OT: this is only going to get worse....

[nedleeds]

lol, i'm half white and say that. The majority of them have close minded views. Do you not see 31/32 NFL owners are rich old white men that suppressed Kaepernick all year? Obviously not all are, but a majority are.

What are they suppressing? He's an employee. He can go out and literally take a **** on a flag, video it and burn it. Nobody in this country will do anything to him. If I am employed by a private employer and while on the company dime and time I part my hair the wrong direction they can fire me barring an employment agreement. You want to see suppression, be a woman in Yemen, or a gay person in Saudi Arabia. Close minded views include what? Black people don't have close minded views? **** please.

???? NFL is a unique platform where certain athletes have POWERFUL voices that represent a large demographic of voiceless people. The USA is built on the entertainment industry. Athletes have as much of a voice as anyone in our society due to our attraction to celebrities. If they want to use their voice, they're allowed.

Read. He's an employee. If he wants to exercise his free speech and his platform he has every right. His employer has a right to fire him for behavior. When he chooses to kneel or wear pig socks during working hours he is subject, just like anyone who works for any entity to his employers right to fire him. Or ask him to stop and give notice that if he doesn't comply with company policy he'll be fired. Just like most working people on this board. If they show up at a place of employment and **** on the flag, or don't wear a collared shirt, or show up to service air conditioners without their uniform they will be warned or fired.

Why can't you separate the concept of free speech, from employment? He can also quit the NFL whenever he wants. No football employer should have to hire him or anyone else. He can become a full time activist cop hater. Maybe he can get his white parents in on it and really heal our countries racial divide.

[KnickXxxx]

Funny how none of these people stand up at home when the anthem is playing. I see a lot of people in the crowd with their phones up or talking/not paying attention during the anthem. Bunch of fuqing hypocrites is what these people are. Stop speaking for vets if you're not a vet. There are vets who don't support what the players are doing and there are vets who support the 1st amendment rights of these nfl players.

A white boy shot down a church and the cops took him to Burger King. The Stanford prep kid who committed rape barely got any jail time because of some other white privilege reason.

There is systematic oppression taking place, it's not that fuqing hard to see it.

You bring up the white guy who shot up a church but are you aware a black young man shot up a church last week?

Probably not because the news likes to hide stuff like that that doesn't fit the liberal narrative of angry white racists shooting places up.

[Slicin N Dicin]

Funny how none of these people stand up at home when the anthem is playing. I see a lot of people in the crowd with their phones up or talking/not paying attention during the anthem. Bunch of fuqing hypocrites is what these people are. Stop speaking for vets if you're not a vet. There are vets who don't support what the players are doing and there are vets who support the 1st amendment rights of these nfl players.

A white boy shot down a church and the cops took him to Burger King. The Stanford prep kid who committed rape barely got any jail time because of some other white privilege reason.

There is systematic oppression taking place, it's not that fuqing hard to see it.

You bring up the white guy who shot up a church but are you aware a black young man shot up a church last week?

Probably not because the news likes to hide stuff like that that doesn't fit the liberal narrative of angry white racists shooting places up.

Did he get taken to burger king after shooting innocent people? Because that was the point, which you clearly missed or chose to ignore.

And that's what a lot of y'all do, ignore the actual reason behind the peaceful protests. Proving my point right there

[Mecca]

What are they suppressing? He's an employee. He can go out and literally take a **** on a flag, video it and burn it. Nobody in this country will do anything to him. If I am employed by a private employer and while on the company dime and time I part my hair the wrong direction they can fire me barring an employment agreement. You want to see suppression, be a woman in Yemen, or a gay person in Saudi Arabia. Close minded views include what? Black people don't have close minded views? **** please.

???? NFL is a unique platform where certain athletes have POWERFUL voices that represent a large demographic of voiceless people. The USA is built on the entertainment industry. Athletes have as much of a voice as anyone in our society due to our attraction to celebrities. If they want to use their voice, they're allowed.

