2016 Election -- Part II
Poll
 | 57 votes (47.89%) | ||
| | 33 votes (27.73%) | ||
| | 12 votes (10.08%) | ||
| | 10 votes (8.4%) | ||
| | 4 votes (3.36%) | ||
| | 3 votes (2.52%) |
119 members have voted
That is some funny crap. I write a few posts when I have some time (I do have other things to do!) and I am suddenly "freaking out"...you write a whole bunch of crap supporting your favorite liar and you are a fine, upstanding genius of a citizen...
...who wants to exterminate Republicans.
Well, not exactly what you said, but who cares about accuracy in statements? Trump OBVIOUSLY doesn't (you drone on and on about that), Hillary has shown disdain for the truth (you could care less), and the Leader of the Free World needed to lie to pass his cornerstone legislation and you support his lie.
Quote: ams288Hillary is currently giving her "Trump is a worthless bigot" speech in Reno and I'm LOVING it.
I'm sure you are overjoyed.
I'd love it if she gave a press conference.
At least she is not claiming she will run the most transparent administration in history; her administration may be the least transparent in history...
Quote: Joeshlabotnik<snip>We need to dispose of all Republicans before this country can progress. They have shown themselves to be without honor or integrity.<snip>
...and Trump = ****** (I don't toss that name around as easily as some)...
Quote: RonCI'm sure you are overjoyed.
I am. She is naming names. All the crazy far-right radicals and white supremacists who support Trump.
You know that media outlets are going to seek out the people she is calling out in her speech for interviews - and they are going to be happy to oblige.
That is the point of this speech, I think. Flood the airwaves with all the racist crazies who support Trump.
Quote:I'd love it if she gave a press conference.
I'm sure you would.
But she shouldn't. She doesn't have to.
Just let Trump drown himself.
No need to subject herself to it.
Just in case any of you guys didn't realise: that Farage is one of the most despised, bigoted, ignorant, w@nk3r5 in British politics.
He wasn't even an official leader of the 'Leave' campaign when our ill fated referendum was running. Our referendum went the way of the stupid because many here saw it as a no-win protest vote. We were left with a result that even the 'Leave' proponents didn't expect and didn't know how to deal with.
PLEASE, Don't you guys make the same mistake by protest voting for Krusty the clown.
Quote: ams288No need to subject herself to it.
Yeah, no need to bother answering questions from the press. Really? It isn't like the questions would all be hard. She'd get lots of soft tosses that she can hit out of the park. The press used to help people get information; that is why I think she should answer questions in a press conference...not just because she'd get a whole lot of tough questions.
Quote: RonCYeah, no need to bother answering questions from the press. Really? It isn't like the questions would all be hard. She'd get lots of soft tosses that she can hit out of the park. The press used to help people get information; that is why I think she should answer questions in a press conference...not just because she'd get a whole lot of tough questions.
She did an interview with Anderson Cooper last night. She answered his questions.
No need to go through the hassle of a press conference. And if she did do one, Trump would take credit. "She is only doing it because we told her to!"
Quote: ams288She did an interview with Anderson Cooper last night. She answered his questions.
No need to go through the hassle of a press conference. And if she did do one, Trump would take credit. "She is only doing it because we told her to!"
Am I over my limit for posting today? I must be going bonkers if I have posted >3 times....
Okay. You are right. No need to take a variety of questions from a variety of folks.
I giver her credit; she is not claiming transparency.
Quote: realDonaldTrumpJust watched recap of #CrookedHillary's speech. Very short and lies. She is the only one fear-mongering!
(It wasn't a short speech. And if he only watched a recap, how would he know it was short??)
Quote: realDonaldTrumpHillary Clinton's short speech is pandering to the worst instincts in our society. She should be ashamed of herself!
(Donald Trump = master of psychological projection. Sad!)
Quote: RonCI giver her credit; she is not claiming transparency.
Well, she's had a lot of forced transparency. More than most candidates.
I love to see 30,000 or so Trump work emails. All the ones which are not classified.
Quote: rxwineWell, she's had a lot of forced transparency. More than most candidates.
I love to see 30,000 or so Trump work emails. All the ones which are not classified.
TRUMP DOESN'T USE EMAIL
With the thousands of lawsuits he's always involved in, he'd be in prison by now if he had an email trail....
"Lock him up!"
