The First Fan Chimes In

For heaven's sake - now Trump gets in the mix with the NFL anthem protests (now moving to baseball and the young man, Bruce Maxwell, is very impressive in his post-game comments, although less so on Twitter. FWIW he was born in Wiesbaden, Germany and his dad is a veteran. Do note the white teammate behind him on the field with a hand on his shoulder. If he can play he'll stay.)

As to Trump, Sen. Ben Sasse tweets some interesting points:

NFL players: You have the right to protest Trump tmrw. But aren’t there better ways than kneeling before the flag soldiers died to defend?

Followed by:

btw, Trump wants you to kneel--because it divides the nation, with him and the flag on the same side. Don't give him the attention he wants.

People who don't like Trump won't like this. people who do like Trump surely overlap strongly with those who don't like the anthem protests, so this will end up as one more divisive base-rouser for Trump.

And I guess is it was a slow news day because the NBA got into the mix. NBA superstar Steph Curry of the champion Golden State Warriors expressed reservations about taking the champion's customary trip to the White House (he'd already met Obama there) so Trump un-invited him. Given their "Strength in numbers" motto there was no doubt the rest of the team would then decline the visit. LeBron got involved, calling Trump a "bum", and we are not talking about whether the big Melo trade can put my Thunder in the top rank. 

What, no hockey?

Comments

[Jim Eagle]

First?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Nobody cares if a bunch of Canucks kneel.

[Jim Eagle]

The paradox here is that it was not Trump who politicized this but Colin Kapernick for refusing to stand for the National Anthem as a BLM protest. He is and was so divisive because of that that no team in the NFL would even consider him for a starting or back up role.

And now that Trump calls out the kneelers and sitters, the owners who refused to consider a divisive Kapernick criticize Trump for (in a way) backing their initial decision to keep him at arm's length for the same reason.

Its getting so confusing, even for that Cornhusk lisper Sasse.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The best measure of how deep in the criminal Trump spying project Barry was is his relative silence and gentlemanly behavior.
The only time this jabber-wocky has kept his mouth even relatively shut and respectful has been since Nov when the pieces of the corrupt puzzle slowly began emerging in earnest.

Can anyone come up with any other plausible reason why Mr "I won, drink your Slurpee and shut up, bring a gun to a knife fight" seems to be mostly minding his Ps n Qs? It must be killing him not to be able to listen to his own omniscient dulcet tones.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Don't know what the polling is on this but I'm guessing about 90% of Trump's base and a out 75% of the country either openly or tacitly despise these NFL etc anti American prima donnas.
Does anyone think Trump is on the losing side of this?

[boris]

I think Trump is making the SJWs choke on their own vomit.

[Threadkiller]

Has Sassehole tweeted before on the kneeling topic? Looks like Trump's right to have an opinion, just like Sassehole's, caused the prick with ears to finally think about the men who died defending the flag.

btw, "Trump wants you to kneel" is the worst insight I have ever heard into Trump's methods.

What a dipshit.

[Captain Hate]

According to the Horde, at one of those idiotic games played "across the pond" (dear God I despise that term; it's an ocean you fucking ninnies) the rocket surgeons kneeled for the National Anthem but stood for God Save the Queen.

[boris]

"Trump wants you to kneel" is the worst insight I have ever heard

Exactly.

Trump raised the stakes. Kneel now and they take credit for the culture war that follows.

[Threadkiller]

Idiocracy needs to should be required viewing in school:

http://www.latimes.com/sns-bc-us--california-gatorade-settlement-20170922-story.html

Make sure you read the article before you watch the video:

https://youtu.be/3boy_tLWeqA

[Captain Hate]

LeBron needs to STFU about politics. The guy who pays his NBA salary is a big DJT supporter.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Captain Hate,

That is correct. They just showed it on Fox.

Like I said, I don't pay attention to pro sports, much. Not even my home town team, the Colts.

I do know this, though. In Indianapolis, there are a lot of fans who think , "Well, that's those Forty-Niners or Browns," not OUR Colts."

There will be a lot of rage if they pull this here. Irsay already put out an innocuous statement wheich basically said nothing, I guess hoping to dadge a confrontation between the players' union and fans.

I will be interested to see what happens. Ticket sales are already down because of Luck being on the injured roster.

[Jim Eagle]

I am counting 7 fronts on which Trump is fighting at the same time:

NFL fools
NBA idiots
Rocket man
Iran
McCain
Roy Moore
GOPe Senate (ACA)

I realize I am missing a few. He gives a new meaning to multi-tasking. LOL

[henry]

JiB, you forgot Herr Mueller's antics.

