[JerryM]

[rajacat]

Yes the flag represents the right to freely express yourself. Don't you understand that?
BTW don't forget about more than 4000 black people that were lynched in the Jim Crow south. These were still occurring into the 1960s while blacks were fighting in Nam. Black people have every right to be sensitive about police violence towards them especially since law enforcement, at the time, largely overlooked or abetted these crimes against humanity and the perpetrators were never brought to justice.

[vonnie123]

How exactly are you correlating a ratings change with what Kaepernick and other players are doing to bring social/racial inequalities to light?

George

Not standing for the National Anthem is disrespectful IMO.  It bothers me that rich spoiled athletes don't take constructive steps to address community problems.  It's no different than the anti-police sentiment about targeting blacks, while blacks target their own neighborhoods an a significantly greater rate, and no one raises a eyebrow. 

kaepernick never did anything in his community until he started dating the BLM activist girlfriend.  He has every right to express himself and fully entitled to kneel.  It is his right. 
It is my right to turn it off.  Many other people feel similarly.

[rajacat]

deleted

[Emil]

Here's Kapernick wearing a t-shirt with the champion of freedom Fidel Castro on it.

Yes. he actually wore it

[S Clark]

In Texas, several years ago, our state legislature passed a law to make saying the pledge of allegiance mandatory every morning in class- one party jammed it through to try to create a wedge issue to beat up the other party if anyone dared vote against it. There was little patriotism in a partisan vote designed to get a few legislators to provide their adversaries with political ammunition.

Our district had already been starting the day with a pledge, so it was nothing new.
In my class I argued that any pledge that was forced, was no longer a valid statement of allegiance, and stated that although I had stood and recited with my class for years willingly, I would not be forced to say a pledge... and I stood silently.  Instead, after it was over, the school could hear me lead those in my class that wanted to join in, in slightly offkey but clearly loud version of our state song, Texas Our Texas.  I wanted our students to think about the words they pledge, and understand that a pledge is not some rote memorization.
As far as athletes using their fame to bring scrutiny to a cause, the Kaepernick protest is only a recent episode in a long history of athlete protest. The selling of "patriotism" in connection to the NFL is a marketing and political power decision, as is everything they do.  The coverage or a protest by the media is about rating/money, and has nothing to do with patriotism. 
In my eyes, both the military volunteer and the military objector are patriots.  They are acting in a way that they think can make our country stronger.  When one fails to respect the actions of the other, that is when our democratic principles are threatened.

And, this is clearly political, so I expect that this post and others leading to it will be removed- and rightly so in an international forum with rules that we are clearly violating. 

[rajacat]

Not standing for the National Anthem is disrespectful IMO.  It bothers me that rich spoiled athletes don't take constructive steps to address community problems.  It's no different than the anti-police sentiment about targeting blacks, while blacks target their own neighborhoods an a significantly greater rate, and no one raises a eyebrow. 

kaepernick never did anything in his community until he started dating the BLM activist girlfriend.  He has every right to express himself and fully entitled to kneel.  It is his right. 
It is my right to turn it off.  Many other people feel similarly.

The crime rate correlates strongly with the level of poverty. What about the high crime rate in poor white areas? I've noticed that heroin addiction is almost an epidemic in some mostly white states such as Vermont.especially among poor whites. I wonder what the white on white crime rate is in those communities? I've observed that in our mostly white area that the poorer communities are rife with meth and that's where most of the crime is.
I've found it curious that white males, the most privileged group in our country, like to portray themselves as put upon and aggrieved. What a bunch of whiners!
Actually I believe that there should be reparation for the crimes of slavery, Jim Crow, etc. The reparations should not be in the form of individual payments but in a massive federal program to rebuild the inner cities and give the people there access to the same quality of schools that are in white suburbia. Housing should be built using the latest in urban planning and state of the art architectural practices. The gangs, which quite often attract the most entrepreneurial youth should be suppressed and that energy redirected.  Medical care should be free. A trillion dollars would be a nice amount. If we can burn up a couple of trillion in Iraq, Afganistan we should be able to come up with a trillion for our inner cities. In the long run it will be a profitable investment as well as the right thing to do.
Where would the money come from? Soak the rich! They've been avoiding taxes for so long while the middle class has been suffering that it's time to restore balance. As Willie Sutton said "that's where the money is".

