And so it continues ...
ESPN: NFL owners pass new National Anthem policy
The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction.
Apparently, according to commissioner asshat Goodell,* players and personnel have "choices" to remain in the locker room and not be fined. But who among us believes that won't result in different consequences?
Another day, another assault on our First Amendment Rights. Can we entice Wayne-o away from the Second, so he can lobby on our behalf?
*(How does this tool still even have a job? Oh, right, he's the epitome of "failing up.").
Comments
Ha! My bud, Pennymon,
and I were just talkin' about this on FB.
FB rant (need FB account)
We both agree that the NFL shouldn't bother playing anthem.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Yep.
Except it'll never happen. Can you imagine the red-blooded outrage that would result from THAT move? Those poor NFL owners gotta eat, you know!
Exactly
The NFL owners and the MIC are the only people culpable here. They take huge amounts of our tax dollars and shove a portion of that money back in our faces in the form of military ads and non-stop, fascist jingoism. By insisting on playing the national anthem and having everyone stand at attention and ignoring the main issue of unarmed black people being killed and harassed as a result of institutional racism, they are vomitting on all Americans. This has nothing to do with patriotism. Trump, the MIC, the NFL owners and the fascists-in-training should stop their provocation and stop playing the anthem, except for maybe on occasions where it isn't phony.
Beware the bullshit factories.
No respect for the people
or their Constitutional rights; might as well paint a giant dollar sign on that flag as that's what the damned thing has been made a symbol of: repression, war and the worship of wealth.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag
and carrying a cross".
The players union might have a say in this, we'll see. Actually a court should have a say in it as it goes to what an employer can make it's employees do in the year 2018. Require your employees to stand and "respect" the national anthem and flag? Good fucking grief. It's actually completely antithetical to the illusion of freedom behind the flag. And those most adamant about standing for the anthem are the ones who believe that shit the most. Talk about cognitive dissonance.
The practice of playing the national anthem at all the sporting events is ridiculous, that's what really needs to be protested. I haven't gone to a pro game in over ten years but I'd imagine most of the customers do stand. I know I wouldn't be able to do that so I'll just stay in my own locker room.
The last time I went to a footall game
and it will be the last one I ever attend, there simply is not room to kneel if one even wanted to. And the crowd that was around me would have been hostile if I had tried it - I did get to hear some verbiage from the guys right next to me about it so I knew what their reaction would be if I sat. The friend I went with "still gets chills" every time they play the anthem and so do I now, for a completely different reason. I had already said something to her when she tried that lame old excuse of "politics shouldn't be in sports" but I have not bothered to argue that further with her - what would be the point? I know enough to shut up when I'm not going to make any difference, at least with friends. Family is MUCH harder for me on that score.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
"no politics in sports"
and yet they can't see the anthem playing itself is uber political. They can't see how they're being played with the nationalism, militarism, tribalism and patriotism.
Well, some of us wake up, most don't.
If I even do go to a game in the future, depending on how I feel I might sit or might go to the refreshment stand and wait for it to end. That's what I do now when I watch games on tv, I turn the channel until after the anthem is played. I just can't stand it anymore, like you.
It was fun to go the couple
times I did. The first time was sensory overload for me, I admit. But the next time wasn't as fun, and by the last time I had also seen the movie "Concussion." Fiction, I know but that did it for me. I was a football "widow" when married and just never liked it but would put up with it if I wasn't required to watch it. My friend has season tickets and there are a whole group that go. She is one of the few of my friends I just don't bother arguing with. She will just never see it, I'm not sure if she can't allow herself to or just doesn't want to. I really think it's the latter. We don't hang out a lot, and I just beg off politely on games now.
It's not only the militarism, which is bad enough, but the commercialism. Some of the people in that audience who are wearing all those really expensive shirts? Well, it's obvious now to me how they're being relentlessly exploited. Even the crowd watching isn't what it was that first time for me now.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
"Concussion" did it for me, too.
Although, like you, I'd already started to realize how the players and we fans alike were being exploited. That was thanks, in part I think, to the debates raging around the NCAA and whether players should be paid.
It's too bad, really; I used to really enjoy sports as mindless escapism ... but what has been seen, can't be unseen.
My beloved NY Yankees
even take it a step
further by dragging out some "War on Terra" veteran during the 7th inning stretch, and follow that up with a Kate Smith recording of God Bless America just for good measure. Becuz paying fans just can't get them enough "patriotism."
Like Big Al, I turn the channel during all the pomp and circumstance nonsense.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Yup, my bladder is funny that way.
