If Flag Stands For Freedom, Kaepernick's A Patriot

When this conversation first began, it was way too wrought with emotion to have space for a post of intelligent thought.

Not much has changed emotionally, but lots of things are changing relative to our thoughts and our conversation on this subject. Nothing will erase the fact that plenty of minorities can relate to the emotion that inspired the protest, even if not the protest itself.  What has been a little shocking is how proponents of freedom feel obligated to clearly delineate the difference between standing for the flag from the pride you feel versus standing because OTHERS consider it the respectful thing to do.

Respect is the hallmark of our military, and all respect is earned.

WE haven't done nearly enough conversation about how to combat police violence or address the subjugation of America's minorities like Colin Kaepernick hopes we will, but there is no longer a question about what his protest is pointing a light towards. There is also little question that more money seems to be following the growing group of players willing to put their own money where there protest lies.

You simply don't have to like their protest, or the disrespect it could reflect towards the soldiers that die for OUR freedom. You don't even have to like the attention these athletes have drawn to themselves amidst a team sport environment and on national television at the same time.  In the depths of my passionate desire to find a place of agreement with all people on all topics, I could easily concede each of these points purely on principles that are in line with what we teach our children, if we didn't have so many holidays to remind our children of freedom's provisions.

What I don't see from this topic is that Kaepernick went into  it to do something half-cocked, or lacking acceptance of potential repercussions. In fact, Kaepernick made it abundantly clear that he expected something financially bad to happen as a result of his choice.  If he knew this could hit his pocket, is there any chance he didn't think millions would bend his ear in personal disagreement too?

No way did Kaep', or any of the other NFL patriots that followed him in protest, go into their actions with their eyes shut because the others did it well after Kaep' had already been thoroughly eviscerated with our debates about his protest. If you are willing to concede this obvious reality- that these men expected this would hurt their income yet did it anyway- then you consider them patriots like I do.

How do I know?

Because it takes no kind of patriotism to silently stand and salute with the masses despite everything in your soul telling you that you are doing the wrong thing.

Our flag, Freedom and patriotism are all about doing what few have the courage to do in the hopes of making America a better place for your children and grandchildren.  Even if you are wrong- like all of those who now regret invading Iraq under the banner of freedom- our soldiers who kill and die for good or bad decisions all the same, will always have the distinct respect of being patriots who understand the full risk of their choice, and still serve. Simply put, they do something, and that makes them patriots.

The reason or the way our soldiers stand is never a blemish against their willingness to try; to risk themselves for the noble cause of freedom represented in the flag they defend. Our soldiers might hope they are offering their lives so that every man, woman and child in America can universally respect their efforts and salute the flag in the same respectful fashion, but I doubt that even one of  their life or death decisions entertains dying for sporting event anthems.

Standing before a game is just sort of nice. Sort of.

The Gags On US As Donald Trump Pretends To Pivot

Very few people seem to realize that we already built a wall on the southern
border, and its actually working fairly well. Until recent surges from growth
in the economy, more Mexican were leaving than coming in.

You young folks may not recall these days because of cell phones and Netflix, but we used to eagerly wait for the Harlem Globetrotters to come to town so we could rush to the convention center to take in the show, even though the show never really changed at all.

To this day, the Globetrotters are still somehow big time entertainment despite coming to town with essentially the exact same act every single time- for decades.

Of all the magical moments associated with a Harlem Globetrotter game, we all seemed to be on the edge of our seats while wondering, waiting and hoping for that old bucket of water trick that they still do.

You remember the one.  One mischievous teammate chases down another mischievous teammate with a bucket that appears to be water, but is usually just a bunch of paper confetti each time they throw the bucket. Until the very last time, of course, in which they actually throw water on some totally suspecting patron.

You may not suspect it will be you, but you always know someone would get all wet. Aside from the tricks the Globetrotters display on the court, this one is their Russian roulette of show gags, and we just can't get enough of blowing our brains out with anticipation.

This is the equivalent scenario I think about when I try to make sense of what were experiencing with Putin's friend Donald Trump and this stage of the presidential election. Donald Trump does too many interviews for this stage of fund raising, while Hillary does to much fundraising while the press keeps pressing her for interviews. They both seem to do more for the other side than to help themselves when they speak, however, Trump refuses to be gagged while pulling a gag on US.


 Assuming Jill Stein (Green Party) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian) actually get included in the presidential debate, four people debating on stage for one job will turn this basketball game into a circus show, with more dog and pony acts than we've ever seen on a single televised presidential debate stage. The circus is plenty fun, but kind of smelly and it's really risky to work with so many animals.

Neither the Democrats or the Republicans will take the circus risk of sharing their political market share with an outside party by sharing the stage with them and assisting them in the process of stealing the show.

So they won't.

