K-K-K--Kawhi and the Clipps?

Picture "Benny and the Jets" in the background.

Many NBA analysts still believe that a team in Los Angeles has the best chance of landing this year's top star in the NBA free agency meat market, Kawhi Leonard.

Contra Lakers fans saying "But he's coming here!" and per my header, those actually intelligent fans believe that  "here" is the Clippers, not the Lake Show.

His most recent indications of that simple fact are just three months old and LONG AFTER a Woj tweet that's become like crack cocaine for many Lakers fans. While there's no recent direct quote, NBA inside business has him clear that he does NOT want to play for the Lakers in part because he didn't want to be LeBron James's second banana. And he's not alone.

Maybe an aging LeBron will be Kobe Bryant 2.0 in not wanting to let go?

In addition, with Anthony Davis going to the Los Angeles Lakers for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart, plus three first-round draft choices, we know that Kawhi sure as hell doesn't want to play third banana.

Plus, even with the King and AD on the other floor, the Clips may still be the better team in LA.

Why?

Several reasons.

First, I've already said that next year, LeBron James will be 35, will be, barring a bigger injury than last year in the top 10 in career minutes played and is already No. 1 in career playoff minutes. Zach Lowe recently did the math and says he is likely to be No. 3 in total combined minutes at the end of the year.

So, even if AD actually DOES sign a new contract? Guess what, Lakers clueless-rati? It's going to be with a diminishing LeBron who at best will be Dwyane Wade 2.0 and at worst will be Kobe 2.0.

And that's just on the physical side.

So, how likely are the Clipps to land Kawhi, and his Klaw so beloved (fantasized about) by Doris Burke? A fair chance, perhaps, if they follow Woj's idea and use some intellectual judo in their pitch.

Will the "hometown atmosphere," even if Woj says it shouldn't be anywhere near the No. 1 selling point, help? It might need to. Kevin Arnowitz rights a compelling pitch for the Raptors to try to get him to stay.

What about other teams?

Well, he's said he'll visit with the Sixers. But, how do they afford him unless they pass on at least one of the two of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris?

And, that still leaves the "second banana" problem of being behind Joel Embiid. I don't think Ben Simmons is worried about pecking order, but Jo-Jo might be another story. And, would Kawhi really want to play with a Butler who grates on young talent and is perhaps considered two-faced by some other veterans?

The Celtics are still in a disarray of sorts. The Nets surely dream, and he is reportedly considering a visit, but I don't see that as a big option, though I would, intuitively, put them ahead of the Celtics.

So, do we wanna make some book?

Sure.

As of right now, I say 50 percent Clippers, 35 percent Raptors, 5 percent Nets, 5 percent Sixers, 5 percent all others.

Red Satan's hoops guys disagree. They say 2-1 odds on him staying with the Raptors with no other team besides the Clippers in the picture at all. And Kawhi is letting the Raptors have the final pitch.

Green Party presidential favoritism

And, yes it is favoritism when the official Green Party US Twitter account announces Howie Hawkins' candidacy after having officially announced nobody's before that.

And now, via Independent Political Report, we see that Green candidate Ian Schlakman (announced some time before Hawkins) has called out Hawkins and his campaign staff, in part based on a joint letter by him and four other candidates announced before Hawkins.

So, expanding greatly on brief comments on Twitter last week?

First, beyond personality reputations that Kevin Zeese has (and I've heard them too), I'm leery of him for other reasons.

First, most his ideas that are Green-ish are also Libertarian; note his co-nomination in the 2006 Maryland US Senate race (which Schlakman refers to in his letter). Second, I don't know about Occupy in DC, but, in New York, I've pointed out its many wrongs, starting from the fact that Adbusters launched the Occupy movement in general through its being actually quite "leadered," contra myths of leaderlessness, and having lots of grifting associated with that. Click the tags below.

Beyond that, I've never really heard of him as being "green" to a huge degree, and certainly not an ecosocialist type.

Second, per Schlakman, is the association of Andrea Mérida Cuéllar with Hawkins. I am not as ready to throw her under the bus as he is, but I've heard enough elsewhere, from the likes of Bruce Dixon.

Third are the actual or possible conflicts of interest that Schlakman mentioned otherwise.

And, speaking of Dr. Margaret Flowers, does she support me and Jon Walker and others who say a good single-payer system must reign in payments to doctors and hospitals? She's very good at knowing the nuts and bolts on single payer vs the health insurance industry, but ... as a doctor ... is she ready to take less money, to fully, fully, abandon fee for service models and more?

And, so far, she has failed to respond to me! Shock. American fee-for-service medicine and everything connected to it — overdiagnosing, backscratching consulting arrangements and more, is almost as big a problems as AHIP in first and #BigPharma (plus medical device manufacturing) in second.

