Officer defends shooting a 93-year-old

• Police officer Stephen Stem fatally shot Pearlie Golden, 93, last week


• He was fired after a City Council vote this weekend


• His attorney describes Stem's firing as a "knee-jerk reaction"

(CNN) -- A police officer who fatally shot a 93-year-old woman at her home in Texas is defending his use of deadly force and lashing out at the City Council that fired him.

Stephen Stem was dismissed from the Hearne Police Department on Saturday. He argues his termination was unjust.

"The knee-jerk reaction to terminate Mr. Stem was not about whether Ms. Golden chose to create and perpetuate a life-threatening situation. That is a clear and indisputable fact.

"Rather, the city's decision was about appeasing certain members of the community who want to make this case about Ms. Golden's age, the fact she is African-American, or the fact she is a woman.

"None of those factors played a role in Stem's decision to use deadly force," Robert McCabe, Stem's attorney, said in a statement Sunday.

His comments come as Texas Rangers continue an investigation into why Pearlie Golden, a longtime resident in this small town of about 4,600 people between Dallas and Houston, was shot multiple times at her home Tuesday.

A man believed to be a relative of Golden's made a 911 call asking for help from police, Robertson County District Attorney Coty Siegert said.

"What I understand is (Hearne police) were called out because a woman was brandishing a firearm," Siegert said.

"An officer asked her to put the handgun down, and when she would not, shots were fired."

Hearne City Attorney Bryan Russ Jr. said Stem told Golden to drop her weapon at least three times.

Stem fired three times, and Golden was hit at least twice, he said.

She was transported to a hospital, where she died.

"Police not only have a duty to protect themselves from imminent harm, but also innocent citizens who rely on them 'to protect and serve,' " Stem's attorney said in his statement.

The case eventually will be presented to a grand jury, which is standard procedure when dealing with officer-involved incidents, according to Russ, the city attorney.

"I would expect people to be upset about this, a young police officer shooting a 93-year-old lady," Russ said. "I'm upset about it. Most of our citizens are upset, but at the same time, I don't believe all the facts have come to the surface yet."

Google, don't be secretive

Tech journalist Robert Scoble posted a photo of himself wearing Google Glass in the shower to show that the set is waterproof. The photo became popular on the Internet and was featured in a Tumblr blog called White Men Wearing Google Glass. Click through the gallery to see more people who are sporting the electronic eyewear. If you think you can out-cool these guys, share a photo of yourself wearing them on CNN iReport or tag your Instagram photos #cnnireport.

Tech investors Marc Andreessen, Bill Maris and John Doerr model Google Glass in this image provided by the company. What kind of fashion statement are they making? One thing is certain: They are also featured in the Tumblr blog.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin models Google Glass.

Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California and former mayor of San Francisco, tries the glasses on Current TV.

Google Glass features a camera mounted on the right side.

The glasses have augmented-reality capabilities. Text appears in the glass.

The glasses even spawned a parody YouTube video called ADmented Reality, which mashed together Google Glass screens with the company's desktop screen advertisements.

• At White House Correspondents Dinner, comedian made fun of Google Glass


• Douglas Rushkoff: Are we in the midst of a new kind of tech industry backlash?


• He says young tech companies that were once upstarts are now getting pushback


• Rushkoff: Google, Facebook should be more transparent about their intentions

Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff writes a regular column for CNN.com. He is a media theorist, the author of the book "Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now" and correspondent on a PBS Frontline documentary "Generation Like." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- At this year's White House Correspondents Dinner -- the annual opportunity for the President to engage directly, and humorously, with reporters who cover him -- it was expected that most of the jibes would be aimed at Barack Obama. Sure, he gets the chance to defend himself, but it's pretty much a roast: A leading comedian is invited every year to make jokes, while the commander in chief tries to laugh instead of squirm.

Maybe that's why I was so jolted when this year's headliner, comedian Joel McHale of TV's "The Soup" took such a hard swipe at Google. "America still has amazing technological innovations. Google Glass has hit the markets. Now, just by walking down the street, we'll know exactly who to punch in the face."

