Monday, January 15, 2018
What if NBC and the NFL had the guts to be honest about anthem protests at the Super Bowl?
NBC Sports executive producer Fred
Gaudelli says NBC’s cameras will show any players who chose to kneel
during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” when the network airs Super Bowl
LII on Feb. 4.
“The Super Bowl is a live event, just
like ‘Sunday Night Football.’ When you’re covering a live event, you’re
covering what’s happening,” said Gaudelli. “So if there are players
that choose to kneel, they will be shown live.”
That at first feels like a defendable point of view.
They are taking the journalist’s free pass as observers, not
participants. The problem is that stance is a lie.The Super Bowl is American theatre. It is perhaps the most orchestrated live event that takes place in the U.S. today. It is designed, carefully framed, its halftime show meticulously planned and the placement of its ads, which have become key accouterments to the show, are choreographed down to the second. All that surrounds the game is such a pre-written play that even the “fans” who cheer the bands on the field at halftime all have the same wave, the same color clothes or whatever fits the performance.
The Super Bowl is not just some live event journalists are watching. It is a composed affair designed to make us feel a certain way, even to buy certain products—the central product being the NFL.
And that brand has been tarnished. Not simply harmed by the protest Colin Kaepernick began and the NFL players after him who’ve kneeled during our national anthem have continued, but fundamentally damaged by a lack of honesty from the NFL and from many of the networks that broadcast NFL games.
If NBC focuses a camera in on players who choose not to respect the flag and all it stands for before the big game then they aren’t just showing what happens at a live event, but are making the protest a part of their choreographed show. Might they also, during the anthem, show a group of fans holding signs saying “God Bless America”?With no check on the players who disrespect the flag, the players who kneel are treated as civil-rights activists—heroes in our culture. Meanwhile, the point of view that the good, ol’ red, white and blue is a symbol of what is best in America, not something to protest, isn’t given a voice.
This is at the heart of why fans are turning away from the NFL. It isn’t really because a few players are making this game political. It is rather because in today’s political climate the NFL nor the broadcasters have the guts to challenge these players and to ask them to explain what they are protesting. The NFL and NBC refuse to publicly question if this is really the proper way to protest.
With no check on the players who disrespect the flag, and all it stands for, the players who opt to kneel are instead treated as civil-rights activists—heroes in our culture. Meanwhile, the point of view that the good, ol’ red, white and blue is a symbol of what is best in America, not something to protest, isn’t given a voice.
This is what sportscaster Al Michaels did during a panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour when he addressed the point that attendance at games has suffered as a result when he said, “There are a lot of empty seats, especially in the beginning of the second half. Most of the seats in most of the stadiums have been sold, but you go to Atlanta, where they just opened up a new stadium. They have behind the lower bowl a 100 yard almost mall. You’ve got stores, you’ve got bars, you’ve got restaurants, you’ve got games for the kids.”
The NFL also attempted to avoid an honest debate when they tried to crassly buy off the controversy by saying they would donate millions of dollars to the United Negro College Fund and Dream Corps.
The NFL is a private organization that can put its money where it wants, but donations aren’t a real answer.
Gaudelli said that if some players kneel during the anthem that the commentators Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth would probably identify the players, say a little about the protests “and then get on with the game.”
That would be a whitewash, which isn’t fair to the players kneeling or standing or the millions and millions of fans. This discussion should honestly take place on news broadcasts where the players and others can talk openly about this as they have their opinions challenged. Trying to do this with a few sentences before the big game is out of Michaels’ and Collinsworth’s expertise and has no place in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan event designed to bring us all together.
The game should be above politics.
Frank Miniter is author of "The Future of the Gun" & "The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide". His latest book is, is "Kill Big Brother", a cyber-thriller that shows how to balance freedom with security without diminishing the U.S. Bill of Rights.
Pelosi slams company bonuses as 'crumbs' despite once praising $40 tax cut
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday
slammed President Trump’s tax reform that led to companies giving as
large as $2,000 bonuses as “crumbs,” despite praising Obama-era $40 tax
cut to workers as a “victory for America” in 2011.
Following the passage of sweeping tax
cuts, including lowering the corporate tax from 35 percent to 21
percent, multiple companies have given out bonuses and pay rises for its
workers amid anticipating tax savings.
Companies such as AT&T have given $1,000 bonuses to
200,000 employees while at least 60,000 workers at Fiat/ Chrysler
received bonuses worth up to $2,000.“In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on — it’s so pathetic,” she told reporters Thursday. “I think it’s insignificant.”
Back in 2011, however, Pelosi was singing a different tune – praising a $40 payroll tax cut passed by President Obama as “a victory for all Americans” that will “make a difference.”
