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The Center for American Progress reports
Last month, the NFL announced a new policy for its players during the national anthem: Players are permitted to stay in the locker room during the anthem, but if they go out onto the field during it, they must stand. If any of the players takes a knee, the team will be fined.
Soon afterwards, a Wall Street Journal report confirmed what most have long suspected: That President Donald Trump's public outrage about NFL players protesting police brutality and systemic racism during the national anthem at football games heavily influenced NFL owners to change the rule, and discouraged them from signing players who would protest.
It's all terrible news for those in favor of free speech and peaceful protest, and for those against white nationalism and police brutality.
However, Mark Geragos, the lawyer representing Kaepernick in his collusion lawsuit against the NFL, [...] believes [...] that Trump's direct influence over NFL owners on this issue violates federal law. U.S. Code 227 [which] says that members of Congress or the executive branch cannot "wrongfully influence a private entity's employment decision ... solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation".
A few revelations from the last couple of weeks strongly support Geragos' case here, and it's important to remember that Geragos knows much more about the case than we do--he has taken the depositions of more than a dozen NFL owners, while the public only knows about the depositions that have leaked.
[...] Of course, influencing the private hiring decisions of a company isn't the only part of U.S. Code [227] that needs to be proved; it would also have to be shown that Trump did it for partisan political purposes.
That sounds trickier to prove, but in this case, that's not necessarily true. First of all, Trump's comments were made at a political rally supporting an Alabama Republican candidate for US Senate--an expressly partisan environment. And according to the WSJ, Trump told Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in private conversations that the issue was a "winning" one for him.
Previous: NFL: New National Anthem Rule; NY Jets CEO: Break the Rule and I'll Pay the Fine
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 04 2018, @02:42AM (3 children)
For this to be terrible news for those against white nationalism implies that this is a great success for white nationalism. I'd be interested to hear an explanation of how permitting player's to be absent for the national anthem in one league of one sport has substanstially brought the USA closer to a white ethnostate.
I don't watch football (UK) much at all, but I've never seen the player's abuse their position for political activism, can I safely assume Britain is well on the way to an ethnostate? They literally won and now the player's don't have to be there, they're just salty they don't get to hijack national TV for their personal political goals and have decried the owners not permitting them to abuse their position on the field as a step towards an ethnostate.
If a game show guest decided to use the show to push their own politics, I would expect them to be kicked off for not doing their job and abusing their position of power. Wearing political shirts on countdown ought be something under the producers control.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 04 2018, @06:57AM (2 children)
Explanation? Easy-peasy.
Out of sight, out of mind, the problem doesn't exists. If the problem obstinately persists, kill any messenger that speaks of it until noone will dare to mention it anymore.
And so, the road to decline is opened and unimpeded, with predictable results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 04 2018, @08:29AM (1 child)
I now agree that it is a step closer.
I still don't think it's enough of a step to be worth being called ``terrible news'', but I can see where they're coming from.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 04 2018, @08:43AM
Rule 17 [wikipedia.org]: "The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford