2019 WTA YEC: Barty Defeats Svitolina To Win Biggest Paycheck in Tennis

Ash Barty this weekend won the biggest paycheck in women's tennis history when she won US$4.42 million for winning the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen by defeating 2018 WTA Finals champion Elina Svitolina. Barty has had an amazing 2019 tennis season (which technically is over because she is playing in the 2019 Fed Cup final next weekend against France in Perth, Australia). In 2019, after never being ranked higher than #15 in the World or reaching a major semifinal, she won the 2019 Roland Garros title and ascended to World #1, eventually earning the end-of-year #1 ranking for 2019.

At the WTA Finals (which she qualified for the first time this year, becoming one of the very few players to win it in their debut) she was able to come from behind against World #2 Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals to win 4-6 6-2 6-3 (as I predicted). Svitolina  had a  lot more trouble with Belinda Bencic than I expected, with the Swiss player becoming the 4th(!) to withdraw from the tournament, following the heels of Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu and  Kiki Bertens. Bencic won the first set 7-5 against Svitolina but then had an injury in the second set, lost that 6-3 and finally withdrew from the match and tournament trailing 1-4 in the third.

I suspect Barty's year will come to a perfect end when she powers Australia past France in the Fed Cup.

Over 20 States Increase Minimum Wage On January 1; Federal Stuck at $7.25

One of the good things about a new year is that new laws go into effect. On January 1, twenty states raised their minimum wage, with Washington state continuing to have the highest minimum wage in the country at $9.47 per hour. New York raised its minimum wage to $8.75 on December 31st. California's minimum wage is $9.00.

The Huffington Post reports:

Minimum wage workers in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia will all see their pay go up on Jan. 1. Minimum wage workers in Delaware and Minnesota are also expected to receive a pay hike in June and August 2015, respectively. 

For the first time a majority of states (29) have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum.

POLL: Supermajority Support for Federal Minimum Wage of $10.25

A new poll from ABC News indicates that there is strong popular support for an increase in the hourly minimum wage from the current level of $7.25. The last increase was in 2009; President Obama called for Congress to raise it to $9.00 and has endorsed pending legislation that would increase it to $10.10.

This poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, offered pro and con arguments on the issue, noting that some say the minimum wage should be raised “to help low-income workers get by,” while others say taking such action “will lead some businesses to cut jobs.” The result is 2-1 in favor: Sixty-six percent support raising the minimum wage, while 31 percent oppose it.

Intensity of sentiment is even more lopsided: Nearly half, 48 percent, “strongly” support raising the minimum wage, vs. 20 percent who are strongly opposed.

Told its current level and asked what the minimum wage should be, Americans, on average, say $9.41 per hour. That rises to $10.25 just among those who favor raising the minimum wage.

[...]

In partisan terms, support for a higher minimum wage peaks at 85 percent among Democrats and liberals alike, and also draws 71 percent of moderates and 65 percent of independents. Support declines to 50 percent of Republicans and 46 percent of strong conservatives.

This is an issue that progressives should promote in 2014 and beyond.

GRAPHIC: Faith+Politics+Money=Religion

Interesting images posted at Facebook.com/LordYHWH.

Saturday Politics: Obama $1.123B Romney $1.019B

The accounting continues on the monies raised and spent during the 2012 elections but the results for the presidential race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are in and the Democratic incumbent out-raised his Republican challenger by just over one hundred million dollars, with both candidates breaking the billion-dollar barrier. The Blue Team (Obama-Biden campaign and other Democratic committees) raised $1.123 billion while the Red Team (Romney-Ryan campaign and Republican committees) raised $1.019 billion.

However, Obama also out-raised Romney individually, $730 million to $473 million. Obama's total for his 2012 presidential campaign was $20 below his total for his 2008 campaign, but his haul of $1.4 billion for his two presidential races makes him the most prodigious fundraiser in presidential politics ever.