Read. He's an employee. If he wants to exercise his free speech and his platform he has every right. His employer has a right to fire him for behavior. When he chooses to kneel or wear pig socks during working hours he is subject, just like anyone who works for any entity to his employers right to fire him. Or ask him to stop and give notce that if he doesn't comply with company policy he'll be fired. Just like most working people on this board. If they show up at a place of employment and **** on the flag, or don't wear a collared shirt, or show up to service air conditioners without their uniform they will be warned or fired.

Why can't you separate the concept of free speech, from employment? He can also quit the NFL whenever he wants. No football employer should have to hire him or anyone else. He can become a full time activist cop hater. Maybe he can get his white parents in on it and really heal our countries racial divide.

Because the NFL isn't your typical 9-5 job. Players get DUI's, domestic violence, and even go to jail and go back to their position. That doesn't happen in office jobs. The NFL is a separate beast and also a unique platform for athletes to raise consciousness. If you don't understand that, you're simply not worth my keystrokes.

[SARGO127]

Let's solve this. Body cams put on all cops.

Body cams mysteriously go out? Have a third party investigate and issue severe consequences.

Are there scumbag cops? Yes.

Are there criminals, portrayed as innocent males killed for no reason? Yes.

You can't paint everyone person or every group of people into one category. You just can't. It's a case by case basis.

I know it's not this easy because there's a lot of hate in this country. A lot of whites that hate blacks and a lot of blacks that hate whites. This could help solve the injustices and this country can move on.

[KnickXxxx]

The ridiculous part is that this whole mess was almost a thing of the past. I think only 7 players (may have been a few more) sat/kneeled the week before Trump's comments. Then this idiot has to come out with usual divisive comments and behavior.

It is a sticky situation though - players have a right to protest, especially given the owners' support in a private entity, and can tell people all they want that "we aren't doing this to disrespect the military/flag/anthem" but a lot of folks don't care what your words are, they care about your actions and think you're disrespecting it. Players don't have the right to tell other people what they should associate the flag/anthem with. You just can't do that. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequences. A lot of people are really pissed off about this and HEZI is right, it's just getting started.

By all accounts you should recognize this was a great move and genius by Trump.

He successfully goaded a large and influential block of his political adversaries to take a position that voters overwhelming disagree with and interpret as an anti American action. Whether or not you disagree with that interpretation is irrelevant, that's what the public believes. Now he's backed these political adversaries into a corner where they are going to back track and look foolish or fully commit now and face inevitable annhilation as a league.

[thebuzzardman]

Personally, I began boycotting the NFL years ago, but that's because of too many players developing brain damage in their 30s and 40s (and in the case of Hernandez, his 20s).

As regards this particular protest, there are too many cops who shoot first and ask questions later. The Constitution does not empower police to be both judge and jury, even if bad judges and juries do. Everybody should have a right to go home that night...

I see this on multiple levels, though most are related or intertwined:

Always been racism by a percentage of cops, but phones with cameras being ubiquitous brings it out

Always been bad cops but phones with cameras being ubiquitous brings it out

Always been knee jerk reaction of either the local police authority or union to cover it up, not on the racism level, but just to not look bad/defend members even in the face of a bad action

Those things said, definite downward trend, since the late 60's and Nixon's playbook of "war on drugs" and a general sh*tting on the poor and also playing the "tough on crime" as code for "cracking down on those blacks/minorities". This trend really grows legs during the Clinton and Bush presidencies, where democrats decide to borrow from this playbook to gather up those important racist votes. By this time, the "War on Drugs" is institutionalized, and the creeping militarism of the police/eroding of constitutional rights is established, and 9/11 gives the government reason/excuse to "up armor" local police departments, which they in turn use mainly on the drug war and the poor, because drug busts are easy, the poor don't vote, no one else really cares and it's profitable due to RICO/laws around seizure etc. Widespread adoption of swat tactics/militarization and a long record of getting away with shady sh*t emboldens the worst of the cops and honestly, makes the 95% good cops in charge of enforcing some pretty sh*tty policy. In this way, oddly enough, the "tough on crime conservatives" who are "all about limiting big government corruption and abuse" help abet the largest, most widespread and impactful forms of big government corruption and abuse at the federal, state and local level.
Go America.

