Category: People

Perception Matters- Trump as Empire Builder

Some prominent Republicans have suggested that Donald Trump is unwilling to release his tax information because he’s hiding something important, maybe even a “bombshell”. Perhaps his reticence is about having the kind of effective tax rate Mitt Romney revealed in 2012 or using the tax havens he’s bashed in the past. National Review published a piece declaring that if “Trump won’t release his tax returns prior to the GOP convention, the delegates pledged to him on the first ballot should abstain” from voting for him. The implications are that something devious or even sinister lurks in the paper trail.

 

My theory is much simpler. I think the only thing that might make a difference for Trump supporters is the bottom line number. How much money does he have?

 

We’ve all seen the story play out before. A celebrity appears to have an immense amount of wealth but it’s illusory. Michael Jackson used to own an amusement park house for goodness sake!

 

This is why perception matters:

 

Trump’s primary appeal is his status as an empire builder. He describes himself as a winner and people believe it. After all, the strongest association we have with Trump is as ‘rich person’. In an America devoid of culturally significant dynastic families, it’s people like Donald Trump and the Kardashians who represent the 21st century image of American wealth. (We know nothing about most of the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, Kennedys and Rockefellers in our midst today.) We’ve already looked behind the curtain at the Kardashians and seen the ‘momager’ Kris Jenner herself. We know she’s the wizard.

 

We have no idea what we’ll see when the curtain is pulled back on the ‘Trumpire’. If there’s far less wealth than we’ve been led to believe, it will be disastrous for Trump. Not because he’s funding his own campaign, despite what he says. But because the core premise of his candidacy will be gone. It’s only his wealth that resonates as successful. Without it, he’s just another reality show star with bad hair and a bizarrely attached following. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Kris Jenner will show up at the Republican convention?

 

 

-FDO

 

 

Perception Matters- Durant Is Clutch

 

We’re a week removed from one of the best NBA games this season. In many respects it was an instant classic. Golden State’s 121-118 overtime victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder had everything you’d want in an NBA game. There was star power, including the last two MVPs (Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry) and 5 2016 All-Stars. There was tremendous execution (239 dynamic points). There were three point shooting records (Curry tied the single game record with 12 makes and broke his own season record). Above all, there was drama as Curry hit an absurd, contested 32 footer to win the game at the horn.

 

What we didn’t see though, was winning, crunch time basketball from one of the five best players in the world and apparently no one else noticed. The reality is that Durant failed massively in the last few seconds of regulation. While the Thunder were up two with a few seconds left, Durant caught the ball and instead of waiting to be fouled or trying to escape the trap, he instead threw an awful, long pass that was intercepted by the Warriors. (Klay Thompson and Draymond Green both played the defensive possession extremely well.)

 

Then, after this turnover and with less than a second left, Durant fouled Andre Iguodala while he was shooting a desperate jumper. @Andre then hit the game tying free throws to send the game into overtime. Now, going to OT does not mean Durant lost the game in this sequence but had he made the right play either time, his Thunder would have won the game.

 

This is why perception matters: Everyone thinks of Durant as a clutch player. Since his rookie year, he’s been a consistent big shot taker and maker, including some spectacular game winners. The perception is that he’s a fantastic player when it matters most. So the talking heads on TV basically ignored those last few seconds. Virtually all the follow up stories about this game were only about how awesome Steph Curry is, not about why he had extra opportunities to win this game, thanks to Durant.

 

But just imagine if it had been LeBron James or Dwight Howard who’d failed as spectacularly as Durant did. The narrative afterward would have been entirely different. It’s about perception.

 

 

FDO

 

 

Fool Me Once, or, Yes, Progressives Need to Vote for the Democratic Nominee in 2016!

  

It’s rare that I write in direct response to someone else’s thinking but I have to make an important exception today. It’s this article in which Ben Spielberg claims that voting for Hillary Clinton would do little more than represent “the lesser-of-two-evils mentality.” Spielberg is convinced that if Bernie Sanders loses the Democratic primary, progressives should refuse to vote for Clinton in the general election in an effort “to enact fundamental change to a broken political system”. I disagree with this sentiment profoundly.

 

My disagreement comes mostly because I so vividly remember the 2000 Presidential election and the horrific aftermath from which we are still recovering. Yes, Vice President Al Gore was a poor campaigner. Yes, he should have let President Bill Clinton campaign for him. Yes, he should have won his home freaking state. Yes, the Supreme Court made a decision that will be to its eternal shame. (Which they knew AS they were making the Gore v. Bush ruling.) All those things are true.

