Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
- Protest
- Rules
- NBA
- Crime
- Tax Cuts
- Kurds
- Title IX
- Protest. The No Fun League turned itself into the No Fan League last week following President Trump blasting the BLM-friendly, Colin Kaepernick take a knee protests in a speech in Alabama on the 22nd. Trump was in Alabama holding a rally in support of Luther Strange for US Senator in a Republican primary. He got on a roll and opined that NFL owners ought to “fire the SOBs” who took a knee during the national anthem. The crowd loved it. NFL players engaged in the racial protests, not so much. By the time Sunday rolled around, over 200 players, entire teams, either refused to come on the field for the national anthem or took a knee during it. The silly season went so far as the game in London between Jacksonville and Baltimore had both teams in a knee during the Star Spangled Banner and standing at attention during God Save the Queen. Interesting display of history education, that. Needless to say, the fans were and are still not amused, booing lustily and tuning in to other things than multi-millionaires disrespecting that which ought to unite us, the national anthem. Early last week Sean Hannity was on the air reading the actual NFL rules about what to do during the national anthem – stand at attention with your hand over your heart. The extended protest was for all intents and purposes, a very public F-you aimed at Trump by the players, who went into pregame, bulletin board mode (They said this bad thing about me, so I am going to kick their backsides up the field on Sunday) and chose to do that which Trump warned them no to do. Problem is that the fans of the game and the league agree with Trump and not the players. Reaction by the sports media and broadcasters was to blast away at Trump, make excuses for the protests, cheerlead the protest, and egg the players on for more. Reaction by fans was to tune out. Sell tickets. Burn jerseys and team paraphernalia. Favorability of league was cut in half in days. Ratings were down by nearly 20% from the week before. The league knows they have a problem but are terrified to address it, as they don’t want to do anything to the players because of the underlying BLM anti-cop foundation of this. The league is under attack, and has been for a while by the left, who wants to fundamentally hurt it and eventually turn it into a cash cow that they can fasten themselves to like so many ticks. An 8th grade football team took a knee during the national anthem in Texas last week and were kicked out of the league completely, along with the coaching staff. This is not over, but the fans have most certainly made their feelings known, booing lustily at any player or team that does anything other than stand at attention during the anthem (linking arms, for instance). The networks responded to this by not showing video or audio of crowd reaction (just like they do during a Hillary speech or an antifa protest). There is profound sadness here, as I have been a Cowboys fan for over 50 years. Going to be tough to give that up. But if the choice is between entertainment and nation, I know which way to go.
- Rules. The NFL is trying to have it both ways with their support of these protests, and support is precisely what it is. A year ago, after a BLM supporter ambushed and gunned down five Dallas policemen, the Cowboys asked permission to put stickers in support of local police on their helmets. That request was denied on the grounds that it was not part of the uniform. Yet this year the very same NFL allows protests to take place during the national anthem, something that is also not allowed under NFL rules. Sean Hannity read those rules on the air a week ago, and they direct players to stand at attention with their hands over their hearts. So on one hand, we have the league refusing to allow a team to show solidarity with police murdered by BLM, while on the other the league looks the other way while their players participate in a BLM-friendly protest before the game. Final point, and this one is aimed specifically at the fools who point out that this is a free speech issue. It is in no way a free speech issue. Why? Because the protest is being done in the workplace on company time. The NFL has complete authority to discipline and terminate employment of their players (employees) should they protest on company time just like our employers have to do the same thing should we do this sort of thing at work. The BLM double standard is not going to wear very well on these people, ultimately destroying their (up to now) very successful business. https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboys/2016/08/10/nfl-allow-dallas-cowboys-wear-arm-arm-decal-helmets-games
- NBA. Not being content to sit silently and watch the NFL commit corporate seppuku, several in the NBA decided to get themselves involved. Before this all began, Warriors coach Steve Kerr opined his thoughts about President Trump. His star player, guard Steph Curry a week ago suggested that if the team were invited to the WH, he wouldn’t attend. The Trump WH reacted very quickly, pulling the invitation. If the Warriors don’t want to be honored at the WH for their world championship season, why invite them? Cavaliers forward LeBron James spoke in support of the protests and blasted away at Trump’s participation in the festivities during the preseason media day. Spurs coach Greg Popovich, politically a screaming lefty, did the same thing during media days for the Spurs. I can’t see any of this helping the NBA retain current fans or growing its market share. Perhaps they don’t care, but they should, as their fans, ticket purchasers, and supporters do. Like the NFL, they are about to get what they want, and get it good and hard. http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/09/23/trump-withdraws-invitation-steph-curry-golden-state-warriors-visit-white-house-nba
