Category: Politics

Bob Cousy appears to distance self from Trump after Fauci sidelined

Boston Celtics point guard legend Bob Cousy seems to have distanced himself from Donald Trump over his treatment of Dr. Anthony Fauci recently.

There was a time when Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy spoke very highly of president Donald Trump, but it seems that time has passed, and it all has to do with science.

Specifically, epidemiology.

The Celtics legend had once been quite supportive of the current president of the United States — from whom he had received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from  in 2019 — lavishing Trump with considerable praise while being granted his award.

“It’s very special for two other reasons. It allows me to join one of the most exclusive clubs in our planet. And secondly, Mr. President, it is special because it is being presented by the most extraordinary president in my lifetime,” offered Cousy at the time via USA TODAY’s Lorenzo Reyes, “and I’m a B.R., for before Roosevelt.”

That summer, not even a year past, seems like a lifetime ago.

Now, in the midst of a global pandemic Trump and his administration have begun to clash with fellow Holy Cross alumni, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and friend of Cousy Dr. Anthony Fauci — who finds his credibility under attack by members of Trump’s administration.

“Dr. Fauci is my hero,” said Cousy in an interview with the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy. “I had dinner with him when he gave a speech for one of my teammates many years ago and I have been bragging on him since then.

“I’ve noticed that our president has turned on him. That was inevitable. Tony has taken the cautious approach all along, but I think he’s a hell of a guy. He’s an honorable man and he’s conducted himself honorably. He’s simply told the truth as he sees it. I think he and Dr. [Deborah] Birx should walk in there and say, ‘Mr. President, we’ve given you all we’ve got, but we’ll be in Atlanta if you need us. We’re out of here.'”

“If you’re not going to agree with Trump or support him, you’re either out of there or he’s going to throw you under the bus, which is what is happening to Tony now,” he added.

Cousy’s shift towards Trump seems as much fueled by his administration’s sidelining and even maligning of Fauci as it is tied to the pandemic itself, which disproportionally impacts older persons like Cooz with severe effects.

“It’s my people, those in their 70s, 80s and 90s, that the damn thing is after,” he explained. “I’m staying quarantined.”

“I come out of my box once a week on Thursday nights for my save-the-world meetings with five other old men at the Worcester Country Club. That’s the extent of my activity, other than worrying about so many of my friends who have been sick.”

The original Houdini of the Hardwood, as he was sometimes called, is not especially optimistic about the NBA restart at Disney in light of the pandemic.

With local cases spiking and the state and federal government doing little to help contain the spread, it’s an understandable if gloomy position to take.

“I think everything is going to shut down, ” he said. “They’re going to continue having cases pop up where it’s going to be simply not viable to hold a season. I hope I’m wrong. What the hell to do I know? I’m sitting here in Worcester.”

The Celtics legend is at least cautiously optimistic about the state of race relations in the U.S. given the response of the nation — and his fellow Celtics alumni — towards the killing of George Floyd, however.

“I think it’s obvious that America is finally making some progress politically and in the streets in regard to race sensitivity and that’s a good thing,” explained Cousy.

“People are going to become ashamed of being racists and that’s a good thing. I thought we were going to make this step when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. Now the world has responded to George Floyd and that’s a good thing. I’m pleased that we finally are making progress.”

“I don’t know that will ever happen in Boston,” he added, referring to the city’s reputation as a bastion of racism in the northeast.

“My experience in Boston is that it is ingrained. Words are not going to do it,” said Cousy. “You’re going to have to look inside your heart.”

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Boston Celtics Assistant GM Zarren supports ranked choice voting

Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren came out in support of ranked choice voting on Twitter this Saturday.

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Boston Celtics assistant general manager and team general counsel Mike Zarren has come out as a supporter of ranked choice voting on Twitter Saturday evening.

Zarren retweeted former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s support of ranked choice voting or RCV, a concept that allows votes to rank candidates in order of preference rather than simply having one option vs. another as it is usually organized in most U.S. elections.