 

It is ALSO true that lots of people voted for Ralph Nader instead of Gore in for the same reasons being suggested in this piece. In, at least, Florida and New Hampshire, the Nader vote tipped the state to Governor George W. Bush. Gore also had to spend lots of additional campaign resources to win Oregon, New Mexico and the Upper Midwest because Nader ran so strongly there.

 

To suggest, as Spielberg does, that there so many similarities between Clinton and the GOP that progressives shouldn't pull the lever for her is baffling. How about potential Supreme Court nominations, safeguarding LGBQT rights, crafting a reasonable immigration policy, preserving the existence of Planned Parenthood, responding to income inequality, slowing global warming, refusing to have a President who talks casually about indiscriminate bombing and avoiding the nightmare of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan running Congress unchecked? Don't progressives think those issues matter enough to choose "the lesser of two evils"?

 

Why, in fact, do so many on the left revile Secretary Clinton so much? Why is it that so many on the left love Bill and tolerate Hill? Is it because we've also bought into the fictional narratives Fox News has created about her? Do progressives believe the rumors and lies about her more than we want to admit? Or have Americans on the left simply accepted the same 'Who do I wanna have a beer with?' concept that many conservatives have?

 

If you consider yourself a progressive and decide to vote for Jill Stein because that’s the right choice for you, go for it. Of course, that’s your right and privilege. But please, don't let it be because you pretend to think there's not much difference between a world led by Hillary Clinton as opposed to one led by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.

 

We went down that devastating road in 2000. If we do it again in 2016, shame on us. Shame on us, all.

 

 

 

Love for Venus

 

Can we show some love for Venus Williams? Please? PLEASE!

 

No, really. Let’s stop to think about her career. Venus is one of the 10 greatest players in the history of women’s tennis. Seven Grand Slam titles, four Olympic gold medals, a revolutionary combination of power, speed and athleticism and so much more. Yet she’s barely an afterthought these days. BECAUSE HER LITTLE SISTER IS THE GOAT!

 

Before Serena ruled the world, Venus was the one in the vanguard. It was Venus who started living out the experiments of the mad tennis scientist, Richard Williams. Venus was the trailblazer who first wore the beaded braids, first broke down the doors of the country club, first survived the slings and arrows of (thinly veiled) racism, first informed the world that Black girls from the ‘hood could be any damn thing they wanted. That was Venus.

 

It was also Venus who sheltered, shepherded and protected the true Golden Child, Serena, from the media, jealous players and even the mad scientist. She was the caretaking nurturer who made the more delicate Serena secure. It was Venus who suffered loss after loss so graciously. Remember the first Serena Slam from more than a decade ago? Guess who the finalist was, all four times. Venus kept losing to Serena, watching her place in history usurped by her baby sister. While smiling and taking pictures.

 

When women in tennis won their fight for equal prize money, it was Venus who was at the forefront of that movement.  When both Venus and Serena took time away from their sport to pursue other passions, it was Venus who made the public statements, responded to the carping legends and diffused the tension. 

 

While everyone, including me, applauds Roger Federer for his slow, graceful descent from Mount Olympus, please recognize that he’s still the second best player in the world! His tumble has been relatively easy. Venus has fallen from the heights to a far less appealing plane. Now she’s consistently ranked in the 20s, struggling to make even quarterfinals at big events, and has downshifted from ‘Favorite’ to ‘Contender’ to ‘Darkhorse’ to ‘Legend’. Despite her battle with the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome, Venus still competes against players she inspired as toddlers. All with inordinate class.

 

So, regardless of how Venus finishes this US Open tournament and her career, I want to take a moment to acknowledge one of the unappreciated greats of the modern athletic and cultural universe.

 

Thank you, Venus. Keep on keepin’ on!

 

 

The King’s Crowning Achievement

 

My NBA watching has taken a sad nose dive in 2015 but I'm excited that I'll be able to watch more consistently as the Eastern Conference Finals begin tonight. Part of it is sheer love for the game but I'm also very intrigued by some of the historical dynamics at play.

 

The next 3 or 4 weeks may prove to be the stretch in which LeBron James cements his place as the greatest forward to ever play basketball. I’d argue that he’s already there and that whenever he retires, there is likely to be a gulf separating James from Barkley, Bird, Baylor, Erving, Garnett, Havlicek, Malone and the rest of the all-time great forwards. The next few weeks might convince some of the last remaining skeptics.

 

Consider that with victories over the top seeded Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Rockets-Warriors* victor in the NBA Finals, James would lead his teams to 5 straight Finals appearances and titles in 3 of those seasons.# That specific level of sustained brilliance has been rarely achieved in the NBA.  Russell’s Celtics are the only team to do it and James (along with teammate James Jones) would be the first individual to do it since.

