b. traven
What an unforeseen resistance scenario! Millionaire athletes leading the political resistance against Trump. Ret. General John Kelly who was selected as Trump’s Chief of Staff to keep Trump sane and was described by the Washington Post as “not suffering idiots” has one on his hands. If he would get down on a knee now along with popular professional athletes, history books would identify him as a courageous leader. I am not holding my breath. Career military officers seldom can desert a lifetime of obedience. Those who do are rare and precious ‘birds.’
I see Golden State Warrior’s basketball superstar Steph Curry’s patriotic act in publicly refusing to pay homage to a racist and out-of-control president as a turning point in current American politics. His heart-felt statement and leadership of all professional athletes endorses and encourages the opposition to this uncouth president and his minions in the Republican Party. Our usually complacent citizens will see that resistance is possible and patriotic and it will give the quiet liberals a goose in the behind to get out in the streets again with our African American citizens.
Thank you Steph Curry. And here is how The Guardian reported your own words that bring outspoken resistance to the American people:
When asked why he wants to skip the visit and what the intended message would be, Curry was forceful in his response. “That we don’t stand for basically what our president has … the things that he’s said and the things that he hasn’t said in the right times, that we won’t stand for it,” Curry said. “And by acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to. It’s not just the act of not going there. There are things you have to do on the back end to actually push that message into motion.
“You can talk about all the athletes that have said things and done things – from [Colin] Kaepernick to what happened with Michael Bennett to all sorts of examples of what has gone on in our country that has led to change. We’re all trying to do what we can using our platforms, using our opportunities to shed light on that, so that’s kind of where I stand on it. I don’t think us not going to the White House is going to miraculously make everything better, but this is my opportunity to voice that.”
The Contrary Perspective 
Perhaps if Trump stays engaged in his tweet storms with professional athletes long enough, he’ll neglect to vaporize the Korean Peninsula. It is genuinely remarkable that we are saddled with a POTUS who makes his sympathies with flagrant racists–the so-called alt-right, with their Nazi and Confederate flags–so clear that very well compensated athletes feel compelled to speak out. And the Kaepernick example shows us that these guys are NOT completely secure in their employment; they really are potentially risking their livelihoods by speaking out. Now we need to see more “caucasian” athletes expressing solidarity with their black teammates.
I support the right to kneel during the NA, or burn the American flag, as civil protest, and I very much agree with the reasons pro football players state for doing so this year. I am glad that Steph Curry and other pro bb players are stepping up, also. According to The Orange One in the West Wing, this makes my (deceased) mother a bitch. Ironically, she opposed leftist civil disobedience her entire life.
I have been reading the “comments” on Yahoo to articles on this issue and although I know from the past most comments on Yahoo articles tend to be from hard core right wingers I was still surprised to see a preponderance of ‘super patriotic’ comments from supposedly football fans. Who knows if they really were fans? Most of these comments referred t the Star Spangled Banner as almost a religious symbol. During WW II when we had to stand in a 100 degree day in the desert at attention on ‘parade day’ we thought of it as an unnecessary adjunct to our military service.
traven–Where better for yahoos (see “Gulliver’s Travels”) to comment than…Yahoo??
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traven, resistance is good at all times. Jefferson wanted his fellow citizens to revolt every generation.
Personally I don’t favor the playing of the national anthem during professional sports games. There’s far too much jingoism as it is.
Watching some of the Jaguars and Ravens on bended knee while the Star Spangled Banner played while they stood at attention while God Save the Queen played was supremely ironical. They stood for the national anthem of a country whose bloody history included bringing slaves to America and imposing colonial rule on black men and women throughout Africa. So much for principle!
Greg – yes the two hairdos continue to threaten each other and the rest of us with their antics. But we shouldn’t let another president much loved by liberals off the hook. It took the courage of a South Korean president to prevent a holocaust then.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2015/11/26/laying-south-koreas-kim-young-sam-to-rest-former-president-stopped-second-korean-war/amp/
tunis–Thanks for the link. I read at least 2/3 of the way down, but it got very wearisome. Unsurprisingly for an article appearing in a magazine that bills itself as a “Capitalist Tool,” the slant is totally pro-imperialist and pro-US aggression. How can one speak of a “second” Korean War when the first never ended? After Kim Il Sung’s troops, with help from the Chinese PLA, fought the US behemoth to a standstill, an armistice was signed. This ceasefire remains in place; there was never a Peace Treaty. Thus, a state of war exists this moment, technically. Note the reference to “the paranoid leaders of North Korea.” You might be a tad paranoid if an aggressive foreign power from halfway around the world occupied the southern half of your nation for 70-odd years, keeping in place a constant threat–including that of nuclear weaponry–of renewed hostilities. Not so many years ago, the US maintained 42,000 troops in the south; these days I believe it’s down to a “mere” 24,000 or so. And so, “all options” have ALWAYS “remained on the table,” as they do wherever on Earth the Great Satan (there, I said it!) finds it in its imperial interests to maintain its presence. Its ugly, belligerent presence. And you know what? This Satan doesn’t give a rat’s ass what the “leader” of the south desires. If the decision to begin bombing is made in Washington DC, the bombs are going to fall.
Oh, and I meant to include this bit of timeless wisdom: “Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean the bastards aren’t really out to get you!!”