Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ted-cruz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ted Cruz</a> (R-TX) slammed leftist San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich this week after Popovich claimed that the Second Amendment was a &#8220;myth.&#8221;
Popovich made the remarks in response to legislative proposals from Cruz to harden schools by providing more armed security.
&#8220;They’re going to cloak all this stuff [in] the myth of the Second Amendment, the freedom,&#8221; Popovich said. &#8220;You know, it&#8217;s just a myth. It’s a joke. It’s just a game they play. I mean, that&#8217;s freedom.&#8221;
Cruz responded to the remarks during an episode of his podcast &#8220;Verdict&#8221; with co-host Ben Ferguson, saying, “We’ve seen for a long time that there are a lot of institutions in sports that don&#8217;t really like their fans very much.&#8221;
&#8220;You see this at the NBA, you see at the NFL, these incredibly rich athletes who hypocritically disdain their fans and customers, and who lecture them almost inevitably from a point of ignorance,&#8221; Cruz said, later adding: “For some reason, the protection that is suitable to ultra-wealthy, Left-Wing athletes is not suitable for our children. They deserve less protection.”
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Liberal professional athletes, the coaches, and Hollywood elites are all surrounded by armed security. 
But the Left doesn’t believe YOU have the right to defend yourself and keep your family safe.
It’s hypocritical and condescending. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Verdict?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Verdict</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1646224696827056129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Cruz defended the Second Amendment while advocating for school safety during an impassioned speech on the Senate floor at the end of last month amid calls from Democrats to pass gun control in the wake of the recent tragedy in Nashville.
Cruz made the remarks defending the Second Amendment as he reintroduced two pieces of legislation — the Securing Our Schools Act and the Protect Our Children’s Schools Act — to improve school security and increase access to student mental health treatment.
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Protecting children in schools has been one of Cruz’s top priorities while in the U.S. Senate as evidenced by other pieces of legislation he has put forth to address the issue, including the Safe Kids, Safe Schools, Safe Communities Act of 2022 and the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cruz-champions-school-safety-in-impassioned-speech-while-democrats-push-for-gun-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cruz Champions School Safety In Impassioned Speech While Democrats Push For Gun Control</a>

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz Blasts Gregg Popovich Over Second Amendment Remarks

General

Gregg Popovich

Nashville

Politics

Second Amendment

Prior to Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich ripped Republicans as well as Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) for blocking voting legislation. 
“As many have said, it’s been time, it’s past time for hardball,” Popovich <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/sports/article/Spurs-Popovich-rips-senators-for-blocking-voting-16798436.php">said</a>. “The Republican Senate will just not participate, they just will not. So, whatever can be done needs to be done. And Sinema and Manchin, they get it, but they don’t get it. They know what’s going on. They understand. But there are more important things to them, and it’s damn selfish and dangerous to our country.”
Popovich made the comments in a nine-minute interview where he discussed the Juneteenth holiday becoming a federal holiday, saying that that country is in a “dangerous situation.” 
“It&#8217;s ironic, but as much as the community of color has been oppressed and denigrated, those are the people who try to save this damn country from itself,” Popovich <a href="https://www.kens5.com/video/sports/nba/spurs/gregg-popovich-talks-voting-rights-blasts-senators-manchin-and-sinema-as-selfish/273-d73f14b8-1453-4b84-962b-fd22febe51a4">said</a>. “It’s just ironic to me. Every time we take steps forward, you get the backlash. The fact that the voting rights issue is in the situation it’s in is just mind boggling to me in one sense because we’ve already gone through this back in the Sixties, and we know what the Supreme Court did earlier in gutting it.”
&#8220;But it&#8217;s like we don’t get it. It’s like, maybe there wouldn’t be a democracy if it wasn’t for Black people,” he <a href="https://www.kens5.com/video/sports/nba/spurs/gregg-popovich-talks-voting-rights-blasts-senators-manchin-and-sinema-as-selfish/273-d73f14b8-1453-4b84-962b-fd22febe51a4">continued</a>. “If you think about it, maybe this all would have happened 50, 60, 80 years ago if Black people didn’t continue to fight for what they deserve and what was promised.”
Both Manchin and Sinema have stated that they do not support ending the filibuster in order to pass a combination of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. 
“There’s no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation. There’s no need for me to restate its role in protecting our country from wild reversals of federal policy,” Sinema <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sinema-senate-filibuster-schumer-democrats-elections-bills-voting-rights">said</a> according to Fox News. “This week’s harried discussions about Senate rules are but a poor substitute for what I believe could have and should have been a thoughtful public debate at any time over the past year.”
Last week, Alabama football coach Nick Saban and NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West were two of five sports figures to pen a letter to Sen. Manchin, urging him to support voter legislation “that will protect both the rights of voters and the integrity of outcomes in all Federal elections.”
Both West and Saban are West Virginians, with Saban born in Fairmont, West Virginia. West was born in Chelyan. 
“We strongly support urgently needed legislation that will protect both the rights of voters and the integrity of outcomes in all Federal elections,” the letter to Manchin <a href="https://docsend.com/view/6f9g9kvwfm4w8862">said</a>. “The Freedom to Vote Act, which you sponsored with Committee Chair Senator [Amy] Klobuchar and other colleagues, effectively addressed these goals. Now we also support your leadership in shaping legislation to secure our democracy by protecting election integrity, principled Presidential transitions and our national security during transitions.”
“We come from some of our nation’s most popular sports leagues, conferences and teams. Some of us have roots and shaped our lives in West Virginia,” they continued. “Others followed very different paths and some of us have been rivals in sports or business. But we are all certain that democracy is best when voting is open to everyone on a level playing field; the referees are neutral; and at the end of the game the final score is respected and accepted.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.

