[The Daily Caller] Excerpt:
The former NBA all-star, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks and L.A. Lakers from 1969 to 1989, has no sympathy for Sterling. But he is bothered by everyone acting so surprised, noting that the NBA owner has said offensive comments in the past and has been sued over both housing and employment discrimination.
"We did nothing," Abdul-Jabbar noted. "Suddenly he says he doesn't want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn't we have all called for his resignation back then?"
#2
Forget the tawdry details and circumstances, they can be found nearly everywhere. Sterling's situation is only news because he's lived a financially successful life and has accumulated great wealth. What makes this story rich is that it isn't a story about an old man, his foibles and shortcomings. This story is about the lust for money and an endless line of greedy vultures.
#3
As long as the indulgences were duly paid, the wickedness of the prince is overlooked.
Any fundamental difference than other princes of money and power who advocate one set of rules for the peasants and a separate set of rules for themselves?
#4
He paid his indulgences but made the worst mistake possible. Racist comments during a slow news cycle (or one in which some folks are looking for alternate stories).
#6
Later in the year, when it all gets quite and we worry about the election Sep/Oct. Mr. Magic Johnson will buy this team, The Clippers, at a bargain basement price of say 350/400 million. That is what all this shit is about. The Ex Mrs. Sterling will get her cut, as will the Mistress. Mr. Sterling(yeah he's a dick) is not going to see 90 so who cares EH.
#7
the mistress should be prosecuted. In CA - you can't record without the knowledge of both sides. Although, she gets the mexican/black racial disposition, so nothing criminal, but all Sterlings' financial losses related to the illegal recordings should be pinned on her - making her poor for a looooong time.
N.B.: I hate Sterling for being a general dickhead, and moving the Clippers from San Diego. The rest is gravy
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2014 20:33 Comments ||
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#8
I think Sterling is getting screwed by the NBA. And by his plastic girlfriend. Doesn't matter that he's also an ass. I shall boycott attending, or even watching, any NBA games (of course I would prefer the dental crown work I'm getting in two days to the NBA anyway...)
WaPo's E.J. Dionne demonstrates why the gun control lobby is headed to the ash heap of history...
Have we gone stark raving mad? Who's this 'we'...
The question is brought to mind by the new gun law signed last week in Georgia by Gov. Nathan Deal. You might have thought that since the United States couldn't possibly have more permissive firearms laws than it does now, nothing more could be done to coddle the gun lobby and tip the balance of our statutes away from law enforcement. Alas, you would be wrong. If you check, gun laws being passed are undoing restrictive gun laws in the past. But you didn't...
The creativity of the National Rifle Association and other organizations devoted to establishing conditions in which every man, woman and child in our nation will have to be armed is awe inspiring. Where imagination is concerned, the best absurdist artists and writers have nothing on the NRA. No wonder Stephen Colbert has decided to move on from the realm of satire. When parody becomes reality, the challenges facing even a comedian of his talents can become insurmountable. Dionne forgets the NRA is supported by many millions of dues-paying members and a lot of others who do not pay but support the cause of liberty. Those folks do not want to be shackled from buying, owning and carrying a firearm. And the fact is that gun control by its very definition is parody. The NRA was formed because Democrats were passing restrictive gun laws. In the 1870s. In the South. To disarm blacks who were standing up for themselves against the KKK. I can't understand why Mr. Dionne didn't mention that...
You might not have thought that the inability of people to pack while praying was a big problem. Georgia's political leaders think otherwise, so the new law allows people to carry guns in their houses of worship. True, congregations can set their own rules, but some pastors wonder about the confusion this provision will create, and those who would keep their sanctuaries gun-free may worry about being branded as liberal elitists. Maybe the Georgia Legislature will help them by requiring a rewrite of the Scriptures. "Blessed are the peacemakers" can become "Blessed are the gun owners." Peace can't be made by firing up the bong and getting into casual conversations with armed and hostile enemies, E.J. It is made by individuals who are armed and who are prepared to use them.
You will also be able to tote weapons into bars and their parking facilities if the bar grants you permission. I can't wait to see the next beer ad depicting a gunfight over who pays for the next round. Dionne's idea of sarcasm...
Georgia thinks you should be able to take guns into government buildings that don't have screening devices or security guards. Second Amendment enthusiasts tend not to like tax increases, but as The Associated Press reported, the city of Vienna, Ga., (pop. 3,841) would have to shell out about $60,000 a year to increase security at city buildings. "Do we raise taxes to provide the police protection or do we take the risk of potential injury to our public?" asked Mayor Pro Tem Beth English, who also is president of the Georgia Municipal Association. Too bad if this gun lobby subsidy comes out of the school budget.