I feel the urge to go right before they play that ugly tune. My husband is a Vet and he used to say he felt very proud when he heard it. I asked him that recently and he didn't respond so maybe not.
On a local sports radio show this morning they brought up an interesting point. The NBA has had the policy of standing during the NA for some time. How come they didn't protest that way back when? Or has the social injustice just recently become more of an issue? If so why didn't a predominately black league protest? Although I understand that they allow players to protest prior to the NA by wearing t-shirts with protest slogans and such. And my masters ain't woke yet.
I just wish I could somehow protest having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at Union meetings. It makes me sick. I pretty much only mouth the words with the exception of "under God" I refuse to even mouth that lie. Unfortunately most of us have masters we have to serve to survive me being no different.
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
I just don't get
how black people
stand for the damned thing anyway?
This country has done nothing but fuck them since day one,
and continues with bull$h!t like Flint, MI. Why stand up for that?
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
For gawd's sake get rid of Gawd bless America
and bring back
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
No doubt,
that idea was basically insane.
Of course, again, without most people even realizing it, it's all based on the false flag attack on 9/11. That's when they started singing that bullshit song at baseball games.
It's like a Twilight Zone episode, I should write one revolving around someone who knows the truth but no one will listen as they continue to do exactly what they shouldn't be doing, like trained rats.
Maybe that's all we are, rats. Rats with thumbs.
Yep. Once again it was the never ending gift of 9/11
After "the country was attacked" for no reason, the PTB latched on to the patriotic fever that gripped the country and that's when Kate Smith started belting out that song.
It was written by Irving Berlin during WWI and was immediately controversial.
Woody Guthrie got sick of hearing Kate Smith constantly blaring it on the radio he wrote a rebuttal song.
Then there's the history of how the 7th inning stretch came to be...
"buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack” and don't forget to buy me some cold beer!
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Cold beer
I would, but at $12 a pop, I can't afford it! (At least that's what it was at Fenway last I checked, which was awhile ago ...)
Come to Green Bay. Beers are "only" $8.00
and we love Eagles now!!!!!
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
There's the answer
Require everybody to do whatever they want during the playing of "This land is your land" before the games and the playing of "Take me out to the ballgame" during the 7th inning of all MLB games.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZYQ4VmGmPM]
Beware the bullshit factories.
indeed! n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Here's a big FU to Trump and the NFL
Report: Jets Chairman Chris Johnson Says He’ll Pay Any League Anthem-Related Fines
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Welp isn't it better and easier to access a 15 yard penalty
then it would be to tell cops to stop killing unarmed people so that people don't feel the need to protest them getting away with it?
Why the Hell sporting event needs to spend hundreds of thousands on worshiping the military when there's so many people who could use the funds is beyond me.
But the good news is that many NFL fans stopped going to the games after the kneeling started and they have said they aren't going back because they either found watching it on tv is better or they have found other things to do with their time then watch football. The NFL lost a ton of money last year and I don't feel one bit sorry for them. That the NFL gets to be run as a nonprofit is bullshit.
Look at how they get cities to pay for their new stadiums which the corporations then stamp their names on them and get another tax break for doing so.
I'd like to see parents stop letting their kids play football and play soccer instead. The risks of head injuries are much less. And look at how long the NFL covered up the effects of concussions. They leave people with life time problems. I've been there and have the T-shirt to prove it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
we need to organize Kneel Ins.
Have groups around the nation buy out rows of seats and everyone kneel during the anthem.
Kneeling at the anthem needs to become a social phenomenon at all sporting events.
I support the decision.
I'm against kneeling because of its religious and monarchical history and connotation. I kneel to no man and no god.
Furthermore, sports is politicized enough already. It's shameful that athletes are treated as heroes and role models despite frequent misdeeds in their off-field lives (murder, assault, spousal abuse, armed robbery, DUI, etc.).
Kap was kneeling in protest as a sign of respect
I don't care at all about the NFL and their slave-ownership rules, the players are all millionaires aren't they? Not my people. But Colin Kaepernick started the whole kneeling thing to bring attention to the problem of black people getting murdered by cops, so the owners black-listed him. Fuck the NFL.
Now this stupid rule will just give more time to TV streaming advertisers as players stay in their rooms until that militant anthem is finished. I support any worker who wants to kneel instead of play during any kind of militant flag presentation, the NFL should go bankrupt and their players too. I have never seen such a greedy bunch outside of the finance industry. Fanatics ruined the sport forever, all the way down to the pee wee league.
