The Tribune

With Charlie Harper

Cal Thomas came to town the other day.

Thomas, now 78 years old, is a reliably caustic and partisan old conservative Republican warhorse who retains a dogged following.

He has written a number of books and articles and is a regular on conservative TV punditry shows. His most recent book is entitled “2020 - America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires,” in which he reportedly blames liberals for America’s failure to remain great.

Speaking to a largely but not uniformly sympathetic audience in New York this week, Thomas reminded listeners of an old, tried, true tenet of Republican rhetoric.

“Keep it Simple!”

Thomas derided the Biden administration’s more balanced approach to immigration as “cynical and diabolical”. There was no attempt to balance this outrageous generalisation with countervailing evidence, as many Democrats and even a few Republicans might have done.

Thomas made no reference to the reality that America is built on successive waves of immigration, and that many of its most celebrated achievements have come from the efforts of new or recent citizens.

Referring to the Biden administration’s attempts to reform civics education in the US, Thomas simply claimed most people don’t agree with Biden, nor do most approve of what universities teach their students about American history.

That was it: no discussion, no evidence.

And yet this man attracted a standing-room-only audience in a big auditorium. Its eight-foot windows opened the session to a dedicated group of latecomers who were straining to hear every word Thomas said. They chuckled at his snide asides, nodded approvingly at his unsupported generalizations, and hooted down a few who voiced contrary views to the speaker’s.

“Stand for what you know is objective truth,” Thomas brayed, speaking with a soft midwestern twang and the unchallengeable certainty that also characterized the late Rush Limbaugh.

The overall sense was that this man was speaking to his audience as a stern but friendly patriarch might address his children and extended family. Thomas was dogmatic and resorted to bullying and mockery of those who questioned his shallow conclusions.

“Why do we persist with programmes that aren’t working?” he asked the crowd, giving no examples.

And yet, later in his 30-minute diatribe, Thomas complained that “often my remarks are oversimplified or misquoted”.

Perhaps in an attempt to avoid appearing too Trumpian, Thomas made no reference to the alleged corruption of last year’s presidential election. There was no appeal to anti-abortion zealots. He did not touch on gun control and the current epidemic of mass shootings around the country.

Nor was he asked about any of that. Most in the crowded hotel ballroom were apparently content to sip their drinks, bask in their conservative allegiance and shut out any who disagreed.

And then there were three?

It looks like The Bahamas might just be about to celebrate its third NBA champion.

Fast-rising Phoenix Suns big man Deandre Ayton, who was born in Nassau just short of 23 years ago, has emerged in these 2021 NBA playoffs as a vital complement to the Suns’ high-scoring and playmaking guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker. The Suns scored a convincing victory in Tuesday’s first game of the NBA finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Suns were initially criticized for drafting Ayton first overall in the 2018 NBA draft which also featured all-stars Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.

It’s true that those two have notched better statistics than has Ayton in their three years in the league. But it’s also true that neither of those players has yet appeared in the NBA Finals. So, who might get the last laugh in this story?

If Ayton and the Suns prevail in these finals as they are now favoured to do, Ayton will join two other Bahamian NBA champions.

The first was Mychal Thompson, who in 1978 was also the top overall choice in that year’s NBA draft. Born in 1955 in Nassau, Thompson became the very first foreign-born player selected first overall in the basketball draft.

Though originally drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Thompson after a few years made his way to Los Angeles where he played a pivotal role in Lakers’ championship seasons in 1987 and 1988. He proved capable of holding his own as a key member of the Magic Johnson-led Showtime Lakers, and many felt at the time that his addition to the team was the key to their titles.

Mychal Thompson is also distinguished by having fathered current Golden State Warriors star and multiple-time NBA champion Klay Thompson.

Next in the Bahamian titlist chain came Rick Fox, the movie star-handsome forward who was born to a Bahamian father and Canadian mother in Toronto in 1969. He was picked by the Boston Celtics in the 1991 draft, but after a few years he too joined the Lakers in Los Angeles and had even better fortune than Thompson had before him.

Fox was a key cog in the relentless Lakers machine that ran off three consecutive titles from 2000-2002. He then parlayed his good looks and rich voice into a Hollywood entertainment career that spanned movies and TV and was punctuated by a long run that ended just short of a title on Dancing with The Stars.

Even if you’re not a rabid NBA fan, you might want to take a glance at these NBA finals. One of our own may be ready to take his place in Bahamian sports history.

Not out of the woods yet

With persistent attention being paid to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States by its President and chief medical officers, it looks like America has turned the corner in its fight against the coronavirus. But the social, cultural and political differences and disputes ignited and encouraged by the last President continue to complicate matters, with often fatal consequences.

Health statistics recently released by the US government show a clear divide. In many urban and suburban communities, which are generally governed by liberals and Democrats, COVID rates have been in steady decline.

The rate of new daily cases has fallen below three per 100,000 residents in large cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington. Six months ago, the national rate of new daily cases peaked last winter above 75 per 100,000 people – 25 times the current infection rate in these large cities.