[dropcap]N[/dropcap]BA commissioner Adam Silver gave a seminar in crisis management, after which nearly everyone agreed he had done the bold and courageous and, most important, the right thing in banning the racist lecher Donald Sterling and setting up the process by which he’ll almost certainly be tossed from the league.
But let me speak a small word of dissent.
This was not only the easy and obvious thing to do. It was, in fact, the only thing to do.
That is not to diminish Silver’s accomplishment. Most people would have found a way to botch the mission. But the truth is, we already knew how to deal with old-fashioned racism. This is the racism without dog whistles, without coded words, without “makers versus takers,” without reference to inner-city culture.
This is racism at its most repugnant, the kind we’re embarrassed to hear spoken aloud or to be reminded that it still exists.
[pullquote]Not to diminish Commissioner Silver’s accomplishment. Most people would have found a way to botch the mission. But the truth is, we already knew how to deal with old-fashioned racism. This is the racism without dog whistles, without coded words, without ‘makers versus takers,’ without reference to ‘inner-city culture.'[/pullquote]
When Sterling is taped telling his one-third-his-age mistress that he doesn’t mind if she sleeps with black men, but that he doesn’t want her out parading with them so that everyone knows the woman he sleeps with also sleeps with black men, when he doesn’t want her to be photographed with black people — like Magic Johnson! — or bringing them to his games because they’re black, he has moved into territory so vile that he can hardly be allowed re-entry into the civilized world.
Sure, there is the uncomfortable fact that this Donald is the same Donald that the NBA has always known and tolerated. Yes, he has always been a racist, for his 30-plus years as incompetent owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Over those years, he has been accused by one employee, NBA legend Elgin Baylor, of running a plantation-like franchise. He has been sued for racial discrimination as a landlord. In testimony, Sterling was quoted as saying his black tenants smelled, his Mexican tenants were lazy and that he liked Korean tenants because they were too meek to complain. His NBA fellow owners were also too meek, or maybe just too unconcerned, to publicly complain about Sterling’s behavior. Judge not lest ye be judged?
But when the voice on the audiotape is matched to Sterling and when Sterling is matched to racist comments about those he employs, it is not a First Amendment issue. He has done actual damage to the product. Sponsors have fled the Clippers. Doc Rivers, the African-American coach, would almost certainly leave the team. Sterling’s largely African-American team of players would demand trades. Imagine the owner who defended Sterling. He would become the next Sterling.
So, yeah. Kick him out. There was too much pressure to do anything else. His words came only days after erstwhile right-wing folk hero Cliven Bundy outed himself as a racist, a-wondering about whether “the Negro” wasn’t better off picking cotton back in slave days. It was almost a parody of what liberals are all too certain that all the Cliven Bundys of the world must be like.
Bundy caused a crisis for some on the right who seemed surprised that an anti-government, violence-threatening, militia-enabled crank might also be a racist. Fox News, which had helped make him into a hero, didn’t know what to do when the news broke. For hours, according to Fox media guy Howie Kurtz, the network reacted to the news by simply ignoring it.
Meanwhile, our own GOP gubernatorial debate team — the Beauprez-Kopp-Gessler Trio — embarrassed themselves by doing much the same, defending Bundy in a 9News debate without ever once mentioning racism, because, I guess, it would mean having to admit that racism actually still exists.
But the real racism confronting our society is not Bull Connor racism. We don’t tolerate that any more. Fifty years after Connor, we elect a black president, but we also tolerate birthers. We don’t believe in segregated schools, either, but we don’t seem to notice as schools have become re-segregated. We don’t deny people the right to vote because of their race. But Republican-majority legislatures pass voter ID laws that directly impact minorities for the simple reason that these minorities tend to vote Democratic. We don’t believe in racial inequality, but we vote against affirmative action laws designed to fix the very real racial inequality that still exists. We have Paul Ryan, in arguing against big-government social policy, blaming urban poverty on inner-city “culture,” only to claim, when challenged, that he wasn’t talking about African-American culture.