San Antonio Spurs v Philadelphia 76ers

‘Selfish And Dangerous To Our Country’: Gregg Popovich Rips Republicans, Manchin And Sinema For Blocking Voting Legislation

Joe Manchin

Kyrsten Sinema

Last Friday, after President  Biden issued two proclamations, one which <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/08/a-proclamation-on-columbus-day-2021/">honored Columbus Day</a> but cited “the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities” and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/08/a-proclamation-indigenous-peoples-day-2021/">another</a> that celebrated the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the NBA San Antonio Spurs&#8217; coach Gregg Popovich, who spent the years of the Trump presidency attacking President Trump, lauded Biden while attacking those who celebrated Columbus Day, snapping that Italian-Americans honoring Columbus was akin to saying, “We should be proud of Hitler because we are German.”
At a pre-game session before the Spurs-Heat preseason game, Popovich proclaimed of Biden’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day proclamation, “The proclamation was obviously appropriate, important, needed, and all those sorts of things but I’m a little confused about our city and why it’s Indigenous People’s Day ‘slash’ Columbus Day. Columbus?”
“He initiated a New World genocide,” he continued. “That’s what he did. Beginning with him and what he set in motion what followed, the annihilation of every Indigenous person in Hispaniola, which was Haiti and the Dominican Republic today. That’s what he did. He took slaves. He mutilated. He murdered. And we’re gonna say ‘slash’ and honor him?”
“I gotta give the San Antonio Independent School District a little bit of credit because at least they added Indigenous Peoples’ Day along with it and that’s a step in the right direction,” Popovich pontificated. “But what the hell is Alamo Heights thinking? It’s Columbus Day, that’s why they’re off on Monday? Maybe there is something I am missing, and I am ignorant. But it makes me feel like they’re living in a phone booth. And they are educating our kids?”
“Columbus Day? And we’re gonna honor that?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s no knock on Italian Americans. That’s a silly argument. It’s like saying, ‘We should be proud of Hitler because we are German.’ It makes no sense. It’s about Columbus. It’s not about Italian-Americans. And so, there are a lot of states that have come out and scratched Columbus Day and made it Indigenous Peoples’ Day. But in our city, are we that backward that we have school districts that do that? I am amazed. Just amazed.”
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Here&#39;s Popovich&#39;s thoughts on Columbus Day, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sanantonio?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sanantonio</a> school districts that recognize Columbus Day <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nba?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nba</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gospursgo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#gospursgo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nbatwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nbatwitter</a> <a href="https://t.co/yC5AGeZok1">pic.twitter.com/yC5AGeZok1</a>
&mdash; JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone/status/1446645766215307266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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In August 2020, sports journalist Jason Whitlock slammed Popovich for promoting the false “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative about Michael Brown.
Writing at <a href="https://www.outkick.com/gregg-popovich-lies-about-michael-brown-intentionally-promotes-racial-animus/">Outkick the Coverage</a>, Whitlock stated bluntly, “Popovich is not dumb. He’s intentionally promoting racial animus.” Whitlock wrote, “I know no longer pretend Michael Brown was an innocent victim of police brutality. The facts do not support that bogus narrative. These facts were made public more than four years ago.”
“So why did San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spend three minutes Sunday <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2903815-gregg-popovich-talks-racial-injustice-on-anniversary-of-michael-browns-death">promoting</a> a Michael Brown narrative debunked by a black president, a black attorney general and colorblind facts?” Whitlock asked, adding, “Has someone or some organization asked Popovich to irresponsibly spew racial conspiracy theories? Racial unrest and violence have rocked this country for two months. Why would Popovich agitate an already tense situation with lies?”
The day after Trump’s inauguration Popovich <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/1/21/14348464/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-video-quotes-transcript-criticism">stated</a>, “I’d just feel better if somebody was in that position that showed the maturity and psychological and emotional level of somebody that was his age. It’s dangerous and it doesn’t do us any good.”
In May 2017, Popovich <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/5/14/15638134/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-game-show-spurs">doubled down</a>, saying:
<blockquote>But to this day I feel like there’s a dark cloud, a pall over the whole country. It’s got nothing to do with the Democrats losing the election. It’s got to do with the way one individual conducts himself. And that’s embarrassing. It’s dangerous to our institutions, and what we all stand for and what we expect the country to be. But for this individual, he’s in a game show. And everything that happens begins and ends with him. Not our people or our country; every time he talks about those things, it’s just a ruse. That’s just disingenuous, cynical and fake.</blockquote>

