“Hey guys, we’re burning jerseys of this one NFL player who’s a real scumbag!”
“You mean Roy Rice, who beat up his girlfriend on camera?”
“No…”
“You mean one of the 44 players currently accused of rape?”
“No…”
“You mean that one dude who punched his pregnant girlfriend in the face?”
“No! We mean that asshole who refused to stand for the national anthem and wore socks we find mildly offensive!”
What really gets me is the statement by Frank Saunders, president of the Santa Clara Police Officers Association, that “the 49ers are allowing this to come out from an employee and it’s making for a hostile work environment for us at the stadium.”
Really?
Police deal with armed criminals, obnoxious combative drunks, arrestees who punch, bite and spit, and many other types of violent situations. And this is a hostile work environment? A guy criticizes them in a way they don’t like, and it’s too much for them to take?
Maybe they should quit coming to work until people start respecting their authoritay?
What are examples of liberals running crying to the courts? I can’t think of any. Liberals leech off society? I didn’t know Cliven Bundy was a liberal.
Well looking at it from a few paces back, you could maybe do with getting over the whole anthem thing in the first place - it really is weird; a little over … something. Overwrought, maybe?
Then maybe think about the bolt upright chest clutching or whatever that is. The world doesn’t do that so much. It looks like you need a paramedic.
And then there’s Team USA flag badges on office suits: why not just get whole suit tailor out of flags, perhaps with Lincoln-style hat. Then whoever you’re meeting will be really impressed.
And outside your house - why? is there a website where you can get the whole Team USA kit?
In curious, for those people who are vehemently against protests by Kaepernick or BLM, how would you suggest people publicly protest bad cops while not accidentally tarring good cops? How would you suggest that issues of police brutality get resolved?
It’s sometimes difficult to tell, but I believe Bricker was being sarcastic. Surely even *he *doesn’t care for Atlas Shrugged.
You silly boy. Only patriotic white conservatives are allowed to protest, which is the highest form of descent. 
Do you KNOW any cops? Because some of them are taking this demonization kinda personal. I happen to think this widespread demonization is a good thing because it will make cops start to realize that staying quiet about those few bad apples makes them all look bad.
But I don’t see cops ignoring that sort of boycott. And that means that a few fans might also decide to just watch the game from home.
There is some truth to your first paragraph, and like you, i really hope that the current conversation about police violence and misconduct will encourage good officers to speak out more often against bad ones. But i think that the point you make is, perhaps, contradicted a little bit by the second paragraph.
I think there are probably a significant number of police officers who don’t like the demonization, but who also recognize that it has emerged, in considerable measure, as a consequence of some very troubling systemic problems with a wide variety of police departments. Have you read the DoJ report on the Baltimore Police Department? It’s pretty damning, and i’ll bet it’s not the only department where such stuff occurs on a regular basis.
But even in a department like Baltimore’s, which had a wide range of problems that were sustained and enabled by institutional incompetence and lack of proper training, there were quite a number of officers who clearly tried to do the job properly, and were uncomfortable with the bad behavior of their colleagues. And i’m sure there are plenty of police in departments all over the US who feel the same way. There are plenty of cops in the US who aren’t really represented very well by some of the reactionary assholes who speak for police unions.
And for that reason, while you might get a lot of police supporting a boycott like the one suggested in Santa Clara, i’d be willing to bet that you might also find quite a few who say to themselves, “Fuck that. Kaepernick has a point; i don’t care whether or not the 49ers punish him; and i want the overtime.” Now, in cases like this, i’m not sure if the police unions expect 100% solidarity from their members, but i’ll be interested to see whether there is a completely united front on this issue.
The NYC mayor is a dickhead and I pretty much support any criticism of the guy. There might even be something to the rumors that he fucks underaged sheep.
BLM should be more selective about who they choose as martyrs. Some of those guys and the circumstances of their death are not really helping their cause.
What do you expect the policeman’s union to do? Take up common cause with BLM? You have to beat them not henpeck them.
Its more than a little ironic that the those that defend this guy on the basis that he is just expressing his opinion are critical of other expressing theirs.
So, you think that individual police will cross that sort of picket line (even if there are no pickets)? Maybe, but I doubt it.
I doubt that any police will cross that line in that stadium and if it gets off the ground, it might affect their away games as well.
Vote the bums out. If mayors start losing elections because of police brutality, the police stop being brutal.
No one is saying anyone can’t express their opinion. But all free speech is subject to rebuttal. You are only guaranteed the right to express it, you are not guaranteed there won’t be others with a conflicting opinion. Yours, mine and his.
No irony at all.
The thing about freedom of expression is that it applies to smart things and dumb things; it applies to good expression and bad expression; it applies to saints and to assholes alike.
And, in fact, another part of freedom of expression is the freedom to evaluate the positions taken by other people. Criticizing the position take by one person or group, while supporting the completely different position taken by another person or group, poses no ironic or paradoxical problems whatsoever for my ideas about freedom of expression.
This is a rather clueless suggestion. Who are you voting IN by doing this? :dubious:
Of course its ironic. Kaepernick is expressing himself. People ar4e criticizing him and others are criticizing his critics by pointing out that Kaepernick is just exercising his freedom of expression. His critics are not immune from criticism and neither is he. but criticizing his critics for stifling him or something like that is fucking ironic.
To date, has BLM endorsed any politicians?
No? They can’t find a single fucking politician that they can support? They can’t produce a single one? Why do you think that is?
That’s it? So, illegal killings go on, people don’t get punished, and your only suggestion is maybe they organize enough people to vote them out?
What would you suggest they do about the injustice that’s already occurred? Let it go? Some black guy gets killed, the mayor and police chief gets voted out, and that’s it? Nobody goes to jail, no policies get changed, no new law gets passed, no compensation for the family?
What if they don’t get voted out? Should these people just have to accept that the general public is ok with these type of killings?