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USAA Members Demand Organization Cut Ties With NFL

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Members of the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) are calling for the company to end its sponsorship of the NFL after the string of recent protests during the national anthem, Sharon Ko of WTLV in San Antonio reports.

Since 2011, the USAA has served as the Official Military Appreciation Sponsor of the NFL, with the league shows appreciation for the military through its “Salute to Service” campaign.

But USSA members angry with the NFL are voicing their displeasure in community page forums and demanding the company cut ties with the league.

“Time for USAA to stand up, re-think its sponsorship of the NFL, remove all funding for the NFL, and send that $$$ somewhere worthy. Like it should have been done by noontime today, 25 Sep 17, Eastern,” wrote GoldenRudy.

“If you sponser [sic] them, you are neither honoring nor appreciating the military community. How is the NFL encouraging America to respect and say ‘thank you; to our military if they can’t even have their players show respect for our flag?! Our men come home dead underneath our flag! Cmon USAA do the right thing….” another user, Krispirkle wrote.

One user, John C., declared he has begun cancelling his USAA accounts.

“I just called to begin canceling my USAA products. The offices are closed now so I’ll call again in the morning. Credit card will be first. I have plenty of those. Insurance will be cancelled after that; I just have to find replacement coverage first. USAA, more than any other sponsor, should take the lead in dropping the NFL and sending a message. Absent that, this isn’t the company I thought it was so I’ll find other providers and send my own message,” he said.

And a contributor named Phyll said he was “ashamed” of the USAA.

“My dad died at age 61 from Agent Orange poisoning from his time in Vietnam. He was in the peacekeeping forces in Korea. He became an officer in the field in WWII. The National Anthem is the song praising America,” Phyll wrote.

“If not for the soldiers who fought, died, came home with horrible disabilities, our freedom would not be guaranteed. We all have 1st Amendment rights but disrespecting our country in this way is not the answer. Protest but don’t disrespect. Ashamed of USAA and I’ve been a member for decades!”

In its immediate response, the USAA announce there are currently no plans to end its sponsorship of the NFL.

But USAA did contact the NFL to “emphasize the significance of the national anthem.”

(For more from the author of “USAA Members Demand Organization Cut Ties With NFL” please click HERE)

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No, the #TakeAKnee Protests Are Not ‘Brave’

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So, President Donald Trump literally brought his political opponents to their knees over the weekend, and somehow the athletes and others kneeling in protest of the national anthem are being paraded as “brave,” which is nonsensical and gives Trump exactly what he wanted.

Let’s back up and review. Last Friday, during a rally for Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., the president made an offhand comment criticizing the National Football League for standing by while players like Colin Kaepernick kneel in protest during the national anthem. Playing to the crowd with a comment he knew would be popular (it turns out “make America great again” Trump supporters have little tolerance for people who disrespect the American flag and the national anthem), the president rhetorically asked his audience, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, say ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired? He’s fired!’”

President Trump was looking for two things — the applause of the crowd at the rally (which would solidify his base), and the mainstream media to overreact to that comment (which would solidify his base). He got both, so on Saturday he doubled down on a winning formula by disinviting the Golden State Warriors to the White House because Stephen Curry was thinking about skipping the traditional NBA champions celebration. He followed that up by criticizing NFL players who protest the national anthem over and over and over again.

That formula — incendiary comment plus media overreaction equals profit — paid off bigtime on Sunday, when hundreds of NFL players and coaches decided to protest President Trump by taking a knee during the national anthem before Sunday’s games started. This is the exact reaction the president wanted. With the latest iteration of Obamacare repeal all but dead in the United States Senate, with the details on tax reform still unclear, with no big wins since Neil Gorsuch, and with President Trump’s Senate candidate lagging behind in Alabama, Trump needed to remind the people who made him president how awful the Left is to shore up his support.

Trump got what he wanted in spades — first with the athletes stupidly disrespecting a symbol of American unity to protest an allegedly divisive president, and second with a chorus of liberal blue checkmarks on Twitter proclaiming NFL kneelers to be “brave” for doing so.

