Showing posts with label protesting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protesting. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

NFL Players Have A First Amendment Right To Act Like Little Bitches

The following article was originally published by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com


kaepernick


Frankly, in my view, the sporting world should be a politics free zone, and the fact that I am compelled to write about politics in sports in America today is bewildering beyond belief. That said, to be clear, I am not a fan of the NFL. I think the sport, like most professional sports, is overrun with whiny, juiced-up morons paid millions of dollars for providing nothing to the public except sub-par entertainment and little-to-no loyalty to the state or city in which they happen to be employed. NFL players are not legitimate role models for society anymore that costumed television wrestlers are role models for society.


Add to this the rampant politicization of the NFL over the past several years with social justice undertones and overtones, and I can’t think of a single redeeming quality to the arena. The best thing that could possibly happen to U.S. athletics would be if the entire system was scrapped and rebuilt from the ashes with truly local teams composed of local players driven purely by the desire for athletic excellence and healthy competition.


To me, it seems the appeal of sports, at least for spectators, is the possibility that anything could happen according to the merit of the players and the teams. In a society in which so much is restricted and controlled and dictated by political correctness and appeals to artificial “fairness,” the idea that, at least on a football field, baseball diamond or hockey rink, all of that garbage goes out the window for a few hours is enticing to say the least. Spontaneous moments of greatness are what people want to see, not blithe displays of ideological ignorance.


There is no social justice in real sports. There is no affirmative action. There are no safe spaces. The best men or women rise to the top and the losers go home with nothing. That is the way it should be. Champions soar to the heights as easily as they fall to the depths, and underdogs can shock the world through sheer determination. You cannot lie or steal your way to athletic superiority. You cannot use victim-group status to win trophies and medals. You have to work hard. You have to earn it. If you are a fraud you will be found out eventually. This is a philosophy which has been lost in modern athletics. Leftists in our culture are also oblivious to the notion.


When I see one of the last fields of American heritage and meritocracy being destroyed by cultural Marxism, I do feel what I’m sure many people feel — enraged. However, the situation is more complex than surface conflicts suggest.


NFL players refusing to stand for the national anthem is not really the issue here. Donald Trump admonishing them for their actions is also not the issue here. It is the motivations behind both sides that concerns me.


For activist NFL players and owners the motivation is rather clear; social justice cultism has seeped into their profession and some of them have decided to use the platform they have been given to pontificate rather than play the game they are paid to play. Protests attacking non-existent racism and “patriarchy” against a system that has made these men multi-millionaire celebrities regardless of their skin color would be relegated to the idiocy of college campuses if any of these people had any sense of judgment.


For Donald Trump, the motivation is far more foggy. I would prefer if the president of the United States spent his energies on fulfilling his campaign promise of “draining the swamp” of banking elites and neo-con warmongers instead of loading his cabinet with them and spouting off on Twitter about forcing a few football players to stand for a national anthem that praises the freedom of rebellion.


My readers are well aware that I view Trump as a pied piper, leading conservatives down a path back to neo-con totalitarianism rather than towards libertarian virtues of individual sovereignty. In other words, I am not seeing much difference between Trump and Obama so far. Perhaps in rhetoric, but certainly not in action.


The circus surrounding Trump’s latest feud with the NFL is just another distraction away from the fact that this administration is following a very similar policy path to every other corrupt administration before it. And conservatives are so tired of the trespasses of the social justice cult, many of them are eating up every minute of the farce.  Though, this is not what a bunch of football players are concerned about.


Let’s summarize the actual problem…


If NFL players refused to stand for the national anthem because they believed in the ideals it represents but felt that our government no longer represented those ideals, then I would be in full support of their motives. Obviously, this is not why they are protesting. If their motivation was about speaking against corrupt government, then they would have refused to stand for the anthem back when Barack Obama, a Constitution-wrecking cabana boy for the elites, was in office.


If Trump’s attacks on the NFL were motivated by a love of liberty as the anthem inspires, then he would not demand that players be forced to stand, which is indeed a violation of their First Amendment rights. Instead, he would have dropped that concept completely and stuck with the rational side of his position, which was for spectators to vote with their wallets and stop supporting the league with their dollars.


The bottom line is, whether or not you or I support their motives, constitutionally, legal precedence is on the side of the players. They have every right to act like bitches on an SJW plantation, kneeling and virtue signaling to their heart’s content. And, the public has every right to stop watching the NFL, drop their ESPN subscriptions, throw their overpriced sports jerseys in the trash and move on to more important issues… like what the hell is all this nonsense with North Korea? And why do we keep hearing about economic recovery when the average American can’t make it from month-to-month without running up their credit cards? And why are so many of us so damn fat and unhealthy?


