Congressman boasted about nude pics!

SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021

The greatest team of all time: We're newly returned from receiving our first vaccination shot. 

Let's just say that a fair amount of confusion prevailed, mainly concerning which were the red seats and which were the orange seats, along with which were the black seats and which were the blue.

These questions arose as people were told where to sit as they waited to schedule their second appointments. That said, nothing's perfect, and a whole lot of good got done. 

We sat in various seats, waiting for our second appointment to be scheduled. As we did, our eyes fell upon this front-page headline in our hard-copy Washington Post:

         Boasts by Gaetz said to include nude photos

That was, and is, a front-page headline in today's Washington Post. BREAKING! A (visibly creepy) junior congressman had boasted about some nude pics!

Such is the world we live in. On Thursday evening, the final segment of MSNBC's All In included such embarrassing clatter as this:

MATT FULLER, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, THE DAILY BEAST (4/1/21): This actually started for me almost exactly three years ago. We had a tip that he was dating an intern not in his office, in another office. 

I sat across from that intern. I asked her questions. She later confirmed to me that yes, she was dating him. She was over 21 at the time.

[...]

I can tell you that yes, I know that he dated women who were much younger than him in histheir early 20s. But with that, you know, the Justice Department probe, that that still remains to be unverified at least by us at this point.

No, we haven't dreamed that up. You can see the transcript right here.

Fuller said he's devoted three years to this problem—to the problem which arose when he learned, in 2017, that a (then) 35-year-old congressman was known to be dating women who were in their early 20s. 

He sat across from one of those women, and he asked her questions! On Thursday night, this senior politics editor went on MSNBC and admitted to these facts. A leering, tabloid-ready substitute host urged him to tell us more. 

This is happening as a pandemic continues to sweep the globe, attacking people in seats of many colors. There may be more pandemics to come—but in the meantime, we'll always have Florida, and those boasts, to publish headlines about. 

Also, major journalists at the Washington Post are putting their thumbs and their elbows on the scales about the conduct of a couple of first-week rookie cops. We humans! It's much as it has always been:

The more powerful are willing to consign the less significant, their lessers, to early cancellation or death.

When we saw that headline in the Post, we made a split-second decision. If Kevin Drum was able to "take a break and talk about" the greatest college basketball team of all time, we were going to take a break and discuss that subject too!

Kevin closed the post in question wondering about the identity of the greatest such team of all time. Today, we answer the question his post implied.

The greatest team of all time:

The greatest college team of all time? It was the 1965-66 UCLA freshman team, the only freshman team to win the NCAA championship.

How did a freshman team manage to win the national championship? Let's take a look at the record:

In the fall of 1965, the UCLA varsity was coming off two straight national championships—the first of the ten the school would win over a 12-year span. 

At the start of the new season, the UCLA varsity was ranked #4 in the nation. Sadly, though, they faced one game they couldn't possibly win—the annual preseason game against the UCLA freshmen.

(Note: According to this Sports Illustrated article, the UCLA varsity was rated #1 in the nation in a poll of coaches when they played the freshmen that year.)

Sure enough! The freshman team whipped the varsity, 75-60, thereby wrapping up the national championship. Freshman center Lew Alcindor scored 31 points while amassing 21 "boards."

The NCAA decided to stage its regular season and its post-season tournament just as if nothing had happened. Starting in the 1966-67 season, those freshmen were eligible to play on the varsity level, and they proceeded to win three more national championships, operating under normal procedures.

Just for the record, the greatest college team with upperclassmen may have been the 1971-72 UCLA varsity. With Bill Walton as its sophomore center, that team somehow managed to win these early-season, non-conference games:

Early-season UCLA wins:
12/3/71: Defeated The Citadel by 56 points
12/4/71: Defeated Iowa by 34
12/10/71: Defeated Iowa State by 29
12/11/71: Defeated Texas A&M by 64
12/22/71: Defeated Notre Dame by 58
12/23/71: Defeated TCU by 38
12/29/71: Defeated Texas by 50
12/30/71: Defeated #6 Ohio State by 26

Despite the presence of upperclassmen, the team was off to a decent start. They went 30-0 that year, part of an eventual 88-game winning streak. 