Oh yes, and while conservatives claim to hate the centralization of power, this law wipes out a series of local gun regulations. The gun supremacists just don't trust those pesky local elected officials. Conservatives know that centralization of some power, i.e. only those granted by the Constitution are baked into the Constitution itself. Those powers not expressed in the Constitution are granted to individuals and to the several states It's right there in black ink.
People with a gun license who try to carry a weapon onto an airplane get a nice break under this bill. If they're caught with a gun at a security checkpoint, nothing happens as long as they leave the area. Try, try again. Watch out if you connect through Atlanta. Airport security, like our firearms laws in their present state are draconian and unnecessary. Georgia's law is a tiny step into undoing the civil liberties overreach by the federal government.
And law and order goes out the window. As Niraj Chokshi noted in The Washington Post, this statute gets rid of state requirements that firearms dealers maintain records of sales and purchases. Databases on license holders that span multiple jurisdictions are banned. Those who commit gun crimes must be chuckling, "Can you find me now?" Good for Georgia. Requiring firearms dealers to keep records of purchases is de facto registration. Please note that Dionne thinks that every criminal will buy a gun through a firearms dealer, which is still required to conduct a federal background check for every purchase. That part of our national guns law have not, regrettably changed.
Nothing better reveals the utter irrationality of our politics for the whole world to see than this madness about guns -- and no issue better demonstrates how deeply divided our nation is by region, ideology and party. Our politics are irrational because half the country thinks that imposing laws on the other half brings people together when in fact it just destroys individual liberties.
The New York Times found that in the 12 months after the Sandy Hook shootings, 39 laws were enacted tightening gun restrictions; 25 were passed by state governments under full Democratic control. Seventy laws were passed loosening gun restrictions, 49 of them in Republican-controlled states. According to The Wall Street Journal, 21 states strengthened firearms restrictions in 2013, and 20 weakened them. Statistics, blah, blah, blah...
And how many of those stricter laws were subsequently found to be either unenforcible or blatantly unconstitutional? Statistics have no meaning without a broader perspective, though we don't expect the expensively trained journalists at the self-proclaimed newspaper of record to grasp that concept.
Nowhere else in the world do the laws on firearms become the playthings of politicians and lobbyists intent on manufacturing cultural conflict. Nowhere else do elected officials turn the matter of taking a gun to church into a searing ideological question. But then, guns are not a religion in most countries. E.J. Dionne wouldn't know religious liberty if it flicked a booger at him.
The program for the NRA's annual convention, held over the weekend in Indianapolis, listed sessions on "Survival Mindset: Are You Prepared?"; "Creating a Constitutionally Centered Estate Plan"; and "Refuse to be a Victim."
Party on, guys. I can't wait for you to figure out the ways in which even Georgia's law is too liberal. In the meantime, the nation's unarmed majority might ponder how badly we have failed in asserting our own rights. Stop becoming an unarmed majority and start to be an armed majority. It's easy! Buy a gun!
Is it the majority that's unarmed? Gun sales have been setting records since 2008 or so, and anecdotally the sales do not seem to be restricted to the right side of the aisle.
#1
When the magic government paychecks stop being able to be cashed and the EBT cards no longer function - as must inevitably happen within the next decade - the heretofore peaceful people living a few blocks from Dionne and the rest of his fellow traveler urban leftist maggotry will take out their interrupted entitlement on the most proximal financially comfortable people they can find.
Those would be NPR listening pseudointellectual leftists like Dionne and his fellow travelers.
The cops will be busy defending themselves and not him. It's the real reason (not "compassion" or "fairness" or "justice") why people like him don't want the welfare state and the blue state model government - which pacify the giant public workforce and the welfare class with more money than they deserve - to end. "Those people" are safely pacified and Dionne and his ilk can have their tony safe urban playground where they can loftily deem as "untermensch" believers in Christianity or limited government.
That he doesn't see the truth of this is - and that he doesn't understand the ultimate need he and his will have to defend themselves from the hordes up the block - is proof that the guy really isn't that bright after all. The laws making guns available will be fought, up to the point that the hordes are attacking. Then it will be too late.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/29/2014 10:16 Comments ||
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#2
the nation's unarmed majority might ponder how badly we have failed in asserting our own rights.
The right to not buy a firearm is fully intact. I be ole EJ doesn't even realize that his statement defines the importance of 2A and why it was written into the BoR. Unarmed people cannot assert their rights. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who do not.
#3
Gun Supremacists? Jeez, E.J. What does that even mean?
