Yes, a schism in this country was opening prior to Trump but shouldn't a president be the one to try to bring people together rather than drive the wedge deeper?
He should have called Kaepernick a deplorable bitter clinger. And then point out that Kaepernick didn't build the NFL (or even the read option).
The vast majority, save for a few hate groups, are for equality. The problem with Rodgers statement is, in many peoples opinions, the roots of the protest are not based on examples of inequality. The protest originally was about police treatment of minorities and some high profile cases and responses to those cases in particular.
The problem, in my opinion, is that the left cites all these stats about minorities being targeted by police and they never ask why, just assume racist cops. Yes, minorities are arrested and jailed at rates that far outnumber whites per capita. Some argue that it's because minorities commit more violent crime per capita than other groups. This is a fact. So, yes race is a factor at this level, but it's racial profiling, not flat out racism YET. When your city hires new police officers, where are they deployed to? White suburbia or the inner city? Why? Because that is where the crimes are being committed.
Of course you can't stop there if you really care about ever finding a solution. You have to ask why are crimes being committed in these areas by this group at a higher level than any other group? The answer is probably poverty. Then you have to ask why does this group have higher poverty rates? The answer is probably education. So on and so on until you get to the answer of trying to recover from years of institutional racism and in some cases continued institutional racism.
But that's not what Collin was kneeling over or what has been discussed in the media. And that's not why Collin wore socks with pigs on them and so on. So here we are.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were. How about doing a little more to contribute to healing, like supporting education, and poverty initiatives....things designed to break the cycle of hopelessness and crime in many areas. I remain skeptical that all who protest are doing it for genuine reasons. Can't help but think many are out for attention.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were. How about doing a little more to contribute to healing, like supporting education, and poverty initiatives....things designed to break the cycle of hopelessness and crime in many areas. I remain skeptical that all who protest are doing it for genuine reasons. Can't help but think many are out for attention.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were.
More controversially, I'd have a rather different view of rioters if they were protesting police brutality by trying to burn down police precincts instead of private businesses.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were.
More controversially, I'd have a rather different view of rioters if they were protesting police brutality by trying to burn down police precincts instead of private businesses.
I'm with you, we should burn down more police stations.
If people are treated differently. You can't question why those people behave differently. If ignored long enough everyone will eventually behave differently.
Lamenting the murder rate in Chicago is working the issue in the wrong direction.
It is best if we keep media affiliations and preferences out of this discussion. This discussion is really about what we as individuals think. On our own. And where things should go from here. It will not be about something subjective such as where we stand on the thoughts of leftie v rightie and their agenda to cloud constructive thinking.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were. How about doing a little more to contribute to healing, like supporting education, and poverty initiatives....things designed to break the cycle of hopelessness and crime in many areas. I remain skeptical that all who protest are doing it for genuine reasons. Can't help but think many are out for attention.
So you respect Kaepernick then?
I don't, but that's Dom Capers fault.
As I've learned more, I'm not upset about the stance Kaep took.
Well said. I would respect protesters more if they put their money where their mouths, or knees, were. How about doing a little more to contribute to healing, like supporting education, and poverty initiatives....things designed to break the cycle of hopelessness and crime in many areas. I remain skeptical that all who protest are doing it for genuine reasons. Can't help but think many are out for attention.
So you respect Kaepernick then?
I respect his original intentions, if they were indeed genuine. I don't know how anyone could take issue with opposing police brutality. But, he lost the high road when he wore the Pig socks and Castro shirt. Ask the Cubans were were tortured or oppressed by Castro how they feel about it.
Not surprised Kaep responded the way he did after the backlash he got for his initial act. Not condoning it, just not surprised he responded that way. He seems to have moderated some.