Depth was good on that varsity team. Sven Nater, the team's back-up center, was the 16th player chosen in the 1973 NBA draft.

Nater went on to become the only player to lead the ABA and the NBA in rebounding. In his senior year at UCLA, he'd averaged 3.2 points per game as a second-stringer. 

Could the team which beat Notre Dame by 58 have handled that earlier freshman squad? There's no way to answer your question.

In modern times, we're denied the pleasure of such unparalleled greatness. On the other hand, we get to read, on a regular basis, about a congressman's boasts.

A philosophical puzzle: Coach Wooden was known for his attention to detail. This creates a philosophical puzzle about the imaginary game between those two UCLA squads.

The question goes like this: 

If each team had been taught how to put on its socks, could either team have won? 



52 comments:

  1. "We humans!"

    You, liberal zombies.

    "We had a tip that he was dating an intern not in his office, in another office. "

    Tsk. As far as your zombie cult is concerned, man dating a womon is, of course, terrible sinner: he's not a homo! Unacceptable.

    Live with it, dear Bob.

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  2. Somerby grabs an incident involving an intern out-of-context of the larger article and pretends it is a nothing-burger. He doesn't tell you that Gaetz is accused of organizing a sex-game among male legislators in FL in which points were awarded for sleeping with various women, including that intern. And Somerby doesn't tell you that Gaetz wasn't only showing nude photos of women he had slept with, but offering to get women for other legislators in Congress. He doesn't tell you that Gaetz was one of only two House members who voted against a bill that forbids showing naked pictures of those you have dated (a revenge-porn bill).

    Instead, Somerby pretends that Gaetz is being hounded because of normal sexual activity (sleazy yes, but within the bounds of normal behavior). He does this by omitting all of the other accusations being circulated about Gaetz, including the one about his taking a 17-year old across state lines and paying for her hotel and flight, which, if true, violates federal sex trafficking laws. Somerby doesn't tell you about Gaetz and his pal's fabrication of false IDs from the FL tax collector's office (caught on security video).

    There is so much Somerby leaves out in his attempt to normalize Gaetz's behavior and make journalists appear to be complaining about nothing. He is willing to admit that Gaetz treated women badly (by showing those photos), to deny the other charges. He won't deal with the fact that men who treat women badly in these obvious ways, have no restraint when it comes to treating them badly in private, less obvious ways. And that's why this superficial stuff is evidence that the other accusations circulating may have some substance to them.

    And this mishandling of the context is why Somerby is not just complaining about the press, but defending Matt Gaetz, by pretending there is any possibility that this is all a big invasion of his privacy, and that he is just an immature guy doing what guys do. Like Roy Moore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ho-hum. A guy who thinks women are objects, wants to take away women's right to choose what to do with her body.
      Just another day in the world of Right-wingers.

      Delete
    2. Bob's point is that this leering YOUNGER WOMAN! obsession of MSNBC's is insane. He's right.

      My favorite recent moment over there was when Joy Reid sneered to her panel about how "disgusting" it was to be taking Ecstasy with sex. For real.

      Yeah, Miss Film Major 1995. Those people are unreal in their phoniness.

      Delete
    3. Ohhhh! Sex game !! Ohhhh...!

      With consenting adults. Ohhhhh !!!

      Delete
    4. What year are you in?

      1912?

      Grow up and stop being a prude. Yeah, Gaetz is a jerk, but so what. The sex is LEGAL. And the teen accusation is just an investigation

      Delete
    5. So, I guess you don't believe in ethics then?

      Delete
  3. "Also, major journalists at the Washington Post are putting their thumbs and their elbows on the scales about the conduct of a couple of first-week rookie cops. "

    And here, Somerby attempts to trivialize the death of George Floyd by pretending that the trial is only about those rookie cops behavior, omitting that a man died. And, if this minimization is infuriating to me, how much more infuriating must it be to those deeply involved in BLM and attaining better treatment of black people by police? It is as if he is scoffing at the entire endeavor. And it is not a nice thing to write. It is a bigoted, ugly thing to do. But that's our Somerby.

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  4. Somerby says: "Freshman center Lew Alcindor scored 31 points while amassing 21 "boards."