The Huffington Post summarizes:

The president's campaign, Obama for America, filed its final campaign finance report on Thursday covering the last two and a half weeks of the 2012 election. The report revealed that from Oct. 18 until the Election Day on Nov. 6 the president raised $88 million and spent $176 million. That far exceeded the $66 million raised by his rival Mitt Romney and the $107 million spent by the Republican presidential nominee during the same period.

In fact, the Obama campaign's fundraising power allowed it to crush the Romney camp in spending -- at least in terms of individual campaign spending. Obama's campaign spent $723 million from April 4 up to Election Day, way ahead of the total $460 million spent by Romney's campaign. Half of the Obama campaign's spending between Oct. 18 and the election -- $83 million -- went just to television advertising.

[...]

When including the types of spending that the Obama campaign warned about in its emails, such as super PACs and other outside groups, the Republicans did outspend Democrats. The full suite of Romney committees including the Republican National Committee and Romney Victory along with various outside groups spent a combined $1.51 billion. Democratic outside groups and the full Obama group of committees including the Democratic National Committee and Obama Victory Fund spent $1.43 billion. Still, the gap is far smaller than the one the Obama camp warned supporters about.

House GOP Has Wasted $1.5M Defending DOMA

Ever since the President and the Department of Justice made their decision public that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional in February 2011, the House Republicans, led by Speaker John Boehner have been paying superlawyer Paul Clement to defend the federal statute in federal court. The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House (BLAG) authorized $1.5 million to defend DOMA and today comes word they have basically spent $1,447,996.73 of that amount.

BLAG has not gotten much for spending  nearly $1.5 million of taxpayer funds to defend discrimination, because DOMA has been declared unconstitutional by 5 courts in at least 3 federal circuits (the 9th, 1st and 2nd) with the most prominent loss at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management (along with the companion case Massachusetts v DHHS) widely expected to be taken up by the United States Supreme Court in its current term.

The Democrats in the U.S. House, led by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi have vociferously opposed the legal actions by BLAG as well as the wasteful spending of federal taxpayers to defend a statute which has been declared unconstitutional by multiple federal judges, is opposed in court by the Attorney General of the United States and whose repeal has been endorsed by the President of the United States.

Hat/tip to Washington Blade.

Celebrity Friday: Gilles Simon Is An A**!

*sigh* #11 Seed (World #13) Gilles Simon of France is making waves at Wimbledon this week by wading into the mostly settled dispute about equal prize money for men and women at the Grand Slam tournaments. The Frenchman, who was recently elected to a 2-year term on the ATP Players Council, told the press on Wednesday that he does not support equal prize money for women at the major tournaments:

Simon told reporters at Wimbledon in French that he thinks "men's tennis is ahead of women's tennis" and "men spend twice as long on court as women do at Grand Slams."

He also said men "provide a more attractive show" in their matches.

All four Grand Slam tournaments pay equal prize money to men and women, something Simon said he doesn't think "works in sports."

World #3 Roger Federer was asked about Simon's remarks and diplomatically replied:

"I hope it doesn't become a big issue during Wimbledon. It's obviously a debate that's out there ever since, I guess, the Slams have made equal prize money. There's nothing you can do, anyway, about it," Federer replied. 

"It's just a matter of who believes what, and then that is an endless debate. So whatever you believe," he continued.

One person who is not surprised that Simon would be unafraid to reveal himself as a sexist idiot is 19-year-old American Sloane Stephens, who when asked about Simon's remarks said:

"I don't care what he says about anything. He hit me with a ball the first time I was a ballkid. He hit me in the chest, because he lost a point and lost the set. He turned around and slammed the ball with his racket and hit me ... and I've never spoken to him since then."

