Empty Seats Galore: Thousands of Empty Seats Plague NFL in Week 15 of Season

Well, this issue hasn't helped: Law Professor: Stop Saying Football Players Have a ‘Constitutional Right’ to Kneel During the National Anthem. They Don’t.

Teresa Stanton Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law "points to the case of Kelvin Cochran as an example of how few protections employees actually have. Cochran, a fire chief from Georgia, was terminated after a local councilman learned that he had published a book on faith that contained a few pages expressing support for the orthodox Christian view on sexual relations.

"As private employees, NFL players have even fewer protections than Cochran. (Cillizza actually acknowledges this fact later in his CNN piece: “Yes, the NFL is a private association made up of 32 team owners. And, yes, as such, they have the right to fire or penalize an employee who, they believe, engages in conduct unbecoming to the team.”)" . . .

The Gateway Pundit     You'll notice the games pictured are in progress

. . . "The NFL playoffs are right around the corner and there doesn’t seem to be the excitement for the sport like there was years ago.

"The Super Bowl is even struggling to find performers for its half time show.

"Variety ran an article last week titled, “Maroon 5 and How the Super Bowl Halftime Show Became Music’s Least Wanted Gig.”

“Who would have thought that the Super Bowl Halftime show, an American institution watched by more than 100 million people, would become the least wanted gig in music? ” Variety wrote.

"Americans watch sports to escape the daily stresses of life and work; we don’t want to watch spoiled millionaire SJWs protesting the American flag and disrespecting our Veterans."   H/T Breitbart

Personally, I do not care to watch another anti-police, pro-Black Lives Matter half-time musical screed again. TD

NFL kneeling goes full circle

Don Surber  "Get woke, go broke as they say at Instapundit. The NFL has a long way to go until it is broke, but given the number of liberals put in charge of the league, it is but a matter of time. The league took its fan base for granted, tried to expand its appeal, and virtue signaled like a Hollywood award ceremony.
"And somehow, the league managed to get Rihanna to join President Donald John Trump's boycott of the NFL.
"Ah, enjoy the Trumpenfreude this morning with your coffee.
"Our story begins with Colin Kaepernick, a scrambling quarterback who had some initial success but who went the way of all scramblers not named Fran Tarkenton. The league caught on and adjusted.
"After leading his team to the Super Bowl, followed by the NFC championship the next season, followed by three seasons of missing the playoffs, he was benched in 2016.
"He decided then to start kneeling during the National Anthem.
"He said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
"Now he is suing the NFL for conspiring not to hire him after he opted out of playing for the 49ers in 2017.
"The protests continued as the league courted the Black Lives Matters crowd. " . . .,

Iowa Democrats Don’t Know What They Want But They Know It’s Not Hillary

Hot Air  "Since it’s never too early to start the 2020 election cycle, CNN got out ahead of the pack this week and put a poll in the field in Iowa, the first caucus state for the presidential election. They were looking to see who the hot prospects for the nomination are. The results aren’t all that much different from some national polls we’ve already looked it, but there were a few juicy bits of goodness in there.

"At the top of the pack (as usual) were Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The only real shocker was to see Beto O’Rourke moving up into third place. But there was one name missing from notable contention and Chris Cillizza read the tea leaves. Iowa Democrats have pretty much no interest in seeing Hillary Clinton darkening their doorways for a third try. (CNN)

. . . 

"The top four candidates are all men. Biden gets 30%, Sanders pulls 14, O’Rourke gets 9, and Cory Booker gets 5%. The first woman we see on the list is Kamala Harris who ties John Kerry (!) with 4%. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar show up with 3% each.

"CNN is busy pushing Beto’s chances, describing how his score may not be high but his name recognition is low so he has “lots of room to grow.” That may be true, but do the Democrats really want to run the guy with a different record of “running?” (As in away from the scene of a DWI crash.) Time will tell. But if Hillary Clinton is really thinking about a third shot at the brass ring, she may want to consider this poll and think again.