    For the record, Lew Alcindor prefers to be called Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If Somerby has such respect for this UCLA freshman team, he should show it by respecting its team leader who changed his name for religious reasons. After retiring from basketball at age 42, Abdul-Jabbar participated in civic activities that won him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for his work as a cultural ambassador, author and activist. He is respected for his wisdom and intelligence, not simply his basketball ability.

    It is annoying when Somerby shows such admiration for Alcindor while showing such contempt for the lives of other black people, including George Floyd.

    There is nothing trivial about the things Gaetz is accused of doing. By minimizing them, Somerby also shows his contempt for women, who are the victims (along with the American electorate) of Gaetz's actions. There is a reason why the things Gaetz is accused of doing are illegal. It is because they harm women and girls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was Lou Alcindor then. That's the name on the stats. Big deal.

      Jesus, some of you Bob haters here are such pious little stuft shirts. Stop reading him then. Stick with Vulture or something. Good luck finding any wit or laughs.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This silly fantasy match-up between past basketball teams is on the level of arguing about who would win, Superman or Batman, or Godzilla vs Predator.

    This is Somerby reveling in guyness (perhaps inspired by Gaetz's antics), a little thinking about Gaetz and his exploits and he is just bursting out with testosterone.

    Which makes Somerby feel more manly, reading about what Gaetz did to women or reading about those UCLA freshman point margins? Or maybe he feels extra pumped by reducing Floyd's trial to the persecution of rookie cops? Kicking around black people clearly does it for guys like those Proud Boys. Except Somerby does it with words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob Somerby treats today's anti-racism as if it were dreamed up by a stuffy philosopher like Michel Foucault and not a result of material conditions of people alive today, like the Black Lives Matters groups etc.

      Delete
    2. Yes, because the racism that Bob grew up around wasn't the *real* kind of racism, and so how would he know or care.

      Got it.

      Delete
    3. 11:48, show us how Bob knows or cares, and that he grew up around racism.

      Delete
  7. Regarding Gaetz -- I still believe in the old fashioned principle of innocent until proven guilty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That principle applies to the courts and legal guilt. It does not apply to the officials whose job it is to find and charge wrongdoers. It does not apply to public opinion either.

      And you have to ask "innocent of what?" He is clearly guilty of being a jerk, as is any man who would show a nude picture of a woman he had slept with (or one who would claim he had slept with a woman in a nude picture, if he hadn't). Gaetz is guilty of quite a bit of socially inappropriate behavior and there is no need to presume him innocent because we are all witnesses to it, by virtue of his own statements.

      Since you are a big believer in old fashioned things, Dave, you have to admit that Gaetz is a bad man, especially by the precepts of Christianity and Christian family values.

      Delete
    2. Fair point, Jake if Gaetz really did show nude pictures of women he had slept with. However, the WaPo headline says, "Boasts by Gaetz SAID TO include nude photos". WaPo's sources are anonymous. I have come to distrust slams against political figures based on anonymous sources.

      Delete
    3. There are a lot of people, including congressional staff and Republicans in FL and congress, who are saying these things to reporters. You can see why they don't want to go on record. That doesn't make this a journalistic smear. Gaetz is toast because Republicans know these press articles are true and they are not willing to defend him or have anything to do with him. Fox News isn't even defending him. They are silent. Trump isn't defending him. I would say there is very little doubt about this stuff. That's why it is so ridiculous that Somerby is defending him (in the sense of pleading with everyone to disbelieve the news reports until proven otherwise).

      Delete
    4. "I have come to distrust..."

      Why? Most often those reports wind up being true. It is hard to find a report that isn't substantiated down the line when a public figure resigns or is indicted.

      Note that Somerby is not calling for Cuomo to be trusted against all those ratty females who are accusing him of sexy-time fun. (Don't you hate that term that Somerby uses for sexual assault? I do.)

      Delete
    5. Remember when Somerby told us all that Bridgegate wasn't real? Then the perpetrators went to jail and were fired, and Christie was implicated. Good times.

      Then Stepien because part of Trump's campaign team. Trump knows quality when he sees it.

      Delete
    6. I agree with you @5:29. However, Gaetz has neither resigned nor been indicted. When either of those occurs, the accusations will have greater credibility.

