Saints QB Drew Brees says team will kneel, then 'stand together during the anthem' before Sunday's game. Other commentaries as well...

Update: We should have given up on the NFL over that Beyonce' half-time show, wouldn't you think?  The Tunnel Dweller

UK Daily Mail

"New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees says the team will kneel and then stand for the national anthem before their game against Miami in London.

"Brees says in a tweet on Friday, 'As a way to show respect to all, our #Saints team will kneel in solidarity prior to the national anthem & stand together during the anthem.'

"That's also how the Dallas Cowboys dealt with their anthem protest on Monday night in a game against the Arizona Cardinals.

"Ten Saints players sat on the bench during the anthem last Sunday on a day of unprecedented protests among NFL players and some owners in response to comments by President Donald Trump that players should be fired if anyone 'disrespects our flag.'  . . .  Read more here.

Surprise! NFL game ticket sales down whopping 17.9%   . . . "The cascade of boos from fans in the stadium who react to players kneeling during the anthem and the threats of a fan boycott are not having much of an effect. But fewer fannies in the seats - a lot fewer - should get their attention. " . . . 

Cartoon by Ben Garrison:  . . . " The lefties that run Hollywood infused our movies with tiresome, rote political correctness. The left took over education and taught kids to obey big government while dumbing them down and telling them lies about US history. Feelings became more important than reason in colleges. The left controlled the mainstream media and the news narrative. Everything was increasingly slanted toward globalism and socialism. Not content with that, the left also attacked the NFL." . . .

This is how sports teams should sing their national anthems   "In some places, they don't just stand."
. . . 
Watch at least one of these videos

. . . "Some athletes love their extended family as represented by the national (family) song and are not ashamed of belting it out even if their voices are not quite of recording quality.

"A good penance for the poor taste shown recently by our NFL teams would be for them to follow suit: link arms and belt out their loyalty and their love of their extended family and for our common home.  Owners and coaches should be down on the field and join in.

"But somehow I find it difficult to imagine such a response from the NFL.  We've been taught for half a century that American history is something to be ashamed of, that the record is only one of exploitation and subjugation and so stained that it can never be cleansed.  We must carry our ancestors' guilt from generation to generation."

Much more on this and other topics at The Tunnel Wall

Alleged leaker Reality Winner said she stuffed NSA report in her pantyhose

Politico

'I wasn't trying to be a Snowden or anything,' she told FBI.

. . . “I saw the article and was like, I don’t understand why this isn’t a thing,” she said. “It made me very mad ... I guess I just didn’t care about myself at that point. ... Yeah, I screwed up royally." 

"Winner told the agents that she knew the report implicated intelligence sources and methods. She said, though, that she thought it was likely the flood of leaks and disclosures on the topic — apparently Russian hacking focused on the U.S. election — had already exposed those techniques. 

""Did you know that if that got out, that those sources and methods could be compromised?" Garrick asked.

" "If they hadn't been already, then yes," Winner said. "I figured that ... that it didn't matter anyway. Umm, honestly, uh, I just figured that whatever we were using had already been compromised, and that this report was just going to be like a — one drop in the bucket."

"She added: "Seeing that [information] that had been contested back and forth in the public domain for so long, trying to figure out, like, with everything else that keeps getting released and keeps getting leaked — why isn't this getting — why isn't this out there? Why can't this be public?"

"Winner later acknowledged she didn't know for sure that the sources used for the report were already disclosed. 

"The transcript hints at possible political motivations for the leak. Winner says she objected to her workplace tuning the TV to Fox News. She also had a signed photo of CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper, although she said the signature was fake.
. . . 

Cartoon added, TD

" . . .I guess it's just been hard at work because ... I've filed formal complaint about them having Fox News on, you know? Uh, at least, for God's sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slideshow with people's pets. I've tried anything to get that changed." 

"Despite Winner's statement to the FBI agents, prosecutors say that in a Facebook chat in March with her sister, Winner said she was on the "side" of both Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. " . . .

So is the stand by all the NFL owners and players saying they all condemn this nation and her treatment of the "oppressed"?

The whole affair was starting to fade until Trump's words stirred the whole thing up again. Now the protest is considered to be an anti-Trump movement. 
Please, President Trump, don't talk or tweet; just govern!

Illustrations added, TD

Colin Kaepernick explains why he sat during national anthem

 "San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has willingly immersed himself into controversy by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem in protest of what he deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States.