[DrJ]

And the renegotiation of NAFTA.

[Threadkiller]

Roy Moore

Who/what is he fighting?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

You know what movie ought to be scheduled today?

"The Replacements."

[mad jack]

If the owners and the players want to bet their fortunes on this I'm happy to let them. When the inevitable "boycott watching the NFL for a week" crusade gets organized it's going to get ugly real fast for the NFL. "Progs don't surf!" to put in context.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Trump instinctively knows the cultural issues that irritate the hell out of normal, sane middle Americans.
The response of those people is not "For heaven's sake". It's "finally!"

[Jim Eagle]

henry,

Thanks. How the hell could I foget The Witchhunt? And NAFTA?

Wait until MeAgain's inaugural morning show starts on NBC.

[James D.]

People who don't like Trump won't like this. people who do like Trump surely overlap strongly with those who don't like the anthem protests, so this will end up as one more divisive base-rouser for Trump.

This is just completely wrong.

As with EVERY culture-war issue, the progs started it, and politicized something that wasn't (and shouldn't be) political. But somehow it's President Trump who's being divisive.

No. If somebody punches you in the nose over and over and over and over, you're not being "divisive" or escalating things when you finally punch them back.

And the left's (and clean-toga GOPeErs) failure to understand that is one big reason why President Trump is president today.

[lyle]

Insty has some tweets from Wretchard and others about the NFL/NBA/Trump contretemps plus some trenchant comments himself. Sorry, no link.

[-peter]

terrific pieces, today, Clarice. You lay out the issues so clearly. To me, that is so important because the vast majority of people do not have time to read political blogs all day. The "Russian Collusion" meme and the Mueller investigation need to be explained in simple terms as complete and utter frauds, and your article goes a long way to doing that.

[Jim Eagle]

I will not be watching The Red Zone today, so no scores and will spare you HTTR (if in fact, they score). Today, I am watching the lone BPL game of Brighton-Hove v. Newcastle and then on to the Tour Championship and finishing a book, starting a new one: "The Immigrants".

Will be interesting to see today's Nielsen ratings for the NFL games.

[Extraneus]

I don't see any way out for the NFL except to cancel the anthem.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Jamie Erdahl‏Verified account @JamieErdahl

Mike Tomlin just told me @NFLonCBS #Steelers will NOT be participating in the #NationalAnthem today in CHI. Staying in the locker room.
=====================

Well, this is a better solution than having them make a spectacle of themselves.

[Captain Hate]

Hey James, your boy Mara is joining pudgy Roger in condemning DJT. I guess he didn't have any choice when he had that numbnuts penalize the Redskins and Cowgirls with losing draft choices for violating a nonexistent salary cap after the NFLPA contract expired on deals which the league office approved.

No, I'm never gonna stop complaining about that.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

James Woods‏Verified account @RealJamesWoods 4m4 minutes ago

How much fun is the CEO of Anheuser-Busch having today? #NFLBoycott #NFLBoycottSponsors

[Old Lurker]

Ext "I don't see any way out for the NFL except to cancel the anthem."

Which will then move the show to the other televised sports and they will do the same.

Then POOF, no more anthem except in rare instances.

Victory: Progs.

[Captain Hate]

Tomlin's playing with fire. A significant percentage of the fanbase hates him anyway.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Another thing going on while everyone is distracted by the NFL controversy:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/24/trump-travel-ban-expires-sunday-new-restrictions-expected.html

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I think the solution is to substitute the Pledge of Allegiance for the Star Spangled Banner.
They could even take out "under God" if they wanted, so the atheists would have nothing to complain about.
That way they can explicitly signal, when they refuse to say it, that they are officially anti-American with no allegiance to this country, and be treated accordingly. TWANLOC.

And I think not even coming our for the national anthem is worse than taking a knee.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I think the Steelers have the right idea. Just keep the players in the locker room until after the anthem is over.

[Captain Hate]

Iggy, I'm pretty sure it violates league rules.

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Mnuchin does a good job of defending Trump re:NFL
Says players can do free speech on their own time

http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/352118-mnuchin-nfl-players-can-do-free-speech-on-their-own-time

[Texas Liberty Gal]

This is even worse!! NFL players overseas in London take a knee. I counted at least 10 Raven players. What's even worse is when they played "God Save the Queen" they all stood up!!!