Taking the knee during the national anthem is not brave. At all. What, exactly, are these multi-millionaire athletes risking by doing what’s popular — protesting President Trump — to the adoration of liberals in our entertainment-media complex and in pop culture? Not their jobs. Colin Kaepernick wasn’t drafted by the NFL because he’s a bad quarterback, not because of his protest, and the NFL is not about to fire hundreds of its players (and the coaches who supported them).

Ultimately, they risk nothing except the ratings of people who are tuning out because they don’t want football games politicized. And you know what? When people tune out because of these protests, that doesn’t bring attention to injustices in American society — what the kneelers supposedly want. It doesn’t bring people together. Instead, it just makes patriotic Americans angry and fuels the divisions in this country. Hardly brave.

You want to know what real bravery is? Real bravery is risking your life to save others. That’s what Robert Engle did when he tackled the gunman shooting up the congregation of Burnette Chapel Church of Christ Sunday morning. After witnessing six people in his congregation get shot by a masked man wielding two firearms, Engle leapt into action and subdued the gunman — taking injuries as he was pistol-whipped. In the struggle, the shooter shot himself, and Engle retrieved his own firearm from his car to hold the man until the police arrived.

“He’s amazing,” a witness told reporters about Engle. “Without him I think it could be worse. He was the hero today.”

But Engle didn’t take credit for himself. “The real heroes are the police, first responders and medical staff and doctors who have helped me and everyone affected,” he said, asking for prayers for all those injured as well as the shooter.

Forty-two people were at the church the morning of the attack. Seven people were shot, one fatally in the parking lot, and because Robert Engle risked his life, no more were hurt. Nobody outside that church knew who Robert Engle was on Saturday.

He didn’t act for fame, for a message, or for glory. He took a stand, risking everything, to help people in need. That’s real American bravery, and the American people know it.

Taking a knee cannot compare to the real bravery of America’s Robert Engles, the bravery of our policemen, firefighters, first responders, soldiers, and veterans. The liberal chorus in the entertainment and pop-culture world is upholding a virtue-signaling as virtue. This is disgusting to those who can see through it. And that’s how the Left plays into Trump’s hands. (For more from the author of “No, the #TakeAKnee Protests Are Not ‘Brave'” please click HERE)

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Patriotic NFL Players Show Colin Kaepernick How to Properly Honor America

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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has welcomed the overwhelming criticism he has received in the wake of his refusal to stand for the playing of the national anthem before NFL games.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media Friday night following the 49ers’ preseason loss to the Green Bay Packers. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

But there are many in the league who have condemned Kaepernick’s decision to use his First Amendment rights to disrespect the anthem, which many Americans regard as a national symbol of true American values — the sort of values Kaepernick claims to want upheld for blacks. Apparently they saw it as hypocritical. Imagine that.

The day after Colin Kaepernick’s pregame demonstration, New York Giants players and staff decided to show the quarterback how true Americans conduct themselves, standing in rigid formation ahead of their game against the New York Jets.

This photo, posted on Twitter by The Record’s Tara Sullivan, captures the team’s “pretty deliberate” act of reverence:

Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz told USA Today Saturday night why he disagreed with Kaepernick’s decision to exercise his freedom of expression by spitting in the face of the country that grants him that freedom:

“I think, personally, the flag is the flag. Regardless of how you feel about the things that are going on in America today and the things that are going on across the world with gun violence and things like that. You’ve got to respect the flag and stand up with your teammates. It’s bigger than just you, in my opinion. I think you go up there. You’re with your team, and you pledge your allegiance to the flag and the national anthem as a team, and then you go about your business, whatever your beliefs are. Colin is his own man. He decided to sit down and sit out and that’s his prerogative. But from a personal standpoint, I think you have to stand out there with your team and understand that this is a game and understand that what’s going on in the country.”