The most interesting arguments on race are taking place in the Supreme Court, where the Sterling/Bundy part of the world is, in the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, wished away. Chief Justice John Roberts is famously quoted thusly on racial remedies: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Sotomayor, in a recent dissent, sent out a direct challenge to Roberts, first quoting him and then writing: “It is a sentiment out of touch with reality … While the enduring hope is that race should not matter, the reality is that too often it does. Racial discrimination … is not ancient history.”
She’s not talking about Sterling or Bundy, per se. She’s talking about the time in which we live, when unreconstructed racism can get you kicked out of the NBA, but when the more nuanced varieties are unremarked upon and often unnoticed.
Great comment Mike. Nuanced racism is alive and well unfortunately. The Clarence Thomas wing of the US Supreme Court is the perfect example with Justice Thomas being it’s leading practitioner selling his soul in the process.
I am shocked and deeply disappointed that the highly creative and wildly imaginative Mr. Littwin was unable to link Donald Sterling to the three Republican Colorado gubernatorial candidates (I would have settled for two out of three).
It seems like just last week he performed a death-defying leap of logic by labeling all three as “pals” of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy not because of anything they said but what they didn’t say. You could look it up.
And then there’s this: “For hours, according to Fox media guy Howie Kurtz, the network reacted to the (Bundy) news by simply ignoring it”.
The hypocrisy behind that sentence is simply stunning because that is exactly what Mr. Littwin does when faced with bad news (see: Florida’s 13th Congressional District special election). The difference is this: Fox finally acknowledged the Bundy story while Mr. Littwin has yet to acknowledge the results of the Florida special election.
But that’s not the only hypocrisy connected with the Donald Sterling story. Mr. Sterling was due to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. And he had already received a humanitarian award in 2009 from this very same chapter of the NAACP despite, as Mr. Littwin points out, “he has been accused by one employee, NBA legend Elgin Baylor, of running a plantation-like franchise. He has been sued for racial discrimination as a landlord. In testimony, Sterling was quoted as saying his black tenants smelled, his Mexican tenants were lazy and that he liked Korean tenants because they were too meek to complain.”
So how do you reconcile this apparent contradiction? Well, here’s a clue from Dylan Scott of Talkingpointsmemo.com:
“The Donald T. Sterling Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to the NAACP in 2010, according to Non-Profit Quarterly. (NAACP chapter president Leon) Jenkins was also listed as a recipient at the Sterling foundation’s 2013 awards luncheon, though the amount of that award has not been publicly disclosed. On top of those direct gifts, Jenkins in 2009 said that Sterling donates thousands of Clippers tickets to youth groups. The Clippers team foundation also donates to local youth and sports activities, Non-Profit Quarterly reported.”
So, apparently the explanation is quite simple: As long as the checks clear, lets not look too closely at the signature.
And, no, I don’t know why Mr. Littwin failed to mention the NAACP controversy. Maybe because he had already committed that space to “the Beauprez-Kopp-Gessler Trio”
This is how six-time National Basketball Association champion and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed, in part, the Donald Sterling situation:
“Shouldn’t we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn’t we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen’s privacy in such an un-American way? Although the impact is similar to Mitt Romney’s comments that were secretly taped, the difference is that Romney was giving a public speech. The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime. We didn’t steal the cake but we’re all gorging ourselves on it.”
It’s a very mature and measured response in which he demonstrates how this situation touches on an issue–privacy–other than race. An issue which, in the past, Mr. Littwin, has commented on but in this case—surprise, surprise—has chosen to ignore.
Of course, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar is unencumbered by an ideological necessity to link every negative national story to three Republican Colorado gubernatorial candidates.
So while Mr. Littwin claims to have covered Dr. J, it’s obvious he could never have covered Kareem.
“The White House says it has surpassed its goal for people enrolled in Obamacare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don’t do it and then keep extending the deadline for months. It’s like a Cinderella story. It’s just a beautiful thing. You make everyone do it. If you still haven’t enrolled, you might have to pay a penalty called the ‘Individual Shared Responsibility Payment,’ which is 1 percent of your salary. Then Americans said, ‘hey, good thing I don’t have a job.”
