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Thurs., Sept.28, 2017
~All Gave Some~Some Gave All~God Bless America
NFL players who protested the national anthem figured they could get away with complete disrespect for America. I’ll be damned if I will waste the time I have remaining on this earth. My heavy anger is reserved for Patriots owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick and his majesty quarterback Tom Terrific.
NFL gets billions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers
by Chris Isidore
If you're a U.S. taxpayer then you're subsidizing the wildly profitable National Football League, regardless of whether you're a fan.
The NFL is the most profitable pro sports league in the U.S., raking in an estimated $1 billion in profits on $10.5 billion in revenue last season, figures that are sure to increase this year.
Those massive profits are made possible in part by the billions of taxpayer dollars that local governments spend on teams, coupled with tax breaks worth hundreds of millions for the teams, the league, their sponsors and fans.
"I've been studying this for 15 years, and I still can not believe cities and states are lined up begging to give money to these very profitable [teams]," said Villanova professor Rick Eckstein, an expert on stadium finance.
Here's a rundown:
Stadium construction: Twenty new NFL stadiums have opened since 1997 with the help of $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to an analysis by the advisory firm Conventions, Sports and Leisure. Local governments pony up to build these venues to attract or keep teams in their towns.
Two more stadiums now under construction in Minneapolis and Atlanta are being built with $700 million in government funds.
Taxpayers paid for most of the University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in 2006 -- to the tune of about $300 million.
Teams even get tax breaks on the money they actually do spend on construction. Most of that spending is financed with tax free municipal bonds, which were originally created by Congress to help fund roads and schools.
A 2012 analysis by Bloomberg showed that U.S. sports teams will save $4 billion over the life of those bonds, with the NFL being the largest beneficiary. The owners of the Arizona Cardinals saved an estimated $125 million on the bonds issued to build the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Hidden help: The league also gets a financial boost in a less obvious ways, said Eckstein. Elected officials vying for a team to come to their town often serve up discounted city services, such as utilities or police patrolling a stadium on game day.
Teams also often get big breaks on their property taxes.
"There is a shift going on from obvious brick and mortar subsidy to more hidden, subtle form of subsidy," he said.
Related: NFL earns record profits despite ugly image
Tax breaks for the NFL's biggest customer: Corporate America: NFL teams sell between $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of luxury and high-end club seats a year, according to Bill Dorsey, the chairman of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. A single suite can cost as much as $750,000 a season. Almost all suites and club tickets are bought by corporate clients, which write the cost off as a business entertainment expense.
Sponsors also spend about $190 million a year for the right to plaster a local venue with their logo, according to research firm IEG. Even when corporate names are hung on city-owned stadiums, the teams keep all those profits, not the cities. And companies can deduct all of those expenditures as marketing expenses.
Not for profit: The NFL's not for profit status strikes critics as particularly unseemly, given its financial might. But it's categorized that way because the league's profits are distributed to each of the teams, rather than kept by the league itself.
The league probably only saves about $10 million a year as a non-profit, according to Richard Phillips, research analyst with Citizens for Tax Justice, which is a rounding error for a league as profitable as the NFL.
Bye, Bye crybabies!!!
Is there even one team in the NFL who pay the price of ownership. They ALL have sweetheart deals with the community they play in to offset many of the costs of ownership. The owners make tens of millions at the expense of the taxpayer. The commissioner of the NFL is in the 45-50 million dollar category.
The NBA can go to blazes as well. Overpaid crybabies.
The NHL dodges a bullet because the league would never tolerate the NFL oomgalagala.
Writing about this nonsense is excruciatingly painful.
Hopefully the loss of fans at the gate will cause the leagues and players unions will right this ship.
NFL owners, players, advertisers, and stakeholders better wake up and begin to pay attention to what the American people are saying.
American Athletes Mull Protests at Upcoming Winter Olympics
Adam Rippon, an American figure skater (AP Photo/Steven Senne)By Mark Swanson
If President Donald Trump is unhappy with NFL players' protests now, he had better brace for what he might see on the world's biggest stage — the upcoming Winter Olympics, The New York Times reported.
If the U.S. repeats its 2014 take of 28 medals this February in PyeongChang, South Korea, that's 28 potential opportunities for American athletes to take a stand with their peers in professional leagues in some sort of protest.