The gun supremacists just don't trust those pesky local elected officials.
If you read the Constitution, old and crufty as it is, one of the big themes is governments can't be trusted with power. Federal governments, state governments, and yes, even local governments. They all tend towards greedy and grasping.
The world's leading automotive maker will follow the lead of its competitors and other large businesses, and leave California for better business climates elsewhere. Toyota had its US headquarters in Torrance for more than three decades, but now nearly 5,000 jobs will shift to Texas. So long, sionara, audios.
Toyota Motor Corp. plans to move large numbers of jobs from its sales and marketing headquarters in Torrance to suburban Dallas, according to a person familiar with the automaker's plans. No more, "California here I come!" We're gonna miss ya. Not long, but soon.
The automaker won't be the first big company Texas has poached from California. It won't be the last, either.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. said in February that it was relocating from Los Angeles to Houston, making it one of around 60 companies that have moved to Texas since July 2012, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. It costs too much to grease the skids in Califailedya.
Perry last month visited the California to recruit companies. The group Americans for Economic Freedom also recently launched a $300,000 advertising campaign in which Perry contends 50 California companies have plans to expand or relocate in Texas because it offers a better business climate.
Like these other companies, Toyota could also save money in an environment of lower business taxes, real estate prices and cost of living.
Torrance mayor Frank Scotto said he was blindsided by the decision, although he knew Toyota planned a major announcement for today. "Out of the blue, it was. I wuz gobsmacked!"
Scotto also told the LA Times that the move made sense. Higher workers-comp and liability requirements in California, not to mention higher taxes, make California an unattractive destination for business creation and expansion. It's gotten so bad that the money saved in those areas can pay for a massive move of a national headquarters -- and more and more companies are beginning to see the cost benefits of such a move out of the Golden State.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/29/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
If only Chevron had seen the light, back when Houston real estate was cheap and San Fran already dear (the Oakland World Series Earthquake time frame) - I might have actually had a career.
#1
In which they respond to his left-wing propaganda with some anti-american left-wing propaganda. I guess it's what people have for a religion intead of God these days.
(And I'm still tired of all the people that are shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, to discover that Kerry is the same loathsome person he was in the 70's.)
#2
If they don't know by now, they're willingly Blind.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/29/2014 14:29 Comments ||
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#3
Israel's big shame is that what they didn't do after the 67 war when the Arabs tried to exterminate them and the world was in shock on on their side.
They should have shoved the Arabs out of the contested lands and into Jordan, Egypt and Syria. They'd have been villified but with understanding. Instead they did the right thing and the world soon forgot and they are still villified..
[WSJ] As a group, the nearly 880,000 licensed physicians in the U.S. are, for the most part, well-intentioned. We strive to do our best even while we sometimes contend with unrealistic expectations. The demands are great, and many of our families pay a huge price for our not being around. We do the things we do because it is right and our patients expect us to.
So when do we say damn the mandates and requirements from bureaucrats who are not in the healing profession? When do we stand up and say we are not going to take it any more?
I don't know about other physicians but I am tired--tired of the mandates, tired of outside interference, tired of anything that unnecessarily interferes with the way I practice medicine. No other profession would put up with this kind of scrutiny and coercion from outside forces. The legal profession would not. The labor unions would not. We as physicians continue to plod along and take care of our patients while those on the outside continue to intrude and interfere with the practice of medicine.
We could change the paradigm. We could as a group elect not to take any insurance, not to accept Medicare--many doctors are already taking these steps--and not to roll over time and time again. We have let nearly everyone trespass on the practice of medicine. Are we better for it? Has it improved quality? Do we have more of a voice at the table or less? Are we as physicians happier or more disgruntled then two years ago? Five years ago? Ten years ago?
At 58, I'll likely be retired in 10 years along with most physicians of my generation. Once we're gone, who will speak up for our profession and the individual physician in the trenches? The politicians? Our medical societies? Our hospital administrators? I think not. Now is the time for physicians to say enough is enough.
Dr. Craviotto is an orthopedic surgeon in Santa Barbara, Calif., and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
#2
The abysmal track record of government involvement in nearly anything is quite clear. The current scandal with the Phoenix VA hospital should offer a peek behind the curtain. This entire exercise has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare. It's simply another government control mechanism and racketeering scheme.
#4
I see an IRS/FDA/OSHA audit in Dr. Craviotto's future
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2014 9:28 Comments ||
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#5
Dr. Craviotto does understand the Golden Rule: those who have the gold make the rules.
