Moderated Donald Sterling, Owner of the Clippers, is Racist

[ABC10]

I didn't ask you to make a donation.

I suggested stakes that would cost you exactly nothing.

Someone who argues honestly would have no problem accepting such a simple wager.

Nope, not stakes or a wager. In fact, wrote not to put money on that prediction. I'll go with the donation of my choice, although someone did suggest a donation to Sabrina's Fund earlier. Rather support Black Conservative candidates.

 

[johnny karate]

Nope, I'll go with the donation of my choice, although someone suggested Sabrina's Fund earlier. Rather support Black Conservative candidates.

You do that. But it has nothing to do with the wager I offered.

Do you need me to repeat it using smaller words?

 

[Unabogie]

Even better.

How about a gentlemen's side bet between you and me? I predict ABC10 chickens out.

Too late!

 

[Nova Land]

So looking forward to Monday to see how Big Ed and the other MSNBC dopes approach this.

While you're waiting to see how MSNBC handles this story you can read responses from supporters of the Democratic Party right now.

The purpose of the web site Daily Kos is "to elect more and better Democrats". Those are the kind of folks you're interested in seeing how they react to and cover this story, right?

Egberto Willies (a front-pager -- i.e. someone who represents Daily Kos, as opposed to someone who is simply a registered user) posted a diary tonight, LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling & girlfriend V. Stiviano feud shows irrationality of racism. It unequivocally condemns the racism of Sterling's remarks and offers no defense of or apology for Sterling having made them:

If anyone doubts that racism is a serious mental disease, the audio above is probative. It shows how irrational racism is. Donald Sterling is the owner of the LA Clippers. Over 70% of the LA Clipper players are black. 45% of the NBA audience is black. Donald Sterling’s girlfriend V. Stiviano is half black.

Donald Sterling’s financial interests, romantic interests, and employments interests intersect intimately with black people. Yet because of his upbringing, he wants his girlfriend to stay away from blacks. Specifically, he wants her to stay away from blacks in public where his friends may see. He does not want his girlfriend to bring black people to the LA Clipper games...

Guys like Cliven Bundy who continue to put their foot in their mouths and Donald Sterling seem so dated. They continue to live in a world where the irrationality of racism still lives but seems out of place. It is evident they are fighting with a reality they are unable to run from. They continue to fight a reality they refuse to cope with or address head on.

Reaction to this diary from registered users of Daily Kos has also been pretty clear: they've put this diary on the recommended list (i.e. they've chosen this diary as one they think is well-written and which they think addressed important matters they hope other users of the site will read and comment on).

The Daily Kos site was down quite a while for maintenance this evening after the diary posted, so there aren't many comments posted yet. There should be considerably more soon, now that the site is back up and running. But no one in the comments so far is attenpting to defend Sterling, nor do I expect any non-troll to attempt to do so.

 

[Unabogie]

While you're waiting to see how MSNBC handles this story you can read responses from supporters of the Democratic Party right now.

The purpose of the web site Daily Kos is "to elect more and better Democrats". Those are the kind of folks you're interested in seeing how they react to and cover this story, right?

Egberto Willies (a front-pager -- i.e. someone who represents Daily Kos, as opposed to someone who is simply a registered user) posted a diary tonight, LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling & girlfriend V. Stiviano feud shows irrationality of racism. It unequivocally condemns the racism of Sterling's remarks and offers no defense of or apology for Sterling having made them:




Reaction to this diary from registered users of Daily Kos has also been pretty clear: they've put this diary on the recommended list (i.e. they've chosen this diary as one they think is well-written and which they think addressed important matters they hope other users of the site will read and comment on).

The Daily Kos site was down quite a while for maintenance this evening after the diary posted, so there aren't many comments posted yet. There should be considerably more soon, now that the site is back up and running. But no one in the comments so far is attenpting to defend Sterling, nor do I expect any non-troll to attempt to do so.

But Sterling may have donated to a Democrat 22 years ago, so Cliven is off the hook! Try and keep up.

 

[Cain]

How was her driving?

