Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

You cannot shame the shameless.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

So many bastards, so little time.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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191Comments

  2. 2.

    the Conster

    I won’t make up my mind about Sterling until reasonable Cokie Roberts and that nice polite George Will weigh in.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Um, exqueeze me, but how in any way is Donald Stirling “of the left”? As has been pointed out previously, the last time he made a political contribution to any party was over 20 years ago.

    But we’re talking about wingtards, so logic and facts don’t enter into it. After all, Robert Byrd, yadda yadda yadda.

    Oh…since he’s not actively supporting the Tea Party, that MUST mean he’s a lefitist!

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Noisemax strikes again!:

    Rand Paul: GOP Must Focus on Growth, Diversity to Win

    Sounds like more marketing adjustment. Policy reconsideration is right out.

  8. 8.

    shelly

    Hey, if Freepers can somehow insist that the KKK is a left-wing organization, anything is possible.

  9. 9.

    danielx

    Splendidly topical!

    Title of today’s piece in the Washington Post by Ed Rogers, Republican strategist, lobbyist, and all-round douchebag:

    The Insiders: Ignore the Bundy sideshow and focus on the issues

    Do Jeebus, and here I could have sworn a week ago that deadbeat-at-large Cliven Bundy and his defiance of guvmint debt collectors was totally the issue of the day.

    Question of the day – should this article fall under the heading of…

    a) nothing to see here, move along

    Or…

    b) ignore that teabagger behind the curtain!

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    My money is on Jonah Goldberg once he gets finished with his breakfast of cupcakes and twinkies.

  13. 13.

    Hawes

    Actually, I think Sterling IS the Left’s Cliven Bundy.

    I can just remember the other day, how Rachel Maddow had Sterling on her show to talk about the importance of wealth taxes. And then Barbara Boxer was just gushing over him when she was courtside with him.

    Exactly the same.

  17. 17.

    gene108

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Sounds like more marketing adjustment. Policy reconsideration is right out.

    You know, who else thought marketing adjustments would win people over?

    The U.S. auto industry in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

    Seems to be a very corporate mindset that PR can smooth over actual problems with the product.

  18. 18.

    danielx

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Like how we need to find some new way of polishing the GOP policy turd?

    Fixed.

    Why worry about finding a new way? The old etch-a-sketch-shake-shake-shake method seems to work well enough with average idiot voters; they sure as hell don’t seem to remember anything about that guy who sat in the Oval Office from 1/20/2001 to 1/19/2009. The only thing wingnut idiot voters are really upset about is seeing the cockroaches – that would be Republican leaders – scuttling for cover once Bundy let dear old Felix out of the bag. Hey, all the poor guy did was be honest, amirite?*

    *WTF did they expect? The guy’s a fuckin’ Mormon, and they only got around to admitting that black people are human beings in 1985 or something.

  22. 22.

    gnomedad

    Wingers use “liberal” as a synonym for “evil” with no explanation required. We’ll know they’ve really thrown Bundy under the bus when they start explaining that he’s “really a liberal”.

  24. 24.

    Cacti

    For any neo-confederate acquaintance who may wonder aloud if slavery was so bad after all, a quote from a man who lived free and lived as a slave in the antebellum era:

    “There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones – there may be slaves well-clothed, well-fed, and happy, as there surely are those half-clad, half-starved and miserable; nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one. Men may write fictions portraying lowly life as it is, or as it is not – may expatiate with owlish gravity upon the bliss of ignorance – discourse flippantly from arm chairs of the pleasures of slave life; but let them toil with him in the field – sleep with him in the cabin – feed with him on husks; let them behold him scourged, hunted, trampled on, and they will come back with another story in their mouths.”

    -Solomon Northup

  25. 25.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’m still more bothered by people rushing from all over the country to point guns at federal agents than I am that some old white guy said something racist. I suppose they’re related in that racism is at the heart of a lot of this, but the why is it the press is outraged over the words rather than the guns?

  29. 29.

    Steeplejack

    Somebody put Amir Khalid on suicide watch. Chelski just walked in a goal to make it 2-0 against Liverpool with only minutes to go in the match.

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    @Violet: Ah, but lifetime achievement in *what*? I’d say “Lifetime Achievement in Applied Assholism” award, for instance, would be well merited.

  32. 32.

    am

    I really find it bizarre that he had an interracial girlfriend, and was fine with her “feeding, f*cking” Magic… but not posing with him or other black men on Instagram?

    I have no idea what racism may or may not be in this guy’s heart, but this situation doesn’t entirely pass the smell test right now. Sounds like she was sleeping with two men at once, and one was hurt by it and said some pretty nasty things (calling it ‘racially insensitive’ would be _charitable_) that she recorded and released to TMZ in revenge for the $2M lawsuit.

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool are losing 2-0 at home to Chelsea and injury time is all but over. Fuck fuck fuck.

  34. 34.

    Cacti

    @am:

    I have no idea what’s in this guy’s heart, but this situation doesn’t entirely pass the smell test right now. Sounds like she was sleeping with two men at once, and one was hurt by it and said some pretty nasty stuff that she recorded and released to TMZ in revenge for the $2M lawsuit.

    Well, if he was hurt, that makes it all better then.

  35. 35.

    Suffern ACE

    @Steeplejack: Since Obama is in Malaysia Amir is probably busy preparing for the State Dinner with Obama, invited as the only Malaysian to comment on liberal us blogs. (The other Malaysians are usually at the Corner).

