The Washington Post has an in-depth Oped critiquing the salacious reporting done by the media to try and destroy Chesa Boudin. The article analyzes ABC-7 News reporter Dion Lim for her ongoing unethical and lie-laden attack on the San Francisco District Attorney.
Dion Lim’s conflict of interest must be exposed. It is obvious she has an agenda in her continuing assaults on DA Boudin.
Dion Lim violates any sense of journalistic ethics when she provides false information to witnesses and victims of crime. She then continues this Jihad against Chesa Boudin by providing the same false information in her on-air reporting.
Nightcrawler on the job
Dion Lim bullies heroes who have acted as good Samaritans when witnessing a crime being committed. She coerces statements from good Samaritans and victims of crime to denounce Chesa Boudin. Dion Lim lies to them by stating the DA is dropping, or has dropped charges, when he has done no such thing.
The “limitation of harm” law states that you must withhold certain information from the public when the accused is a minor. Dion Lim has illegally released information regarding minors. Dion Lim has misstated the actions of the District Attorney who by law is prohibited from divulging information about a crime when a minor is involved.
Dion Lim reported that the case was not being charged. This is a lie. The reality is that the DA’s office had a Court date on calendar but is precluded from discussing the case because it involves a minor.
Journalism’s “code of ethics” states that truthfulness, accuracy, impartiality, and public accountability apply to reporting news.
Conflicts of interest are to be avoided as well as disclosing names of minor children in the interest of “limitation of harm.”
Obviously, Dion Lim has escaped from under the gimlet eyes of the Radio Television Digital News Association.
The 1965 classic novel Dune by Frank Herbert is coming to the big screen later this year. Dune was scheduled for release last year. The Pandemic stalled its premiere.
Dune is directed by Dennis Villeneuve. His most recent production was Blade Runner 2049. It was a well received follow up to the cult favorite Blade Runner originally released in 1982
Dune is sure to be one of the fall’s must see movies
Attached is a link to the Dune trailer. Looks like can’t miss cinema.
Chani portrayed by Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, an Oakland, CA nativeSand worm in Dune
In typical Trump like fashion Bibi Netanyahu echoed his political soulmate leaving office in a blaze of incendiary rhetoric. It has been his trademark persona during his tenure as Israel’s Prime Minister.
The World is a better place today. Netanyahu has been ousted from power. Facing trial for corruption he joins the ranks of leaders who used political office for personal gain and were finally shown the door.
It’s dispiriting that Netanyahu held onto power for 12 years, terrorized Israel’s Palestinian population, and relentlessly engaged in his bellicose warlike activities against neighboring States in the Middle East.
Excerpted from The Daily Beast 6.13.2021
JERUSALEM—Benjamin Netanyahu’s long and boisterous rule came to an end on Sunday with one final broadside against the world.
The embittered ex-prime minister channeled his inner Trump to claim the Israeli election was fraudulent and label his opponents fascists and turncoats, and compare them to the regimes in Iran and North Korea. He lashed out at President Biden, claiming the state of Israel faced an existential threat if its government was not powerful enough to say “no” to the United States.
In fact, the new government was voted into power democratically on Sunday, with a parliamentary vote granting a laser-thin ruling majority to a coalition of opposition parties led by the new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and new foreign minister Yair Lapid.
Bennett, 49, and Lapid, 57, signed a rotation agreement, with Bennett serving as prime minister for the first two years.
Almost unknown outside of Israel, Bennett, a nationalist hardliner, and the centrist Lapid succeeded where almost a generation of politicians have failed: to replace Netanyahu, 71, whose 12 years in office made him Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and the country’s most dominant modern leader.
Netanyahu did not depart gracefully. He cast aspersions on his rivals and derided the alleged illegitimacy of the new government, declaring its formation “a fraud,” and “possibly the greatest fraud in history.”
In his parting shot in the Knesset, Netanyahu claimed that his ouster could bring about the very destruction of Israel.
Bibi – Out of power after 12 years
He belittled Bennett, who entered politics by serving as Netanyahu’s chief of staff. “Bennett? He doesn’t have the international standing, the ability, or the knowledge. An Israeli prime minister must be able to say ‘no’ to an American president…. An Israeli government that cannot stand up strongly to the international community—it is no surprise they are celebrating in Iran today.”
Netanyahu also made the totally unfounded allegation that Biden would not safeguard Israel, and compared the Iran deal—which was signed by President Obama and wrecked by President Trump—to Americans failing to stop the Holocaust.