WESTERN EUROPE Beautiful German town ‘unrecognisable’ after it accepted 1,200 migrants

Voice of Europe

The mayor and the residents of Boostedt are increasingly worried about how migrants are affecting their hometown. In the last three years, around 1,200 migrants were settled in the town’s military barracks, which is a 26 per cent population increase.

"Hartmut König, the mayor of the town with 4,600 inhabitants, tells German broadcaster NDR in an interview how admitting so many migrants has had a negative impact on the town.
“ 'It’s quite simply the behaviour. For example, in shops things are stolen. I experienced it myself: three refugees walking on the pavement, not making enough room for a woman with a pushchair and a child coming in their direction. They make no room; she has to move onto the street to get around them,” the mayor says.
“ 'That’s just one incident, but it shows the entire picture. Besides that, they leave piles of rubbish and use every available space to sit around and drink beer,” he adds.

"While broadcaster NDR attempts to minimise the issues, saying that these migrants are mostly young men with little chance of permanent residency in Germany, residents share their worries in front of the camera." . . .

Numerous posts on topics related to this subject.   Here are just two that are juxtaposed ironically, I'd say:
WESTERN EUROPE  British man who called migrant groomers ‘animals’ is facing seven years in jail

"A British man who organised a rally against Muslim rape gangs in Sunderland is facing seven years in jail. William ‘Billy’ Charlton, 53, was accused of ‘stirring up racial hatred’ by Police.He spoke at rallies along with Tommy Robinson and described “immigrants” as “rapists”, “animals” and “monsters”, a court heard.The Sunderland resident was angry about rapes being committed by migrants in the city. . . .

 11-year-old girl gang raped in Sweden – Perpetrators walk free and laugh in her face

"Swedish independent journalist Joakim Lamotte has talked to a mother whose 11-year-old daughter was raped by two men.

"The girl was forced to both anal and oral sex. The young men were arrested, but released shortly after. Several times the daughter has met the boys when she walks to school. They laughed in her face.

"The mother has just been informed that the investigation has been closed, and that her daughter will not be redressed.

"Her daughter’s life has been destroyed, she says, and the only resort they see is to move to another town. She is strongly critical of how the police have handled the case." . . .

65-year-old Swedish woman sentenced to prison for criticising Islam and migration

OFFICIAL Report Refutes DEMOCRATS' Claims on Death of 7-Year-Old Guatemalan Girl

Socio-Political-Journal

No Responsible Parent would subject their Children to the Horrors associated with walking thousands of miles for work. Even after Mexico offered the Migrants, Fence Jumpers, Drug Mules, Slave Traders, Terrorists and Frauds safe haven, this family still decided to continue. The real Villians are the Democrats who constantly use Children as a way to gain power. They are the ones responsible for this unnecessary death. My question, this one Death, funny how they don't care about the Millions of Poor Children here already. How they don't care about the 60 MILLION ABORTIONS that they Promoted and Support...tmiraldi

. . . "But the official accounts from Homeland Security officials in Washington and from agents say the girl — and the 162 other illegal immigrants she was caught with — did have access to water, food, and bathrooms, despite the remote location and overnight hours where they were caught.

"They say the girl’s father, who had brought her on the treacherous 2,000-mile journey, snuck into the U.S., got caught, then waited nearly 8 hours before alerting agents Jakelin was sick and vomiting.

"At that point there was little to do but treat her as best as possible — she was revived twice by agents trained in emergency medicine — and get her to a hospital, where she later died after suffering a heart attack, liver failure and respiratory failure.

“For them to vilify us instead of putting the blame where it belongs, which is on the parent, that’s unconscionable,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council and an agent himself, told The Washington Times. “We’re now allowing the parents to get away with neglect, to get away with child endangerment.” . . .