“The American people spoke out clearly and, thanks to President Obama’s leadership, 160 million Americans will continue to receive their payroll tax cut – nearly $40 per paycheck in the pockets of the average family,” she said at the time. “I salute the work of the unified House Democratic caucus on behalf of the American people.”
According to Saving.org’s inflation calculator, $40 in 2011 is equal to $44.06 in today’s dollars.
At least two million U.S. workers received bonuses, pay rises and other perks from at least 130 companies, The Washington Times reported. Most of these companies point to the Trump tax plan as the impetus.
Judge's DACA ruling seen by some legal scholars as problematic, report says
The judge who barred the Trump administration from
turning back the Obama-era DACA program last week has some legal
scholars concerned that the ruling could damage the notion of an
impartial bench.
The New York Times reported Sunday
that Judge William Alsup, the federal judge from the Northern District
of California, used a local case before issuing the nationwide stop.
“How can a single judge decide a question for the whole
country?” Samuel Bray, a law professor at the University of California,
Los Angeles, asked the paper.Bray wrote a recent article where he spoke out against federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions, the paper reported.
“Increasingly, legal scholars are concerned about the way national injunctions are transforming the relationship between the courts and the political branches,” he said.
Alsup wrote that it is “plausible” that President Trump ended the program for racial reasons, Politico reported.
"Circumstantial evidence of intent, including statements by a decisionmaker, may be considered in evaluating whether government action was motivated by a discriminatory purpose," Alsup wrote on Friday. "These statements were not about the rescission (which came later) but they still have relevance to show racial animus against people south of our border."
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, has protected about 800,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas. The program includes hundreds of thousands of college-age students.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Wednesday that the ruling was “outrageous, especially in light of the president’s successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day.”
The Times' report said the U.S. Supreme Court might address the issue of these injunctions.
Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, told the paper, “The justices don’t like the district courts changing national policy overnight.”
Flake's upcoming speech compares Trump's criticism of media to Stalin, report says
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. |
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., will make a speech
scheduled for Wednesday where he will compare President Trump’s concerns
of media objectivity to similar comments made by communist dictator
Joseph Stalin.
Flake, a fervent critic of the Trump
administration, is set to give the speech the same day Trump is expected
to announce the winners of the so-called “fake news” awards.
The senator will use his speech to condemn Trump’s attacks on the press and for calling it “the enemy of the American people.”In the draft of the speech, obtained by The Washington Post, Flake will then compare Trump’s comments to statements made by Stalin, who is responsible for the murder of millions.
“It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies,” the senator is expected to say, according to the excerpts published by the Post.
“It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase ‘enemy of the people,’ that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of ‘annihilating such individuals’ who disagreed with the supreme leader.”
According to the outgoing senator’s speech excerpts, Trump “has it precisely backward — despotism is the enemy of the people,” adding that “When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him ‘fake news,’ it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.”
The relationship between Flake and Trump has been soured from the start. During the 2016 presidential election, Trump said Flake is “a very weak and ineffective Senator.” Last summer, the commander-in-chief praised his Republican challenger Kelli Ward, adding that the Arizona senator “is weak on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!”
Flake announced his resignation in October with a scathing attack on the president, calling his behavior “reckless, outrageous, and undignified."
He also criticized the Republican Party that, in his view, had “given in or given up on the core principles in favor of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment,” adding that “anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Hawaii false alarm prompts plans for FCC investigation
Saturday's errant ballistic-missile alert to
cellphones, televisions and radio stations in Hawaii has officials in
Washington planning to find out what went wrong.
Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced plans for a probe via Twitter.
“The @FCC is launching a full investigation into the
false emergency alert that was sent to residents of Hawaii,” Pai tweeted
later Saturday.The @FCC is launching a full investigation into the false emergency alert that was sent to residents of Hawaii.— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) January 13, 2018
"This system failed miserably and we need to start over," Schatz tweeted.
Just got off the phone w @AjitPaiFCC and glad they are going to work with us on developing best practices on the communications side for states and municipalities to make sure this never happens again. This system failed miserably and we need to start over.— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 13, 2018
The FCC has regulated the nation's wireless emergency alert system since 2012. But critics have pointed out a number of perceived flaws, such as messages being delivered to too wide a swath rather than the people most affected by an emergency, Reuters reported.
In December, officials from Harris County, Texas, told members of the FCC about problems they experienced in directing alerts to people most affected by Hurricane Harvey, the New York Times reported.
In October, U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein, both D-Calif., wrote to Pai, saying that inefficient location-targeting had deprived some residents of receiving alerts, as wildfires raged across Northern California, the Times reported.
“These emergency services are caught in a bind between notifying individuals in imminent danger and risking mass panic,” the senators wrote.
Just last week Pai proposed that service providers “deliver these alerts to match the geographic area specified by the officials sending the alert with no more overshoot than one-tenth of a mile.”