Quote: rxwineWell, she's had a lot of forced transparency. More than most candidates.
I love to see 30,000 or so Trump work emails. All the ones which are not classified.
She could have avoided all of that...bad choices on her part....
Trump has yet to be in government using a private server; I would condemn him just as much as I have her if he did so.
Hey, Krusty led a hard life. No need to insult his memory by comparing him to Trump.Quote: OnceDearPLEASE, Don't you guys make the same mistake by protest voting for Krusty the clown.
Quote: ams288As expected, Hillary's speech struck a nerve with thin-skinned Donald.
(It wasn't a short speech. And if he only watched a recap, how would he know it was short??)
(Donald Trump = master of psychological projection. Sad!)
Well, can't feel too sorry for him as long as he has RonC--and he'll ALWAYS have RonC. One has to assume as well, that there are enough people who give him a completely free pass on everything he says and does to form an unshakable hard core of supporters.
I've mentioned before how sad and horrible it is, and what it says about our society, that that hard core is larger than the fifty or so people that it should be. Something like thirty million people willing to elect a president who will evidently govern via incoherent twitter posts. Truly awful.
He's lost multiple lawsuits over his bigotry, he extols bigoted policies using bigoted language, he is supported by some of the most bigoted people in America including members of the KKK, and he hires people affiliated with the heavily bigoted and white supremicist alt right and yet people still claim he is OK. Really the only thing he has managed to avoid doing at this point is releasing a speech full of racial slurs extolling how we should exterminate all of X.
Especially since some of his other supporters are happy that he's a racist bigot. Trump told Anderson Cooper that there's no such thing as the alt-right (or alt-left), despite some of his supporters' websites literally saying "the world's most visted alt-right website" and so forth.Quote: TwirdmanI really just don't understand how Trump and some of his supporters are still trying to claim he isn't a racist bigot.
This entire thing is an exercise in cognitive dissonance. How long can you wave a flaming torch around while saying "there's nothing on fire here" and get people to stick with you?
For what it's worth, the alt-right is self-defined by "rejecting the egalitarian orthodoxy." That's just a charade. At the start, they're conflating the issue. It's certainly true that there are racial differences in humans. The vast, vast majority of them are physical adaptations to environmental issues. Skin color is a great example since, back at the dawn of humanity, nobody was white. Lighter skin only evolved as humans migrated to less sun-intense areas, primarily north. However, those physical differences do not morally justify a society built on the premise of unequal legal rights. That's where they lose me (and everyone else). It's just not an intelligent conclusion that physical differences should justify legal ones. Besides, not all of the legal distinctions the alt-right wants to draw are based on physical differences at all. As far as I am aware, the alt-right would legally elevate white people who believe in certain religious tenets over (a) non-white people who also believe in those tenets and (b) other white people who don't share those beliefs. In other words, their high-minded moralizing is just a thin scrim over a policy of arbitrary institutionalized bigotry. It's easy to lay bare the hypocrisy when you examine it, but it shouldn't require examining in the first place.
Quote:Donald Trump’s new presidential campaign chief is registered to vote in a key swing state at an empty house where he does not live, in an apparent breach of election laws.
Stephen Bannon, the chief executive of Trump’s election campaign, has an active voter registration at the house in Miami-Dade County, Florida, which is vacant and due to be demolished to make way for a new development.
“I have emptied the property,” Luis Guevara, the owner of the house, which is in the Coconut Grove section of the city, said in an interview. “Nobody lives there … we are going to make a construction there.” Neighbors said the property had been abandoned for several months.
Bannon previously rented another house for Clohesy in Miami from 2013 to 2015 and assigned his voter registration to the property during that period. But a source with direct knowledge of the rental agreement for this house said Bannon did not live there either, and that Bannon and Clohesy were not in a relationship.
Quote:Wilfully submitting false information on a Florida voter registration – or helping someone to do so – is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/26/steve-bannon-florida-registered-vote-donald-trump
Quote: rxwineWill Trump need another campaign manager soon?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/26/steve-bannon-florida-registered-vote-donald-trump
Fourth times the charm?
Technically, he's the campaign CEO (whatever that is...).
What I do know, however, is that Donald Trump USES racism. In my opinion, this is much more dangerous and destructive.
Quote: RonC
Trump has yet to be in government using a private server; I would condemn him just as much as I have her if he did so.