It got a pretty good laugh -- perhaps because both the press and the politicians in the room were relieved to have been spared for at least one joke. But the violence of the imagery, and the intensity of the rage that it expressed, gave me serious pause: Are we in the midst of a new kind of tech industry backlash? And is it for something these companies are actually doing, or have they simply lost control of the technology story?

This is more than the traditional sort of commentary and critique of a new form of culture that we've seen waged against everything from television advertising or fashion iconography in the past.

When the artists called Like4Real rebel against the ubiquity of the Facebook "Like" by holding a funeral for the thumbs-up symbol, it comments effectively, if acerbically, on the changing nature of social relationships in a commercial space. Meanwhile, artists from KillYourPhone.com are encouraging people to make special pouches for cell phones and PDAs, which prevent them from receiving signals. Again -- agree with them or not about the need for an occasional digital detox -- it's clever, provocative and memorable satire.

But the notion, even expressed jokingly, of punching people in the face for wearing Google Glass -- as if the device somehow signals a traitor to the cause of humanity -- pushes things over the top. Yes, we can all imagine how people wearing an augmented reality device might be annoying: They can surf the Web while pretending to converse with us or, worse, record us when we don't know it. No sooner had the very first prototypes been spotted last year than TechCrunch reported a new, purely apprehensive moniker for its wearers: Glassholes. But it's as if the public is now being primed to go after early adopters -- almost to a point where one might be reluctant to put on the device.

Bars banning Google Glass

Correspondents' dinner in 2 minutes

Laughs at correspondents' dinner

Serko Artinian on Google Glass benefits

Morgan Spurlock explores Google Glass

Are technology companies such as Google shouldering the blame for too much? It seems as if they are bearing responsibility not only for people's fears about the future of technology but the excesses of corporate capitalism.

Consider the hullabaloo now centered on the buses that convey Google employees from San Francisco to Silicon Valley. This winter, protesters waylaid one of the Google shuttles, going so far as to hurl a brick through one of its windows in protest of what they see as the tech giant's gentrifying influence on the city. When San Francisco introduced the new Muni 83X bus line, locals were quick to point out that its sparsely utilized buses run suspiciously close to Twitter headquarters. More protests, and more vitriol ensued.

Of course, in reality, Google's buses spare the highway a whole lot of traffic, and the atmosphere from countless tons of carbon emissions from what would otherwise be an extra few thousand cars on the highways every day. And suspicions about local government adding commuter lines to accommodate Twitter appear to be unfounded.

The deeper angst in San Francisco appears to be over the way each new tech initial public offering creates another few thousand millionaires who want to buy apartments, jacking up the real estate prices for everyone else. But even this local economics issue seems unlikely to be motivating such widespread disdain for tech business. Besides, there are a number of corporations with much worse records of displacing locals or hurting business than the new tech giants.

No, I think the reason these young corporations are getting so much pushback is that they were once seen as the upstarts -- as the companies on the people's side of things. Digital technology was supposed to disrupt business as usual, create new opportunities for both self-expression and small business, and -- perhaps most of all -- change the very nature of the corporation and its relationship to real people and places. They're being held to a higher standard than companies of previous generations.

Now that these little garage businesses are some of the biggest companies in the world, it's a whole lot harder for them to exhibit the qualities that once made them the darlings of the culture and counterculture alike. Yes, digital companies are being held to a higher standard than companies of previous generations. But this is largely because we all understand that they are building the infrastructure in which our economics, culture and perhaps even a whole lot of human consciousness will take place.

That's why they have to pay more attention to communicating their intentions than might otherwise seem justified. Steve Jobs was famous for keeping great secrets, but Apple is largely a consumer electronics firm. We like being surprised about the features on our next phone.

A company such as Google can't be as secretive when it purchases a military robotics firm. Without clear messaging about the reasons for such acquisitions, the public mind reels, particularly in the wake of National Security Agency disclosures, jobs lost to automation and movies from "Her" to "Transcendence."

Instead of balking at our widespread suspicions, the leaders of Silicon Valley must begin communicating honestly and effectively about what they hope and dream for. If people are scared of Google's Glass, of Facebook's purchase of a virtual reality company or of Twitter's use of big data, then it's up to those companies to explain loud and clear how these developments will serve us all.