But Homeland Security officials said the father had every opportunity to alert them, both during an initial 20-question screening each migrant is given when first apprehended, or during the period when migrants were waiting for the bus to return, or again while the bus was taking them back.

“There were agents on the bus. The father could have brought this issue to their attention at any time,” a border official briefing reporters said. “There’s no indication it was lack of attention that resulted in this.”

"He said the area is so remote that there’s no faster means of medical treatment than what happened.

“ 'It’s very unfortunate in our line of work, but sometimes aliens do die in the desert. Sometimes our agents get killed in this process,” he said. “It’s a difficult, dangerous environment and the elements, the terrain itself make it all the more difficult.” . . .


More at this site:
Democrats and the BORDER: What They DON'T Want YOU to Know

. . . 26 Democrats voted Yea for the Secure Fence Act. Among them:

• Joseph Biden of Delaware (“I voted for the fence related to drugs,” he explained in a 2007 debate. “A fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence.”)

• Sherrod Brown of Ohio (while still in the House, Brown voted Yea that September 14.)

• Tom Carper of Delaware

• Hillary Clinton of New York (the Halloween after voting for SFA, she told the Council on Foreign Relations that America should “secure our borders with technology, personnel, physical barriers if necessary in some places.”)

• Dianne Feinstein of California (“Democrats are solidly behind controlling the border, and we support the border fence,” she told the Los Angeles Daily News. “We’ve got to get tough on the border. There’s no question the border is a sieve.”)

• Bill Nelson of Florida (freshly defeated by Republican Rick Scott)

• Barack Obama of Illinois (“The bill before us certainly will do some good,” Obama argued on the Senate floor. “It will authorize badly needed funding for better fences and better security along our borders, and that should help stem some of the tide of illegal immigration in this country.” He added that SFA would stymie “immigrants sneaking in through unguarded holes in our border. . .”)

• Chuck Schumer of New York

• Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

Liberal silliness. 12/2018

Lloyd Marcus writes:

• . . . "After 34 years, Disney World has canceled its annual Christian Music Festival.
• Six thousand to 10,000 churches close each year in America, over 100 per week. 
• In Dover, Ohio, a Nativity scene and a Ten Commandments display were removed from public property after an atheist group complained.
• The new "Batwoman" TV series will feature the first lesbian superhero on television.
• "Whiteness Forum" seeks to ban the Christian cartoon Veggie Tales, claiming that it is racist. 
• A Virginia middle school banned Christmas songs with "Jesus" from its "winter concert." 

. . . "Angrily, I questioned why stupid parents gleefully support drag queens reading LGBTQ stories to their children at libraries.   Any idiot can see that leftists are purposely sexing our kids as early as pre-school with homosexual Christmas children books like "Santa's Husband." 

PETA Compares 'Anti-Animal Language' to Hate Speech  "COMPARING AGE-OLD sayings like "be the guinea pig" and "beat a dead horse" to racist and homophobic slurs, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for the rewrite of common animal cruelty-based idioms."


Episcopal Church Hosts Pro-Abortion Rally Featuring “Christian” Pastors Promoting Abortions

. . . A group of Ohio religious leaders criticized lawmakers’ efforts to pass protections for unborn babies Thursday during a pro-abortion protest at a church in downtown Columbus.
"The event at Trinity Episcopal Church, coordinated by the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, included Christian and Jewish leaders who oppose a bill to prohibit abortions after unborn babies have a detectable heartbeat, about six weeks of pregnancy." . . .

Ruby Rose to play first openly gay superhero in 'Batwoman'
. . . "Rose who is a member of the LGBT community herself, took to Instagram on Tuesday to both confirm the news and share what it means to her to showcase this kind of representation on TV.
"The Bat is out of the bag and I am beyond thrilled and honored. I'm also an emotional wreck." she wrote in the caption to a photo of her by an illustration of Batwoman. "Because this is a childhood dream. This is something I would have died to have seen on TV when I was a young member of the LGBT community who never felt represented on tv and felt alone and different. Thank you everyone. Thank you god.' " (Little "g" in the original)

CNN's Cuomo says viewers are 'frustrated' because he's 'too balanced'

Rick Moran  "CNN's Chris Cuomo and Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway got into an unintentionally hilarious exchange, where the oblivious Mr. Cuomo claimed that CNN viewers are "frustrated" with him because his show is "too balanced."