"As athletes, we have a very unique opportunity to speak up about things that we believe in and to be that voice for people who are not being heard," American figure skater Adam Rippon said.
But first they have to win a gold medal in order to have their national anthem played, something that happened 9 times in Sochi, Russia, 4 years ago.
"The only time we hear the national anthem is when we win a gold medal. So we have to get to the Olympics, then win a gold medal and then see what kind of social impact we can have there," two-time Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor said, the Times reported.
Of course, social activism could take a back seat to something more dire if North Korea continues to ratchet up its global threats and missile launches.
Austria and France have said they will not send teams to PyeongChang if the situation and security concerns worsen.
Both the IOC and the USOC continue to downplay any security threat to the games at PyeongChang, a scant 50 miles from the border.
"Despite current political tensions with North Korea, there is no specific information to suggest there are imminent threats to U.S. citizens or facilities in South Korea," USOC president Scott Blackmun said Monday.
Ed. note. Don’t bet on there being no trouble. If the NoKos are still in power security will be shaky at best.
Who's Divisive — the President or the Players?
Because the Left dominates the news media, the entertainment media and academia, Americans are swimming — actually, drowning — in an ocean of lies.
Here are a few examples:
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America is racist.
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America oppresses its minorities.
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America oppresses women.
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Universities have a culture of rape.
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There are more than two genders.
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All cultures are morally and culturally equal.
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Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were caused, or made more intense, by global warming.
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Israel is the villain in the Middle East conflict.
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Western civilization is a euphemism for “white supremacy.”
The latest lie of the Left is that, with regard to the conflict between the NFL and President Donald Trump, the president is the “divisive” party.
Whenever people on the Left tell one of these lies, I always wonder if they really believe it. I have concluded that they nearly always do. Which is more frightening than if they knew they weren’t telling the truth. With people who know they aren’t telling the truth there is always hope. But there is no hope for people who believe their lies.
What other conclusion could any fair-minded person reach when people say with a straight face that Trump is the divisive party with regard to his conflict with players refusing to stand for the National Anthem?
Apparently, the question “Who started it?” means nothing to the journalists, politicians and NFL players, coaches and owners who call the president “divisive.”
So, before discussing Trump’s reaction, our fellow Americans on the Left need to answer some pretty simple questions: Has the behavior of those athletes been divisive? Is kneeling while tens of thousands of people are standing divisive? Is publicly showing contempt for the American flag for which innumerable Americans risked their lives, were terribly injured, or died divisive?
The answers are so obvious that if someone denies that those actions are divisive, it inevitably raises another question:
Why would anyone deny it?
Here are three likely reasons:
First, most people on the Left think that they are centrists, or at most center-liberal. Therefore, they deem whatever they believe to be normative and deem whoever differs with them to be divisive and ultimately extremist.
This is true for every issue. Take same-sex marriage. Redefining marriage to include two people of the same sex was the most radical change in the history of the family — far more radical than, say, banning polygamy. Yet, I have never read or heard a person who favored same-sex marriage acknowledge that this was a radical change, not to mention divisive. On the contrary, people on the Left believe that all those who wanted to retain the only definition of marriage any society has ever had — the union between the two sexes — are divisive and extremist.
Likewise, in the eyes of the Left — the media, academia and the Democratic Party — it is not professional athletes who have refused to stand for the national anthem who are divisive; it is the president and all others who condemn the players for doing so.
Was the president’s rhetoric over the top? I believe some of it was — specifically, calling the players “sons of b—.” No politician, let alone the president of the United States, should use expletives publicly.
But if the president had sharply rebuked the players and the NFL using soaring rhetoric, the Left would have similarly accused him of being divisive.
Imagine the president had begun his comments by saying something along these lines:
“To see professional athletes publicly dishonor the flag for which hundreds of thousands of Americans have died, the flag that millions of Americans have seen drape the coffin of their child, their spouse, their sibling, their parent, or other loved one, is as morally repulsive as it un-American. Of course, these players have the right of free speech — and so do I, and that is precisely the right I am exercising now.”
Had he spoken that way, would the Left not have characterized him as divisive?
There is a second reason the Left portrays the president, not the players, as divisive. It agrees with the players that the flag represents a systemically and socially racist country. How could it not? The Left is the primary reason many Americans believe that America, the least racist multiracial country in history, is a racist country.