For once, protecting strategy secrets has to take a back seat to clear communications. If these companies really are building the world we're all going to be living in, they have to let us in on their plans. Otherwise, we're going to feel like we've been left off the bus.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

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Team owner lashes out at NBA great

• Clippers' interim CEO on Sterling apology: "He's a little late"


• Players "can't believe" Sterling insulted Magic Johnson again, CNN's Rachel Nichols reports


• Donald Sterling tells Anderson Cooper, "I was baited. ... That's not the way I talk"


• "I'm not a racist. I made a terrible, terrible mistake," he says

Watch Anderson Cooper's full interview with Donald Sterling at 8 p.m. ET Monday on "AC360" on CNN.

(CNN) -- Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling says he's sorry but feels he was "baited" to make racist comments, nearly two weeks after the NBA fined him and banned him for life for his remarks in a recorded conversation.

"When I listen to that tape, I don't even know how I can say words like that. ... I don't know why the girl had me say those things," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview set to air on Monday.

"You're saying you were set up?" Cooper asked.

"Well yes, I was baited," Sterling said. "I mean, that's not the way I talk. I don't talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don't talk about people."

Sterling: 'I'm asking for forgiveness'

Ex-NBAer: 'Baited' comment is a joke

Sterling, an 80-year-old married lawyer and billionaire real-estate investor, hasn't spoken publicly about the accusations since celebrity gossip website TMZ posted a 10-minute audio recording of him that drew widespread condemnation from fans, players and the league.

I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it.

Donald Sterling to Anderson Cooper

In that audio clip, Sterling chastised friend V. Stiviano for posting pictures online of her posing with African-Americans, including basketball Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

The recording triggered a firestorm that led to Sterling's lifetime ban from the NBA and a $2.5 million fine. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has asked the other 29 owners to force Sterling, the longest-tenured owner in the league, to sell the Clippers.

"I'm not a racist," Sterling told Cooper. "I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I'm here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I've hurt."

Asked by Cooper why he took so long to say he's sorry, Sterling said he was "emotionally distraught."

"The reason it's hard for me, very hard for me, is that I'm wrong. I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it," he said.

The timing of Sterling's apology drew criticism from the Clippers' interim CEO on Monday.

"I would observe, as most Americans I think would observe, that he's a little late, for sure," said Dick Parsons, a former chairman of Citigroup and Time Warner who was tapped by the NBA to be the team's interim CEO last week. "But beyond that, I'm here to help turn one of the burners off under the pot, not to turn it up higher. So I think I'll keep my personal views personal and just stay focused on what are we going to keep this team on the ascend, as it is right now."

Even as he apologized repeatedly during the interview with CNN, Sterling still had harsh words for Johnson, saying he didn't think the NBA legend is "a good example for the children of Los Angeles."

Those comments sparked criticism from players who spoke with CNN's Rachel Nichols on Monday.

"The biggest shock waves from players that I talked to today, they said, 'Wait a minute, he insulted Magic Johnson again? He did that again?' They can't believe that," Nichols said. "As far as they are concerned, that is a final straw."

Sterling said he doesn't want his comments to eclipse his lengthy tenure with the NBA.

Sterling's possible excuse: I wanted sex

Should Sterling's wife sell the Clippers?

Does a new tape help Donald Sterling?

"I'm a good member who made a mistake and I'm apologizing and I'm asking for forgiveness," he said. "Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake, and I'll never do it again."

Now, Sterling said, his fate is in the league's hands.

"If the owners feel I have another chance, then they'll give it to me," he said.

'I thought she liked me'

Last week, another audio recording surfaced online, allegedly showing Sterling trying to add context to the racist comments that got him banned from the league.

In that recording, Sterling purportedly explained that his comments were driven by jealousy.

"The girl is black. I like her. I'm jealous that she's with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell, can I in private tell her, you know, 'I don't want you to be with anybody'?" the man purported to be Sterling said in that recording, according to RadarOnline.

On Sunday, Sterling told CNN that in the recording "I spoke to a girl that I was fond of."

Stiviano told ABC News earlier this month that the recorded conversation was similar to many she's had with Sterling about race.