NBA’s Popovich: Italian-Americans Honoring Columbus Like Being ‘Proud Of Hitler Because We Are German’

Adolf Hitler

Christopher Columbus

Columbus Day

On Monday, sports journalist Jason Whitlock, who is one of the few sports journalists who does not follow the herd of those subscribing to political correctness, slammed San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for promoting the false “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative about Michael Brown.
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Why did San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spend three minutes Sunday promoting a Michael Brown narrative debunked by a black president, a black attorney general and colorblind facts? <a href="https://t.co/fY1VWiUW7C">https://t.co/fY1VWiUW7C</a>
&mdash; Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/1292890905616293890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Writing at <a href="https://www.outkick.com/gregg-popovich-lies-about-michael-brown-intentionally-promotes-racial-animus/">Outkick the Coverage</a>, Whitlock stated bluntly, “Popovich is not dumb. He’s intentionally promoting racial animus.”
Whitlock began by noting that initially he had believed the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative, but later he changed his mind, after interviewing Twitter activist Shaun King, realizing King was a “race hoax, Talcum X,” and hearing the “Department of Justice, under the guidance of President Barack Obama and attorney general Eric Holder,” acknowledge that Brown didn’t have his hands up, Brown reached inside officer Darren Wilson’s patrol car and fought for control of Wilson’s gun and Wilson shot Brown while Brown was running toward Wilson.
Whitlock wrote, “I know no longer pretend Michael Brown was an innocent victim of police brutality. The facts do not support that bogus narrative. These facts were made public more than four years ago.”
“So why did San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich spend three minutes Sunday <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2903815-gregg-popovich-talks-racial-injustice-on-anniversary-of-michael-browns-death">promoting</a> a Michael Brown narrative debunked by a black president, a black attorney general and colorblind facts?” Whitlock asked, adding, “Has someone or some organization asked Popovich to irresponsibly spew racial conspiracy theories? Racial unrest and violence have rocked this country for two months. Why would Popovich agitate an already tense situation with lies?”
Popovich claimed Brown “received six shots in the back that killed him,” adding, “And it’s just another example of an overall culture, not every policeman, so don’t take it out of context, but an overall culture that sort of presumes guilt, or feels danger because it’s a young black man.”
Whitlock noted, “Brown was not shot in the back. According to forensic evidence, all six bullets entered Brown from the front as he charged toward Wilson. Darren Wilson felt danger because Brown reached inside a police car and attempted to grab Wilson’s gun.”
&#8220;Why are Popovich and other angry white liberals constantly pushing black people to hold onto the wrongs of the past?” Whitlock asked. “Is any other group repeatedly asked to do this by outside forces? Has Popovich ever climbed on his high horse and ranted about the crimes committed against Jewish people or Japanese people or Italians?”
“Popovich’s actions create the impression that he wants black people angry, emotional and looking in the rearview mirror,” he continued. “You can’t see what’s in front of you when you’re obsessed with what’s behind you.”
Whitlock wrote succinctly, “Popovich is not dumb. He’s intentionally promoting racial animus.”
“The pervasive police hostility has elevated violent crime in poor black communities,” Whitlock noted. “Murder rates are climbing in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other major cities. Police can’t protect our most vulnerable citizens because their communities are seething with an irrational level of anger toward law enforcement that has been promoted by Popovich, Steve Kerr and their comrades in the media.”
He concluded, “A reporter inside the Orlando bubble should ask Gregg Popovich why he lied about Michael Brown’s encounter with Darren Wilson. I don’t believe it was an accident. The smartest coach in basketball isn’t that stupid.”