If it happened with Trump, we wouldn't be hearing about it
With all the bad baggage Trump carries, it would be a footnote.
Quote: RonC
I'd love it if she gave a press conference.
This is politics of the highest level. You play to win.
Those on the left would love it if Trump releases his taxes.
He doesn't because he is trying to win.
Thanks for the occasional Terps shout out
My favorite team is actually the Womens Basketball team, consistently top 10 every year
Hoping for a decent football season but the Big 10 is tough
<edit> an exception to the exception would not be AMS. He's just a minor annoyance, mostly ;-)
Quote: TwoFeathersATLJust in general, I'd say that anyone that spends much time bashing liberals or conservatives over the Internet is a serious asshole. If that bashing now becomes Clinton or Trump, yea, still serious asshole. The exception to the general statement would be anyone who is a member in good standing on the WOV Forums. They would be just a minor annoyance ;-)
<edit> an exception to the exception would not be AMS. He's just a minor annoyance, mostly ;-)
Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed!
No. His post was late afternoon which leads me to believe he was serious. +1 TFQuote: ams288Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed!
Quote: SteverinosI'm not so sure that Donald Trump is a racist. Yes, there's been examples of some racism in his past, but it doesn't prove to me what's in his heart.
What I do know, however, is that Donald Trump USES racism. In my opinion, this is much more dangerous and destructive.
Well, I doubt that Hitler really gave a crap about the Jews, either, but they sure made convenient scapegoats. Likewise, all those sad little white supremacists following Trump around express racism because they need someone to blame for their pathetic loser lives.
One thing Trump seems to grasp, as all demagogues must, is that when you tell a stadium full of losers that they are in society's dumpster because of THEM, it doesn't really matter who THEY are or whether blaming them is remotely plausible.
Fwiw, I think Trump is more of a talking-without-thinking jerk than a bigot or racist as such, but I agree with you--cynically using racism, as he does, to further political ends is worse than just being a plain ol' straightforward racist douchebag.
Quote: TwoFeathersATLJust in general, I'd say that anyone that spends much time bashing liberals or conservatives over the Internet is a serious asshole. If that bashing now becomes Clinton or Trump, yea, still serious asshole. The exception to the general statement would be anyone who is a member in good standing on the WOV Forums. They would be just a minor annoyance ;-)
<edit> an exception to the exception would not be AMS. He's just a minor annoyance, mostly ;-)
Drink too much?
Taking lessons from Mickey Crimm?
Quote: terapinedDrink too much?
Taking lessons from Mickey Crimm?
Maybe the realization that Trump is losing has finally settled in with 2F and he's having a hard time coping...?
That scares the hell out of me.....
The only reasonable alternative at this point would be that Clinton wins.
That scares the hell out of me......
I don't scare that easily.
Thankfully we still run the country, mostly according to a rather young and novel Constitutional experiment that elects Presidents rather than Kings (Queens).
Neither Clinton nor Trump can take down this country.
I bet my money on extraterrestrial type Aliens, but don't know how I'll ever collect ;-(
Quote: TwoFeathersATLThankfully we still run the country, mostly according to a rather young and novel Constitutional experiment
Might I suggest that your Experiment in Democracy needs a few tweaks.
I find most Americans that I encounter to be somewhat educated, intelligent and decent. Yet, you seem to collectively try to elect politicians with as few of those properties as possible. Not just this latest pair.
No names, but would you guys trust any of your politicians to join the Cooperation Game team.
Quote: TwoFeathersATLActually, I think Trump is going to win.
That scares the hell out of me.....
The only reasonable alternative at this point would be that Clinton wins.
That scares the hell out of me......
I don't scare that easily.
Thankfully we still run the country, mostly according to a rather young and novel Constitutional experiment that elects Presidents rather than Kings (Queens).
Neither Clinton nor Trump can take down this country.
I bet my money on extraterrestrial type Aliens, but don't know how I'll ever collect ;-(
It seems very odd that a prospective Trump and Clinton presidency scare you equally. Clinton is competent and hardworking, if unspectacular; only Republican propagandists are saying she's dishonest. She would make a fairly good president. Trump, on the other hand, richly deserves everyone's negative opinion of him, especially since he continually does so much to reinforce it. And having him in the Oval Office is like having a chimpanzee at the controls of the space shuttle.
Clinton's definitely going to win, though, barring some series of total disasters.