Jimmy Fallon
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Memorial Day – May 26, 2014
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
Lee Greenwood
Don,
As it happens, I did cover Kareem, whose opinions I very much respect. But his comparison of releasing a sleazy bedroom tape to NSA spying is absurd. Government intrusion into our private lives is a very different matter. And the NAACP question is easy: Like many such organizations, they honor people who give them money.
Mr. Littwin,
“And the NAACP question is easy: Like many such organizations, they honor people who give money“
Really? It’s that easy? One sentence and it’s all over? Move along folks, there’s no story here. Please tell me you don’t actually believe that.
I don’t believe it and I can’t believe you do either because if it is that easy it means that by accepting money from a man the NAACP knew practiced racial hatred and discrimination
the NAACP was acting in direct opposition to its stated mission which is “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination”. It would mean the NAACP is little more than a bribe-accepting, sham organization with all the credibility of a used-car salesman.
It would mean the only color the NAACP really represents is green, regardless of the source.
The actions of the NAACP are duplicitous, deceitful, devious and dishonest to say the least and its practices are a big part of this story.
I understand it is not politically correct to criticize the NAACP and I understand investigating its role in this scandal takes the spotlight away from where the media wants it to be.
But now there’s this from CBS News:
“The National Urban League, the National Action Network, the NAACP and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation issued a joint statement cheering Silver’s announcement that he banned Sterling for life and that the league would attempt to force him to sell the Clippers.
But Sterling’s suspension isn’t enough, the groups said, calling for Silver to meet with them to ensure Sterling “remains an anomaly among the owners and executives in the league.”
Sterling’s long-established pattern of bigotry and racist comments have not been a secret in the NBA,” the statement said. “Yet until now, they have been tolerated and met with a gentle hand and a blind eye.”The groups want Silver to talk with them about diversifying the executive ranks of the NBA, similar to efforts in other sports.”
These self-righteous, so-called civil rights groups—which also turned a blind eye to Mr. Sterling’s long-established pattern of bigotry and racist comments….as long as his checks didn’t bounce–are now attempting to extort the NBA.
You can’t make this stuff up!
I’d like you to please tell me again that the NAACP question is easy.
It appears Mr Lopez is siding with another racist. Surprise surprise!
He composes two very long winded arguments defending Donald Sterling in his familiar desultory style.
“Self righteous civil rights groups trying to extort the NBA”. Mr Lopez certainly has a vivid imagination.
Lee Greenwood? I guess we’re to assume Mr Lopez is a war hero as well as a great patriot. Aren’t they all?
ScreenSniffer,
Please don’t interrupt while the adults are talking.
“The White House says it has surpassed its goal for people enrolled in Obamacare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don’t do it and then keep extending the deadline for months. It’s like a Cinderella story. It’s just a beautiful thing. You make everyone do it. If you still haven’t enrolled, you might have to pay a penalty called the ‘Individual Shared Responsibility Payment,’ which is 1 percent of your salary. Then Americans said, ‘hey, good thing I don’t have a job.”
Jimmy Fallon
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Memorial Day – May 26, 2014
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
Lee Greenwood
[…] That is not to diminish Silver’s accomplishment. Most people would have found a way to botch the mission. But the truth is, we already knew how to deal with old-fashioned racism. This is the racism without dog whistles, without coded words, without “makers versus takers,” without reference to inner-city culture.When Sterling is taped telling his one-third-his-age mistress that he doesn’t mind if she sleeps with black men, but that he doesn’t want her out parading with them so that everyone knows the woman he sleeps with also sleeps with black men, when he doesn’t want her to be photographed with black people — like Magic Johnson! — or bringing them to his games because they’re black, he has moved into territory so vile that he can hardly be allowed re-entry into the civilized world. Read full article […]
Don,
I don’t know why you think a story about the ugliest form of racism has turned into a story about the NAACP, but let’s leave that for what it is. More to the point, I’m a-wonderin’ how the actions of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP — and let’s grant that they were hypocritical — lead you to state that the National Urban League, the National Action Group, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the national NAACP are “so-called civil rights groups” … “attempting to extort the NBA”? I’m guessing you know next to nothing about most of these groups. What is it that makes you assume they are “self-righteous” or that their only concern was that Sterling’s checks didn’t bounce? Has Sterling actually sent checks to any of these groups? And what is it that makes you question the motivations of these various groups and why do you think they must be precisely the same?
