Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors star Stephen Curry fell hard on his left wrist and broke his left hand in the third quarter of Golden State’s game against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter tore into Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday night for not voting in favor of a bill to place economic sanctions on Turkey for its military campaign against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Kanter, who is Turkish and has long been a vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, tweeted that it was an "absolute disappointment and shame" that Omar was the only Democrat to vote against the measure to put sanctions on Turkey. The NBA star continued, asserting that Omar's actions made it seem like she was "on #DictatorErdogan's payroll" and "working for...

HOUSTON -- A group of 30 fans at the Houston Rockets' season opener against Milwaukee held signs and wore shirts in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong on Thursday night. Houston general manager Daryl Morey angered the Chinese government with a since-deleted tweet in support of the protesters earlier this month. Tuesday's opening-night games were not televised in China in the wake of Morey's tweet, which caused tension between the NBA and Chinese officials.

US Vice-President Mike Pence has criticised the US National Basketball Association (NBA) in a speech attacking Chinese diplomatic and trade policies. Mr Pence accused both the NBA and the sports equipment firm Nike of "kowtowing" to Beijing and "muzzling" criticism of China. It comes in the wake of a diplomatic row over an NBA team manager's support for anti-Beijing protests in Hong Kong. He also said Chinese policy was growing "more aggressive and destabilising". In the speech in Washington DC, the vice-president said: "In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech, the NBA is acting like a...

Former NBA player Charles Barkley said that Vice President Mike Pence “needs to shut the hell up” in response to Pence’s comments blasting the NBA for being accommodating China. “First of all, Vice President Pence needs to shut the hell up,” Barkley said during an NBA pregame on TNT. “All American companies are doing business in China.” The former NBA player added that he thought it was “unfair” that politicians were attempting “to make the NBA and our players look bad” after President Trump has started a trade war against China. “But I don’t understand why these holier than thou...

“I refuse to go to movies anymore. I don’t want to support Hollywood’s politics.” How many readers have heard or uttered a variation of the previous sentence over the years? Oh well, annoying and uninformed as the politics of Hollywood’s leading lights may be, they’re great at their chosen profession. Too bad they don’t keep their politics to themselves as they all-too-often know not of what they speak. But it says here that the movies and television shows produced by the left-leaning entertainment industry are way too good to miss all because of policy and/or political disagreements. It seems many...

A large Hong Kong flag was seen waving in the middle of the crowd outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles during TNT’s coverage of Tuesday night's NBA season opener between the Lakers and Clippers -- and quickly sparked debate on social media. Some praised the fan for waving the flag, while others said politics should be kept out of sports. Others tried to interpret whether TNT was taking a position in the dispute between Hong Kong and China, judging by how long the flag remained on screen. The NBA became linked to the Hong Kong-China dispute earlier this month...

Over the weekend, Chinese state television attacked NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, threatening retribution for what it claimed was a lie. Last week Silver claimed the Chinese government had asked him to fire Rockets general manager Daryl Morey over his tweet about Hong Kong: The Chinese government asked the N.B.A. to fire a team executive who posted on social media in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, said on Thursday in his first public appearance in the United States since returning from a contentious trip to Asia.“We said there’s no chance that’s happening,” Silver...

The People’s Republic of China destroyed a church that reportedly could seat 3,000 people and detained its pastors, according to a human rights organization.China Aid, an international nonprofit Christian human rights group based in Texas, reported the incident in a statement released Saturday. According to the group, Chinese authorities provided no legal papers to justify the demolition.The church was located in Funan, Anhui province. Its pastors, Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao, were detained under suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”China Aid President Bob Fu said in a statement that the incident was “yet another clear example showing...

Hundreds of demonstrators wearing “Stand With Hong Kong” T-shirts attended an NBA game Friday night in Brooklyn to protest the league and show support for Chinese pro-democracy activists. Producer and activist Andrew Duncan bought 300 tickets for protesters to attend the Brooklyn Nets game against the Toronto Raptors, according to reporter Yashar Ali. SNIP

The Chinese government asked the N.B.A. to fire a team executive who posted on social media in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, said on Thursday in his first public appearance in the United States since returning from a contentious trip to Asia. “We said there’s no chance that’s happening,” Silver said. “There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.” The executive, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, set off the international firestorm with a Twitter post using a slogan used by the protesters in Hong Kong, just as the league was...

Commissioner Adam Silver told TMZ Sports that’s he’s bothered so many people think the NBA knuckled under and apologized to China over Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong’s freedom. The initial statement read, “We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.” “While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals’ education themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them.” Silver explained to TMZ...

Heh. With NBA stars like Lebron James and James Harden firmly in the oppression corner, a group of Toronto Raptors fans have decided to join the freedom team. They will distribute pro-Hong Kong t-shirts at the opening game of the Raptors 2019-20 season: The saga of Hong Kong vs. China vs. the NBA continues in Toronto next week with the distribution of more than 7,000 fan-made “The North Stand with Hong Kong” t-shirts on opening night of the Toronto Raptors 2019-2020 season. A group of local basketball fans who support Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement raised more than $32,000 to produce...

Sen. Ted Cruz slammed LeBron James for “kissing up to Chinese communists and tyrants” — amid the backlash the Lakers superstar faces for his recent comments on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, according to a report. “I got to say LeBron James, he’s a hell of a player, but it sure seems his comments were more interested in money and making bucks and I get it, Nike is a big sponsor of his and he makes a whole lot of money, but kissing up to Chinese communists and tyrants and apologizing for murderers, that’s not a good look for the NBA,”...

"We are leaders, and we can step up at a times, but you don't feel like you should upon things you shouldn't have to," added James, who is in his second season with the Los Angeles Lakers,

NBA superstar LeBron James says Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was “misinformed” and “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand” when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong’s freedom demonstrations. Morey’s sin was sharing an image of a slogan that read, “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Even though the GM, regrettably, deleted his tweet, one strongly suspects his grasp of China— where the state is running “re-education” camps filled with Uyghurs—is considerably stronger than any of the NBA’s leading apologists.Only last year, James, a purported champion of social justice, came out in support of former quarterback Colin...

On Tuesday morning Herschel Walker posed this important question: America is the greatest country in the world-free to speak and think for yourself! Question ..during Summer Olympics will the @NBA players play for USA or China? Herschel Walker ✔ @HerschelWalker 🇺🇸America is the greatest country in the world-free to speak and think for yourself! Question ..during Summer Olympics will the @NBA players play for USA or China?@Nike @FoxNews @CNN @DonaldJTrumpJr @realDonaldTrump @USATODAY @NBCNews @ESPNNBA @espn @NBAonTNT @nikebasketball 46.6K 5:07 PM - Oct 13, 2019

Charles Barkley claims that those who criticize the NBA for not taking a stance on China are hypocrites (and worse). He says people ripped Colin Kaepernick for taking a stance on race relations and the police in America, yet want the NBA and its players to take positions about what happens in a foreign country. Barkley is wide of the mark. First, Kaepernick was ripped not for taking a position on race and the police, but rather for refusing to respect our National Anthem. I haven’t heard anyone say that NBA officials or players should kneel when the Chinese anthem...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/10/14/lebron-james-daryl-morey-china-hong-kong-tweet/3982436002/

LeBron James said he thinks Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey "wasn't educated on the situation at hand" when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong. James told reporters Monday that people need to be careful about what they tweet and say as there can be ramifications. "I don't want to get into a ... feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke," James said. He added that people could have been harmed "not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually." LeBron tweeted later clarifying his comments saying he did not...