Quote: OnceDearMight I suggest that your Experiment in Democracy needs a few tweaks.
I find most Americans that I encounter to be somewhat educated, intelligent and decent. Yet, you seem to collectively try to elect politicians with as few of those properties as possible. Not just this latest pair.
No names, but would you guys trust any of your politicians to join the Cooperation Game team.
Actually. Clinton is educated, intelligent, and decent. Trump is an evil, stupid pile of pus. But if we elect either one, it will indeed be a democratic outcome. It may very well be that the majority of voters want the country to be run by a pile of pus. This campaign has already uncovered the maggot-infested corpse of American redneck thought. Are there enough knuckle-draggers out there to elect Trump? We shall see.
Deleted...........(
anyone know where MC is hanging out tonight?
I'm tired of drinking alone ;-)
Dr. Dew is getting canned from CNN. For discussing Hillary's possible health.
THAT'S TERRIBLE!!. I have always liked him and his personality (going back to MTV's Loveline and radio show) he seems like he's very level headed, down to earth, humble, knowledgeable and smart.
I know MY GF had a crush on him. To our surprised A few months back we actually meet and talked to him for a while as he sat next to her and I at the Center Bar at SLS. As we left he offered a picture, however my GF is sometimes shy and settled for an autograph on a cocktail napkin.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/26/dr-drew-show-canceled-days-after-his-negative-speculation-about-hillary-clintons-health/
Quote: AxelWolfExcuse me if this should be posted elsewhere or have it's own thread (Mods can move it) I just assume it will be politically controversial.
Dr. Dew is getting canned from CNN. For discussing Hillary's possible health.
THAT'S TERRIBLE!!. I have always liked him and his personality (going back to MTV's Loveline and radio show) he seems like he's very level headed, down to earth, humble, knowledgeable and smart.
I know MY GF had a crush on him. To our surprised A few months back we actually meet and talked to him for a while as he sat next to her and I at the Center Bar at SLS. As we left he offered a picture, however my GF is sometimes shy and settled for an autograph on a cocktail napkin.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/26/dr-drew-show-canceled-days-after-his-negative-speculation-about-hillary-clintons-health/
Maybe Fox News will hire him?
Nancy Grace is also being replaced.
I don't know anything about him, but he should be able to affirm this or deny it.
Quote: AxelWolf
Dr. Dew is getting canned from CNN. For discussing Hillary's possible health.
I don't see anything in the article that definitively states that his show was canceled "for" that reason. Correlation does not equal causation; B follows A does not mean that A caused B.
That said, if he offered an uninformed "diagnosis" of Hillary, based on third-hand information, it was spectacularly dumb to do so. Also, the timing of his pronouncement made it seem like he was supporting the latest Trump attack, this time on Hillary's health (rambling and incoherent as it was). So whether or not that actually was why his show was canceled, that blunder would have been more than enough reason for the network to pull the plug on him.
Posting here in these types of threads is like an IQ test of sorts.Quote: TwoFeathersATLJust in general, I'd say that anyone that spends much time bashing liberals or conservatives over the Internet is a serious asshole. If that bashing now becomes Clinton or Trump, yea, still serious asshole. The exception to the general statement would be anyone who is a member in good standing on the WOV Forums. They would be just a minor annoyance ;-)
<edit> an exception to the exception would not be AMS. He's just a minor annoyance, mostly ;-)
Quote: realDonaldTrumpDoes anyone know that Crooked Hillary, who tried so hard, was unable to pass the Bar Exams in Washington D.C. She was forced to go elsewhere
Quote: realDonaldTrumpCrooked Hillary's brainpower is highly overrated.Probably why her decision making is so bad or, as stated by Bernie S, she has BAD JUDGEMENT
Quote: realDonaldTrumpNow that African-Americans are seeing what a bad job Hillary type policy and management has done to the inner-cities, they want TRUMP!
These are the tweets of a guy who knows he's losing badly.
I love it.
Also, any English fans here want to go through all the grammatical and punctuation errors in his tweets? Humorous that he said Hillary's "brainpower is highly overrated."
Quote:The FBI is warning all states to tighten security measures related to their online election systems after hackers successfully infiltrated one state board of election and targeted another, ABC News has confirmed.
“The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity ... has been detected,” the agency’s Cyber Division said in a bulletin recently sent to private-industry partners across the country.