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/09/24/ravens-jaguars-players-kneel-during-national-anthem-after-trumps-attacks-on-nfl.html

[Threadkiller]

Victory: Progs.

If going to padded gladiator wars, rooting for millionaires, and spending half a paycheck for overpriced everything is a show of patriotism and isn't already a prog victory I am amazed.

NFL isn't a function of the state. If it was we would have bigger totalitarian fish to fry.

If the NFL wants to shred the only thing that most of the fans agree on before mock-battle begins, then it will be "victory capitalism."

They have an out, quit playing the anthem or tell the players to shut up while on the clock.

Ultimately the victory goes to mask-dropping.

[James D.]

CH, I'm no fan of Mara jr either.

[Old Lurker]

"Ultimately the victory goes to mask-dropping."

But if in the end there is no anthem, no pledge, no statues, no Tom Sawyer, no history, and no God, what have we won?

[common man]

I will lay a huge portion of the blame for this nonsense on Barack Hussein Obama. I know several people of traditional values ( perhaps even conservative values ) who voted for the fraud, certain that he would greatly improve race relationships. Their argument was that once blacks could see a black ( yeah I know half black ) in the highest office, they would realize its not the white guy with his boot on their neck.

Could that have been the result? Well not with Zero constantly stirring the pot of racial resentment, since he preference in parties would be nowhere without a monolithic black vote.

And it takes a certain level of high obtuseness to whine about perceived slights and wrongs, while drawing millions of dollars for playing a kids game. ( but hey black actors have had a similar schtick for even longer they just failed to get the visual of taking a knee ).

[Threadkiller]

There hasn't been some of that for a long while. We lose when we let the powers that be think they are affecting us.

Sure, the schools may have the pledge down for perfect recital but it has always been up to the people who give a damn to help the kids understand the meaning.

The LA times link above is instructive. The State sued Gatorade because they are worried that the State taught children may believe that water is bad for the human body because of a video game.

All I can say is "not my kids." The Chick-fil-A crowd would agree, and they are large enough to alter Presidential elections.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

Common man,

I blame it all on obama. He was the most racist and divisive president in history.

[Threadkiller]

I blame it on the defenders of a perverted version of Article II eligibility.

They argued that a person with multiple allegiances should be allowed to run our sovereign nation.

Ultimately it was those cowardly traitors that didn't choose to fight against Obama but rather fight against anyone who asked if the question of his eligibility should be pursued.

This all could have been avoided.

(I know...YEARGHHH!!)

[common man]

I just heard some nonsense about this spreading to the MLB. And yes one guy on the Oakland As has indeed knelt. He is black.

Baseball is around 7% black. Most of those are Dominicans and Cubans. American blacks for the most part dont play baseball. This guy is an aberration. Fortunately for baseball, no one goes to watch the As play. On a good day, maybe 14,000 people show up in Oakland for an A's game.

[Comanche Voter]

I think I've got better things to do this afternoon than watch my former favorite NFL team, the (ex) San Diego Chargers get thumped. Now that they are in Los Angeles, they are on local TV every game they play. It's a shame--I still like Phil Rivers. But I can do without NFL football. (Although I did kinda like seeing that little pipsqueak Eli Manning take his lumps).

[Buckeye]

Just took a walk along the beach (at Seabrook Island this week). Weather is gorgeous, but surf being stirred up by Maria. Sounds like if it makes landfall, will be well north.

Stays like this all week, and I will be a happy camper.

[Another Bob]

What about hockey? The current champions have a White House visit planned. They felt the need to make this statement:

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-white-house/c-291316102

I read this as "we're going, anyone who feels the need to make any political statements can do it elsewhere". If I've read that correctly, good for Pens management.

Ron Burkle is the owner, and team president David Morehouse worked on the Obama and Clinton campaigns.

[Threadkiller]

Didn't BLM tell Punky Brucester that he isn't supposed to keep his hat over his heart for a proper protest?

#BrawndoHasElectrolytes

[common man]

You didnt expect a bunch of Canucks to participate in a protest did you? I bet the Penguins dont have 3 American players. Few NHL teams do...

[rse]

This seems apt. http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-democrats-dolchstosslegende.html

That was a new term for me.

[Another Bob]

Actually common man, it's six on the NHL team, one-third of the roster. More in the minors. Including one black player, but he's from Winnipeg.

Hockey is becoming more American by the year. (Which torques some percentage on Canadians.)

