53percenter's Blog

NFL execs are still in the firing line.

A New York congressman with a reputation as a straight shooter took a bead on New York Jets chairman and acting owner Christopher Johnson on Saturday with a Twitter post that nailed Johnson’s attempt to play both sides in the ongoing dispute over players protesting during the national anthem.

And he hit the target dead center.

Republican Rep. Peter King was responding to Johnson’s comments after the league announced its new policy Wednesday requiring players who are on the field to stand respectfully for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Under the policy, teams would be fined if their players or other employees engage in protests during the song, according to ESPN.

On Wednesday, Johnson told Newsday he would not pass any team fines on to individual players.

“I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest,” he told the newspaper. “There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that’s just something I’ll have to bear.”

In a Twitter post, King called the remarks “disgraceful.”

“Disgraceful that @nyjets owner will pay fines for players who kneel for National Anthem,” King wrote. “Encouraging a movement premised on lies vs. police. Would he support all player protests? Would he pay fines of players giving Nazi salutes or spew racism? It’s time to say goodbye to Jets!”

King, who is no stranger to controversy, has a habit of telling liberals exactly what they don’t want to hear. That much was clear from the Twitter responses, which were overwhelmingly from the liberal side (and written with as much intelligence as you’d expect from that quarter.)

And on this one, he was exactly right.

The anthem controversy has been a disaster for the NFL since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to kick it off by sitting and pouting during the 49ers pre-season games in 2016.

The league’s ratings dropped throughout the 2016 and 2017 seasons, costing networks that carry the games billions of dollars.

RELATED: Claim: NFL Discriminated Against Cheerleader Because She’s a Christian

The American public was disgusted by the sight of mega-millionaires protesting the country that made them wealthy by kneeling on the field before games most Americans can’t afford to attend themselves.

Now, the owners are trying rectify the situation by ordering players on the field to stand respectfully for the anthem, and allowing those who can’t bring themselves to do even that to stay in the locker room for the duration of a song beloved by hundreds of millions of their compatriots.

Johnson told Newsday he only supported the league’s new policy because it fined the teams, not individual players for protests, which gave him the chance to pay for any misbehavior.

Maybe that’s true, but since no Jets took a knee during the controversy last season, according to Newsday, it’s a good chance that Johnson is getting a chance to make himself look like a liberal hero without facing the consequence of paying any real actual money for his national profile in courage.

Instead he gets to show off as a supporter of his players and play a hero to American liberals — and all he has to do is make a pretense of supporting what King rightfully called “a movement premised on lies vs. police.”

Does racism exist in the United States? Of course it does, in many ways — including the kind of racism that paints anyone with white skin as an “oppressor.”

But the “oppression” the NFL players are pretending to protest grew directly out of the whole “hands up, don’t shoot” movement — and even a Washington Post editorial board member admitted “hands up, don’t shoot” was a lie.

King was right. The anthem protests were bad. And the weaselly reactions of owners like Johnson are “disgraceful.”

They’re the kind of arrogantly empty actions that are keeping NFL execs in the firing line. Until they man up and get some courage, it’s where they belong.

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TEL AVIV – The official Palestinian Authority daily is continuing its crusade against the U.S. by publishing a slew of low blows directed at “stupid, moronic” President Donald Trump, a man who “needs rehabilitation in a mental hospital” for his “war crime” of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on behalf of “a gang of Zionist robbers.”

Still another called for Gazans to “sprinkle your pure blood over their putrid heads … of the moron Trump and his staff.” He also referred to Trump as a “rebellious cowboy” and Israel as a “satanic Zionist plant.”

Gaza … your enemies and the robbers of the land and the homeland are vampires who are shepherded by a rebellious cowboy as history is slaughtered, the facts are turned upside down in the name of the wretched promise of the moron Trump and his staff who are obsessed with Armageddon — sprinkle your pure blood over their putrid heads that are contaminated with the conduct of capitalists, that are mired in the bog of robbing the peoples and planting the satanic Zionist plant in the inhabited home and homeland.

An article published the day after the move said Trump belongs in a “mental asylum.”

