Thursday, May 24, 2018

"The N.F.L. Kneels to Trump" - so Says the New York Times

The NFL just announced their new policy with regards to players kneeling during the national anthem. "All team and league personnel on the field shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem." In their 5/24/18 lead editorial, the Times asserts that "the league capitulated to a president who relishes demonizing black athletes." Wow - straight to the race card. I almost cannot remember when editorials in the MSM actually relied on facts and logic to bolster their editorial arguments - rather than relying on demagoguery and demonization and vilification.

The Times thought it would be amusing to see players stand with "holding black-gloved fists in the air," or "holding signs protesting police brutality." Hmmm. I never did understand the connection between protesting perceived "police brutality" and not standing for the anthem. It seems to me that the kneelers are saying they will not stand for the flag until the country is perfect in their eyes - which will never happen.

So, let's take a look at some of the assumptions made by the Times and the kneelers. According to the Sporting News (10/15/17), the TV audience for the NFL through the first five weeks of the 2017 season was 15.156 million, down 7.42% from 2016's first five weeks of 16.371 million, and down 18% from 2015's first five weeks of 18.438 million viewers. Recall that Colin Kaepernick started the kneeling during the preseason games of 2016.

A reasonable person might ask if the owners looked at the numbers and decided that, from a business perspective, something needed to be done to reverse the downward spiral. A reasonable person might also conclude that there could be multiple factors affecting audience viewership. Ah, but not the New York Times. For the New York Times, somehow, the entire story was about President Trump being a racist. What a bunch of... No, I won't go there. The last blog post was harsh enough, although some of those descriptive terms could easily apply to the editorial writers of the Times. Is there anything happening in the world which the Times sees as negative that they cannot attribute to Trump? I don't think so.

And what about this police brutality? Are blacks always unfairly singled out by the police? I have no doubt that it happens sometimes. But what to make of the crime statistics? NBC reported that from 1980 through 2008, blacks committed 52% of the homicides, even though they make up about 13% of the population.

According to one source (The Mercury News), the number of people killed by police remained almost the same from 2016 to 2017. The paper also reported a sharp decline in the number of unarmed blacks killed by police from 2015's 36 to 17 in 2016 and 19 in 2017. Of course, those numbers are the proverbially "drop in the bucket" compared to the nationwide killing of blacks by other blacks. In 2015 that number was 2380, according to the FBI's Uniformed Crime Statistics.

Conclusions? Always blame Trump. Cops are evil. Never allow facts or the truth to interfere with the agenda.

The Democrat's and Mainstream Media's Inability to Tell the Truth

Recently, President Trump had a meeting with a group of California public officials who oppose the State's sanctuary law. The Sheriff of Fresno County told Trump: "There could be an MS-13 gang member I know about, if they don't reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about them." Trump, clearly speaking about MS-13 replied as follows: "We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in - and we're stopping a lot of them - but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people, these are animals, and we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before."

(Note: In an earlier post I commented on how we went from Obama's and Holder's war on cops, to Trump's and Sessions' war on criminal gangs, including MS-13. And by the way, MS-13's motto is "mata, viola, controla" - kill, rape, control.)

I get that the Left, which includes most of the MSM, has a visceral hatred of Donald Trump. The following comments are not only a reflection of that hatred, but yet another example of how their issues always supersede the truth. As Dennis Prager has said, and as this blog has noted, truth is simply not an issue for the Left. Let's take a look at some Tweets and comments.

The New York Times: "Trump lashed out at undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting, calling those trying to breach the country's borders "animals." Lie!

CBS: Claims Trump used "harsh rhetoric to describe 'some undocumented immigrants' during a California sanctuary state round table. Lie!

ABC: "President Trump refers to some who cross the border illegally as 'animals,' not people. Lie by omission! "Some" who cross the border illegally? He was specifically replying to the Sheriff's comments about MS-13.

Andrea Mitchell of NBC: Claimed Trump called "people trying to get into the country 'animals' not people." Not all people - lie by omission!

John Harwood of CNBC: "However repugnant their actions, MS-13 gang members are human beings IMHO (in my humble opinion)." Now, perhaps certain religious tenets accept that we are all God's children and therefore...what,everyone should be treated the same? I don't know. But I have friend who is a retired cop who would love to have some of these people on the Left see the handiwork of MS-13, and then ask what they might call them.

The NY Daily News: "Trump hurls hate at immigrants: 'these aren't people - these are animals.'" Lie!

And the leading Democrats comments? Nancy Pelosi: "When the President of the United States says about undocumented immigrants, 'these aren't people, these are animals,' you have to wonder, does he not believe in the spark of divinity, the dignity and worth of every person?" I would be extremely reluctant to ask the House Minority Leader (and future Speaker if the Dems take back the House in November) what she would say about history's mass murderers - Hitler, Stalin, Mao and others? Would she be talking about their "spark of divinity?" Horrifying!

Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader: "When all of our great-great=grandparents came to America they weren't 'animals,' (which is irrelevant) and these people aren't either." Do you get the picture yet? The Democrats are so enamored of open borders that they really do not care at all about who might be coming into our country. Gang members? Terrorists? They have no concern for the safety and well-being of American citizens. So, one might ask, why do my friends on the Left keep voting these people into office? They've already told me that Israel is not the main issue - see the last post. Maybe unrestrained immigration is not an issue either.

I'll end with California's long-time Senator, Diane Feinstein: "Immigrant's are not 'animals.'" (Trump never said they were.) The president's statement was deeply offensive and racist. (Ah, the race card.) Immigrants are our family and friends and they make significant contributions to our country." (Yes they do, and what a nice deflection by the Senator.)

Some questions for my friends on the Left. Do you also side with criminal gangs? Do you even wonder why these leaders of the Democratic Party sided with the worst gang members over our President? When do you say "enough!"