“The new American administration asked me to keep our disagreements quiet,” he said, explaining that he replied “No!” to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “But I told them we wouldn’t do it, and I’ll tell you why. The lessons of history are in front of my eyes. In 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, President Roosevelt refused to bomb the trains and the gas chambers, which could have saved our people.”
Israelites protest indicted ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu
Surveillance cameras are insidious, intrusive and a violation of a right to privacy.
Invasions of privacy through omnipresent security cameras take place in public and more dangerously are utilized by ordinary citizens. Private security cameras are an epidemic in San Francisco. Installation of private security cameras are unregulated. There is scant enforcement of laws regulating the use of security cameras by the average citizen.
Video surveillance abuse is a terrifying reality, well chronicled in cinema. Following is a Wikipedia link to Surveillance related film.
San Francisco’s famous Castro District is now taking a look at the presence of surveillance cameras and their impact on the average citizen.
Excerpted from San Francisco Examiner 6.11.2021
Crime-fighting camera networks are springing up in commercial areas all around San Francisco. But public opinion toward the practice could be shifting following revelations last summer that one such video network in Union Square became a tool of police surveillance.
Just take a look at the vote this week from a property owner group that turned down a nearly $700,000 donation to set up a centralized surveillance camera system in the Castro, said Matthew Guariglia, a privacy advocate with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“I think Castro might be a line in the sand where the tide begins to turn, so to speak,” Guariglia said. “Even though each neighborhood is its own microcosm with its own political priorities, we might begin to see pushback all over The City toward this type of surveillance.”
Facing privacy concerns from LGBTQ groups, the Castro-Upper Market Community Benefit District became the first of its kind Monday to reject a proposed camera network like the ones already rolled out in Union Square, Fisherman’s Wharf and other areas.
The proposal would have called for installing cameras at crime hot spots along Market Street with funding from Ripple founder Chris Larsen, the same tech investor who is paying for camera networks in other parts of The City in an effort to make San Francisco safer.
The idea is to set up cameras that are connected to the same system, rather than standalone devices owned by individual shopkeepers or homeowners, so that police can easily access the footage upon request after a crime occurs in the area.
The networks are being run by special assessment districts, known as community benefit districts or business improvement districts, that collect fees from local property and business owners to make public safety and quality-of-life improvements in their areas.
The Castro vote is the first to come since privacy advocates made the troubling revelation that San Francisco police gained direct, live access to the Union Square cameras last May and June, as looting unfolded during civil unrest over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
Privacy advocates worried the cameras could have a chilling effect on First Amendment activities if used to monitor protests or even events like the Pride Parade, as The Examiner later revealed.
But whether the Castro vote is more than a one-off has yet to be seen.
Political parties are notorious for internicine warfare which, in striving for political purity, can take down the entire foundation.
This could be happening to the Green Party in Germany. Several weeks ago the political class in Germany was forecasting a revolution in the nation’s leadership. Fielding a Chancellor candidate for the first time things looked very upbeat for candidate Annalena Baerbock. Not today.
There are still over three months until the September 26 nationwide election. Plenty of time for the Greens to put their infighting behind them and rally the public in their behalf.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.10.2021
The Green party has plummeted in opinion polls. At a party conference, delegates will officially nominate Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor — despite her recent blunders. Heated debates are expected.
The tide is turning against the German Green party. Only seven and a half weeks ago the future looked rosy for the Greens. Annalena Baerbock — their young and dynamic party co-leader — had just been announced as their first candidate for chancellor. The party rose in national polls to almost 30 percent and at times even overtook the CDU and its leader Armin Laschet. The chancellorship seemed within reach for the first time in the Greens’ history.
But a lot has happened since, and the party’s campaign is faltering. The latest “Deutschlandtrend” monthly survey by pollster Infratest dimap puts the Green party at 20% voter support well behind the CDU’s 28. Support for Annalena Baerbock has plummeted by 12% putting her behind her competitors, with the Christian Democratic Union’s Armin Laschet — who had been trailing for weeks — taking the lead.
This weekend the Greens will meet for a digital party conference to agree on their election program. They will also officially nominate Baerbock as the candidate for the chancellorship by a resolution of the party conference.