Kaepernick’s former teammate, Minnesota Vikings guard Alex Boone, was also explicit in his criticism of the quarterback.

“It’s hard for me, because my brother was a Marine, and he lost a lot of friends over there,” Boone, who played with Kaepernick for five seasons, told USA Today Sunday. “That flag obviously gives (Kaepernick) the right to do whatever he wants. I understand it. At the same time, you should have some (expletive) respect for people who served, especially people that lost their life to protect our freedom.”

Boone called his former teammate’s actions “shameful.”

Kaepernick defended his decision again Sunday, saying that “a lot of things need to change” before he feels like he can stand by his country. Perhaps he could start by changing his attitude.

(For more from the author of “Patriotic NFL Players Show Colin Kaepernick How to Properly Honor America” please click HERE)

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Hypocritical NFL Tells Dallas Cowboys They Can’t Support Police

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The NFL made a disgraceful decision, refusing the Dallas Cowboys’ request to sport the “Arm in Arm” decal in support of both the serving and slain members of the Dallas police force.

The Dallas Morning News reports:

The Cowboys heard back from the NFL on Wednesday and were told by league officials they can’t wear the decal during any preseason or regular-season games, executive vice president Stephen Jones said. Jones added that the Cowboys can wear the decal during training camp practices.

“Everyone has to be uniform with the league and the other 31 teams,” Jones said after practice Wednesday. “We respect their decision.”

The Cowboys had unveiled the helmet decal to open training camp as they walked onto the field arm-in-arm with Dallas Police Chief David Brown.

Responding with class to the decision, the Dallas Police Department sent out a news release Thursday, saying the “sentiment mattered more than the results,” per The Dallas Morning News.

Some aren’t buying the NFL’s “uniformity” reasoning, as the league has made exception to their strict policy before. Most notably, they allowed not one, but three teams — the New York Jets, Giants, and the New England Patriots — to honor the victims of the tragic Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn. in 2012.

Mark Levin argued the NFL simply wanted to avoid controversy.

“Let me tell you why the NFL won’t do this…because they don’t want any trouble from the Leftists!” exclaimed Levin. “We’re reaching a point where I don’t even recognize my country any more. Do you?” (For more from the author of “Hypocritical NFL Tells Dallas Cowboys They Can’t Support Police” please click HERE)

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NFL Star: Black Lives Don’t Matter When Politicians Enable Generational Dependency

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New Orleans Saints’ tight end Benjamin Watson used his Facebook account Tuesday to call attention to his views on the Black Lives Matter movement. A view that is critical of abortion, fathers who abandon their children and politicians who “enable generational dependency.”

Watson, the author of “Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race – And Getting Free From The Fears and Frustrations That Divide Us,” is using social media to link people to a blog post where he discusses his thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Some contention is with the very phrase itself. This is problematic, though, because ‘black lives matter’ in context is clearly comparative to them not mattering. It obviously does not exist in a vacuum thus a response of ‘all lives matter’ is disingenuous at best and outright insulting at worst,” Watson’s blog post from late August reads. “It SHOULD go without saying that ‘all lives matter,’ including black lives, unborn lives, elderly lives, affluent and poor lives, Christian and atheist lives. But, today, in light of our present societal struggles and racial tension the question is worth addressing. As Americans, do black lives matter to us?”

Later in the post, the outspoken Christian athlete focuses on some of the ways he feels Black lives don’t and do matter in this country. Here are some selected excerpts: . . .