 

As impressive as that feat would be historically, considering the context of this Cleveland Cavalier team, another championship might well be King James’ crowning achievement. At the beginning of the season there were high hopes for this team because of their formidable trio of All-Stars. Their Big 3 enters the conference finals as a Big 1 ½.

 

The Cavs mortgaged their future to acquire Kevin Love from the Timberwolves, hoping he could replicate Chris Bosh’s success with James in Miami. Love is out for the season after suffering a Minnesota Wrecking Crew style shoulder separation. Kyrie Irving, the Cavs incumbent star, was presumed to fill the Dwyane Wade role this year but Irving is suffering from multiple injuries and limped awkwardly through the end of the Bulls series.

 

The current third member of the Cavs Big 3 is Timofey Mozgov. It’s true. Folks, we are not talking about Robert Parish and Kevin McHale here. Apologies for referencing Moses Malone and Andrew Toney in this context. Yes, the mere comparison is embarrassing.  

 

And it gets worse! The rest of the Cavs team is a “clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk”, to quote the Wizard of Oz. Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert are their fourth, fifth and sixth best players. Please read that sentence again.

 

If James can lead this team to a title he’ll have demonstrated that his two year MVP drought has no bearing on his continuing status as the best player in the game. He will also be able to make the case that none of the other contenders for BEST FORWARD EVER ever won a title with such a motley crew.

 

The amazing thing is, LeBron James is good enough to pull it off. Would you bet against him?

 

 

 FDO

 

 

*- Especially the Warriors. With a championship, they would cement themselves as one of the greatest seasons ever.  They 67 wins, MVP, and runners-up for Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Beating this team will be an historical feather in the cap.

 

#- It would actually be 3 rings in 4 years.

 

 

Rejecting RFRA

 

Today I've seen lots of folks suggesting that RFRA is unimportant because there are so many other laws like it. I reject that argument for a few reasons.

 

As usual, application is what matters most about the law. How will laws be used in our lives?

 

Consider that the 14th amendment was originally intended to provide former slaves with full citizenship. It's now applied in dozens of different ways to ensure "the equal protection of the laws" regardless of condition. This expansion of original intent happens all the time.

 

A big part of what scares me about RFRA can be found in the NUVO article below. We already know how this law is intended to be applied. There is no mystery about it. It is clear that the driving force behind this law is exactly what everyone has said: Christian businesses will now have legal protections to allow them to choose which people can use their publicly offered services.  It is, at best, disingenuous for Governor Pence to pretend that there are no possibilities for bigotry associated with this law. Advance America specifically advocated for RFRA to be used in this fashion.

 

The other scary part is that Governor Pence was perfectly aware of the backlash that would accompany his signature and signed it anyway. He's made a clear choice  indicating where his deepest priorities lie and they are not to be found in the 'good for business' mantra he's claimed in the past. Attempting to use RFRA to attack ObamaCare in his public statement indicates that today's signing was, at its core, a calculated political strategy.

 

My hope is that Hoosiers recognize that we can make signing RFRA a losing political strategy. We can do that with our votes, petitions, voices, phone calls and dollars. Today, Indiana made a deeply retrograde move but it doesn't have to be a permanent step back. Indeed, I am confident that it won't be.

 

America is a vastly different place than it was 20 years ago, as is Indiana itself. More of us than ever recognize the need for the 14th Amendment's great concept of "equal justice for all". Social justice is a broader concern than ever.

 

Great gains have been made recently and will continue to be made as long as they are demanded by those of us who emphasize our shared humanity over the divisive politics of fearful hatred. History makes it clear that love wins in the end. This is so because we, the people, will eventually choose love.

 

Let us make that kind of history repeat itself.  Here, in Indiana. Soon. Let love win.

 

FDO

 

 

Reflecting on John Lewis

 

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma march I want to take a moment to reflect on the life and career of John Lewis, one of my personal heroes.

 

“Registering to vote is an act of commitment to the American ideal. It is patriotic. The Federal Government must decide whether it wants to let Southern Negroes register. It must make that choice this summer, or make us all witnesses to the lynching of democracy.”

 

-John Lewis

 

 

John Lewis was a young college student when he got his start as an activist in the Nashville Student Movement. Lewis was often viewed as the prodigy of the movement as he was the youngest of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement by a full decade.

 

 

As a co-founder and an early chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis first became a national figure during the Freedom Rides of 1961. It was during this endeavor to desegregate public facilities in the South that Lewis was beaten so badly many feared his death was imminent.

 

Continuing his leadership of SNCC, Lewis was one of the speakers at the legendary 1963 March on Washington. SNCC worked throughout the South to develop Freedom Schools that trained nonviolent activists and 1964’s Freedom Summer efforts at registering potential Black voters.