. . . Video removed by AT

"Of course Conway "spins" her responses.  That's her job.  I don't recall hearing Cuomo complain when Obama administration officials appeared on his show and he was teeing up softball questions that they could knock out of the park, spinning their responses as thoroughly as Conway.

"Cuomo actually believes that viewers think he's too balanced in his treatment of the administration.  He's not lying – he's just oblivious to reality.  Instead, he has created his own reality where up is down, black is white, and anyone but someone besotted with Trump-hate thinks he's "too balanced."

"A revealing and pathetic exchange between a spin-meister and a professional Trump-hater."

UPDATED: Hating The President Is Not a Strategy, As Bill Kristol Just Learned

Townhall

On cable TV, one network in particular has abandoned decades of journalistic tradition and ethics, devoting its resources to a relentless, nakedly partisan crusade to savage President Trump: CNN. Its ratings, predictably, are in the tank — in October, CNN fell behind both the Hallmark Channel and Home and Garden Television.

"Going all in on attacking President Trump isn’t proving to be a particularly effective business strategy for media outlets. 
"The Weekly Standard, a 28-year old neoconservative institution, is reportedly headed towards dissolution after its founder, Bill Kristol, devoted almost three years of work to attacking the President and his supporters.
"It’s not just Kristol. The entire world of clickbait Trump-hate seems to be in jeopardy, including sites that cater to the liberal base. " . . .
"What’s actually crumbling are Kristol’s reputation and legacy. Happily, it appears that the bulk of the late Standard’s funding will be reassigned to its thus far fair-to-Trump sister publication, The Washington Examiner. 
"It turns out that trying to build resistance credentials by demonizing President Trump isn’t just lousy for journalism, it’s terrible for business."

CNN mourns the end of the Weekly Standard  . . . "The Weekly Standard was founded in 1995 by Kristol, Fred Barnes, and John Podhoretz. It was initially published by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation before being sold to Clarity Media Group in 2009. During the presidency of George W. Bush, it was widely considered to be aligned with the administration and with neoconservatism broadly.
"Under Hayes' leadership, The Weekly Standard has remained steadfast in its criticism of Trump. Trump's supporters have lashed out at The Weekly Standard and its influence in Republican circles has dwindled.
"But while The Weekly Standard's influence in Republican politics has declined, its web traffic has increased, people familiar with the data said." . . .  

UPDATE by Thomas Lifson: The Weekly Standard a casualty of Trump Derangement Syndrome

The person most identified with the brand is Kristol, by far.  He stepped down as editor at the end of 2016, but his public persona still defines the magazine: his bitter, flippant, or sarcastic tweets about Trump and Trump supporters are the Weekly Standard's brand in the public's eye.  Few people look at the masthead of a magazine closely enough to realize when a prominent editor such as Kristol has been replaced by a less prominent once [sic] such as Steve Hayes – and because Kristol remains on the masthead as editor-at-large, ordinary readers have even more cause for confusion.  ('Editor-at-large' sounds a lot like 'editor' to most people, but in fact usually means 'ex-editor.')
Fairly or not, Bill Kristol is the brand.

I understand where TWS was coming from as I disliked Trump considerately in the primaries, finding many of his statements most distasteful. Most offensive to me was his insult of Carly Fiorina's looks (which I consider most attractive), then on to "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted", to name just two. (Full disclosure: I could tolerate "Crooked Hillary", but in William F. Buckley's words, "some of my instincts are reprehensible").
But it must be said that Trump is a bulwark standing between us and the likes of Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Bernie Sanders, (pretty much any TV talk show host) and those we saw scowling at the President during his State of the Union address along with their propaganda sources at CNN and MSNBC.  The Tunnel Dweller.

Tulsi Gabbard Will Remind Voters What a Democrat Foreign Policy Looks Like

As is often the case, the quasi-isolationist views of the “America First” wing of the GOP align with those of the left’s appeasement caucus.

By Noah Rothman in Commentary

The very definition of quixotic .

". . . On paper, Gabbard seems like a good fit for her party. The first Hindu to serve in Congress, a female combat veteran, and a progressive in good standing—she checks most of the boxes the next Democratic presidential nominee will need. But there will be a lot of progressive women and minorities running for the presidency next year, and most of them will be doing so with more political experience than Gabbard. What makes the congresswoman stand out from the field are her views on foreign affairs, and those views are no asset.

"Gabbard’s staunch opposition to American intervention abroad in combination with her fierce antipathy toward radical Islamist terrorism might seem on its face to fit squarely within the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The problem for Gabbard is that those two beliefs often manifest in overt support for some of the world’s most atrocious and bloody authoritarian regimes.

"Near the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would defund the covert American mission to support insurgent groups inside Syria to fight both the Bashar al-Assad regime and ISIS, insisting that these funds essentially support al-Qaeda and al-Nusra. She didn’t just dismiss the fact that both Damascus and Moscow have repeatedly made the same claim; she leaned into the unity of purpose between herself and the Assad-Putin nexus." . . .

. . . But [the appeasement] caucus has lost much of its influence over the Democratic Party in the age of Trump. Those on the left who could once be counted on to endorse a more humble and conciliatory approach to Russo-American relations have abandoned that perennial campaign plank, leaving Gabbard out on a limb. Maybe Gabbard thinks she can command the fealty of that forsaken Democratic constituency in a presidential campaign, and she might. But it’s more likely that Gabbard will stand as a painful reminder to voters about what Democratic stewardship of Russian-American relations and crises like the Syrian civil war looks like. That’s the last thing Democrats want.

Some Democrat foreign policy highlights: 

DHS Report On Death Of 7 Year Old: Father Didn’t Identify Issue When Asked

Weasel Zippers

DHS Report On Death Of 7 Year Old: Father Didn’t Identify Issue When Asked  "But left is blaming Border Patrol anyway. Maybe blame the parent and smugglers that put the child through this and didn’t feed her or give her water for days? This is why this endangers lives."

Department of Homeland Security statement of regret for the loss of the child. 

. . . "Her death is incredibly tragic. The entire DHS family offers her family their prayers and thoughts. Unfortunately, her death is not unique. Each year, the Border Patrol identifies hundreds of people who either die attempting to illegally enter the United States, are injured in the attempt, or have to be rescued by Border Patrol. This past year alone Border Patrol rescued 4,311 people in distress. While rarely reported, this flood of injured or sick persons encountering our Border Patrol has resulted in the Border Patrol cross-training 1300 agents as EMTs. In this case, unfortunately, we did not encounter the child sooner.     As we have repeatedly said, traveling north illegally into the United States is extremely dangerous. Drug cartels, human smugglers and the elements pose deadly risks to anyone who attempts to cross the border illegally. Once again, we are begging parents to not put themselves or their children at risk by attempting to enter illegally. Please, we are begging you, present yourselves and your children at a port of entry and seek to enter legally and safely.     Below is a more in depth timeline of the event on December 6, 2018, prior to the child’s death on December 8, 2018." . . .

Democrats Try to Use Dead Child as ‘Martyr for Open Borders’

. . . Instead of defending themselves with cold facts and dry logic, administration officials must put the emotional blame for the child’s death where it belongs, he said.“The father is the chief culprit — anybody who is using his child as a get-out-of-jail card and is dragging her through the inhospitable desert is a dirtbag,” he said, adding; . . .