That's something a lot of people ask. Eek, her driving was... not great (and let's leave it at that).

 

[Mumbles]

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. So your take is that Clive[sic] was saying nice things about blacks when he lamented that they don't learn to pick cotton no more and mighta been better off as slaves?

That's...very interesting.

Personally, I'd much rather sit around than live under threat of torture for any minor mistake, or simply for amusement, at a place where I'm forced to work for bad food and used clothing, and not allowed to learn to read, and my movements are heavily restricted, and my family could be split up with impunity. I'm assuming ABC10 enjoys such work conditions, however.

 

[Nova Land]

... Sterling is a white racist Democrat fundraiser and supporte[r] ...

... Sterling is a rich Democratic fundraise[r], donor and supporter scheduled to get a life time achievement award from the NAACP ...

... Sterling is a rich white Dem racist.

[evidence for these claims] can be found right now at the Conservative Tree House...

All right. That appears to be this article. Here's the entirety of the evidence Conservative Treehouse provides for your claims:

Donald Sterling is a Democrat Fundraiser , and a democrat supporter/donor.

Let's look at the first claim, that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser. To support this claim Conservative Treehouse cites (but is careful not to quote from) this 2011 article posted at a basketball site listing the political contributions of several dozen prominent basketball figures. Here's the entirety of the article's listing for Sterling:

Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers

Records show Sterling has donated just $6,000, with no activity since the early 1990s. He supported Gray Davis early in his career, as well as Bill Bradley.

So their citation (which shows that Sterling was a contributor to Democrats 20-some years ago) does not match their claim (that Sterling is now or was then a Democratic fundraiser).

The citation for the claim that Sterling is a "democrat contributor" is a little more indirect. Conservative Treehouse cites The Daily Caller, who in turn cite something called LittleSis, which in turn says they got their information from OpenSecrets.org.

According to LittleSis, Sterling made 3 political contributions. These occurred in the years 1990 and 1992. LittleSis didn't bother to specify which contributions were made in which years so The Daily Caller and the Conservative Treehouse were unable to provide that information in their write-ups. But they report the contributions were: $2000 to Bill Bradley, $1000 to Patrick Leahy, and $1,000 to Gray Davis.

I can do better than that. (And did.) Instead of relying on Conservative Treehouse, The Daily Caller, or LittleSis, I went directly to OpenSecrets and plugged in a search for Donald Sterling.

The OpenSource records show a $1,000 donation to Bill Bradley on Nov. 30, 1989, another $1,000 donation to Bill Bradley on November 30, 1989 [Hmmm!], a $1,000 donation to Patrick Leahy on September 9, 1991, and a $1,000 donation to Gray Davis on September 27, 1991.

That adds up to $4,000 (assuming the two identical Bradley donations are actually separate donations and not the same donation turning up twice).

Sterling evidently gave nothing to Democrats during the entirety of the Clinton years. He gave nothing to Democrats during the entirety of the W. years. And he has given nothing to Democrats during the entirety of the Obama years. Not exactly a major Democratic contributor or Democratic fundraiser, then.

So to recap:

1. The claim that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser appears entirely unsupported.

2. The claim that Sterling is a Democratic contributor appears also to be false; a correct claim would be that 22 years ago Sterling was a Democratic contributor. (Since then he has been even-handed in donating an identical amount of $0 to both parties).

3. As for the claim that Sterling is a Democrat, the Conservative Treehouse article you cited does not make that claim. (The Daily Caller article which the Conservative Treehouse cites also fails to make that claim.)

It's quite possible Sterling was registered as a Democrat when he made his last recorded contribution to a Democrat in 1991. It's quite possible he is one now. But your cited source provides no evidence to support that claim. Do you have any evidence to support the assertion that Sterling is a Democrat, or is this simply something you assumed?

 

[LTC8K6]

https://movies.yahoo.com/news/clipp...tributed-owner-donald-sterling-230000577.html

The Clippers team said in a statement that the woman on the tape is “the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.’”

“Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings,” the statement says. “It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life. He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them. He is also upset and apologizes for sentiments attributed to him about Earvin Johnson. He has long considered Magic a friend and has only the utmost respect and admiration for him — both in terms of who he is and what he has achieved. We are investigating this matter.”
...
"Sterling was reportedly supposed to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Los Angeles NAACP’s 100th anniversary event on May 15."

 

[Caper]

It's a weird and fascinating racisim.

 

[Puppycow]

“Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings,” the statement says.

That would seem to be a non-denial denial. "I said it but I didn't mean it"?
Also noteworthy is that it comes from the Clippers organization, not Sterling himself.

 

[Nova Land]

About Sterling as a Democratic fundraiser: this appears like it may be a good example of how misinformation gets spread when one relies on an echo chamber for information.

Sterling is a major fundraiser. But he's not a Democratic Party fundraiser -- he's a charity fundraiser.

Sterling heads a charitable foundation which has the intriguingly cryptic name The Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation.

Information about the foundation can be found here. Apparently it takes in about $380,000 a year and disperses about $340,000 of that to various causes. (The amount paid compensating officers is $0.)

Aha! Supporting various causes! ...

But according to the section titled Statements Regarding Activities:

Did the foundation attempt to influence any legislation, or did it participate/intervene in any political campaign? No
...
Did the foundation carry on propaganda, or otherwise attempt to influence legislation? No
Did the foundation influence the outcome of any specific public election, or carry on, directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive? No
...
Did the foundation provide for any purpose other than a religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational one? No

If you're interested in verifying what kinds of groups received grants from the foundation, you can find 54 of the 2013 recipients listed in this article on the NBA site. The recipients include Goodwill Industries, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Society, American Lung Association, American Red Cross, Braille Institute, United Way, United Negro College Fund, Salvation Army, Special Olympics, and numerous other Democratic Party front groups. (Did I mention that ultra-liberal borderline-atheist Pepperdine University iappears to be one of the grant recipients?)

 

[Puppycow]

What exactly did he do to merit a "lifetime achievement award" from the NAACP I wonder?

I think the NAACP has some 'splainin to do.

 

[Mumbles]

All right. That appears to be this article. Here's the entirety of the evidence Conservative Treehouse provides for your claims:

Frankly, I'm not taking those howling bigots seriously in any case.

Let's look at the first claim, that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser.

Let's not. We've seen racist democrats before, and frankly, cheating on your spouse isn't cool in any case (note that an open relationship is not, in my view, cheating).

 

[Darth Rotor]

Mumbles, thanks for that correction, I hadn't caught that detail when I was soaking in some of the related story on ESPN.

Nova Land:
He's a rich guy.
Has a charitable foundation.
Cheats on his wife
Seems to have a visceral objection to "minorities" in his private life (I wonder if he refers to black as "Schwarzers" in his discussions at home ... )
Interesting background. I suspect he ran into some discrimination when he began his career as a lawyer. Back in the 50's it was not rare to be blackballed / barred / discriminated against when seeking employment while Jewish.

Starting in 1961, Sterling began to make his career as a divorce and personal injury attorney. Having no chance with for most prestigious law firms, he built an independent practice and claimed that he tried 10,000 cases. His biggest ventures were in real estate, which he began when he purchased a 26-unit apartment building in Beverly Hills.

Not sure if the bolded part was due to high competition among law school grads, him being Jewish, or whatever. I'll take a stab at the latter.

How the worm turns.

 

[Mumbles]

Mumbles, thanks for that correction, I hadn't caught that detail when I was soaking in some of the related story on ESPN.

No, they probably just never mentioned that part, so there was nothing for you to miss.

I only know because I follow the Brooklyn chapter President on Twitter (@ljoywilliams, for those who know how to use that and care to do the work), and she pointed to the Los Angeles chapter that gave him the first award, and planned to give him the second.

Which makes some sense, since the clippers are from LA, but now...not so much...

 

[Dr. Imago]

Other than that, this comes down to whether or not you believe hate speech is still free speech.

Strawman.