Wimbledon was the last of the four major tournament to pay women and men equally back in 2007, a year after Roland Garros started doing it. The argument against equal pay, ostensibly, is that men play best-of-five sets while women play best-of-three sets at the grand slams. But, honestly, I question whether the grand slams could even schedule all the women's matches and men's matches in two weeks if they had a 128-person draw and 5-set matches for everyone. I think that the first week (maybe up to and including the fourth round) should be best-of-three for everyone and then everyone shift to best-of-five for the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Then there would be no question that men and women are getting paid equal money for an equal amount of time on court. Federer has won his first two best-of-five matches in little under 150 minutes while the 1st round best-of-three slugfest between Tamira Paszek and Caroline Wozniacki took 192 minutes and was probably the most exciting match of the tournament in the first 3 days of play.


I suspect the impetus for the call to not have equal pay for women is really a manifestation of the belief that men and women should not be equal, and is really a sexist impulse. Thus Simon's subjective remark that men provide a "more attractive show" than women. There's no way to empirically prove or disprove the truth value of this statement. I doubt there are many straight guys would agree that a 5-set match between Radek Stepanek and Florian Mayer would be "more attractive" than a 3-set match between Arantxa Rus and Ana Ivanovic.


What do you think? (Not whether Simon is an a**, that's a given, but how should tennis respond to the notion that men and women do not work equally at the slams). 


Happily, the day after Simon made his discriminatory remarks at Wimbledon, he was eliminated from the tournament by Xavier Malisse.

Protect Maine Equality Needs $$ Before 9/30 Filing Deadline

A new poll from Democracy Corps has Maine's Question 1 leading 50% No, 41% Yes but the good guys and gals at Protect Maine Equality are not resting on their laurels. After all, one year ago Proposition 8 was behind in public polls as well, and it came from behind and eventually passed 53%-47% on November 5, 2008.

Tomorrow is the end of the financial reporting deadline and the campaign has a goal of raising 112,000$ by tomorrow on ActBlue. YOU can do your part by helping MadProfessah.com raise money to defeat Question 1. Please, please PLEASE click on the thermometer at the top of this post or at the right navigation bar and make a donation, no matter how small.

Here are the details of the latest poll results, being released on Wednesday:

Q.6 Now let me ask something else. One of the questions on the ballot this November will read as follows: "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" - If the election were held today, would you vote YES or NO on this question?
Total
Yes strongly.........................................................................37
Yes not strongly....................................................................4
No not strongly.....................................................................7
No strongly..........................................................................43
(Don't know/refused)............................................................9

Total yes.............................................................................41
Total no..............................................................................50

LAPD May Day Melee Costs City $12.85 million

The ramifications of the "May Day Melee" on May 1, 2007 when the LAPD nearly caused a riot by acting inappropriately at a peaceful immigrants rights march in Los Angeles continue, with the City of Los Angeles agreeing to a settlement of nine lawsuits at a total cost nearly $13 million.

Los Angeles Times reporters Maeve Reston and Joel Rubin posted the following to the LA Now blog:

The settlement is another blow to the city’s treasury related to LAPD misconduct in the midst of serious budgetary problems. The settlement of the May Day cases comes on the heels of the council’s approval last week of a $20.5-million payout to four current and former police officers who claimed they were falsely arrested and mistreated in the wake of the scandal involving the police department's Rampart Division.

The council still faces other legal troubles related to the May Day incident--there were 27 pending cases related to the demonstration before today’s settlement, according to officials with the city attorney. Only one case involving a broken camera had been settled.

Forty-two people, including nine journalists, were injured as a pro-immigration march wound down in MacArthur Park on May 1. LAPD officials said the scuffle was set off by a group of agitators who threw bottles and other objects at police. The department’s Metro Division used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse what was a predominantly peaceful gathering.

Chief William J. Bratton said the fracas was an aberration for the department, but promised it would lead to changes in policy and training. He called the decision of his officers to use that level of force a “command and control breakdown.”

In response to the incident, Bratton announced that he was disciplining 11 officers and calling for the termination of four. In another step toward preventing a recurrence, Bratton set up a new bureau known as the Critical Incident Management Bureau that overseas major events and protests.