Back to the IPR post.

Site owner (I think) Paulie, who is (I think) Libertarian, doesn't outrightly call this a "nothingburger," but gives indication he thinks it's not much more than that.

Well, in a follow-up comment, I noted that DBC down in Houston was upset when he saw the Tweet. Saw favoritism in it. It's drawn comment and emotion from people in the unofficially Green Effbook group to which I belong, from people at least as Green-active as I am.

And Ian has that letter signed by the other candidates.

So, Ian may be making a Rocky out of Appalachia, but making a mountain out of a molehill? I don't think so.

==

Side note: Other than Howie himself, most the big players here are from Maryland. Ian, Kevin, Margaret, Brandy. Must be some fun state party meetings.

==

Both Hawkins and Hunter spoke at the Texas state meeting.

==

Update, Aug. 31: The state party, in emailing me about Hawkins' Sept. 7 visit to Dallas (which I doubt I can make but wish I could) included Hawkins money solicitations. I'm kind of not liking that, either, as this was a Texas Greens email and not one from Hawkins, and I've let the state folks know that on Twitter. I don't recall getting a separate, specific email just about his attendance when Dario Hunter spoke at the state convention this summer, let alone one with "donate" buttons embedded in the email. This all also makes me curious who the current state PR person is.

And, nemmind. On the Texas GP Facebook page, Alfred Molson explains that the Executive Committee has an "invite" open to all candidates to "tag along" with a mass blast via the state if they want to.

The flip side of the flip side is that other Green candidates may be piling on to Howie for believing that Russiagate, in terms of Russia meddling in US elections, is real. (AFAIK, Howie doesn't believe in Trump-Putin collusion; if he did, I'd drop him like a rock.) And Brains and DBC believing conspiracy theorists on this is disconcerting but not surprising.

More neoliberal MSM-blog stupid Trump bashing on international postal rates and Chinese cheap costs

File this one from Talking Points Memo, and the link within TPM from Vox, as with many, under "the neoliberal mainstream media not getting it." Burying the lede about Trump having legitimate beefs with the Universal Postal Union as backdoor vote suppression (TPM) is just stupid. Vox burying the lede on UPU member listing is almost as bad.

I mean, the Paris climate change accord essentially moved China out of "developing nation" to "semi-developed nation status. Why can't the UPU do the same? The analysis of Vox is all wet otherwise, unless Trump expands this to a mail trade war beyond China. And, Jen Kirby, the steno there, does give up the game when she says that "experts tell me ... a better deal ... is the most likely scenario."

If the concern really is about overseas voters, as in TPM, Bill Daniels over at Kuff (where I first saw this) has the easy solution. You bring them to an embassy or consulate, or mail them there, in China or whatever foreign country you the voter live, and they go to America by diplomatic pouch. That, in turn would address states' concerns about mail time stamps, as well.

Otherwise, effect-wise, this isn't that much different from a carbon tariff, which I highly support (and which would require a carbon tax first). And, otherwise, this strikes me overall as more #TheResistance stupidity.

As far as what an agreement would do in the big picture?

Not much. If this makes the made-in-China crap too expensive to be made in China then shipped to the USofA, those jobs won't come here. They'll move to places like Vietnam.

Actually, if we're lucky, and not wishing people out of work, but ...

If we're lucky, some of those jobs will disappear, and more importantly, the made-in-China crap created in those jobs will simply disappear.

Americans don't need this cheap crap. Dollar stores don't need to sell it.

We need to de-capitalize away from some of this stuff.

That's especially true because a lot of this is made with oil-derived plastics. (Not that Trump is thinking about climate change and environmental degradation.)

TX Progressives kick Gohmert Pyle, Kenny Boy Paxton and Former Fetus Forever Fuckwad Stickland, the Hispanic wave is coming and more in the Roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance does not want to be lied into any more wars as it brings you this week's roundup, chock full of news about liars of various stripes, and one of them busting out the top headline of the top section of this week's TPA roundup.

The Lege and Abbott

 Former Fetus and Forever Fuckwad Jonathan Stickland is leaving the Lege.

#txlege Former Fetus and Forever Fuckwad Jonathan Stickland is LEAVING US? He can't do that. I haven't kicked ?? in the nads enough. Otherwise, "thank doorknob," .@repstickland https://t.co/eZl6rvjage

— reallyDonaldTrump  🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 25, 2019

Texas Monthly did its Ten Best and Ten Worst legislators thing again. Stickland was so bad, he didn't even make the Bottom 10 and instead got a special "Cockroach" award.

#TextsFromSatan:
"I was just joking about not running for re-election."
Sincerely,
Jonathan Stickland
Former Fetus and Forever Fuckwad

— reallyDonaldTrump  🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 25, 2019

Let's hope that NEVER pops up on my cell phone.