Jason Whitlock

Jason Whitlock Slams Popovich Citing ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Narrative: ‘He’s Intentionally Promoting Racial Animus’

Michael Brown

Racism

Speaking to Maureen Dowd of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/opinion/sunday/gregg-popovich-trump-nba-protests.html">The New York Times</a>, Gregg Popovich, the coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, an outspoken opponent of President Trump, stated of the American flag, “The flag is irrelevant. It’s just a symbol that people glom onto for political reasons.”
The Times’ headline for Dowd’s piece sets the strident tone for the article as it not only refers to Popovich as “America’s Coach” but also named Trump “America’s Cretin,” reading: “An Anti-Trump Slam Dunk: On the issue of race, America’s Coach boxes out America’s Cretin.”
Dowd calls Popovich, whose Spurs have won the NBA title five times, “an NBA legend,” opining that he is “open-minded, principled and curious as Trump is narrow-minded, unprincipled and incurious” before she segues to asking him questions such as whether “the law-and-order militaristic approach can work for Cadet Bone Spurs in the campaign.”
Popovich answers, “I honestly do. I feel badly for the military around Trump because they’re dealing with the guy who is the poster boy for the aggrieved wannabe. And he’s taking it out on the world and it’s ruining our country.”
Popovich’s flag comments come in response to Dowd asking about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s “mea culpa that the N.F.L. was wrong for not listening sooner to players who wanted to speak out and protest.”
Popovich replies, “A smart man is running the NFL, and he didn’t understand the difference between the flag and what makes the country great — all the people who fought to allow Kaepernick to have the right to kneel for justice. The flag is irrelevant. It’s just a symbol that people glom onto for political reasons, just like Cheney back in the Iraq war. . . . [Goodell] got intimidated when Trump jumped on the kneeling [and] he folded.”
Dowd continues, “Popovich says it is analogous to Republican lawmakers who support Trump out of fear ‘that they’ll get tweeted out of their office and not get elected the next go-round.’ Don’t Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham have people at home they are embarrassed to look in the eye, he ponders.”
In May 2017, Popovich <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/5/14/15638134/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-game-show-spurs">said</a> of Trump, “But to this day I feel like there’s a dark cloud, a pall over the whole country. It’s got nothing to do with the Democrats losing the election. It’s got to do with the way one individual conducts himself. And that’s embarrassing. It’s dangerous to our institutions, and what we all stand for and what we expect the country to be. But for this individual, he’s in a game show. And everything that happens begins and ends with him. Not our people or our country; every time he talks about those things, it’s just a ruse. That’s just disingenuous, cynical and fake.”
In September 2017, after some NFL players protested during the national anthem, Popovich <a href="https://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-coach-Gregg-Popovich-discusses-Trump-at-12226765.php">expostulated</a>,“Our country is an embarrassment to the world.”
On Sunday. NASA legend Buzz Aldrin had a different take on the flag:
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Every morning, I rise and hoist my American flag on my balcony. Old Glory serves as a welcome reminder that we&#39;re always striving to become a more perfect union. Today and every day, let us remember all the men and women who&#39;ve fought valiantly to defend it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/flagday2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#flagday2020</a> <a href="https://t.co/nTUx8b3P7x">pic.twitter.com/nTUx8b3P7x</a>
&mdash; Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1272229118826995714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
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San Antonio Spurs v Phoenix Suns

NBA’s Popovich: ‘The Flag Is Irrelevant. It’s Just A Symbol That People Glom Onto For Political Reasons.’