  37. 37.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    They’ve figured out they need to focus on job growths and appealing to minorities. Someone trots out to say that every couple of months. Then they either don’t do it, or they try and their attempt is something even more offensive than the regular contempt.

  38. 38.

    Violet

    @aimai: Seems like whoever was in charge of picking the honorees did no research. Sterling apparently has a history of racism. Even if it has been swept under the rug, it’s been known. Why choose that guy for your Lifetime Achievement award winner? There have to be some better people they could have picked.

  39. 39.

    geg6

    @am:

    Yeah, because no white supremacists ever had AA girlfriends. Ever.

    Just look at all those Southern plantation owners in the 1800s. They never soiled themselves by sleeping with their slaves. Amirite?

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @aimai: My thought was similar. From what I’ve read, the things Sterling said shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. Someone at the NAACP didn’t do their due diligence. To give an honor like that to a scumbag like is a travesty.

  42. 42.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @am:
    ‘Man Who Delivers Racist Rant Didn’t Mean It, Baby, Come Back, He Loves Her, And She Was Asking For It, She Makes Him So Mad Sometimes’? None of that makes what he said any less baldly racist, or makes it any less important for whites to see that racism is alive and well.

  43. 43.

    Violet

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    why is it the press is outraged over the words rather than the guns?

    The press can’t say anything bad about guns because the NRA will go apeshit.

  44. 44.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet: Well, apparently Sterling gives thousands of Clippers tickets to minority youth groups, which seems to be the main reason for honoring him.

  45. 45.

    Cacti

    @geg6:

    Just look at all those Southern plantation owners in the 1800s. They never soiled themselves by sleeping with their slaves. Amirite?

    And Sen. Strom “segregation forever” Thurmond never fathered a daughter from raping the black house help, no?

  46. 46.

    Violet

    @WaterGirl: Sterling was also honored by the NAACP in 2009. There are various accusations of his racism and sexism going back awhile. NAACP could have found that stuff easily.

  48. 48.

    Tiny Tim

    Wingers are weird. I didn’t see a single liberal anywhere post anything about this being about politics (except mocking the post-racial world of John Roberts). “This will make Republicans look bad if he’s a Republican” never occurred to me.

    I just thought “rich, horrible, racist, asshole.”

  49. 49.

    Suffern ACE

    @Frankensteinbeck: they could appeal to minorities by focusing on job growth. But then they’d have to stop looking at the minority problem as being somehow caused by the minorities themselves. That is the pivot they cannot make.

  51. 51.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Violet: Yep.

    This is what really gets me angry about this situation. Sure, Donald Sterling is a bigoted dirtbag, but everybody in the NBA–the players, the coaches, the owners, the talking heads on ESPN and that smug asshole Daniel Stern–knew that he was a bigoted dirtbag.

    Jesus. I mean, you didn’t need to be Neal DeGrasse Tyson to figure it out, y’know?

  52. 52.

    Cacti

    @Suffern ACE:

    they could appeal to minorities by focusing on job growth. But then they’d have to stop looking at the minority problem as being somehow caused by the minorities themselves. That is the pivot they cannot make.

    Cliven Bundy is the voter that the GOP has been courting nationally for the last 50 years. There aren’t any elected Republicans today who remember doing it any other way.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    Since this is an open thread, I’d just like to pat myself on the back for being so up and at ’em today. Laundry, check. Ham and bean soup assembled and bubbling away in the slow cooker, check. Light housework before our friend who does the heavy cleaning comes at 3pm, check. All I have left to do is shower, hit the grocery store for ice cream and fresh bread and take Koda for her run. A good morning all in all.

    And before anyone yells at me for being an elitist liberal for having a friend come and do my cleaning, she approached us. She needs the money and wouldn’t take a loan or charity. She is a wonderful person and I’d rather just give her money and hang out with her all afternoon, but she likes it this way and I’m happy to help and have her help.

  55. 55.

    Jordan Rules

    @Villago Delenda Est: Sterling is also a big self-promoter in Cali, likes to throw events to honor himself apparently. Somehow that probably fed into this combined with an apalling lack of research at that LA NAACP.

    AND the only thing he did was unload empty ass seats to his previously, consistently shitty team. Those kids prolly thought they were getting Lakers tickets too. LOL

  56. 56.

    scav

    The po-widdle rich boy with the nasty meanie girlfriend won’t exactly play either. He’s already signed over one house to a girlfriend in his past, wife sued to get it back and he’s calls the girlfriend a prostitute and in it for the money under oath. (Oh, and he there acknowleges that ‘maybe’ he was morally wrong. Didn’t tell his wife.) Which, irregardless of the motivations of the non-wives involved, shows a pattern of dropping largess and then whisking it back when bored (somehat by proxy, but he went along). Also, what sort of entitled prick calls up ‘ex’ girlfriends (to give him the benefit of the doubt) and orders them as to who they may or may not associate in public? Old white rich men, what am I thinking. Clear case of affluenza. His apologists are intriguing — wish they came with tattoos for better identification in a crowd.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @geg6:

    And before anyone yells at me for being an elitist liberal for having a friend come and do my cleaning,

    That’s not what makes you an “elitist liberal”, running with your dog does.

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet: That’s what is being offered up as a reason to do so.

    I agree with you that it doesn’t seem like much in the wake of everything TMZ has been reporting on Stirling.