"There's been a number of occasions where Mr. Sterling and I had conversations just like this one," she said. "Part of what the world heard was only 15 minutes. There's a number of other hours that the world doesn't know."

Sterling told CNN he's not sure who released the recording.

"I don't know. An 80-year-old man is kind of foolish, and I'm kind of foolish. I thought she liked me and really cared for me," he said. "I guess being 51 years older than her, I was deluding myself. ... I just wish I could ask her why, and if she was just setting me up."

Sterling says he's spoken with Magic Johnson

After a recording of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks was released in April 2014, he was fined and banned from NBA games for life. But he's not the only well-known figure who has served as a lighting rod for discussion on race and identity.

The Washington Redskins team name and logo got heightened visibility when President Barack Obama and high-profile sportscasters Bob Costas and Christine Brennan spoke out against it in 2013. Team owner Dan Snyder insists the team's name is part of a tradition and is "not an issue."

Rancher Cliven Bundy made news in 2014 for his battle with the federal government and his comments that implied blacks would have been better off in slavery. In an interview with CNN's "New Day," he said he is not a racist.

TV personality and chef Paula Deen lost her sponsors and her Food Network show in 2013 after she admitted to use of the "n-word" and botched an apology. A racial discrimination charge against her was later dropped, and she is in the midst of a comeback, as she continues to spur controversy with her comments.

Actor LL Cool J and musician Brad Paisley collaborated on the song "Accidental Racist" that was largely panned by critics for being too simplistic in how it discussed American racial history.

Protesters hold signs in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on October 10, 2012, ahead of the high court's hearing of arguments on Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, the court ruled on the constitutionality of the school's consideration of race in admissions.

Miley Cyrus made twerking a household term after her controversial performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards with Robin Thicke. Critics accused her of appropriating hip-hop culture and outraged parents whose children once knew her for her kid-friendly Hannah Montana character.

Nina Davuluri became the first winner of Indian descent when she won the 2014 Miss America Competition and drew headlines when her win spurred racist reactions online.

Sebastien De La Cruz, known as San Antonio's Little Mariachi, sang the national anthem before an NBA finals game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat in 2013. When some questioned his citizenship and mariachi outfit, it sparked defense of the young singer from notables such as actress Eva Longoria.

In 2013, stop-and-frisk became a major issue in the New York mayoral campaign, and additional discussion was prompted with the George Zimmerman trial and movies such as "Fruitvale Station" that highlighted the issue.

In July 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin, sparking outrage in response to the verdict and later for a juror getting a book deal to discuss the case. After backlash, the book offer was revoked.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American and Jesuit pontiff, has opened up discussion about identity, equality and faith with his comments and actions.

In a highly publicized move, Sasheer Zamata was hired as a performer on "Saturday Night Live" in early 2014 after an outcry about the show's lack of diversity and not having a black female cast member in six years.

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

Stories that sparked discussions on race

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In the news: A conversation about race

The NBA's suspension and $2.5-million fine for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling sent shockwaves through the sports world, but it's not the first time a league has cracked down on a team owner.

Bleacher Report has dubbed Mark Cuban the "King of NBA fines. The notoriously vocal Dallas Mavericks owner has been forced to pay more than $1.8 million in fines since he bought the team in 2000, many of them for colorful language and criticism of referees.

Former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was suspended from Major League Baseball in 1993 and 1996 for several controversial comments, among them racial epithets against players. In a 1996 interview, she said this about Adolf Hitler: "Everybody knows that he was good at the beginning, but he just went too far." She was forced to sell her controlling interest of the Reds in 1999.

Before the announcement about Sterling's suspension, Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was the only owner suspended in the NBA in 68 years. The league suspended Taylor in 2000 for a season after the Timberwolves made a secret deal with a star player to circumvent salary cap rules. Now, Taylor is chairman of the NBA board of governors, which Commissioner Adam Silver has asked to vote on stripping Sterling's ownership of the Clippers.

The NFL suspended San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. for his role in a racketeering scandal tied to riverboat casino licenses. DeBartolo pleaded guilty in 1998 to felony charges of failing to report an extortion case, according to Bleacher Report. By 2000 he was forced to cede control of the team to his sister.