She and the party need to bounce back after their poor showing in last Sunday’s regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt the Greens received a disastrous just 5.9% of the vote, confirming that the Green party is not attractive for a rural east German electorate. The Green party’s success is in the west of the country and in urban areas but has failed in the region that used to be the communist East German GDR. That region has become the, is the stronghold of the far-right AfD.
Since its founding 40 years ago, the Green party conferences have been famous for their heated debates. Since Habeck and Baerbock took the lead in 2018 observers were surprised to witness carefully choreographed glossed-over events. The Greens have turned mainstream, wrote the commentators.
Early days in 1980’s – Greens in the streets
The days of harmony may be over now. Climate protection will once again be at the center of the party conference. But grassroots activists risked derailing proceedings by initially submitted over 3,300 amendments to the election program. Now only 20 of them are left. The words “Germany. Everything is in it” run across the program. But the requests for amendments start with the title. 300 party members have called for deleting the word “Germany,” arguing that the program should not be labeled as a national one, but rather as a program for a country in a globalized world.
This was met with scathing attacks from the domestic conservative press. The Greens want their chancellor candidate to run the country, but won’t even acknowledge it by name? The far-right which wants to curb immigration is diametrically opposed to the Green party’s multicultural integration platform.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock
At the party conference, the Green party leadership must be careful that ever-rebellious grassroots activists don’t write unachievable goals into the election program.
The Greens are already calling for a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gases from their 1990 level by 2030. A large group of grassroots representatives wants that changed to 85 percent.
Even the 65 percent promised by the current government will only be achieved with maximum effort. The draft of the election program also calls for a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour for the Autobahn. The grassroots activists want that cut to 100 kilometers per hour. Baerbock knows that these demands will not be received well by a majority of Germany’s car-loving population. But she thinks it is good that the party continues to place its focus on climate protection.
Suggestions like a hefty gas price hike have not gone down well with all voters last week.
Their political opponents accuse the Greens as going over the top with restrictions and regulations and curbs to individual freedom and civil liberties. And they are waiting to pounce on some radical demand. In the 2017 general election campaign, the Green party suggested introducing one mandatory “vegetarian meal day” in German schools. This “veggie day” proposal triggered an outcry and became synonymous with unjustifiable overregulation – a deadly blow to a Green party trying to take the center.
Annalena Baerbock
Baerbock herself has also been under fire after she was forced to admit she had not initially paid tax on more than 20,000€ ($24,000) Euro she received as a Christmas bonus from the party. She now has. Journalists also found false information in her resume, including claims that she was a member of organizations such as the respected German Marshall Fund.
As the stakes have piled up Baerbock and the Greens have seen their star falling and their dream of leading a government for the first time possibly disappearing. The Greens are now trailing the CDU by 6% to 8% depending on opinion pollsters.
This is a major victory in the fight against global warming.
A tenacious campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline has prevailed. The environmental forces are emboldened and will continue their relentless campaign to block the spread of fossil fuels technology and the construction which enables it.
Wall Street Journal 6.9.2021
The Keystone XL cancellation marks a historic victory for environmentalists who for a decade have made the project the focus of a campaign to block new pipeline construction as a way to limit oil consumption that contributes to global warming.
Native American protestors rode horses into a construction site for the Dakota Access pipeline on August 27, 2016. The now abandoned pipeline was slated to extend from North Dakota to Illinois, carrying crude oil. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe filed an injunction against the US Army Corps of Engineers in federal court in Washington DC, claiming the Army Corps did not take tribal spiritual and heritage sites into consideration when it granted permits for the pipeline.
Canada’s TC Energy Corp.TRP 0.59% and the Albertan provincial government said Wednesday they would scuttle the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, bringing to an end a yearslong controversy over an effort to pipe more Canadian crude to the U.S.
Environmental groups called TC’s decision a landmark moment and 350.org pointed to its own history of leading sit-ins against Keystone XL in front of the White House. It said it would work to defeat more pipelines.
Aborted XL Keystone pipeline
“When this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldn’t be beat,’’ said Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org. “But when enough people rise up, we’re stronger even than the richest fossil-fuel companies.”
Emboldened by the successful fight against Keystone XL, protesters have taken aim at other Canadian pipelines. On Monday, protesters in Minnesota clashed with police as they demonstrated against Enbridge Inc.’s construction of its crude oil Line 3 artery through the state. In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to revoke a permit that allows the company to transport oil and natural gas under the Great Lakes.
