Donald Sterling Banned for Life

[jamo]

Which is why I mentioned Jay Z wearing a racist medallion.

He hasn't been a minority owner for a year or two now.

[Spyder]

The liability for violating the 2-party consent law is on the person that violated it, not the league for acting on the information.

If I lived in a 2-party consent state and went to the golf course where I work and cursed or made racial slurs to the players on the course (or extreme case hit one of them?), and one of them recorded me, I would certainly be fired (and rightly so).

It would be irresponsible for the course to not fire me once they had the information, even though it was obtained illegally.

I was not defending Sterling or commenting on the justification of what he said. He deserves everything that has happened and more, in my opinion, because I strongly disagree with his comments as a sane and functioning member of society.

But , I'm talking about the other part of the conversation which comes down to privacy, laws and freedom. That was where my comment about California being a 2-party consent state came from as I'm not sure how this would play out if Sterling fights this.

[MS256]

I agree with your view point on this.  In a court case though, don't they throw out illegally obtained information?

If the law was trying to prosecute him they would have that problem, plus the problem that he has the First Amendment right to say everything he said.

In the case of an employee being fired there is no such protection.

The tougher part of this particular case is exactly how all of the contracts are worded and whether a club owner would fall more under the status of "employee" of the league or as an independent business owner in the eyes of a court.

The law also holds law enforcement to a much higher standard for violations of search and seizure than it holds the general public.

I don't know how those contracts are worded and my best guess is that there's a lot of gray area about that status.

[Jeremie Boop]

A lot of good points have been made here on both sides. One thing I don't understand is some people were referring to him spreading his views by owning the team... I'm not really sure how that is. He still hired minorities and paid them well. Did they get paid less, did he refuse to hire people based on their race? Outside of possible issues with his real estate, I'm not sure how his views had any impact on the team. I do understand that his views are not right, racism is not acceptable and now that it is out there is no way the NBA could afford to allow him to retain his position due to the backlash it would have caused. It is very clear here, though, that the recording was made with the explicit purpose of "outing" him. However, there was a very specific example of the 5% medallion being worn which is no better than the comments made. Going forward the NBA needs to be consistent with all forms of bigotry/racism if they wish to be considered fair.

[Golfingdad]

A lot of good points have been made here on both sides. One thing I don't understand is some people were referring to him spreading his views by owning the team... I'm not really sure how that is. He still hired minorities and paid them well. Did they get paid less, did he refuse to hire people based on their race? Outside of possible issues with his real estate, I'm not sure how his views had any impact on the team. I do understand that his views are not right, racism is not acceptable and now that it is out there is no way the NBA could afford to allow him to retain his position due to the backlash it would have caused. It is very clear here, though, that the recording was made with the explicit purpose of "outing" him. However, there was a very specific example of the 5% medallion being worn which is no better than the comments made. Going forward the NBA needs to be consistent with all forms of bigotry if they wish to be considered fair.

Again, I don't think that it's fair to say that the NBA is getting rid of him specifically for these comments.  I think it's just a "straw that broke the camel's back" on his body of racist work.

[I was about to add that I think the outcome would have been different were it any other owner.  Now I don't think that to be true.  However, I think my views would be different if we were talking about an owner who had no prior history like Sterling did.]

But I do agree with some of the stuff you said.  Somebody pointed out yesterday that the Clippers have a better record of hiring minority coaches than a whole bunch of the rest of the league, and that possibly having to answer a question about that is one of the things causing the other owners nightmares right now.

[saevel25]

WTH are you smoking? Who cares what the intent was? It was a PRIVATE conversation. This seems to have massive privacy concerns and issues.

I wish I could claim I was

Yea, I'm eating crow over this one. Lets just say I am 100% backtracking on anything I posted about privacy on this thread!!!

[iacas]

I wish I could claim I was

Yea, I'm eating crow over this one. Lets just say I am 100% backtracking on anything I posted about privacy on this thread!!!

No worries. Plus, we know what you were smoking, because we already have the feeds up from the hidden cameras in your apartment, car, and workplace. :D

[newtogolf]

He hasn't been a minority owner for a year or two now.

I didn't know Jay-Z sold his share of the Nets in September to Jason Kidd.  I guess that clears him from getting banned by the NBA for wearing a racist medallion.

