…says the person who values the ability to coerce others to bend to their will
literally fascist rhetoric
I don’t think you know what literally means. I also don’t think you read very carefully. Where have I mentioned that I coerce anyone? Your unsubstantiated and inaccurate accusations are offensive. Is this the pit?
Anyways, ad hominem attacks haven’t ever swayed my point of view. But you’re welcome to continue. 
Measure for Measure, Shakespeare
True rehabilitation should ideally include making his victims whole.
He’s got a lotta dogs still dead or maimed because of what he did. Once he gets that detail straightened out, we can talk about “rehabilitation.”
kaylasdad99, football loather
Yes. Half-decent QBs are in limited enough supply that he’ll find a job.
The anthem protest was dumb (he was taking a stand against a government run by a black President and black Attorney General which was actively pursuing police shootings) but the blowback will be temporary as long as he can help a team.
Barry Bonds’s career ended unwillingly because no one would sign him despite the fact he could still hit. There is, of course, quite a lot of suspicion that Bob Selig and the owners colluded not to sign him, as opposed to all the team independently choosing not to. Certainly for many teams the decision to pass on a hitter they desperately needed makes no sense otherwise.
In the case of Kaepernick, while he’s not the Barry Bonds of his sport, you are going to be hard pressed to convince me he isn’t worth at least a #2 spot. He is’t Tom Brady but it’s just not true to say he’s not good; last year, playing for a genuinely terrible team, he had a TD/INT ratio of four-to-one and ran the ball well. His QB rating was better than Eli Manning and just a hair under Russell Wilson, and those guys’ teams made the playoffs.
But Kap isn’t the type of quarterback that fits into most systems. He’s not a drop back passer, which 29 or 30 teams run. So you can’t go from the Patriot’s system fro example, which is drop back and timing, and go to a Seattle system that uses Wilson. So Kap just isn’t viable in most systems. This is also why RGIII will be hard pressed to be a backup.
By your logic, no murderer or DUI driver who killed a pedestrian, or anyone whose actions have ever caused a death, can ever be rehabilitated.
Only if he’s willing to be a backup.
The OP is mistaken in assuming he’s out of a job because of his political posturing. He’s out of a job because he just isn’t good. The Niners, bad as they are, were about to cut him. I suspect he pulled the kneeling stunt to try to keep his job, since the team might look like they were engaging in retribution if they went ahead with it.
Hmm, no, he was taking a stand against police discrimination and brutality, which did and do exist and do need to be fixed. What was really dumb was his not bothering to fucking vote, and publicly saying so.
Sure, but look at some of the backups currently rostered in the NFL. Matt McGloin? Brett Hundley? Geno Smith?
Kaepernick was 17th in passer rating last season. 16/4 TD/INT ratio. He didn’t throw much, but he was effective when he did. He’s absolutely in the top 64 NFL quarterbacks and his status at kickoff of 2017 should reflect that.
Do you understand that I said that it’s the ability to coerce that you value? In other words “carrying a big stick” and “it’s better to be strong than weak” and all.
Yeah. That ability is a good attribute. Acting with that ability may or may not be good.
Ha! Me too, as I deal with the Bureau often in my daily work.
He’s a marginal player at best. He isn’t really good enough to overcome the drag associated with being a douchebag.
Good thing he’s not a douchebag, then.
Well I guess at least he didn’t call him a thug.
He might be waiting to see if there is a starting spot left when the music stops. Cutler is still hanging around. The Jets signed McCown for a 1 year deal, Fitzpatrick is going to be looking for a spot. Cowboys might release Romo.
Kap is a little bit like Tebow, in that it could be a bit of a headache to have them as a backup, and if they were any good at being a pocket passer they would be a pocket passer, so their usefulness running the scout team would be limited. He’s in a pretty tough spot.
Even before his kneeling stuff he had to take a extreme, almost unheard of, team friendly contract. It shows a lot when the team you took to the Superbowl doesn’t really care about locking you up long term. His 126 million deal with really only had like 13 million fully guaranteed.
Is that Bud’s evil twin?
I know nothing about the skills or lack thereof of any current player (I haven’t watched football for decades), but I suspect those who say if he’s good enough his protest won’t matter and if he’s not lots of people will act like the protests were the only thing that mattered.
I don’t think they should matter. I also think playing the anthem at sporting events is ludicrous and weird. And I also think that when you get a really big figurative microphone, lots of people get to hear your figurative speech. If they don’t like you because of it, them’s the breaks.
Teams take a lot into account besides playing ability when deciding whether to sign someone. Tim Tebow hasn’t failed to make a team because he’s worse than every single NFL QB currently wearing a uniform, he’s failed because signing Tim Tebow brings with it other complications: fan pressure to play him, headlines about at best a backup, and the need to teach your team a whole different offense to take advantage of his strengths and cover for his weaknesses. Any decent team can win with Tim Tebow at QB. It’s just more trouble than it’s worth for most teams. That’s what’s going on here. Kaepernick’s talent level is that of a solid backup. Do you sign a backup who will bring your team that much drama and headlines? If he was still a Super Bowl caliber QB there’d be no question of it being worth it.
So in a sense, yes, he’s been punished for his political views. If he’d kept quiet he’d be signed. And frankly, I don’t like it. While the Constitution does not protect you from private consequences for exercising your 1st amendment rights, they aren’t actually worth a whole lot if your career can be ruined. I don’t see any government solution here, a societal problem can only be solved by society. And society can solve it by not freaking out everytime someone makes a controversial statement. Sometimes it seems like we punish actual crimes less than political statements. Mike Tyson got back in the ring after raping a girl, and continues to get paying gigs from movies to celebrity appearances. Colin Kaepernick should play in the NFL.
The right answer to someone expressing views you don’t agree with is to say, “Well, that’s your opinion, I have my own.” If you are honestly hurt by the statement you can just not support them. But organizing boycotts, protests, because one person SAID something and that person isn’t even in a position of power, but merely fame? Ruining their careers over it? To hell with that. It has to stop. I believe that 100 years from now such behavior will be looked upon as utterly insane.
Well said!
Today we live in an era of schoolyard politics as commonly practiced by 8 year-olds. The consequences of trying to run an actual 21st Century continent-scale globally-connected society like a bunch of 8 yos will not be good.