Posted on 04/30/2014 3:10:10 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
(CNN) -- This past week, my inbox blew up with e-mails asking whether Donald Sterling's First Amendment rights were violated in the uproar over the Los Angeles Clippers owner's racist remarks about black people. After all, he was simply expressing his views, however unpopular.
While he did have some rights violated, his First Amendment rights remain intact.
The First Amendment protects you from the government punishing you because of your speech. The NBA is a private club, and it can discipline Sterling all it wants.
What about the chorus of criticism? Are we all violating his First Amendment rights by criticizing him? We are punishing him for his speech.
Nope. The First Amendment does not insulate you from criticism. In fact, that's the First Amendment in action. That is how the marketplace of ideas works. We float our ideas in the marketplace, and we see which idea sells.
Most everyone would agree that Sterling's ideas fail in the marketplace of ideas. Nevertheless, I reluctantly stand on Sterling's side today. What happened to him may have been illegal and was morally wrong.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
And I would like to see that equally repulsive “mistress” of his (”V.” - only needs one name, I guess) taken to court over the illegal “wire-tapping” and publication without consent...at the very least!
____________________________________________
I doubt she ever had one dime to her name that Sterling didn’t give her.
But for Silver and the NBA to use her illegal and immoral recording as they did?
Thats worse than what Sterling said. He neeeds to sue the bejeebers out of the NBA.
What good is the 1st amendment when a mob can demand your destruction for your thoughts? If you cannot express your thoughts without persecution there is no freedom. Surely this was not the intention of the founders.
Well, yeah....you would think so...
What good is the 1st amendment when a mob can demand your destruction for your thoughts?
I’m with ya man.
I hope you’re a Yankees fan too...
Sterling was rude, crude and vulgar, as we can all sometimes be in the privacy of our own home. However, the punishment he received is far out of proportion to the seriousness of his private wrong. Someone wants his franchise at a bargain basement price. I hope he sues the NBA.
Actually, the correct phrase is, 'Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.'
See tag line
“I hope you’re a Yankees fan too...”
Of course. No one with any self respect would be a Mets fan.
“Of course. No one with any self respect would be a Mets fan.”
—
My son in NY is a Mets fan——of course he was born and raised in Boston and that says it all.
.
I still don't have much of a clue about the fine print, but I think Silver is out on a limb, as a matter of contract law. I dunno if Sterling is inclined to sue, probably depends on how much money he is offered to just go away.
That "Secret" NBA Constitution Is Now Online
Do you think a prosecutor will take the slam dunk case against his hooker girlfriend? Hahahah. I sure doubt it. Sterling's turn in the two weeks of hate box.
Not that I thought the NBA had any sense of decency, nothing but a bunch of sleazy, corrupt opportunists. Hope they enjoy their time in our sleazy, corrupt courts!
“If you cannot express your thoughts without persecution there is no freedom. Surely this was not the intention of the founders.”
The Founders concerned themselves with government persecution. What’s happening to Sterling is the free market in action.
I work in a liberal business. Most people in a position to hire me don’t like people with my beliefs. If they don’t like you, they won’t hire you. So I keep my mouth shut about politics.
Is that “fair” to me? Well, it’s the free market in action — they’re hiring whomever they wish, for whatever reason. And we’ve all decided the free market is the fairest system. So, yeah. Perfectly fair. And even though he’s a team owner, Sterling has a lot of co-workers — other owners — who don’t like his beliefs. So they don’t want to work with him anymore. He’s fired. Free market.
Why should Sterling get a pass on his ugly beliefs? Is he entitled to special protection from the vagaries of the free market that the rest of us aren’t?
Welcome to the Thunderdome, Donny.
First Sterling is a dirt bag, the mistress was merely a very high priced hooker and sterling knew it.
He had a piece of an entertainment business the NBA, they have to respond to their customers. His comments (and lack of judgement having the hooker who recorded his bigoted remarks) hurt the brand and his business partners bottom line. So the business partners are buying/kicking him out because he broke the rules he agreed to.
Nothing Personal Just business.
He the hooker and the wife all seem to be aholes frankly.
Multi-justicism demands the Clippers go to Magic Johnson and his backers. It’s the only solution that is in keeping with sentimental one-ups-men-ship we’ve come to know. Affirmative re-action!
For years the libs screamed about the horrors of McCarthyism. Now they are PC blacklisting people’s employment (paula dean, Brendon Eich [mozilla ceo]) and taking their property away (sterling).
It’s Liberalism by any means necessary. It’s no wonder leftist philosophy was the inspiration behind millions of murders in the 20th century.
If Sterling had been black and said something similar about whites it would have gone unnoticed.
Because in orwell’s America—Some are more equal than others.
of course he was born and raised in Boston and that says it all.
Yeah. I spent 40 years in Boston. But, born in NY.
When things don’t work out, and the METS are on top, I’m a METS fan too.
Casey Stengel...first METS Manager. A YANKEE
Anyway, with tears in my eyes, I must admit, one of the reasons I left Massachusetts in 2004, was that the Dead Sox FINALLY won the World Series.
As a well known LIFELONG YANKEES fan, the ABUSE was BRUTAL
But.
The GAME is BASEBALL.
An AMERICAN Institution.
Some of the participants are DICK-HEADS
BUT.
That will NEVER detract from the INSTITUTION.
BASEBALL - AMERICAN
BASKETBALL - AMERICAN
It turns my stomach, that people who can’t tell a Basketball from a Baseball are in a position to determine the direction of a TEAM or a LEAGUE or the OWNERSHIP thereof, based upon the Political Correctness, du jour...
I’m too old, and have ‘ingested’ too much Scotch to further elaborate
Speaking of mixing surveillance and PC. What if the government decided to use the NSA to record emails, phone calls etc. and look for conversations about race, gays etc. and then use that info to get people fired from their jobs etc. Call it pc blacklisting.
Paranoid fantasy, or coming Orwellian reality?
“Is that “fair” to me? Well, it’s the free market in action — they’re hiring whomever they wish, for whatever reason. And we’ve all decided the free market is the fairest system. So, yeah. Perfectly fair.”
You are not going to last long in the Thunderdome with that attitude. First of all I doubt the leftys you work for think the free market is the fairest system. That would be very out of character. In any case the leftists twist the constitution to invent new rights to protect their immorality and perversions. I think it can and should be argued for the broadest interpretation of 1st ammendment protections, not just from govt but from private entities as well. The current interpretation will destroy free speech.
The other issue is that those of us who believe in free speech are willing to tolerate speech we find offensive from liberals. That means they can say anything they want without repercussion. They do not give us the same courtesy so we are at a great disadvantage in public discourse or getting our POV out.
“Why should Sterling get a pass on his ugly beliefs? Is he entitled to special protection from the vagaries of the free market that the rest of us aren’t?”
Until very recently expressing an unpopular opinion like Sterling did WAS considered to fall under free speech. Then the left decided to persecute those whose opinions they did not like. THEY decided that it was legitimate to destroy their enemies and argued that the 1st was only protective against the govt. As usual people on our side went along with the lefty interpretation.
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