PAID PATRIOTISM

Finding out whether NFL players are to stand on the field for the National Anthem is confusing as there seem to be two manuals with one of them not available.  The bottom line for me, however, is a notice by NFL management repeated on Snopes that:

The NFL will not discipline those teams and players who refused to be on the field for the playing of the national anthem before games Sunday, league spokesman Joe Lockhart said.

“There will be no discipline handed down this week,” Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, said in a conference call with reporters.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans were not on the field for the anthem*.

The sad thing about this is that the original message of  Colin Kaepernick emphasizing police brutality has been lost in the ensuing discussions.

There is also the matter of whether the NFL has been paid to have the players on the field and standing for the National anthem.:

The Department of Defense and the National Guard paid the NFL a combined $12.3 million between 2011 and 2015. So the next time you think NFL players should stay out of politics, just remember that politics injected itself into the NFL first, and these players never got a say in being used as army recruitment tools."*

Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and John McCain (R-AZ) released a statement on an investigation into DOD payments for "patriotic tributes" between 2011 and 2014.* 

Their statement in part said:

"clearly show that DOD paid for patriotic tributes at professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer games. These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches͕ and puck drops. The National Guard paid teams for the “opportunity” to sponsor military appreciation nights and to recognize its birthday. It paid the Buffalo Bills to sponsor its Salute to the Service game. DOD even paid teams for the “opportunity” to perform surprise welcome home promotions for troops returning from deployments and to recognize wounded warriors. While well intentioned, we wonder just how many of these displays included a disclaimer that these events were in fact sponsored by the DOD at taxpayer expense. Even with that disclosure, it is hard to understand how a team accepting taxpayer funds to sponsor a military appreciation game, or to recognize wounded warriors or returning troops, can be construed as anything other than paid patriotism." * 

There also is the news that the NFL is reimburse the Federal government $724,000 for patriotic events.***

* http://www.snopes.com/must-nfl-players-stand/?utm_campaign=thursday_update&utm_medium=manual&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiAiZGI1YjBlM2MtNDY3Ny00ZjEzLWJlMTYtYTkxM2MyYWJlNjg4In0%3D&utm_source=bme

** http://www.kvue.com/news/local/verify/verify-did-the-us-govt-pay-nfl-players-to-stand-for-natl-anthem/478658938
*** http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/19/news/companies/nfl-paid-patriotism/index.html

ROY MOORE: JUDGE WHO DOESN'T BELIEVE IN LAW

The poster child of a deplorable is Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court judge in Alabama who, among other things, doesn't believe in law.  He was ousted once from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to take down a Ten Commandments plague from his courtroom in the state judicial building.  A poll showed, however, the 88% of Alabamans supported Moore on this issue.  Then he was reelected and tossed out again when he told other judges in Alabama they don;t need to follow the law on same sex marriage.

As a judge, Moore refused to obey a federal court order to remove from his courthouse a monument to the Ten Commandments he had installed to underscore his belief. He was removed from his job as a result.*

In a 2002 legal opinion, he described homosexual conduct as “an inherent evil,” and he has argued that the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage should not be considered the rule of law. He was suspended from Alabama’s court a second time for defying the higher court’s marriage decision, and he later decided to retire from the bench.*

Moore has said:

To disfavor practicing homosexuals in custody matters is not invidious discrimination, nor is it legislating personal morality. On the contrary, disfavoring practicing homosexuals in custody matters promotes the general welfare of the people of our State in accordance with our law, which is the duty of its public servants...

The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle...

Homosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it. That is enough under the law to allow a court to consider such activity harmful to a child. To declare that homosexuality is harmful is not to make new law but to reaffirm the old; to say that it is not harmful is to experiment with people's lives, particularly the lives of children.^[**

In August 2017, Moore suggested that 9/11 was a punishment by God for Americans' declining religiosity**Moore has also stated that suffering in the United States may be because "we legitimize sodomy" and "legitimize abortion."[114] The Washington Post notes that "among the prices [Moore] says this country has paid for denying God’s supremacy: the high murder rate in Chicago, crime on the streets of Washington, child abuse, rape and sodomy.**

Moore believes Obama is not a U.S. citizen to this day.**

Moore feels that Islam is a false religion. He claims there are communities in the U.S. under Sharia Law, something that has no factual basis. He also feels that Muslims shouldn't serve in the American congress. [currently there are two].  On a TV interview, Moore said he never heard of DACA or Dreamers and asked what they were.***

For more see the references.*

* https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/moore-vs-strange-polling-opens-in-alabama-republican-primary/2017/09/25/9c7192f8-a253-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html?utm_term=.d261dbbba5b1
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Moore
*** http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/roy-moore-leading-candidate-in-alabama-senate-race-doesnt-know-what-daca-is/article/2633200

SMALL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE IN TRUMP DROPS

Perhaps America is slowly, very slowly, coming to grips with out current political problems.  Just this last week our president gave a speech at the U.S. that was well received, though I was distracted by all the bullying  statements in it.  Then he stepped all over it with a large number of comments and tweets slashing right and left.  It seems it he does something considered good, he has to make up for it by intemperate talk and writing afterward.