[vonnie123]

The crime rate correlates strongly with the level of poverty. What about the high crime rate in poor white areas? I've noticed that heroin addiction is almost an epidemic in some mostly white states such as Vermont.especially among poor whites. I wonder what the white on white crime rate is in those communities? I've observed that in our mostly white area that the poorer communities are rife with meth and that's where most of the crime is.
I've found it curious that white males, the most privileged group in our country, like to portray themselves as put upon and aggrieved. What a bunch of whiners!
Actually I believe that there should be reparation for the crimes of slavery, Jim Crow, etc. The reparations should not be in the form of individual payments but in a massive federal program to rebuild the inner cities and give the people there access to the same quality of schools that are in white suburbia. Housing should be built using the latest in urban planning and state of the art architectural practices. The gangs, which quite often attract the most entrepreneurial youth should be suppressed and that energy redirected.  Medical care should be free. A trillion dollars would be a nice amount. If we can burn up a couple of trillion in Iraq, Afganistan we should be able to come up with a trillion for our inner cities. In the long run it will be a profitable investment as well as the right thing to do.
Where would the money come from? Soak the rich! They've been avoiding taxes for so long while the middle class has been suffering that it's time to restore balance. As Willie Sutton said "that's where the money is".

Socialist Bernie is your guy.  Write him in come November.

[macrojack]

If you want to be patriotic in this country, you should pay your taxes and don't litter.

[S Clark]

If you want to be patriotic in this country, you should pay your taxes and don't litter.

+1

[zybar]

Personally, I would love to continue to have adult conversations on these topics, but as somebody pointed out, we really shouldn't be delving into politics.

Let's get this thread back to football.

Who else besides me is looking forward to seeing Beckham beat up on Norman tomorrow?

What other match-ups do you find interesting?

George

[Tomy2Tone]

Personally, I would love to continue to have adult conversations on these topics, but as somebody pointed out, we really shouldn't be delving into politics.

Let's get this thread back to football.

Who else besides me is looking forward to seeing Beckham beat up on Norman tomorrow?

What other match-ups do you find interesting?

George

I've heard Norman is supposed to shadow Beckham for the entire game. Unlike the Steeler game where he only covered Brown on the left side and was criticized for it.

We'll see if he actually does.

[S Clark]

Let's get this thread back to football.

What other match-ups do you find interesting?

George

Wentz against a real defense could be interesting.  The kid looks good- damned shame he has to spend part of his career in Philthadelphia.

[vonnie123]

Personally, I would love to continue to have adult conversations on these topics, but as somebody pointed out, we really shouldn't be delving into politics.

Let's get this thread back to football.

Who else besides me is looking forward to seeing Beckham beat up on Norman tomorrow?

What other match-ups do you find interesting?

George

Fair enough.  People will take a stand on their belief system.  An Audiocircle thread is unlikely to change that.

Enjoy the music.

[macrojack]

In the grand scale of American life, is it so important whether a jock chooses to sit, stand, kneel, or sing during the national anthem? Like so many other incidental sights and sounds, this one would pass with little notice if not for the media choosing to amplify and dramatize it.

BTW, I think it would be useful for us to develop some guidelines as to what is considered political discussion. The fact that some number of media outlets has attempted to make a matter contentious doesn't really mean it should be off limits for us. After all, what happens when Fox News or CNN decides to question your right to build your own speakers when by doing so you are causing the loss of jobs in Utah? Would we be required to avoid that topic?

I know my example is a bit weak but you get the picture. Maybe someone here is clever enough to cite a better example I might have used instead of mine.

[Letitroll98]

Wentz against a real defense could be interesting.  The kid looks good- damned shame he has to spend part of his career in Philthadelphia.

I agree, we've been waiting for Wentz to stumble, but the kid keeps passing the tests.  Today is a big one, but I don't think it's the Steeler defense that's the problem, they're really only an okay defense that has been playing over their heads of late.  Rather it's keeping up with the Steeler offense that will be the test, so it's more on the Eagle defense to perform than Wentz.  And despite the raspberries from the cheap seats, by all accounts Wentz is very happy to be playing in Philadelphia.

[S Clark]

I'd live in Philly too if I was making that kind of dough- but I'd have a second home, maybe CO or MA. 

[rodge827]

I agree, we've been waiting for Wentz to stumble, but the kid keeps passing the tests.  Today is a big one, but I don't think it's the Steeler defense that's the problem, they're really only an okay defense that has been playing over their heads of late.  Rather it's keeping up with the Steeler offense that will be the test, so it's more on the Eagle defense to perform than Wentz.  And despite the raspberries from the cheap seats, by all accounts Wentz is very happy to be playing in Philadelphia.

Yup it's on the D this week, which has been playing above its Fantasy rank the last 2 weeks. Big Ben will be putting the secondary on notice with Brown and Williams crushing it on the ground.  Pitt by 9

I'd live in Philly too if I was making that kind of dough- but I'd have a second home, maybe CO or MA. 

FYI most Philadelphia pro sports players live across the river in South Jersey! As for a second home Hilton Head South Carolina gets my vote 

[fredgarvin]

The wiseguys picks of Buffalo over Az and the Vikings beating Carolins at home, panned out. The Bradford trade is proving to be huge, so far.

[bummrush]

My 2 centsif you want to get political is    my opinion is,until people start calling the drug war,this country is just gonna keep more divided. Thank god that most likely there will be 4 or 5 more legal pot states. When alcohol is legal,well thats your first problem.