  59. 59.

    Jordan Rules

    @The Thin Black Duke: And this tape is the least disgusting and disturbing of his transgressions. Tipping points often seem relatively trivial.

    The NBA isn’t just ‘authenticating the tape’ in their call for due diligence they are preparing to insulate themselves and seeing where the bodies are buried.

  60. 60.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Jesus. I mean, you didn’t need to be Neal DeGrasse Tyson to figure it out, y’know?

    Well, I see your point, but it IS helpful not to have your head up your ass, a situation that NDT has never been in.

  62. 62.

    am

    @Cacti:

    Of course it does not…

    I’m just saying not everything adds up about this. Anyway, I should have kept my mouth shut.

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Frankensteinbeck: I was relying on some fuckhead at NRO knowing how to google “Donald Stirling” and then determine if it was the Donald Stirling he was actually looking for.

    My bad.

  68. 68.

    smintheus

    This best-of-all-worlds clown Ian Morris is a smug and pretentious dimwit. He works in my field and has gotten far by being British and glib. Though Morris portrays himself as an historian, he has virtually no historical training; it shows in this drivel published by Fred Hiatt.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    I think this is the most hilarious bit about Mr. Sterling that I’ve seen so far. It’s a bit of text from a deposition he gave.

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet: What’s being said that the Donald Stirling that supported Grey Davis was not that Donald Stirling, but it’s difficult to sort through the chaff to find out for sure.

  72. 72.

    geg6

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Oh, you misunderstand! I do no running. Koda does it all. I just throw the kong. ;-)

    @Cassidy:

    Oh noes! I guess I have to yell at her to stop Instagramming pics with white people now!

  73. 73.

    Jordan Rules

    Someone in the twittersphere said if Sterling doesn’t own the Clips anymore then all he becomes is a filthy rich slum lord who treats his non-famous minority tenants far worse.

  75. 75.

    scav

    @dmsilev: Maybe he was just describing his handwriting? Uses an unusual pen and ink?

    And many now seem to be using the one drop rule for political identification. Despite richies and corps often buttering both sides of their bread, especially in the past, with local races possibly involving more personal relationships being even more in the air. Any surprise? Even the mere hoi often split tickets in the bad old days.

  78. 78.

    ? Martin

    The political identity of the person is not really the issue. Clive Bundy could be a reliable Democratic voter for all I care.

    The identity of the people calling them out/rallying to their defense is what really matters. And that seems pretty unambiguous to me.

  82. 82.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @? Martin:

    The identity of the people calling them out/rallying to their defense is what really matters. And that seems pretty unambiguous to me.

    Well, yes, but you are one of those fact believers, not a Bible believer.

  83. 83.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mr Stagger Lee: I love ths:

    “He’s just walking around [saying] ‘See my gun? Look, I got a gun and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ He knew he was frightening people. He knew exactly what he was doing,” said parent Karen Rabb.

    What are you going to do about me showing my cock to your kids, beeotch?

    The Theon Lovejoy treatment is MADE for asswipes like this guy.

  84. 84.

    scav

    @Villago Delenda Est: Look at the moves that league encourages. Ball Stealing! By the Intimidating Black Men! Who Travel and apparently do something called the Euro step! Deeply problematic.

  85. 85.

    Violet

    @Mr Stagger Lee: Cracks me right up that someone was dong that.. Wonder how many folks in that area voted for the representatives that voted for that insane new gun law? Elections have consequences.

  86. 86.

    JPL

    Earlier today a friend and I were commenting about this story. A police officer can ask to see a permit but is not entitled to see it.

  87. 87.

    Violet

    @JPL: Wait, what? The police officer can ask to see a permit but the gun owner doesn’t have to show it? What sort of weird law is that? I guess it’s too much of a burden on the gun owner to be required to carry around that permit at all times. There’s probably no room after you’ve figured out where to put all your guns.

    When non-white people start doing this kind of thing in nice white neighborhoods, that’s when there will be pressure on representatives to change the law.

  88. 88.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Violet: Yes they do especially if God forbid, some “good guy with a gun” confronts this “good guy with a gun” and then bullets start flying. Over/Under when this happens in Georgia, two months?

  90. 90.

    Anya

    @Violet: I was just flabbergasted when I read that headline. By all indication, it was known for a long time what a horrible racist sleazebag he was, so, what were they honoring him for?

  92. 92.

    Violet

    @Anya: Worse, he was previously honored in 2009. It’s not like it was 1979 when no one knew anything about him. His racism and other terrible behavior was documented in testimony, settled-out-of-court cases, etc. It’s not like they didn’t know then either.

  94. 94.

    scav

    @Violet: Well, some laws and regulations being enforced are jack-booted thuggery. Some laws (and fees) are indeed optional for some people.

    And, as for side-effects, by not allowing the police to expect documentation on-site, haven’t they just cleared the way for the thin blue line to exhibit their well-know discretion and instincts when hauling people in to check?

  95. 95.

    JPL

    @scav: A person has the second amendment right to not answer the police officer’s query on whether or not he has a permit. The police official might find a reason to haul him in but not for that. The NRA could busy defending these guys.

  96. 96.

    Patrick

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    “He’s just walking around [saying] ‘See my gun? Look, I got a gun and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ He knew he was frightening people. He knew exactly what he was doing,” said parent Karen Rabb.