The concept, growing in popularity in recent years, has been put into practice in Canada, Australia, Ireland, Estonia, Fiji, Malta, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Nauru, Hong Kong, New Zealand and several other countries.

It was most recently was implemented in the United States in the Democratic primary elections of Iowa and Nevada for mail-in ballots only.

“For those frustrated with the two-party duopoly let’s fight to make Ranked Choice Voting a reality,” tweeted the former presidential candidate. “The fact is that self-identified independents now outnumber Dems or Republicans. Ranked Choice Voting would make our politics much more dynamic and responsive.”

Zarren quote-tweeted a reply with a call to action on ranked choice voting of his own, saying:

“Even if you like 2 parties, elections are still WAY more democratic with RCV. If you’re in Mass., we just finished the biggest signature campaign in state history and will have RCV on the ballot in Nov. Donate or get involved & help us improve democracy!”

The Celtics’ assistant GM included a link to Voter Choice for Massachusetts, presumably the organization he has been working with to push the concept in Boston’s home state.

Zarren joins many other players, staff and ownership in becoming vocally political in a sport — while more disposed towards politics than most — that was until recently relatively closed to open discussion of political issues.

The killing of George Floyd and ongoing debacle of pandemic responses at several levels of governance across the U.S. has seemingly altered that dynamic, perhaps irrevocably.

No longer content to “shut up and dribble“, players like LeBron James and Boston’s Jaylen Brown are banding together their vast personal resources and platforms to promote racial justice and James in particular voting rights initiatives.

It will be interesting to see whether a broader push to extend vote-by-mail initiatives organized as a response to voting in the midst of a pandemic become taken up by such NBA personalities given their proven success in increasing voter participation and access.

That even assistant general managers like Zarren are getting involved suggests this is a trend that is not going anywhere in a hurry.

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Boston legend Bill Russell continues reproaching Trump on Twitter

Boston Celtics big man legend Bill Russell continued his critiques of the U.S. president on Twitter this week.

Boston Celtics big man luminary Bill Russell continued his criticism of U.S. president Donald Trump on Twitter, taking shots at the head of state for low attendance of a rally Trump held in Tulsa, Oklahoma that had been originally scheduled on June 19th.

The choice of that date and location were seen by many — including Russell — as an insult to the memory of both Juneteenth (commemorating the emancipation of slaves at the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865 on that date) and the Tulsa race massacre, which saw whites massacre the most affluent Black neighborhood in the U.S. in 1921.

With that in mind, Russell tweeted a jab at the president Sunday after seeing the low turnout at the Trump Tulsa rally on the 20th.

“At #TrumpRally tonight I saw there were LOTS of @realDonaldTrump
supporters dressed as empty seats,” joked the 11-time NBA champion.

“Hope they heard him say how he said 2 slow #COVID testing of the #American people,” he added, referring to a comment by Trump that he’d slowed down testing later walked back as a joke. “Does that mean he will stop getting tested daily? #Coward Wear a mask!”

Monday morning, he went at Trump again.

After the president tweeted a claim the looming 2020 U.S. presidential elections as likely to be rigged, noting it will be “the scandal of our times,” Russell turned the tables, accusing Trump himself as exactly that.

It seems this president has re-awoken one of the Celtics’ most outspoken champions of civil rights with Trump’s confrontational and contentious style of leadership on both issues of race and the pandemic.

Knowing Russell, this likely won’t be the last time to two figures clash.

And among Celtics past and present, he’s not alone, either.

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Jayson Tatum doesn’t much care for Trump’s flag counter-protests

Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum doesn’t care if the president skips football over flag protests or not.

Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum let his feelings on taking a knee be known Friday, responding on Twitter to a tweet by U.S. president Donald Trump.

Trump has often clashed with athletes, particularly those who elect to protest racial injustice and police brutality by taking a knee before sporting events in leagues like the NFL and NBA.

