(“The TEN” is not a top ten but ten items worth being included in “The TEN”)
1. Former Pasadena High School star Tavian Percy announced that he is transferring from New Mexico after two years.
2. John Fogerty sang “Centerfield” in centerfield at Dodger Stadium on his 75th birthday.
3. Dodger pitcher David Price will pay each Dodger minor leaguer $1000.00 for the month of June out of his own pocket.
4. Hall of Fame running back Floyd Little, 77, who spent nine years and rushed for over 6,000 yards with the Denver Broncos, has been diagnosed with cancer.
5. The San Francisco 49ers announced that they will donate $1 million to “local and national organizations who are creating change” following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
6. Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown drove 15 hours to protest the death of George Floyd in Atlanta, Georgia which is about 20 minutes from his home town.
7. The College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta was damaged and looted by protesters last Friday night.
8. On this day in 1975 the Angels Nolan Ryan threw his fourth career no hitter in a 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
9. Former MLB/Dodger pitcher Derek Lowe turns 47 today.
10. The MLB owners and the players union have still failed to reach an agreement and are continuing labor negotiations in an attempt to get the 2020 season started.
@ Mr. Goldbricker: Much respect; I’d like to share a few more points.
One glaring example of our badly-flawed “war on drugs” is the inconsistent approach we’ve taken toward offenses involving powder cocaine on one hand, and crack cocaine on the other. People charged with offenses relating to crack cocaine are incarcerated at higher rates and serve longer prison sentences. They are also predominately people of color.
I don’t know where you got your stats about increasing black prosperity during the 1950’s. I imagine that black professionals and their families were among the beneficiaries of the general prosperity that followed World War II. However, I don’t believe that the bulk of the black community shared in that prosperity.
Black poverty was widespread throughout the segregated South, and that poverty was reinforced by educational and job discrimination. Poverty was also a problem for African-American families in cities outside the South. The ills resulting from urban poverty, which have particularly impacted black people, go way farther back than any laws President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress enacted in the late 1960’s. The breakup of urban black families was a major social phenomenon in the first half of the 20th century.
Was the “War on Poverty” perfect? Absolutely not; it was probably the least successful aspect of LBJ’s Great Society agenda. But, to a large degree, the “War on Poverty” amounted to a big half-measure because of the Vietnam War, which was still near its height when those social programs were started. The war drained money from the national treasury at a time when it was badly needed on the domestic side.
We had enough money for the Vietnam War and the space program (which was one of the good things that came out of the ’60’s), but not nearly enough to address our serious problems on the home front.
Still, LBJ, through his political savvy and sheer force of will, managed some remarkable achievements for his Great Society: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (which our illustrious U.S. Supreme Court undermined a few years ago), and the Medicare Act of 1965. (President Harry S Truman first proposed a national health insurance program for the elderly in the late 1940’s, and LBJ was the one who got the Medicare program through Congress over 15 years later.)
Lyndon B. Johnson could’ve achieved a legacy comparable to FDR’S, but his record has been permanently stained by his insistence on escalating a regional conflict in Southeast Asia into a full-scale war. That war killed, maimed, or negatively impacted millions of lives, both in Southeast Asia and the United States.
I sometimes think about what our nation might have achieved without the Vietnam War. However, I’m grateful that my high school classmates and I missed getting drafted into that one by a couple of years.
I’m cautiously optimistic that there will be better days ahead. The rioting seems to have dissipated and the peaceful protests are continuing. People need to voice their opinions and exercise their right to vote. That’s our best chance for positive change.
I have a bad feeling about the 2020 major league baseball season. I just don’t see it happening now, as much as I’d like for it to take place.
Dylan Hernandez interviewed former Dodger first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for the L.A. Times a few days ago, and Gonzalez, who used to be a players’ union rep, was rather pessimistic about the prospects for having a season. The primary issues he cited were the economic ones dividing the players from the owners.
On top of the economic issues are the daunting public-health and logistical considerations. It may come down to whether fans, even in greatly reduced numbers, will be permitted to enter the stadiums.