Isn't it time to kill Chapter 313 and other tax breaks? The Texas Observer makes the case.

Dallas

Jim Schutze officially lets Eric Johnson know he's being watched for incivility, sneakiness and other things. (Read through for the "asshole" comment from one of his pre-runoff foes; also note his standing for House Speaker for the current Lege and how unlikely that was.)

Racism rears its ugly head among Dallas police officers.


Texana

The Texas Monthly has a new owner, Houston billionaire Randa Duncan Williams, who is promising to "invigorate" the mag. I didn't know it needed "invigorating." Per Chris Tomlinson, let's hope this isn't screwed up.

Off the Kuff laments the sweetheart deal Ken Paxton keeps getting from the criminal justice system.

Hispanics are about to pass Anglos as Texas' largest ethnic group. Other than their abysmal turnout at the polls, here's other big reasons why Texas Democrats shouldn't read too much into this (although they will); some of that is in more depth here. The religion angle is larger than just abortion, mentioned at the first link there, though.

The Valley has lost its NPR station.

Trump has cancelled (for now) ICE raids planned for Houston and elsewhere. I think a friend of mine is at least halfway onto something — his original Twitter blabbering about this was before his Orlando reveal; nothing but red meat being thrown out. That said, it's also another example of Trump as weathervane, or, in the face of publicly expressed opposition by mayors, the bully getting punched in the face and backing down.

Jef Rouner stays on top of the Communism situation in The Woodlands.

Betsy Gelb thinks we should all chill out about Whataburger.

Texas Leftist debuts posting a transcript of his Ingressive Voices podcast.

National

Socratic Gadfly uses the Assange arrest to remind readers that much of the general public, much of the mainstream media and even much of the court system ignores that there are FIVE freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

Could anybody be more Gohmert Pyle in the House's hearing on reparations than Louie Gohmert himself? It's not even close.

In his weekly candidates' update, Brains says Warren is no Bernie Sanders. In an earlier, now-gone version, he said that while Bernie doesn't sound semi-desperate, some of his bros sure do.

Evgeny Morozov does a thorough takedown on why Facebook has shoved forward its Libra crypocurrency.

Paradise in Hell returns from hiatus and channels Donald Trump.

Juanita is all about the Falwell pool boy story.

The TrumpTrain "economic miracle" is about to jump the tracks

Is the economy worse now than Jan. 20, 2019? Via Zero Hedge, unemployment stats say yes.

Wouldn’t it be horrible if the number of Americans without a job was higher today than it was during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009?  Well, that is actually true.

Paging the #TrumpTrain — economic cleanup on Aisle 5; toxic spill is spreading! Michael Snyder adds that, because states have continued to tighten unemployment eligibility, the spike in filings mean that it's really a BIG problem.

Related? The workforce participation rate remains at 63 percent. Per the graph at left, it hasn't budged more than half a percentage point or two one way or the other for almost seven years.

The conclusion seems right. Many people still aren't that financially ready to beat another recession, which odds indicate are likely to happen soon. Worse? Trump, other than wanting to fire Powell as Fed head, is likely to pull a 1920s and double down on tariffs.

The coming recession, without that, probably won't be that bad. But, Trump's volatility will make it worse. How that plays out, and is played, in the 2020 election will be interesting indeed.

The larger problems are structural and, as they have been for 40 years, caused in various degrees by both duopoly parties. Eric Levitz from the NY Mag says but "prime age" labor participation rate is up, without asking why this is the case, if true. Maybe more 20somethings can't afford college? Maybe more mothers are now working mothers? 

Nor does he try to square this with the overall participation rate still being stagnant.

God and Man at Liberty and First Baptist Dallas

To riff on Bill Buckley’s book, we know that President 2 Corinthians, President Cracker, scored a coup when he got Jerry Falwell Jr. to endorse him and not Ted Cruz in the GOP primaries. No matter that Junior, unlike Daddy, is not a minister. How did it happen?

Hustle by Michael Cohen, aided by a gay-friendly hostel Junior helped launch and further aided, allegedly, by some possibly risqué photos of Junior and wifey. In the background? Junior lying to Lyin Ted about why he couldn’t endorse him.

Ken Silverstein has more, noting other news outlets had part of the story a while back but couldn't nail everything down, and also presuming that Cohen wasn't acting on his own on this.

So, this led me to Stephen Young’s piece in the Dallas Observer about how blatantly screwed up the Trump fellating by Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, has been.

And, is there a reason for that? Given the timeline of how early Jeffress did his deep dive, it makes one wonder, doesn’t it?

And it makes you wonder what it is?

Jeffress showing cellphone pix of "Lil Bobby" to his wife? Or another woman? Or another man?

C'mon, Bob, you can tell us.