Open letter to the NFL players...read and share

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Where's the rage at the other folks who dis-repect the flag?

You can see it in almost every neighborhood. There are flags that have been flying 24/7 for the last six years. They don't go up smartly at 8 AM, they don't get lowered respectfully at sunset. They just fly until there's nothing left but the grommets.

Yeah, I know. They're civilians and its allowed. I think that's a pretty big hint for this topic.

It is my understanding there is absolutely no regulation civilian or military which prevents the 24 hour display of the National Ensign. There is however Army and Navy flag code which state the times a National Ensign shall be displayed on military land installations and ships import and at sea. I know of several military installations that fly Old Glory 24 hours which also satisfies the 0800 to Sunset required times it must be on display. Ships at sea display it 24 hours a day as well.

[Aktungbby]

^ Yeah that. As a former Fed guard charged with raising the colors at Federal buildings and lowering them....meticulously;

Most people believe you are not allowed to fly the stars and stripes at night. However, this is only partly true. According to the US Flag Code, all American flags should be displayed from sunrise to sunset every day. Lowering the flag at night is an ultimate sign of respect for Old Glory.
But like many rules, there is an exception. You can keep your flag flying 24-hours if it is properly illuminated during all hours of darkness. But what exactly is “proper illumination?” The American Legion interprets that as a light source that is specifically placed to light up the flag at night. The light must be bright enough that the US flag is recognizable by the casual observer passing by.

...with my own and the neighbors oversensitive motion detector porch & garage mounted lights etc including long time solar path lights, the illumination requirement is sufficiently met: the banner is 'recognizable'.

[Platapus]

What I find disrespectful to our flag is when I see athletes draping the US flag over their sweating body, turning our flag into a sweat rag. I see that every Olympics but no one seems to be upset at that.

Why is that an acceptable way of "showing pride" but kneeling during a song is disrespectful?

If we are going to battle flag disrespect, lets go after the real offenders first.

I can, of course, only speak for myself, but as a 20 year military veteran who is still in service to our country as a civilian (pushing 35 years of total service) I am not offended nor do I feel disrespected at what some of the NFL players are doing.

To be honest, I feel a small amount of pride. My service to my country is to ensure that our citizens have the right to peaceably protest.

I am grateful that we live in a country where this is allowed even if I personally disagree with the protest or the manner of the protest.....actually especially if I disagree with the protest or the manner of the protest.

I would like to have every citizen choose to stand for our national anthem, but would fight against any attempt to force our citizens to do so.

Forcing citizens to mimic the actions of patriotism accomplishes nothing and is something I would expect to see in North Korea or Iran.

[Sean C]

Well said, Platapus.

I do think this guy is awesome, though:

[Commander Wallace]

There are a lot of good points being made here. I did want to add perhaps another point to consider. Athletes, musical artists, actors and really anyone in the public eye are judged by a different set of rules than the general public. In the case of sports, it's only when an athlete misbehaves that we hear of them. There is a always a rush to judgment without knowing the facts.

These people are in fact a small minority. There are a great number of athletes, musical artists and the like who give of their time and money freely and without any fanfare and do so in an anonymous fashion. It's never reported as reporters spend more time trying to become the news rather than report it. The good deeds by these athletes / artists are rarely reported as quite honestly, tabloid news relies on the ratings and revenue of reporting distorted facts and bad news about people.

I personally know a gentleman who played football in my hometown for a rival football team. This man went to college and played football professionally in the NFL. He earned various degrees with hard work while playing football and even after he retired. After his playing days were over, he accepted a position with a junior college and took it upon himself to initiate what can be best be described as an " outreach " program. The goal of the program is to help those individuals trapped by crime in the inner cities into being able to make positive changes in their life with the ultimate goal of going to and graduating from college. He also works with a number of past and present pro football players from the local team with the same goal. As he once told me, " These kids are really the only thing that matters." It goes without saying that I have a great admiration for him even though his football team used to pound mine every year. He has been offered better paying and more visible positions with better known 4 year colleges but has turned them down. He told me he wouldn't be able to do what he is doing now and as he said, " these kids need me." This is just another example of people who toil in anonymity. News like this is never reported because it's not considered " newsworthy. "

In the case of the current pro football players, I truly believe that they wanted to use their high visibility to do some good and call attention to a disparity in law enforcement. The disparity may be real or perceived but certainly, video footage has captured citizens being outright executed by over zealous law enforcement. Using the same logic as above, these officers are I'm sure in the minority and also make decent law enforcement officers look bad. Although the football players efforts backfired, they can be commended for coming together to make positive and concrete efforts to bring about some much needed changes.

As for the National Anthem, I stand and salute no matter if I am at the actual sporting event or watching on TV. I'm sure others do the same for their respective National Anthems in their own countries.

[CaptainCruise]

[QUOTE=Commander Wallace;2520656]There are a lot of good points being made here................QUOTE]


Nice job Commander.