TC Energy gave little explanation for its final decision in a Wednesday news release. It alluded to Mr. Biden’s decision and said it had completed a comprehensive review of its options before making the final decision to terminate the project. It said that going forward it would build its businesses in shipping and storing natural gas, liquid fuels and power to meet growing North American demand for cleaner fuels.
“We value the strong relationships we’ve built through the development of this Project and the experience we’ve gained,” TC Energy Chief Executive François Poirier said.
Mr. Biden’s permit cancellation was a major setback for Canadian oil producers and the Canadian government, which had urged Mr. Biden to help salvage the $8 billion project immediately after his election. Keystone XL has been mired in court challenges and left in limbo by shifting U.S. political leadership since it was initially proposed in 2008.
That was a time of record oil prices, and the pipeline was pitched as a key artery to eventually bring 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude from Alberta to Nebraska and then to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Since then, Canadian oil producers have been rocked by falling oil prices and the government had doubled down on getting approval for the project as a lifeline for the industry.
But Mr. Biden agreed with environmentalists who said opening that avenue for more crude into the U.S. conflicted with a need to respond to climate change by shifting to cleaner sources of energy. He said allowing the project to go ahead would undercut the country’s international credibility as Mr. Biden tried to push other countries to lower their greenhouse-gas emissions.
“We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline’s border crossing,” said Jason Kenney, premier of Alberta. The province had invested $1.1 billion in the project and will now have to swallow the cost. The government said it would continue to explore its options to recoup its money.
Mr. Biden ’s decision, which reversed the pipeline’s approval first given by former President Donald Trump, came before TC Energy could finish construction in the U.S. It promptly suspended construction, saying it would cut more than 1,000 construction jobs.
Mr. Biden’s critics decried the layoffs and several Republican states launched a lawsuit to overturn it. It wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to that lawsuit.
“It’s a disgrace President Biden played politics and killed the Keystone XL Pipeline,” said Austin Knudsen, the attorney general in Montana, the lead plaintiff—along with the Texas attorney general—of 23 states. “The pipeline would have enhanced America’s energy independence while bringing much needed jobs, tax revenue, and economic development to rural communities in Montana and across the country.”
Lee Heidhues 6.8.2021 I am familiar with the ways of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection professionally and personally. On a personal level, I have learned the hard way less benign inner workings of DBI. Third parties and other City government agencies have utilized the system to benefit themselves and harm my family. DBI historically has been thought of as a place where the well-connected can get their way. My own experiences have reinforced this opinion. Relationships are what it’s all about in San Francisco. People who need special services hire so called “expeditors” or, on occasion, deal directly with DBI. The motives are not always benign. The goal is more than just obtaining a Permit.
San Francisco Chronicle -J.K. Dineen – 6.8.2021
A senior San Francisco building inspector has been placed on administrative leave after he allegedly failed to report a loan from a politically connected developer for whom he had performed multiple inspections.
Senior Building Inspector Bernard Curran (pictured above right) came under scrutiny last month after admitting that he had accepted a $180,000 loan from Freydoon Ghassemzadeh, whose family business, SIA Consulting, has been one of the city’s most prolific developers in recent years, according to City Hall sources and public documents.
State records show that in March of 2020 Curran neglected to disclose the loan in his annual Form 700, a state filing that requires public officials to disclose economic interests. In a March 25 email to Human Resources Director Michele Nieve that was sent along with the form, Curran wrote “I do not have any economic interests so I believe this is all I have to fill out.” A year later — in April of this year, after being questioned by the city attorney — he amended the paperwork to include the loan.
It’s also not clear whether he intended to pay back the loan, which he said in the April disclosure had a five-year term and an interest rate of 6%.
The loan was discovered during an ongoing investigation of corruption in the Department of Building Inspection by the city attorney’s Public Integrity Unit.
City Attorney’s Office spokesman John Cote said he could not “provide details about an ongoing investigation.”
“I can say that throughout this corruption investigation, including at the Department of Building Inspection, our focus has been on rooting out contractors and employees who abuse the public trust,” he said.
The investigation comes amid a widespread investigation into corruption in San Francisco City Hall, a multi-agency probe that has so far led to the indictment of former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru and former Public Utilities Commission wGeneral Manager Harlan Kelly.
At the building inspection department, the city attorney’s probe led to the resignation of Tom Hui (pictured above left), the former director, as well as a settlement with former permit expediter Walter Wong that bars him from acting as a permit expediter for five years.