    In the same article it says that Ms Rabb is a gun rights advocate and supports the 2nd amendment. One can only assume then that Ms Rabb helped vote for the same good folks that approved the laws that make this type of behavior legal. “Freedom”…

  98. 98.

    scav

    @JPL: That second amendment sure knows how to chop, slice, dice, make perfect béchamel and smoothies. Now its all about unverifiable organized militias.

    ETA but how else are you to pay for GOP medical insurance?!

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @Violet:
    No, that’s when the shooting starts in earnest.

    Then after a few thousand deaths is when someone white will speak about the law being changed.
    Oh who am I kidding? What will be desired will be automatic weapons because in a situation like that you of course need more firepower not less.
    /nra

  102. 102.

    Citizen_X

    @Patrick:

    I own a gun. I have no problems with the Second Amendment. But they do not belong in a parking lot where we have children everywhere. If you want to make a statement, go to the Capitol,” said Rabb.

    Hey lady, why should parents and kids deal with the same exact fear when they go visit the Capitol?

  103. 103.

    bemused

    @Violet:

    The prevailing attitude everywhere today appears to be that backgrounds checks are too much trouble or unnecessary even in groups like NAACP. No wonder people are more cynical than ever.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    If anyone ever doubted what these “open carry” guys think they’re doing, I think stories like this one solve the mystery. May as well wear a raincoat, too, and put all doubts to rest.

  106. 106.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Citizen_X: Thing is, it always comes back to this: who elected these sock puppets of the NRA into office in the first place? Sure, “Elections Have Consequences” is a creaky relic of a cliche, but too many people are still surprised when the lunacy they voted for comes back to shoot them in the face. Again.

  107. 107.

    Anya

    @Violet: Maybe they thought donating tickets to underprivileged youth outweighs being a slumb lord and a sexist douchebag. I think with this the NAACP awards lose credibility.

  108. 108.

    burnspbesq

    @Violet:

    Sterling apparently has a history of racism.

    It’s a bit more complicated than that. His companies have paid millions in damages for discriminating against African-Americans in leasing decisions (Sterling is a major landlord in Los Angeles). However, the Clippers’ record on hiring and advancing African-Americans is exemplary.

  110. 110.

    Sir Laffs-a-Lot

    First Prize is a John Cole Best of Playlist that JC made up at 3 a.m. when he was “not that drunk”.

  111. 111.

    scav

    Kiddos, personally I’m not sure the extended audio clip is doing much to improve his image. At the very best, he’s an active racist enabler

    “It’s the world! You got to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs,” he says. “We don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong. We live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.”

    and what’s more, he “gives” the players on his team money, they don’t earn it.

    “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives that to them? Does someone else give that to them? Do I know that I have — Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game?” Sterling responds.

    Rich men with their pets and their plantations. TPM

  114. 114.

    Southern Beale

    Here ya go:

    Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling, and the left’s problem with purity

    […]

    This boils down to a major “purity” problem for liberals. By this I mean that everyone who follows lockstep in the teachings of Saul Alinksy and his disciples is automatically 100% good, and anyone who doesn’t is 100% evil. There are no shades or gradations, no exceptions.

    Wherein lies the problem. This two-state solution seldom plays out to the left’s satisfaction. We saw this in 2012, in the case of George Zimmerman, who turned out not to be white nor demonstrably racist in the eyes of the FBI. We saw it again just this past week in the wholesale condemnation of rancher Cliven Bundy, who it now appears has a higher opinion of blacks than Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton do of Jews.

    Speaking of Jackson, Sharpton, and Jews, these strange bedfellows are in the headlines again, as yet another story that exposes the myth of purity unfolds. Donald Sterling (né Donald Tokowitz), Jewish owner of the L.A. Clippers, was recently chosen by the Los Angeles NAACP Branch to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award on May 15th.

    […]

    Returning to the commotion over Sterling, his views and attitudes on race are nothing new. In 2006, he was sued the U.S. Department of Justice for housing discrimination. The government’s case turned on his refusal to rent to non-Koreans in L.A.’s Koreatown and to blacks in Beverly Hills. Why wasn’t the NAACP aware of his discriminatory practices sooner? One possibility is that the group sought to overlook Sterling’s less-than-sterling past because he is a Democrat, who contributed to the political campaigns of recalled L.A. mayor Gray Davis and former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley.

    Do I get a prize? I mean, dang — this guy even mentioned Saul Alinsky! Surely that’s good for something?

  115. 115.

    Violet

    @burnspbesq: How does that change anything? I said the guy has a history of racism. You added further evidence showing he has a history of racism. The NAACP can choose anyone they want to honor. They went with the guy that has an apparently well known history of racism. I think it reflects poorly on them.

  116. 116.

    Anya

    Via TPM – this is what Sterling said about Israel:

    “It’s the world! You got to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs,” he says. “We don’t evaluate what’s right and wrong. We live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.”

    Of course he’s a dirty hippie. Never mind that he’s okay with the treatment because it’s “cultural”.

  120. 120.

    Violet

    @scav: Yeah, I was going to say. It’s not like they have some kind of problem with dictators and hardliners. Putin, Kim Jong-un, and…? Who else would make a nice triptych above the fireplace?

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: You must have missed the long discussion we had here months ago where many, many people supported the “help with house or yard work” position you take. IIRC, as long as people were making a fair wage, it was considered spreading the wealth, not being elitist.

  128. 128.

