MLB, Blue Jays Banishment of Roberto Alomar Over Sexual Harassment Raises Questions

Today, Major League Baseball has put Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar on its "ineligible list" due to a workplace sexual harassment allegation which occurred in 2014. MLB retained outside counsel to investigate the allegation when it came to their attention earlier this year. As a result of the investigation, Alomar will no longer be working for MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred as a special adviser on baseball on Puerto Rico.

The Toronto Blue Jays, with whom Alomar earned World Series rings in 1992 and 1993, have severed ties with Alomar who has long called Toronto home. The team announced it would be removing his name from its Level of Excellence and taking down his banner at Rogers Centre. The Baseball Hall of Fame, while shocked by the news, has no plans to remove Alomar's plaque from Cooperstown.

All of this raises questions. Namely what the hell did Alomar do to effectively be banished by MLB and his old team? Neither MLB nor the Blue Jays have divulged the nature of the sexual harassment allegation against him. It also appears that the individual making the accusation plans to initiate litigation against Alomar, MLB and the Blue Jays. So perhaps MLB and the Jays are doing this to indemnify themselves. In any case, if the lawsuit does proceed perhaps we will find out more about what led today's decision.

But until then question remains. Did Alomar do something worse than send a "dick pic"? That's what got Jared Porter fired as GM of the New York Mets in January and got former Mets manager and current Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway suspended last month pending an investigation. At this point, Porter could still theoretically find work in baseball and so might Callaway. However, Alomar has been declared persona non grata and we don't know why.

For his part, Alomar said he was "disappointed, surprised and upset with today's news".  Alomar added, "With the current social climate, I understand why Major League Baseball has taken the position they have." He also expressed hope the "allegation can be heard in a venue that will allow me to address the accusation directly."

At no point did Alomar deny the allegation in any way. So perhaps Alomar did something he shouldn't have done. But does the punishment fit the crime?

Johnny Crawford, R.I.P.

Actor and singer Johnny Crawford, best known for starring alongside Chuck Connors in the late 1950's and early 1960's TV series The Rifleman, passed away yesterday of Alzheimer's Disease. He was 75.

Crawford was an original member of The Mouseketeers and later a pop singer with a few modest hits in the early 1960's. But it is The Rifleman for which he will always be remembered as it airs regularly to this day more than half a century after it ceased production. While many tune in to see villains foolish enough to mess with young Mark McCain and Luccas put them to an end, the father-son relationship between the two has given the show an endurance beyond its setting and time.

It is hard to think of Crawford as something other than a child. When you look at his innocence you don't think of someone who will grow old much less be afflicted with Alzheimer's. But the line between fantasy and reality is invariably erased. But our memories carry on. R.I.P.

Thoughts on NYC Fully Reopening By July 1st

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans that the city would be fully reopen come July 1st. Governor Cuomo hopes it will be far sooner.

Whenever that day comes it will be symbolic triumph over COVID-19. After all when the pandemic hit the United States it hit New York City the hardest. I was there during its darkest days when the streets were desolate, when businesses were boarded up and a short-lived curfew was imposed. 

I am happiest for my Dad. Of course, he walks at least 20,000 steps a day whether New York City is open or closed. But no doubt he will be happy to see more people milling about. 

While it might have been nice to see New York City reopen first hand a job in Atlanta came calling me and I have now been here six months plus a day. 

In any case, I liked New York City better as a visitor. 

U.S. Records 575,000th COVID-19 Death

Although vaccinations have helped slow the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19, I would be remiss if I didn't note the United States has topped 575,000 deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, 575,052 Americans have died of COVID-19 out of 32,282,063 cases representing a mortality rate of 1.8%. 

Again the rate of COVID deaths have been slowing. For example, it took exactly one month for COVID deaths to go from 375,000 to 475,000. It took 77 days to get from 475,000 to 575,000. Of course, that is of cold comfort to the families of 100,000 Americans who have died of COVID since February 11th. It is especially cruel when we consider how close they might have been to getting vaccinated.

While we look forward to living something resembling the life we once knew there are too many of us who have nothing to look forward to at all.

Michael Collins Didn't Walk on The Moon But He Orbited It

Michael Collins, one of the three Americans on the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in July 1969, passed away of cancer on Wednesday at the age of 90.

Unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, Collins did not walk on the moon. After all, someone had to pilot the command module. However, he experienced the moon in a different way orbiting around its far side out of contact with NASA Mission Control. From there he could see Earth in a way no other person had ever seen it before. 

When one has such an experience nothing else one does could possibly match that exhilaration. Collins had quite the career after Apollo serving in the Nixon Administration as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, served as Director of the National Air and Space Museum and Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution before venturing into the private sector. For most people those positions would be the pinnacle of their career. But for Collins his pinnacle was out of this world experiencing a rarified air that even Armstrong and Aldrin didn't know. Tonight perhaps he has returned to those skies. R.I.P.

Thoughts on Biden's Address to Congress & Scott's Not So Great Rebuttal

On his 99th day in office, President Biden gave an address to a joint session of Congress albeit to a more sparsely populated room due to COVID restrictions.

Biden's address ran 65 minutes and was a largely a low key affair punctuated by phrases full of passion. Naturally there was talk about how his Administration managed to vaccinate 220 million Americans in less than 100 days along with the passage of the American Rescue Plan. Biden also spoke about the proposed American Jobs Act and the American Families Act. These are the most ambitious plans set out by an American President since LBJ. Of course, it is far from clear whether these proposals will see the light of day with Republicans unable to pronounce the word yes. There were also words about climate change, criminal justice reform, immigration, declaring white supremacy as terrorism, compassion towards transgendered Americans and championing democracy over autocracy. 

He did all this in as broad based and respectful way as possible. Biden is truly the anti-Trump.

Alas there were 74 million Americans who voted for Trump and South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott spoke to those Americans in his response to Biden's remarks. Unfortunately, Scott resides in a political universe where facts are at best optional. It is hard to take Scott seriously when he says Georgia is making it easier to vote and harder to cheat when voter fraud is statistically insignificant. It is even more difficult to take Scott seriously when he claimed:

This Administration inherited a tide that had already turned. The coronavirus is on the run! Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump Administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines.

When Biden came into office daily COVID infections were over 100,000 a day while 100,000 Americans were dying every 30 days. There were vaccines but they weren't getting into arms. The Trump Administration didn't even get halfway to its goal of immunizing 40 million Americans by the end of 2020. Biden's pledge of administering 100 million vaccines in 100 days was viewed as a pipe dream in many quarters. As we approach Day 100 of Biden's presidency we are now at 220 million vaccines administered.

Yet we should not underestimate Scott. He has a personable demeanor and could broaden the Republican Party's appeal to the African American community and beyond. But the jury is very much out as to whether the Republican Party would be smart enough to elevate Scott as a presidential candidate. At this point, if Trump wants the GOP nomination then he will get it without batting an eyelash. Although it would be intriguing if Trump selected Scott to be his running mate. Again, whether Trump would be smart enough to do such a thing very much remains to be seen.

But let's say there is a Trump-Scott ticket. If Biden-Harris can deliver on their ambitious agenda and if they are associated with recovery from COVID-19 then they would be an even more formidable pair in 2024 than they were in 2020. 

HRW Claims It Isn't Comparing Israel to Apartheid South Africa Even Though It Mentions Apartheid 143 Times

To much fanfare, Human Rights Watch released a report titled "Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution". Yet HRW claimed it wasn't comparing Israel with Apartheid era South Africa:

The report does not set out to compare Israel with South Africa under apartheid or to determine whether Israel is an “apartheid state”—a concept that is not defined in international law. Rather, the report assesses whether specific acts and policies carried out by Israeli authorities today amount in particular areas to the crimes of apartheid and persecution as defined under international law.

Each of the report’s three main substantive chapters explores Israel’s rule over Palestinians: the dynamics of its rule and discrimination, looking in turn at Israel and the OPT, the particular rights abuses that it commits there, and some of the objectives that motivate these policies. It does so in terms of the primary elements of the crimes of apartheid and persecution, as outlined above. Human Rights Watch evaluates the dynamics of Israeli rule in each of these areas, keeping in mind the different legal frameworks that apply in the OPT and Israel, which are the two legally recognized territorial entities, each with a different status under international law. While noting significant factual differences among subregions in each of these two territories, the report does not make separate subregional determinations.

On the basis of its research, Human Rights Watch concludes that the Israeli government has demonstrated an intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the OPT. In the OPT, including East Jerusalem, that intent has been coupled with systematic oppression of Palestinians and inhumane acts committed against them. When these three elements occur together, they amount to the crime of apartheid.

What chutzpah!!! HRW insists that this isn't about comparing Israel to Apartheid-era South Africa while using the word Apartheid 143 times. Apartheid carries with it a connotation of illegitimacy, ostracism and evil. When HRW deploys the word apartheid once to describe Israel much less 143 times is done so to inflame hatred towards it with the objective of dismantling it while whitewashing the actions of the Palestinians. 

If one reads this report one would never know the Palestinian Authority teaches its children to hate Jews and pays money to those who kill Jews while naming schools, streets and soccer fields after them. But that is not the point of the report. The point of the report is to promote a big lie and have people repeat that lie often enough until it is accepted as an unquestioned fact. This would explain why HRW uses the word Apartheid to describe Israel 143 times.

Human Rights Watch can call Israel an Apartheid state or claims it has committed crimes of Apartheid 143 times or 1,430 times. It doesn't make it a fact let alone the truth.