courage

I see one Pittsburgh Steeler Alejandro Villanueva Had the courage to go against his team and coaches and come out for the national anthem. He had served and therfore stood (literally) for his country. I salute him. His jersey is selling big time.

nuk13 wrote:

I see one Pittsburgh Steeler Alejandro Villanueva Had the courage to go against his team and coaches and come out for the national anthem. He had served and therfore stood (literally) for his country. I salute him. His jersey is selling big time.

I could honestly care less if players stand for the anthem or not, but good for him for standing up for what he believes in. And apparently his coach called him out for it (in a bad way) after the game.

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The whole thing is stupid. 2 sides that don't even disagree necessarily arguing past each other.

I love how Trump has made this about anything but police tactics.



Why are the players (and especially owners) kneeling?



If you can't answer that question easily, the protest has already failed.

I remember when I watched NFL/ESPN every minute that I could.

I remember when I loved listening to music or watching movies

I remember a time when I didn't wonder what the political affiliation of an individual was before trying to assess what angle they were coming at me from



I'm tired of it all. I think the NFL blew it big time. They may not even be around in 10 years if the CTE evidence keeps building and fans leaving keep leaving a la ESPN. It's largely taken the fun out of quite a few things that I used to enjoy. But I suppose it has brought me to an awareness of what a bunch of spoiled brats Americans are. I'd love to see some of these whiners serve a mission in south america or russia or mongolia or Africa or dozens of other countries without the rights and benefits we enjoy here. Let them do that and keep a straight face telling about how oppressed they are and how Trump is such a "fascist". By and large this country still provides the best opportunities to get ahead in life... if you're willing to work for it. Unfortuntately, I feel that kind of thinking has almost been eliminated in my lifetime with the welfare state and spoiled millennials.

BroncoBot, I strongly agree with your statement. When Jane Fonda went to Vietnam my brother was there and his life was on the line. I've never watched any of her movies since that time including Cat Ballou which, until that time, was a fun one.



I would like to know how many of these athletes are involved in financing companies that hire underprivileged people. How many are financing training for these people? I have heard that LaBron James does. I compliment him if so. Maybe someone can show me how their disrespect for our country is helping anyone. If it is helping, is that the best they can do?

LeBron has donated something like $48M for college scholarships.

Mars wrote:

LeBron has donated something like $48M for college scholarships.

Good for Lebron. I think that's great and obviously a huge commitment from the king. Doesn't mean I have to support him or the NBA if he's gonna keep flappin his yapper. These guys need to remember who is paying their bills. Customers who watch them play a game. Sports, hollywood, media - they've all become way too political. Athlete's/Actors been lured into thinking that most of america will side with them about liberal issues. I think it's going to hurt them. Some of the stuff Lebron has said about Trump is embarrassing. If someone had said similar things about Obama, they'd have been crushed by the media by now (e.g. Curt Schilling)

The whole kneeling thing is beyond stupid.



It, of course, started with Kapernick kneeling to protest the same thing the "Black Lives Matter" bunch does - cops (namely white cops) shooting supposed innocent or unarmed black suspects. And Kapernick blames the whole country for this. Hence his "I won't kneel" antics.



If Kapernick, Black Lives Matter, the other idiot NFL players, as well as celebrities kneeling like a bunch of brainless lemmings are so concerned about black lives - and that's assuming they even remember where this all started - why are they not concerned about the fact that a heck of a lot more blacks are killed by other blacks than by cops? The latter is infinitesimal by comparison. Why aren't they kneeling to protest the fact that so many unborn black babies are aborted?



The fact is, these idiots only care if a black person is killed (justified or not) by a white cop. That's what really gets them going. Apparently thousands of blacks killed by fellow blacks, or millions aborted, isn't that big a deal. It's why this whole thing is a ridiculous, hypocritical, and phony charade.

I don't think it is primarily about the white cops killing blacks. I'd say more black lives are ruined by white cops who only send them to jail than shoot them. And in none of those other countries that people mentioned is the incarceration rate even close to what it is in US, let alone among blacks.



And if you believe the tripe about government by the people (a great giant hoax) we are all to blame for the incarceration of 25% of black males, despite the fact that they commit no more crimes than whites.

jvquarterback wrote:

I don't think it is primarily about the white cops killing blacks. I'd say more black lives are ruined by white cops who only send them to jail than shoot them. And in none of those other countries that people mentioned is the incarceration rate even close to what it is in US, let alone among blacks.



And if you believe the tripe about government by the people (a great giant hoax) we are all to blame for the incarceration of 25% of black males, despite the fact that they commit no more crimes than whites.

Commit no more crimes than whites? Are you talking about total number of crimes or amount of crimes relative to their percentage of the population?



If it's the latter, you should read this.



http://www.dailywire.com/news/7441/7-statistics-you-need-know-about-black-black-crime-aaron-bandler

Shapiro states that white Americans are punished more severely than black Americans on average for felonies.

Don't get me wrong, I think incarceration rates are too high for whites, blacks, and everyone else. And I agree with people who argue that increasing crime stems from fatherless families (which is a result of increased availability for abortions and government subsidies for children in fatherless homes). I also don't believe "the people" have anything to do with government, which is controlled by a bunch of lifetime bureaucrats - so I don't think we are to blame at all.