I can’t see a baseball season happening without fans.
But the NBA will be returning in July. That’s probably a good thing.
Ron
Out of control president? Well, that Out of control president has black and brown unemployment down to its lowest numbers. Prior to covid of course. Also they were coming off welfare in vast numbers which our last president added millions too. That is a sign that the economy is pretty good. The president also is about stop Chinas uhm how should I put this… from continuing taking advantage of our country to put it mildly. Some of us citizens actually think he’s doing a fantastic job. Despite what the Lib media would like you to believe. I may or may not agree with you about the war on drugs. But whatever side of the fence you’re on about it, it’s still a choice to use drugs and we all know the consequences if we get caught. Now if you’re talking about the crack enhancement, Black leaders wanted, lobbied and voted for that because it saw what it did to their communities. But Meth is primarily a “white drug” and it carries the same enhancements. So is it racist? IMO no. Now there is a economic gap in this country. Which allows richer people to hire better lawyers and get better deals than poorer people do. But that’s green. Not black vs white. Also, in the 1950s the black families income rates were soaring faster than white Families. Them LBJ instituted the Great Society act which destroyed the black family structure. Which lower income class families were essentially forced to marry the government. the problems in country run deep and are much more complicated than this presidential term. Most government subsidized anything usually leads to disaster. Trump is a convenient excuse to have, to put the blame on. But the issues were there under Obama and far before and will be present long after Trump is out of office… in 2024! We need to shrink government rely less on government let the market do what it does without government interruption. Make welfare a crutch not a wheelchair! Fathers marry your partner bring back the family structure and that will do wonders for every community . I’m hoping that the media pushes the agenda so hard that people get sick and tired of the falsehoods, fight to shrink government power. We the people!
@ Question Mark: You make some very good points. There is at least a fair amount of ethnic diversity in many police departments, so there is the broad issue of officers—regardless of their own race—abusing their authority in their dealings with the public.
I agree with you that members of minority groups, and especially African-Americans, have disproportionally been on the receiving end of violence at the hands of police officers. That’s what I’ve seen during more than 50 years of studying history and following current events in this country.
@ Mr. Goldbricker: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a law that was written in an overtly racist manner. For decades, the questions have typically been about how the laws are enforced and who they’re enforced on. (Take our “war on drugs,” for instance.)
The rioting that happened in Ferguson, MO (which is near St. Louis) might have been prevented if the white police officer had used smarter tactics in approaching Michael Brown (who was African-American).
The officer drove right up to Brown and, while still in his police vehicle, instigated a verbal confrontation with Brown over….Brown’s walking in the middle of the street. The argument then devolved into a fight which resulted in Brown’s shooting death.
I agree with you that dysfunctional families, or parents who fail in the teaching of moral values to their children, contribute heavily to many of our social problems. Among the values that we need more of right now are tolerance, empathy, understanding, and basic respect for the humanity of others.
However, I have to disagree with your point minimizing the impact that police and the President of the United States can have on people’s lives. Out-of-control police officers and an arrogant, self-serving, and corrupt president are negatively impacting millions of lives right now.
Looters and arsonists have negatively affected many thousands of people, too.
All the rioting that I know of has been happening in urban areas (where most of the people are), and the political leaning of those areas is usually Democratic. What did or did not go wrong in each city will have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
@ RAMS FAN: You’re right on point about Officer Chauvin, the Minneapolis cop who killed George Floyd. With close to 20 formal complaints filed against him, including allegations of excessive force, there’s no way he should’ve remained in that department.
You raise a good point about the psychological and emotional makeup of our law enforcement officers. I believe that they should be regularly evaluated for any signs of PTSD because they have a job which can be anywhere from difficult to dangerous.
I know, based on my brother’s experience, that police applicants in Southern California undergo psychological screening before they’re hired. (He submitted job applications to numerous law-enforcement agencies before he joined the Marines in the late 1970’s.)