    Jordan Rules

    @M. Bouffant: And Elgins probably the reason they had so many blacks. Sterling was a cheap owner who didn’t give a damn about fielding a good product or winning team. It was his prized plantation (as opposed to his slum properties) and there is much evidence over the years that make this pretty uncomplicated IMO.

  130. 130.

    ? Martin

    Let’s jump in the wayback machine and look at similar 2nd amendment incidents, as witnessed in Georgia:

    May 2, 1967, Sacramento, CA:

    A group of thirty young black men and women, dressed in black leather jackets, berets, and dark glasses, crosses the lawn to the steps of the state capitol. Many of them are armed with shotguns, though they are careful to keep the weapons pointed towards the sky. As they approach the entrance to the capitol building, Governor Ronald Reagan, speaking to a cluster of schoolchildren nearby, catches sight of their advance, turns on his heel, and runs. Still marching in tight formation, the group reaches the steps, faces the crowd, and listens attentively as their leader, Bobby Seale, reads Executive Mandate Number One of the Tea Party to the startled audience. The mandate, addressed to ‘the American people in general and conservatives in particular,’ details the ‘terror, brutality, murder, and repression of conservatives’ practiced by ‘the racist power structure of America,’ and concludes that ‘the time has come for conservatives to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late.’

    Some other young men and women are exercising their 2nd amendment rights to self-defense. The leftist coward, Ronald Reagan runs from these patriots. The leftist media calls it an invasion, much as the British press would have when the founders formed the first militias. That coward later signs legislation to make it illegal for law-abiding Americans to defend themselves.

    I may have confused the Tea Party and Black Panther party, and conservatives vs blacks, but in a post-racial nation that shouldn’t make a lick of difference.

  131. 131.

    Schlemizel

    @dan: My fear is that somehow the evil stupidity could be transfered with the organs. That would be a crime against humanity

  132. 132.

    Violet

    @? Martin: From your link:

    All the while cameramen and reporters run back and forth, grinning in anticipation of tomorrow?s headlines. ?Who are you?? one manages to shout before the assembly is led into an elevator. Sixteen-year-old ?little? Bobby Hutton is the first to reply, and his words remain an echo in the hallway just before the doors slide shut with a soft hiss:

    ? We?re the Black Panthers.
    We?re black people with guns.
    What about it??[3]

    “We’re black people with guns. What about it.” Love that. So succinct.

  133. 133.

    Violet

    @CarolDuhart2: From the extended tape of Donald Sterling:

    DS: I don’t want to change. If my girl can’t do what I want, I don’t want the girl. I’ll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want. But you’re not that girl.

    Control, control, control.

  134. 134.

    burnspbesq

    @M. Bouffant:

    Indeed he might, but for most of his tenure Baylor was indisputably the worst GM in the league. Even the Knicks were a better-run team.

  135. 135.

    ? Martin

    While the outcome would be all to predictable, and I don’t want to see it come about, it would be interesting if black people in Georgia suddenly started legally open-carrying and refusing to show their permits all across Georgia. I would suggest starting by attending upper-class white churches in the state during Sunday service with a slung AR-15. Now that spring is here, I’m sure there will be many outdoor wedding across the state. Some law abiding black good-guys-with-guns might want to make sure the attending guests are well protected.

    Legally, of course.

  136. 136.

    D58826

    Somewhat off-topic other than it does fit into the ‘who can be the biggest bigot this week ‘ contgest:

    / Come on. Enemies, who would utterly annihilate America, they who’d obviously have information on plots, to carry out Jihad. Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen,” she said. “Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists.”

    . None other than the sage of Wasilla Sarah Palin.
    Every time I think we have hit rock bottom, someone manages to dig the hole a bit deeper.

  138. 138.

    Violet

    This ESPN profile of Donald Sterling from 2009 and updated in 2012 is really interesting. Apparently he’s a major donor to the NAACP:

    Sterling is here tonight to receive a lifetime achievement award from the local chapter of the NAACP.

    The man of the hour ushers two black guests over to talk to the reporter. “Donald Sterling is a prince among men,” says Leon Isaac Kennedy, who starred in the Penitentiary series of movies in the ’70s and ’80s. “I’ve been his friend for 25 years.” At dinner, the emcee updates the crowd on the Lakers, who are losing to Houston in a crucial playoff game. With Sterling in attendance, guests aren’t sure whether to boo or cheer. But when the Clippers owner rises to speak, he is gracious. “I really have a special feeling for this organization,” he says. He’s a major donor, contributing $10,000 to $15,000 this year alone, according to chapter president Leon Jenkins.

    And this is a pretty good summation:

    IT’S CLEAR WHY Donald Sterling stays in the game: He’s got celebrity, money and the freedom to do as he pleases, in basketball and in business. And no one outside government looks especially interested in making him change his ways.

    Yep. No one has done anything to make him change his ways. Maybe that’ll change now.

    Also, our media at work:

    Except for the Smoking Gun and a blogger or two, the media have remained largely mum about Sterling too, apart from chronicling his dustups with Dunleavy. Most sports beat writers don’t cover business issues, most business writers don’t cover sports, and most columnists stopped taking Sterling and the Clippers seriously years ago.

    Those pesky bloggers!

  139. 139.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @D58826: Mooselini is convinced that she must find the last turtle (she’s on a mission from Gawd, you know!), and no liberal is ever going to deter her from continuing on her epic quest.

