Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 5, 2019

9

OPINION: 

Mountain View News Saturday, October 5, 2019 

STUART TOLCHIN


CHANGE IS NEVER 
EASY

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

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Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
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Dean Lee 

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Keely Toten

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Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee


The right side of the front page of the L.A. Times of 
October 1, 2019 is completely taken up by two stories 
relating to whether the State will allow college athletes 
to profit from endorsements. Senate Bill 206 signed 
by Governor Newsom prohibits the NCAA from 
barring a university from competition if its athletes 
are compensated for the use of their name, image, or 
likeness beginning January 1, 2023. The University of 
California System, California State University Schools, 
Stanford, and USC all opposed the bill saying that it 
would lead to fines or even expulsions from the NCAA. 
Governor Newsom refused to yield to this opposition 
and publicly stated that the state needed to address the racial, gender and 
economic injustices ingrained in college athletics. He stated that the NCAA 
system has been perverted and this bill is fundamentally about rebalancing 
things. 

 A federal Court opinion was issued today in the Students for Fair 
Admission v. Harvard. The name of the plaintiff is misleading. It is a conservative 
organization that has filed other actions in an attempt to end affirmative action 
admission programs. The plaintiff’s argument in this matter was that racial 
identity was considered as one of the grounds for admission which resulted in 
discriminatory exclusion of Asian American Students who had higher test scores 
and grade point averages. The Court refused to accept this argument. The court 
emphasized that discriminatory conditions relating to educational opportunities 
still were prevalent within the society and that in order to obtain the desirable 
diversity within each class it was necessary to consider racial identity. The Court 
also emphasized that diverse student bodies were a good thing. This case will be 
appealed perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court. If the lower court opinion is 
reversed and affirmative action admission programs are eliminated it would be 
very unfortunate.

 The existence of historic discriminatory policies is directly involved with 
the need for the elimination of the restriction against the acceptance of financial 
benefit that is particularly unfair to low-income student athletes. Today’s 
headlines describe the outrageous illegal bribes paid by wealthy individuals 
in order to obtain acceptance for their less than gifted children. Meanwhile 
African American and Hispanic students who have been accepted because of 
their recognized athletic accomplishments are completely uncompensated for 
the daily hours spent training and traveling. The universities are compensated 
with television rights and stadiums filled by tens of thousands of fans who cheer 
for these unpaid athletes

Why do the Universities and the NCAA strongly oppose the California 
Bill? Today I purchased the Revolt of The Black Athlete by Harry Edwards 
who is the San Jose State Professor who was often criticized for being involved 
in the 1968 protest by the gold and bronze medalists in the 1968 Mexico City 
Olympics. These African American sprinters dared to wear a black glove and 
raise their hands in protest from the victory stand. For this act they were banned 
from future Olympics and faced continued criticism. Harry Edwards explains 
that the historical conditions affecting college sports should not allow it to be 
called amateurism but rather should be termed “a modern day misnomer for 
economic tyranny. He uses the term “plantation analogy”, a term that has been 
used for fifty years as an apt description of the circumstances of Black Athletes 
in College Sports. He explains that in exchange for the right to perform for 
free Black Athletes have had to agree to keep their mouths shut, never respond 
to insults, and just play ball. These were the same conditions to which Jackie 
Robinson agreed in order to be used to break the color line in 1947.

In conclusion, the universities and the NCAA more than resemble the 
plantation owners of the pre-Civil War period. The status quo provides them 
great financial remuneration based upon the unpaid labor of others. Hopefully, 
the universities and the NCAA are not willing to create a Civil War in order to 
avoid change which they fear might cause a loss of revenue. Right now change 
is coming slowly. Inadequate schools often improperly prepare students for 
college and once in College they, like other students, need all the help they can 
get. Young people like LeBron James, at the time he graduated High School, 
should not be forced to forego College in order to go directly into the NBA 
and earn enough money to assist his family. Now he earns enough money as a 
businessman and athlete such that money grants him power to have his voice be 
heard such that he can help bring about positive change. Hopefully we are on 
the way to creating true diversity and equality.


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JOHN L. MICEK

TOM PURCELL

THE ONLY SHOCK ABOUT 
TRUMP’S ACTIONS IS THAT 
WE’RE SHOCKED

‘FALL BACK’ TO PUTTING LIFE’S 
SMALL JOYS AHEAD OF 
POLITICS 

Autumn has arrived. I can’t think of a better time to put 
priorities back in order. 

 You see, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study 
finds that “the current U.S. political climate is literally 
making Americans physically sick, damaging 
friendships, and driving many people ‘crazy,” according 
to studyfinds.org.

 Among the findings: About two in five Americans are 
stressed out by politics, and one in five are losing sleep 
over it.

 Look, politics is important. An informed, engaged public is essential to our 
country’s continued success at the local, state and federal levels.

 But aren’t we taking our politics - and ourselves - a bit too seriously?

 To be sure, in the era of social media - and a president who tweets 24/7 - politics 
is in our faces more than ever. We carry politics around on our smartphones. 

 But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make a concerted effort to keep politics in 
proper perspective.