“This man needs rehabilitation in a mental hospital or to be hospitalized in an asylum, because if he remains free, the world will see how he enjoys and takes pleasure like no other while the world goes up in the flames of his sadism and naivety!”

Another writer viewed the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem and the recognition of the city as the capital of Israel as an example of the U.S. alleged track record of “abuse and bullying toward small peoples.”

The U.S. in its various administrations, has never known a thing about qualities of chivalry or empathy, tolerance and human understanding. For a long time it has abused — and is still abusing — the poor and small peoples! … The reality is that it would be hard for us to tell all the stories of “the ugly American,” which are full of blood, systematic violence and a violence of abuse and bullying toward small peoples. This is currently being expressed in a most ugly fashion by its abuse of our people. … It is going wild in its aggression towards [our people], which is being expressed by the American administration’s responsiveness to all of the Zionist activity’s demands. What is more, this administration — while transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem in contradiction to all the decisions of the international institutions, after it declared it the capital of the occupation state (!!) — has turned into a completely Zionist administration.

The cartoon below slammed Trump for focusing on the embassy opening ceremony and ignoring the killings of Palestinian rioters in Gaza on the same day.

The embassy move coincided with the so-called March of Return, violent riots on the border between Israel and Gaza that saw 60 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire on Monday. Hamas admitted that 50 of the 62 dead were its members. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said three others were its members.

Hamas officials have admitted that the notion of peaceful, civilian-led protests is a farce. Last week co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahhar told Al Jazeera that the term “peaceful resistance” was coined to “deceive the public.”

Women and children were called to the front lines as human shields with the promise that the Israeli “army won’t kill them.” The riots included swastika-emblazoned bomb-carrying kites, knives, Molotov cocktails, explosive devices, guns and terrorists storming the border with the express intent of “liberating Palestine.”

Gazans were also encouraged to bring their weapons to the riots, but were told it was preferable to capture Israelis rather than kill them since Israel will do anything to rescue one of their own.

TEL AVIV – Louisiana on Tuesday became the 25th U.S. state to bar state government agencies from doing business with companies that are involved in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

“The United States, and by affiliation Louisiana, have benefited in innumerable ways from our deep friendship with Israel. Any effort to boycott Israel is an affront to this longstanding relationship. I am pleased that Louisiana will join what is now a critical mass of states in supporting our closest ally,” Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The order directs the state commissioner of administration to terminate existing state contracts with companies that are either currently boycotting Israel or supporting those who do. It further stipulates that future state contracts will first require parties to sign an agreement stating their compliance with the new law.

The executive order specifies BDS and says it hopes to reverse the anti-Israel movement’s aim to isolate the Jewish state. “The state of Louisiana unequivocally rejects the BDS campaign and stands firmly with Israel,” the order reads.

Edwards issued the order on the same night the Governor’s Mansion celebrated the 70th anniversary of Israel’s creation. Earlier on Tuesday, the House passed a resolution praising the anniversary.

Pro-Israel groups lauded Edwards’ move.

The Israel Project said in a statement from its CEO Josh Block:

The Israel Project is grateful to the governor for his leadership in fighting back against BDS discrimination. Advocates of BDS discrimination remain committed to their anti-Semitic agenda of isolating and demonizing the world’s only Jewish State. Its founders have openly called for Israel’s destruction and made it clear that they target Israel’s very existence, not its policies. From the North to South, in blue and red states – and with strong bipartisan support – lawmakers in 25 states have now declared BDS a form of discrimination and sent a clear signal that their states will not tolerate or condone taxpayer dollars going to subsidize anti-Israel hate.

“We are heartened that Louisiana has taken a strong stand opposing discrimination against Israel,” Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, said. “Earlier this year, the city of New Orleans rejected an anti-Semitic resolution, and now the state has made clear that taxpayer funds should not support businesses which discriminate.”

The Jewish Federations of North America said that the move marks “a critical moment in which fifty percent of U.S. states have received the message that boycotting Israel is bad for business,” according to a statement released by the group’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy William Daroff.

“These state actions address the discriminatory nature of BDS and the ability for states to control their own commerce. We thank the governor and the many community activists who made this possible in Louisiana,” Daroff added.