[Golfingdad]

I didn't know Jay-Z sold his share of the Nets in September to Jason Kidd.  I guess that clears him from getting banned by the NBA for wearing a racist medallion.

A few of you guys have mentioned this Jay-Z thing, and I had no knowledge of it, so I googled it.  Doesn't sound racist here: http://www.policymic.com/articles/87081/the-media-is-slamming-jay-z-for-this-racist-necklace-but-they-got-the-story-totally-wrong

In fact, if you had to give it any sort of statement (other than fashion, which is more than likely all that it is) I htink you'd have to say it was ANTI-racist.

[newtogolf]

A few of you guys have mentioned this Jay-Z thing, and I had no knowledge of it, so I googled it.  Doesn't sound racist here: http://www.policymic.com/articles/87081/the-media-is-slamming-jay-z-for-this-racist-necklace-but-they-got-the-story-totally-wrong

In fact, if you had to give it any sort of statement (other than fashion, which is more than likely all that it is) I htink you'd have to say it was ANTI-racist.

Try the Wiki for a less slanted view as it's history is associated with anti-white attitudes, such as references to the "White Devil".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

[Golfingdad]

Try the Wiki for a less slanted view as it's history is associated with anti-white attitudes, such as references to the "White Devil".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

I just took the first return Google gave me.

[MS256]

Try the Wiki for a less slanted view as it's history is associated with anti-white attitudes, such as references to the "White Devil".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

Yeah Jay-Z is a smart guy and he knew exactly what he was doing.

I hate racism no matter which side it's coming from and I think we all know how it would be taken if the mantra behind the symbol was Black Devil and the guy wearing it was white.

[boogielicious]

Bullshit. How about this, Matt: without your knowledge, I'm gonna bug your apartment and then use any comments you make to get you fired from your job?

Heck, I'll video tape you doing whatever you do when you think you have your privacy too, because that's just a recording as well, right?

WTH are you smoking? Who cares what the intent was? It was a PRIVATE conversation. This seems to have massive privacy concerns and issues.

Wire taps, etc. require due process.

Seriously.

Does the guy deserve whatever is coming to him? Almost certainly he absolutely does. But that doesn't mean the ends justify the means. It's two separate discussions. Criminals who clearly committed crimes walk free all the time because of "technicalities," but start letting those technicalities slip and our freedoms erode, and more innocent people are sent to jail, executed, etc. as well.

Wasn't there some report about Sterling knowing he was being recorded?  If that is the case, he has no grounds especially if the trollop has a recording of him saying he knew.

I agree that there is massive privacy violations going on all over now.  My wife is an attorney.  Every time I hear about leaked grand jury testimony, I go on a rant about it.  Someone has knowingly violated the law and a reporter has knowingly reported it.  To me it is like receiving stolen goods.  She says the reporter is not culpable.  This situation, from a privacy standpoint, is similar.

[iacas]

Wasn't there some report about Sterling knowing he was being recorded?  If that is the case, he has no grounds especially if the trollop has a recording of him saying he knew.

That changes things a bit, yes. I don't care about basketball much, but the one story I saw said only that the girlfriend said he knew he was being recorded. It said they didn't have a recording of him saying he knew he was being recorded. Just her word.

[Jeremie Boop]

Wasn't there some report about Sterling knowing he was being recorded?  If that is the case, he has no grounds especially if the trollop has a recording of him saying he knew.

I agree that there is massive privacy violations going on all over now.  My wife is an attorney.  Every time I hear about leaked grand jury testimony, I go on a rant about it.  Someone has knowingly violated the law and a reporter has knowingly reported it.  To me it is like receiving stolen goods.  She says the reporter is not culpable.  This situation, from a privacy standpoint, is similar.

Supposedly he had asked for some conversations to be recorded due to having memory problems, but that would seem to be on a case by case bases if it's even true at all. I doubt it was ever meant for personal conversations, it would have been for business ones if anything.

[Golfingdad]

... and I think we all know how it would be taken if the mantra behind the symbol was Black Devil and the guy wearing it was white.

And that is an example of a perfectly acceptable double standard IMO.

[MS256]

And that is an example of a perfectly acceptable double standard IMO.

Not to me.

[Jeremie Boop]

And that is an example of a perfectly acceptable double standard IMO.

When it comes to racism/bigotry there is no room for double standards. You can't say one group or individual has the right to freely express it but not another.