Mike, Mr Lopez has a vivid imagination He says anything no matter how stupid to support his “proud to be an American” fantasies.
Mr Lopez certainly has a talent for stating the ridiculous in his tolerance and apparent approval of racists.
Keep up the great work Mike. Mr Lopez’s lunatic fringe obsessions with your comments are amusing to read. He’s obviously rattled and easily manipulated.
Thank you for your time, candor, perspective and staying up ’til almost midnight to provide a response.
I do appreciate it.
We agree on one thing: the actions of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP were hypocritical. That’s all I was really after. And I also think we’d agree that actions speak louder than words.
Judging from the overwhelming defensive tone of your last response I assume you are uninterested in finding out how the procedures of the Los Angeles NAACP allowed them to honor and accept donations from a man who, in your words, committed “the ugliest form of racism”.
But that’s alright, silence speaks loudly.
Normally I’d be upset at being thrown under the bus but not this time because I’ve got Kareem to keep me company.
ScreenSniffer,
Do you still have to raise your hand when you want to use the bathroom?
Your obvious discomfort with Lee Greenwood’s song reinforces your less-than-flattering image.
By the way, did you serve in the same branch of the military as Mr. Littwin?
“The White House says it has surpassed its goal for people enrolled in Obamacare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don’t do it and then keep extending the deadline for months. It’s like a Cinderella story. It’s just a beautiful thing. You make everyone do it. If you still haven’t enrolled, you might have to pay a penalty called the ‘Individual Shared Responsibility Payment,’ which is 1 percent of your salary. Then Americans said, ‘hey, good thing I don’t have a job.”
Jimmy Fallon
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Memorial Day – May 26, 2014
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
Lee Greenwood
Don,
If you’re interested in the LA chapter’s problem, read the NY Times piece, which is pretty good. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/us/donald-sterling-honor-turns-spotlight-on-naacp-branch.html?hp
The chapter has a one-person staff, and that one person has a, uh, problematic background.
Speaking of problematic, you didn’t address your blanket condemnation of the civil rights groups that, as far as I know, had nothing to do with Sterling or took any money from him. Tossing around unfounded accusations does nothing for your credibility. Just a-sayin’.
Mr. Littwin,
Thanks for the link to the New York Times article. It was very informative and (unintentionally, I’m sure) also very funny: “The branch president job is unpaid, N.A.A.C.P. officials said.”
Now for this:
“Speaking of problematic, you didn’t address your blanket condemnation of the civil rights groups that, as far as I know, had nothing to do with Sterling or took any money from him. Tossing around unfounded accusations does nothing for your credibility. Just a-sayin’.”
It’s frustrating, isn’t it, when you ask a question and the question is ignored. Imagine how frustrating it is for a reader who believes a columnist is intentionally ignoring a particular issue or event and despite repeated attempts to get an answer his/her question is ignored.
Imagine how low that columnist’s credibility is.
I’ve been in that situation and being unable to force a response from one particular columnist have decided that avoidance is a legitimate journalistic technique. And while I’m unfamiliar and uncomfortable with using that technique I’ve decided to give it a try.
Just a-sayin.
Don,
I’ll play. Not sure what kind of answer you want on a semi-meaningless special election in Florida, which no one besides you even remembers. It’s the kind of story people get excited about when nothing else is happening. I’ve written often — and will certainly write again — that the Democrats face big problems in November, and that they may well lose the Senate. They’ll definitely lose seats. I’d have thought the same thing if they’d won in Florida. In any case, I’ll still be surprised if Udall loses to Gardner. Social issues have doomed Republicans in every top-of-the-ballot race in Colorado for the last 10 years. I’m guessing it will happen again.
Your turn.
Mr Lopez appears to be agitated in his obsessions with patriotism. I suppose military service to his way of thinking makes him a superior citizen.
He certainly talks a good line without saying much other than the usual right wing conjecture and hogwash.
