grudges.) Their incredible examples of humanity and decency made me sob with recognition, this is what we were taught: SHOW MERCY. I would have had none, and that made me cry even harder. Perhaps my own privilege is the reason I am unable to show mercy? My white arrogance somehow tells me the wrongs committed against me are of paramount importance... I can't let them go.

I decided the next time I needed to forgive, I would remember the words of these family members, forgiving Dylann Roof. I will remember and I will take them as my model, the spiritual heights that mere humans are capable of reaching when they dedicate themselves to the very highest principles, these truths we hold to be self-evident.

They felt sorry for him. He wasn't right, he was tormented and lonely... and they saw this. So did I, but... no sympathy.

I decided I wanted to be like them.

And so, the event changed me. This is why it has been so difficult to write about. As a white resident and political activist of South Carolina, the actions of Dylann Roof pierced my soul, and the forgiveness of the people he wronged set that same soul on fire. DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU MUST DO?--my inner self asked me, the voice I have always attributed to the Blessed Mother, whom I love. DO YOU SEE NOW?

Yes.

~*~

How to write about these things and be respectful? Specifically: How not to excoriate the opportunistic Southern politicians who suddenly came out of the woodwork to claim... I dunno, something. They came fast and furious, babbling and talking about prayer. Finally, Governor Haley decides the confederate flag must be taken down from the South Carolina State House, after defending it nonstop for two terms. Liberals threw spitballs, but she emerged looking good; she was all ready for her close-up, Mr DeMille! It was hard not to get mad all over again, as our very conservative, nonwhite governor decided to be nonwhite for the networks, and make a name for herself at long last. CABINET POSITION, she was whispering to herself... along with THIS IS MY SECOND TERM, THE RACIST LOONIES CAN'T VOTE ME OUT.

And so, Governor Haley signed the order and I waited around for hell to freeze over solid. She also attended every funeral, wearing her pricey, trademark designer duds. She even hugged Al Sharpton forgodsake. Luckily, cameras were around constantly to catch her dabbing at her eyes.

Believe me, this was hard to take.

Senator Lindsey Graham distinguished himself during the proceedings, talking not to the Masses but straight to South Carolina conservatives (his base) when given two minutes on any network: Please you guys, this is not the time to protect the flag... I understand how you feel, BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIME. Etc. He sounded like a kindergarten teacher trying to soothe an ill-behaved child who had locked himself in the utility closet with a rifle. Maybe that IS who he was talking to. The whites who feel wronged, left behind, their folkways and customs made fun of in international media, the southern whites who have felt the mass contempt of the world, sitting in their trailer parks, daily shit on by the rich. Angry, because its one more thing "they" are telling the poor whites they must leave behind, one more thing the liberals on the coasts have decided they can't have. Their resentment percolates, and in some times and in some places it is so pronounced, you can feel it.

And I watched confederate flags unfurl in the week the flag was removed. Many in the rural areas are still waving. One guy in a pickup was driving all over Woodruff Road with a stars-and-bars the size of Saskatchewan. But I looked around, and I saw other drivers pointing at him. Some shaking their heads in open disapproval. Its one thing to wave your flag before the NASCAR race, but another to wave it after someone has shot nine people to death, waving it in selfie after selfie. That wasn't cool, and even conservative SC citizens could clearly see that.

Progress of a sort. I wondered, does blood have to be shed before there is PROGRESS? Must we have martyrs before there is any damn PROGRESS???

More tears, more inability to write.

As you can see, it has taken me months.

~*~

Our Confederate Memorial Day state holiday remains untouched, as I reminded the kids on tumblr. In addition to South Carolina, there are official "Confederate Memorial Days" in Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and Louisiana. (Virginia and Arkansas appear to have escaped this fate somehow, and good for them.) What are we going to do about that, anything?

Certainly, eradicating Confederate Memorial Day just doesn't have the ready-made media optics of taking down a flag, so maybe nobody cares? Except of course for the state workers insulted by the holiday. Do they count?