No one has suggested any government action against him, so no one is suggesting he is not free to say it.

Wait just a minute...

Define "free to say it."

I think you're confusing a constitutional right with the opprobrium and censure that is going to personally befall this man, the former of which I was not referring to and latter of which is not a strawman.

~Dr. Imago

 

[Stellafane]

...The Clippers team said in a statement that the woman on the tape is “the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.’"

I'm missing something here -- isn't "the woman on the tape" Stiviano herself? If so, does this mean Sterling's girlfriend stands accused of embezzling $1.8 mil from him? OK, so I'll admit that when I perused pics of the two of them together I never got the strong impression that their "relationship" was exactly built on mutual love, respect, and attraction; and that maybe -- just maybe -- there was a certain element of monetary wealth being transferred from one party to the other, in some form. But stealing? And she's still described as his girlfriend, not ex-girlfriend? The plot thickens...

 

[Nova Land]

Let's look at the first claim ...

Let's not.

Feel free to ignore it if you wish. But I believe that false claims based on spurious evidence are always worth exposing.

Instead of offering honest evidence for the claim that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser, ABC10 provided a link to The Conservative Treehouse. The Conservative Treehouse did indeed claim that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser -- and in supposed support of this claim they provided a link to another site, realgm.com. But the material posted at realgm said no such thing.

That's dishonest. But it's the kind of dishonesty which fools a lot of people -- as witnessed by the number of folks like ABC10 who are parroting claims that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser and a Democratic bundler.

I don't care much whether Sterling is a Democrat or not. (The key point is that he's a racist and that his racism should be condemned regardless of whether he's a Democrat or a Republican, religious or atheist, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, Dr. Oz fan or Dr. Oz hater.)

But I do care about people using dishonest methods when carrying on discussions. That makes rational discussion more difficult, and makes it harder to determine what the truth of a matter is. Therefore I think it's worth exposing such dishonesty when it occurs.

You and I may know that Conservative Treehouse is an unreliable and dishonest source, but not everyone does. I think it was worth my time last night providing folks with one more example of it. My hope is that ABC10 will learn to check a bit more carefully before passing on unsubtantiated claims and that ABC10 will learn more about how to differentiate between honest sources which accurately quote their source material and dishonest ones which pretend to be providing evidence to support their claims when they actually aren't.

 

[Stellafane]

Feel free to ignore it if you wish. But I believe that false claims based on spurious evidence are always worth exposing.

Instead of offering honest evidence for the claim that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser, ABC10 provided a link to The Conservative Treehouse. The Conservative Treehouse did indeed claim that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser -- and in supposed support of this claim they provided a link to another site, realgm.com. But the material posted at realgm said no such thing.

That's dishonest. But it's the kind of dishonesty which fools a lot of people -- as witnessed by the number of folks like ABC10 who are parroting claims that Sterling is a Democratic fundraiser and a Democratic bundler.

I don't care much whether Sterling is a Democrat or not. (The key point is that he's a racist and that his racism should be condemned regardless of whether he's a Democrat or a Republican, religious or atheist, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, Dr. Oz fan or Dr. Oz hater.)

But I do care about people using dishonest methods when carrying on discussions. That makes rational discussion more difficult, and makes it harder to determine what the truth of a matter is. Therefore I think it's worth exposing such dishonesty when it occurs.

You and I may know that Conservative Treehouse is an unreliable and dishonest source, but not everyone does. I think it was worth my time last night providing folks with one more example of it. My hope is that ABC10 will learn to check a bit more carefully before passing on unsubtantiated claims and that ABC10 will learn more about how to differentiate between honest sources which accurately quote their source material and dishonest ones which pretend to be providing evidence to support their claims when they actually aren't.

For what it's worth, I thank you for putting in the effort, which I found quite informative. (For example, I'm guessing that Sterling's contribution(s) to Bradley may have been based less on ideology and more on Bradley's background in the NBA.) In my view, you have completely evaporated what was already a pretty weak and logically tortured argument, one that hopefully will no longer get tossed around at every opportunity as if it means something.