WTF? I want to hear more about the $20.5 million to the four LAPD officers who were falsely charged and mistreated. Why are they getting paid more than the other nine lawsuits by civilians that was settled for $13 million?

Prop 8 Money Total Exceeded $83M

The latest Secretary of State's report on the financial filings related to Proposition 8 was released today and the amount of moneys expended over the fight for marriage equality exceeded 83.2 million dollars: 43.3 million in opposition and 39.9 million in favor.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

The new filings, which cover the weeks immediately before and after the Nov. 4 election, show that elected officials, businesses, churches and individuals poured millions more into the contest than previously reported.

The final tallies show that opponents of Proposition 8 raised $43.3 million in 2008 and had a little more than $730,000 left on hand at year's end. The measure's sponsors raised $39.9 million and had $983,000 left over.

Even before the late contributions were added in, the race already had become the most expensive ballot measure on a social issue in the nation's history. Proposition 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote, although gay marriage backers have asked the California Supreme Court to overturn it.

In addition, at the Equality Summit there was consensus to attempt to repeal Proposition 8 by another ballot measure in 2010.

B.A.R. Calls Equality Summit Planners "Stingy"!

I cross-posted this to The Equality Summit blog:

An article written by Seth Hemmelgarn entitled Summit planners stingy with No on Prop 8 dollars was published by the Bay Area Reporter.

With hundreds of LGBT marriage equality advocates expected to attend the Equality Summit in Los Angeles Saturday, January 24 it appears that more than half of those organizing the event failed to contribute to the No on Prop 8 campaign during last year's election.
And records show that the lead organizer of the summit contributed only $111.
[...]
An analysis of data filed with the secretary of state's office indicates that 60 percent of the 57 members of the planning committee for this weekend's Equality Summit did not make any financial contributions to the efforts to defeat Prop 8 last year.
The summit, to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, is meant as a gathering of community leaders and others committed to winning back marriage equality in California to share information and resources, and to plan next steps.
According to the state data, Oren Shepher, one of the committee's co-chairs, was among those who didn't contribute financially. But Shepher, who started the Facebook group Coalition for Equal Rights the day after Prop 8 passed, said he had contributed directly to the Gay and Lesbian Center of Los Angeles and to Equality California. EQCA didn't respond to a request to confirm Shepher's contribution and the Bay Area Reporter could not verify the LA center contribution.

[...]

Andrea Shorter, who spent months working to defeat Prop 8 through the group And Marriage for All and who's also a committee co-chair for the summit, said financial contributions weren't a requirement for being on the planning committee, and there were plenty of other ways that people may have contributed to the campaign that aren't immediately obvious by looking at the secretary of state's data. People may have made donations through spouses or in other ways, she said.

The secretary of state's data don't reflect any contributions from Shorter, but she said that she contributed $200. Shorter, who isn't married, also set up a wedding registry on EQCA's Web site where friends and family contributed to the No on 8 campaign.
Referring to the percentage of planning committee members who appear not to have made contributions, Shorter noted there are "a number of people coming from nonprofit communities that have been hit very hard in the economy, so that's been tough."

[...]

Despite all the work they've likely put in to organizing the summit, many committee members apparently are reluctant to talk about it. When asked for planners' contact information, Anne Marks, coordinator of the summit responded, "Not everyone on the planning committee has expressed comfort with talking to the media."
Marks contacted committee members about speaking with the Bay Area Reporter and a handful responded.
The secretary of state's data indicate Marks donated $111.11 during the campaign, but she said the correct figure is $161.11. Marks was Northern California deputy field director for No on 8 during the campaign.

