I am miserable and stinky like a fart that never left an Air Conditioned room
I will start with a rant.
Topic: People who don't understand the First Amendment.
Rant: How can people not know that the First Amendment protects people from facing repercussions from THE GOVERNMENT for exercising free speech. This in no way means that a person can say or do whatever they want whenever they want without facing any penalties or having any repercussions from other people. The current example is people claiming that the NFL is violating athletes' "First Amendment rights" by not allowing them to kneel/protest/etc during the national anthem. No, that's not what the First Amendment is. There is no constitutional right that allows employees to stage protests or make political demonstrations while at work against the wishes of their employers, using their employer's platform. There would be an arguable case for a violation if the league didn't allow players to protest on their own time, but that's not what this is. Think about it logically; you try to protest at your work if your boss doesn't want to and then say they can't do anything because it's your "First Amendment right." Try taking a knee before serving customers as a waiter and see what happens. Also, how are people criticizing the NFL for "pandering to their fanbase?" That's literally exactly what a business is supposed to do in a capitalistic economy; listen to what the customers want and do it. People forget that the NFL, and all sports, are, at the end of the day, entertainment, players are employees/performers, and fans are customers. The league's job is to make money, not to be some sort of political/social champion; they have no obligation to do this. If they want to, they can, but their bottom line and first priority is to make money, of course. No rights are being violated, and players are now even allowed to stay in the locker room if they don't want to stand for the anthem (as standing is arguably political itself). Also, how can Kerr (NBA coach) criticize the NFL for this new policy when the NBA's policy is the same, except doesn't even allow players to stay in the locker room. Hypocrite much?
/rant.
Good start?