 

Lewis was also one of the leaders of the Selma, Alabama march now referred to as “Bloody Sunday” because of the brutal beating Lewis and many other nonviolent protestors received at the hands (and clubs) of the Alabama State Police. It is this march we celebrated last weekend.  

 

As the sixties came to an end, Lewis became deeply involved in electoral politics. Initially, he became a prominent advisor for Robert F. Kennedy’s Presidential campaign in 1968. For the last quarter century, Lewis has served his country as a member of Congress from Georgia.

 

In some respects, Lewis is considered the conscience of the national Democratic party. It was Lewis' decision to switch his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary that opened the floodgates of superdelegates declaring Obama their preferred candidate.

 

Lewis continues to fight for human rights to this day. His efforts to pursue justice have extended well beyond his original pursuit of racial equality to include a whole host of social concerns. Still, he is widely perceived as the most important living link to the Civil Rights Movement.

  

I continue to be grateful for John Lewis. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

Justified Use of Force

 

Every year there’s a new one

A Diallo, Bell, Brown

Ford, Garner, Rice or me

 

Clamoring loudly

Broken faces on TV

We ask so many questions

But no one’s forced to answer

 

With sympathy’s short half-life

Soon most are hoping for the noise to stop

And the questions to disappear once again

 

Just like us

In our lives

And our deaths

 

 

 © Gayle Force Press 2015

 

 

The Other Half of Balki

 

I didn’t remember his name

No, that’s not true

 

Mark Linn-Baker

 

What a funny, unforgettable name

I didn’t care to remember it

I suppose

He didn’t matter to me

 

Really this Mark Linn-Baker was just there

Archived in my brain

Alongside Dana Plato, Ken Kercheval

Lisa Whelchel, Roxie Roker

And the rest of the litany of not quite stars

That worked so hard to barely imprint themselves

On my consciousness

 

The lot of them barely identifiable

as individual entities

Except as who they pretended to be

And like me

that’s the only important reality

 

The masks we wear for better or worse

Define us and allow us

To define each other

 

Whether the me you think you know

Or Mark Linn-Baker,

Cousin Larry

The other half of Balki

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2015

  

 

 

Hump Day Hoops: Indiana Pacers- Think Tank

 

Okay. I give up.

 

I won’t try anymore.

 

The relentless optimism and best case scenarios; the hypothetical matchups and ‘well, what if’s. It's all over now, Blue and Gold. No more pretending.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

Maybe there’s still some universe in which the Pacers can win a playoff series but I don’t think it’s this one. Not anymore.

 

After the debacle of Mo Williams (MO FREAKIN’ WILLIAMS) scoring 50 points on the Pacers, there’s no reason to encourage the Pacers to continue making an effort to win every game this season.

 

It’s really a shame too. The East this season is likely the worst conference in modern NBA history. The most important statistic is this: Only 5 teams in the East have a positive point differential; only 5 teams in the West have a negative point differential. The Pacers of the last two years would be the favorites to win the whole conference this year.

 

Except the Pacers aren’t anything like they have been for the last two seasons. Mo Williams wouldn’t have sniffed a 50 point game against those Pacers. The reality is that this group is bad enough that I’m convinced they should begin planning now for next year.

 

Since the Pacers still have the core of a contending team, they don’t even have to pursue some radical renewal plan. They can back to the top of the conference next year with good health and a couple straightforward moves. Next year, they have a first round pick they should use to get another lottery talent on the roster, preferably an offensive minded wing. Right now Paul George is the only Pacer who can drive to score.  They also have three second round draft choices and some easily offloaded contracts that can be parlayed into a useful player. Heck, who knows, Dallas might be willing to do Devin Harris for CJ Miles straight up.

 

The problem is that the Pacers seem scared to do a short term rebuild. They appear stuck in the old fashioned mentality that every win is beneficial. That’s just not the case in today’s NBA. If you’re interested in winning championships in a place like Indiana you simply must acquire maximum talent through the draft. (Signing premier free agents simply won’t happen.) It’s much harder to get that kind of talent drafting at 15 than it is at 5. (And yes, the Pacers are bad enough that they might reasonably have the fifth worst record in the league this year. They don’t need to rely on lottery luck.) This much is clear.

 

It is, at best, unclear if the Pacers have the organizational discipline to play for the long term instead of the short term. I don’t think they do judging by Larry Bird’s public statements. The talk of Paul George playing 1 on 1 is frightening. The very worse thing that could happen to the Pacers is another injury to Young Trece. The second worse is his return lifting them to the 7th or 8th seed this Spring.

 

The Pacers don’t need to be a .500 team this year. They need to be bold enough to be bad for a year. And Pacer fans need to let them know it’s ok.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

I probably need to thank Mo Williams for proving it to me.

 

 

 -Franklin Oliver