“Black lives don’t matter when some politicians enable generational dependency, stifling individual responsibility while others completely deny the importance of programs that are needed to help the marginalized. A crutch is the vital friend of the injured, it’s ultimate purpose to one day be laid aside as it’s former dependent walks on their own. If it oversteps its purpose the user will no longer feel the need to walk. Erroneously, they may not even think they can ever do so. Consequently, a stagnant, hopeless life seems to matter less.” (Read more from “NFL Star: Black Lives Don’t Matter When Politicians Enable Generational Dependency” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

NFL’s Benjamin Watson’s Facebook Post on Baltimore Riots Goes Viral: “God is our Only Hope”

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Benjamin Watson-FacebookcBy News Editor. Just like his mega viral post over the mindless Ferguson riots last year, New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson is at it again with some straight, hard talk from the heart:

We have major problems as a nation. Yesterday Ferguson burned. Tonight ‪#‎Baltimore‬ burns. Tomorrow it will be another city in our homeland. Watching the coverage I’m hearing yet another version of a nauseatingly familiar narrative. Violence by police reciprocated by violence by the community, reciprocated by violence by police reciprocated by…. It seems fruitless to continue to analyze, condemn, and respond to these dreadful episodes. “Frustration, anger, tension boiling over, upset and unfortunate” are words we hear from Baltimore residents. When it comes to law enforcement, race, poverty, education, immigration we always talk about fixing “broken” systems. We resolve to legislate for education, job creation, and systemic overhaul. These are helpful and definitely needed BUT we have done all of these things ad nauseum and look at us!! Without a change of heart these attempts fail us. So what can we say? What can we do? Systems are broken because people are broken and if systems are fixed without hearts being changed the result will be a legalistic attempt that will lack long term results. Our problems are wholistic and common to the human heart. Hatred, prejudice, exploitation, pride, self righteousness, secrecy, and rebellion, manifest itself in the explosions we’ve seen over the last year, the last century, and the last millennia.

Tonight I see so much entrenched pain without remedy. Most are handling it without violence while a few are committing the unacceptable. Tonight I see young children, asking like my daughter did earlier, “What’s happening daddy”, in desperate need of parents to walk them through these disturbing scenes.

Tonight I see “smoke,” but we must address the fire. The response that we are watching is just “smoke” from years of hopelessness. After each situation the more I am convinced that the love of God for our fellow brothers and sisters who were created in His image, is our only hope for reconciliation. But the only way we can even see him that way is if God illuminates our view and changes our thought process. I’m not talking about holding hands and singing. Love is an action that compels one to treat another with dignity and respect even if they don’t deserve it. It pushes for education and opportunities for those in poverty. It gives identity and self worth. It administers justice without abuse. It honors authority and promotes peace. It is not weak, but strong for what is right! Tonight I see a brokenness that only Christ can give us the wisdom and power to mend.

We pray for every disaster that happens to us. Bombings, natural disasters, cancer and outbreaks. What we’ve seen in our country lately deserves that same attention. Our attempts to fix this have fallen short. We, and most importantly, the body of Christ, must stand for justice in all areas, for all people. We must set the standard for the correct way to treat people.

Tonight I pray for the pastors, leaders, police and community of Baltimore.

Patriots QB on “Deflation-Gate”: I’m Not a Cheater (+video)

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Bill Belichick knows nothing. Tom Brady knows nothing. So if neither the New England Patriots’ head coach nor their star quarterback called the play, then exactly who deflated the game balls in the AFC championship game that put their team in the Super Bowl?

In separate news conferences called seven hours apart to address the spiraling scandal about tampering with game balls, Belichick told reporters only Brady could talk about his “personal preferences on footballs,” and Brady said it was all a mystery to him.

“I didn’t alter the ball in any way,” said Brady, who acknowledged joking in a video made several years ago about preferring deflated footballs, presumably because they are easier to grip, throw and catch. He explained that what he meant was that he liked his pigskin inflated to 12.5 pounds per square inch, the precise bottom of the NFL range that extends up to 13.5 pounds. Eleven of the 12 game balls managed by the Patriots in Sunday’s 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts were determined by NFL investigators to be illegally below the threshold, a situation that appears well beyond the realm of coincidence.

“I have no knowledge of anything,” said Brady, clad in a gray sweatshirt and team ski hat. “I have no knowledge of wrongdoing. I have no problem saying that – as far as I know.”

Insisting “I don’t believe I’m a cheater,” Brady said fans are free to believe otherwise. (Read more about what the Patriots QB said HERE)

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