Hell, here’s an idea — how about more people stop watching sports and start playing sports instead? Why not simply let the NFL die out along with every other venture poisoned by social justice?


The point is, the NFL battle with Trump is irrelevant compared to the greater battle of ideals behind it. It is not for Trump to fight this battle; it is for the spectators and consumers to fight this battle. The solution is not Trump’s Twitter account or his interference. The solution is for Americans to walk away and take their money with them.


The solution is also not to attempt legislation or government force to strike fear into those who might disagree with us. I have seen far too many so-called “liberty minded” people repeat the fanatically stupid mantra of “stomp my flag and I’ll stomp your ass!” The great sacrifice of living in a free country is that you have to support the individual rights of EVERYONE, even people who don’t believe in individual rights.


Some might argue that this is not a path that is being pursued so we should not be concerned. I say the social undercurrent today is ripe for zealotry on both sides, and conservatives need to take the high road even if it means things will be more difficult for us in the short term.


Finally, to the players that have so far jumped on the Colin Kaepernick bandwagon; understand that you have delusions of grandeur. You are NOT Jesse Owens proving your worth in the face of Hitler’s Aryan dystopia. You are not important or effective activists in the grand scheme of things because your political and philosophical views are ill informed and generally incompetent. In fact, your views work in FAVOR of the corrupt system, not against it.


While you do have the right to sit during the national anthem, knowing why you are sitting is more important than the action itself. If you are sitting because you have bought into a cultural Marxist con game that is using you as fodder for political division, then perhaps you should rethink your little protest and try working towards concrete solutions.


If you are going to use race and social inequality as a crux for your theatrical displays of “defiance” as you are cashing checks for millions in sponsorship deals paid for primarily by white people, then I think you will find most of America laughing at you in the end. Show us your true resolve and refuse that dirty imperialist money. Otherwise, you are just another over-privileged punk pretending to be under-privileged in order to gain notoriety at the expense of reason.


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You can contact Brandon Smith at: brandon@alt-market.com


Unsuspecting Americans to be Hit Hard by this U.S. Scheme to Confiscate Your Savings:Alan Greenspan, 20-year head of the US Fed, reveals Washington’s nasty trick to confiscate the savings of unsuspecting Americans. Here’s How Some Americans Are Preparing

Monday, July 10, 2017

Police State Tactics at G20

Police State Tactics at G20 | g20-summit-protests-germany-police-state | Tyranny & Police State World News


Assembling and protesting against deplorable policies are universal rights.


Not in Hamburg, Germany at the G20. On Thursday, as leaders were arriving for July 7 and 8 talks, tens of thousands of largely peaceful demonstrators took to the streets.


Things weren’t calm for long. Police blocked them from marching through the city as planned. Violence its ranks provoked erupted, turning Hamburg into a battleground, using tear gas, water cannons and batons as weapons. Numerous arrests and injuries were reported.



Under the slogan “Welcome to Hell,” dozens more protests are planned on Friday and Saturday.


Demonstrators oppose what G20 leaders support, including predatory capitalism, globalization adversing affecting billions worldwide, neoliberal harshness, ecocide, and endless wars of aggression, among other issues.


Days ahead of the summit, a NoG20 International Coordination press release headlined “They Are Defending the Indefensible in Hamburg. We Want to Protest Without Borders,” saying:



“The politics of the G20 are repugnant to the vast majority of people” everywhere…(W)e stand for…democracy and human rights, economic sustainability and peace…rejection of racism and sexism.”



Policies Trump and others like him stand for “and the world they want come at our expense.”



“The politics of neoliberalism, (forced-fed austerity) and (endless) war(s) is decided in the heart of our cities, closed off to citizens, protected by a militarized police force and backed up by the suspension of political rights.”


“This shutting-down of democracy has one purpose only: to defend the indefensible. Our demonstrations speak for and of a different world.”



German officials established a 15-square-mile no protest zone to keep demonstrators distant from G20 leaders. Hamburg residents and thousands from elsewhere in Germany and abroad came to protest against the abhorrent kind of world most of these leaders support.


Germany’s Basic (constitutional) Law mandates human dignity and rights and personal freedoms, freedom of faith and conscience, freedom of expression, along with freedom of assembly, association, movement and other rights.


German authorities suspended these and other rights in Hamburg, substituting state-sponsored street violence, largely affecting peaceful demonstrators.


Ahead of and during G20 talks, the city is occupied territory, the rights of its residents and demonstrators denied, enforced by police state harshness.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

A Shadowy Corporate Lobby Is Quietly Trying to Ban Protesting Across the U.S.

(ANTIMEDIASo many anti-protest bills have been passed since Trump’s election that the ACLU has launched its own interactive map just to track the legislation. At the writing of this article, at least 25 bills have been introduced across 18 different states.