In late June, an “unknown actor scanned a state's Board of Election website for vulnerabilities” and, after identifying a security gap, exploited the vulnerability to conduct a “data exfiltration,” the FBI said in its Aug. 18 “flash” bulletin.
Earlier this month, hackers used the same vulnerability in an “attempted intrusion activities into another state’s Board of Election system,” the FBI said.
The bulletin did not say who may be behind the cyberattacks, or where they may be located
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-warns-cyberattacks-state-election-boards/story?id=41719997
I really, really wish that Clinton would just refuse to debate him. Given his lack of class and that absolutely nothing of any substance will occur or be discussed there, I think she should take the high road and just ignore him until the election. But I'm sure that there's so much money in it for the networks that it will go off anyway, like a World Series between the New York Yankees and the Paducah Jellyfish (not competitive, in other words). There's also the factor that Trump is almost certain to say something during the debates that will antagonize people even further, something that Demo strategists are doubtless anticipating with glee.
Also, the contrast between Clinton's carefully scripted responses and Trump's fumbling, impromptu, fact-free responses should further illustrate why no one should vote for him. But after each debate, his knuckle-dragger followers will all bleat, "Way to stick it to that bitch, Donald!" and other tasteless remarks.
Can we please track down all Trump voters, round them up, and send them to Baffin Island? Please? Please? We'd be so much better off without them.
Quote: JoeshlabotnikI really, really wish that Clinton would just refuse to debate him. Given his lack of class and that absolutely nothing of any substance will occur or be discussed there, I think she should take the high road and just ignore him until the election. But I'm sure that there's so much money in it for the networks that it will go off anyway, like a World Series between the New York Yankees and the Paducah Jellyfish (not competitive, in other words). There's also the factor that Trump is almost certain to say something during the debates that will antagonize people even further, something that Demo strategists are doubtless anticipating with glee.
I wouldn't want her to refuse to debate him. She's a skilled debater. Trump.... isn't.
Hillary is preparing for the debates meticulously, like she did for her 11 hour marathon Benghazi testimony (that she knocked out of the part and made the Republicans look like fools). Trump is having meetings with Roger Ailes and Laura Ingraham on Sundays to go over debate strategy and so far he's refusing to do mock debates because he thinks he doesn't need to.... hmmm.
The NYT reports that the Clinton campaign is consulting with psychologists to find ways to really get under Trump's thin skin during the debates.
I wouldn't be surprised if after the first debate, Trump throws a hissy fit, blames the moderator for being biased, blames the media for lying, and refuses to go to the other two. His candidacy is that much of a train wreck, it would not surprise me at all...
Quote: JoeshlabotnikOf course, he's losing. The only thing that bothers me is that we'll have to listen to two more months of his dying thrashings.
....
Can we please track down all Trump voters, round them up, and send them to Baffin Island? Please? Please? We'd be so much better off without them.
I think it's time to separate the Trump voters from the core Trump voters. If that's possible.
There is a real unanswered, legitimate anger and frustration in this country about our political process the last 30 years or longer. Those people are turning to Trump not because he's a good candidate, or even a mediocre one. They're turning to him because the politicians they have are failing to do their jobs.
If the Republicans had an Elizabeth Warren, for example, that person would have won the primary and be leading the general. Look how close Bernie, as an iconoclast outsider, came to winning. Look how the Republicans doing business as usual fell to nonsense without substance. Trump's biggest failure is or will be that he doesn't know how to solve any of the problems he's screaming about. He only knows how to throw blame and belittle other people. But even the thought that their dissatisfaction is being expressed is enough to line up a lot of unhappy people behind him.
Yeah, round up the idiots and the supremacists and send them to Baffin. But millions of others could be part of the solution if we were to work together on our problems.
And yet idiot John Mica got elected again tonight. Idiot Bill Posey is unopposed. (These are people I've lobbied and been their constituent, so i feel safe in applying labels in this instance). So at least 2 do-nothing block - everything Florida clowns are returning to the House.
We never learn. And we eat our young, too. What upstanding person is willing, any more, to be a public servant and go through the personal and professional mine field that is national politics these days? You almost have to be a jerk to start with, because it's not about service, it's about power and money all the time now.
Sigh. I don't know what more can be done. Term limits, I guess. The ballot box isn't cleaning house like it should.
