SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has willingly immersed himself into controversy by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem in protest of what he deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States.
His latest refusal to stand for the anthem — he has done this in at least one other preseason game — came before the 49ers’ preseason loss to Green Bay at Levi’s Stadium on Friday night.
“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 in an exclusive interview after the game. “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.”
The 49ers issued a statement about Kaepernick’s decision: “The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem.”
Niners coach Chip Kelly told reporters Saturday that Kaepernick’s decision not to stand during the national anthem is “his right as a citizen” and said “it’s not my right to tell him not to do something.”
Colin Kaepernick is a goddamn moron. Yes, he can do whatever he wants. And he’s a jerkoff.
I have absolutely no reason to write about this, and I didn’t intend to. But the more I thought about this, the more irritable I became. Plus, we here at the SOFREP News Roundup like keeping our finger on the pulse of the national zeitgeist, particularly when it comes to military/race/pop culture issues, and this hits on all of those. I really have cared less and less about professional sportsball players and their games the older I’ve gotten, but football is still something I’ll tune in to. So I’m somewhat familiar with one of the most irritable people in professional sports, Colin KaeperShitFace. That’s his name now.
The guy played the foozball very well for a couple of seasons. Since then, he’s fallen apart, coming off of multiple surgeries and struggling to even make the backup QB position. But since he is a professional athlete, and therefore, a very important person, his sudden interest in racial justice made headlines all over the place. All the more so since his professional career has been one long descent into incompetence and asshole-ry. He’s the complete opposite of my man Richard Sherman.
You know why a lot of people think he’s an asshole? Because he already has a long history of being one. Remember that time he was hitting up Instagram chicks and getting shot down in public? That’s the douchiness of Kaepernick. Only a complete moron could have tens of millions of dollars in the bank, and be reduced to picking up randoms on the internet. Or the time when he became the first guy in NFL history to have a flag thrown on him for calling another player “nigger?” Yeah, I know it isn’t the worst thing in the world, and these guys talk like that to one another, but still. Worse than any of that, though, was when he trademarked the term, “Kaepernicking,” which was what he called his douchey signature celebration of kissing his bicep. KAEPERNICKING. He should have been kicked out of football for that alone.
Something that irritates me is how every writer describes this protest as “brave.” This is not brave. I would bet the massive paycheck I get for writing this week’s column that he doesn’t lose a single endorsement over it. Also, there is hardly anyone in the media who isn’t supporting him on this. Indeed, read this tongue-bathing from the USA Today on the flag controversy. It’s grotesque. Like, you’re going to need to shower after being splashed with all of the lubricants that the author, Jarrett Bell, is spraying into himself waiting for Kaepernick to take him from behind. And how about this paragraph?:
When I made small talk with Kaepernick in the locker room after last weekend’s preseason game in Denver, he was wearing a black baseball cap with a large, silver X in the middle — the exact hat that I wore during the early ‘90s after Spike Lee’s biopic on Malcolm X was released. Kaepernick sported the same hat during his postgame press conference Friday.
That, too, was an expression. And it’s cool. Kaepernick, adopted and raised by white parents, has been growing with his self-awareness, a person familiar with his thinking told USA TODAY Sports. That could be one reason why he’s willing to make a bold statement.
You know why he was adopted? Because Kaepernick’s white mother gave him up for adoption to a white couple after his black father ran out on him before he was even born. That’s right, a child abandoned by his birth parents and adopted by a loving family. Behold how America and its kraKKKers treat its people of color and despair! You’d think that if he wanted to adopt a cause, maybe it could be the scourge of fatherless children. Which, in my opinion, is far more devastating to any community, including the black community, than police shootings, which have been proven to be massively overhyped. But that isn’t as cool or hip as the BLM crowd, and it makes everyone really uncomfortable talking about it, so hopefully that particular problem will just go away on its own.
Another, more cynical way of looking at it is to guess that this is a pretty young guy (he’s 28) who isn’t any good at his profession anymore, and is looking to find/reinvent himself in another way—an entirely noble proposition. And since the cool thing now is to hang out with the civil-rights activists in the Black Lives Matter movement, that’s where he wants to be. And “growing in his self-awareness?” The cynic in me says this is due in part to the constant agitprop coming from the BLM movement. Consuming all of the exploitation and exaggeration about police shootings has already had a direct influence on the death of Korryn Gaines. Now this ideology has found a willing vessel in a pro football dope with a 126 million dollar contract? Only in America.