I say, lets get rid of it. And all those statues of John C. Calhoun? Calhoun Street, where Mother Emanuel is? Wade Hampton Boulevard, within spitting distance of me, also the name of a local high school? The entire South is named after slave-owners and confederate heroes. We have our work cut out for us.

As an American, I always believed the Germans went way too far, outlawing nazis, naziism and nazi paraphernalia for good. You know, free speech and alla that blahdeblah First Amendment bullshit I was raised with. But see, NOW they don't have to deal with this--they don't have towns, streets, boulevards and schools named after dead nazis, and that is the reason why. I stand humbled, and I officially apologize to the German people. You saw what needed to be done, and in your shame, you did it. Good for you.

Our turn now.

Senate candidate Thomas Ravenel drops baby into pool

DEAD AIR officially confirms that this IS the baby that was dropped in the pool. (from Thomas Ravenel's senate commercial)










South Carolina residents, you've been looking at that baby long enough, yes? I even got a complaint on my last blog post, remarking about the ubiquitous, never-ending, look-at-my-cute-baby!-i-might-be-on-Bravo-but-I'm-heterosexual! ad campaign, featuring infamous Reality TV star, Independent senatorial candidate, former SC Treasurer and celebrated convicted cokehead Thomas Ravenel and his adorable little offspring. He assures us, he cares so much about the little darling, you should definitely elect him. After all, he comes from a rich family with a fancy-ass bridge named after them and he's on TV!

These annoying, cloying commercials have been non-stop, the little Ravenel darling foisted on us morning, noon and night.

And then, he... well, he dropped the baby in the pool. Something about a stylist. And then... well, he has since broken up with his long-suffering babymama, Kathryn Dennis, 29 years his junior. People are shocked, shocked I tell you. (okay, not really)

~*~

During our trip to Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island, Mr Daisy and I decided to drop in for a bite at the aptly-named Page's Okra Grill in Mount Pleasant, for some delicious fried okra and other southern goodies. And at the next table, I heard some old fellas with deep low-country accents, chortling in a decidedly Democratic fashion, about Rav-inn-nell and what he had done last Frad-dee (low-country version of Friday), whilst passing around their iphones for emphasis. Chortle, chortle, snort, and one fella collapsed in a true belly-laugh. I was dying to know, and nearly interrupted their lunch to ask what Rav-inn-nell had done THIS time.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait long... it was all over the low-country, from Democrat to Democrat and from iphone to iphone.

Ravenel's baby, the dearly beloved infant in the commercial, fell into the pool. With Ravenel, apparently. (Everybody keeps adding, the one in the commercial!)

You know, some convicted cokeheads might actually get arrested for blundering into the pool with a seven-month-old, but then, most cokeheads do not come from one of the most powerful Republican families in the state.

From Charleston City Paper:

A woman told Charleston police that Thomas Ravenel, a U.S. Senate candidate and star of the reality show Southern Charm, assaulted her last Friday night at his Charlotte Street home. According to the Charleston Police Department, an investigation into the incident is ongoing and Ravenel has not been arrested.

The alleged victim, Lauren Moser, told police that she is a friend of Kathryn Dennis, Ravenel's girlfriend and mother of Ravenel's child, and is also Dennis' stylist. Moser says she was invited to Ravenel and Dennis' residence at 29 1/2 Charlotte St. on the evening of Oct. 17 "but was concerned about going because she had had previous run-ins with the offender [whose] behavior is unpredictable especially when under the influence," according to a police incident report.

Moser says she arrived at the house at about 11 p.m. and relieved the nanny since Ravenel and Dennis had not yet arrived home. She told police that "everything was fine for a while" after the couple arrived home until later in the night when she was sitting outside the residence talking with Dennis. At that point, Moser told police that Ravenel "stormed out of the house with the 7-month-old juvenile and yelled to Kathryn that she needed to take care of the sleeping child," according to the report.

Then, as Ravenel was walking toward Moser and Dennis, he reportedly slipped and fell into the pool with the baby. Ravenel reportedly pulled the baby out of the pool and handed her to Dennis. At this point, Moser says she pulled out her cell phone and started recording the incident "because she felt that more was about to transpire," according to the report.