When we docs started taking insurance, the Blues, Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs, PPOs and managed care, we did all this to ourselves and have no one to blame.
My dentist is smarter than we docs. He takes no insurance plans whatsoever. Cash and drill. Of course that's a limited practice compared to medicine, but you get the idea that a lot of family medicine could be done the same way.
There is no situation in America, from 1788 to now, in which the federal government gave money to others without exerting control. It simply doesn't happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2014 13:08 Comments ||
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Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/29/2014 5:36 Comments ||
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#2
So, why on earth, do political leaders, throughout history, make the same mistake over and over?
One - they really don't know history. It's often tired and tedious stuff like memorizing math tables. So, they opt for Cliff notes written first by failed middle class types to rationalize their own feelings and emotions (see-Marx), followed by zealots who buy into the fantasy vision because of their short comings and failures. Thus the never ending cycle of failure trying the same thing instead of reexamining the false premise of their religious beliefs.
Two - a fundamental belief that being 'modern' exempts one and one's society from the record of human behavior. The sense of superiority to those who went before them.
Three - believing that they just need to find the 'right man'. In the concentration and consolidation of power, there never can be a 'right man'. Man is a hierarchical creature by nature. You have to accept the inefficiencies and friction resultant from the decentralization of power. Consequently, republics are rare systems that are sustainable.
1. No, they really don't know history. History, math, and authentic science are true intellectualism and almost without exception the left is composed of pseudointellectuals. The few STEM leftists out there are either unimaths good at one thing and nothing else or are publicly funded and afraid of losing income stream.
2. The "Year Zero" myth has been a part of the left's core since the French Revolution. All of human wisdom that came before is useless and government fiat will alter human nature to the point of the "in crowd's" utopian vision.
3. This is postmodernism. The narrative is all that matters. All one need do is cherry pick the facts - or humans - that will support the narrative's continued existence.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/29/2014 8:37 Comments ||
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#4
History also repeats because human nature does not change. The myth of man's perfectibility.
I like to consolidate these points as The arrogance of the now.
Everything that comes before now (year Zero is always today) is either ignored or derided as the ravings of the unenlightened. There are few times and fewer people that truly get it. That all we are and have is built on the work of the giants of the past.
Unfortunately, STEMs don't apply their analytic side to history & government and recognize that people are not a single group which conforms to mathematical principles.
Many great scientists have had some really ugly socio/political ideas.
5.5 Government identifies former regimes as oppressive, unfair, and releases imprisoned convicts. Former convicts exacerbate local law enforcement and hasten federal government intervention and control.
#7
Fair enough, Alan C. Biology is, after all, a science of ranges, not exactitude a like calculus or physics.
I did try to address that in my post, though.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/29/2014 10:00 Comments ||
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#8
NMU, your comments DID include the intimation and I was trying in my poor way to build on that.
As my education is in Political Science (now THERE'S an oxymoron) and my vocation was in software I am always drawn to a quote one of my first bosses liked to use with users.
When it was pointed out to him, that "This system isn't rocket science." His reply was invariably "No, it's much harder than that; it involves people."
People never have and never will conform to the mathematics. Statistics can't be applied to individuals despite the New Communist Man or any other utopian ideal.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/29/2014 13:22 Comments ||
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#10
Except, of course, for The Foundation series is by Isaac Asimov.
The premise of the series is a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept of mathematical sociology (analogous to mathematical physics). Using the laws of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone on a small scale. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (equal to the population of the galaxy, which has a population of quadrillions of humans, inhabiting millions of star systems). The larger the number, the more predictable is the future.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/29/2014 13:25 Comments ||
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#11
Bobby,
Asimov conforms completely to my point. Given the fact that I read the Foundation series 40 years ago it probably got me thinking along these lines.
Statistics CAN, if done well, be quite predictive of mass action among people or particles. What it doesn't do well at all is predict the actions of an individual.
As Asimov points out, the smaller the entity that you are trying to predict the greater the error rate. Given that individual actions can trigger mass actions you wind up with a great exercise in 20/20 hind-sight.
Unfortunately, the math that works best for individuals is quantum mechanics and pure randomness.
Of course the main problem with statistics is honesty. Whether you attribute it to Twain or Disraeli the quote always holds There are three types of lie: Lies, damned lies, and statistics a fact constantly demonstrated by politicians and the climate change hucksters.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WSJ] As a group, the nearly 880,000 licensed physicians in the U.S. are, for the most part, well-intentioned. We strive to do our best even while we sometimes contend with unrealistic expectations. The demands are great, and many of our families pay a huge price for our not being around. We do the things we do because it is right and our patients expect us to.