A third reason the Left calls the president, not the players, “divisive” is that the Left will say anything about those with whom it differs. The Left sees language as a tool — not with which to express truth but with which to defeat its enemies. From Stalin calling Trotsky a fascist to the American media calling Trump and his supporters “Nazis” and “white supremacists,” lying about one’s political enemies is as part of leftism as hydrogen and oxygen are of water.
And why have non-leftist NFL coaches and owners also called the president “divisive?” Because if they told the truth — that the players are the divisive party here — they would have no team.
So, then, if you agree with the players, say so. But have the honesty to acknowledge that it is they — the first players in American sports history to refuse to stand during the national anthem — that are the divisive ones. Honesty feels almost as good as fighting conservatives. Try it.
Truth Bomb About JFK Assassination
Frank Spear
The assassination of John F. Kennedy changed the world forever. Now, two modern politicians are looking for answers about the biggest political assassinations of our time.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) are working hard to force the intelligence agencies to give up valuable information about JFK’s assassination, according to Washington Examiner.
The JFK Records Act of 1992 requires government groups to disclose all information and records that pertain to JFK’s assassination by October 26, 2017 — however, the intelligence community is refusing to comply.
Across the 1990’s there were around four million pages of information and records released that relate to the untimely death of JFK. It has been discovered that there are an additional 100,000 pages of information regarding the assassination that have not been released.
A loophole in the 1992 act allows the CIA, FBI, and similar government agencies to delay the timely release of information. If the agency in question has the consent of the president, they can delay the release of records until after October 26th.
Jones clarified that he believes that the American people should have the resources needed to know the truth behind the assassination of JFK.
Furthermore, the government is obligated to release any data they have on his death and how it happened.
“I want to make sure that the information that is owed the American people is made available,” Jones stated during an interview with Alternet. He went on to say, “The American people are sick and tired of not being given the truth.”
The hope is that the CIA will release the information before the deadline — toward the end of October. There is no indication that the CIA will delay, but considering how close it is to the deadline, people like Jones are concerned.
Unbelievably, the JFK Record Act passed with a 435-0 vote back in 1992. Every single Democrat, Republican, and Independent wanted the truth exposed to the public.
Now, Grassley and Jones are trying to track down the people who originally voted the bill in back in 1992. The goal is to get enough of these people together to push for the full release of information that has been promised to the public for many years.
Jones was a teenager at the time of the assassination. He has relayed that the day that JFK was assassinated is still clear in his mind.
“I’m from the generation that remembers the tragedy of Dallas very vividly,” Jones stated. His personal stake in the events of that day no doubt has caused him to double down and demand that the information is released.
Jones is highly interested in getting this information. He stated that he has a number of questions that he hopes will be answered by the currently-unreleased documents. Even after 50 years, he wants to know if Oswald did this alone, or if he had accomplices, and if he did, then who were they? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. By the time it is all said and done, we could see a rewrite of history based on these bombshell documents.
NFL Gets Bad News
Mark Prvulovic
It seems that the NFL is finding out for itself that Left-leaning politics and sports don’t mix. Athletics, fundamentally, is about taking pride in one’s team, and by extension, one’s nation — something that the league has lost touch of.
According to Breitbart, a new report from Sports Media Watch has shown that the NFL’s Week Two game dropped an astonishing 24 percent over last year’s Week Two and 15 percent when compared to the ratings of 2015. With CBS having earned an 8.4 rating with 14.5 million views last Sunday, the league is losing the interest of Americans at a startling pace.
In what can only be described as a dismal reception from the public, this season’s Week Two is at the lowest rating mark since 1998, with the first two games of the season down double-digits in a multi-year low.
Week one’s first game between the Patriots and the Chiefs was a disappointment, receiving only a 14.6 rating for NBC, compared to last year’s 16.5 rating for the Panthers-Broncos match.
These results correlate with a poll conducted in 2016, which showed, among other things, that 44 percent of NFL viewers will stop watching if the national anthem protests — championed by former quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
When the trend of disappointing ratings first started, many were eager to try and find some other explanation, accusing the TV coverage of Hurricane Irma for siphoning some of the viewership. However, now that this trend has solidified with more data to support it, there seems to be little other reason for this slippage.
Ever since the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers began to refuse to stand for the national anthem, citing racism and inequality in America, it has sparked a level of political controversy rarely seen in sports.