  140. 140.

    geg6

    @WaterGirl:

    She gets $50 for three hours, maybe a few minutes more. I think that’s fair.

    It’s help she apparently needs and it helps me out because my house is ridiculously too big. I can’t wait to sell it!

  141. 141.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Just One More Canuck: Well, let’s see now. What trait do Koreans tend to have that they share with Faux Noise commentators? Having served in Korea myself, I didn’t encounter a great deal of racial discrimination, but my melanin enhanced fellow officers sometimes did.

    Hmm…thinking, thinking….

  142. 142.

    Patrick

    @? Martin:

    I kind of wonder if an organized approach like that would be more beneficial than Bloomberg spending millions of dollars on candidates that are pro gun control. What if he instead spent some of that money with African-American men bringing guns to churches in wealthy white neighborhoods? If this incident at a Georgia park causes such a stir even among gun rights advocates, one can only guess what response African-American males with guns in a white church would cause.

  144. 144.

    Violet

    @geg6: Do you pay into Social Security for her? My parents hired a maid when they got older and found doing routine housework a little more challenging. They used the same woman the next door neighbors used. The neighbors paid Social Security taxes for her and my parents decided to do the same thing. Apparently it was kind of a pain, but they felt it was the right thing to do.

    When she finally retired, she was so grateful to them (and the other neighbors) for having paid into Social Security for her. It allowed her to be comfortable in her retirement and not depending on her kids and grandkids.

  145. 145.

    different-church-lady

    *sigh*

    Once again we gotta explain stuff to morons:

    Cliven Bundy is a racist. He is a racist that too many Republicans-and/or-conservatives raced to celebrate.

    Donald Sterling is a racist. He is a racist that the vast majority of Democrats/Liberals condemned.

    CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE HERE?

  146. 146.

    ? Martin

    @Patrick: The entire history of gun control in California – legislation written with the assistance of the NRA, no less – stems from the incident I linked to.

    All that was needed was:

    We’re black people with guns. What about it?

  147. 147.

    different-church-lady

    @dan:

    What a horrible human being. Can’t we harvest her organs for deserving people?

    Well, that rules out a heart transplant. Someone would get an awfully large spleen, though.

  148. 148.

    Amir Khalid

    Woe is me! Liverpool have lost at home to Chelsea, and their first title of the Premier League is now in serious doubt. Woe, woe!

  150. 150.

    Violet

    @Patrick: Judging from the freak out when there were nationwide marches for Trayvon Martin, and those were peaceful, I can only imagine how it would go.

    In my area the largely African American marchers chose to march through an upscale mostly white neighborhood. Holy cow did that cause a freak out. It was covered for days ahead of time on the news. A counter protest was planned for one area (apparently guns were okay for that one, as was the Confederate flag), then moved to be closer to the protesters. (Can’t properly antagonize people unless you’re in their face with a Confederate flag.)

    When the march happened it was covered live on TV on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing much happened outside of the marchers walking on the sidewalk through the wealthy neighborhood. The counter protestors stood on a sidewalk and yelled and waved posters and flags. There were far fewer of them and they were almost all white.

    I agree that if it could somehow be done, black people carrying guns openly into mostly white conservative areas, like churches, suburban/exurban school yards and parks, could move the gun control debate along a lot faster than almost anything else. I’m not the one who would be risking anything by that happening though, so although it sounds plausible in theory I understand the risks could be high to those involved.

  151. 151.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet: White people openly brandishing firearms: Patriots exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.

    Black people openly brandishing firearms: Nat Turner’s spiritual heirs looking to rape white women.

    This really isn’t difficult to suss out.

  152. 152.

    rikyrah

    @am:

    I really find it bizarre that he had an interracial girlfriend
    ……………..

    REALLY?

    seriously?

    you’re shocked that racist White man will fuck a Black woman?

    are you for real?

    Do you know ANY American History?

    How the hell do you think Black folk became a rainbow community in this country?

    The Black community in America has always been multi-racial from the first time Massa went down the slave quarters.

  156. 156.

    jonas

    @am:

    have no idea what racism may or may not be in this guy’s heart,

    A few years ago, Sterling had to settle a big federal discrimination lawsuit for refusing to rent apartments in his buildings to blacks and Hispanics. He also famously refused to give Clippers manager Elgin Baylor a raise because he was supposedly already making “a lot of money for a poor black kid.” His attitudes are widely known.

  157. 157.

    eric

    @burnspbesq: His history as a slumlord has been well known for years. His history as a cheap owner has been well known for years. It is not clear whether Baylor was bad because of himself or Sterling. One look at Dolan in NY shows just how bad an owner can make it for any GM. (not defending Baylor)

    He has been buying indulgences from the NAACP and they just got burned.

  161. 161.

    Roger Moore

    @burnspbesq:

    Indeed he might, but for most of his tenure Baylor was indisputably the worst GM in the league.

    Are you sure that Baylor was really the worst GM, or was Sterling the worst GM and Baylor was his front man? I know the latter situation is very common in pro sports, especially in teams that are constantly badly run, and I got the impression that the Clippers were being run that way.

  162. 162.

    Roger Moore

    @Violet:

    I agree that if it could somehow be done, black people carrying guns openly into mostly white conservative areas, like churches, suburban/exurban school yards and parks, could move the gun control debate along a lot faster than almost anything else. I’m not the one who would be risking anything by that happening though, so although it sounds plausible in theory I understand the risks could be high to those involved.