Although I’m generally pro-union, I believe that police unions are at least sometimes part of the problem. The Los Angeles Police Protective League and the union which represents L.A. County sheriff’s deputies have steadfastly resisted efforts by their departments to root out bad cops.
DAMN, WE NEED SPORTS BACK. I’ll second that!
Sporting fix
I’m not sure Gold speaks sarcasm. But I do! You think the business owners were more angry with the police or the perps setting fire to buildings and getting away with their merchandise?
@Statman
You make some valid points. I have a follow up question to your statement”We need to take serious action to address law enforcement issues and racial injustice in this country, or we’ll continue repeating the same ugly scenarios over and over again.” Is there a test that you know of that would identify a person as a racist before he was hired as a police officer? There must be some way to make sure we don’t hire cops that 20 years into their careers put their knee on someones neck until they’re dead right? Oh there’s not? So how in your opinion do you stop 1 bad cop out of 80,000 from doing what he did? Unfortunately this scenario will repeat itself because we really don’t have any way to prevent it. Now this cop had 18 complaints against him so maybe we had some suspicion he was a bad apple. But then again, maybe he worked in the worst areas of town and came into contact with the lowest of low lifes and escalated his force to match the force being used against him. In this specific incident blame rest squarely on the shoulders of that police department and their obvious deficiencies in their training that 3 other police officers stood there watching what was obviously actions way above and beyond what the situation called for.
@sporting fix
You do understand that the police in many cities, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, etc were instructed to let the protesters “vent and blow off steam” right? That lasted too many nights until the Mayors, Garcetti included , figured out that just enboldened the protestors/ looters/criminals. I guarantee those cops were itching to engage the lowlife looters but if they had against direct orders not to they would have been disciplined and/or fired. Not a very nice set of choices don’t you agree?
Damn, we need sports back.
@Ron
With all due respect The killing of Mr Floyd was one thing! Yes it was awful it was murder. No police officer I know is condoning this behavior. As a matter of fact they hate it. But Police don’t act above the law, they enforce the laws. There is a difference. Do you know Of a “nice” way to take someone into custody that doesn’t want to go? Ever hear of the Ferguson Effect? Where police stopped or scaled back patrolling the Ferguson area and crime went up 90%. In my opinion everything starts at home. Instilled discipline moral values begin far before the justice system ever comes into play. So police and a president have little affect on your life. As for Racial injustice? Show me a law written that’s racial in nature? Odds are if you’re in jail especially in liberal California, you probably deserve to be there. And not to get to political but the areas that are run by Dems are the ones burning… coincidence?
@sporting Fix
Law Enforcement is damned if you do damned you don’t. They sat back with their hands tied and got rightly criticized. The Governor and mayor are the ones that should be ashamed by the lack of leadership! They were too busy apologizing for the “ system” that I guess led to all this instead of calling out the mobs! The next day police started making arrests which meant they were violating “peaceful protests “ can’t win! By painting the entire countries law enforcement officers with the same brush as Chauvin you’ve effectively made their job almost impossible. Law and Order must win every time or God help us all.
Go Stangs
I agree 100 percent the Omertà culture must be eradicated. But let’s eradicate on all fronts. With Blue silence and snitches get stitches gone, imagine how hard it would be to be a “rogue” cop or how hard it would be to do criminal acts! Peace would be among us. I’m with that party!
From the photo it appears 2 of the 4 cops were minority so white against black is not the entire problem. It seems it is unrestrained violence against minorities by cops of all races especially against blacks. How to solve. Putting offending cops in jail helps because other cops see this and get smart real fast. The only real way is teaching parents how to stop ingraining in their children their own racism. These biases are taught not genetic. Unfortunately I have seen it played out here in the SGV in high school locker rooms, cheer leader chants, and teachers smug knowing looks at their pals of the same race. It would take many generations to change racism and it can be made better but it can never be cured.
Transparency and accountability are essential to building and maintaining public trust in civic institutions, particularly in a country like ours, where we prefer to be known as having a democratic republic.