American Flag

President Trump weighed in for the first time Wednesday on the ongoing NBA-China debacle by publicly shaming two high-profile coaches for &#8220;pandering to China.&#8221;
Championship-winning coaches Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, said Trump, refuse to voice criticism of Communist China&#8217;s oppressive policies but seem to have no such hesitations about talking &#8220;very badly&#8221; about the U.S.
The NBA&#8217;s China mess began when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong against China&#8217;s attempts to erode the autonomy of the region and the civil rights of citizens. In response, the Chinese government and the Chinese Basketball Association denounced the GM and threatened to cut ties with the Rockets. The NBA quickly took steps to appease the communist regime, apologizing for having &#8220;deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China,&#8221; while Morey deleted the tweet and apologized for expressing solidarity with pro-democracy protesters.
Asked about the controversy on Monday, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kurr, who hasn&#8217;t been shy in the past about expressing his political views, refused to offer an opinion, drawing widespread criticism.
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Steve Kerr has no comment on NBA’s China issues. He comments on every Trump tweet and can’t support democracy in China? What a complete and total coward. <a href="https://t.co/Fr4FJIaOW0">pic.twitter.com/Fr4FJIaOW0</a>
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1181507119494959105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Popovich has likewise refused to give a direct comment on the issue, only praising NBA commissioner Adam Silver for supposedly supporting free speech because, after saying the league was &#8220;apologetic&#8221; about the situation, Silver said &#8220;we are not apologizing for Daryl exercising his freedom of expression.&#8221;
The commissioner &#8220;came out strongly for freedom of speech,&#8221; Popovich <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/09/gregg-popovich-praises-adam-silver-courage-china-takes-dig-trump/">said</a> Tuesday, despite Silver&#8217;s initial pandering and belated defense of free expression. The San Antonio Spur&#8217;s coach then turned the moment into an opportunity to once again bash Trump.
&#8220;[Silver has] been a heck of a leader in that respect and very courageous,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Then you compare it to what we’ve had to live through the past three years, it’s a big difference. A big gap there, leadership-wise and courage-wise. It wasn’t easy for him to say. He said that in an environment fraught with possible economic peril. But he sided with the principles that we all hold dearly, or most of us did until the last three years. I’m thrilled with what he said. The courage and leadership displayed is off the charts by comparison.&#8221;
Trump, who&#8217;s been in a long-running public feud with Kerr and Popovich, addressed the controversy for the first time Wednesday.
Asked if the Chinese are &#8220;wrong to be putting pressure on the NBA,&#8221; Trump said, &#8220;Well the NBA&#8217;s a different thing. I watch this guy Steve Kerr and he was like a little boy, he was so scared to be answering the question. He wouldn&#8217;t even answer the question — he was shaking, &#8216;Oh, oh, oh, I don&#8217;t know. I don&#8217;t know.'&#8221;
&#8220;He didn&#8217;t know how to answer the question, and yet he&#8217;ll talk about the United States very badly,&#8221; Trump added. As for Popovich, Trump said, &#8220;sort of the same thing, but he didn&#8217;t look quite as scared actually.&#8221;
Overall, he said, &#8220;they talk badly about the United States, but when [they talk] about China, they don&#8217;t want to say anything bad.&#8221;
&#8220;I watch the way that Kerr and Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, it&#8217;s like they don&#8217;t respect it. It&#8217;s like they don&#8217;t respect it,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;I said, &#8216;What a difference — isn&#8217;t it sad?&#8217; It&#8217;s very sad. To me, it&#8217;s very sad.&#8221;
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President Trump criticizes Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich — both vocal critics of Trump — when asked about China putting pressure on the NBA: &#8220;They talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don&#8217;t want to say anything bad&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/rR2dKOelYD">https://t.co/rR2dKOelYD</a> <a href="https://t.co/am9hMQcGG3">pic.twitter.com/am9hMQcGG3</a>
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1182033884080267264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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One of the more outspoken stars of Kerr&#8217;s team, Stephen Curry, has likewise demurred to give a substantive answer when asked about the Hong Kong protests. While admitting that the NBA has been &#8220;really outspoken&#8221; about important issues, Curry said he just doesn&#8217;t &#8220;know that history well enough to kind of speak on it or to form an opinion yet, so that&#8217;s kind of where I&#8217;m at with the situation.&#8221;
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Steph Curry: “This situation, there’s a huge weight and gravity to it. There’s going to need to be some things to be sorted out. But I just don’t know enough about Chinese history and how that’s influenced modern society&#8230;This is not going away. So we’ll come back to it.” <a href="https://t.co/6h6ZGWHQtq">pic.twitter.com/6h6ZGWHQtq</a>
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) <a href="https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1182040365550850048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<aside class="inline editorial float-r" data-behavior="article_related">As reported by <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27808516/president-donald-trump-critical-warriors-steve-kerr-spurs-gregg-popovich-response-china-controversy">ESPN</a> (which has come under<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/espn-bows-to-communist-china-posts-illegitimate-propaganda-map-of-china"> criticism</a> for its own apparent pandering to China), when Curry was asked about Trump calling out his coach Wednesday, Curry said, &#8220;At this point, I don&#8217;t know how Coach reacts — or anybody else who gets called out like that — so you just keep doing what you&#8217;re doing for the most part.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/espn-bows-to-communist-china-posts-illegitimate-propaganda-map-of-china">ESPN Bows To Communist China, Posts Illegitimate Propaganda Map Of China</a>
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Steve Kerr