I’m not sure what one’s military service or lack thereof has to do with being a responsible US citizen. Mr Lopez is typical of his ilk and their neurotic patriotic phobias.
Whether or not Mike or myself served in the US military is none of Mr Lopez’s concern actually. Even if I were to produce a DD214 for Mr Lopez’s enlightenment he would no doubt take the “birther” route.
Mr Lopez is lost in his “bathroom” again.
ScreenSniffer,
Hey dude, check it out: 17 comments (I’m already including your response to this one) and I’m responsible, directly or indirectly, for 16 of them.
Do you realize what percentage that is? (knock twice on the screen if do).
Well, it’s over 90 percent. You’re welcome.
Pretty impressive, huh?
Mr. Littwin,
“Not sure what kind of answer you want on a semi-meaningless special election in Florida, which no one besides you even remembers.”
With all due respect to your talent, background, experience,integrity and the time you devoted responding to my questions, I don’t accept your characterization of the March 11th Florida special election as “semi-meaningless” and I don’t believe you do either.
It was a referendum on Obamacare and Obamacare lost.
Had the outcome been different you would have been the first to trumpet the results as a resounding victory for Obamacare. You have never been shy about repeatedly pointing to events or polls that back your viewpoint. But if you actually felt the election to be “semi-meaningless” you would have said that long ago and repeated it ad nauseam..
While disappointed, I accept your answer for what it is.
And here is my in-kind response.
“And the NAACP question is easy: Like many such organizations, they honor people who give money“
Mike Littwin, April 30, 2014
I would include in what you called “many such organizations” the National Urban League, the National Action Network, and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
And if, as you suggest, all these organizations “honor people who give money” then they are all precisely the same. And if, as is the case with the NAACP, they all exhibit the same we-hate-bigots-but-love-their-money attitude towards donations then they are worse than simply self-righteous they are duplicitous..
Don,
I was thinking more along the lines of the American Cancer Society. It’s pretty clear that many groups that raise money tend to favor those who give them money. What I don’t do is group organizations by the race of their members, knowing nothing else about them. And I think you’d be rather embarrassed to have done just that.
Mr. Littwin,
My biggest embarrassment, by far, was believing I could get an answer to a fairly simple, unambiguous, straightforward question: Did Obamacare play a role in the defeat of Democrat Alex Sink in Florida’s 13th Congressional District Special Election held on March 11, 2014?
Still, I thank you for your time.
Don Lopez, I generally read all the comments, including yours, to all the columnists on Colorado Independent, and I could be wrong about this, but your last post here is the first time you asked a fairly simple, unambiguouos, straighforward question of Mike re: the Florida election. I commend you for this, but if you truly wanted an answer, I’m wondering why it took you so long to ask the straightforward question? You seem to derive more pleasure stating what you think Mr. Littwin is thinking.
I’m still waiting for you to give some straightforward answers to Mike’s unambiguous, straightforward questions to you re: your assumptions about the “so-called civil rights groups” and that they are “self-righteous.”
And “Has Sterling actually sent checks to any of these groups?”
You and anyone else interested can go back to the text to read the rest of his questions.
Don,
I don’t know why you think I’m avoiding an answer. Sure, it probably hurt Sink. It was a key issue in the campaign. He might have won without it. But is that really important? And why exactly would I write about it? Obamacare will be the major Republican issue in this campaign, which was set up, with or without it, for Democrats to lose seats. It’s the dreaded Year 6 election. Many of the Democratic seats are in red states. Obama’s polling numbers are low. Negative reaction to Obamacare could could cost Udall re-election in Colorado. But I doubt it. What I am sure of is that many things more important than a March special election — some of which I’ll write about and some I won’t — will happen between now and November. Does that answer your question?
Now. Why would you label a group of civil rights organizations about which you know nothing except that they are civil rights organizations hypocritical and self-righteous?
Mr. Littwin,
First of all, thank you again for the time you’ve spent answering my questions. I am deeply appreciative knowing that it took time away from other things.
Yes, that answered my question but it raised others which I’ll get to later.
Now, to answer your question: “Why would you label a group of civil rights organizations about which you know nothing except that they are civil rights organizations hypocritical and self-righteous?”