The NFL is supporting him as well, obviously, since this is a politically palpable protest. Let’s not shower them with the courage award just yet. You know, if a player was protesting a less-popular cause, they’d be quick to take action. Like if a player refused to stand because of gay marriage or something? They’d cut his ass in about 30 seconds. And then the endorsements would definitely go away.
The problem I have is a basic lack of respect. This actually goes beyond Kaepernick, and really is an indictment of the NFL. Note that the NFL put out a press release after this story explaining that their league does not require players to stand during the national anthem. Now, consider that this ruthless corporation known as the NFL has rules dictating player behavior about everything from on-the-field play to the length of the socks they can wear, but on this, they can’t be bothered. Maybe I’m just getting sick of this fake-ass patriotism that the NFL claims to put out, even when we find out that they’re actually billing taxpayers for their “WELCOME HOME, HERO!” bullshit show.
If you’re going to have the anthem, then I believe a certain amount of respect, as an American corporation who has made untold billions of dollars in America, is warranted. This is their country, dammit, not just another global marketplace to exploit. You don’t have to sing the words, or put your hand over your heart, or have a tear running down your face, for fuck’s sake. Just enough respect to stand for the anthem is fine. Otherwise, just don’t bother. Get rid of it totally, knock it off with all of this pseudo-patriotism propaganda, play your stupid game, and make your money. Stop with the elaborate national anthem performances and the fake, “We support the troops!” crap. As SOFREP’s resident disgusting nationalist proud American, I know that real patriotism is super-uncool and even a little embarrassing to the more SOPHISTICATED types. Frankly, overt displays of one’s patriotism are a bit gauche these days, seeing as we are all being programmed into globalist drones, but I still think there is just a TEENSY bit of room for a modicum of respect. And judging by the reaction on social media, a whole lot of people think the same.
I don’t really give a shit what Kaepernick does. Go ahead and sit down if you want. Sit for the flag, Colin. Sit for the flag that represents the country that made you more money than all of us will make in our lifetime. Sit for the flag that represents the country where black people (all people, really) enjoy the highest standard of living in the world. Sit down while everyone else stands because even though the U.S. can have some issues, they aren’t nearly as bad as the activist shits would have you believe, and generally, people get along pretty well. Because at the end of the day, you’re still a giant dope. Nobody is calling for you to go to jail, or lose your job, so all of the free-speech retards can just stop right now. I am not saying you don’t have the right to do it. And I definitely don’t think he should lose his job for it. Getting people fired for how they talk is shit liberals do. Nah, fuck all that. I’ll just think you’re a bitch.
On that note, let’s all enjoy linebacker Sio Moore calling Kaepernick a “bitch-ass motherfucker.”
Britt Slabinski could hear the bullets ricochet off the rocks in the darkness. It was the first firefight for his six-man reconnaissance unit from SEAL Team 6, and it was outnumbered, outgunned and taking casualties on an Afghan mountaintop.
A half-dozen feet or so to his right, John Chapman, an Air Force technical sergeant acting as the unit’s radioman, lay wounded in the snow. Mr. Slabinski, a senior chief petty officer, could see through his night-vision goggles an aiming laser from Sergeant Chapman’s rifle rising and falling with his breathing, a sign he was alive.
Then another of the Americans was struck in a furious exchange of grenades and machine-gun fire, and the chief realized that his team had to get off the peak immediately.
He looked back over at Sergeant Chapman. The laser was no longer moving, Chief Slabinski recalls, though he was not close enough to check the airman’s pulse. Chased by bullets that hit a second SEAL in the leg, the chief said, he crawled on top of the sergeant but could not detect any response, so he slid down the mountain face with the other men. When they reached temporary cover, one asked: “Where’s John? Where’s Chappy?” Chief Slabinski responded, “He’s dead.”
Incredible read from my man Sean Naylor in the New York Times. Chapman could be the first-ever man awarded the Medal of Honor based upon images from technology and not firsthand accounts. Gripping and tragic story, to say the least. Go read the whole thing.
Follow me on Twitter as I live-Tweet terrible, boring, psycho-babble speeches:
https://twitter.com/BKactual/status/768900919220051969
This was from Hillary’s much-anticipated speech about the scary right-wingers. No, not the amiable ones, who know that they are expected to lose without putting up much of a fight, but the ALT-RIGHT. The only thing funnier than the media panicking over these internet trolls is listening to Hillary say the phrase “ALT-RIGHT!” in a tone that she would normally use to describe a particular brutish bowel movement that she left in the adult diaper she secretly wears. That’s the latest conspiracy theory on Hillary, so I’m running with it.
