The NFL Tries to Make Up for Protests With Giant Flags on Veterans Day
The NFL did their best yesterday to try and make their fan base forget the past two months. Giant flags were draped across the field during the national anthem, players that had previously sat or kneeled were now standing - well, besides two members of the 49’ers - and pre-game tributes were kicking off all over the country.
Officially, the NFL hasn’t changed their policy during the national anthem, and Commissioner Roger Goodell made that clear in a statement on Saturday:
“There has been no change in the current policy regarding the anthem. The agenda will be a continuation of how to make progress on the important social issues that players have vocalized.”
The NFL has been locked in a PR battle for over two months. How could they reconcile allowing their players to disrespect the entire country, but somehow remain receptive to their employees, the players. The solution was to let their national anthem and flag protest continue, but sneak in a little patriotic imagery whenever possible. Yesterday’s Veterans Day displays were the culmination, but they’ve been working on this for weeks. Maybe you’ve noticed the NFL camouflage gear that players and coaches have been wearing on the sidelines. The use of that apparel mysteriously increased as NFL ratings were going down and calls for boycotts increased. One Facebook page, called Boycott the NFL, had over a quarter of a million fans vowing to watch something else on Veterans Day. Ask nearly any veteran, they’re not fooled by any of this.
Newsflash to the NFL, you can’t defecate all over the flag on every other day leading up to Veterans Day, and all of a sudden pretend all is well. You can’t fix this with a parade, theatrics and camouflage clothing. Want to fix the problem for real? Change your policy. Require your employees to show a little respect. They can protest their country all they want, just not during working hours. Encourage them to use their fame at the local levels. Go to police departments and engage in actual conversations. That would do some good, and the premise wouldn’t be crapping all over the men and women that have died to keep them safe. Men and women that have died to ensure they can make millions of dollars chasing an oval shaped pigskin ball around a field.
Now, I don’t believe these players actually intended to insult veterans and the country when they began this protest, but I do think they just didn’t think it all the way through. There’s so many better ways they could get their point across. Most football fans are just sick and tired of this. They want to watch football again without all the politics. Yesterday’s tribute was a good start, but if a change in policy doesn’t follow, they’re not fooling anyone.
YouTube Blocks Alwaki's Jihadist Videos
YouTube needs to get its priorities straight.
The company is finally taking steps to block the late Anwar al-Awlaki’s videos that preached jihad against Americans. After receiving complaints for nearly a decade, YouTube is taking away this major recruitment tool for terrorists. This is a very good thing. But why are they just now doing it?
Tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google (which is YouTube’s parent company) got called into the principal’s office last week on Capitol Hill where they got reprimanded for allowing Russia to exploit their services to mess with the U.S. election. But the problem of jihadist videos on YouTube has been around much longer. Awlaki’s jihad propaganda influenced the terrorists who attacked Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, Orlando and many attacks in Europe.
Six years after Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen, his videos remain the top English-language jihadist recruitment tool. Just a few weeks ago, a search for Awlaki turned up 70,000 results on YouTube. Now it returns just 18,600 videos that are supposedly mostly news reports and commentary about him, rather than his rants about killing Americans.
YouTube is using its “video fingerprinting technology” to find and block Awlaki’s videos. This could be a major turning point in policy because YouTube and other social media companies have usually argued that they’re just neutral platforms with no responsibility for what users’ post.
For a technology company, YouTube was seriously slow to get to this point. They first made a public commitment to block videos like Awlaki’s in 2010. Yet, even Awlaki’s famous 12-minute “Call to Jihad” sermon was available on YouTube until 2016.
Recently, YouTube restricted several Prager University videos that inform viewers about Islamic extremism, as if they contained controversial views. Ironically, YouTube is now blocking Awlaki’s jihadist messages, the very kind of extremism that the Prager U videos expose. It’s just another example of how the Left trips on its own shoelaces a lot.
North Korean Radio Station Hacked
Europe has the secret weapon against North Korea’s threats.
No, not the continent. The band.
Over the weekend, a brave soul hacked Radio Pyongyang and played Swedish rock band Europe’s 1986 hit “The Final Countdown” on loop.
Needless to say, 80’s hair metal isn’t regular programming on Radio Pyongyang.
The North Korean regime usually uses the station to broadcast coded messages ahead of provocations.
For example, North Korea made broadcasts on the station two days before conducting a nuclear test, one day before a ballistic missile test, and one day before Japanese flyovers.
You can imagine it was probably quite a shock to hear Joey Tempest’s vocals instead of super serious coded announcements.
This heroic act comes on the heels of President Trump meeting with Chinese leaders to reaffirm their stance against North Korea’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons. Trump said, “All nations must come together to ensure that this rogue regime cannot threaten the world with its nuclear weapons.”
In a world where everyone is constantly afraid of North Korea’s raging instability, it’s nice to sit back and laugh at them every once in a while.
Especially when it feels like every day dealing with Kim Jung Un is going to result in…the final countdown. Sorry I had to do it.
Morningstar via Investopedia