I hope you’ll allow to modify part of the question slightly to read “about which you know nothing (except what’s on the internet)……..”
The National Urban League: This from the Dallas News November 12, 2013
“The Urban League of Greater Dallas has suspended three (Obamacare) “navigators in training” who were featured in the undercover video by a conservative activist. The group also has fired a fourth person, who it says was training to be a part-time receptionist. She appears eight seconds into the video. “You lie because your premiums will be higher,” she says, apparently referring to tobacco use. “I always lie on mine.”
The National Urban League: This from the Seattle Times June 30, 2011
“The state auditor is again questioning whether the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle has overcharged Seattle Public Schools — this time for a contract it signed with the school district in December to help African-American students at Cleveland High.”
National Action Network: Reverend Al Sharpton, Founder This from the New York Times June 03, 2013
“The news reports at the time, in the late 1980s, were horrific. Tawana Brawley, a 15-year-old African-American girl from the New York City area, was said to have been abducted and repeatedly raped by six white men. She was found with “KKK” written across her chest, a racial epithet on her stomach and her hair smeared with feces. She was so traumatized, according to reports, that at the hospital she answered yes-or-no questions by blinking her eyes. Making the crime even more vile, if that were possible, she and her lawyers later claimed that two of the rapists were law enforcement officials.
Ms. Brawley’s spokesman was the Rev. Al Sharpton — a dapper television personality and political commentator these days, but a fiery street activist back then. At a news conference, he named suspects.
“We have the facts and the evidence that an assistant district attorney and a state trooper did this,” Mr. Sharpton said. He called Gov. Mario M. Cuomo a racist and warned that powerful state officials were complicit. When asked whether Ms. Brawley would speak with the state attorney general, Robert Abrams, Mr. Sharpton said that would be like asking someone in a concentration camp to talk to Hitler.
But, as the meticulously researched Retro Report points out this week, it was all a hoax. After seven months, 6,000 pages of testimony and 180 witnesses, a grand jury found Ms. Brawley’s story to be a lie. Neither the police officer nor the district attorney accused by Ms. Brawley and Mr. Sharpton had been involved in any way, the report concluded.”
Reverend Sharpton’s hideous involvement in this case taints everything he touches including the NAN.
NAACP: This from Talkingpointsmemo.com May 5, 2014
“The Donald T. Sterling Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to the NAACP in 2010, according to Non-Profit Quarterly. Jenkins was also listed as a recipient at the Sterling foundation’s 2013 awards luncheon, though the amount of that award has not been publicly disclosed. On top of those direct gifts, Jenkins in 2009 said that Sterling donates thousands of Clippers tickets to youth groups. The Clippers team foundation also donates to local youth and sports activities, Non-Profit Quarterly reported.”
Scandal-ridden may be too strong a description of these civil rights organizations but scandal-free would be too.
“I don’t know why you think I’m avoiding an answer. Sure, it probably hurt Sink. It was a key issue in the campaign. He might have won without it. But is that really important? And why exactly would I write about it?”
You have been—and continue to be—skeptical about the effect Obamacare will have on this November’s senatorial race in Colorado. I would think you’d want to write about how that issue played out in another Congressional election.
Even the New York Times thought it newsworthy because of its national implications:
“The victory will embolden Republicans as they head into the midterm election and bolster their message — that the nation disapproves of the Affordable Care Act and Mr. Obama’s leadership.”
Had Democrat Alex Sink won the election would you have written about it and would you still have characterized the results as “semi-meaningless”?
Don,
I think you might have answered half of one of the questions, but it’s hard to tell. Your citations from your web search tell us that you learned something about these civil rights organizations, but what makes them self-righteous and hypocritical? Can you make the connection in your own words?
I have a suggestion for you. Because you’re so obsessed with the Florida election and think someone on Colorado Independent should write about it, I think it would be great if you wrote about it and sent it to the CI for publication. They’ve published non-staff articles previously.
I have another request. Because your questions to Mike seem to be of a more personal nature, I would ask that you be a considerate warrior and send him your questions in a private email. Thank you.
Mike, please keep writing what you’re passionate about; that’s what makes an engaging read for the rest of us.