State of the Union

[hollodero]

(02-07-2018, 12:09 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: This is already getting too deep for me. Don't you know I only dabble in PnR? Sheesh. 

To summarize all my responses to the Trump saying: I can see reasons not to clap, I can see reasons to clap. It's definitely fair game for Trump to address this and criticize the non-clappers. But using words like treason is totally overblowing it, and that serves no purpose than to further deepen the trenches. That is not a word used lightly. And just imagine Obama had said "listen some folk say McConnell is a traitor, and I guess I'd say why not? Why not?" - and FOX et al. wouldn't have needed a microscope to declare a scandal. At least I guess that's true.

So that this gets mentioned in the media... that's not a surprise and not their fault. It's not the media's job to suppress stories for the national unity's interest.

(02-07-2018, 12:09 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 4. I never said Trump is a uniter. I just said he didn't start this division, nor is he the biggest reason for it. The left tries to paint him that way.

Yeah that's what your parties usually do - maybe even have to do, in a landscape where voter turnout decides elections. I do think Trump's a big reason for division though, although certainly not the only reason. He led the birther movement for years, questioned Obamas legitimacy, the legitimacy of the election in case he loses, the legitimacy of the election after he lost the popular vote, invented lock her up chants, calls the media enemies of the people, Kaepernick a SOAB, posted videos of British extremists.... and you know things like that go on and on. That he gets painted as divisive is not on the Democrats or the media, it's on him and him alone.

(02-07-2018, 12:09 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 5. I'm not blaming Obama for the division. I'm only saying that I'm disappointed that - as the first black President - he could've done more to quell those tensions than anyone. As for what, maybe working with police while publicly stating that most police are good men. Not saying that if he had a son, it'd look like Trayvon. Perhaps he should've said "rioting and violent protest is not the answer" instead of staying silent.

The only quotes I read from Obama suggested that it (police targeting/killing blacks) really was/is a big problem. Much like with Kaepernick, I didn't see any solutions...just suggestions that police are bad, and there was no calls to stop the rioting/violent protests. The police in this country deserve better than to be judged on the actions of a tiny percentage of officers. Words from Obama could've done much to ease the tensions and stop the violence. Unfortunately, those words never came.

5.5. The added oil came from a great increase in players kneeling before Trump made his "get those a-holes off the field" remarks. Trump didn't make all these players take a knee, and they were all taking a knee long before Trump's remarks. Trump didn't make the NFL take a passive approach to the issue (NBA and MLB have rules against it). 

This issue is not on Trump one bit. There is big portion of this country that (a) is disgusted with this form of protest and/or (b) doesn't completely agree with the cause or how police are being portrayed. Regardless of what Trump said at that rally, the player protests were going to continue full force. 

OK. You might be right to a degree, I know too little about Obama's actions here. - I am not fully sold on Kaepernick's actions, but I can understand the Kaepernick side of this (there just were a certain number of police killings of black people for no apparent reason). One can say media overreported on those and everything (and I know very little about that, so), but one must somehow understand (I don't mean agree with) the perspective of black people on that, it's not so easily dismissed. I can see the other (say: your) side as well, the reasoning for not wanting the whole police painted in a bad way and to wish for the president to more forcefully protect them from attacks and to condemn violence at protests and all that. That's a legit point, even I don't fully agree.

But my huge issue is a different one here. It's when one day it's utterly important to protect the brave and noble policemen from leftist attacks - oh my god law enforcement is unfairly portrayed so badly! - and the next day, the same guys smear FBI agents and the whole FBI with one unfounded accusation after another just so an investigation into the president goes away - let's portray law enforcement as bad as possible!
- That is quite inconsistent, isn't it.