Unfortunately the situation looks like it just got kicked up another level. Apparently the owner of the Texans made some very inappropriate comment regarding the players and got caught doing it. The players responded by almost the entire team kneeling for the anthem during the last game. The owner apologized and tried to repair the damage done, but it doesn't seem like the players wanna hear it. Now Kapernick is suing the President and I think some of the owners citing collusion on their part when he was a free agent in 2016, claiming they discussed reasons for not signing him to a contract because of his actions with the kneeling which he began that year and that he was a bad influence, or something to that effect.

When it rains........ack.

[Commander Wallace]

[QUOTE=CaptainCruise;2520962]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

There are a lot of good points being made here................QUOTE]


Nice job Commander.

Unfortunately the situation looks like it just got kicked up another level. Apparently the owner of the Texans made some very inappropriate comment regarding the players and got caught doing it. The players responded by almost the entire team kneeling for the anthem during the last game. The owner apologized and tried to repair the damage done, but it doesn't seem like the players wanna hear it. Now Kapernick is suing the President and I think some of the owners citing collusion on their part when he was a free agent in 2016, claiming they discussed reasons for not signing him to a contract because of his actions with the kneeling which he began that year and that he was a bad influence, or something to that effect.

When it rains........ack.

Thanks Capt.

I saw this earlier yesterday. I didn't watch any of the games yesterday as I had more important things going on, including spending time with the family. Further, the games seem to have been pushed off to the side as the NFL has become more of a " Soap Opera " and not a collection of sporting events. If I want to see a soap opera, I will turn one on. This is just another example of how ineffective Roger Goodell is as the commissioner of the NFL.

I think the players were trying to make a statement but enough is enough.

[CaptainCruise]

[QUOTE=Commander Wallace;2522159]

Originally Posted by CaptainCruise

Thanks Capt.

I saw this earlier yesterday. I didn't watch any of the games yesterday as I had more important things going on, including spending time with the family. Further, the games seem to have been pushed off to the side as the NFL has become more of a " Soap Opera " and not a collection of sporting events. If I want to see a soap opera, I will turn one on. This is just another example of how ineffective Roger Goodell is as the commissioner of the NFL.

I think the players were trying to make a statement but enough is enough.

Agreed. I think we've all had enough of this nonsense. You hit the nail on the head. There are more important things going on, and spending time with the family was a much better choice. Bravo. I'll probably watch the last of October baseball...AWESOME game 5 btw....and go hibernate until spring training. Football was my 2nd favorite, but honestly the Giants and Jets are draining the life out of me. Oyyyyyy.........

[Platapus]

if this is disrespecting the flag



Then what is this?

Where are the protests?

[Buddahaid]

But what about this?

[August]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Where are the protests?

Maybe intent actually matters eh? Of your two pictures one is intended to be a figurative middle finger to the nation and the other is a spontaneous act of patriotic pride.

[Buddahaid]

So it all boils down to personal feelings, not law.

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

So it all boils down to personal feelings, not law.

Well of course. Who said it was about law?

[Buddahaid]

Okay, we agree. There are, however, laws dictating how the flag is to be displayed but no law demanding behavior during the national anthem. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Okay, we agree. There are, however, laws dictating how the flag is to be displayed but no law demanding behavior during the national anthem. Correct me if I'm wrong.

There are guidelines on how the flag is to be displayed, not laws. Big difference. Suggestions that nobody is going to jail or even pay a fine for not following.

As for the kneeling controversy you are correct as far as I know that there is no law (outside of the military of course) demanding a certain behavior during the national anthem, however, neither is there one preventing employers from demanding that their employees stand during the anthem to avoid irritating their customers. Nor is there one that says the customers have to meekly accept and continue to financially support this behavior if they allow it.

Besides if the NFL can't or shouldn't prevent players from kneeling during the game anthem because it's some big freedom of speech issue then why was it able to prevent the following with little or no argument from FoS advocates?

— In 2012 the NFL had an issue with Tim Tebow kneeling for each game to pray; they also had an issue with Tebow wearing John 3:16 as part of his blackout to avoid glare and made him take it off.
— In 2013 the NFL fined Brandon Marshall for wearing green cleats to raise awareness for people with mental health disorders.
— In 2014 Robert Griffin III (RG3) entered a post-game press conference wearing a shirt that said “Know Jesus Know Peace” but was forced to turn it inside out by an NFL uniform inspector before speaking at the podium.
— In 2015 DeAngelo Williams was fined for wearing “Find the Cure” (under) eye black for breast cancer awareness.
— In 2015 William Gay was fined for wearing purple cleats to raise awareness for domestic violence.
— In 2016 the NFL prevented the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal on their helmet in honor of five Dallas Police officers killed in the line of duty during a BLM protest where they put themselves in harms way to protect the protesters.
— In 2016 the NFL threatened to fine players who wanted to wear cleats to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11, when this country lost more people than when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

http://www.bladenjournal.com/opinion...lover-kneeling