Last year, operators with Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command got their own name: Raiders. Now, just like the Navy’s elite SEALs, they’ll have their own insignia.
Effective immediately, MARSOC critical skills operators and special operations officers are authorized to wear a new gold breast insignia, the Marine Corps announced Monday night.
The insignia, the first Marine Corps-only uniform device to be authorized, features an eagle, wings outspread, clutching an upward-pointing stiletto dagger featuring the Southern Cross constellation that appears on other MARSOC and Raider insignia. Above the eagle’s head flies a banner carrying the MARSOC motto: “Spiritus Invictus,” or unconquerable spirit…
..Notably, a woman could be among the first Marines to receive the new device. While the CSO and SOO jobs have been reserved for men for most of MARSOC’s existence, a mandate from Defense Secretary Ash Carter late last year paved the way for women to apply for the elite positions.
MARSOC officials said last week that two female enlisted Marines had entered assessment and selection in July. As of then, one of the Marines, a corporal, remained in the course.
Meh. Not bad, I guess. It is certainly large.
The Army general involved in managing Russia’s incursion into Europe was fired from that job following an investigation that confirmed he had carried out an extramarital affair for over 10 years and led a “swinger lifestyle.”
Maj. Gen. David Haight, who until May ran operations for U.S. European Command, had an extramarital affair with a military contractor he met in Iraq in 2005. They regularly had sexual encounters and visited clubs and held parties with multiple partners and other couples, the investigation showed.
…A government official told USA Today, which first reported the story, that Russia regularly listens in on phone conversations. An investigation found that Haight made 84 private phone conversations from his government cellphone, totaling more than 1,400 minutes. He also regularly sent emails to his mistress, Jennifer Armstrong, from his Army account. She provided copies of their communication to USA Today.
…Armstrong, who has a tattoo with Haight’s name, said the two continued their affair even as the Army general was moved between various postings. He was stationed at the Pentagon and Fort Benning, Ga., and served as deputy commander of U.S. and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Another general in trouble for the sexytime:
According to an internal document obtained by John Q. Public, a retired Air Force O-10 and former commander of Air Mobility Command (AMC) has been accused of sexual assault by an active duty O-6 who says she was assaulted while under his command.
The bulletin, which originated in the AMC command center, describes a complaint lodged earlier this year — first under restricted reporting rules and later as an unrestricted report. It refers to three incidents alleged to have occurred between April 2007 and April 2009 … incidents in which the male accused — then the alleged victim’s commander — is said to have used his position and power to coerce the female complainant into sexual activity.
This originally broke on the John Q. Public blog, linked above in the title. Since then, the Air Force has confirmed that the four-star in question is Arthur J. Lichte.
From the report:
“Offender was the victim’s commander at the time of the first two incidents of sexual assault and used his position of power to coerce sexual contact. Incidents include inappropriate touching of victim’s breasts, oral sodomy, and penetration.”
Still more trouble with the sexytime:
The captain who led Destroyer Squadron 2 was cashiered Wednesday amid an investigation into inappropriate conduct.
Capt. Tony Simmons, head of the Norfolk-based squadron, was fired by Carrier Strike Group 12 head Rear Adm. Roy Kelley on Wednesday after an investigation prompted a “loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to an official release.
“Capt. Anthony L. Simmons was relieved of his duties by Kelley due to loss of confidence in his ability to command as a result of failure to demonstrate the exemplary conduct expected of those in command,” the Naval Surface Force Atlantic release said.
An investigation found evidence Simmons allegedly made passes at an enlisted sailor on liberty and then was dishonest with his superiors when confronted about it, according to two Defense Department officials familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.
Simmons responded to a request for comment with a one-line email saying that the “Navy lost an elite officer.”
A Mississippi man who tried to travel to Syria with his fiancee to join the Islamic State group was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison on federal terrorism charges.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Muhammad Dakhlalla after he pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. He was also sentenced to 15 years of probation.
Dakhlalla faced up to 20 years in prison, $250,000 in fines and lifetime probation.
His fiancee, Jaelyn Young, was sentenced earlier this month to 12 years in prison and 15 years’ probation, including mandatory mental health treatment.
Prosecutors have portrayed Young, who converted to Islam while studying at Mississippi State University, as the mastermind who talked Dakhlalla into going along. However, prosecutors said, Dakhlalla ultimately agreed to the plan.
Three U.S. Marines were sentenced to prison for attacking a man they believed was having an affair with one of their wives. He entered the house expecting a romantic evening with the woman he loved.