The report continues:

The victim stated that as she was walking behind the offender into the house he swung the door hard (as to close it) when he cleared [the] doorway and it bounced off of the victim's knee. The victim stated that when the offender saw that the door did not close he turned and swung the door again and this time the door struck the victim on the inside of the right arm due to the fact that her hand was raised because she was videoing the episode. The victim stated that the door hit her so hard it caused her to topple backwards down three steps and into some bushes.

Moser told police that Ravenel then went to the second floor of the house, and she went into the living room to sit down and "gather her thoughts and to make sure that the baby and Kathryn were fine before she left," according to the report. Then Ravenel reportedly returned to the living room naked and screamed, "Bitch, get your stuff and get out" while bringing Moser's belongings to her. Moser says she gathered her belongings and left.

Moser did not report the incident until Monday night at about 8 p.m. She says she waited to file the report because she "wanted to think about the incident and to wait until her emotions died down." She told police she was in pain the next day but did not have any broken bones. Police observed bruising on the inside of her right arm.

Ravenel did not immediately return a request for comment at his office. The police report indicates that Moser shot video of the incident, but a Charleston Police Department spokesman says police do not have a copy of the video.

They don't??!? Nah, go on.

That same memory hole that allowed Ravenel to abuse coke for years, see it? The rich, as we see, can do whatever the hell they want.

The update on this story, from Thomas Ravenel himself:

UPDATE, 5 p.m.: Thomas Ravenel released the following statement in response to the allegations:

I learned through a news report that the Charleston Police Department is investigating this incident, and I am totally confident that once the investigation is completed, the truth will come out and any allegations against me will be found to be without merit. I look forward to meeting with any member of law enforcement if they believe it will be helpful to their investigation.

Reached by phone, Ravenel also said he would not participate in filming any further episodes of Southern Charm until after the Nov. 4 election.

And so, there it is.

Some fun mental exercises: imagine if this was you or me. Now, change the race of the perp, and the neighborhood. I can imagine somebody actually getting shot over this, if they were the wrong color. Imagine if this was a black hip-hop star or NFL player. Mix and match, play the privilege game. Always remember: THIS IS AN ALREADY-CONVICTED COKEFIEND, not someone without a police record. He was arrested only a year ago for drunken driving, as well. (guilty)

Some people, with a record like that, would have their babies taken AWAY from them for this behavior. Not Ravenel. Never Ravenel.

It just makes for good TV.

Being rich means never having to say you're sorry.

~*~

We will be discussing Ravenel and other stuff tonight on Occupy the Microphone, WOLI radio, 910AM and 105.7FM on your upstate radio dial. Join us at 8pm and weigh in! You can listen live here.

Patriots Point: A photographic tour

Hey yall, time for your photographic tour of Patriots Point in coastal Mount Pleasant, SC... where my history-buff husband knows more than the plaques on display, and tells me all about war machinery I wish didn't even exist.

I have finally learned, after THIS rather mediocre attempt at historical photography, to take photos of the informational plaques as well... so when it comes time to blog about it, I will at least have some clue of what the photos are.

Admittedly, I am usually rather lukewarm about this kinda stuff, and then I always end up immensely enjoying it and getting into the whole historic vibe, deep in imagination about what it was like to live at sea. My grandfather served on the USS Arkansas (more about which in due course), and he talked about sailing the high seas, although not always in the best of terms.



We last visited Patriots Point in 1993 (as I briefly mentioned here, when I stupidly mixed up the cruiser Yorktown and the USS Yorktown), and I can honestly report that my ability to climb steep, skinny steps has most definitely declined in 20 years. In fact, we didn't even notice how steep/skinny the steps were before, and now we are like... yighhhh! In fact, I declined some of the more narrow passages and exited the USS Clamagore submarine altogether after a few photos, as claustrophobia beckoned. (I can't imagine how Jimmy Carter or anybody else ever lived in one of those things!!!)