As former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's bitter divorce became a cloud over the franchise, his financial turmoil forced Major League Baseball to take over the day-to-day operations of the team in 2011. League Commissioner Bud Selig accused McCourt of "looting" the club of $190 million to fund an extravagant lifestyle. McCourt filed for bankruptcy later that year. During bankruptcy proceedings, McCourt agreed to sell the team under a bidding process.

The late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball for making illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon in 1974. He was banned for life in 1990 after paying a gambler $40,000 to get damaging information about a player, but Major League Baseball reinstated him three years later.

The NBA said Miami Heat owner Micky Arison had been fined in 2011 for posting about the league's collective bargaining process on Twitter. The amount of the fine was not disclosed, but several media reports said it was $500,000.

The NBA slapped Aubrey McClendon, partial owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder, with a $250,000 fine in 2007 after he told an Oklahoma newspaper that he hoped to move the team, then known as the Seattle SuperSonics, to Oklahoma.

The NBA fined former Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss $25,000 and suspended him for two games in 2007 after his conviction on a misdemeanor drunk driving charge. Buss died in 2013.

The outspoken CNN founder and former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner was suspended for a year in 1977 for negotiating a deal with a player who was under contract to play for the San Francisco Giants.

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Team owners behaving badly

Referring to Johnson, Sterling purportedly said on the recording: "Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put (Magic) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games."

As criticism over the recording spread, Johnson was among the first to say that Sterling should be forced to sell the team.

"He shouldn't own a team any more. And he should stand up and say, 'I don't want to own a team any more,' " Johnson said in an ABC pregame show interview last month.

Sterling told CNN he's spoken twice with Johnson.

"Did you apologize to him?" Cooper asked.

"If I said anything wrong, I'm sorry," Sterling said. "He's a good person. I mean, what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I'll say it, he's great. But I don't think he's a good example for the children of Los Angeles."

Will owners force sale?

The matter of the team's sale is with the NBA's Advisory/Finance Committee, which met Wednesday in a conference call. Members discussed the "termination of Mr. Sterling's ownership of the team," the NBA said in a news release. The committee will meet again next week, the statement said.

NBA's strategy to force a sale hinges on 1981 document

If the case proceeds to a full vote, 75% of the owners would have to approve the forced sale.

However, an attorney for Donald Sterling's estranged wife, Shelly, told CNN Friday that she wants to keep her 50% stake in the team.

"She wants to remain a passive owner," said attorney Pierce O'Donnell. "She's not going to want to manage the team. She's going to want a very skilled, professional, well-heeled new owner to come in and replace Donald," O'Donnell said. "She only wants to own the team in her lifetime. She's 79 years old. At this point, she's earned it. She's been an owner for 33 years, and she's an avid fan."

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Shelly Sterling said she was prepared to fight any attempt by the NBA to take away her stake in the team.

"I will fight that decision," she told ABC's Barbara Walters. "To be honest with you, I'm wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there's 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or would they leave the husband in?"

NBA spokesman Mark Bass said in a statement after the ABC interview aired that what happens if the owners vote for a forced sale is already spelled out in the NBA Constitution.

"Under the NBA Constitution, if a controlling owner's interest is terminated by a 3/4 vote, all other team owners' interests are automatically terminated as well. It doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here," he said. "These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team."

Parsons told reporters Monday that he believed the NBA's push for an ownership change would be successful.

"My personal belief is that the league will prevail, which means that there will be an ownership change," Parsons said. "That's a personal belief based on having not only looked at the (documents), but looked (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver in the eye and seen the determination, and my goodness, I mean, this is just, there's so much momentum for doing the right thing here, and so much support for doing the right thing, that at the end of the day, I believe ownership will change."

Players who spoke with CNN's Nichols on Monday also said Sterling's comments to CNN didn't change their mind about the embattled Clippers owner.

"They want him now separated from his team completely, not just banned, but to sell the team," Nichols said. "That feeling is stronger than ever."

Sterling vs. the NBA: Who has the edge?

Sterling purportedly says jealousy behind racist comments

CNN's Jason Hanna and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 8pm ET. For the latest from AC360° click here.