The president made a comment to that effect in a recent tweet discussing a planned NFL season start later this year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Tony Fauci has nothing to do with NFL Football. They are planning a very safe and controlled opening,” claimed Trump. “However, if they don’t stand for our National Anthem and our Great American Flag, I won’t be watching!!!”

The tweet elicited a simple but blunt response from Tatum, who retweeted the president with his own message:

“Give a damn if you watch!!”

The 45th president has clashed with other players in the NBA — most notably LeBron James — but at least for now has not responded to the St. Louis native’s reply.

While Tatum has not been as high-profile of a supporter as some of his teammates of the demonstrations to protest the killing of George Floyd and other examples of police brutality, he has been increasingly vocal about the cause via social media.

Though brief, it is his strongest statement yet in support of the protests seeking justice for Floyd and Black lives more generally.

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Among NBA donors, Joe Biden easily ahead of Donald Trump for now

Donald Trump may be beating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in fundraising towards November’s election overall in the United States… but that is not so in the NBA. Per our research from the Federal Election Commission’s data, Trump is …

Donald Trump may be beating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in fundraising towards November’s election overall in the United States… but that is not so in the NBA.

Per our research from the Federal Election Commission‘s data, Trump is once again struggling with the NBA constituency, as was the case back in 2016 when donors from the league sided their financial contributions heavily to Hillary Clinton, who raised over $1.4 million from NBA donors.

So far towards this election, Trump only has four NBA donors, all members of ownership groups. The highest of those donations is $5,600 from Orlando Magic chairman Dan DeVos, a name that might sound familiar as Betsy Devos, Dan’s sister-in-law, is Trump’s Secretary of Education.

Other NBA donations for Trump thus far are $2,800 Indiana Pacers vice-chairman James Morris, $200 from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and $318.75 from Los Angeles Lakers part-owner James Buss.

In total, Trump has raised $8,918.75 from NBA donors.

Biden, on the other hand, has both the largest number of donors and the highest amount of money, though he hasn’t exactly reached an amount worth bragging about just yet.

Biden has raised $25,293 in total from the NBA constituency, including donations from Detroit Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry and co-owner Marc Lasry, and Pacers owner Herb Simon. Other sizeable donations come from Miami Heat general manager Andy Elisburg and vice president Shane Battier.

Something else worth noting: Even senator Cory Booker beats Trump in donations, despite the fact that he never polled that well during the primaries. Booker even got a donation from commissioner Adam Silver, who gave $2,700 to his campaign.

Also interesting: Two of the most left-leaning candidates, senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom were considered potential favorites to win the Democratic bid at different points, struggled with NBA donors. Sanders had 11 candidates ahead of him in terms of money donated to presidential candidates by the NBA consistency while Warren had 10 ahead of her. That might have something to do with their tax platforms which would have called for more taxation towards the wealthy; some NBA players – current and former – and executives would fall under that distinction.

Overall, however, the biggest story here is how much more money is going to Democratic candidates over incumbent Trump. For every dollar Trump has had donated to his campaign by NBA donors, 7.5 dollars have gone to Democrats.

Oh, we should also mention: Just like in the 2016 election, no active players have donated money to any candidate.

OVERALL NUMBERS

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JOE BIDEN

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CORY BOOKER

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DONALD TRUMP

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PETE BUTTIGIEG

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MICHAEL BENNET

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KAMALA HARRIS

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STEVE BULLOCK

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JOE SESTAK

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KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND

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JOHN DELANEY

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ELIZABETH WARREN

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BERNIE SANDERS

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ANDREW YANG

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TIM RYAN

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AMY KLOBUCHAR

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The Ron Perlman – Ted Cruz Twitter beef (and what it has to do with soccer and wrestling) explained

This week we got a big new Twitter beef between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and actor Ron Perlman. You’d expect the two to beef, I suppose – the staunchly conservative Texas politician will always beef with the progressive Hollywood star, given the …

This week we got a big new Twitter beef between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and actor Ron Perlman. You’d expect the two to beef, I suppose — the staunchly conservative Texas politician will always beef with the progressive Hollywood star, given the opportunity.