"His latest refusal to stand for the anthem -- he has done this in at least one other preseason game -- came before the 49ers' preseason loss to Green Bay at Levi's Stadium on Friday night.

" 'I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. "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." . . .

And more here:  . . . "From the time the protest gained attention, Kaepernick reiterated he was not doing it to be anti-American or anti-military or to disrespect troops. He was doing it to bring serious social issues to light and try to evoke change. That stance led to him slightly adjusting the protest. Kaepernick met with former Green Beret and brief NFL long snapper Nate Boyer, and after the discussion decided to shift from sitting to taking a knee during the anthem." . . .

Flipping out

Gold Star Parents Challenge Spike Lee Over Kneeling During National Anthem . . . " Lee appeared as one of the town hall's panelists, alongside Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, former New York Jets player Michel Faulkner, and Former US Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, who convinced Colin Kaepernick to kneel rather than sit during the National Anthem.

The parents of Staff Sgt. Louis Bonacasa told Lee how they attended a ceremony for Gold Star parents and then went home and saw NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem, calling it a "slap in the face."

" 'How do you support these multi-millionaires on their knees, and don't support what the fallen heroes died for?" Mr. Bonacasa asked.

"Lee said that he was sorry for the Bonacasas' loss, but said that their narrative was "false.' " . . .

Stand if you want, kneel if you want.  But don’t you dare look at me and think you are anything special because you take the very fashionable stance of disparaging this nation.

Networks not showing fans booing kneeling players during anthem
. . . That would be a catastrophe for the league and the networks.  Opposition to the protest will continue to build week by week.  And if teams and the league don't believe that, they are in for a very rude awakening."
As long as Trump's mouth doesn't cause fans to turn against him and toward the players.

'UNITY': Networks Avoided Showing Outraged Fans Booing Anthem Protests   

One guy who noticed the lack of coverage of the fans — many of whom were utterly outraged at the rampant displays of anti-patriotism, as some of the audio and the strong backlash has revealed —was Sporting News' Michael McCarthy, who talked to some of those behind the scenes and learned that at least one crew was specifically instructed to avoid filming the crowd "to avoid crowd shots in case they showed fans counterprotesting the protests."

How Silicon Valley Turned Off the Left and Right

Victor Davis Hanson

"When left and right finally agree on something, watch out: The unthinkable becomes normal. 

"So it is with changing attitudes toward Silicon Valley. 

"For the last two decades, Apple, Google, Amazon and other West Coast tech corporations have been untouchable icons. They piled up astronomical profits while hypnotizing both left-wing and right-wing politicians.

"Conservative administrations praised them as modern versions of 19th-century risk-takers such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Bill Gates, the late Steve Jobs and other tech giants were seen as supposedly creating national wealth in an unregulated, laissez-faire landscape that they had invented from nothing.

" At a time when American companies were increasingly unable to compete in the rough-and-tumble world arena, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook bulldozed their international competition. Indeed, they turned high-tech and social media into American brands. 

"The left was even more enthralled. It dropped its customary regulatory zeal, despite Silicon Valley's monopolizing, outsourcing, offshoring, censoring, and destroying of startup competition. After all, Big Tech was left-wing and generous. High-tech interests gave hundreds of millions of dollars to leftwing candidates, think tanks and causes.

"Companies such as Facebook and Google were able to warp their own social media protocols and Internet searches to insidiously favor progressive agendas and messaging.

"If the left feared that the tech billionaires were becoming robber barons, they also delighted in the fact that they were at least left-wing robber barons.

"Unlike the steel, oil and coal monopolies of the 19th century that out of grime and smoke created the sinews of a growing America, Silicon Valley gave us shiny, clean, green and fun pods, pads and phones.

"As a result, social media, internet searches, texts, email and other computer communications were exempt from interstate regulatory oversight. Big Tech certainly was not subject to the rules that governed railroads, power companies, trucking industries, Wall Street, and television and radio. 

"But attitudes about hip high-tech corporations have now changed on both the left and right." . . .

NFL player: Don't come to the game if our protest upsets you

How did this become thought of as an anti-military protest. The originator of the protest said it was against honoring a "racist" nation and its "oppression".

Rick Moran  . . . "If Ryan actually believes "everyone's opinion is equal," he hasn't read much about this controversy. In fact, beyond the free speech aspect of the protest is there is an insidious campaign to delegitimize opposition to the protests as portraying  the opposition as people who "back Trump," or are garden variety racists. 

"Trump expressed an opinion of what owners should have done with protesting players. Nowhere in his rant did he suggest the players don't have a right to protest. The players themselves seem to believe that not only do they have a right to protest, they demand that no one criticize them for it, and if they do, they are lower than nothing. Their defense that they are not dissing the flag or the military is ludicrous. They have been told in no uncertain terms by millions of people that they are. Arrogantly, they refuse to acknowledge their insult to the flag and to other Americans.

"If these NFL players want "equality." perhaps acknowledging that those who oppose them have an equal right to the stage without being smeared for their trouble."

Trumptweets didn't help

"But don’t you dare look at me and think you are anything special because you take the very fashionable stance of disparaging this nation."

I believed in the American dream then and I believe in it now. I look around me at the things I have and the life I lived and know there is no other place on earth where this would have been possible. I stand for the National Anthem; I stand in gratitude; I stand in awe; I stand humbled by the greatness of America.  William L. Gensert

 

NYT Torches Anthony Weiner. . .

Townhall  . . . The New York Times editorial board was blunt and straightforward. Anthony Weiner was a pathetic jerk, who possibly helped Trump get elected.

His serial use of social media to engage in sexual byplay with women — apparently without actually having sex with them — turned him into a national joke. So did his chosen nom de porn: Carlos Danger. His family name became a weapon New York tabloids used mercilessly, if predictably, to make him the butt of one salacious pun after another.
To put it bluntly, Anthony Weiner — smart, often witty, politically deft, at one time plausibly a strong candidate for New York mayor — proved to be a pathetic jerk. But few jerks do as much damage as he did in his recklessness. He may even be responsible for Donald Trump being president.

"Weiner’s laptop was part of the probe into this deviant behavior when the FBI stumbled onto emails relating to Hillary Clinton. It was later determined that Weiner and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Huma Abedin had shared the device. The Bureau wanted to examine the emails, they got the court order to do so, and James Comey sent a letter to Congress two weeks before Election Day saying the FBI would be reviewing them. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight says this might have cost Clinton the election, the American Association for Public Opinion Research isn’t so sure. Regardless, it’s goodbye, Mr. Weiner—and good riddance." 

American Thinker

Apparently Ann Coulter is disgruntled over Paul Ryan

"Now that both parts of Obamacare are in place -- the money coming in and the money going out -- how about asking the CBO to score the real Obamacare?"

When Life Gives You Paul Ryan, Make Lemonade

"It is now clear that Republicans are incapable of giving us a free market in health insurance, so it continues to be illegal in America to buy health insurance that doesn't cover shrinks, domestic violence counseling and HIV screening, and perhaps always shall be.

" But there are still other good things Republicans can do! 

"First, for fun, Republicans ought to request a Congressional Budget Office score of Obamacare. The GOP's various replacement bills have been pilloried over their CBO scorings, showing, for example, that if given a choice, up to 20 million Americans would voluntarily choose not to buy health insurance in the year 2026. The horror.

" Hey, does anybody remember how the Democrats "scored" Obamacare?

"I do! Democrats gamed the numbers given to the CBO by asking it to score the first 10 years of a bill that collected taxes for 10 years, but only started paying out benefits in the last six years. 

"On the basis of that accounting trick, the Democrats spent months hectoring Republicans who refused to vote for the bill, saying they were against SAVING THE TAXPAYERS MONEY. Yes -- we'd be SAVING MONEY by providing health care for all, especially transgenders and illegals. 

"Now that both parts of Obamacare are in place -- the money coming in and the money going out -- how about asking the CBO to score the real Obamacare? 

"Second, where are the hearings? The usual complaint with Republicans is that they're all talk, no action. But when it comes to Obamacare, it's the reverse: The GOP is all action, no talk." . . .

Some of our military do not want to be used as bargaining chips of patriotism

Buzzfeed . . . “ 'The president’s got to unify the country, that’s his job, but do it in a different manner and don’t use veterans for it unless you’re going to put them on the national stage and say 'hey, let’s work on more important things than NFL overpaid pansies',” he said.

"Personally, Jones says he would stand for the anthem to honor the sacrifice of fellow troops – but that’s not the point." . . .