Quote: beachbumbabsI think it's time to separate the Trump voters from the core Trump voters. If that's possible.
There is a real unanswered, legitimate anger and frustration in this country about our political process the last 30 years or longer. Those people are turning to Trump not because he's a good candidate, or even a mediocre one. They're turning to him because the politicians they have are failing to do their jobs.
Yeah, but I don't think there is any meaningful distinction between those people who have actively embraced Trump--because he says exactly what they feel--and those who support him because he is a "destroy the establishment" candidate. If you sell your soul to Trump, you're no better than those who gave it to him at the start. To draw an analogy I refuse to stop making, the "good Germans" who elected Hitler in 1933 were just as culpable as the Brown Shirts who had been marching behind him from the beginning. Maybe more culpable, because they should have known better.
I realize that many people feel disaffected, but when in the history of human civilization has that ever not been the case? If you don't like the way things are, you find other like-minded people and work for change. If you don't have the patience for that, you start a revolution, people die, and the new boss is the same as the old boss. Neither Trump nor Sanders have offered any solutions to what they say is wrong with this country other than such a fruitless revolution. The fact of the matter is that you can always get people to march behind your banner if you tell them that they aren't getting what they deserve. Compare, for example, the number of people who think they're not paid enough with the number who think they're paid too much.
So what can be done? Change. Slow, incremental, two-steps-forward-one-step-back change. A gradual ideological and societal shift toward a more humane governmental system (we are approximately five decades behind Western Europe in that regard). Educate the populace so that they can think logically and more importantly, are INCLINED to do so. Wean them away from voting based on vague, amorphous impressions and encourage them to become informed.
And I would still send both the Trump hardcore and the hangers-on to Baffin Island. The former, to isolate them; the latter, as punishment. A wonderful bonus would be a significant new food source for the endangered polar bear population.
If elected, he could finally break the Adams-Bush-Harrison-Johnson-Roosevelt deadlock for greatest number of presidents with the same surname. If Hillary were to be elected, it would only contribute to the current logjam! :) Quick trivia question, which pair from the above list are not related (at least by traceable lineage) to each other?
Pundits are describing it as his "Hail Maria" pass.
Quote: JoemanI just heard my first Gary Johnson for President ads yesterday. On a sports talk station, no less. I'm not sure he would get my vote, but I would love to see him on the debate stage with Hil & The Donald.
If elected, he could finally break the Adams-Bush-Harrison-Johnson-Roosevelt deadlock for greatest number of presidents with the same surname. If Hillary were to be elected, it would only contribute to the current logjam! :) Quick trivia question, which pair from the above list are not related (at least by traceable lineage) to each other?
It's Johnson right. Which means in the very unlikely, basically impossible, scenerio that Johnson wins we'd have had 3 unrelated Johnnsons in the WH.
Yes! Both the Adamses & Bushes were father-son, the Harrisons were grandfather-grandson, and the Roosevelts were 5th cousins.Quote: TwirdmanIt's Johnson right. Which means in the very unlikely, basically impossible, scenerio that Johnson wins we'd have had 3 unrelated Johnnsons in the WH.
Quote: Jim WrightQuote: Kaepernick“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.”
I’ve been away from the internet all day.
I came home from a family picnic on the Blackwater River to find my inbox, as usual, overflowing like a ripe Port-O-Pottie.
One of the first messages I read was about 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, quoted above, who last Friday night at the beginning of a preseason game suddenly decided to become the most hated man in America du jour by deliberately not standing for the National Anthem.
Yes, that’s right, a football player didn’t stand for the National Anthem.
As you know, this means Kaepernick is scum, a horrible human being, a likely member of ISIS, a Muslim terrorist, a black thug, a communist, a socialist (and not the cool share your weed Bernie Sanders kind of socialist but the Red Brigade kind of Socialist who sleeps under a poster of Chairman Mao), a radical, a Black Panther, and he probably has Fidel Castro’s phone number in his contact favorites.
Yeah. Okay.
I answered the message and went on to the next one.
The next message was about Kaepernick. As was the next one. And the next one. And…
They all begin pretty much the same way: Jim, AS A VETERAN, what do you think about this? Well?
Let me answer all the messages at once
__________
AS A VETERAN, what do I think about Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the National Anthem?
As a veteran?
Very well, as a veteran then, this is what I believe:
The very first thing I learned in the military is this: Respect is a two-way street. If you want respect, true respect, sincere respect, then you have to GIVE IT.