They won't give stage room to their own external damage, even if the externals achieve the 15% threshold that is required by television networks, as both democrats and republicans fully collude on this ball game we are watching and will find a way to box out the other party's candidates one way or another. If Johnson and Stein are really hoping for a stage to perform, they'll both need to build their own.

From my perspective, whether Hillary is the Washington Generals and Trump is the Harlem Globetrotters, or vice versa, I 've long since believed that they are in this game together essentially playing on separate teams but working for the same measured result.

That result being Hillary gets quietly elected and Trump gets to keep yelling and selling a lot of hats and t-shirts. Rumor says that he is also in this thing most likely to make more money via a television network with his fired Fox friend Roger Ailes and  former Breitbart braniac Steve Bannon, not to take a 4-8 year pay cut of epic proportions by becoming our president.

Though we will never see his taxes to know if he is "that" rich or friends with Putin, $400,000 dollars a year is a good job for Obama the community organizer, not Trump. If the Clinton's are expected to dissolve their relationship with their own organization CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) to avoid conflicts of interest while in office, why doesn't Donald have to do the same thing? Wouldn't his presidential photo ops taken from his own golf course  or Trump towers represent a conflict of interest for him too?

It's All About Money

Donald is currently conducting this presidential election like a concert/speaking tour because it was just too damn lucrative to miss the economic opportunity presented to him. As Hillary runs a conventional presidential campaign in which you avoid media interviews until you step on the gas starting after Labor Day, Trump is running a conventional campaign in which you rent out convention halls, even in states that you have NO CHANCE AT WINNING, and milk the media for free marketing so you can sell hats t-shirts and raucous rhetoric.

This Globetrotter comparison explains why the Trumpians are continuing to rush to the convention halls across the nation, hoping to get their shirt and hat, and to have that bucket of confetti tossed all over them too. Mostly they are afraid that a country that was never only theirs, feels like it's slipping from their grip nonetheless.

Wayne Allyn Root for Foxnews.com wrote these words in response to Trump's immigration speech.

"As a conservative, I’ve waited a lifetime for this speech. Why? Because it was a speech that didn’t back down by even one inch. It was a speech aimed at Americans, for Americans, delivered by a proud American, who values American exceptionalism".  In other words, it was a speech for us...not them.

If you are curious why Trump can't, or won't pivot to the softer center, it's because that old bucket gag is what they came to see. It really doesn't matter how many times we've seen that same old gag, it never gets old. Even to this day it remains a mainstay of the Harlem Globetrotters routine, and is the secret, silent reason that people still can't get enough of this team or their act. If for some odd reason they were to eliminate that bucket gag from the act, I'm not sure that people would be as eager to watch the show, or forced to remain on the edge of their seats while doing it.

Build that wall, and make Mexico pay for it has become the bucket gag for Trumpians eager to feel like they are behind a president smart enough and tough enough to fix the problems besetting our land. When you peel back the layers on this mystery, you discover that these folks just want to be entertained. They don't care about a real wall or that the plentiful employers (the true criminals) in America are what generates the migration demand, they just love the comforting passion of a convention hall full of people screaming the same noise as the guy or gal next to him.

What they also probably don't already know is that we've got a wall on the southern border. Granted, all of the wall is actually fencing, and half of the fencing is actually fencing designed to stop vehicles while the other half is taller, barbed pedestrian fencing. But the wall is there and it is complete.

Apparently, the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was originally designated to be handled by the Department of Homeland Security who started the project but quickly went back to congress when the original double fencing requirement proved unreasonable across the entire 700 mile stretch of border.  As a result, they had the Fence Act amended allowing for reasonable adjustments (vehicle fencing) where Homeland Security deemed appropriate.

Before the amendment to the Fence Act, Homeland Security had only produced 36 miles of double fencing and then realized that is was simply overkill to double fence the entire border. Bush passed and amended his own law, yet the wall finally got finished (so to speak) under Obama. (politifact.com)

If and when Trump finally finishes his bigger and better version of a fence, he will need to build unto the existing fencing on our southern border, or build his behind the existing fencing since placing the wall in front would be a real waste of the current fence including all of the time and money spent to put it there.

Don't forget that every time Mexico talks back to Trump about his wall, he will make them pay for the additional 10 feet he'll add to help quench his anger from their defiance. Given his quick tempered nature and the number of years it took to finally build our first fence, Trump's 50 foot wall construction project could be a never ending story.

Sort of like that bucket gag.

Why do we keep running back to see that same song and dance over and over and over, as if there is a mystery to what we are witnessing or what might happen next?  Actually, there is a bit of mystery involved because we never really know when that bucket of confetti will suddenly become water, so you to have to anxiously wait and wonder if this time it will be real.

If you are waiting for Trump to get real and actually appear as if he wants to win the presidency instead of indirectly forcing us to vote for Hillary in fear of him, it won't happen.  In fact, Trump has thrown that real bucket of water a long time ago, and WE're all wet.

Those people who keep going back for more just like to be entertained.