Testing basketball players first saved countless lives

The debate over whether sports ball players are overpaid, especially compared to first responders, long predates the outbreak of coronavirus. But the current pandemic has helped highlight which professionals we literally can’t live without.

So maybe it wasn’t the best PR move when, while COVID testing kits were still in extremely short supply (as opposed to just in regular short supply), entire NBA teams managed to get themselves tested. The revelation that the young, fit, and talented were able to secure tests at a time when ordinary people suffering symptoms of the disease — and even medical workers — had trouble doing the same should not have surprised anyone familiar with how this country works, but nevertheless managed to spark widespread outrage.

Personally, I’m fine with it. Of course it’s unseemly, and highlights the glaring need to increase access to affordable healthcare and decrease stark inequalities across the country. But in this case I’m convinced testing the rich and privileged early helped save lives. And as long as the President keeps threatening to reopen the economy by Easter, we’ll need to find as many sick celebrities as possible.

Anthony Weiner has himself an ideal ally in the Jewish community

The New York Times ran a piece today, Courting Jewish Voters, Weiner Faces a Challenge — and I commend them for not characterizing said challenge as “stiff” — about the mayoral hopeful’s standing (I did it) in the Jewish community:

As Mr. Weiner vies with a field of current and former officeholders to win the Democratic nomination for mayor, he is making an aggressive play for votes in the Jewish community, with an intense focus on the ultra-Orthodox community. He is the only Jewish candidate; he represented several heavily Jewish communities on the City Council and in Congress; and he has over the years staked out staunchly pro-Israel positions.

But ultra-Orthodox Jews espouse a strict code of moral behavior, particularly regarding interactions between men and women — some frown on even casual conversations between unrelated men and women — posing a challenge for Mr. Weiner.

The article touched on all sorts of interesting topics, and interviewed a diversely opinionated set of ultra-Orthodox Jews from around New York. But one interview struck me as especially noteworthy:

“The fact that the Munkacser Rebbe was willing to sit down with him meant he was being treated as a serious candidate,” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents the Borough Park neighborhood in Brooklyn that is the city’s largest Hasidic enclave. Mr. Hikind, who has not endorsed a mayoral candidate, said many Orthodox Jews admire Mr. Weiner as a fighter who was able to pick himself up and “get out of the mud” when his political career seemed unsalvageable.

“To underestimate Weiner is to make a huge mistake,” Mr. Hikind said. [Editor’s note: And nobody wants to be GOB.]

What’s particularly appropriate about Hikind’s defense of Weiner is that the article felt no need to mention the Assemblyman’s own past transgressions. Certainly, they were of a slightly different nature, but I would imagine that Hikind knows a little something about “getting out of the mud” himself — or more accurately, getting the mud off his face:

Daily Pennsylvanian with Black History Month snafu of its own?

Exactly one week ago, the DP published an article titled Fresh Grocer apologizes for misplaced text on ad. Apologizing — what for?

During the month of February, The Fresh Grocer printed the words “February is Black History Month” across the top of the first page of their weekly ads. Each ad displayed a picture of that week’s major deal underneath the message. Two of these deals were advertisements for family chicken packs.

These ads caught the attention of some students who thought it drew upon the stereotype of blacks’ consumption of chicken. The Fresh Grocer’s corporate office has since apologized for the placement of the text.

I’m not really interested in why placing stereotypical African-American food alongside the words “February is Black History Month” is offensive. Words matter. Pictures matter. And so it follows that combinations of the two can carry subtle layers of meaning. Wonderful.

I’m more interested in how this sort of thing comes about. Helpfully, Fresh Grocer didn’t just apologize — it also offered an explanation:

Director of Marketing Carly Spross for the Fresh Grocer’s corporate office offered an apology.

“[We] are sincerely apologetic if our celebratory Black History Month message was offensive to anyone. That was certainly not our intention. The month of February, the front page of our weekly circulars featured a graphic celebrating Black History Month,” she said in an email.

Spross said that “the advertised sale items near the graphic were not related and also varied each week when sales changed … Next February, our team will definitely take a more in depth look at the placement of the celebratory message so we can ensure that our good intentions are clear to all audiences.”

I don’t need to run through the article blow-by-blow, but you get the idea: “Black History Month” was juxtaposed with chicken, certain students took offense, and you can read all about the extent to which they did so inside the article itself. The main point is, Fresh Grocer maintains, that this was all just an innocent mistake.

Here’s why I’m bringing this to your attention: later that very same day, the DP posted this on Facebook: