Not Standing For Kaepernick

The latest hero of the left is San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He is making headlines, but not for his talent. In fact, his career is fading.

Kaepernick has a long record of tweeting anti-American sentiments like this one: "Folks always want to make it seem like White Supremacy is whiteness gone wild. No. It's a standard [American] practice." Evidently that wasn't getting him enough attention so he's now refusing to stand for the National Anthem.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," he said, adding, "There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Irony hangs heavy in the air. In 2014, Kaepernick signed a multi-year contract for $126 million. All he has to do is look down the bench at his next game and he will see multiple black Americans who are millionaires.

The stands of our football stadiums are filled with fans of all races and ethnic backgrounds who cheer or boo players, not based on the color of their skin, but based on their performance.

Kaepernick says he will continue sitting during the National Anthem until the oppression stops, until blacks are no longer shot by people. But 98% of the time black people are shooting other black people.

This is a sad reminder that to the extent people of color are being hurt or oppressed in America it is often at the hands of other people of color. Kaepernick is proof of that.

His black father abandoned him and his mother. He was eventually adopted in "racist America," which has reelected its first black president, by a white couple. Kaepernick was obviously able to overcome that difficult beginning.

The Wrong Reaction

Predictably, the left-wing media rushed to Kaepernick's defense, reminding us that he enjoys the freedom of speech and the right to dissent. Really?

If you attend an anti-war demonstration after work, government at no level could penalize you for that. Your employer would be hard-pressed to win a court case if he tried to do so. But if you are promoting your political views to a customer in the office place, your employer would be well within his rights to say, "Not while you're on the job."

I believe the NFL would be well within its legal rights to say:
 

"Our athletes are free to take any position they want on political issues on their own time. But when they are on the field wearing a team jersey, they will observe the basic appreciation and respect for our country. That is in line with the values of the NFL. If any player wants to sit during the National Anthem, he should get used to sitting during the entire game."

I believe that announcement by an NFL team would pass constitutional review.

Unfortunately, the NFL has been politicized by the left. Like all institutions, it is now taking the default position, which is to satisfy the left.

So football players who run out onto the field with their hands up promoting a false narrative are simply expressing their First Amendment rights. When a player refuses to stand for the National Anthem, the NFL says he has every right to do that. But when the Dallas Cowboys ask to honor policemen killed in the line of duty, the NFL says "No," and columnists applaud for keeping politics off the field.

Some protested Kaepernick by burning his jersey. But I think the best response to his ungratefulness to the country he has done so well in can be found in this photo of Sgt. Zachary Stinson, a Marine who lost both his legs in Afghanistan, standing for the National Anthem as only he can.

Speaking Of Remaining Seated. . .

I was reminded over the weekend that Pope Francis is scheduled to canonize Mother Teresa on Sunday, September 4th. Mother Teresa was an incredible humanitarian who devoted her life to the poor of Calcutta, India. Yet because everything she did was pro-life, she was despised by many on the American left.

I couldn't help but recall a national prayer breakfast which I attended in 1994. Mother Teresa was the main speaker. As was typical, the president, at that time Bill Clinton, was also in attendance, along with his spouse. Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, were also there.

Little Mother Teresa, who probably didn't weigh 100 pounds, came up to the podium and said the following:
 

"I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child. . . Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. . .

"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child."

The audience jumped to its feet in a standing ovation that went on for several minutes. It was an amazing moment. But some did not applaud. The president and the first lady, along with the Gores, remained seated and stone faced.

Obamacare Is Collapsing

The news about Obamacare just keeps getting worse. In recent days, one of the nation's leading insurance companies, Aetna, announced that it was abandoning the Obamacare exchanges, as other major insurance companies have done. As a result, the Kaiser Family Foundation noted that "more than 1 in 4 counties are at risk of having a single insurer."

Now the Washington Post reported over the weekend, "In February 2013, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that 24 million people would buy health coverage through the federally and state-operated online exchanges by this year. Just 11.1 million people were signed up as of late March."

That's less than half of what was expected. Obamacare's business model is clearly failing.