As always, you can click all photos to enlarge. Hope you find at least something you enjoy!

~*~

First up, you cross the purty and awesome Ravenel bridge, aka the Cooper River bridge... yes, named after THOSE Ravenels. This includes famous ex-SC treasurer/world-class cokehead Thomas Ravenel, who was arrested over the summer for drunken driving up in the Hamptons. Despite this, Ravenel will be the star of a spanking new reality show called SOUTHERN CHARM.

When you're poor, you go to jail, directly to jail, do not pass GO... but when you're rich, you get to be on BRAVO network. Moral of the story: being rich means never having to say you're sorry and having very cool, big-ass bridges named after your family!

First photos, what it looks like when you are ON it, then from afar.



~*~

Welcome to Charleston Harbor and Patriots Point! Meet the star of our tour, the USS YORKTOWN, the aircraft carrier that kicked all kinds of ass during the WWII Battle of Midway. (She was known as "The Fighting Lady"--also the name of the famous propaganda film about her.)

The smaller ship next to it (last photo) is the USS Laffey, a destroyer. The Laffey was known as "The Ship that Would not Die" at the Battle of Okinawa, where she was hit with 4 bombs and 6 kamikazes and stayed afloat.





The Yorktown is stuffed with antique war machinery and military memorabilia. I tried to match up the machinery with the correct plaque. Yes, that poster really does say (at bottom) "Get em up for your navy!" (I knew you'd never believe me unless I had the photo to prove it.)




~*~

Self-explanatory...that last photo is a kamikaze aircraft, which is surprisingly small. I'd be scared to death to fly in that flimsy plane, but I guess by then, fear wasn't exactly an issue, and well beside the point. (And as tiny as it was, you certainly wouldn't want to see one of those things headed straight for you.)




~*~

I was thrilled to see the FRIENDSHIP 7 on display at the Yorktown!

It's SO itty-bitty... again, you just shake your head: seriously?!? David Bowie's famous lyric, "sitting in a tin can/far above the world" comes to mind. I would be utterly terrified! John Glenn probably didn't even break a sweat. (IMPORTANT CINEMATIC NOTE: I highly recommend the excellent and entertaining movie, THE RIGHT STUFF, to any young folks who have never seen it. It deserved much wider fame, but Tom Wolfe's irony probably kept it from becoming an iconic American film. It's long, but well worth your time.)

The first two photos below are the interior of the Friendship 7, which is way smaller than a porta-potty.




~*~

Assorted photos from the Yorktown... Doolittle Raid map, torpedo room... and see those skinny, steep steps? Helm (Sulu), Captain's deck (Kirk), engineering (Scotty) and operating room (Dr McCoy).



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Living arrangements: a bit close for comfort. I think the latrine (boys only!) is aboard the Laffey. And if you weren't Christian, well, tough shit. No other religious symbols displayed anywhere onboard.



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As stated above, my grandfather served aboard the USS Arkansas. Basically, he wanted to get out of West Virginia and lied about his age (16) to enlist, at a time when lying about one's age was relatively easy to do and virtually impossible to check. By my estimation, this was circa 1925. He became extremely seasick, homesick, claustrophobic and all the rest of it... and the first chance he got, off he went. He stayed gone for awhile--I never did find out how long he was AWOL from the Navy.

Upon his return (he DID like the money, after all), they took him to the brig. Accounts vary, but he was there between 3-6 months. So, I took photos of the brig, that nasty place he never talked about.

Looks pretty unpleasant; speaking of claustrophobia, that last one was taken with my lens inside the cell. Not too much room. :(

My poor granddaddy... no wonder he never talked to us about it.



~*~


Assorted stuff, including enlistment posters... and in the last photo, what do you suppose the airplane-art meant? (LOL)




~*~


Here is where I got MY advanced case of claustrophobia, aboard the USS Clamagore submarine... Second photo: they actually slept right under the torpedoes. (I assume they all died of radiation poisoning if they managed to survive the war.)

The passageways were very narrow, and I took photos of all of them.



~*~

I hope you have enjoyed your tour!