I'm confused; if Sterling can't, essentially, have any contact with his team... what happens to the money?

How does he get any money the team makes? How does he pay the bills?

If I were in his shoes, I'd let any player who was offended out of his contract. I would not pay one red cent for any repair or upkeep of facilities or equipment; I wouldn't provide one red cent for advertising or promotions. And any time a new sponsor began sniffing around, I'd make even more outrageous statements. I'd hang on to the team, and let it go to pot.

While I guess he's not allowed to let players out of their contracts, I don't see how the NBA can control his money.

I'd buy up property around the stadium, and put up *vaguely* racist and otherwise offensive billboards on them. Like, "Come watch our boys play their hearts out!" I may not be able to step foot in the stadium, but I could have a lot of fun screwing with them from the outside.

(Quick note: I advocate no particular point of view in any of the following; I'm merely trying to shake people out of their comfort zones and get them thinking. As far as I'm concerned, what's coming in the not too distant future for this country is well-deserved... so I don't give a <censored>)

A history lesson for those who like to pretend that the heroes of the past were just like the dipsticks and morons populating the country today:

70 years ago, in American society, it was considered as perverted to have sexual relations outside one's race as it was to have sexual relations with the same sex.

Hell, at the time of Obama's birth, his mother would have been considered trash and shunned for having produced a child by a black man.

In spite of the efforts of movies, television, and print media to paint a different picture, this was not the views of a powerful minority. Just as Nixon managed to win in a landslide, and yet after Watergate you couldn't find anyone who voted for him, people like to pretend that the politically correct were always in the majority. We have always been at war with Eurasia; we have always been enemies of Eastasia.

I remember, clearly, the infamous quote: "We don't want your daughters; we just want an education..." Poor bastards... they got the daughters and didn't get the education.

I freely admit I'm disturbed every time I see a blonde walking down the street or store aisle accompanied by a black man. Not because of anything to do with inter-racial relationships, but because I smell brainwashing at work. Why blonde? Why is it so predominantly *blonde* white females and black males? It is rare to see the reverse, but rarer still to see inter-racial combinations among other races.

Now, if I didn't have the media to blame for this anomaly, I'd have a ready-made explanation based upon basic anthropology and history. But, my courage is limited, and your edification is not worth the vilification I'd receive for explaining it.

As I said; I don't care who anybody chooses to associate with. There are many people I have to associate with, interact with, do business with who hold views I find repugnant, and express them publicly without repercussion. I have to put up with it; screw me, I'm a minority. Yes, the irony is delicious. Not surprising; historically, everywhere the communists/socialists/progressives/collectivists have managed to gain power through preaching tolerance, as soon as they gained power they expressed their own intolerance in extreme ways. At least Sterling hasn't been executed, sent to a re-education camp, or a mental hospital... yet.

What concerns me now is the way everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to condemn Sterling. As if, in their view, his comments *weren't* so repugnant. As if they fear that *their* view of the comments were actually in the minority.

There is no evidence that he in any way let his views affect his treatment of his employees or players. And yet control of his company was taken from him. Calling Hank Rearden...

No, what concerns me is figuring out how long I'll have before I can no longer express my opinion that homosexuality is a mental/emotional illness, and abnormal. Remember, when I was born, as I said, it was considered as sick to have a sexual relationship with another race as it was to have a sexual relationship with the same sex. Now that's been reversed; how long before we've "progressed" or "evolved" to the point where I end up in a re-education camp for expressing my views? Or have my business taken from me? Or have my books banned and possibly burned (once they're written, of course)?

The head of Mozilla had to step down because he contributed to Prop 8. Phil Robertson nearly brought the "Duck Dynasty" show to and end because he foolishly expressed his sincerely held views regarding homosexuality... but they were the "wrong" views.

It's no longer a slippery slope; it's a greased fire pole.

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows"

I suppose soon I'll have to start wearing those repulsive flip-flops, eating that disgusting yogurt, and listening to rap (which is not music).
Because my tastes are no longer a matter for my choosing.

The freedom to disassociate is as important as the freedom to associate, IMO.

Afterthought:
The most disturbing aspect of anything Sterling said is when he said his mistress could sleep with "them", but not bring them to the games publicly... if he were a real racist, his concern would be the reverse. A real racist would not want to touch a woman who'd been touched by another race. He seems to be more of an Archie Bunker type of racist...

My views on the very public reaction to this private conversation:

Thomas Jefferson: "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%." (or 99.999% take away the rights of an individual).

"Some of her answers might excite popular prejudice, but if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate." - dissenting opinion of SCOTUS decision in U.S. v Schwimmer.

"A thoughtcrime is an occurrence or instance of controversial or socially unacceptable thoughts. The term is also used to describe some theological concepts such as disbelief or idolatry,[1] or a rejection of strong social or philosophical principles.[2]" - Wikipedia

"crimethink - To even consider any thought not in line with the principles of Ingsoc. Doubting any of the principles of Ingsoc. All crimes begin with a thought. So, if you control thought, you can control crime. "Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death, Thoughtcrime is death.... The essential crime that contains all others in itself."" - Newspeak Dictionary

"crimestop - Orwell's definition: "The faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. In short....protective stupidity."" - Newspeak Dictionary

Oxford Dictionary -
"thoughtcrime
Pronunciation: /ˈθɔːtkrʌɪm
noun
An instance of unorthodox or controversial thinking, considered as a criminal offence or as socially unacceptable:"

If only he'd been a black rapper or "civil rights" leader, he might have gotten away with thinking bad thoughts about another race...

True, there is no government imposed punishment for his alleged statements. But, if the NBA can take over his team's day-to-day operations, if the NBA can force him to sell the team... I would call that a monopoly or cartel. Then again, I don't like Neighborhood Associations for the same reason.