WATCH: Trump Shames NBA Coaches For ‘Pandering To China’

Adam Silver

China

Donald Trump

Steph Curry

Unlike the NFL, the NBA has mandated that all players must stand for the national anthem. However, some teams are finding ways to work in some &#8220;social justice&#8221; messaging in the opening of the games, including locking arms during The Star-Spangled Banner. During its season-opener Wednesday night, the San Antonio Spurs urged their fans to pursue racial equality in a message presented on the scoreboard after the performance of the anthem. The message also specifically mentioned &#8220;freedom of speech&#8221; a few days after some controversial comments by the Spurs head coach.
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich has frequented headlines over the last year for his vocal criticism of President Trump. On Monday afternoon, the coach took his criticism to a whole new level, condemning Trump as a &#8220;soulless coward&#8221; and &#8220;pathological liar&#8221; who is &#8220;unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office&#8221; (read his full comments below).
Amid backlash for his blistering condemnation of the president, the team chose to present a <a href="http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21072697/san-antonio-spurs-play-pursuit-equality-video-message">&#8220;unifying&#8221; message&#8221;</a> on &#8220;commonality&#8221; on Wednesday that called for the pursuit of &#8220;social justice,&#8221; &#8220;freedom of speech in its many forms,&#8221; and equality for all, &#8220;regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion&#8221;:
<blockquote>
There are things happening in our communities that need our attention. We understand your desire to attend our games as an escape and chosen form of entertainment. In that, we feel there is a significant commonality in all of us that allows our community to be so special.
That commonality should include aspirations for social justice, freedom of speech in its many forms, and equal opportunity for education, and economic advancement regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion.
It is our hope that we can, as a community, inspire and evoke real change. We ask that you join with us in your daily lives in the pursuit of equality. And in that, we honor our country by exercising demands for what this great nation has promised and what our military continues to fight for.
</blockquote>
On Monday afternoon, Popovich unloaded on Trump in an even more aggressive way than he has in the past.
&#8220;This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others,&#8221; Popovich, an Air Force veteran told <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/a-soulless-coward-coach-gregg-popovich-responds-to-trump/">The Nation</a> Monday. &#8220;This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner &#8212; and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers &#8212; is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this President should be ashamed because they know it better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all.&#8221;
At the Spurs&#8217; media day in September, Popovich told the press that he was &#8220;sick to his stomach&#8221; when Trump won the election. In a lengthy statement on American politics and culture, Popovich lamented that so many voted for Trump, said we must &#8220;constantly&#8221; talk about racial inequality if we want to fix the problem, and said &#8220;our country is an embarrassment to the world.&#8221; Here&#8217;s an excerpt of his comments via <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/9/25/16362298/gregg-popovich-spurs-trump-comments-racism-president-nba">SB Nation</a>:
<blockquote>
We know how everything happens, we know where the power in the country is, we know the racism that exists. But it&#8217;s gone beyond that to a point where I&#8217;m more worried about, and confused by, the people around our president. These are intelligent people who know exactly what&#8217;s going on. They basically were very negative about his actions but now it seems like it&#8217;s condoned. We saw it this weekend with his comments about people who should be fired or people who shouldn&#8217;t be allowed to do this sort of thing. I wonder what the people think about who voted for him, where their line is, how much they can take, where does the morality and decency kick in?
I understand very well they didn&#8217;t like their choice, economically. A lot of people had a problem. And he was the right guy at the right time to tap into that mood. But people overlooked one helluva lot to pull that trigger and vote in that direction, but it was because they wanted change, they felt ignored, they actually thought something would happen that would aid them. But at what price, is the question.
And as we see the actions over and over again, one wonders what is in their head. Have they come to the conclusion that they had the wrong vehicle? They might have had good ideas, good reasons why they wanted to go the way they went. But someone else that had a little bit more decency about how they approach other people and other groups might have served better. That&#8217;s what I worry about in the country.
You wonder about if you live where you thought you live. I just heard a comment this morning from a NASCAR owner and Mr. Petty that just blew me away, just blew me away. Where the owner described that he would get the Greyhound bus tickets for anybody to leave, and they&#8217;d be fired, and Mr. Petty, who said people who act the way we saw Sunday, they should leave the country. That&#8217;s where I live. I had no idea that I lived in a country where people would actually say that sort of thing. I&#8217;m not totally naive but I think these people have been enabled by an example that we&#8217;ve all been given. You&#8217;ve seen it in Charlottesville, and on and on and on. That&#8217;s not a surprise. Get over it. What do we do to get it done. To go to the grassroots and not allow this to happen again.
Our country&#8217;s an embarrassment to the world. This is an individual who actually thought that when people held arms during the game, that they were doing it to honor the flag. That&#8217;s delusional. Absolutely delusional. But it&#8217;s what we have to live with.
</blockquote>