Unsurprisingly, the North Dakota State legislature has the most anti-protest bills of all the States, with six introduced since November. What is striking about the Statewide legislation, however, is not the quantity of the bills, but the similarities between them.



When Anti-Media first began monitoring the trend in November, Washington state Senator Doug Ericksen had announced plans to introduce a bill that would criminalize demonstrators as “‘Economic Terrorists.” In March, North Carolina also passed a bill creating a criminal classification for “economic terrorism.”







By January, five other ‘anti-protest’ bills had emerged in states across the country, including a particularly contentious bill introduced in North Dakota that would exempt motorists from charges if they “accidentally” hit a demonstrator on the freeway. A nearly identical bill was introduced in the Florida legislature on the same day. Later, a version was also introduced in Tennessee.


Other sets of near-identical legislation include Missouri and North Dakota bills that would prohibit the use of masks during protest and bills introduced in Oklahoma and North Dakota that would increase penalties for trespassing on “critical infrastructure facilities” such crude oil pipelines.


This is not to mention the entire crop of ‘anti-obstruction’ bills introduced in seven different states that would increase penalties for protesters who obstruct traffic.







While there are some bills that are unique, like an Oregon bill that would require community college or public universities to expel any student convicted of rioting, the majority of the bills share such strikingly similar themes and language that it would appear as though these state legislators are working from the same legal template.



As Traci Yoder of the National Lawyers Guild explains, it has become such common practice for special interests groups to draft model legislation at both the state and federal level that it can be difficult to say with certainty who or what is behind the current wave of anti-protest legislation.


The “obvious suspect,” Yoder says, would be the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the influential lobbying group comprised of corporate representatives and state legislators who vote as equals on model legislation, which they then hand off to lawmakers.


ALEC gained mass media attention when it was discovered to be the driving force behind the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law that was used to justify the murder of Trayvon Martin, but it was working behind the scenes long before that. It drafts a self-proclaimed 1,000 bills per year, 20% of which become laws.


Of the 26 bills Anti-Media examined, ten were authored or sponsored by at least one known ALEC-affiliated politician, often times more.


If ALEC is behind the recent wave of recent anti-protest bills, it wouldn’t be the first time the ‘non-profit’ organization has sponsored such legislation. In 2003, ALEC-crafted legislation for states that would have criminalized animal rights activists protesters as “eco-terrorists” — in conjunction with their push for the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), which they had also drafted. AETA was passed in 2006.


While there is no indication that anti-protest legislation is on ALEC’s current agenda, it is worth noting that the kinds of protests being targeted are all in conflict with ALEC’s anti- worker and anti-environmental platform,” Yoder wrote, referencing ALEC’s 2016 agenda.


In ALEC’s 2016 annual report, published earlier this month, ALEC also expressed a reinvigorated interest in guiding state legislative decisions.


Now more than ever, your focus should be on the states. Right now, we are at a crossroads in American history where an incredible number of important decisions about our future are going to be made—and they are going to be made by the states,”  ALEC Chief Executive Officer Lisa B. Nelson writes.


Other likely suspects, Yoder writes, are police unions such as the Police Executive Research Forum.


Given the pro-policing approach of the Trump administration, it would be unsurprising if law enforcement organizations prioritized criminalizing protest activity.”


Of the 25 bills introduced since November, seven have been defeated or postponed indefinitely. But this is far from over. In fact, if history is any indicator, the next iteration of anti-protest laws will come — only they will be more subversive.


As we saw from the AETA/ALEC example, we should expect to see parts of these bills introduced elsewhere should they fail in their current form.


Here is a rundown of the latest anti-protest legislation around the country:


  • Total Bills: 26

  • Total States: 18

  • Bills passed: 7

  • Bills failed: 8

  • Bills pending: 11

  • Bills sponsored by at least one known ALEC associate: 15
































































































StateBill #DescriptionStatusKnown ALEC sponsor(s)
ArizonaSB 1142SB 1142 Adds “rioting” to crime statute; enables police to seize assets of protestersFAILED (passed Senate, House Speaker said will not move forward)Sen. Steve M. Smith (R-23), Public Safety and Elections Task Force[1][3]
ColoradoSB 17-035SB 17-035 Makes obstructing or tampering with oil and gas equipment punishable with up to 18 months in prison and/or $100,000 in finespendingnone
FloridaSB 1096SB 1096 Exempt drivers from liability if they hit protester who is obstructing traffic

FAILED (“Postponed indefinitely”)none
GeorgiaSB 160SB 160 Makes blocking any highway, street, sidewalk, or other public passage a ‘high and aggravated misdemeanor.’PASSEDSen. Steve Gooch (R-51); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force[34]