What’s interesting about this beef is how we got there. This wasn’t your standard Culture Skirmish — we’ve got wrestling, and soccer, and anthems, and representatives from multiple states, all involved in creating this beef, which is certainly a Beef of Our Times.

Anyway, we’re here to break it all down for you. How we got here, and where we’re going next.

Who are these people now?

Ted Cruz is the Republican Senator who has represented Texas since 2013.

Ron Perlman is the actor who played Hellboy, as well as Clarence ‘Clay’ Morrow on the FX series Sons of Anarchy. The big fella.

They’re beefing?

You better believe they’re beefing.

From whence did this beef come?

Soccer. And a Florida Republican. And a former college wrestling coach.

Lol. What?

So it all started from a tweet from Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman who serves Florida’s First District. He was calling out U.S. Soccer of all things, for the federation’s decision to retract a rule that forced its players to stand for the national anthem.

This was Gaetz’s tweet:

Perlman then responded, calling out Gaetz, as well as Donald Trump, in a NSFW-tweet that argued that the athletes didn’t care about what politicians think.

They got into it then with a healthy back-and-forth.

It ended with Perlman insulting Gaetz’s looks, saying he’d be the “ugliest politician walking” if not for “this guy,” and then shared a photo of Jim Jordan, the Republican who represents Ohio’s 4th.

This thing has layers, huh.

You’re telling me.

So how on Earth did Ted Cruz get involved?

Cruz jumped into the fray to defend the honor of fellow Republicans Gaetz and Jordan, and he did so by … challenging Perlman to fight Jordan, a former collegiate wrestler.

He challenged Perlman to fight someone else?

Correct.

Huh. How did Perlman respond?

Perlman said that wrestling with Jordan would be “problematic,” which appeared to be a way of calling out the fact that Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State when there was a sexual assault scandal involving a team doctor at the school. Jordan has denied having any knowledge of the actions by the team doctor at the time.

Perlman then said to Cruz “just make it you & me. I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending.”

And that’s it?

There’s been a few more barbs back and forth, but that should get you caught up.

Wild.

Amen.

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Celtics legend Bill Russell continues criticism of Trump on Twitter

Legendary Boston Celtics center Bill Russell continued his scathing criticism of president Trump on Twitter.

It’s probably safe to say legendary Boston Celtics big man Bill Russell won’t be accepting any invitations to the White House any time soon.

The Celtics luminary continued his scathing critiques of Donald Trump on Twitter for the president’s claims that he has “done more for the Black community than any other president.”

Already incensed by Trump’s handling of the civil unrest stemming from the killing of George Floyd, the lifelong civil rights activist launched a new volley of tweets in response to the chief executives claims on race relations.

“@realDonaldTrump says he’s done more for Blacks than any other President. Here’s a few – Central Park 5, He suggested shooting protesters & sic dogs on them, using the military to move #BlackLivesMatter protesters for a photo op,” wrote Russell. “Let’s not forget we are ‘Those sons a [expletive].'”

The reference to the Central Park Five addresses a full-page ad Trump took out in the New York Daily News calling for the death penalty for five African American teenagers who were accused of raping a white woman in central park in 1989.

Who were later acquitted when another man admitted his guilt, with corroborating DNA evidence.

The ‘sons of [expletive]’ quote refers to a divisive comment made by Trump regarding NFL players kneeling in protest of the same police brutality people across the country and world are protesting now.

Russell closed with another tweet encouraging people to vote, sharing a link to a site helping people register.

“[Trump] said #GeorgeFloyd was having a good day. [The president is] holding a rally on #JUNETEENTH a very important day for African Americans. This is a fraction of what he has done. This president is divisive & a coward get registered to #Vote & let your voice be heard.”

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The spamming of police and right-wing hashtags by K-pop stans, explained

Explaining the bizarre deployment of K-pop stans, who are overwhelming pro-police and right wing hashtags.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

This week we saw massive protests across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, who died after a police officer in Minneapolis sustained pressure to Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has now been arrested on third-degree murder charges.