San Antonio Spurs Play Pro-Free Speech Message After Coach Calls Trump ‘Soulless Coward’

Free Speech

Patriotism

On Monday, President Trump held an impromptu Rose Garden press conference in which he offered a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-obama-didnt-call-fallen-soldiers-rose-garden/">seeming rationalization</a> for not calling the families of four U.S. soldiers murdered in an ambush attack by extremists in Niger, asserting:
<blockquote>
I felt very, very badly about that, I always feel badly. It&#8217;s the toughest calls, the toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens. Soldiers are killed. It&#8217;s a very difficult thing. The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn&#8217;t make calls; a lot of them didn&#8217;t make calls. I like to call when it&#8217;s appropriate, when I think I&#8217;m able to do it.
</blockquote>
Trump&#8217;s claim that prior presidents had eschewed calling the families of fallen soldiers elicited a firestorm of criticism from various quarters, but the most strident assault came from San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training as well as serving five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force. Popovich blasted Trump as a &#8220;soulless coward.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/a-soulless-coward-coach-gregg-popovich-responds-to-trump/">Speaking</a> to Dave Zirin of The Nation, Popovich started by clarifying he wanted his comments to go public, saying, &#8220;I want to say something and please just let me talk and please make sure this is on the record.&#8221; Then he launched the torpedo:
<blockquote>
I&#8217;ve been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this President had said, and his approach to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never ending divisiveness. But his comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents Obama and Bush never contacted their families, is so beyond the pale, I almost don&#8217;t have the words.
This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner&#8211;and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers&#8211;is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this President should be ashamed because they know it better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all.
</blockquote>
Popovich wasn&#8217;t alone; after Trump&#8217;s remarks, Alyssa Mastromonaco, former deputy chief of staff for operations under Obama, tweeted her own assault:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
that&#8217;s a fucking lie. to say president obama (or past presidents) didn&#8217;t call the family members of soldiers KIA &#8211; he&#8217;s a deranged animal.
&#8212; Alyssa Mastromonaco (@AlyssaMastro44) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlyssaMastro44/status/919988497976582144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
A spokesperson for former President George W. Bush confirmed that Bush had written to families of fallen soldiers in addition to calling hundreds, if not thousands, of loved ones.
Trump later backed off, saying of Obama, &#8220;I was told that he didn&#8217;t often, and a lot of presidents don&#8217;t. They write letters. President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn&#8217;t, I don&#8217;t know, that&#8217;s what I was told. All I can do, all I can do is ask my generals. Other, other presidents did not call, they&#8217;d write letters and some presidents didn&#8217;t do anything.&#8221;
Popovich has been hostile to Trump for some time; the day after Trump&#8217;s inauguration he <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/1/21/14348464/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-video-quotes-transcript-criticism">stated</a>, &#8220;I&#8217;d just feel better if somebody was in that position that showed the maturity and psychological and emotional level of somebody that was his age. It&#8217;s dangerous and it doesn&#8217;t do us any good.&#8221;
In May, Popovich <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/5/14/15638134/gregg-popovich-donald-trump-game-show-spurs">doubled down</a>, saying:
<blockquote>
But to this day I feel like there&#8217;s a dark cloud, a pall over the whole country. It&#8217;s got nothing to do with the democrats losing the election. It&#8217;s got to do with the way one individual conducts himself. And that&#8217;s embarrassing. It&#8217;s dangerous to our institutions, and what we all stand for and what we expect the country to be. But for this individual, he&#8217;s in a game show. And everything that happens begins and ends with him. Not our people or our country; every time he talks about those things, it&#8217;s just a ruse. That&#8217;s just disingenuous, cynical and fake.
</blockquote>

Spurs’ Popovich Blasts Trump, Calls Him A ‘Soulless Coward’