    We could invite some white people wearing head scarves along for the fun.

  163. 163.

    Mnemosyne

    @am:

    It’s bizarre for people who think of sex as an egalitarian, mutually enjoyable activity. Not so bizarre to people who think of it as a way to dominate and control another person.

  164. 164.

    ruemara

    I ain’t gonna spend another minute on that douchenozzle. I made cupcakes. White wine citrus with blackberry filling and a lemon lavender buttercream frosting, plus nearly the same in a vegetarian GF version that’s white wine pear with blackberry filling and a vegan set with a glaze of lemon and white wine. It’s like an angel pooped in your mouth.

    Plus, these sour cream biscuits are full on delicious.

  166. 166.

    Origuy

    Thomas Jefferson didn’t bring Sally Hemmings to Congress. Sterling seems to flaunt his mistress as though saying, “See, I’m not a racist. I don’t mind having sex with a dusky-hued vixen.” As though that negates the way he treats black men.

  168. 168.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: Oh, I wasn’t questioning you, even for a minute! I have hired friends to help clean, too (in the past when I had more money) when they needed money. I hired the young girl across the street, too, who was trying to save for college.

  169. 169.

    Origuy

    On another subject, a gun group in Texas wants to make public the names and addresses of people who call 911 about someone carrying a gun.

    Open carry demonstrations have become a common sight. As Kory Watkins of Open Carry Tarrant County explains, “This isn’t about open carry. This is about constitutional carry. That means no regulations, no license, nothing.”

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    @ruemara: That cupcake really is gorgeous!

    Paging Omnes Omnibus, paging Omnes. Omnes, please come to the courtesy counter for the cupcakes you wanted last night.

  171. 171.

    Jay C

    @M. Bouffant:

    Aye. No More Mister Nice Blog was considerate enough to remind us that Donald Douglas was the blogger who treated us to the whole “Sasquatch Israel” brouhaha. That that bit of buffoonery wasn’t enough to chase his halfwit ass off the Internet permanently should say a lot about his credibility…..

  172. 172.

    D58826

    @JPL:I wonder how far the rest of us, esp. the non-whites, would get if we refused to show a cop some ID when requested Did SCOTUS decide a couple of years ago that you could be arrested if you refused to identify yourself to a cop.

    It would be so much easier if we just eliminated all of the laws except the absolute protection that the 2nd amendment gives to gun toters.

  173. 173.

    ruemara

    LAWks. Read up on your gender stereotyping of AA women.

    Jezebel “is the promiscuous female with an insatiable sexual appetite.” In Biblical history, Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of Israel. Jezebel’s actions came to exemplify lust. Subsequently, the name Jezebel has become synonymous with women who engage in lewd sexual acts and who take advantage of men through sex. Jezebel is depicted as erotically appealing and openly seductive. Her easy ways excused slave owners’ abuse of their slaves and gave an explanation for Jezebel’s mulatto offspring. This inability to be perceived as chaste brought about the stereotype of dishonesty. In other words, African American women were not, and often are not, portrayed as being truthful and, therefore, they could not be trusted. Throughout history, our court system has also exploited the myth of Jezebel. The courts have used this image to make racism and sexism appear natural. The sexual myth of Jezebel functions as a tool for controlling African American women. Consequently, sexual promiscuity is imputed to them even absent specific evidence of their individual sexual histories. This imputation ensures that their credibility is doubted when any issue of sexual exploitation is involved.

    http://academic.udayton.edu/race/05intersection/gender/AAWomen01a.htm

    Having sex with the dusky vixen is A-OK because she’s the wanton seductress who is only good for such things. She’s not good, like the shiksa he’s married to. It is why they tend towards brown-skinned women for other side of the mattress dealings, and racism marries into it. And it absolves the men from their doings, because those sluts beguiled him, not he, using money and power, are making these propositions.

  174. 174.

    Patrick

    @Origuy:

    On another subject, a gun group in Texas wants to make public the names and addresses of people who call 911 about someone carrying a gun.

    I wonder how the gun rights advocate lady in Georgia, who called the cops about the guy with a gun at the park, feels about that…

  176. 176.

    Violet

    @ruemara: Apparently he doesn’t see her as black because he said this:

    You’re supposed to be a delicate white or a delicate Latina girl.

    Supposed to be. It’s like he picked her and then plays mind tricks with himself to turn her into whatever he wants her to be. And if she somehow doesn’t live up to the image he created of her, well, it’s her fault of course. Why is she hanging around with those black people? She’s white!

  177. 177.

    WaterGirl

    @Violet: Worse yet – other people may figure out that she’s not white if she starts publicly hanging out with black people.

  178. 178.

    the Conster

    @geg6:

    One of the big takeaways I got from the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books is the notion that hiring someone to do work you would otherwise do is that it gives someone a job. I used to be, and still mostly am all of the “if you can’t take care of it, you shouldn’t have it” mindset, is that you’re paying a fair wage for labor. That’s what matters.

  179. 179.

    Mnemosyne

    @the Conster:

    I wish they would make some more episodes of the HBO TV series with Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose. I think Scott was pregnant during much of the filming and had a baby soon after, so she was unwilling to do another season, but I really liked the series. It may sound like a strange thing to say, but to a middle-class white person in the US, it made Botswana look really … normal. Like an actual place where real people live, not an exotic location.