      Delete
    7. A mensch resigns when he is guilty, or so compromised that he can no longer perform his job. That's what Al Franken did, despite no indictments or convictions. One reason politicians resign is because their party members convince them that they have become political liabilities. Are Republicans pressuring Gaetz (as Democrats pressured Al Franken?). Of course not. They are distancing themselves from him. That makes the Republican party complicit in whatever he is ultimately indicted for. He is going down, but the Republicans have no credibility after tolerating Trump's many crimes, so they have nothing to lose by their failure to defend the integrity of their party.

      Meanwhile, your reluctance to call out this sleaze is noted. Someone less hypocritical would be calling for an investigation.

      Delete
    8. @6:10 I don't need to call for an investigation -- an investigation is going on right now, on the accusation that he paid money for sex to a seventeen year old girl.

      Delete
    9. Right, an investigation of violation of federal law is going on, but not a congressional investigation of ethics violations. Or do you not care about ethics?

      Delete
    10. David,
      Regarding Hillary Clinton.
      There is no chance that you believe in innocent until proven guilty.

      Delete
    11. Al Franken was foolish to have resigned and he regrets it every day.

      Delete
    12. The old principle is : PRESUMED innocent until proven guilty. The accused is either guilty or not. If,for example, there is video and multiple eyewitnesses to your pinning a guy’s neck to the ground until he is dead, there can be no doubt as to what you did. If someone wants to presume that your doing it didn’t kill him, that person is a Republican. In Gaetz’s case everything is purported until the receipts and photos become available if they ever do. So go ahead and presume him innocent. HYou and Somerby can have your doubts about this asshole as well as “the conduct of a couple of rookie cops”.

      Delete
    13. If you read Al Franken's own book, written by himself, he devotes an entire chapter to his problems with women during his senate race. He resigned because he knew that if he were the focus of renewed attention, it would be damaging for him and the party.

      Delete
  8. If Somerby wants to hear something about Gaetz that is not sexy-time fun, try this (from Daily Kos):

    "Florida man Matt Gaetz is catching a lot of flak over a sex scandal investigation. And if the investigation uncovers wrongdoing, he could be facing serious time. However, the day before the story of the investigation broke, he made a statement to a town hall audience in his district that strikes me as even more troubling because it reveals an unlawful interpretation of the 2nd amendment.

    Here’s a link to the video: [link to DKos article]
    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/3/2024283/-Gaetz-Purpose-of-the-2nd-amendment-is-to-enable-armed-rebellion-against-the-government

    Gaetz at town hall on March 31, 2021

    If you jump ahead to 11:20 you’ll hear him say

    "The second amendment is not here for hunting. It’s not here for personal protection. The purpose of the second amendment is so that, if necessary, the people of this country could maintain an armed rebellion against the government. Now you can like that, you can dislike that, you can argue for reformation, but that is what it means."

    I have never heard an elected official offer this interpretation of the second amendment in such bold terms. He is validating the paramilitary groups that the US government identifies and tracks as domestic terrorists. In short, Gaetz is perverting the Constitution in order to make common cause with the enemy.

    Does Gaetz, who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution the the laws of the US, know that there are laws that prohibit overthrowing the government of the US? And currently, there are a number of individuals under indictment for armed rebellion against the government. In Gaetz’s warped view, the 2nd amendment grants them a free pass from prosecution."

    Is treason worse than sex crimes? Tell us, Somerby.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @5:14 I have heard others say or write what Gaetz said about the 2nd Amendment. I guess it's historically correct, although I am not a historian. Google agrees, saying
      The Second Amendment was added because in order to maintain a free state the people must have the right to keep and bear arms, "armed citizens is what keeps the government honest." The people wanted the Amendment because no government would try to take over with armed citizens.

      Delete
    2. There is a big difference between the armed citizenry protecting the government from foreign interference and the citizenry rising up against its own government.

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    3. David, you might want to have a gander at this. Your view is absolutely ahistorical.

      LINK


      Leroy

      Delete
    4. But of course what Robert Parry wrote there also has nothing to do with historical reality, dear dembot, as powers of the federal government these days are well above and beyond what Washington and Madison could imagine.