This wasn’t the only study that came to this same conclusion. A Rasmussen telephone/online survey over 1,000 Americans found that 32 percent of adults felt less likely to watch an NFL game because of these Kaepernick-motivated protests.
Some media outlets took a different interpretation for the cause of this rating deterioration. BET concluded that these statistics showed that Americans were in solidarity with Kaepernick — showing support for the quarterback who has yet to be picked by any team for the controversy he might cause.
It’s a perspective that stands in stark contrast with what the data shows, however, as only 13 percent of the Rasmussen poll showed people would watch the NFL more because of the controversy, with 52 percent of viewers finding themselves indifferent to the entire situation.
In other words, more Americans find Kaepernick’s actions and motivations distasteful than not. The conclusion is simple — people are turning off the NFL precisely because of anti-American sentiments such as these.
As for the executives at the NFL, they would do well to keep this in mind. If not, the league can find itself in a world of financial hurt. Football is a distinctly American sport, and the league is – or at least, was – a source of pride for American sports enthusiasts.
As for the executives at the NFL, they would do well to keep this in mind. If not, the league can find itself in a world of financial hurt. Football is a distinctly American sport, and the league is – or at least, was – a source of pride for American sports enthusiasts.
As the NFL moves away from the direction of what made them great, it won’t be surprising to see many of their devoted fans feeling alienated by this shift.
NFL Anthem Protesters Just Got Some Very Bad News
NFL players who protested the national anthem figured they could get away with complete disrespect for America. NFL players who protested the national anthem figured they could get away with complete disrespect for America.The media was cheerleading their demonstrations against the flag and league owners were cowed into supporting their protests.Then they got some very bad news.
It started in Louisiana.
State Representative Kenny Havard was outraged over the New Orleans Saints anti-American protest on Sunday.
He announced his intention to introduce legislation to cut off the public funding for the Saints.
The Advocate reported:
Louisiana State Rep. Kenny Havard, R-St. Francisville, said Monday morning that he wants to cut millions in state tax dollars, exemptions and credits allocated to the New Orleans Saints, the NFL and any of those groups’ associated facilities that receive funding.
Harvard's announcement comes a day after a group of Saints players participated in a protest during Sunday’s national anthem before their game against the Panthers. Protests were the focus around the NFL on Sunday as players chose different methods to demonstrate after controversial comments from President Trump late last week.
“The very reason (the Saints) have the privilege and opportunity to play professional football while being paid millions is because someone in uniform died protecting their right to do so,” Havard said. “It is a disgrace to the men and women of this nation and state who have sacrificed so much.”
Havard’s statement didn’t specify the amount of state money that he proposed be diverted from the Saints the NFL. According to a 2015 Forbes story, Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson was “set to rake in an estimated $392 million from state subsidies through 2025.”
He explained why he was considering this drastic step.
The Advocate also reported:
“Disrespecting our national anthem and flag in the name of social injustice is the highest form of hypocrisy,” Havard said. “Our free society made possible by our fighting men and women has made available free education, free lunch, housing and free healthcare and is now be considered socially unjust,” Havard said. “It is time the taxpayers quit subsidizing protest on big boy playgrounds. I believe in the right to protest but, not at a taxpayer-subsidized sporting event. Do it on your own time. There are plenty of disabled children, elderly and veterans in this state that would appreciate the money.”
Havard was not alone.
Conservatives have long questioned funneling taxpayer money to billionaire sports owners.
Now that the owners and players are united in their desire to display hatred for America and for Donald Trump and his voters, Republicans are wondering why they should receive one dime.
Two senators introduced legislation back in June to ban the practice of NFL owners receiving municipal bonds for their stadiums.
This measure did not attract much attention at the time, but now that the NFL is consumed by anti-American hysteria, the bill is getting a second look.
Multiple Foreign Nationals Criminally Charged For U.S. Election Fraud
A county-level grand jury in Ohio indicted several foreign nationals for election fraud related to the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced Thursday that the Franklin County Grand Jury returned indictments against seven foreign nationals who allegedly voted illegally in recent U.S. elections.
Originally, the Secretary of State and Ohio Attorney General referred 36 cases to O’Brien’s office of non-citizens who “had registered and/or voted in recent elections in Franklin County.”