“Our investigation did not stop there,” said Cote.
Department of Building Inspection Director of Communications Patrick Hannan said that new leadership at the beleaguered agency is committed to “rooting out corruption and bad actors preying on the building industry and betraying the public’s trust, whether they be in the private or public sector.”
“We have partnered with the city attorney’s Public Integrity Unit on an investigation into employees suspected of corruption and have recently placed one of those people on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” Hannan said.
It’s not clear whether Curran, who has been with the department since 2005, gave the developer preferential treatment in exchange for the loan. Curran was the final inspector to sign off on several of SIA Consulting’s projects. In February of 2018, he approved a four-bedroom renovation at 708 Buchanan St., a seismic upgrade project that converted the basement into a four-bedroom apartment, and added bedrooms on the second and third floors, according to public records.
DBI Inspector Bernie Curran approved project at 3005-3007 San Bruno Avenue
In 2019, Curran approved three inspections of a seismic retrofit job at 3005-3007 San Bruno Ave., a project that included adding an additional bedroom and three bathrooms to an existing three-bedroom, one-bath unit.
The agent for both projects was Behmann Ghassemzadeh, the son of Freydoon Ghassemzadeh.
Calls to Curran’s home phone were not answered. It was not clear if he has legal representation. A message left with Freydoon Ghassemzadeh was unreturned by the time of publication.
Hannan said his agency and the city attorney have launched an investigation to see if the work the inspector signed off on — some of which was outside of the district he was in charge of — violated city codes.
“We have also teamed up with the City Attorney’s Office on an auditing initiative to review the work performed by these bad actors and are implementing a series of reform initiatives to improve our business practices, increase transparency and enhance accountability,” Hannan said.
Cote said that since taking over the department in March 2020 after the departure of Hui, Interim Director Patrick O’Riordan has “shown true cooperation with our investigation, and we’re hopeful about the changes we see in the top leadership at DBI, as well as their willingness and ability to hold staff accountable.”
Unpack the Carnage being wreaked upon Slow Streets Cabrillo by enraged Drivers turned to anarchists in their efforts to bully the city and the pedestrians, bicyclists, joggers, kids, people in wheelchairs, pets and urban wildlife from using Slow Streets for an essential recreational sanctuary and place to socialize.
Slow Street signage destruction
The crimes of hit-and-run and vandalism occurring daily at intersection after intersection of Slow Streets Cabrillo are documented in this photo montage.
The Definition of Misdemeanor Hit-and-Run includes damage to property by Drivers who flee the scene.
Vandalism of Slow Street signage at 41st Avenue and Cabrillo as runner passes by
The legal Definition of Vandalism includes willful or malicious destruction or defacement of public property.
The crimes upon Slow Streets Cabrillo are being fueled by our addiction to the automobile and the sense of entitlement that Motorists driving on the streets of San Francisco monopolize. The Motorists feel that the rules do not apply to them.
Motorists blatantly violating “Road Closed” signage at 35th Avenue and Cabrillo
Here is a blatant example of an Act of Bullying of a pedestrian by a Motorist on Slow Streets Cabrillo at the intersection of 40 th Avenue & Cabrillo. The pedestrian happened to be Me.
While documenting the Wreckage of a Slow Streets barrier by the dual crimes of hit-and-run and vandalism, I heard a car pull up and stop behind my back.
Young cyclist enjoys Slow Street Cabrillo
I turned around and faced the unfriendly visage of a guy behind the wheel of a car going in the opposite direction to the lane in which I was standing.
The Driver’s window was rolled down.
Slow Street vandalism at 37th Avenue and Cabrillo
The hand gripping the steering wheel had a cigarette dangling from its fingers.
“Why doncha just move the thing instead of taking pictures of it?” the Driver taunted me from his opened window.
Walking the dog on Slow Street Cabrillo
I had no words to respond. I could only look back into the guy’s face. I felt uncertain about what he might do next.
Abruptly the Driver started up his car and sped off.
Memorial to motorist killed by hit and run driver 33rd Avenue and Cabrillo
He drove rapidly, past the mangled Slow Streets barrier I was photographing and arrogantly past the succession of all the other Slow Streets’ barriers in the distance.
The Motorist continued down Slow Streets Cabrillo in total defiance of the signage directing “Road Closed to Traffic” and the 15-mph speed limit designated for Slow Streets.