Colin Kaepernick
thank you for kneeling
peace
I just finished talking with a Reddit group about this
A few of them were saying that "when they buy a ticket to watch football they don't want to deal with player's politics."
I told them that his kneeling during the anthem had nothing to do with politics or disrespecting the flag. He was trying to bring to people's attention the injustice of police being able to shoot unarmed people without any consequences. And that he wasn't only speaking about blacks, but every unarmed person that they killed including people who are having mental problems, people who are given more than one command by several cops or even people who hadn't done anything wrong. Like Crawford who was killed close to the minute that the cops saw him and before they even gave him a command as well as the others wo they shot for no reason.
We'll see if that makes anyone to rethink their views.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Kneeling has a history.
You kneel to show obeisance to a superior human or mystical being. Serfs kneel before their lords. Catholics kneel during prayer. ISIS prisoners are made to kneel before their heads are chopped to show submission.
Sitting down would have conveyed his message of support without the unnecessary connotation of subservience. Or turning his back to the field may have been a great gesture, considering how many black men have been shot in the back during police encounters.
Taking a knee
is also from the military. I read that Kap discussed that with some military veteran and the vet explained that taking a knee is also done to show respect for a fallen, killed, member. It is also done when taking a "break" sometimes, and it isn't only about obeisance but also about respect. I personally think it is far better than merely sitting and really, if he had merely sat down I wonder if this would be such a big deal? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I prefer turning the back.
That honors the Walter Scott and Stephon Clark and Terrence Sterling and too many other cases where black men were shot in the back and killed. It's also suspected Michael Brown was hit by the first bullet from the back as he was running away and then gunned down when he turned around to surrender.
I have no idea who Michelle Beadle is
At any rate, here's the video link:
http://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/23581830
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Pretty kick-ass.
Thanks for that.
Jemele Hill is another pull-no-punches, female sports commentator.
Apparently she's also the latest media figure that the Faux News fascists like to slander.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Well she made it onto espn.com's front page
https://theundefeated.com/features/nfl-shows-who-and-what-it-values-with...
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
WOW.
With apologies for losing track of my own essay, I've just looped back and I applaud Michelle Beadle. I also had (have) no idea who she is, but we need more of this. Thanks for the link!
Don't have time for a long, thoughtful comment but will say this
With this boneheaded, panicked and racist declaration by the NFL, a couple of things are clear to me:
One, is that this is another blatant attempt to enshrine Fascism out in the open. And they'll get the wide swath of dopey, middle-aged white guys galvanized who listen to O'Reilly, Hannity and Limbaugh thinking their way of life is under seige. A no-brainer 1st Amendment lawsuit will shortly be on the way. But in the meantime they have unwittingly begun the last straw with the rest of us, who have come to see the sport as a military-worship vehicle, Fascist spectacle and overtly racist old white's exclusive club (not to mention a violent game losing more and more fans, especially that they've covered up how bad the concussion epidemic is and how poorly they're treated their own retired players.
Two, is as a former 20 year NY Jets season ticket holder, this is the last nail in the coffin for me. I boycotted the entire season last year and ain't looking back. It's hard in some ways, and I still am probably drawn to the sport, but it's time to take a stand. I will for one thing as I did last year wear my KAP black hoodie (written like the NFL logo) every single Sunday and to every sporting event I may be near. To me it's time to start talking a little more loudly about not only the NFL's racism and bigotry, but the overarching death-dealing of capitalism. I'm going to be a lot more vocal in public airing my grievances about all these matters. And you know what? Most every time I have lately there's been across the board agreement on everything, from universal healthcare to monopoly ownership of all sectors of business, the surveillance state, corporate control over our lives, military imperialism, etc.
Also, I've been dropping this bit by Dave Chappelle about Colin Kaepernick in various essays where it fits. This is my takeaway too:
Here's the truth about that situation:
At least the NFL isn't pretending it's not blackballing Colin Kaepernick
by Jack Moore (The Guardian)
(Kaepernick and comrade-in-arms Eric Reid have again been denied employment due to their anthem protest, further proof that for the NFL’s owners it’s simply a matter of power)
Kapernick is a whistleblower, who is being villainized and blackballed. He put his neck on the line. And is being persecuted for it. I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for such a person. And, get this, he's a fucking devout Christian. Which should have the RW conservatives rallying to his side, right? Heh...He's not in their "club", doesn't have the makeup they like. Goddamn hypocrites. Love their flag more than Jesus (or inseparably probably), these zombified American evangelical cultists.