[common man]

I may have been slightly light on the number of American born players. Found a 2012 article which claimed 23% of all players were Americans.

[common man]

AB

Way more than back in the day, when there was but six teams.

Still a minority of players, but more Americans are playing hockey since the NHL expanded into areas like Phoenix and Dallas that never knew anything about skating rinks until the clubs came to town.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Hockey wasn't much around here until a youth league got started about 20 years ago.

Now a lot of people follow it and we have a minor league team that plays at the Fairgrounds.

[-peter]

Bruce Maxwell with his .244 batting average and sub .700 OPS, isn't exactly a superstar

[Momto2]

Does anyone think Trump is on the losing side of this?

The MSM does - they are all out trumpeting this for all it's worth. They are kneeling to protest "this President" not the flag" is their latest screed.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Even without an NHL franchise hockey is a BFD around here with plenty of bleary eyed parents carting kids to early morning rink time.

[Jim Eagle]

Daytona Beach has a very competitive youth hockey league. As does Tampa, Miami and Orlando.

I can flat guarantee you'll never see the knee come to college or professional Lacrosse or the Army-Navy game. Last year the biggest cheer I have ever heard at The Game was when Trump came out of behind the armored glass box and wave to the crowd. When that stumble-bum Ash Carter did his half-time change of sides the silence was deafening.

[Threadkiller]

The MSM has a pretty good track record with predictions of Trump's imminent doom.

I hope all the sports fans are pleased with the overt political spew headed their way on their favorite sports channel.

Advantage Trump.

[common man]

I liked to call him Half Ash for that stunt...

[common man]

I have decided to watch womens college volleyball today. Roger Goodell can kiss my posterior

[Threadkiller]

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that she hopes President Trump will stop “feeding red meat to his base” and instead “bring people together.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/352137-pelosi-i-hope-trump-will-stop-feeding-red-meat-to-his-base

[Texas Liberty Gal]

I'm in a quandry - I want to boycott the NFL but the Cowboys play tomorrow night and I'm pretty sure Jerry Jones has told his players no protesting allowed.

[Frau Heil dir im Siegerkranz]

Just play "God Save the Queen" from now on. heh

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture fills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our father's God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
(Written by Samuel Francis Smith)

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

I like red meat, Nanzi, and have been missing it for a long time.

[common man]

Did San Fran Nan ever utter a peep when Barack Hussein Obama was continually feeding red meat to his barking lunatics base? Didnt think so1 Might suck to be demogagued on an issue you are on the wrong side of, Nan? Sucks to be you, but at least 70% of Americans want the overpaid athletes to stand up and honor the country that allows them the opportunity to get paid ridiculously for a child's game.

[pagar, a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

"Staying in the locker room." Hopefully all day long as far as I am concerned.

IMO, someday major league football will be gone. The real losers will be the young poor players who will lose the opportunity to become rich from playing a sport.

[common man]

The number 1 ranked Minnesota Gophers are trailing badly to my Michigan State Spartans at the moment. ESPN if you care to join my protest.

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Excellent tweet

john o'neill‏ @sirnatas 36m36 minutes ago
More
Replying to @Deadspin
Sad...protesting on soldier field..a stadium named for fallen soldiers..

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Yes I know its Redstate but....

https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2017/09/24/can-stick-fork-graham-cassidy-obamacare-repealreplace-bill/

[Old Lurker]

Byron York explains the standoff between DoJ+FBI vs the House Intel Nunes. York puts it on Paul Ryan to add his weight to help Nunes get the docs.

Let me think. Are there one or two others who could make that happen with one phone call?

Who is hiding what from whom?

Scratching head.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-showdown-looms-over-trump-dossier-fbi-misses-third-deadline-to-turn-over-subpoenaed-documents/article/2635321

[Clarice Feldman]

Exactly, Iggy. That has occurred to me, too.

[henry]

All this #BLM complaining worked so well for Mizzou.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/09/24/clueless-hillary-clinton-tweets-about-u-s-military-hurricane-relief-efforts-in-puerto-rico/

Good pictures and video.

Hillary has even alienated my daughter, who told me this afternoon she thinks she's nuts because she got syphilis from Bill. (!!!!YES!!!! She said that!!!!)

She also says she just needs to accept that people didn't like her enough to vote for her, and GO AWAY!

I cannot tell you guys how happy this makes me!

[lurkersusie]

SB Nation @SBNation
Alejandro Villanueva was the lone Steelers player to come out during the national anthem .