Well damn!!

I'm also certain we read the same books

I'm certain there is at least a few crossing over here. I'd say that write up covers three in the main. You know, what, I'll list what I can remember off the top of my head:

The Rise Of The Warrior Cop
The New JIm Crow
The Last Scream
The Great Divide

3 out of 4?

[KnickXxxx]

Funny how none of these people stand up at home when the anthem is playing. I see a lot of people in the crowd with their phones up or talking/not paying attention during the anthem. Bunch of fuqing hypocrites is what these people are. Stop speaking for vets if you're not a vet. There are vets who don't support what the players are doing and there are vets who support the 1st amendment rights of these nfl players.

A white boy shot down a church and the cops took him to Burger King. The Stanford prep kid who committed rape barely got any jail time because of some other white privilege reason.

There is systematic oppression taking place, it's not that fuqing hard to see it.

You bring up the white guy who shot up a church but are you aware a black young man shot up a church last week?

Probably not because the news likes to hide stuff like that that doesn't fit the liberal narrative of angry white racists shooting places up.

Did he get taken to burger king after shooting innocent people? Because that was the point, which you clearly missed or chose to ignore.

And that's what a lot of y'all do, ignore the actual reason behind the peaceful protests. Proving my point right there

I have no idea. The media doesn't talk about this story because the skin colors don't match up to make it sexy enough for someone like you.

[HEZI]

The NFL isn't losing nearly as many viewers because of the protests as it is losing viewers because of the concussion scandals and just people cutting cords in general

Read on Twitter

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/09/nfl-ratings-trump-anthem-protests/541173/

http://time.com/money/4958955/nfl-players-national-anthem-protest-trump-boycott/

Refunds for NFL TV Packages

DirecTV customers who say they want refunds for their Sunday Ticket NFL viewing packages because they are upset by the protests are getting their money back, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It is unclear, however, exactly how many customers have asked to get their money back for the normally non-refundable TV package, which costs about $280 for the season.

Bars Stop Broadcasting NFL Games

Bars and restaurants in Massachusetts, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, upstate New York, and Texas are among those that say they will stop showing NFL games on TV.

"The sole reason that I didn’t air the game is because I feel the players disrespected the national anthem and that is something I hold dear to my heart,” one bar owner in Louisiana explained after deciding not to broadcast the New Orleans Saints game on Sunday.

Burning Season Tickets

In a more serious—and costly—display, at least one fan posted a video of himself burning a pair of tickets for next week's game. Brendan Finn, who says he's been a New York "Giants season ticket holder for many, many years," apologized to the team owners and "all the respectful NFL players who still respect the flag and out country," but declared that he couldn't go to the games any longer. "It's a sad day," he said, while burning his tickets.

Targeting NFL Sponsors

Corporate sponsors like Nike, Ford, Anheuser-Busch, Under Armour, and McDonald's collectively spent $1.25 billion on the NFL's 32 teams last year. Now, some are under fire for failing to condemn the player protests. Under Armour in particular has been singled out, with commenters saying they will no longer buy its products, after the company released this statement:

Read on Twitter

It's only just begun

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/poll-84-people-support-nfl-players-right-protest-164811638.html

An important question amidst the controversy over anthem protests is whether TV ratings for the NFL will suffer. TV ratings for the Sunday NFL games have dipped slightly each week so far this season, though in Week 1 it was widely blamed on hurricanes Harvey and Irma and in Week 3 the ratings were up if you included pregame shows.