The FCC plans to vote this month on a plan to improve the emergency alert system so it better targets the people most affected by a given situation.
Under such a proposed sytem, Pai said, Americans will “take more seriously the alerts they receive on their mobile devices.”
Who is Sean Penn to lecture Trump about compassion?
Piece of S**t Actor Sean Penn. |
It is utterly astounding that Time magazine published an op-ed
by clueless actor Sean Penn, lecturing President Trump on compassion
and justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Who is Sean Penn to
lecture anyone about compassion?
After all, it is Sean Penn who enabled and befriended
the repressive and ruthless Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, using his
Hollywood clout to lend credibility to Chavez and to spread lies about
the “successes” of Chavez’s disastrous socialist revolution.
Of course, Penn was not alone.
Actor Danny Glover and filmmaker Michael Moore also lavished Chavez and
his successor, Nicholas Maduro, with praise and support as Venezuela
spiraled into chaos and poverty.So did Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders’ website once stated that the American Dream was dead and more likely to be found in Venezuela than the U.S. He has since quietly removed this passage from the site.
Under Chavez and Maduro, Venezuela went from being the economic envy of Latin America – rich in oil and with a vibrant economy – to being one of its poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.What has Sean Penn said about the horrible indignities and abuses suffered by the Venezuelan people? Nothing. Where is his “compassionate” op-ed to show concern for the victims of Venezuelan socialism and repression?
Today, thanks to the nationalization of oil production and government-imposed price controls, Venezuela is a country of hunger, deprivation, food shortages and humiliations that proud Venezuelans never thought they would be forced to endure. As a result of terrible food shortages, 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds last year.
The Miami Herald, in one of the saddest articles I have ever read, chronicled the plight of Venezuelan mothers with degrees in medicine and engineering prostituting themselves in neighboring Columbia to afford groceries for their families. Others are eating their pets or have to give away children they can no longer feed.
The political repression in Venezuela is equally alarming. Hundreds of dissidents have been imprisoned, including Maduro’s most threatening competitor – the handsome, young and courageous former mayor of Caracas, Leopoldo Lopez. Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in prison on trumped up charges, though he is currently under house arrest due to health concerns.
On top of all this, Venezuela’s brave citizens risk being attacked or killed by their own government when they protest against elections and institutions rigged by the regime.
So what has Sean Penn said about these horrible indignities and abuses suffered by the Venezuelan people? Nothing. Where is his “compassionate” op-ed to show concern for the victims of Venezuelan socialism and repression? Silence.
Meanwhile, President Trump – whom Penn calls “an enemy of compassion” over his reported use of vulgar language to describe some parts of the world in a closed-door Oval Office meeting – has been unequivocal in voicing his support for the Venezuelan people.
President Trump has condemned Venezuela’s socialist oppressors and made the quest of the Venezuelan people for freedom and prosperity one of his top three international concerns, behind North Korea and Iran.
I do agree with Penn on one thing. Immigrants and refugees who have escaped the corrupt, dysfunctional, crime-ridden, socialist and communist regimes of Latin America are precisely the kind of hard-working and grateful people we should be welcoming to the U.S. They truly appreciate the blessings that Penn takes for granted.
Unlike Penn, these immigrants understand that it is democracy and American free-enterprise that have made our country the best and most prosperous in the history of the world. They know that nothing has lifted more people out of poverty than entrepreneurial capitalism. And they resent the ignorant complicity of members of the Hollywood elite, like Sean Penn, in the destruction of their country and the misery and poverty it has wrought.
A few months ago I attended the graduation ceremony of a group of Latin Americans who had attended an English language course sponsored by the LIBRE Initiative, a nonprofit that educates Hispanics about how to achieve the American Dream.
A Venezuelan man stood up. He told us he was one of the lucky ones who was able to leave that nation. He expressed deep gratitude to America and to the LIBRE Initiative, which was empowering him with language skills to succeed in his new home.
Holding a small American flag in one hand and a Venezuelan flag in the other, he addressed this small group of immigrants gathered inside of a cramped Honduran restaurant. He didn’t mince words.
“We need to educate our children to be wary of those who promise us ‘free’ things,” the man said. “I don’t care if it’s a bag of rice or a washing machine. Nothing is worth your freedom. It’s priceless.”
This new immigrant knows more about America, freedom, and the fruits of free enterprise than Sean Penn and socialist Hollywood pals will ever know.
Rachel Campos-Duffy is a FOX News Contributor and a mother of eight. Her debut children’s book – inspired by real life events - is a story about a little girl’s adventure inside the US Capitol where she learns lessons about patriotism, courage and her immigrant father’s journey to citizenship. It will be released by Regnery Kids in Spring 2018.
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