John W Stodder Jr

Trump and Musk will pull out all the stops to bury Joe Biden’s economic triumph, including arresting Biden and his top economic aides. But even against Musk’s corrupt spending, facts are stubborn things.

@skinnybeannn @Clipper_Revival @Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania Sanberg, who is a convicted felon.

@johnstodder @Clipper_Revival @Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania ‘Planning’ advertising when Kawhi was paid more than Drake, RDJ, and DiCaprio combined is not enough. RDJ even did a commercial. Also, an Aspiration employee under oath said that he was told by Sanberg that the deal was for cap circumvention

Kawhi Leonard has denied ANY participation in the alleged Aspiration scandal, per @ShamsCharania “The absolute worst is Kawhi Leonard’s contract being voided, or him being suspended for a significant period of time. Whether it’s 40/20 games or entire season.. it all comes down to the evidence and what’s found in the investigation.” (h/t @NBA__Courtside)

@shadihamid @mattyglesias Vote for Abdul because he's a man? 😬

With all due respect to @mattyglesias, the last few weeks have suggested to me that the center-left cares more about beating down the left than they do about beating Trump. We've seen the re-introduction of "woke" tropes by the Democratic establishment, weaponized against Abdul El-Sayed to suggest he's some kind of mysogonist, without any actual evidence. To accuse a Muslim man of misogyny is a classic trope, of course. If I was someone who cared about the future of the Democratic Party and it's ability to compete with the GOP, I'd be more enthusiastic about people like Abdul and Zohran, who model a positive "clean-living" masculinity. I'd be be enthusiastic about their ability to turn out young voters who are otherwise disaffected by a party that doesn't seem to want to listen to them. They're also practicing Muslims who respect the role of religion in public life, something we need more of in an overly secularized Democratic Party. This doesn't mean that everyone has to like Abdul or want him to win. Even if you want him to lose, you should see that he has something genuinely positive to offer to the Democratic Party. When the left wants to beat establishment candidates, it's called "factionalism." When the establishment wants to beat the left, it's not called that. It's just normal and unaccounted for. Take @neeratanden for example. Her feed is mostly about her disdain for the left. I don't see how this is constructive. And those of us who are not part of the Democratic establishment shouldn't concede too much ground on these points. I worry, though, that we have.

@KarlRholoff @Fullcourtpass @Clipper_Revival @ShamsCharania You're mischaracterizing the contract. Kawhi had the right to refuse use of his likeness in a way he didn't approve of. That would be standard element for celebrity contracts. If Pablo told viewers this was a "no-show" contract, then he distorted the facts. Bye, Pulitzer.

@johnstodder @Fullcourtpass @Clipper_Revival @ShamsCharania Read the CBA. The burden of proof is low. The "smoking gun" is the no show contract. The Clippers/Kawhi have to give a rational explanation for it or else the NBA can punish.

@skinnybeannn @Clipper_Revival @Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania The most recent developments confirm that there was a legitimate intention to use Kawhi in advertising. That kills "cap circumvention."

@Clipper_Revival @johnstodder @Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania Glad u came around. Circumstantial evidence is enough per the CBA or any conduct that can’t be rationally explained

@zachlowesmoptop @jon_eng4 @APH00PS @LemAndreza @ChrisBHaynes If the NBA busts the Clippers for covering some incidental expense (which is not how I read the Athletic article) that would certainly qualify as a face-saving move.

@johnstodder @jon_eng4 @APH00PS @LemAndreza @ChrisBHaynes he’s not framing the source accurately they’re not investigating a second endorsement deal they’re investigating the possibility that the clippers improperly covered expenses for kawhi, which could be punishable

The Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration investigation has, up to this point, NOT uncovered a “smoking gun,” per @ChrisBHaynes. “If there was something that was really going to stick it would’ve came already.”

So @SenatorCollins was bullshitting about the major investigation. She just needed a talking point, not justice.

@ThatEricAlper "Effective at midnight, @FoxNews will go off the air, forever."

What's the best TV ending of all time?

@jon_eng4 @zachlowesmoptop @APH00PS @LemAndreza @ChrisBHaynes But that's not cap circumvention. Aspiration was sponsoring the Clippers -- of course it would occur to Uncle Dennis to see if he could turn that into more $$ for the Leonard family. Being a greedy agent doesn't violate the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

@zachlowesmoptop @johnstodder @APH00PS @LemAndreza @ChrisBHaynes A 2nd endorsement deal to me points to a rogue and opportunistic Uncle Dennis taking advantage of people desperate to do business w/ Ballmer while Kawhi just benefits from it. Occum's razor.

@TheAthletic @TheAthleticNBA @MikeVorkunov It’s grown? Sounds like it’s shrunk.