 Consider: We each have little control over who becomes president - just one 
vote. But we have total control over how we respond to who becomes president.

 A president’s policies do affect our day-to-day lives - health insurance policies, 
taxes and regulations do impact us some. But the truth is that our politicians 
otherwise have minimal daily impact on our lives.

 Life is largely made up of colds, bills, speeding tickets and people who sometimes 
grate on our nerves.

 Between those experiences are mundane tasks and drudgeries.

 Interrupting those drudgeries are delicious meals with friends, the occasional 
hearty laugh, the love of a truly special person who’s supportive in times of need 
- and autumn, one of the most wonderful times of the year.

 Spring is about new life and fresh starts. Summer is about toil, sweat and a one-
week break at the beach. Autumn is about harvesting your labor’s hard-earned 
fruits.

 It’s about peacefully accepting that warm weather will be gone soon - and that 
bitter-cold winds and snow will be back soon.

 Among my favorite things to do at this time of year are driving to fall festivals in 
small country towns, going on hayrides after dark, and drinking hot apple cider 
- with a dash of Irish whiskey - around a roaring bonfire with my closest friends, 
while we tell each other ghost stories and tales of haunted houses, ghouls and 
goblins with Halloween approaching. 

 Autumn allows us to reflect on what is most valuable in our lives - our loved 
ones, our extended family. It’s about spending time with each other and talking 
about everything and nothing at all.

 It’s about taking a much-needed respite from politics - about making chili in a 
cast-iron dutch oven that sits for hours on fireside coals, then feasting on that 
chili with your parents and siblings while thanking God that all are still healthy 
and together after no small number of years. 

 We’re tearing ourselves apart with our politics. Autumn offers a chance to renew 
friendships and reprioritize our lives.

 As the leaves turn bright colors and drop from the trees, drop politics down on 
your list of priorities - way down to its proper place.

 Autumn is too important and too enjoyable to let politics intrude. 

 Light a bonfire, heat up some apple cider and focus on the most important 
things in our lives - while taking a much-needed break from our overly heated 
politics.


The explosive release of a federal whistleblower complaint 
alleging that President Donald Trump abused the power of 
his office, and that “unidentified White House officials” then 
attempted to cover it up, is sending shockwaves throughout 
Washington. 

And while the underlying details of the complaint were eye-
opening and alarming, its fundamental premise was not.

Given the choice between protecting and promoting his 
own interests, or the interests of the nation he was elected to govern and whose 
Constitution he swore to uphold, Trump’s interests win every time.

From crassly pitching his ailing Doral resort in Miami as the site of the next G7 
meeting to revelations that the Air Force essentially propped up a Trump property 
in Scotland to a lawsuit alleging that Trump is illegally profiting from his hotels and 
restaurants in Washington, D.C. and New York, the priorities of America’s reality 
star-in-chief have been on public display for months.

But there is something so singularly offensive about Trump’s utterly transparent 
request for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden from Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelensky. It makes every previous assault on our Democratic norms 
by the narcissistic 45th chief executive look like an amateur hour performance in 
comparison.

“In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. 
government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of 
his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” 
the whistleblower wrote in a 7-page memo.

Finally, in plain English: Trump’s avarice laid bare.

Trump, predictably, has pushed back, dismissing the Congressional impeachment 
inquiry as the latest iteration of the ongoing “witch hunt.” He can bluster and deflect 
as much as he wants, but the undeniable proof of his self-dealing is vivid in the 
rough transcript the White House released on Wednesday. It’s an extraordinary 
exercise in mob-style shakedowns, prefaced by only the slenderest of pleasantries.

By early Friday morning, a majority of the House’s membership - at least 225 of the 
435 sitting lawmakers - supported some kind of impeachment action.

The bulk of those votes were overwhelmingly Democratic, though, as NBC News 
reports, they are not unified in voting to impeach Trump. Some Democrats, as well 
as Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., have asked for an inquiry, while others support an 
investigation initiated by the House Judiciary Committee. 

Some Democrats, mainly from vulnerable districts, have yet to announce their 
intentions.

While much work remains for Democrats who serve on the six congressional committees 
charged with conducting the inquiry, it’s more than safe to say that impeachment 
will become the definitional debate of the 2020 campaign.

Trump will use it to rail against Democrats in his hockey stadium rallies, as he 
carpet bombs his ever-loyal base with conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. 
Democrats will use it as a cudgel in their ongoing argument that Trump lacks the 
fitness to lead. Everyone who believes something will continue to believe it, and the 
needle among loyalists won’t move.

Where this gets worrying for Trump, beyond the prospect of carrying the mark of 
impeachment with him into history (assuming he and it get that far), is his standing 
among the independent voters who were so critical to his election in 2016.

The Mueller affair, while damning, was difficult to quantify. Here we have, in the 
president’s own words, an attempted shakedown of a foreign leader to secure his 
own re-election. And he’s selling out the country to do it. Every voter who’s seen an 
episode of “The Sopranos” can recognize that.

It’s a nice presidency you got there. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it.

Mountain Views News

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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com