These vital characteristics have been lost when we have rogue police officers and a president who repeatedly behave as if they’re above the law and no one can touch them. People who should serve as positive role models for everyone else have been anything but.
Hypocritical, lawless individuals who hold elected office or serve in government positions make it much harder for those who are honest and intent on serving the public. They are cancers on our society and must be removed from any positions of power.
Steps in the right direction: The Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd is now being charged with second-degree murder as well as manslaughter. His three fellow officers who stood by while he suffocated Mr. Floyd have all been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
We need to take serious action to address law enforcement issues and racial injustice in this country, or we’ll continue repeating the same ugly scenarios over and over again.
@ Goldbrick: regarding your statement that the police “deal with” people you and I want no part of, I am seeing a lot of police standing in the streets doing nothing to stop the destruction and looting happening right before their eyes. That must make the business owners swell with admiration for their defenders.
Glad you were not around to condemn the Boston Tea Party!
I agree. Most cops do a great job. Most jobs are not racist. But, as long as they are so well shielded from the consequences of wrongdoing by qualified immunity and especially by their culture of omerta, holding themselves apart and above (and yet subject to lower standards of behavior) as a special caste, not to be criticize by mere “civilians:, they earn their scorn. And if that culture does not exist, then they have to work a damn sight harder to eradicate even the perception.
@the sporting fix
Remember who police are in contact with… a large part of their job is to deal with people you or I want no part of. So while it’s easy to sit at a keyboard and criticize the few mistakes CNN MSNBC makes sure we are inundated with. Imagine now in the heat of the moment you have to make a call no timeouts no redos the stakes couldn’t be higher! And yet somehow everyday these cape-less hero’s do it time and time again! That d-bag from Minnesota is a murderer! But that doesn’t change the fact 99.9 percent of Police are phenomenal at their job!
@Rams Fan: Most of the instances you sight are done in the shadows, away from view of those who might censure the act. Notice that even though there are scandals in sports, they virtually all see the light of day, where observers such as yourself are able to weigh-in on the issue. My greater point is that, in a country which monitors all our phone calls and internet clicks, we should have the same power of inspection going the other way.
@The Sporting Fix
You’re kidding right? The sports world is going to show us the way? Because athletes are so clean and honest? Sorry to rain on your parade, but here are just 4 examples of the integrity of sports.
1 Pete Rose betting on baseball
2 Chicago Black Sox
3. Steroids
4 Patriots “Deflategate”
Given enough time even you could remember a dozen more embarrassments from that bastion of honesty and integrity, Sports
@ Fix: Interesting point. In the thousands and thousands of football games with a replay camera I don’t think I ever heard of one camera that ever failed and was unable to give a view. Oddly cops body cams seem to fail all the time as well as their cruiser cams. I think when those cameras are conveniently turned off or broken after a cop has been charged with abuse they should be immediately fired and investigated.
There is no “issue” in rioting. Rioting is a criminal act. Peaceful demonstrations are not criminal.
The policeman that held his knee on Floyd’s neck was wrong. Those people screaming for justice should allow the process to move forward.
@ The Sporting Fix: Well said. No police officers should ever be allowed to turn off their body cameras, if they are equipped with such devices. (That has been known to happen, too.) Any officer who does that should be suspended or terminated.
We must have a society where there is equal opportunity and equal enforcement of the law. Looters, arsonists, murderous rogue cops, and corrupt presidents all have to be held accountable for their wrongdoing.
#7 – A bunch of losers destroyed a place that honored a bunch of winners. Makes me sick.
The issue at stake in the rioting, the central complaint of our time, is that not everybody has to follow the same rules. The bad apples among us get away with their grift and violence largely because they’re hidden from view. That doesn’t happen in sports, because the action is open to the inspection of all viewers. Obviously, we won’t be getting rid of the crooked cops and politicians by tweaking the current system. We need to require massive video and audio monitoring of everything they do, 24/7, to get that job done. Bringing all the dirty business out of the shadows is mandatory if real change is the goal, and the world of sports is there to show us the way.