Sad to say, but if politics and football continue to be intertwined so closely, they will lose me just like baseball did with the strikes. I know some will be critical of those of us who feel like sports should be an escape, and that we cannot simply bury our heads in the sand but, seriously, the rest of the world is depressing enough: North Korea; a leader of our country who has soiled the respect for the office of President both domestically and internationally; media - both left and right-leaning - who now choose to unabashedly display personal bias that flies against all media ethics (remember sportswriters and reporters are not even supposed to root for the home team in the press box) and make news rather than report it. Then throw in issues at the local level - our Sunday paper featured stories about a local teen brought up on weapons charges related to the killing of his father, another family in which the son and mother were charged with the murder of their father/husband during a bitter divorce, and the story of a three year old girl who died of abuse at the hands of the druggie girlfriend of her biological father, while nobody intervened. Sorry, but I don't need Hollywood and sports figures to tell me what I should be thinking about, I just want something to give me three hours of diversion and fun.
I don't see it as they are telling you what you should be thinking about. They are telling you what they are thinking about and are inviting others to join them if we are inclined.
Actually Dom Capers is the reason Kaep truly rose to prominence with that playoff game. That was the spotlight and Kaep took advantage. Then he used his position as a famous player to do what he did. Boom, Dom Capers has ruined America. FUKKIN DOM!
I'll get some pushback from people that say there are people that are just like that on the left. However, for the most part the left-wing opinion people have a much more fragmented audience (maybe Rachel Maddow is an exception).
You lost me when you said "Maybe Rachel Madow is an exception". the spinter gal that says Anthony Wieners sex photos were photo shopped has a lot of credibility.
While Hannity is tough to take I will take him anytime over Madow. And anyone that thinks CNN, NBC, and CBS are fair political news sources then that is just silly.
While fox may be on the TV in rural area, I can assure you CNN is on in every public viewing place in all suburban and urban areas. And they still cant beat Sesame Street in their ratings.
oh by the way, I lean to the right in my political and social beliefs if there was any doubt.
Okay, so you can'r read un-needed content removed. He made a reference to Maddow's audience size, not her authenticity. And she's not good, but she's far better than Hannity, who is nothing but a liar, but that's such a low bar that doesn't qualify her, or anyone else, as decent. it Just means they're not utterly useless to the thinking world.
There is one thing good about DeVos (and most likely only one): at least she's the wealthy member of Cabinet who travels on her own plane on her own dime. (See: Price, Tom, for a money-sucking appointee)
Yes, a schism in this country was opening prior to Trump but shouldn't a president be the one to try to bring people together rather than drive the wedge deeper? He has done every possible thing to use wedge issues to deepen the splits among Americans. It's like he sees himself as a puppet-master standing above everyone, pulling strings to sow discord and watch the people dance, while he laughs maniacally at the show...
I can't figure out if he is a mad genius as you describe or a complete buffoon who lacks a filter. Either way, there is no in between.
For the record, mad genius does not mean I agree with his motives, just ability to get it done.
The problem is there wouldn't be these type of protests if it wasn't for Trump and all he stands for.
And nowhere in Rodgers statements do I see a word about Kaepernick. He's just a guy. He's not the idea. Martellus Bennett supported his brother who had a cop scream he'd blow his head off because he ran away from shots being fired. But what's the story on that? Well of course Michael Bennett was wrong and this isn't a pattern at all.
Dude, seriously?
2014, Rams protesting "hands up, don't shoot."
2016 Kap and his merry band of men sitting out the anthem before anyone in their right mind predicted Trump would get elected. Remember, President Obama going out of his way to both defend Kap's right to protest and to caution him on what his protests meant to the men and women in the armed services (back when it was cool for the President to opine on the subject)?
Don't let your Trump hatred get in the way of the facts, because this "protest" predates Trump and no one in their right mind thought he'd be the President until the night of the election.
And if the protests are about Trump, then don't you think the players, including ARod, have a responsibility to let the rest of us know about it?
Because I truly thought sitting out the anthem was about police (mis)treatment of African-Americans, at least until Lance Kendricks explained he was protesting the Puerto Rican hurricane response or something like that.
I need for you to tell me Obama's statements and Trump's statements are even remotely similar in tone and content.
Go ahead.
This whole noble old school Republican veneer is starting to show wear here.