- Crime. We here in Anchorage are seeing a spike in crime, primarily property crime – break-ins, auto theft, stealing things out of driveways and yards. The crime rate took off over the last few years, concurrent with election of a democrat mayor, a democrat-supported governor, and passage of a crime bill that rolled back penalties for lower level crimes. Unfortunately, as Rudy Giuliani demonstrated with broken window law enforcement, low level crime is the gateway drug into bigger and better things. Nationally, we are seeing the same thing, with national violent crime rate up over the last couple years. Why is this? We have heard all the normal and expected excuses, recession, no jobs, opioid epidemic, single parent homes, etc. But nothing that explains why the recent spike? Perhaps I have an answer. What if we are seeing the very real, and very expected impact of O’Bama’s import of 0.8 – 1.9 million late teens to early 20s young men into the country via his DACA / DREAMER program? This started in 2012 and invited no small number of Central American gang bangers into the country. They came without the ability to speak the language, no hirable skills, and no family. They were placed nationwide by religious organizations paid by the O’Bama regime (Catholic Social Services is the local version) and immediately put on the government teat. I can think of no better way to manufacture a local or nationwide crime wave than to import people without family and job skills and put them immediately on welfare. Would be interesting to get some statistics on what percentage of current crimes are being committed by DACA / DREAMERs. http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/352255-violent-crime-rates-up-for-2nd-consecutive-year
- Tax Cuts. The Stupid Party in congress started work on tax cut legislation. At first glance, it has a bunch of good things in it: double the personal exemption; repealing deductions for state and local taxes; overall simplification; and a cut for the lowest two income steps. There are some infuriating things being discussed. These are mostly tied to a reluctance to cut the top marginal tax rate, something that makes the class warriors in the democrat party very, very happy. Some are suggesting a repeal of Dodd – Frank be included as part of the final legislation. If they go that far, a repeal of Sarbanes – Oxley ought to be included. Both of those bills have served to attack the small, independent banks and favor the big boys who were supposedly targeted by both bills. The big boys are the only ones who have the resources to deal with the dump truck loads of new rules, regulations and reporting requirements inflicted by both bills. The repeal of deductions for state and local taxes is particularly entertaining, as this is an assault on blue states and cities, both of which rely on exorbitant taxation to keep their governments afloat. Repeal the deductibility, and taxpayers will instantly be more interested in keeping these taxes lower than they are. I would also repeal tax exempt status for non-profits and foundations, and remove the ability of the left to launder money into their political campaigns. I would also start taxing unions for much the same reason. This is a real opportunity for congressional Republicans. We will see if they are smart enough to take it. https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/trump-tax-reform.pdf
- Kurds. Kurds in northern Iraq held a referendum last week and voted for independence. This vote worried neighboring Turkey and Iran a lot. Rex Tillerson’s State Department swamp denizens spoke out strongly against self-determination for the Kurds, and Tillerson followed suit calling the vote illegitimate. Kurdistan consists of much of northern Iraq, SE Turkey, and NW Iran. Turkey’s Erdogan, busily constructing a new Turkish-led caliphate was enraged, as he doesn’t want his new empire to start dissolving before he finishes putting it together. Too bad for him. The Iranian Mullahs are similarly concerned, for much the same reason. In Iraq, Kurdistan is a semi-autonomous region, which has provided the most pro-American forces fighting in the region. Washington’s choice has been to dismiss them and their aspirations out of hand. Perhaps we will figure out how to stop hosing over our friends. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/kurds-iraq-barzani-isis-referendum/541260/
- Title IX. Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss took a big step toward bringing back sanity to college campuses last week with her announcement that the O’Bama regime’s 2011 Title IX guidance on campus sexual assault investigations. The letter came out of the regime’s Office for Civil Rights, and threatened universities with federal civil rights investigations if they didn’t clamp down. And the feminist-led administrators clamped down with glee and gusto, turning college campuses into hostile environments for men. The new rules set up kangaroo courts where any woman at any time could accuse men of sexual assault, and he would be investigated, charged, tried, and convicted usually without any due process, any ability to confront his accuser in court, or any ability to see charges or evidence against him. The proceedings were very much out of Alice in Wonderland, where the Red Queen announced the verdict first and held the trial afterwards. Her announcement included the following:
“The era of ‘rule by letter is over. Through intimidation nd coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach.”
Education will gather feedback before issuing updated regulations. This little portion of the swamp is well on its way to being drained. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/7/devos-overhaul-campus-sexual-assault-regulations/
More later –
– AG