The fucking GoonBoy, doofus Drumpf is taking down the NFL. The owners are trying to appease an inflammatory douchebag who has no loyalty to anyone but money. He doesn't give a shit about the American flag or national anthem, only insofar as he can wield it to ostracize and denigrate others to rile up his dopey minions.
And it's ok by me. These rich older white assholes in their exclusive bigoted, greeedy, sociopathic club deserve each other. It's way past time to stand up to these guys in a big way. And convince the masses too, that they're not our friends, despite all the guffawing, back-slapping trading that you might be given into thinking we're part of their club because of.
Ok, couldn't do the brevity thing (...and I'm still not finished).
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Well at least the NY Jets Chairman says he will pay the fines
for their player protests. But what is really going on behind the scenes remains to be seen. I think in general the NYC area is much more democratically leaning and maybe he is aware of that and that is why he said it. Sorry I don't believe for a minute he gives a rats ass about social and economic injustice.
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
Agree it's a political
move on his part,
not much more than a gesture of solidarity with his players, sincere or not.
Mostly not, I'd guess, but he didn't have to do it, "blue NY" or not.
He had plenty of cover from the NFL.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
yeah, well, I see that his name is Johnson too.
The Jets were bought about a decade and a half ago or so by Woody Johnson of the Johnson & Johnson family. He was a major contributor to the McCain, Romney and Trump campaigns. Finally paid off and get this, he's our current ambassador to the UK. What a fucking farce this game of politics is.
That's not to say this Johnson guy who made this sort of brave statement isn't a good guy. In that same family we saw a film made by a younger heir in the family to expose what it's like being in that bizarre world ("The One Percent"). Apparently he also made another one about his proximity to the people who forge economic inequality.
This automatically makes me think of another film of this ilk, made by Lewis Lapham, called "The American Ruling Class," which I thought was excellent.
I'd like to know a little bit more about this Jets chairman and the statement he made, if anybody knows anything about him or his motives. See if this gets a little interesting, or fizzles like the dud it likely will be forced to become.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Just out of curiousity MFQ
Would your view change if the Jets signed Kaepernick? That could possibly compel me to watch the NFL again, as a Jet fan, despite growing up with the Traitors.
Beware the bullshit factories.
That's a tough one. I'd have to say that honestly
I would be, given the import of what that would mean, excited by that. A move like that hopefully would have wide-ranging implications, especially about the discourse about police brutality, socioeconomic injustice and institutional racism. But I bet his signing would be if not outright conditional, sort of unspoken that he keep it on the DL. I expect he won't comply, but could take a lower profile in the whole thing. Either way, an NFL with or without Kap is going to explode this season because this latest flailing attempt to put out a fire just poured more gasoline on it.
Yeah, it'd probably renew my interest. I'd maybe even consider going to a game again (after not been to one now for 9-10 years), mostly to be in solidarity with him and those who really get it. And also to cast aspersions on the fascists who love their "team" but can't muster compassion and understanding for the human beings behind the helmet and pads or the real societal grievances and the undeniably racist treatment every black player to a man, bar none, has experienced in one way or another.
But I've really moved so far away from being a football fan, and I used to be an obsessive one. I know I wouldn't go back like that because I'm really pretty much over it. My interest, surprisingly, has waned and waned, year by year.
Anyway, I have a red t-shirt with this on it,
that says "Fists of Freedom," with a story on the back of the context of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City (which sadly doesn't the covered up atrocity of the Mexican gov't slaughtering hundreds of protesters right before the games started).
And you know what? I was in a classic Old World Greek food supermarket in my neighborhood today with that on. And I'm always a little conscious when I'm wearing political shirts to see the kinds of reactions I'll get from certain people and going into certain places. This is a place that generally I'd consider to be slightly on the conservative side of things. A guy probably middle-aged but sort of hip-looking looked my way and didn't say anything and I couldn't get a read on his face. Went outside with my son to eat some spinach pie on a ledge in front and he came by to get in his car. He smiled and said, "I like your shirt."
It's up to each of us to stand with the righteous dissenter, the brave-hearted, the whistleblower, the marginalized, the lonely truth-teller.
#ImWithKap
#BoycottNFL
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I think that killed Kapernick's chances in Seattle
Or I could be confusing that with another team he was talking to that gave him the condition of not being who he is and that fell through. I could see mass fan kneelings at Jet games, which would be cool. It actually would be really awesome if he took them to the Superbowl.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rHWeDOJYDM&t=4s]
Beware the bullshit factories.
Are we supposed to be doing a brevity thing?
I've missed a lot with computer issues recently fixed and have been going with the idea of the site rule being only treating each other respectfully.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.