Instead, three men wearing hockey masks beat him, bound him with zip ties and threatened to kill him. They released him 30 minutes later after taking his cellphone and wallet, and warning him they knew where he lived.
The men who assaulted him weren’t gang members or criminals with lengthy rap sheets, but U.S. Marines who carried out the attack because they believed the victim was having an affair with one of their wives.
Sergio Medina, 22, Rodrigo Sanchez, 20, and Leonardo Ortiz, 20, were sentenced to prison Wednesday, with Medina receiving six years, and Sanchez and Ortiz getting three-year terms.
…After the hearing, Medina’s attorney, H.A. Sala, said the incident occurred as a result of Early pursuing a romantic relationship with Medina’s wife while Medina was deployed overseas. The wife, Diane Reyes, tried breaking it off, but Early persisted.
Seems to me these guys took care of business.
A military judge on Thursday found gay Air Force Lt. Joshua Seefried not guilty of all charges stemming from a 2012 incident in a New York Hotel room in which he was accused by a fellow gay service member of sexual assault.
The verdict followed a four-day court martial proceeding at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Md., in which Seefried was on trial more than two years after being charged in April 2014 with wrongful and abusive sexual contact and forcible sodomy based on allegations by a gay U.S. Marine.
The Marine, who was honorably discharged from the service last year, acknowledged during four and a half hours of testimony on Monday that multiple witnesses saw him and Seefried hugging, kissing and fondling one another in a hot tub in the hotel’s spa…
…The former Marine stated repeatedly during his testimony that he was too drunk to consent to sex in the hot tub, a nearby steam room, and a short time later in Seefried’s hotel room. He insisted he was the victim of a sexual assault, even though at least three witnesses testified he willingly participated in sexual encounters with Seefried and a then Coast Guard officer at the hotel.
Stevens argued that testimony and statements by witnesses and recorded interviews with the then Marine conducted by military investigators show that he initially believed he had consented to the sexual trysts at the hotel based on conversations with his friends who saw him in the hot tub.
Stevens noted in his closing argument on Thursday that the then Marine suddenly decided he was sexually assaulted several weeks later after a friend studying to be a psychologist told him he most likely had been raped and should report the incident to military authorities. Upon reporting the incident he named the Coast Guard officer, Lt. Commander John Fiorentine, as the perpetrator and didn’t accuse Seefried until three months later.
Every time you see a hot tub in a hotel, just know that this kind of thing was probably happening in the middle of it. I avoid hot tubs.
The two mariners left Weno Island en route for Tamatam Island in an 18-foot vessel over a week ago with “limited supplies and no emergency equipment.”
When the two men failed to arrive at their destination a day later, a search effort was launched in the western Pacific on Aug. 19, according to a statement released by the U.S. Coast Guard in Guam.
In recent days, crews from Coast Guard District 14 – which covers the Hawaiian islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Saipan area – searched nearly 17,000 square miles using 15 boats and two aircraft, the statement said.
They had their work cut out for them.
“The Coast Guard 14th District covers an area of responsibility more than 12.2 million square miles of land and sea, an area almost twice the size of Russia,” Jennifer Conklin, search and rescue mission coordinator at the Coast Guard Command Center Honolulu, said in a statement earlier this year. “Oftentimes, we are thousands of miles away from those who need help and because of that our partnerships with the Navy, other search and rescue organizations, partner Pacific nations and AMVER are essential.”
…The men – identified by the U.S. Embassy in Kolonia, Micronesia, as Linus and Sabina Jack, both in their 50s – were picked up Friday and transferred to Nomwin atoll, the statement said.
O’FALLON, Mo. (KMOV.com) – Prosecutors have charged the man accused of exposing himself to girls in O’Fallon, Mo.
Craig Moore, 48, of Moscow Mills, is charged with four counts of sexual misconduct involving a child under 15.
Moore allegedly exposed himself at two separate gyms, one in O’Fallon Plaza and the other on Tom Ginnever, on August 19. Then, a day later, he exposed himself to a group of girls at a lemonade stand, police said.
The girls, ages 8-12, were selling lemonade during the afternoon hours on Brisco Avenue and Love Drive, a neighborhood just blocks from where the River City Rascals play baseball.
Brittany Thaller lives down the street and stopped to buy lemonade from the girls just hours before the incident.
“We were proud of them for making their own money and then I hear a few hours later a man walked up to give them money and he was butt naked! It’s really disturbing,” said Thaller.
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