The NBA's Aspiration x Kawhi Leonard investigation has grown in scope. The company discussed using Leonard in a marketing campaign, according to multiple former employees who spoke with The Athletic. Those efforts went so far as to include mockups depicting Leonard as an offshoot of Marvel's Groot, tying into Aspiration's promise to plant trees to offset customers' carbon footprints. After weeks of trying to make the Marvel concept work and brainstorming other ideas, the creative team was told to stop. "Stop thinking about Kawhi," one former employee recalled being told. "This feels like a dead end."

@TuckFitter3 @Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania When the NBA announces there’s nothing to Pablo Torre’s insinuations, the Lakers’ ownership will be beyond furious. So the last month has been about the NBA trying to find a face saving exit that is fair to the Clippers and Kawhi but placates Jeannie Buss.

@Fullcourtpass @ShamsCharania The NBA has been scratching their balls for almost a year claiming they are “investigating” enough with the bullshit, just do whatever you have to do already

It shouldn't be remotely controversial that the death of a man with his 3-year old daughter in the back seat who wasn't even the target of the mission is heartbreaking and must be investigated thoroughly. They dragged his lifeless body out of the car and still handcuffed him. ICE has lost any semblance of trust or respect. We must demand immediate change from top to bottom before more die unnecessarily. This is a moral imperative.

@SenatorCollins Passive, useless enabler.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin has informed me that the Boston office of the DHS Inspector General has taken over the investigation of the Biddeford shooting in cooperation with the FBI.

@swipe_sports WTF does “load management,” a medical tool to aid a player’s recuperation from medical issues, have to do with how much he’s paid? Maybe you’re proving my point. You’re a hater, so you want Kawhi punished. “For what?” “Whattaya got?” “Um, circumstantial evidence?”

@johnstodder Circumstantial evidence is still evidence. The pattern of load management with Kawhi speaks louder than any alleged "proof.

@CastielDraven @treepointplay @ESPNneedsIKD The law firm working for the NBA won’t do anything shady. The partners don’t want to lose their licenses. The Lakers & other teams are desperately rooting for a serious penalty vs Clippers. The popular outcome would be to smash them. But if no proof is found?

@johnstodder @treepointplay @ESPNneedsIKD Nah, I 100% think some nasty underhanded shit DID go down. I just don’t think it will come to light in a league that is already corrupt

I know the situation isn’t resolved but him showing up at Kyle’s presser and now a Raptors summer league game says that he’s already invested in being a Raptor. Love it.

@swipe_sports It’s a theory at best. Pablo proved none of it. And now, the NBA after nearly a year can’t find proof either. Ballmer and Kawhi have been slandered. Haters will never forgive them. But there is zero fucking proof they did anything wrong.

@johnstodder Fair point about Aspiration tanking, but the deal was still outsized for Kawhi's availability. That’s the whole shadow salary argument.

@CastielDraven @treepointplay @ESPNneedsIKD Is the Pulitzer Prize committee ready to take back Pablo Torre’s fraudulently earned Pulitzer Prize? Is Pablo the Janet Cooke of the 2020s?

@treepointplay @ESPNneedsIKD I think it’s all but done. I honestly think if there was anything of substance found, we’d have heard SOMETHING concrete by now

@swipe_sports Kawhi is not the only NBA player getting paid for sponsorships. If it’s not “shadow salary” for LBJ, it’s not for KL. Kawhi didn’t sign his deal expecting to do no work. Aspiration didn’t use him as intended to BECAUSE THE COMPANY WAS GOING UNDER. Pablo never proved otherwise.

The NBA only found out the Clippers were cheating because the startup went bankrupt. If Aspiration stays solvent, Kawhi gets paid $28M in shadow salary and nobody ever knows. That's not a salary cap. That's an honor system.

@realbucketscout Did you fall asleep in the second quarter?

Keaton Wagler looked completely out of his depth. The scary part wasn't the rough start in the first half, it was that nothing changed as the game went on. The confidence never came, the impact never showed, and he never looked like an NBA-ready player. He's clearly a long-term project, and if the Clippers want to get any real value out of him, they'll have to be patient and invest serious time into his development.

@jon_eng4 @ApacSmack @APH00PS @ChrisBHaynes Right. Who was trying to poach Kawhi from the Clippers in 2021? There was zero need for the clippers to pander to Kawhi with extra illicit money as he was recovering from ACL surgery.

@johnstodder @ApacSmack @APH00PS @ChrisBHaynes Two questions are why would Ballmer be incentivized to pay more money to Kawhi after he tore his ACL in 2021 w/o any hiarantee that he would return to being a great player, and what benefit to the team and organzition would doing that at that time get? PT refuses to answer this