West Point graduate and Army Ranger

[common man]

Spartans up two sets to nil for the number one ranked Gophers. You are missing the awesome

[hoyden]

MM, thank you for sharing your joy with us!
"I cannot tell you guys how happy this makes me!"

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

You do not know. She was horrified that I voted for Trump. She was a big Bernie supporter.

I think she grudgingly voted for Hillary because she hated to admit that the dems were wrong, She has been a democrat since art school. (I should have let her go to secretarial school like she first wanted, but my ex-husband demanded she go to college.)

She also thinks Californians who want to secede are nuts. She asked whose army would defend them and how they were going to feel when they had to pay tariffs to ship their stuff into the country.

Boy, as far as this household, Trump is doing a good job. LOL!

[Old Lurker]

MM, any way your daughter finds her way is fine with me. Don't tell her how unlikey the contact required between Bill & Hillary to spread syphilis would have been.

[Comanche Voter]

Miss Marple; Paresis is a terrible thing. Now your daughter may have lumped Hillary Clinton with Al Capone. Come to think of it, your daughter just may have a point.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

OL,

Yeah, I know, but any port in a storm!

[Old Lurker]

:-) MM!

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

If they really wanted to protest the flag, they would remove their helmets to play. The flag is on the freaking back of every helmet. Asses.

[common man]

Well if Weiner had syph and gave it to Huma and then

Oh just stop it, stop it already...

[maryrose]

Clarice:
Excellent "Pieces"
NFL kerfuffle: prog noise- not interested.

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

Funny isn't it, how so many folks are suddenly cool with NFL players disrespecting the American flag after years of saying Tebow’s personal beliefs have no place on the field. - RA on FB

THIS is why Trump is stirring the pot on this issue. It will be his second salvo. Sit and watch.

[maryrose]

So glad Plame was exposed as the true awful person that she used.
Even Dershowitz is disgusted with her actions.
Funny side note in an article written about,called her husband Robert.
How the mighty Joe has fallen!

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

Retweeted Spacebunny Day (@Spacebunnyday):

School's defending #TakeAKnee for their student football teams, but sending kids home for wearing flag t-shirts.......

and this...

[maryrose]

Should be about it and she was.

[Clarice Feldman]

Thanks, peter. That is precisely what I try to do. Make a roast out of all that hash.

[Frau Heil dir im Siegerkranz]

Just like the college administrations allowed the anti-free speech madness to take control, Goodell and his colleagues are allowing this perversion to ruin American sports. Calling the players "community leaders and role models" is rich. Has the useful idiot and role model who started all this been rewarded with a new contract somewhere? If not, why not?

[maryrose]

Stephanie:
Excellent observations!

[daddy]

Had another exhausting but fun day taking the train into London and sightseeing Greenwich---The Royal Observatory followed by the National Maritime Museum.

A pleasant train ride from Cambridge started the day early, and the train had loads of Brit fans of American Football wearing various NFL jerseys and hauling six-packs. They were heading to the Game I think was playing at Wembley Stadium.

Greenwich was gorgeous but I think what startled me the most was unexpectedly coming upon Lord Neslon's Admiral's coat that he was wearing when he was killed at Trafalgar.

If you look closely at his left shoulder you will notice a small white hole in the coat:

According to the plaque nearby:

NELSON'S TRAFALGAR COAT

The VICTORY received heavy musket fire as it approached enemy ships at Trafalgar. At 1:15 pm, Nelson was hit in the shoulder by a musket ball fired from the mizzen top of the French Ship REDOUBTABLE. It shattered his shoulder, punctured his lung and lodged in his spine.

The hole can be seen on the left shoulder of his uniform. Nelson knew immediately it was a fatal injury. Moments after he was hit he said to Captain Hardy, "They have done for me at last, my backbone is shot through."

Astonishing. You cannot come closer to touching history than that.

And I believe I also read today that his Mistress laid the coat on her bed beside her when she slept.

[maryrose]

Frau:
Is dragging your fiancé by the hair off an elevator classified as role model behavior?

[maryrose]

Daddy:
That is so cool.

[henry]

Maryrose, that might be on Goodell 's bucket list.

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

AS usual Jeffrey nails it.. y'all really need to get him writing for AT Clarice...