"Others blamed the athletes, not Trump, for injecting politics into sports in the first place.

" 'Your desire to focus on division and anger has shattered what many people loved most about the sport,” Tara Kyle, the widow of “American Sniper” Navy Seal Chris Kyle, wrote in an open letter to the NFL on Facebook.

"The dismay of many veterans at the assumption that they somehow are offended by expressions of protest at football games shouldn't come as a surprise. The melding of sports with patriotic pageantry is a fairly recent phenomenon." . . .

I don't see it as disrespect of veterans. It is plain, simple giving the middle finger to America and our founders. The ceremonies now seem to be a tribute to  Howard Zinn's teaching.  The Tunnel Dweller


Lingerie Football League Responds to NFL: ‘We Stand!’

The face of the future? Silicon Valley engineer who created Google street view founds a RELIGION worshiping AI

UK Daily Mail  "A Silicon Valley titan who helped create Google Street View and engineered Waymo and Uber's self-driving cars is taking new steps to solidify technology's place in the future.

"In 2015, Anthony Levandowski, 37, founded a religion called Way of the Future. It has only been revealed now as state officials in California wait for him to respond to the necessary IRS filings he must provide for it. 

"Way of the Future has no website or headquarters but, according to Wired which obtained copies of his original filings, Levandowski is its founder and CEO. 

"The documents give its purpose is to 'develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence'. " . . .

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

Boo, Hissssss

Power Line Blog  "Michael Walsh likes to say of the left, “They never stop; they never sleep; they never quit.” Which is why Michael advises that our constant disposition should always be: crush the left.

"A small but telling case in point is Alger Hiss. Is there anyone still around who thinks he wasn’t guilty of being an agent of Soviet influence, if not much worse? You’d have thought that Allen Weinstein’s Perjury and the direct evidence from the post-Soviet access to the Venona transcripts would have settled the matter more firmly than climate science gravity.

"But amazingly there are still true believers. One of them is the novelist Joan Brody, who has just published Alger Hiss Framed: A New Look at the Case That Made Nixon Famous. Seriously? Apparently so.

"I’m not about to read anything so self-evidently silly, and fortunately you don’t have to either, because Harvey Klehr, the Mellon professor of politics at Emory University and author of several fine histories of Soviet espionage, has done it for us and reports on the miserable experience in the current issue of The New Criterion. He does not mince words:

Her book is not only very bad history, but also embarrassingly stupid. She betrays a remarkable ignorance of the American legal system and American government, makes numerous errors, relies on quacks and discredited commentators, and entertains breathtaking conspiracy theories. . .

The arch-villain is Richard Nixon, who stands at the center of a conspiracy so immense that its full dimensions have not been apparent to anyone else who has ever written on the case; it was a “vicious, politically-motivated frame-up, and it has never been exposed.”

Mic Drop: Hillary Tweets To Send Navy To Help Puerto Rico, Benghazi Hero Responds

Weasel Zippers

Tim Allen on Last Man Standing Cancellation: 'Nothing More Dangerous Than a Likable Conservative'

TVLine

"In a new interview, Tim Allen is speaking out against ABC’s decision to cancel Last Man Standing after six seasons, and the failed deal to revive the family comedy on cable network CMT.

“ 'It’s hard,” Allen says during a sit-down on Norm Macdonald Live. “I have no idea why [ABC] did what they did.” But that doesn’t stop him from suggesting that the decision came down to his conservative politics.

“ 'I always wanted Last Man Standing to be like [All in the Family],” he says. “Archie Bunker pushed boundaries, but Carroll O’Connor was not that guy at all. [Mike Baxter was] a version of that guy. But there’s nothing more dangerous, especially in this climate, than a funny, likable conservative.”

"Averaging 6.4 million weekly viewers with a 1.1 demo rating, Last Man Standing was ABC’s second-most watched comedy (behind Modern Family) but No. 8 in the demo. “[They] hadn’t won a Friday night in 15 years,” he says. “They put us out to pasture on Friday and we won Friday. Big night for us. Big night for them.”

"Remarking on the failed CMT deal, which due to the comedy’s price tag fell apart more than a month after the ABC cancellation, Allen says, “You couldn’t have handled this situation worse. I’ll survive, but there’s 190 [people] who worked [on Last Man Standing]. They didn’t let them know until late June. It was handled very badly.' ”. . .