I also agree arrest rates for similar incidents occur at a much higher ratio for blacks than whites.



Unfortunately, all that tells us is the arrest rate is higher for blacks than whites. It doesn't tell us how many crimes actually occur. It doesn't tell us if a single person is committing all the crimes. It doesn't tell us if white cops patrol black neighborhoods more than they do white ones. It doesn't tell you that a white woman addicted to pain killers is far, far less likely to be arrested or go to jail than a black guy on crack. You have to look a little further to find that information.



Here is something you can consider: in the state of California in 2011 there were 225k people in prison for drug offences, 45 % black, 30% white, despite the fact that whites are more likely to use every drug (many by a wide margin) except crack.



It's too bad people aren't more concerned with actual freedom (or the lack of it) than they are about a symbol of the freedom. I get that the US Flag represents freedom to you and that's great. It doesn't represent freedom to most blacks, in fact it represents an oppressive government. If you believe the US flag should represent freedom to all, then do something to ensure greater freedom here in this country.

Ah, the classic "blame whitey" theory for the ills affecting the black community. Check.



For all those blacks to be convicted of criminal conduct (45% in the CA prison system), you need to have

1. Corrupt/racist cops,

2. Corrupt/racist prosecutors (DA's),

3. Corrupt/racist juries, and

4. Corrupt/racist judges.



So, all those shootings and murders occurring in the black communities of Chicago are being committed by the black residents ..... it's smoke and mirrors. Got it. Blame whitey.

Want greater freedom? Don't break the law.



Oh, the laws are stupid? If only we had a way in this country to change the law.



Oh, wait? There is.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Want greater freedom? Don't break the law.



Oh, the laws are stupid? If only we had a way in this country to change the law.



Oh, wait? There is.

Stop it. The laws are racist/corrupt. The application of the law is racist corrupt. There is a massive racist/corrupt conspiracy that must be uncovered. That means the black police, black police chiefs, black prosecutors, black jurists, and black judges are all in on the racist/corrupt conspiracy. Got it.

We have another example of courage, or in this case loyalty. One of the Las Vegas shooting victims was visited by our president and his wife. She told him not to stand but stand he did, even though his wound was in his leg. The news reported that he said, "Shot in the leg or not, I'm standing for my president."

Look at Marijuana use and ultimate incarceration. The data are that whites use Marijuana at a about the same rate as blacks so for every 5 whites, one black uses marijuana. In our current criminal "justice" system this is how more blacks would end up in prison than whites.



Let's start with 1000 whites who use marijuana and 200 blacks and evaluate the reasons more blacks end up in prison than whites.



First arrest rate

Blacks are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession so assuming an arrest rate of 10% for whites (this works for whatever arrest rate you choose) you have 100 whites arrested and 74 blacks arrested.



Next convictions

Blacks are 1.3 times more likely to be convicted of crimes after arrest than are whites. Assume a 50% conviction rate for whites and you have a 65% conviction rate for blacks.

So 50 whites convicted and 48 blacks convicted.



Next sentencing

Blacks in Cook county Illinois are sentenced to incarceration 51% of the time while whites are convicted 38% of the time. Assuming whites and blacks are sentenced to similar amounts of time (blacks in general receive sentences 67% longer than whites in Florida prisons for identical crimes) that leaves us with 19 whites and 24 blacks in prison even though 5 times as many whites commit the same crime.



Obviously this is just one example of the problem with several stages of the so called "justice" system (and the actual arrest rate and conviction rates are almost certainly off but the ratios and resultant disparities are correct).



There are multiple reasons these things happen in the system that result in injustice and blacks have cause to call into question their disparate treatment primarily by cops, but the small disparities in each stage by prosecutors, juries, and judges can result in very large disparities in imprisonment.



That's reason enough for me not to question anyone's refusal to accept the American flag as a symbol of freedom. Many blacks see the flag on the shoulders and standing behind the backs of people who do not treat them equally before the law and therefore see the flag as a symbol of oppression rather than freedom.



How to fix it? Colin Kaepernik and and I are actually doing the wrong thing in bringing the disparities to the attention of the public. A Stanford study showed that bringing the racial disparities in prison populations (along with the disparities in arrests, convictions, and sentencing) to light actually increases support for harsher penalties that disproportionately effect blacks. Some studies have shown that directly addressing these disparities with police, prosecutors, and judges (but not jurors), has a short term effect on these disparities.



I support decriminalization of drug offenses but that only decreases the raw numbers and has been shown to have no effect or little effect on ratios of arrests, convictions or sentencing.



Remove the incentive to disproportionately arrest, convict, and sentence blacks. A lot of this has to do with incarcerating the easiest marks. Cops, prosecutors and judges are evaluated by how well their arrests, convictions, and judgments/sentencing are upheld. Blacks are easy marks, they're less likely to hire attorneys that appropriately represent them among other reasons.

jvquarterback wrote:

I don't expect anyone with a U next to their name to understand this but here you go.

With a moronic comment like that I won't even read your post.

Shows what a biased child you are.

Buh-bye.