Yes, it was one ‘insane’ basketball season
Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to The Take, your opinion-politics newsletter. Please sign up for it here.
#Believeland. In a feat of Rust Belt grit over West Coast grace, the Cleveland Cavaliers gutted out a 93-89 win in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to stop the Golden State Warriors from repeating last year’s title.
Cleveland hadn’t won a championship of any kind since 1964 – in other words, they’d already been losing for 20 years when LeBron James was born.
So take a bow, Cavs. You, too, #DubNation. That was one great game. Or, as The Take’s favorite NBA wife, Ayesha Curry, tweeted (less controversially than her tweets last week, which we loved, because, opinions): “That was an insane season. Can’t deny it. Proud proud proud.”
Take heart
The Dalai Lama visits Sacramento today, a welcome departure from the violence in Orlando, Fla., last week. The Tibetan spiritual leader addresses a joint session of the Legislature at 1 p.m. The speech is closed, but the California Channel will live stream. Passers-by can catch a glimpse as he heads up the Capitol’s west steps around 12:40 p.m.
His holiness’s take, to some 6,000 people in Orange County’s Little Saigon over the weekend: “We are the same human beings – mentally, emotionally, physically.”
Take that
Also calling for compassion: More than 500 demonstrators outside Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento on Sunday, joining national denunciation of Pastor Roger Jimenez’s sermon praising the Orlando shooter for killing gay people.
Hats off to Sacramento’s mayor-elect, Darrell Steinberg, for suggesting campaign signs from the recent election be repainted with such slogans as “Pride Over Prejudice.” In The Sacramento Bee’s Sunday Forum, Rabbi Reuven Taff offers a “rebuke to those who preach hate.”
If you can’t take the heat…
…Take precautions. Seriously.
Or, cool off in Yosemite. That’s where President Barack Obama and the fam spent Father’s Day weekend.
Obama’s take: Grasses are drying up, glaciers are in retreat and “climate change is no longer a threat; it is a reality.”
The Sacramento Bee saw the presidential visit as a call to respect public lands, and plug Assemblyman Ken Cooley’s solution to the Ahwahnee hotel name rip-off.
The Merced Sun-Star looked to John Muir for perspective.
The San Francisco Chronicle called for more inclusive parks, reminding us that this land is our land.
Take out an ad
Meanwhile, check out the recent advertisements in The Wall Street Journal, calling out the paper’s own editorial page for its climate skepticism.
A well-funded group of pro-growth environmentalists called the Partnership for Responsible Growth reportedly spent some $350,000 on the series of ads, which started this month with this challenge: “Exxon’s CEO says fossil fuels are raising temperatures and sea levels. Why won’t The Wall Street Journal?”
The next ad is expected Tuesday. Just in time for the summer solstice. And California’s monster heat wave.
More takes on Orlando
Donald Trump doubled down over the weekend on his call to scrutinize Muslims. “I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald writes, alternately, in the Washington Post that the FBI was right not to arrest Omar Mateen before the Orlando shooting.
Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, writes in The Orange County Register that House Republicans have a better plan than President Barack Obama to guard against terrorism.
Sacramento Bee Associate Editor Erika D. Smith explains the attack’s impact on a younger generation.
Take it back
Will the Republicans dump Donald Trump at the convention, or are they stuck with their politically incorrect presumptive nominee? There was a wide range of opinions over the weekend, running the GOP gamut from depression to despondency.
Apple let it be known that it won’t support the Republican convention, financially or otherwise, as it has in the past, due to Trump’s comments about immigrants, women and minorities.
George Will told Fox News Sunday that Trump, like an amateur, confuses his own crowds with the majority of the electorate.
Former Jeb Bush surrogate Ana Navarro told CNN’s “State of the Union”: “If we try to have a coup in Cleveland, we’ll get slaughtered.”
The Charlotte Observer thinks Trump’s critics should go for it: Republicans should try to block Donald Trump.
Take a number: 6
Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration released numbers last week ranking California’s economy the sixth largest on the planet, ahead of France and Brazil. The Sacramento Bee agrees that’s pretty impressive but says we should hold that victory lap until we improve a few other rankings, too.
Our take
Editorial: We welcome but don’t cheer End of Life Option Act.
Dan Walters: Taxicabs collide in Capitol with Uber and Lyft over legislation.
Foon Rhee: Cities’ sprawl comes with a price in transit costs, commute time.
Marcos Breton: We all watched O.J.’s descent and still can’t see it clearly.
Bill Whalen: It’s misguided to recall judge in Stanford sexual assault.
Their take
Art Pulaski: More jobs preferred over guaranteed “basic income.”
Adrienne Alvord: Deception on climate change products is fraud, not free speech.
Andrew Malcolm: Forget victory in the Middle East – Obama is merely avoiding defeats.
Jim Cooper: Voters deliver a markedly moderate message.
Syndicates take
Leonard Pitts: Yes, I am comparing Trump to Hitler.
Kathleen Parker: Repeat, retreat, reload – more volleys in the gun control debate.
Dana Milbank: Republicans’ fowl response to the Orlando terrorist attack.
Ruben Navarrette: The wisdom of a father who has suffered.
Local take
Susan Sward: It’s harder to recall fond memories as downtown Sacramento changes.
Gregory Favre: Cherishing 30 years of memories in a place called home.
Stephanie Taylor’s California Sketches: Envision witches stirring at Hot Creek.
Jay Schenirer, Rick Jennings, Eric Guerra: A proposal to fund youth programs in Sacramento.
Tweet of the day
A classic from @realDonaldTrump, on Sunday morning: “I would like to wish all fathers, even the haters and losers, a very happy Fathers Day.”
This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Yes, it was one ‘insane’ basketball season."