I watched the car with black-and-yellow Nevada license plates disappear off the Horizon.
Neighborhood cat walking across Slow Street on Cabrillo
After being taunted to move a mass of broken wood and twisted metal that had been left behind by the Hit-and-Run Crime of a Driver of a two-ton vehicle that kills and maims, I couldn’t give a hoot if the Driver was from out-of-state or local.
Bird slain by motorist on Cabrillo StreetNeighbors enjoying Slow Street CabrilloMotorist blatantly violating Slow Street Cabrillo driving by vandalized signage
It’s news when it happens to the Vice President. After having her first foreign trip briefly aborted in midair on Sunday Kamala Harris commented to the media, “We all said a little prayer, but we’re good.”
I’m sure the Oakland, California native didn’t expect her trip to Guatemala to begin in such tumultuous fashion.
NDTV 6.6.2021
Washington DC
US Vice President Kamala Harris’s plane was forced to land soon after take-off on Sunday due to a technical problem on her way to Guatemala for her first international trip.
“I’m good. I’m good,” Harris told reporters, giving a thumbs-up after exiting the plane when it returned to Joint Base Andrews on the outskirts of Washington. “We all said a little prayer, but we’re good.”
Kamala Harris waves to the crowd after making an emergency return to Joint Base Andrews
The vice president switched planes, and a pool report said she arrived safely in Guatemala Sunday evening. Her spokeswoman Symone Sanders said that no major delays in her itinerary were expected.
The crew “noticed the landing gear was not storing as it should which could lead to further mechanical issues. While there was no immediate safety issue, out of an abundance of caution, they returned to Joint Base Andrews,” Symone Sanders said.
A journalist onboard reported “an unusual noise” from the landing gear when the plane — known as Air Force Two — took off, but said that the landing was “completely normal.”
Harris will visit Guatemala and Mexico this week, intending to bring a message of hope to a region hammered by Covid-19 and which is the source of most of the undocumented migrants seeking entry to the United States.
Harris is taking her first trip abroad as President Joe Biden’s deputy with an eye towards tackling the root causes of migration from the region — one of the thorniest issues facing the White House.
VP Kamala Harris exits Air Force Two after emergency landing
I totally get it that people need to be careful when they talk so that there are no racial or sexual overtones. That’s good in a society which prides itself on being open and inclusive.
However this striving for political correctness can go way overboard.
Amazon Diamondbacks announcer and former manager Bob Brenly has taken a leave of absence for making an ostensibly racially offensive remark. What did he say? In speaking of Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman’s (pictured above) headgear Brenly commented on air, “Pretty sure that’s the same durag that Tom Seaver (the late Hall of Fame pitcher) used to wear when he pitched for the Mets.”
CBS News 6.4.2021Phoenix — Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster Bob Brenly is stepping away from the booth over the next week after facing backlash for an on-air comment about New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman’s headwear.
Brenly, working for Bally Sports Arizona, made the remark during the fourth inning of the Diamondbacks’ 6-5 victory in 10 innings at home Tuesday night.
“Pretty sure that’s the same durag that Tom Seaver used to wear when he pitched for the Mets,” Brenly said.
CBSSports.com’s R.J. Anderson reports that Stroman, after learning of Brenly’s comments, responded on Twitter after the game.
First, he suggested that his HDHM apparel brand would soon begin selling durags.
Then Stroman wrote, “Onward and upward … through all adversity and racist undertones. The climb continues through all!”
Anderson says Brenly had apologized on Wednesday. “During last night’s game, I made a poor attempt at humor that was insensitive and wrong,” he said in a statement. “I apologize to Marcus Stroman and have reached out directly to share those thoughts.
“I have had several conversations with the D-Backs and we agree that seeking sensitivity training is an important step so that I can continue to learn from my mistakes in order to be better in the future.”
Diamondbacks pitcher Jon Duplantier, who also is Black, said he found Brenly’s comment about Stroman disappointing.
“The most disappointing part is that, though there has been a ton of progress and work done so that I, Marcus and other guys that look like me can show up as authentically as ourselves and be ourselves in a big stage, comments like the one that was made, they put us back,” Duplantier said after Arizona’s loss Thursday night in Milwaukee. “They put that progress back.
Brenly wasn’t in the booth for Thursday night’s game.
Brenly managed the Diamondbacks to the 2001 World Series championship in his first season guiding the team.
Lee's Perspective 