Crisis Across the Globe and half a Biggot

Sterling banned by Silver, fined Gold - sold for Platinum.

Banner headlines - the talk of the town, polite circles, locker room banter, my facebook feed and just about any person with a pulse is talking about the LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling being banned for life, fined $2.5 million, by the new NBA commissioner Adam Silver.  Here's a cartoon explaining the freedom of speech, in the context of the government, and the context in a social and organizational setting.

Personally, with all the yelling and hollering - no one has asked, why this 38 year old babe he was hanging out with was secretly and illegally taping his conversation? And she *might* be friends with one former LA Laker Earvin "Magic" Johnson - the same Magic Johnson who is interested in purchasing the LA Clippers. Owned by? You said it. One Donald Sterling. Team's not for sale, you say. Give me ten minutes and an open microphone. 

Is the man a racist jerk? I'm not contesting that or suggesting otherwise -- I'm asking, why is this "Magic" tape recording suddenly coming out? I've read at least one Elmore Leonard novel - okay, I got the gist of it from an Entertainment Weekly review ... okay, I've seen a couple movies. Not important. What is important is that the word BLACKMAIL seems to keep floating to the top of the oily surface of my ruined mind -- funny, no one else has the guts to even suggest it.

Meanwhile - the Soviet Union is reconstituting itself, NATO is amassing forces getting ready for the inevitability of Russia to invade the rest of Ukraine. New allegations of Syria using chlorine attacks on children. Yemen is about to collapse. Iraqis go to the polls despite the worst violence there in six years. And Best Korea is conducting live-fire exercises, escalating tensions there.

Obviously, what an 81 year old Jewish Democrat billionaire says to his 38 year old gold-digger mistress is the most important item in everyone's lives right now. Want to really embarrass him? Take back his NAACP lifetime achievement award, which they did. But they did not take back the Humanitarian Award he won in 2008 or the President's Award in 2009. That must have been way back in time when he wasn't a racist.

Or, maybe they spent the check already.