14 minute read
OPINION
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Taking ownership for our words is important
BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ Glendale Star Columnist
In my fi rst newspaper job 30 years ago, I worked for higher-ups who were, to put it mildly, cretins. One boss, dead now, stood out for his screaming, insults, and the glee he took in being outrageously offensive.
Part of my job was taking part in afternoon news meetings, where this Head Honcho presided over a discussion about what would make tomorrow’s Page One. In one such meeting the focus turned to a homicide committed in a poor part of the city.
The Big Boss had a question. “What persuasion” was the dead man? Informed the victim was Black, he uttered a word I’ll never forget.
“Next.”
The killing was buried deep inside the paper. We all left disgusted by where we worked and for whom. But nobody objected. I didn’t say a word. Maybe because this was the 1990s, or because I was a coward, new to the job and afraid to be fi red. Regardless, I am ashamed to retell the story in print. I do so because, to hear ESPN tell it, working for the Phoenix Suns under owner Robert Sarver may be a lot like working for that despot — a bully, a misogynist, a racist. These are charges Sarver has denied through his attorneys, including in a lengthy denial released weeks before ESPN published its Nov. 4 story, written by senior writer Baxter Holmes.
Holmes’ piece accuses Sarver of frequently using the N-word, including in the presence of Black employees like then-coach Earl Watson. Holmes says he interviewed more than 70 former and current Suns employees, including executives and at least one co-owner. The story describes “a toxic and sometimes hostile workplace” during Sarver’s 17 years owning the Suns.
Sarver’s denials have been emphatic. “I’ve never called anyone or any group of people the N-word, or referred to anyone or any group of people by the N-word, either verbally or in writing,” he said through his lawyers. “I don’t use that word. It is abhorrent and ugly and denigrating and against everything I believe in.”
The NBA has hired law fi rm Wachtell Lipton to investigate the charges. Media reports indicate the investigators have offered team employees confi dentiality in exchange for their participation in the investigation.
That confi dentiality bothers me, as does the confi dentiality granted by ESPN to virtually every accuser in the story, essentially everyone quoted with the exception of Earl Watson, who Sarver fi red only three games into the 2017 season, after a 48-point defeat that ranks as the worst opening night loss in NBA history.
After three decades writing news, I understand the desire of sources to stay anonymous. But Holmes’ 70 interviewees are not risking their safety or lives in calling out Sarver. The former employees may be risking some career impact. The current Suns employees? They’d be risking a job they might be better off leaving, given the workplace they’ve described.
Had ESPN’s sources used their names, they very well might have been hailed as heroes. In 2021, in the more supportive culture of whistleblowing that exists today, I’d say the chances were 50-50. Regardless, we will never know.
Criticizing their anonymity is easy for me to do. It even brands me a hypocrite. After all, I didn’t have the fortitude to confront a bully when I had the chance, even anonymously. I’m still ashamed by that failure.
I’ve never been a Sarver fan, so denigrating those who have attacked him feels uncomfortable. But I have come to feel strongly about speaking truth to power. Holmes’ story is thorough, but its rampant anonymity leads me to wonder how much of it is gospel truth.
I think it’s better to put your name on the things you say. Every last word.
David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Contact david@leibowitzsolo.com.
Politics and the D.C. based projection room
BY J.D. HAYWORTH Glendale Star Columnist
What is the strongest combination in fi lm’s history?
Not Tracy and Hepburn. Nor Bogart and Bacall. Not even Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
Nope, the combination that’s tighter than popcorn and hot butter is Hollywood and the American left. The closeness between Tinseltown’s “creative community” and the political causes supported therein can be found in the plot lines of major motion pictures and television shows, the high-dollar donations lavished on Democrat candidates, and the sheer “star power” that energizes campaigns when a candidate’s charisma is in short supply. Hollywood has even contributed one of its terms from the fi lm industry lexicon: projection.
Production runs its course on location and the sound stage; projection is the “perpetual process,” so vital to the movie biz. Whether in a theater, at a drive-in or via video, fi lms depend on projection for viewing and, ultimately, for revenue.
But in “Hollywood for the cosmetically challenged” — the place we commonly call Washington, D.C. — politics provides a different meaning for “projection.” In a recent column, Victor Davis Hanson describes it as “the psycho-political syndrome of attributing all of one’s own sins to one’s opponents.”