84% of Americans agree with players having the right to protest

And that guy who burned his ticket? Still had to buy it. And the bar owner didn't show the game last week either

I'm interested to know how they conduct these polls and how many people are actually involved. 84% of Americans is a crazy large number and I doubt it applies to the entire NFL fanbase across the country.

It contradicts this

In a poll last year, 44% of fans said they would stop watching the NFL if protests against the national anthem continued. In addition, a J.D. Power survey showed fans citing the anthem protests as the main reason they stopped watching NFL games.

It's also interesting that DirectTV is offering refunds now, can't remember them doing that before as well as major networks like CBS having their lowest numbers in two decades.

The NFL season just started so the longer this goes on the more fans will begin boycotting

[DimesandKnicks]

Funny how none of these people stand up at home when the anthem is playing. I see a lot of people in the crowd with their phones up or talking/not paying attention during the anthem. Bunch of fuqing hypocrites is what these people are. Stop speaking for vets if you're not a vet. There are vets who don't support what the players are doing and there are vets who support the 1st amendment rights of these nfl players.

A white boy shot down a church and the cops took him to Burger King. The Stanford prep kid who committed rape barely got any jail time because of some other white privilege reason.

There is systematic oppression taking place, it's not that fuqing hard to see it.

You bring up the white guy who shot up a church but are you aware a black young man shot up a church last week?

Probably not because the news likes to hide stuff like that that doesn't fit the liberal narrative of angry white racists shooting places up.

I think I saw that on the same news cycle as you did, and I'm not sure the perpetrator was motivated by race....I could be wrong though

[BKAY]

People on the "right" love to push the "triggered" narrative against the "left". Yet i've never seen a group of people more "triggered" by a harmless protest.

[DOT]

The ridiculous part is that this whole mess was almost a thing of the past. I think only 7 players (may have been a few more) sat/kneeled the week before Trump's comments. Then this idiot has to come out with usual divisive comments and behavior.

It is a sticky situation though - players have a right to protest, especially given the owners' support in a private entity, and can tell people all they want that "we aren't doing this to disrespect the military/flag/anthem" but a lot of folks don't care what your words are, they care about your actions and think you're disrespecting it. Players don't have the right to tell other people what they should associate the flag/anthem with. You just can't do that. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequences. A lot of people are really pissed off about this and HEZI is right, it's just getting started.

By all accounts you should recognize this was a great move and genius by Trump.

He successfully goaded a large and influential block of his political adversaries to take a position that voters overwhelming disagree with and interpret as an anti American action. Whether or not you disagree with that interpretation is irrelevant, that's what the public believes. Now he's backed these political adversaries into a corner where they are going to back track and look foolish or fully commit now and face inevitable annhilation as a league.

If by overwhelmingly disagree, you mean 16% disagree with, then you're right
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/poll-84-people-support-nfl-players-right-protest-164811638.html

And I guess this 4 star general is anti American too, then?
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/352419-michael-hayden-in-trump-versus-nfl-standing-up-for-free-speech

[DimesandKnicks]

might be why it wasn't as huge a story as a teenager who identified as a neo-nazi shooting up a black church

[Slicin N Dicin]

You bring up the white guy who shot up a church but are you aware a black young man shot up a church last week?

Probably not because the news likes to hide stuff like that that doesn't fit the liberal narrative of angry white racists shooting places up.

Did he get taken to burger king after shooting innocent people? Because that was the point, which you clearly missed or chose to ignore.

And that's what a lot of y'all do, ignore the actual reason behind the peaceful protests. Proving my point right there

I have no idea. The media doesn't talk about this story because the skin colors don't match up to make it sexy enough for someone like you.

you don't even know me lmao.

You try to reference a story to prove your point, yet you have no idea about the details. Did you read a headline? Make it up? Don't bring something up to prove your point when you can't even state any facts about it. I can guaran-fuqing-tee you that there was no fast food trip afterwards.

You still have yet to acknowledge there's anything wrong with the kid being taken to BK after shooting innocent people in church. You just saw the race aspect of it and tried to justify it with a black kid shooting up a church. Way to not look at the actual point in the discussion.


