State of the Union
So now into the eighth month of the Trump Administration, where do we stand as a nation and as a People? One word would, no doubt, sum it up: divided. While much of the division and strife has been deliberately fanned into flames and financed by those who seek our downfall - George Soros and company - and much of the "outrage" has been feigned and affected by such intellectual heavyweights and societal spokesmen as Madonna and Ashley Judd, the effect is nonetheless real. Many among us have chosen to "kick against the pricks," in the language of scripture - harming primarily themselves, but wreaking havoc on the rest of us, and on society as a whole, in the process. (When we behave badly we rarely affect only ourselves, but typically everyone around us.)
After the first 100 days, the second 100 days, and now 50 of the third 100 days (as of 15 minutes from the time of this writing), we continue to see not only open hostility from the opposition party, but a determined resistance from within what was supposed to be the President's (and our) OWN party - fully supported by the Media and the Popular Culture (i.e., Hollywood, the NFL, and now the NBA). Borrowing once more from the scriptural text, all of the above are what would be termed or referred to as "the World" - as in "know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4) Surely "the world" in the present tense, has made itself "the enemy" of what was once quintessentially American: God, Family, Country.
While the phenomenon of the one-time athlete (before turning political polemicist) Colin Kaepernick predates the election of Donald Trump, the ensuing trend engendered among his mostly-Black NFL peers - while aimed at alleged White police brutality against Blacks - has converged with the anti-Trump pronouncements of Black NBA laureates LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and now Kobe Bryant (along with White NBA coach Steve Kerr), to coalesce into a fully anti-Trump swingfest. [For the record, I have been a 'yuge' fan of each of the four named NBA players and the one coach. At this point, however, I respect them more for their athletic and coaching skills than for their political perspectives - though I fully grant their right to believe as they will.]
The President, in his characteristic pugilist's response, uninvited Durant, Curry, and Kerr's NBA Warriors to the White House, while positing that NFL players who refuse to stand for the National Anthem should be fired. As has been the case throughout both the 2016 Campaign (which he won - though most on the Left refuse to acknowledge or accept the fact) and the first 250 days of his presidency, the President is actually speaking for the majority of Americans who oppose the players kneeling for the anthem. (A very unscientific poll from the Palm Beach Post/Daily Dolphin Twitter today, Sunday, September 24th, found that among its 2800 respondents 56 % opposed, while only 44% supported the players' protest.)
So once again, the President is in sync with the majority of the country, though if one were shallow enough to believe the National Media, he or she would be convinced that the opposite is true. The same, of course, must be said for all of these cerebral celebrities who routinely throw the majority of Americans under the bus as they eviscerate the man whom the People elected. They obviously believe that "real people" (the minority - though they are clearly unaware of the fact) who earn millions either acting or playing for a living, or covering them on TV, are the only ones who matter - ignoring the obvious fact that the people (their fans) who ultimately pay for their lavish and apparently-oppressed life styles do not share their pampered (and hypocritical) perspectives.
Having said all of that - and adding that given the state of our blatantly-dishonest and unbalanced National Media, the President's ONLY avenue for communicating directly with the people is his Twitter feed - I suspect that he (as all of us must ultimately do) will come to realize that turning the other cheek is sometimes (perhaps always - when our lives and property are not at risk) the best thing to do.
Do all of these pro athletes have First Amendment rights? Of course they do. Do they apply in the workplace? Well, that depends entirely on their employers' and their customers' views. I, for one - while I love college football and college basketball - do not watch either the NFL or the NBA (except during the playoffs in the latter case). If I did, I would "vote" on this issue by simply refusing to continue to support them by watching or buying tickets, etc.
Do I agree with Colin Kaepernick that Blacks in this country are abused by the police as a rule or as a practice in this country? No, I do not. Do I believe (am I aware) that in places like Chicago, Blacks are murdered at an alarming rate by non-police? Yes, I am. One site, heyJackass.com, states that 395 of the 480 Chicago murders to date in 2017 were of Blacks (77.6%), and that 52 of the known killers were Black (10.8%), while only 2 (.42%) were White, with police accounting for 10 of the 480 (2%). [432 or 84.9% were unknown - i.e. not found or identified.] Thus in the solved cases, Blacks accounted for five times as many killings as the police. Many of those police officers are, of course, Black themselves, making it clear that they were not racially motivated in cases of fatal Black shootings.
For the record, the number of unarmed Blacks killed by police nationally in 2015, 2016, and 2017 - year to date - was (and is) 39, 17, and 8 respectively. The number of non-Blacks killed by police during those same years was/is 37, 31, and 19. Thus the number of Blacks killed by police, compared with non-Blacks was/is 39/37, 17/31, and 8/19 - or 105%, 55%, and 42%.
Blacks make up only 13.3% of the U.S. population according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but they reportedly commit over half of the crimes. The following is from ExtraNewsfeed.com: "Blacks make up approximately 13% of the US population while they commit 52% of crime. In 2013 according to the FBI, 90% of black homicide victims were killed by other black people."
So, if the President were to simply agree that the players have the right to express their opinions - however misguided or disrespectful they may seem to some (or even most) of us - and that the fans and owners have the right to take whatever action they deem appropriate (such as not offering further employment to Colin Kaepernick, as has been the case to date) he, the President, would avoid the ensuing war of words, and perhaps engender an equally respectful response from the players involved (though I wouldn't bet on it), as well as from those who share his views. So, while I and tens of millions of other Americans love his fighting spirit, he may come to see that some battles are better left unwaged.
Would the media cut him any slack if he did? Well, that will only happen on a cold day in you know where...and that, of course, is highly unlikely!
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