Agree that there's likely a broad overlap between Trump supporters and those foregoing the NFL. Also between those supporters and people who will forego the truth if it doesn't fit their viewpoint. After all about the biggest blowhard liar ever was elected despite that most wouldn't let their child date him given his recorded statements.

I am impressed by those here who take one personal incident and generalize it as a universal truth and who tell us that we can't comment unless we've experienced it (so, if haven't coached or played football, then can't comment on it).

But, wait. Doesn't that mean that one can't comment on certain situations unless one is African-American or has protested the anthem at a football game?

Closed minds rule!

Boy, for a minute I thought we were talking about a certain poster on BA who manufactures a new "truth mantra" every few months because the new facts don't fit his viewpoint. This same poster often gets confused between political matters and football and puts in his posts irrelevant comments about political figures that he doesn't like and then compares them with OHIO coaches or OHIO coaching philosophy. Sorry, I was mistaken, I must be on the wrong board. Sorry for the intrusion. Now, back to your regularly programmed mantra . . .

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/17/what-a-lot-of-people-get-w...

The truth and facts always seem a better way to go than other stuff that one wants to believe.

I guess my point was that City Tavern isn't authentic at all. It burned down in the mid 19th Century and was rebuilt over a hundred years later and the reproduction is very different from the original in its atmosphere. Plus, none of the history they talk about actually happened in the extant building. McGillin's, on the other hand, has had a ton of Philadelphia history take place within its four walls--and that continues to this day. I'm not sure why you'd get hung up on them having TVs and a karaoke night. They also have tons of Philly artifacts and newspaper clippings on the walls from throughout their history. And those TVs aren't just used for sports. They're also for special events like the Mummer's parade, election returns, and the State of the Union. Calling McGillin's primarily a sports bar is a huge disservice. Sports bar is about number 100 on the list of things it is. It really is a fascinating place.

But yes, there is definitely room for all types of places :)


P.S.- Part of my beef with City Tavern is a general beef with the National Historic Park. They NPS tore down thousands of historic buildings to create Independence Mall and the pastoral setting to the south of Independence Hall around Independence Square. What you have there today is not historically accurate at all. It makes Philly look like it was a peaceful pastoral village. In reality it was a bustling metropolis and the second largest city in the British Empire. We wiped out tons of actual history in the surrounding blocks to create a fake version of 18th Century Philly.

FYI 2015 & 2016. Make of this what you will.

Fatal Shootings 2016 vs 2015. White 435/495 (-12%), Black 223/258 (-14%), Hispanic 153/172 (-11%)

2016 CA 129, TX 79, FL 54, AZ 48, NC 32, CO 31, WA 26, Ohio 26, GA 26, IL 25, AL 21.

Monroe, CA 129, what the hell? Kaepernick QB for San Fran CA NFL team. I am getting why the left coast passion, though, it seems Kaepernick needs to be protesting the CA flag.

2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-s... /

2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-s... /

L.C.. One point on the protest's effectiveness. Were it not for this discussion, I would be doing a training lab on tax preparation. Yet, there is this.

Billy. The above reflects fatal shootings by police. 2016 down 12% from 2015.

Trump might be referring to actual murders in our cities. Those stats are trending up, not down. Chicago 600 homicides by November is on a pace to set a wrong record. Baltimore is over 300 for the second year in a row. So is there really evidence that Trump is wrong?

Actually the CA numbers caught me by surprise, what with all their safe zones and sanctuary cities, what with all the resident sage wisdom from all the actors who have played, presidents, politicians, lawyers, doctors, etc. in movies and on TV.

Note. Unpaid nonpolitical announcement. Tax season is upon us. There are many seniors and others who could use help with tax preparation. Most areas have no cost tax preparation through university extensions and the like. Volunteering and helping someone through this is rewarding. No one should have to pay for help with a simple return. Amazing what you can learn about the IRS, the tax code and even the Affordable Care Act.

"By the way, crime and murder rates are way low historically." Missourians have a saying, "Show Me."

https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-rele...

A snippet: All of the offenses in the violent crime category—murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape (revised definition), rape (legacy definition), aggravated assault, and robbery—showed increases when data from the first six months of 2015 were compared with data from the first six months of 2014. The number of rapes (legacy definition) increased 9.6 percent, the number of murders increased 6.2 percent, aggravated assaults increased 2.3 percent, the number of rapes (revised definition) rose 1.1 percent, and robbery offenses were up 0.3 percent.

Personally,I don't find much value in nationwide crime statistics.
If area "a" has a marked increase,while area "b" has a similar decrease,the overall number remains the same.
Not much comfort if you live in area "a".

I work with a number of law enforcement people and prosecutors.

Based on what they say,overall crime rates nationwide may be down.But crime rates in certain areas,like inner cities,especially violent,gang related crimes are way up.
One thing that has increased a lot in the "urban" areas around here,like Paterson and Passaic are driveby's.

Hmmmm. Well, can't find 2015 data for those places. But, through 2014 Passaic's crime rate has plummeted since 2002. Never more than 6 murders there in that time period. And 2014 there were 2. Patterson NJ does have more murders (24) in 2014 after having 18 to 21 the previous years. All other crime in Patterson seems to be down.

That's absolutely not true. Crime rates are down in inner cities big time. The 1980s were a peak for inner city violence. I work with this data on a regular basis. Cities like Chicago and Baltimore, where the rate is trending up, are the anomalies--not the rule. And let's be clear, those are very short term trends. Even those cities are safer now than they were a generation ago. As someone said before, it is not useful to compare the change in violent crime from one year to the next. You really do need to look at the longer trend. Our cities are the safest they've been in generations.

You use the phrase "inner city violence".
That's a broad term,that covers a multitude of offenses.

There was big "expose" about how,under Mayor DiBlasio of NYC certain crimes were "reclassified" as "non-violent".
Also,if a person was charged with several offenses,the non-violent charge,if there as one,was used on their statistical breakdown.
He also wanted,don't know if its in place yet,certain "quality of life" offenses,like urinating in public decriminalized.

These types of actions show that statistically overall and violent crime rates are lower,which is just "smoke and mirrors".

One thing that can't be "fudged' are the number of shooting and/or murders.
In northern New Jersey,Paterson is on track to have the most murders in its history.
New York also has seen big spikes in this.

From talking to the law enforcement people I deal with,shootings are much more common then they used to be, due in large part to gangs.
They also say that criminals no longer have any fear of shooting at law enforcement.