Barack Obama

Military

On Monday, San Antonio Spurs coach and longtime leftist Gregg Popovich expressed his perspective on the world <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-coach-Gregg-Popovich-discusses-Trump-at-12226765.php">to the assembled media</a>. &#8220;Our country is an embarrassment to the world,&#8221; Popovich explained. He said that players who decided to protest the national anthem &#8220;have our full support. No matter what they might want to do or not to do, it is important to them to be respected by us, and there is no recrimination no matter what takes place unless it&#8217;s ridiculously egregious.&#8221;
The wokest coach in basketball then lectured everyone on racial politics:
<blockquote>
[P]eople have to be made to feel uncomfortable. Obviously race is the elephant in the room and we all understand that. Unless it is talked about constantly it is not going to get better. &#8230; Because you were born white you have advantages. &#8230; Many people can&#8217;t look at it, it&#8217;s too difficult.
</blockquote>
Popovich went on to rip NASCAR owners who threatened to fire employees who sat for the national anthem, stating that such a perspective represented &#8220;childishness &#8230; gratuitous fear-mongering,&#8221; and concluded, &#8220;I had no idea that I lived in a country where people would actually say that sort of thing. I&#8217;m not totally naïve, but I think these people have been enabled by an example that we&#8217;ve all been given. You&#8217;ve seen in Charlottesville.&#8221;
But don&#8217;t worry, Popovich isn&#8217;t the divisive one, even though Popovich endorsed Colin Kaepernick&#8217;s <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2016/9/26/13064680/gregg-popovich-colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protests-comments">kneeling for the national anthem</a> long before Trump addressed it.
There are a bevy of problems with Popovich&#8217;s perspective here. First, talking constantly about race does not alleviate racial problems &#8212; it exacerbates them. That&#8217;s why polls show consistently that race relations were better before President Obama took office: by elevating racial discourse back to the center of our national consciousness, we reopened wounds that had been healing. And the notion that being born white in the United States represents an unspoken privilege is unsupported by data. If that were the case, Asian-Americans would not be the highest-earning group in the United States; if that were the case, single white mothers would be better off than married black parents (they aren&#8217;t, by a long shot); if that were the case, we would expect to see white life expectancy continuously rising, rather than falling again. Judging people&#8217;s circumstances based on color rather than actual individual background is racism.
Finally, connecting all of this with Charlottesville rather than a natural backlash to the cultural warfare waged against patriotism by the hard-core left is myopic at best.
But at least Popovich continues to win brownie points with the leftist media.

Spurs Coach Popovich BLASTS Trump Over NFL Comments: ‘Our Country Is An Embarrassment To The World’

Colin Kaepernick

On Thursday, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, asked what Black History Month meant to him, <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Spurs-Gregg-Popovich-talks-race-black-history-10904729.php">stated</a> that racism against blacks was &#8220;systemic,&#8221; adding, &#8220;If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally and within the society offered his view on American society.&#8221;
Popovich spoke before his Spurs played the Philadelphia 76ers, and pontificated that racism was America&#8217;s &#8220;national sin.&#8221;
He asserted of Black History Month:
<blockquote>
It&#8217;s remembrance and a bit of a celebration in some ways. It sounds odd because we&#8217;re not there yet, but it&#8217;s always important to remember what has passed and what is being experienced now by the black population. It&#8217;s a celebration of some of the good things that have happened, and a reminder that there&#8217;s a lot more work to do. But more than anything, I think if people take the time to think about it, I think it is our national sin.
</blockquote>
Popovich decried those who believed racism was not a major issue anymore, opining, &#8220;It always intrigues me when people come out with, &#8216;I&#8217;m tired of talking about that,&#8217; or &#8216;Do we have to talk about race again?&#8217; The answer is: You&#8217;re damn right we do because it&#8217;s always there, and it&#8217;s systemic in the sense of when you talk about opportunity. It&#8217;s not about, well, if you lace up your shoes and you work hard you can have the American dream. That&#8217;s a bunch of hogwash.&#8221;
Then Popovich posited that the American system favored whites:
<blockquote>
If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally and within the society. And all of the systemic road blocks that exist, whether it&#8217;s in the judicial sense, or the neighborhood sense with laws, zoning, education. We have huge problems in that regard that are very complicated, but take leadership, time, and real concern to try to solve. It&#8217;s a tough one because people don&#8217;t really want to face it. It&#8217;s in our national discourse.
</blockquote>
And, of course, Popovich insinuated that President Trump was racist for questioning Barack Obama&#8217;s claim to be born in America:
<blockquote>
We have a president of the United States who spent four or five years disparaging and trying to illegitimize our president, and we know that was a big fake, but [he] still felt for some reason that it had to be done. I can still remember, a paraphrase close to a quote, &#8216;Investigators were sent to Hawaii and you cannot believe what they found.&#8217; Well, that was a lie. If it&#8217;s being discussed and perpetrated at that level, then you have a national problem.&#8221;
</blockquote>

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