{"id":244,"date":"2014-05-23T23:36:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T23:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/?p=244"},"modified":"2014-05-24T21:03:03","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T21:03:03","slug":"sterlings-should-sue-the-la-times-and-further-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/?p=244","title":{"rendered":"Sterlings should sue the LA Times, and further questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Normally I\u2019m one who defends established newspapers as an oasis of reason in an internet rumor mill.<\/p>\n

But I cancelled my LA Times subscription promptly after reading their headline\u00a0“Contrite, defiant Sterling only fuels further outrage<\/a>”\u00a0the day after Sterling tried to explain himself to Anderson Cooper.<\/p>\n

I talked to a few of my law school friends, and outside the press frenzy about this, the consensus is pretty clear \u2013 Sterling had not given into a blackmail attempt.\u00a0 The field day everyone is having with this, gleeful at the thought of publicly humiliating the Jew and taking his property, reveals really deep anti-Semitic roots in this town.<\/p>\n

So, if we still do live in a nation of laws and courts, and not \u201cthe court of public opinion\u201d (i.e. lynch mobs), we think the Sterlings have a real case against the Los Angeles times for False Image.\u00a0 If not Defamation of Character.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to dissect this a bit, and probe some deeper questions about exactly what\u2019s been going on in this city.<\/p>\n

We can call out False Light on\u00a0the LA Times for a number of reasons,\u00a0and we can start with\u00a0their characterization of the Anderson Cooper interview.\u00a0 Anderson Cooper was more than fair with a man who came forward to represent himself.\u00a0 The highlights were that he was set up by this woman, she goaded him to say things he wouldn\u2019t ordinarily say, and she broke his trust.\u00a0 This is the consensus of people who actually listened to that phone conversation.<\/p>\n

What are the first three things the LA Times puts up?\u00a0 \u201cDonald Sterling attacked Lakers great Magic Johnson, suggested that African Americans have not done enough to help their community and blamed the media for creating the turmoil.\u201d\u00a0 An hour long interview, and these three questions were almost ancillary.<\/p>\n

People could say that Sterling did not come off well.\u00a0 But given the town press\u2019s prejudice towards him, he could have just masturbated for an hour and it wouldn\u2019t have made a lick of difference.\u00a0 They have their attitude towards him and they cherry-picked the facts that fit.<\/p>\n

A lie is defined as a \u201cmisrepresentation of fact.\u201d\u00a0 So in pure terms, we have\u00a0a demonstrated fraud here, and it could be easily argued as False Light.\u00a0 Of course I\u2019m just posting this one article, but I think this article is quite representative of all the articles they\u2019ve posted about him.\u00a0 Other articles have painted him as suffering from dementia, actually wanting to lose his team, old man bigot product of a bygone era, I\u2019d go on but it makes me sick just to think about how they\u2019re painting him.<\/p>\n

And the worst part is, in a nation of laws, not one opinion piece suggesting that maybe the accused has rights, and society should respect that.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It\u2019s just \u201cyou\u2019re either with us or you\u2019re a bigot.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this in mind, Is it any wonder that Mark Cuban came out and proudly declared himself a bigot?<\/p>\n

On a tangent, good on you, Mr. Cuban.\u00a0 I have a feeling the rest of the owners will close ranks behind Sterling, on the grounds of refusing to let an owner lose a team over\u00a0blackmail.\u00a0 If they are the sole voice of reason in this lynch mob, it makes a damning statement about capitalist democracy, that the only people who can run it responsibly are the capitalists.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s take this further.<\/p>\n

The charges can deepen into Defamation of Character, if there was no sexual relationship between Sterling and Stiviano.\u00a0 For this I go by Sterling\u2019s remarks in the Anderson Cooper interview, that he just thought some young woman cared about him and it\u2019s hard to say no to that.\u00a0 The theory is equally plausible that she came into his life with malicious intent and blackmailed the family with misleading recordings, and they had given her the house and cars to shut her up.<\/p>\n