After further investigation by the Board of Elections and Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, seven foreign nationals, who were not U.S. citizens, were criminally charged “for registering and voting in elections” in Franklin County.
Those charged include:
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Ana Matias, age 56, Columbus
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Irnatine W. Boayue, age 41, Canal Winchester
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Janitha Rippey, age 33, Columbus
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Kenyron O. Glasgow, age 38, Columbus
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Yaakov Menashe Schulman, age 41, Columbus
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Leslie Caroline Allen, age 56, Columbus
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Gilbert A. Brown, age 59, Columbus
“These newly indicted cases are a compilation of individuals, all of whom falsely registered to vote with the Franklin County Board of Elections by declaring they were United States citizens on their voter registration applications,” O’Brien stated. “The counts in the indictments include Illegal Voting (F-4), False Voter Registration (F-5), or a combination of both charges.”
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine commended the work of local and state law enforcement officials in working to keep elections honest in Ohio.
“Voter fraud is a serious crime,” DeWine said. “When evidence warrants, we see prosecutions such as those Prosecutor O'Brien announced today. I am proud that my office is able to play an integral role in preserving voting integrity in Ohio.”
The remaining 29 foreign nationals referred to O’Brien for investigation were either not charged or remain under investigation.
The seven indicted foreign nationals are scheduled to be back in court on September 27 to face arraignment.
“Mad Dog” Mattis Crushed The NFL Anthem Protesters With One Sentence
Anti-American NFL anthem protesters were riding high.
The media celebrated their disrespect of the American flag and the memories of veterans who gave their lives to defend the stars and stripes.
The so-called “mainstream” media was eager to draw other top Trump officials into the fight in the hopes that one would side with the protesters against the President.
One journalist made a massive mistake by trying to pull this trick on Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis.
Mattis was at the Pentagon when one reporter asked him if he had any comments on the NFL anthem protests.
He crushed the protesters by reminding everyone that the military defends the country.
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"I'm the secretary of defense. We defend the country." -- Mattis, when asked about the NFL situation, per transcript
Mattis’ answer was a subtle jab at the America hating players who run-down the nation as an evil and racist place.
Even though the players are disrespecting the sacrifice of the United States military, Mattis reminded everyone that it is that sacrifice that provides the freedom for the players to showcase their anti-American beliefs.
And there are signs the players realize their outrageous display crossed a line.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wrote that he regretted taking part in the Steelers’ protest where the team refused to take the field for the playing of the national anthem.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote:
BEN ROETHLISBERGER ON MONDAY AFTERNOON RELEASED A STATEMENT SAYING HE REGRETTED HIS PITTSBURGH STEELERS BOYCOTTING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM ON SUNDAY.
THE NFL TEAM WAS THE FIRST OF THREE TO NOT COME OUT FOR THE PRE-GAME RITUAL.
“I WAS UNABLE TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT AND WANT TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ON OUR TEAM’S DECISION TO REMAIN IN THE TUNNEL FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM YESTERDAY,” THE SUPER BOWL-WINNING QB SAID IN A STATEMENT. “THE IDEA WAS TO BE UNIFIED AS A TEAM WHEN SO MUCH ATTENTION IS PAID TO THINGS DIVIDING OUR COUNTRY, BUT I WISH WE APPROACHED IT DIFFERENTLY. WE DID NOT WANT TO APPEAR DIVIDED ON THE SIDELINE WITH SOME STANDING AND SOME KNEELING OR SITTING.
HE CONTINUED, “AS A TEAM, IT WAS NOT A PROTEST OF THE FLAG OR THE ANTHEM. I PERSONALLY DON’T BELIEVE THE ANTHEM IS EVER THE TIME TO MAKE ANY TYPE OF PROTEST. FOR ME, AND MANY OTHERS ON MY TEAM AND AROUND THE LEAGUE, IT IS A TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO COMMIT TO SERVE AND PROTECT OUR COUNTRY, CURRENT AND PAST, ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE.”
And fans across the league booed teams who kneeled for the anthem.
The Dallas Cowboys locked arm in arm and kneeled before the national anthem, then stood back up for the anthem. The crowd booed.
So when Mattis said the military defends the country, he meant that their sacrifice makes it possible for a society to exist where millionaires who earn their living playing a game can run down the country that affords them that opportunity.
G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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