One of the more bizarre subplots of the week has been the activation of K-pop stans on the internet for progressive causes during the protests. The story is very of the internet and a bit confusing even for people who spend Way Too Much Time Online, so we’re here to explain it all for you.

Let’s dive in:

OK, so who is involved here?

K-pop stans.

What is K-pop? And actually, uh, what are stans?

K-pop is shorthand for a genre of popular music based in South Korea. Stans = devoted fans. The name which is derived in part from an Eminem song about a fan who crosses the line into obsession.

K-pop stans are devoted fans of pop bands in the genre such as BTS or BLACKPINK.

K-pop stans have gotten known in internet circles for peculiar, some might argue aggressive ways of expressing their extreme fandom. One way they show their devotion to these bands is by taking over hashtags and posting dozens, if not hundreds, of videos and GIFs of the bands, even if the hashtag is completely unrelated to the band itself, or even K-pop generally.

Got it. What does any of this have to do with the protests?

Some members of the K-pop community have basically chosen to weaponize their intense, collective fan power to overwhelm hashtags that are typically reserved for content that is either pro-police or pro-right wing.

They’ve also started inundating apps that were built by police departments to allow citizens to report crimes.

What do you mean by “overwhelm” and “inundate?”

Basically, a hashtag is only as effective as the content that is organized under it. We saw unintended consequences of that very this this week with the #BlackoutTuesday movement that saw the #blacklivesmatter hashtag, which normally serves as a way for protestors to communicate and share information, overwhelmed with all black squares. Anyone who usually used the hashtag to keep informed on the movement couldn’t use it — there were just black squares everywhere.

K-pop fans have taken that power to the other side. Hashtags or apps that authorities may try to use to track protestors is now unusable, as it’s just packed to the gills with videos of Korean pop stars or memes.

Where have they deployed their spamming?

One place they activated was against the Kirkland, Washington police department, which asked users to use the hashtag #calmkirkland to report incidents “related to public rioting or looting.”

This is just a glimpse at posts tagged with the #calmkirkland hashtag on Wednesday morning:

K-pop fans have also inundated the #bluelivesmatter hashtag, as well as an online portal the Grand Rapids police department set up to report picture or video evidence of “unrest.”

This all seems very complicated and confusing.

Welcome to 2020!

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Steve Kerr, Eric Reid join chorus calling out VP Mike Pence over protest tweet

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. How do you have the gall to say this?”

On Friday, as protests erupted around the country following the killing of George Floyd, Vice President Mike Pence sent out a tweet decrying the protests. But he followed it with a tweet that said, in part: “We will always stand for the right of Americans to peacefully protest and let their voices be heard.”

As many sports fans quickly pointed out, however, Pence had very memorably and very famously not stood for the right for Americans to peacefully protest, when he walked out of an NFL game in 2017 after players kneeled during the playing of the national anthem. In what was pretty clearly a publicity stunt, Pence had done the opposite of what he was now saying in a tweet he was committed to doing.

Sports fans called him out quickly, en masse. And now some bigger names have gotten involved.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called out Pence in a quote tweet, asking how he had “the gall” to say what he did.

NFL safety Eric Reid, currently a free agent, also called out Pence.

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Watch Killer Mike give stirring speech on protests after killing of George Floyd

LeBron James shared the speech, calling it a “mandatory listen.”

Rapper and activist Killer Mike spoke during a press conference on Friday night while protestors took to the streets of Atlanta over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer put his knee into his neck for over eight minutes.

In the speech, Killer Mike first started by trying to put the riots into historical perspective, and empathize with the people who had taken to the streets. Citing hundreds of years of American policy which defined black people as less than their white counterparts, he makes clear that it wasn’t one isolated incident that brought us to where we are today.

To finish, he then pleaded with Atlantans to return home, and get to work on enabling systemic change.

LeBron James also shared the speech, calling it a “mandatory listen.”

Watch the entire speech here:

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