  180. 180.

    the Conster

    @Mnemosyne:

    Agreed. If any series of books should have been adapted faithfully over several seasons it was that, because Jill Scott (traditionally built) was perfect. Everyone, including the little town, was perfectly portrayed. The fact that a Scottish man portrayed that milieu so sensitively is a never-ending source of wonder for me. Botswana is on my bucket list.

  181. 181.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    Worse yet – other people may figure out that she’s not white if she starts publicly hanging out with black people.

    Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Though I wouldn’t think hanging out with Magic Johnson would make you stand out as black; it would just make you stand out as having better taste than Donald Sterling.

    ETA: Though “better taste than Donald Sterling” wouldn’t exactly cause you to stand out in the same way that “worse taste than Donald Sterling” would.

  182. 182.

    Anya

    @geg6: I don’t understand why is it bad to hire someone to clean your house? I think it’s more important that you treat her with dignity and pay her fair wage. I have a personal trainer and a yoga instructor, is that bad too?

  184. 184.

    gene108

    @Anya:

    I don’t understand why is it bad to hire someone to clean your house?

    Left over mindset from the Great Depression?

    Back then, if you could save money by doing ‘x’ yourself you damn well did and were happy to do it. I think that mindset went onto the next generation, but I guess as the wealth of post-World War II America became the norm folks decided they could just pay people to do this or that for them.

  186. 186.

    Suffern ACE

    @Patrick: yep. Gun rights groups are being taken over by folks who just don’t want anyone to ever think that guns can be used to kill or maim anyone. A drawn weapon is a threat. This is not that hard. If i started a group advocating that looked out for the rights of blunt object users and poisoners, people would rightly think I was nuts. The gun nuts are earning their title.

    Great. Now I said it, so I’ll never be appointed to office.

  187. 187.

    Jeffro

    Here is the difference: wingers rushed to defend Bundy and KEPT DOING SO even after his racist remarks came out. No one is defending Sterling, even from the get-go.

  188. 188.

    sharl

    For anyone left who thinks this kind of attitude is a new thing with the Clippers’ owner, perhaps due to senility or other age-related behavior, here’s a story from the early 80s posted last year by Jeff Pearlman (via Deadspin). Bolding is mine:

    …Which makes me think of Paul Phipps.

    Those who really, really, really follow the NBA might remember Phipps as the Clippers’ general manager back from October, 1982 until April, 1984. He was a well-regarded executive; a nice man with genuine credibility and an eye for talent. I interviewed him several months ago for a book about the NBA in the 1980s. He told me a story about Sterling that didn’t make the final pages, but stands out nonetheless.

    According to Phipps, during his time with the team he conducted a search for a head coach to replace the fired Paul Silas. “We needed someone different,” Phipps told me, “and one of the first guys we talked to was Rollie Massimino.” At the time, Massimino was coaching Villanova, and was known as a guy on the rise. “He flew in, and Pete Babcock (the director of player personnel) and I were impressed. He was very organized, he had a great philosophy, we liked his approach to practice. When we got done with him, he had to fly from San Diego to Los Angeles, then Los Angeles back to Philly. Don told us he’d like to meet with him. Oh, boy.” Sterling told Phipps he’d sit down with Massimino at the gate inside Los Angeles International Airport. “We told Rollie he’s a bit eccentric,” Phipps said. “He’ll probably have his shirt open and six gold chains sticking out.

    “Don,” Phipps continued, “liked to have other women outside his marriage. There was one blonde girl in particular who was his friend.”

    Anyhow, according to Phipps, Massimino boarded the jet, and when he landed in Los Angeles he exited the walkway and spotted Sterling. “They met,” said Phipps, “and between 3 and 4 in the morning my phone rings.” It was an irate Massimino. “I’m sorry,” he told Phipps, “but I’d never work for that son of a bitch. Ever.”

    Phipps, half asleep, sat up on his bed and asked what went wrong. “Here’s this guy,” Massimino said, “and he has this blonde bimbo with him, they have a bottle of champagne, they’re tanked. And Don looks at me and he says, ‘I wanna know why you think you can coach these niggers.’”

    Massimino told Phipps he began screaming at Sterling and swore he’d rather die than become coach of the Clippers. “That,” said Phipps, “was life with Donald Sterling.”

  189. 189.

    am

    @rikyrah:

    Sorry, thought it was obvious I meant the fact they were a public couple, rather than that they simply had a sexual relationship.

  190. 190.

    am

    @Mnemosyne:

    The TPM post from earlier today backs up that theory quite a bit (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/more-good-times-with-donald-stirling), his views on women in general are disgusting. One of the reasons I had doubts initially was because it was wasn’t a full recording and it was spread via TMZ, but the full recording that Deadspin published make it pretty clear the guy is not only a racist, but a pretty damn strange one, too.

    Random: from the TPM post, the line “Sir, the question was, is this your handwriting?” in response to the first bizarre Stirling rant is one of the funniest things things I can recall reading in a court transcript.

  191. 191.

    Ken Adler

    @Iowa Old Lady: You are right. It’s because we are not allowed to call people from the right wing terrorists. That is completely verboten, so although MSNBC tries to have a discuss about this, and Andrew Sullivan calls them Christianists, it doesn’t really go anywhere, so yes we have to pay more attention to an old guy who tells his Mexican/Black girlfriend that he doesn’t like blacks or mexican people.

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