Examples abound. One of the most vexing problems we face as a nation is now called “Bidenfl ation.” In less than one year, Ol’ Joe and his crew have triggered an infl ationary spiral by clamping down on energy production, shutting down domestic pipelines, and imposing even more excessive regulation on the oil and gas industry.
As prices at the pump — and the grocery store — have soared, Democrat poll numbers have tanked. That reality becomes increasingly problematic for members of the House who sit on the left side of the aisle and hope to hang on to their seats in the 2022 midterm elections.
Facing electoral extinction, what’s a leftist to do? If you answered, “projection,” you may one day fi nd work as a political columnist.
Under the guise of oversight, Democrat Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Ro Khanna of California recently held a hearing titled “Fueling
PETERS’ OPINION – Dayton Daily News
READER’S VIEWPOINT
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Pass the build back better plan now
Editor:
The White House and congressional leaders have reached a deal on the Build Back Better economic recovery plan. This plan is a transformative step forward in helping tens of millions of Americans get on their feet after the pandemic.
This plan extends the new child tax credit payments another year, meaning children already lifted out of poverty this year won’t be pushed back down next year, and provides much needed assistance to low-income renters to help them afford rent. It also includes funding to manufacture more COVID-19 vaccines for people around the world. And the plan is paid for by making the wealthy and corporations pay a fairer share of taxes.
This plan is historic. It lays the foundation for building an economy where no one gets left behind. It must be passed.
When the Build Back Better bill comes to a vote, I strongly urge our members of Congress to vote yes. Rosemary Newman Glendale
glendalestar.com
CORRECTION
The opinion piece by JD Hayworth headlined “Political ‘press-ure’ demeans Trump” in the Oct. 21 issue of the Glendale Star, included the following paragraphs:
“Then, on election night, the unthinkable happened: Donald John Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States. Not only did the alphabet networks have trouble minding their p’s and q’s, but the taxpayer-fi nanced Voice of America (VOA) dissolved into the tears of a clown. Radio/TV insiders relayed a revealing tale from deep inside the broadcast bureaucracy.
Amanda Bennett, then the VOA director, ordered the production of a celebratory documentary, ‘America’s First Woman President,’ to be aired once the votes were counted and the inevitable had occurred.
When the inevitable yielded to the improbable, Bennett cried and other staffers scrambled, scurrying to fi ll the gap with somber live coverage that supplanted the joyous pre-produced, planned programming.”
In a statement to the Glendale Star, VOA confi rmed no such documentary was ever requested by VOA leadership. Additionally, former VOA Director Amanda Bennett was in the presence of many other VOA staff members and was never witnessed crying on Election Night 2016.
“As it does for every U.S. presidential election, VOA produced accurate, objective, and comprehensive coverage of Election Night 2016 for its global audience,” said Yolanda Lopez, acting VOA director.
“VOA and its journalists are dedicated to the integrity of its programming and its commitment to be a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news — as stated in its charter.”
Spend one day being thankful toward others
BY JUDY BLUHM Glendale Star Columnist
It seems we are all thankful for the ability to get together this year. Last year we had to cope with words like “social distancing” and “nuclear family gatherings,” with suggestions of holding dinner outdoors. Well, good riddance to 2020.
The good news is that about 50 million Americans are traveling this week. Time to break out the china and celebrate this Thanksgiving the way we want to, with plenty of food and loved ones close by. Still, our hearts will go out to the many families who will set one less dinner plate at the table this year.
What are you eating on Thanksgiving? Let me guess. Probably a big bird. We Americans love our turkey dinner. Did you know that 1 million people will call the Butterball Turkey Talk Line around the holidays? From anxious fi rst-time cooks to experienced chefs, it seems every now and then, it helps to “talk turkey” with an expert. There are 50 “turkey experts” standing by to advise people on how to safely thaw out the bird (no, do not put it in a bathtub) or how to speed up the cooking process when you forgot to turn the oven on (impossible to do). Oh, and those hot oil turkey fryers? Get your fi re extinguisher handy because they can burn the house down. Be careful. Cooking can be dangerous.