Interestingly, I was one of the members of the planning committtee who responded and talked with the reporter, but I guess since the official records show that I donated $370 directly through NO ON 8 (not counting another $500 given by attending The Task Force's Los Angeles Leadership Awards over $1000 raised by readers of my blog, The Mad Professah Lectures and at least $1000 by people who attended my August 8, 2008 wedding and donated to Equality California) those facts didn't fit into Seth Hemmelgarm's "story."

Obama Raised $104M From 10/15-11/24

Barack Obama raised $104 million dollars in the homestretch of the 2008 presidential election season, bringing his overall total to over $750 million for his 22-month presidential campaign. In 2004 Senatir John Kerry and President George W. Bush raised a combined total of $693 million.

Fight For Equality In California Surpasses $73 Million!

The cost of the campaign to eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples in California has now exceeded 73,692,704 dollars. This is more than twice the amount of money that was spent on the first twenty-seven anti-gay ballot measures combined. It should be noted that the forces of equality have previously won only one those 27 races (Arizona's Proposition 107 in 2006). The two other anti-gay ballot measures this year are in Arizona (again!) and Florida. The total amount of money spent in both of those races is less than $10 million.

The Proposition 8 ballot measure fight is now the most expensive electoral ballot in the history of social issue initiative campaigns.

I want to thank MadProfessah.com readers for donating more than our $1,000 dollar goal to NO ON PROP 8. But we need you to do more.

I am posting the amount for people to realize exactly how serious this battle is. The polls have consistently shown this race within the margin of error and it will be won or lost in the turnout
of who shows up to vote. Regardless of what happens in the Presidential election, we must encourage everyone who is registered to vote to come out to vote and vote NO ON PROP 8. It's unfair and wrong for the Mormon church to impose their religious view on marriage on all Californians by amending our state Constitution.

Please tell all your friends, families and neighbors to vote No on Proposition 8, and if you can, please volunteer to get the word out to voters on Election Day.

NO ON PROP 8 Needs $3m in 3 Days--Or Else!

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California and member of the NO ON PROP 8 Executive Committee sent out an urgent email Wednesday reporting that on Tuesday the heterosexual supremacists reported a surge in fundraising. His response is to appeal for $3 million in 3 days (by Friday Midnight).

Yesterday, the other side reported donations of $2.2 million, dwarfing the $255,650 we reported, and called on their donors to contribute another $3 million. With this enormous sum of money they are buying every available ad space on TV in California to blast even more of their hateful lies and prevent our messages from being seen.

Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.

An EQCA member recently told me that their gift was five times more than they had ever given and suggested that everyone do the same. So today, I am increasing my donation to NO on 8 to $50,000. I’m doing this because I know I must if we hope to win.And I’m asking you to increase your gift too – at whatever amount you can, so that we can match the other side on the air. Please increase your gift today.

Last night the brilliant movie “Milk” premiered at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The film is a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice Harvey Milk made to advance our rights and how much Harvey, and so many others, gave to stop the Anita Bryant-led anti-gay movement that was sweeping the country and the Briggs Initiative – exactly 30 years ago. It’s now up to us to shape the next 30 years.

Thanks to each of you who have sacrificed in this critical fight for our equality. Please join me in making another gift and asking everyone you know to do the same.

It is that important.

With respect, admiration and appreciation,

Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

UPDATE: As of 11:30pm on Wednesday October 29th the NO ON PROP 8 and SAY NO ON AMENDMENT 2 websites fighting the California and Florida constitutional amendments to eliminate marriage rights (and domestic partnerships in Florida) for same-sex couples have been under an internet "Denial Of Service" attack which has crippled the sites and clearly limited their ability to raise money online.

However, you can still give money to defeat Proposition 8 via the ACTBLUE website that MadProfessah.com has been using. We are currently at two-thirds of our goals with only 40 hours remaining until November 1! Please click on the thermometer in the top right and consider giving some amount ($5, $10, $25 or more!) online to preserve equality, particularly to spite the people who deliberately are attempting to sabotage our efforts to raise money online.