From Jeffrey Varasano

A friend said that I'm just reflexively defending Trump's NFL comment. No, I celebrate it. Here was my answer:

It's not at all that I saw Trump do something bad and now have to make some excuse. It's the exact opposite. I've been hoping someone would have the guts to call out these players and I'm surprised and thrilled that he did. I just found something I wrote nearly 4 years ago on the Leftist goal to bring down football both by attacks and by infiltration, and I'm sure that piece was not my first thinking on the topic. And I did a long post on it days ago that got reposted by more than 15 friends and in total had over 500 likes. For at least the last decade I've been studying communist agitprop and how it works. This is it. This technique is not new. It's repeated over and over and over in country after country, institution after institution, target after target. It's multi-pronged and very sophisticated. And it's very practiced.

One trick is to attack from both the outside and infiltrate from the inside at the same time. Institutions are made up of many people and they are divided into assorted useful groups. There are always people within an institution that are too unaware to understand the attack, others who want to join the attack and others who's interests can be separated from the institution.

So the left attacks football from many angles. Why? Because it's Americana - it's the patriarchy, traditional gender roles, quasi militaristic, big business, etc. Everything the left hates. If the left only attacked institutions from the outside, the institutions would unite internally and fight back. This was the lesson that was learned in the 1960s and why Marxist Strategists such as Herbert Marcuse pushed the idea of "the long march thru the institutions" - infiltrate even while you attack.

For example, Let's say that the left wants to target corporation X. They can get the media and lawyers to attack from the outside. But look at the inside game. Corp X is made up of many people. Some are disgruntled, so they can be recruited to do lots of things: whistleblow, organize the aggrieved, gossip, publicly embarrass them, make demands, play victim. Others are not disgruntled but can be made to have their own agenda because they are climbers. Let's say the corp is $100B - very powerful. But to chip away at it, it doesn't take $100B. Lets say you find 2 people within the top 20 in upper management that make $1M a year, but if they rose to the very top, could make $10M a year. They can be enrolled to bring down the corp for very little money. The media suddenly starts writing puff pieces about them, as "the rising star" within the company. Meanwhile others are "plagued with problems". Soon the "rising star" does rise but now he's allied with the media who got him there, not really with the corporation as a whole. This is the same media who is attacking the corp. Maybe they are even saying that the rising star is the savior of an otherwise problematic corp. The board, completely unaware of how any of this works, but eager to end bad press, falls for the whole thing and does exactly what their enemy wants them to do. Of course the media and the left don't REALLY think this new person will 'solve' any of these overblown problems. They are just trying to get their chosen person into the top role. Once there, the savior will side with the aggrieved. The media will pretend that the apologies are overdue and what's needed and shows leadership and compassion. But they really weaken the corp. The new leader steers large amounts of money to 'fix the problems'. This creates a slush fund for recruiting people - for making alliances. Many of the aggrieved are rewarded and elevated. Meanwhile, people who are against the original attacks and wanted to fight back are portrayed as problems and a handful are purged, silencing 100s of others. True Rank and file loyalists either shut up or leave. The corp is now politicized. The original work goes on, but much diminished and slowly rots from within.

Football is getting this treatment. If it unites around it's original mission and fights back quickly, it has a chance. But from the looks of it, it's going south fast. Goodell is listening to the left. The very left that wants to bring football down. The many outside critiques are ongoing. The aggrieved have been recruited from within. People are being divided and those that want to defend the original mission are being demonized.

[common man]

New Sheriff in Town!

Spartans swagger in the Gophers house. Take down the number one ranked team in straight sets.

Now that was fun. Even better no idjits raising my blood pressure.

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

Isn't today Gold Star Mother's Day?

Trump is a fooking genius.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

daddy,

That uniform reminds me of one of my favorite poems, "The Admiral's Ghost" by Alfred Noyes.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-admiral-s-ghost/

It's long and I won't post the whole thing here, but here are the closing stanzas:

'D'you guess who Nelson was?
You may laugh, but it's true as true!
There was more in that pore little chawed-up chap
Than ever his best friend knew.

'The foe was creepin' close,
In the dark, to our white-cliffed isle;
They were ready to leap at England's throat,
When-O, you may smile, you may smile;

'But-ask of the Devenshire men;
For they heard in the dead of night
The roll of a drum, and they saw him pass
On a ship all shining white.

'He stretched out his dead cold face
And he sailed in the grand old way!
The fishes had taken an eye and his arm,
But he swept Trafalgar's Bay.

'Nelson-was Francis Drake!
O, what matters the uniform,
Or the patch on your eye or your pinned-up sleeve,
If your soul's like a North Sea storm? '