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- It's been quite a week in post-racial America, beginning with a Supreme Court decision on Tuesday that upheld the results of a ballot measure that barred the use of race-based affirmative action in the admissions process used by the University of Michigan, and exploded this weekend with the utterances, attributed to NBA team-owner Donald Sterling (who like all but one NBA team-owner, is white), of the alleged reputational harm of being seen in the company of black people.
- In between, a rancher celebrated by Fox News host Sean Hannity, and Republicans across the country, denied that his comments suggesting that "the Negro" may have been better off as a slave were in any way racist. Hannity has since stepped back from his support of Cliven Bundy's quest to resist the federal government's insistence that he not graze his cattle on federal land.
- Sterling, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, is alleged to be the male voice on a recorded telephone conversation with friend V. Stiviano, heard berating the woman alleged to be his former mistress for having posted on Instagram a photo of herself with Magic Johnson. In the conversation he tells her not to bring black people to Clippers games, because it's bad for her reputation. The overwhelming majority of the Clippers roster comprises African-American players. Last night, Clippers players staged a protest by initially taking the court wearing inside-out tee shirts in order to obscure the team's name.
- Stiviano, at the same time, is being sued, the Los Angeles Times reports, by Sterling's estranged wife, Rochelle, for the return of two Bentleys, a Ferrari and a Range Rover allegedly given to Stiviano by Donald Sterling. With his deep knowledge of mistresses and racial controversy, birther and mogul Donald Trump, hero to the religious right, weighed in, calling Sterling's comments "despicable," but saving his worst for Stiviano, whom he called "the girlfriend from hell" during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Speculation abounds that it was Stiviano who released the recording of the call to TMZ, the gossip website that broke the news.
- Meanwhile, back at the ranch, one of Cliven Bundy's 14 children had Sean Hannity in her sights, at least in a Facebook post, as reported by Mother Jones. "Sean Hannity was all for reporting the happenings at the Bundy Ranch until this popped up…," wrote Shiree Bundy Cox. "By the way, I think Mr. Hannity is more worried about his ratings than he really is about what my dad said. If he supports a supposed racist, what will that do to his ratings? He's already lost his #1 spot on Fox." A Fox fan from hell, perhaps?