If you want respect, you have to do the things necessary to earn it each and every single day. There are no short cuts and no exceptions.
Respect cannot be compelled.
Respect cannot be bought.
Respect cannot be inherited.
Respect cannot be demanded at the muzzle of a gun or by beating it into somebody or by shaming them into it. Can not. You might get what you think is respect, but it’s not. It’s only the appearance of respect. It’s fear, it’s groveling, it’s not respect. Far, far too many people both in and out of the military, people who should emphatically know better, do not understand this simple fact: there is an enormous difference between fear and respect.
Respect has to be earned.
Respect. Has. To. Be. Earned.
Respect has to be earned every day, by every word, by every action.
It takes a lifetime of words and deeds to earn respect.
It takes only one careless word, one thoughtless action, to lose it.
You have to be worthy of respect. You have to live up to, or at least do your best to live up to, those high ideals — the ones America supposedly embodies, that shining city on the hill, that exceptional nation we talk about, yes, that one. To earn respect you have to be fair. You have to have courage. You must embrace reason. You have to know when to hold the line and when to compromise. You have to take responsibility and hold yourself accountable. You have to keep your word. You have to give respect, true respect, to get it back.
There are no short cuts. None.
Now, any veteran worth the label should know that. If they don’t, then likely they weren’t much of a soldier to begin with and you can tell them I said so.
IF Kaepernick doesn’t feel his country respects him enough for him to respect it in return, well, then you can’t MAKE him respect it.
You can not make him respect it.
If you try to force a man to respect you, you’ll only make him respect you less.
With threats, by violence, by shame, you can maybe compel Kaepernick to stand up and put his hand over his heart and force him to be quiet. You might.
But that’s not respect.
It’s only the illusion of respect.
You might force this man into the illusion of respect. You might. Would you be satisfied then? Would that make you happy? Would that make you respect your nation, the one which forced a man into the illusion of respect, a nation of little clockwork patriots all pretending satisfaction and respect? Is that what you want? If THAT’s what matters to you, the illusion of respect, then you’re not talking about freedom or liberty. You’re not talking about the United States of America. Instead you’re talking about every dictatorship from the Nazis to North Korea where people are lined up and MADE to salute with the muzzle of a gun pressed to the back of their necks.
That, that illusion of respect, is not why I wore a uniform.
That’s not why I held up my right hand and swore the oath and put my life on the line for my country.
That, that illusion of respect, is not why I am a veteran.
Not so a man should be forced to show respect he doesn’t feel.
That’s called slavery and I have no respect for that at all.
If Americans want this man to respect America, then first they must respect him.
If America wants the world’s respect, it must be worthy of respect.
America must be worthy of respect. Torture, rendition, indefinite detention, unarmed black men shot down in the street every day, poverty, inequality, voter suppression, racism, bigotry in every form, obstructionism, blind patriotism, NONE of those things are worthy of respect from anybody — least of all an American.
But doesn’t it also mean that if Kaepernick wants respect, he must give it first? Give it to America? Be worthy of respect himself? Stand up, shut up, and put his hand over his heart before Old Glory?
No. It doesn’t.
Respect doesn’t work that way.
Power flows from positive to negative. Electricity flows from greater potential to lesser.
The United States isn’t a person, it’s a vast construct, a framework of law and order and civilization designed to protect the weak from the ruthless and after more than two centuries of revision and refinement it exists to provide in equal measure for all of us the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The United States is POWER.
All the power rests with America. Just as it does in the military chain of command. And like that chain of command, like the electrical circuit described above, respect must flow from greater to lesser FIRST before it can return.
To you the National Anthem means one thing, to Kaepernick it means something else. We are all shaped and defined by our experiences and we see the world through our own eyes. That’s freedom. That’s liberty. The right to believe differently. The right to protest as you will. The right to demand better. The right to believe your country can BE better, that it can live up to its sacred ideals, and the right to loudly note that it has NOT. The right to use your voice, your actions, to bring attention to the things you believe in. The right to want more for others, freedom, liberty, justice, equality, and RESPECT.
A true veteran might not agree with Colin Kaepernick, but a true veteran would fight to the death to protect his right to say what he believes.
You don’t like what Kaepernick has to say? Then prove him wrong, BE the nation he can respect.
It’s really just that simple.