      We have no idea what they would favor under these conditions. And neither, with all due respect, did Robert Parry.

      Delete
    5. Leroy - After a very small amount of looking around, it appears that various framers had various views of the purpose of the 2nd Amendment. E.g., George Mason asserted that history had demonstrated that the most effective way to enslave a people is to disarm them. Mason suggested that divine providence had given every individual the right of self-defense, clearly including the right to defend one's political liberty within that term.

      Delete
    6. That's why Constitutional "Originalist", Clarence Thomas supports the shooting of police officers.
      We need more people who protect that right on the SCOTUS.

      Delete
  9. Unlike Somerby, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a statement about the actions MLB has taken in response to the Georgia voting law changes (from Rawstory):

    "Civil rights icon and legendary basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explained the importance of Major League Baseball moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta following the passage of a voter suppression bill by Peach State Republicans.

    "Kareem, what does it mean for Major League Baseball to take a stand like this right now?" MSNBC anchor Ari Melber asked.

    "I think it's very significant, Ari, because it shows that this means something to everybody," the NBA and college basketball Hall of Fame inductee replied.

    "This is something that we all want to see and voter suppression is not what democracy is about, we all want to see it end," he explained. "And by Major League Baseball making a statement like that, they show that they are concerned and that the people -- that so many of their players are people of color, they're probably worried about it also."

    Somerby instead has chosen to talk about college basketball, completely ignoring (some might say snubbing) the topic of MLB's reaction to Georgia voter suppression. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Somerby ignored the insurrection on 1/6, he has ignored all of the issues that are important to liberals, instead focusing on conservative talking points, such as treating a sleaze like Matt Gaetz as if he deserved respect (or the benefit of any doubt).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You honestly think Bob supports the new Georgia law?

      And sorry, but EVERYONE deserves the benefit of the doubt. Somerby's point is that these sex panic obsessions are insane, and that the angst surrounding it on the cablenets is ludicrous.

      Delete
    2. Defending young girls from predatory older men is insane? It is the one thing both parties agree on.

      Delete
    3. If the mama says it is OK to rape her daughter, then it must be OK. Amirite?

      Delete
  10. “The more powerful are willing to consign the less significant, their lessers, to early cancellation or death.”

    It is incongruous to use the term “less significant” in reference to either Matt Gaetz or cops, rookie or otherwise. (Apparently, it is the journalists who are the powerful ones in Somerby’s sentence).

    Gaetz, friend to Trump and Roger Stone, is a Congressman, on the House Judiciary Committee. Hardly powerless.

    And those cops, even the rookies, were more powerful than the “less significant” George Floyd. Their power over him included drawing a weapon, arresting, restraining, and killing him, although that is now being adjudicated, a rare occurrence.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's clear that there is no right wing Trumptard whom Somerby will not defend the way he defended Roy Moore, Trump, Ron Johnson, Devin Nunes. Now he defends Gaetz.

    Somerby is a hard core malevolent Trumptard devastated by Trump's loss. His 'tribe' is Trump worshippers such as himself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He never defended Moore.

      Bob merely pointed out that lots of people back then went out with younger/older men/women/boys/girls, and that Lawrence O'Donnell was making continuously dishonest claims that "eight women" had accused Moore of "sexual assault."

      It was only two -- one, really.

      Why all the lies?

      Delete
    2. "Since The Washington Post dropped a bombshell story on November 9 in which four women accused Republican Senate candidate from Alabama Roy Moore of sexual misconduct while they were in their teens, four more women have come forward with their own stories of Moore's encounters with them, bringing the total to eight accusers."

      https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-roy-moore-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-11

      Delete
    3. So Moore was only a rapist/pedophile 3-4 times, not 8 times ! Somerby was absolutely right to defend him gallantly.

      'Why all the lies?'

      You mean why is Somerby such a liar ? Pure speculation, but I think being a Trumptard has something to do with his lying in defense of Trump and his acolytes like Devin Nunes, Ron Johnson, Roy Moore and Gaetz

      Delete
  12. This blog assumes everyone is dumb as dogshit except police who are wise and maybe a little green.

    ReplyDelete
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