Fuqing racists

[SARGO127]

People on the "right" love to push the "triggered" narrative against the "left". Yet i've never seen a group of people more "triggered" by a harmless protest.

Personally, I have no issue with Kaep kneeling. The pig socks were over the top and counter productive imo.

[KnickXxxx]

The flag isn't a living thing. It doesn't have emotions. If a player is kneeling and illustrating that he still respects the military and country, there isn't an issue.

The only issue I have is that the kneeling should be due to the racial injustice / police brutality, not because of what that idiot 45 says. His words mean nothing.

I just feel like Kaepernick's symbol for kneeling has been lost in the past week. Let's get back to the issue.

Don't use Kaepernick as a sign of respectful protest. Scumbag wore socks with cops portrayed as pigs.

So? Did he go around hurting people? A demographic of cops are corrupt and that's a fact. Not all are obviously. But a demographic are.

I don't find that to be a fact. I haven't seen anything convincing that cops are racist enough to target black men in particular. I think his protest is built on a lie which makes this whole giant issue even crazier.

I think lower socioeconomic people commit more crime in public and black people are over represented in that lower socio economic stratosphere so that's the reason why black people are targeted more overall.

[Mecca]

Don't use Kaepernick as a sign of respectful protest. Scumbag wore socks with cops portrayed as pigs.

So? Did he go around hurting people? A demographic of cops are corrupt and that's a fact. Not all are obviously. But a demographic are.

I don't find that to be a fact. I haven't seen anything convincing that cops are racist enough to target black men in particular. I think his protest is built on a lie which makes this whole giant issue even crazier.

I think lower socioeconomic people commit more crime in public and black people are over represented in that lower socio economic stratosphere so that's the reason why black people are targeted more overall.

FOH we're done here. You clearly don't get it.

[DOT]

http://time.com/money/4958955/nfl-players-national-anthem-protest-trump-boycott/



It's only just begun

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/poll-84-people-support-nfl-players-right-protest-164811638.html

An important question amidst the controversy over anthem protests is whether TV ratings for the NFL will suffer. TV ratings for the Sunday NFL games have dipped slightly each week so far this season, though in Week 1 it was widely blamed on hurricanes Harvey and Irma and in Week 3 the ratings were up if you included pregame shows.

84% of Americans agree with players having the right to protest

And that guy who burned his ticket? Still had to buy it. And the bar owner didn't show the game last week either

I'm interested to know how they conduct these polls and how many people are actually involved. 84% of Americans is a crazy large number and I doubt it applies to the entire NFL fanbase across the country.

It contradicts this

In a poll last year, 44% of fans said they would stop watching the NFL if protests against the national anthem continued. In addition, a J.D. Power survey showed fans citing the anthem protests as the main reason they stopped watching NFL games.

It's also interesting that DirectTV is offering refunds now, can't remember them doing that before as well as major networks like CBS having their lowest numbers in two decades.

The NFL season just started so the longer this goes on the more fans will begin boycotting

That poll is a year old. A lot has changed since then, including the very nature of the protests themselves.

And the ratings decline has been happening for a long time, the kneeling might have some effect on it, but it was gonna happen regardless

[Slicin N Dicin]

So? Did he go around hurting people? A demographic of cops are corrupt and that's a fact. Not all are obviously. But a demographic are.

I don't find that to be a fact. I haven't seen anything convincing that cops are racist enough to target black men in particular. I think his protest is built on a lie which makes this whole giant issue even crazier.

I think lower socioeconomic people commit more crime in public and black people are over represented in that lower socio economic stratosphere so that's the reason why black people are targeted more overall.

FOH we're done here. You clearly don't get it.

Wasn't there a video out the other week/month where a cop literally says to a white women "don't worry, we only shoot black people"????

[SARGO127]

Why are players declining to go to the White House?

That's a perfect opportunity for them to get face to face with Trump and display their concerns.