Throughout this thread, some of us have been ridiculed for defensively stating we are not racists. Now do you see why?

I don't care what color you are. If you kneel during the anthem, I'll reject it.

And you have made that point consistently clear. That's why I very specifically said "some" twice and "nearly."

Wrong. The NFL has a long history of political activity, most recently by taking millions from the Department of Defense for flag-waving recruiting displays. This piece scratches the surface of that history, and doesn't even cover the inherent politics of bamboozling local and state governments into paying for stadiums.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/20...

Alan, the definition I found was "the belief that race accounts for differences in human character". By that definition it doesn't have to involve prejudice, antagonism, nor superiority. It can, but doesn't have to.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/racist

That is the definition I've always used.

Sure, Recovering, of course they were political in the lobbying for benefits sense. That only makes sense.

This. I can't see how a white guy who is offended by the kneeling can't look at this data and think to themselves "Hey, wait a minute, why is this so divided based on race?" and reevaluate what they themselves believe to be true.

There's a lot of hemming and hawing about how people who are offended by this are just supporting the troops, but that also implies that:

1. Black people, who overwhelmingly support the protests, do not support the troops.

2. White people who support the protests do not support the troops.

I hope we can all agree here that those two premises are false.

Maybe, just maybe, the fact that black people overwhelmingly see value in these protests indicates that there is a big problem with how they experience American life and maybe we should be a little more empathetic to it instead of trying to make this protest about something it is not.

Also, and this is an opinion I'm sure some here will vehemently disagree with, but I think that valuing conformity, tradition, and blind patriotism over someone's peaceful protest based on strongly held beliefs that our government and our American society is failing a portion of its citizenry is just about the most UN-American thing you can possibly do. I recognize that is a loaded sentence and I recognize that people here disagree with my characterization, but that's how I see it.

Finally, there was no outrage from most white people when actual Nazis paraded down the street in Charlottesville waving confederate flags and swastikas and chanting "we will not be replaced" while also hoisting high the American flag and pretending that their values were American values. That a majority of white Americans are more concerned with the kneeling than that, to me, speaks volumes about their character.

In a word, NO, anymore than somebody fired for using the word at work would be able to count on some 1st Amendment remedy. Nobody has a right to go into a private business and act however they want, and that goes for speech too. Now, if the city, state or feds tried to prosecute him for his speech, we have a 1st Amendment issue. The NFL is perfectly within its rights to police behavior in its stadiums up to and including deciding what kind of player abuse and taunts to sanction.

After flying 1800 miles with the purpose/intent of leaving, telling the reporters with him to stay in the van as they would be leaving early. Then hoping back on his plane and flying 2000 miles back to where he came from. So much for disparaging all that unnecessary travel. But hey, this is great P.R.

So, basically, our p/vp combo make for quite a punchline and are two of the worst humans on Earth. -- sigh -- Maybe humanity will start evolving faster.

According to a news report I heard on the way home,the NFL sent a letter to the owners saying it is considering a proposal to ban kneeling during the National Anthem.

Huge coincidence that this came the day that the President threatened the league's tax status.

P.S. Four US soldiers were ambushed and killed outside of a warzone last week. No official statement from the President. No tweets. But plenty of attacking the NFL, Jamelle Hill, and anybody who has the audacity to criticize the President, including his own Secretary of State, a GOP Senator, and a random professor at UNLV.

That's what Patriotism is in this administration: Blind nationalism packaged as support for the troops. But when actual troops die? Identity politics take precedence.

As has been said here previously,this has nothing to do with the Constitution.
That was also stressed in the news story I heard.

This is strictly an employer/employee situation.

The NFL players are free to protest whatever they want,on their own time,outside of their workplace.

And now Trump's on Twitter challenging the idea of the free press, and threatening to go after NBC's "license."

Again, conservatives should be outrages. The free press is a pillar of our country.

Instead, he continues to build a cult of personality around culture war issues, and his supporters look the other way.

The public has every right to exert that pressure. The President -- our head of state -- shouldn't. You'd think small government proponents would agree.

Also: I never expected you to be aghast. I've seen enough of you in these threads to understand that policy has nothing to do with your political support. You're the fish. Trump's the guy with the gun standing next to the barrel.