Liberal anguish for children applies only to those who can serve their purposes. Cases in point:

 The left is in high dudgeon and venting piously over the Border Patrol's part in the loss of the child. I suggest they vent their self-righteous venom over the Democrat treatment given to the Kavanaugh family and their children causing them to be escorted from the presence of Democrats in that committee room, their excited smiles wiped from their faces. 

Then there was treatment meted out to families passing through areas where Antifa thugs were assaulting anyone not them. Who has not seen the reports of terror-stricken faces on children with the targets of Democrat mobs watching as their families were verbally abused and threatened by Trump-haters?
Compassionate children- loving liberals? Give me a break.
The Tunnel Dweller.

Venezuelans regret gun ban, 'a declaration of war against an unarmed population'

Fox News

"CUCUTA, Venezuela/Colombia border – As Venezuela continues to crumble under the socialist dictatorship of President Nicolas Maduro, some are expressing words of warning – and resentment – against a six-year-old gun control bill that stripped citizens of their weapons.

“ 'Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Javier Vanegas, 28, a Venezuelan teacher of English now exiled in Ecuador, told Fox News. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”

"Under the direction of then-President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan National Assembly in 2012 enacted the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law,” with the explicit aim to “disarm all citizens.” The law took effect in 2013, with only minimal pushback from some pro-democracy opposition figures, banned the legal commercial sale of guns and munitions to all - except government entities.

"Chavez initially ran a months-long amnesty program encouraging Venezuelans to trade their arms for electrical goods. That year, there were only 37 recorded voluntary gun surrenders, while the majority of seizures - more than 12,500 – were by force.

"In 2014, with Nicolás Maduro at the helm following Chavez’s death but carrying through his socialist “Chavista” policies, the government invested more than $47 million enforcing the gun ban – which has since included grandiose displays of public weapons demolitions in the town square." . . .

Shut the government down

Don Surber  "Face it, we deplorables would love to see the federal government shut down for a month or so. A battle for funding the wall is as good an excuse as any.
"Imagine a month without Congress. Well into the 19th century, Congress took summers off. Then Willis Haviland Carrier invented modern air conditioning, and the swamp critters could stay all year round.
"No FBI would be fun. No one to entrap you. No one to raid your lawyer in a pre-dawn attack.
"No IRS to harass legitimate conservative charities while giving the Clinton Fake Charity a pass.
"The military would continue to protect the country. And President Trump -- who gets to pick and choose what agencies gets shut down (thanks, Obama) -- would keep the border patrol on.
"I am pretty sure the Social Security checks would continue since it is a self-funded agency. But why worry? President Trump would sooner open up the prisons than piss off all us old people.
"Conservatives are very patriotic people, but they are not very happy with the government.
"Liberals love the government but hate the country.
"Here's an idea: How about we get a government that actually serves the country. That way, liberals can hate both."

Remember Obama's vindictive shutdown of monuments and memorials to "make it hurt"?  (Video added by TD)

2013: Obama Wants to Make the Shutdown Hurt Ordinary Americans

 . . . "During the Obama administration the memorials were “weaponized” for the purposes of political optics:

The Trump Administration is leaving the National Mall and monuments open in a shutdown. Remember when Obama shut them down to get PR out of WWII vets pushed away from the WWII memorial? Good times.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 19, 2018

"Among the defining images of that [obama] shutdown were children locked out of parks and veterans protesting at barricades in front of the World War II Memorial" https://t.co/gJtCncYnrW

— Ryan (@alwaysonoffense) January 20, 2018

Never forget how Obama tried to inflict as much pain as possible on the American citizen when the govt shutdown under his watch. He closed every park unnecessarily and erected barriers in open air spaces. Patriots tore them down! Make Dems pay for #SchumerShutdown https://t.co/JMc1dN3ceS

 "Valor: Another wounded warrior carried Barrycades; Searcy: 'Best damn tweet ever!' "