IndianaSB 285SB 285 Authorizes police to remove protesters “by any means necessary”Pending, “by any means necessary” clause removed and replaced with finesnone
IowaSF 111SF 111 Would criminalize highway protesters with felony charges and five years in prisonpendingnone
MichiganHB 4630 and HB 4643HB 4630 Would fine picketers up to $1,000/day for individuals and up to $10,000/day for unions  

HB 4643 Would make it illegal to picket under specific circumstances including obstruction of traffic


FAILED (Both shelved)Rep. Amanda Price (R-89), Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force[8] (primary sponsor of -HB 4630 and co-sponsor of HB 4643)

MinnesotaHF 322 and HF 55HF 322 would make protesters foot the bill for governmental costs related to policing unlawful demonstrations

HF 55 Makes obstruction  of highways punishable as a  “gross misdemeanor”


Both pendingHF 322: Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-21B)[4], ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member[1], Rep. Cindy Pugh (R-33B)[9], Sen. John Howe (R-28), ALEC member[1], Rep. Matt Dean (R-38B)[4], ALEC International Relations Task Force Member[1], Rep. Linda Runbeck (R-38A), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member[1.

HF 55: Rep. Linda Runbeck (R-38A)



MississippiSB 2730SB 2730 Highway protesters would face fines of up to 10,000 and five years in prison

FAILED (Died in committee)none
MissouriHB 179HB 179 Makes it  illegal for protesters to wear masks, hoods or other coverings that disguise identitypendingnone
North DakotaHB 1304, HB 1293, HB 1426, SB 2302, SB 1203 and HB 1193

HB 1304 prohibits the use of masks, hoods or face coverings for concealment during “the commission of a criminal offense”

HB 1293 Makes it a crime to trespass “critical infrastructure facility” punishable by fine of $1,000 or 6 months in prison; anyone who vandalizes infrastructure can be charged with a felony punishable by 100,000 dollar fine or 10 years in prison



HB 1426 creates different classes of penalties for “rioting”



SB 2302 allows the attorney general to appoint ad hoc special agents for specific law enforcement purposes, including protests



SB 1203 Exempt drivers from liability if they hit protester who is obstructing traffic



HB 1193 Would create “economic harm” provision where protesters who case $1,000 in economic harm would face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine








HB 1304 PASSED

HB 1293 PASSED


HB 1426 PASSED  SB 2302 PASSED SB 1203 FAILED


HB 1193 FAILED



HB 1304: Rep. Alan Carlson (R-41, House Majority Leader), Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member [4] and former ALEC State Chairman[5], Rep. Craig Headland (R-29), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member[4], Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-13), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member [3]

HB 1293: Rep. Craig Headland (R-29), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member[4], Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-13), Rep. Mike R. Nathe (R-30), ALEC State Chair[16], and International Relations Task Force Member[17]



HB 1426: Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-13), Rep. Karen Rohr (R-31)



SB 2302: none


SB 1203: Rep. Vernon Laning (R-68)[13], Rep. Karen Rohr (R-31) [19]



HB 1193: Rep. Lawrence R. Klemin (R-47), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member [9], Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-13), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member [3]



North CarolinaSB 229 and HB 249Introduced after protesters spoke out against former Governor Pat McCory, SB 229, expands current law to make a crime to threaten or intimidate a current or former legislative officer in retaliation for their duties.

HB 249 Would charge any person who willfully “impedes or disrupts the regular course of business” with felony crime of ‘Economic Terrorism’


both pending none

OklahomaHB 1123Makes it a misdemeanor to trespass or enter  “critical infrastructure facility” punishable by fine of $1,000 or 6 months in prison; anyone who vandalizes infrastructure can be charged with a felony punishable by $100,000 fine or 10 years in prisonPASSEDnone
OregonSB 540Would require community college or public universities to expel any student convicted of riotpendingRep. Kim Thatcher (R-25)[9][10][1]

South DakotaSB 176Authorizes the commissioner of school and public lands to prohibit groups of 20+ people from “congregating” on public lands,  Makes obstructing highways a Class 2 misdemeanorPASSEDRep. Kris Langer (R-25)[19]Ryan Maher and Rep. David Novstrup (R-3), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member [20]
TennesseeSB 944Would immunize drivers from liability if they hit a protester who is obstructing traffic

pendingSen. Bill Ketron (R-13), ALEC State Chair,[17] ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force[9] and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force member,[8] attended 2011[18] and 2015 ALEC Annual Meetings.[15] Ketron told The Tennessean that 6 other senators and 22 Tennessee legislators attended the 2015 ALEC meeting.[15]

VirginiaSB 1055Raises penalty  for remaining at a protest after dispersal order is givenFAILEDnone
WashingtonSB 5009SB 5009 Creates classification of “economic disruption” (earlier deemed “economic terrorism”) for obstructing passageways of trains and other infrastructurependingSen. Doug Ericksen (R-42), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member[16]

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