Gee, if a million folks a year have been calling into a hotline about cooking turkeys for the past 35 years, it tells me that something is way too complicated. Maybe the only reason we eat turkey is because it is big enough to feed a crowd, even if we don’t necessarily like it. Uh oh, now the emails will be fl ying my way. Honestly, I love traditions, yet how many times a year do people actually make turkey dinners? Ha! Once.
Probably the pilgrims didn’t worry much about cooking turkeys. They got on a ship, off to place unknown, unsettled, with only hopes of a better life. One hundred men, women and children spent 66 days crossing the Atlantic to come to a “new world,” overcoming harsh weather, sickness and fear. There were Native people, strange foods, no way back home, and yet in 1621 a group of brave and weary souls joined the Wampanoag tribe for a feast to “give thanks.”
Fast forward to 2021. Many stores will be open on Thursday and folks might start their Christmas shopping. Hmm, maybe Thanksgiving will become one big “early bird special.” Which would be a shame because it is the day that symbolizes the pure spirit of giving thanks. In many ways, Thanksgiving might be the greatest holiday of all. No gift giving to commercialize it, no one religion to limit it, no elf to trivialize it.
If you are sitting across the table from children or grandkids who look, think, talk and act in ways you might fi nd “diffi cult” to understand, remember the pilgrims. They had found themselves in a place that was unimaginable, and yet were grateful for a harvest and life itself. After the last year, let’s spend one day being thankful.
Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local Realtor. Have a comment or a story? Email her at judy@judybluhm.com.
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HAYWORTH FROM PAGE 10 the Climate Crisis: Exposing Big Oil’s Disinformation Campaign.” While that title isn’t as catchy as “Jaws” or “All the President’s Men,” this Democrat duo hopes to evade the jaws of defeat, having ignored the actions of “The Biden Bunch,” but impugned energy companies.
Rep. Maloney, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, made it clear she would overlook any cogent responses offered by the energy executives “invited” to testify, as in her scripted remarks she claimed that those executives were obviously lying.
Chairman Maloney chose to define differences of opinion as devious deceptions — even when some who testified agreed that there is, in fact, climate change — but not to the apocalyptic degree enshrined in Democrat dogma.
One glaring omission in this “oversight” hearing was obviously a deliberate oversight: the extent to which energy dollars have fueled the campaigns of Rep. Maloney and the personal fortune of her partner in “protection through projection,” Rep. Khanna.
Nonpartisan campaign finance watchdogs have documented that the New York congresswoman has taken campaign contributions totaling over $100,000 from the energy industry — including $12,000 from oil and gas interests for next year’s midterms — even after signing a “no fossil fuel” pledge in the last election cycle. In attempting to publicly shame energy executives, Rep. Maloney believes it will deflect attention from her oil-soaked campaign coffers, which, at one point, had her ranked ninth among all 435 House members — Democrats and Republicans alike.
Rep. Khanna obviously believed that he took his “star turn” during the hearing when he demanded that oil executives commit to an “independent audit to verify that none of (their) funds are going to climate denial.” Sad to say, the California congressman is experiencing his own “economic climate denial,” because he never speaks publicly about the energy investments found in his family’s ample portfolio.
Newsweek recently reported that Mr. Khanna’s family purchased between $30,000 and $100,000 in stock from Chevron and ExxonMobil. That same report states that they also purchased $3,003 to $45,000 worth of shares in natural gas companies ConocoPhillips, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy. Those revelations, required by law in annual economic disclosure statements, have put Rep. Khanna on the defensive, but, still, he’s in denial. How else to explain that oil and gas have made up as much as $1.6 million of assets in his fortune? He now claims he’s divesting from the fossil fuel industry, but his recent campaign reports record over $11,000 in oil contributions for the current cycle.
No one is claiming that either member of this Democrat duo is laundering funds. We’re just pointing out that they’re both stuck in a permanent “spin cycle.” And, when they need a break from hanging out their political wash, they will no doubt opt for a movie. Perhaps they’ll next choose to screen “The Candidate,” starring perennial Democrat donor Robert Redford, and released in 1972 — the same year a 29-year-old Joe Biden was elected to the Senate.
Whatever film they watch, Reps. Maloney and Khanna can take turns running the projector.
J.D. Hayworth worked as a sportscaster at Channel 10, Phoenix, from 1987 until 1994 and represented Arizona in Congress from 19952007.
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