REMEMBER: all donations made before November 1 will be matched by MadProfessah!

Apple Donates $100k to NO ON PROP 8

Apple, Inc. announced that they are donating $100, 000 to defeat Proposition 8.

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

It feels nice to have both Google and Apple supporting Equality for All, not only in words but in deeds. I'll definitely continue to use my IPhone and gmail!

Obama Raised $36m Oct 1-15, McCain has $24m COH

Late Thursday night the presidential campaigns released their financial statements on activity for the first two weeks of October.

After raising a ridiculously large $153 million in September, Barack Obama fundraising rate slowed down by half as he only raised about a quarter of that amount in half the time ($36 million in 2 weeks), ending with $64 million of cash on hand for the final 3 weeks of the campaign.

John McCain had $24 million of his federal election financing check of $84 million left on October 15, but the Republican National Committee had $60 million dollars in cash on hand for a combined total of $84 million, to spend on electing McCain and other Republicans around the country.

The Democratic National Committee had $31 million of cash on hand for a total of $95 million dollars for the Democrats to spend.

This is the first time in over a decade that Democrats have had more cash on hand to spend at the end of a Presidential election.

NO ON 8 TAKES LEAD IN MONEY RACE!

The Los Angeles Times has a front page article in today's California section by reporters Jessica Garrison and Dan Morain which shows that, for the first time, opponents of Proposition 8 have now reported raising more money than the proposition's heterosexual supremacist proponents. According to public records at the Secretary of State's office, The NO ON PROP 8 campaign has reported $31,232,729 while the proponents have reported $27,564,351. This is a remarkable turn-around. Just a few weeks ago, on October 7th the No on Prop 8 campaign was more than $5 million dollars behind ($15 million to over $20 million).

The analysis by The Los Angeles Times shows that NO ON PROP 8 has actually raised less money from inside California ($20.63 million to $22.19 million) than our opponents. In addition, the NO ON PROP 8 side has 36 donors who have given $100,000 or more (including George Lucas, Ellen Degeneres, T.R. Knight, Brad Pitt, Stephen Spielberg, David Geffen etc) compared to just 17 for our opponents. There's a searchable database available on the newspaper's website which allows one to check for what donations have been made to both sides of Propsotion 8.

Some of that money has been contributed by MadProfessah.com readers like you! We are currently at 41% of our goal of $1000 by November 1. I'm hoping that MY READERS can take us to 50% by donating $90 by Monday. Please remember no donation is too small, $10, $25, $50 are very typical. All donations on Madprofessah.com willbe matched on November 1, up to $1000. So, please give TODAY.

Democrats have large cash advantage over Republicans

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire is reporting that John Mcain's campaign spent $37 million in September, and thus had $47 million to spend starting Oct 1 for the final 5 weeks of the presidential campaign.

Barack Obama had $133.6 million on hand as of October 1. The DNC had $27.4 million for a Democratic total of $161 million. The RNC had $77.6 million for a Republican total of $124.6 million.

That's a cash advantage of $36.4 million for the Democrats.

Democrats have never had a cash advantage over Republicans going into a national election before.

Seems to me that the Democrats could make a significant contribution to help defeat conservative ballot measures in the states, like Proposition 8.

Obama Raises Record $150 Million in 30 Days

The word is now out. Barack Obama reportedly raised $150 million dollars in September, more than doubling the record amount of $66 million his campaign had raised the month before.

The average donation was under $100 and more than 632,000 new donors were added to the Obama for America donor list, bringing that total to over 3 million individual donors. Obama has raised over $600 million dollars since his campaign begain in February 2007, which is more than all the money raised by both major party candidates in 2004.

Obama Outspending McCain BY Record Amounts

The New York Times carried an article on Barack Obama's huge financial advantage over John McCain when it comes to spending on advertising. There are also rumors that Obama's fundraising numbers from September will be in the NINE DIGIT range when they are filed with the FEC later today.