Obama was asked about the controversy over the football playerâs protest move during a CNN town hall with members of Americaâs armed forces community on Wednesday. Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has sat or kneeled when the national anthem is played during recent games to draw attention to racial oppression in the U.S., especially police shootings of black men.
The president defended Kaepernick and others who have joined him in such acts, which many Americans consider offensive, saying, âWe fight sometimes so that people can do things that we disagree with.â But Obama also said people on both sides of the issue should keep open ears.
âSometimes out of these controversies, we start getting into a conversation, and I want everybody to listen to each other,â Obama said. âSo I want Mr. Kaepernick and others who are on a knee, I want them to listen to the pain that that may cause somebody who, for example, had a spouse or a child who was killed in combat, and why it hurts them to see somebody not standing.â
My god, what a monster. Granted, we aren't talking the eloquence of "fire the son of bitch" but I see your point.
God damn it! Should we all drape ourselves in the flag of the Viet Cong?!
That's balls. That's conviction. And SteveLuke, you ****ing ****, want to compare a peaceful, benign statement from Rodgers to the criminal failings of some individuals and a pair of ****ing socks vs. an idea?
Oh BTW, what's your income bracket? Let's break that down and move forward with our discussions.
Ali not signing up to fight a war with nebulous aims to come back to a country where he was a second class citizen was courageous, enlightened, and bold.
But Ali took clear, unvarnished stands (and paid a dear price for them I might add). He was protesting the war and would not be a part of it. He was pushing for basic Civil Rights that African-Americans had been denied since they were brought to America in chains.
What is/are the stands/issues being advocated now?
Trump is bad? I don't have to stand for the anthem if I don't want to?
There are too many racist cops?
Seriously, what are the goals that those who intentionally provoke are seeking to achieve?
I'll admit as others have that the message is beginning to be lost now. But for anyone to question what was originally being protested is just ignorance and stupidity. How do I explain to my kids a bumper sticker we saw this weekend that said "We Should Have Picked the. ****in Cotton Ourselves?"
They all told Paul Bear Bryant he'd ruin their programs if he tried to integrate the football team. Texas A&M told Bryant they'd be the absolute last team in the Southwestern Conference to integrate. Bryant told them they'd probably keep finishing last before he left.
Alabama and Governor Wallace were Bryant's biggest roadblock. He didn't care there either. Bryant may have been run out of town if not for Sam Cunningham and USC running Alabama ragged in 1970. Getting better was better than staying whiter.
Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Alabama football seem to be getting by today.
So when Trump talks about football going to hell on an express elevator and fans leaving in mass. He's speaking from a point of historical incompetence.
Football has its own bag of issues to resolve. So does Trump. But they ain't common concerns.
I find the Pittsburgh situation interesting. The redneck numb nuts were all praising Villanueva for "sticking it to those spoiled, ethnic bastards," yet, by all reasonable accounts, it was a conversation where everyone had input, the team decided what it was going to do, he stated his reasons for what he felt he needed to do, and he "abandoned" his teammates, just like many had accused the guys of kneeling of doing. And yet it appears they respected each other's reasoning for why they each felt they needed to do what they did without accusations of the other(s) disrespecting their stance(s).
Trump achieved his goal, he brought this simmering pile of garbage that Goodell and the league allowed to fester to the boiling point. And now they are backtracking big time all over the MSM.
Yeah, it was never about inequality. And it will never be about inner city black violence either, who cares about shootings in Chicago and other inner cities and black victims? It was always anti American.
off-topic comment deleted
And you care about inner city violence? Oh wait, you and everyone here doesn't have to care because you aren't making people like yourself uncomfortable by kneeling. So essentially it's a go to talk about Chicago when you poopy yourself because of someone's protest but otherwise **** those Chicago "victims" who really bringing it on themselves for their lack of morals.
Yeah, you guys are regular ****ing humanitarians. Ever hear of Chicago black sites? Yep, they exist.
Where exactly are you getting this from? You want to link me to that kind of commentary anywhere in this thread? For such an honorable Republican you sure squirm like a Trump reactionary.
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