This is something for the Sterlings to ask themselves.\u00a0 If there was no sexual relationship between the two, it\u2019s Defamation of both Donald and Shelly to say their marriage is falling apart because he\u2019s cheating on her with a younger woman.<\/p>\n

And what a damning statement it would be, if they reaffirmed their marriage by denying an actual affair.\u00a0 How much of a given was it, in this entire town, that he was paying for sex, if the reality is she was just a malicious gold-digger who took advantage of an old man\u2019s trust?\u00a0 How many entities could be held liable for fanning that slander?<\/p>\n

And here’s where I’d like to add some more probing questions.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on in the editorial boards of the newspapers?\u00a0 Why this lapse of basic rights of the accused?\u00a0 I understand Los Angeles has deep anti-semitic roots \u2013 it\u2019s why Jews settled in Beverly Hills, because they weren\u2019t allowed to buy homes in Pasadena.\u00a0 Does the editorial board of the LA Times have roots in this demon?\u00a0 Do we need to bug their hallways to find out what\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

What do the columnists say?\u00a0 As I posted in a previous link, Michael Hiltzik actually defended Frank McCourt<\/a>, saying his crimes aren\u2019t the worst in baseball.\u00a0 And that\u2019s one of the first lessons I learned in politics \u2013 whenever someone gets busted for sex or drugs, it\u2019s always about a deeper.\u00a0 Was there some conspiracy to run him out of town so some older (whiter) money (Guggenheim Group) could take over?<\/p>\n

And what is the deal with Magic Johnson, anyway?\u00a0 He stands to be the main beneficiary of the Clippers scandal, being first in line to buy them in a city that worships him.\u00a0 He was also the figurehead buyer of the Dodgers after the city kicked out Frank McCourt (for the record, the city made it worth his while to leave, they didn\u2019t threaten sabotage and forced sale if he didn\u2019t surrender the team.\u00a0 But let\u2019s ignore that key fact for now).<\/p>\n

Does he have sinister motives here?\u00a0 What\u2019s his relationship with Stiviano?\u00a0 Did he put her up to it?\u00a0 What does Frank McCourt think about his sale of the the Dodgers?\u00a0 It sounds like he\u2019s happy with what he got, he still gets to go to baseball games and he gets his parking lot profits for eternity.\u00a0 So he\u2019s probably signed a non-disclosure agreement a mile long.\u00a0 But it would still be nice to bug both of their phone conversations and see what THEY say in private.<\/p>\n

Does Johnson\u00a0have any ties to the Player’s Association? \u00a0What is the deal with them anyway? \u00a0When Silver and others are talking about the urge to expropriate the team, and where it’s coming from, he says the players are demanding it. \u00a0Really? \u00a0This whole thing is because a few players are so upset over some fucked-up phone conversation, that they will uproot the whole league unless they expropriate the owner? \u00a0I think people who speak for themselves would be a bit more rational. \u00a0I suspect this “association” is in somebody’s back pocket.<\/p>\n

And what about Adam Silver and Richard Parsons?\u00a0 As figureheads for the reaction, their stances are predictable.\u00a0 But Adam Silver, for all his stated \u201cconfidence\u201d, sounded quite nervous at his last press conference.\u00a0 I imagine he\u2019s nervous that he really doesn\u2019t have the votes.<\/p>\n

And what is Richard Parson\u2019s history?\u00a0 The history of CEOs is generally that of incompetent self-serving figureheads.\u00a0 What\u2019s his history in \u201cpreserving value\u201d?<\/p>\n

I have no idea about any of these people.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m asking these questions here.\u00a0 On my own little corner of the internet. \u00a0Because the media have prodded Sterling enough to be guilty of molestation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Normally I\u2019m one who defends established newspapers as an oasis of reason in an internet rumor mill. But I cancelled my LA Times subscription promptly after reading their headline\u00a0“Contrite, defiant Sterling only fuels further outrage”\u00a0the day after Sterling tried to explain himself to Anderson Cooper. I talked to a few of my law school friends, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[122,132,133,134,131,130,135,125,123],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}