Confidence among America's small-business owners has slipped since April, according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey, released Monday.
.................................................................................
The survey's Small Business Confidence Index fell from 60 in the second quarter to 57 in the third quarter. The index is calculated on a scale from 0–100 and is based on the responses to eight survey questions. A zero indicates no confidence, and a score of 100 indicates perfect confidence. An index value of 57 means that business owners on the whole are more optimistic than they are pessimistic about the direction their business will head over the next 12 months.The slight dip in confidence is the result of sharp decreases in the number of small-business owners who are optimistic about the impact of changes in tax, trade, regulatory and immigration policy over the next 12 months.*

(click on figure to enlarge)

Only 27 percent of respondents say they expect changes in government regulations to have a positive effect on their business over the next 12 months. That's down from 38 percent who said the same in April, while the number saying regulation will have a negative impact on their business rose from 26 percent to 30 percent.

On tax policy, 31 percent now say changes will have a positive impact, down from 42 percent in April. Those saying changes in trade policy will have a positive impact declined from 27 percent in April to just 18 percent in August.

* https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/25/confidence-in-trump-drops-on-main-street-even-among-conservatives.html

STANDING FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Most people who are criticizing professional athletes for not standing and putting their hands over their hearts when the national anthem Star Spangled Banner* is played  are hypocritical.  Why?  Because they watch  the sports games on TV and don't stand at home with their hand over their heart when the national anthem is played on TV.  Why don't they get their butts off the chair and stand?  What exempts them?

Though I would stand at a sports event when the national anthem is played if I went to one, I do wonder why it is played at all?  And it is not done in all sports so far as I know.  For example, is the national anthem played before the start of each day in all professional sports?  I think not.  Why is golf exempt? Or the Indianapolis 500 where God Bless America is used?

I used to go to the concerts of the Fairfax Symphony (Fairfax Co., VA) where the national anthem was played to begin the concerts.  Of course, I stood and I guess I put my hand over my heart.  Truth to tell, I would rather America the Beautiful** (God is mentioned in each stanza if that is important but only in the 4th stanza of the Star Spangled Banner.) was the anthem or God Bless America **(only one stanza though there is an intro stanza) that are less militarily focused.  I used to go to a church hymn sing on Sunday nights in Highlands, NC,  where we ended singing God Bless America facing an American flag with our hand over our heart.  It is also sung before the Indianapolis 500 races.

In my memory, in St. Paul, MN, where I grew up, I think the national anthem was played before movies during WW-II and we stood, etc..

Incidentally, congress only adopted the national anthem on March 3, 1931 about 6 wks before I was born.  Hail Columbia*** was the unofficial national anthem for most of the 19th century.  I think we actually sang My Country 'Tis Of Thee**** at the beginning of the primary school day.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_America
*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail,_Columbia
**** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee

DOING SOMETHING FOR THE FEARS AND CONCERNS OF TRUMP'S BASE

Democrats are accused of not catering to the needs and fears of the white male worker.  So what can be done?  This is not so easy as the white male worker abandoned the Democratic Party because they felt too much attention was being paid to women, minorities, and gays (at the same time women, minorities and gays feel that not enough was done for them.).  Jobs were plentiful and wages were increasing but those didn't help Democrats.  Maybe the Democrats will just have to write off these people.  Politics is hard.

One thing many (most?) of Trump''s base dearly wants is The Wall (The Great Wall of Trump)

The president's 2018 budget proposal asks Congress for around $21.6 million per mile to build 74 miles of his wall.*

At this rate, the 74 mi. would cost nearly $1.6 billion ($1.598,400,000).

I’m not sure how far you can see at the Mexican border, but surely 15 mi. should be beyond eyesight.  So maybe you could fund 15 mi. or $325 million with a promise to fund more in the [infinite] future.  Then Trump could have his picture taken in front of the wall .  How much credit would Democrats get for this?  Hard to tell, but maybe to say you voted for the Wall, would yield some benefits.  Perhaps this could be used as a compromise to get DACA passed into law.

What else could be done?  Raising the minimum wage would help, but Democrats already have been for this and it didn't help them.  Free in-state college tuition and community college tuition might help, but Hillary already proposed this and it didn't help.

• Every student should have the option to graduate from a public college or university in their state without taking on any student debt. By 2021, families with income up to $125,000 will pay no tuition at in-state four-year public colleges and universities. And from the beginning, every student from a family making $85,000 a year or less will be able to go to an in-state four-year public college or university without paying tuition.**
• All community colleges will offer free tuition.

     And of course, Democrats offered an infrastructure program as did Trump.  The white workers should have known that their best hope for such a program would be with the Democrats because Republicans haven't been for that type of thing.  Sure enough, infrastructure came in third priority in the Trump programs and probably will never be gotten to it.  An infrastructure program now would generate good wages because of the low unemployment.  The white male worker opted to vote against their economic best interests.

     An analysis of these people is that they love Trump and Republicans for the emotions, not the programs.

Assuming that Donald (The Bully) Trump doesn't screw things up, the economic recovery should continue to expand, slowly if you prefer the term, and maybe even gain some speed.  It is already the 3rd longest recovery of all time.


* http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/30/donald-trumps-border-wall-a-progress-report.html
^^ 
** https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/college/

MEXICO EARTHQUAKES (Poem)

I wrote a poem stimulated by the 1985 earthquake of Mexico City but published it in 2014.  It seems timely again  The facts are technically correct for an earthquake:

https://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/04/earthquake-poem.html

AUTUMN EQUINOX

4:02 PM today (Sept. 22nd) marks the Autumn Equinox.  That is the time at which day and night are the same length (12 hrs each).  From then on for the rest of the year, nights are longer than days in the Northern Hemisphere.  Of course the reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere and there, days become longer than nights.