"Publicly funded sports stadiums are like crack cocaine to local politicians and business bigwigs.  These folks are just like addicts:  They deceive everyone around them for the sake of a fix and rarely take no for an answer when voters decline to subsidize their schemes."

— Michael W. Lynch, Reason Magazine *      

NFL fans 'cause earthquake' during game in Seattle.  So loud were the fans during their side's 34-7 victory that they measured between a magnitude 1 and 2 earthquake.  Fans of the Seahawks are growing a reputation for their ear popping shows of support.  In 2011, the fans were picked up by a nearby seismic recording station while earlier this year, CenturyLink Field entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the noise created.

This isn't going to help:
Jacksonville Jaguars Offer Fans Free Beer To Buy Tickets.  The winless Jacksonville Jaguars have released their own strategy to increase ticket attendance to this week's game and prevent a blackout: free beer.

You step out of line, the man comes and takes you away.
Seattle cops to don opponents' jerseys.  The Seahawks announced Wednesday that undercover law-enforcement officers will wear opposing team jerseys at games this season in an effort to quickly detect fans exhibiting unruly and inconsiderate behavior.

Ravens fans celebrate Super Bowl win by car tipping and looting a Baltimore 7-11.  But AP told us there were no reports of "disturbances" after the Ravens' Super Bowl win.  Once again, Twitter has the news first.

Police in riot gear stop brawl among parents at kids' football game.  Police in riot gear flooded the field of a youth football game in Southern California to stop a brawl that involved dozens and possibly hundreds of adult spectators.

China 'asked Putin to delay invasion of Ukraine until after Winter Olympics'.  China asked Vladimir Putin to delay any invasion of Ukraine until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, according to a Western intelligence report.  It suggests officials in China may have had some indication of Mr Putin's plans before he went ahead.  Beijing denied the assertion as "baseless speculation" and an "attempt to smear China".  A Western official told the New York Times the report did not make clear if it was Putin and Xi Jinping who discussed the matter, or some of their officials.  The Olympic closing ceremony took place on Feb 20.  On the following day Putin recognised two breakaway areas in Ukraine and sent troops in to help separatists.  Then, on Feb 24, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

AP: NBC Olympics [was] a ratings "disaster" — and [is] now a tainted brand.  How bad was it?  The best night for Olympics ratings was February 13, when NBC had 112 million Super Bowl viewers ready to watch even more sports.  How many stuck around?  The New York Times reports ... not many: [...] Almost eight in ten viewers didn't even want to just leave the channel on after the end of the Super Bowl, but actively chose to tune out.  This had nothing to do with the performance of the athletes.  Viewers knew after NBC's atrocious brown-nosing of Vladimir Putin's Soviet iconography in Sochi's opening games that they already knew what the coverage from Beijing would be like.  And they turned out to be correct.  This time, though, the moral issues were even more obvious, and yet produced no real shame in Beijing's corporate partners.

NBC's Beijing Olympic Ratings Called A 'Disaster' For Network.  A sobbing Russian figure skater berated by one of her coaches for a poor routine.  Grim-looking cooling towers in the background of acrobatic snowboard jumps.  Diplomatic boycotts.  Half-empty stands.  Announcers covering the games from Connecticut.  It all played out in a host country engaged in human rights atrocities that was also the origin site of a global pandemic.  For NBC, it wasn't exactly Olympic glory in China.  The media adjectives pouring in to describe the legacy of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics aren't pretty:  "Disaster."  "Joyless."  And NBC's $7.75 billion investment in 2014 that gave it exclusive American media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032 is under question after a second consecutive ratings dud.

Olympics Close Out With Brutally Low TV Ratings.  Sunday [2/20/2022] was the final day of the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the overall numbers for how many people watched this year's winter games were the worst ever for NBCUniversal.  The games, which started Feb. 4 and went through Sunday, averaged 11.4 million viewers across all of the network's platforms in primetime, according to the Hollywood Reporter in a piece published Monday.  Those numbers are down from the average number of 19.8 million who watched the games in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the report noted.  Not only were the average number of viewers down by 42%, but this year's winter games were down some 26% from the summer Olympics held in Tokyo in 2021.

The Editor says...
The Olympics still exist for two reasons:  [#1] It's a proxy for World War, in which each country demonstrates that their young athletes are stronger and tougher than all others.  Cheating abounds, even though it's strictly forbidden.  But that happens in real wars, too.  [#2] The Olympics exists to sell exclusive television rights to one American TV network, which will then sell commercial time for lots of money.  Even so, the commercial revenue will not be enough, if nobody's expected to watch, and the network will lose money.  But wait and see — that same network will eagerly bid for the TV rights next time.  The whole show is about glamorous and prestigious international competition:  Part of it is sports, and part of it is a soap opera; therefore, it's a lucrative TV series.  Except the monetary wheels come off if nobody cares any more about the stinkin' Olympics, as millions of non-viewers have demonstrated this year, when the event was held in Communist China.

The great Olympic figure-skating debacle.  Congratulations to Russia, which took first, second, and fourth places in women's figure-skating while turning the competition into a [fiasco] so repellent that sportswriters were using terms like "child abuse" afterward to describe what went down.  I wrote a few days ago about Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian superstar who was heavily favored to take gold in Beijing.  News broke this week that Valieva had tested positive in December for a banned substance, a heart medication capable of enhancing endurance.  But she wasn't banned from the Olympics:  Because of her tender age, the Court of Arbitration of Sport deemed her a "protected person" who'd be allowed to compete while an investigation into her drug test proceeded.  That threw the competition into chaos, with the International Olympic Committee declaring that no medal ceremony would be held if Valieva finished in the top three due to the uncertainty over her status. [...] Oh, just to round things off, the World Anti-Doping Agency has now accused the Court of Arbitration of Sport of having essentially rewritten the rules to let Valieva compete, further tainting the process.

Worst.  Olympics. Ever.  Ten days ago, this newsletter noted that the opening days of the Genocide Games — er, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing — had generated a "cataclysmic loss of audience" for NBC.  Over the past week or so, the audience size hasn't gotten any better — and it's not just here in the United States: [...] Viewers around the world have a lot of reasons for antipathy toward China these days — from the ongoing Uyghur genocide, to the crackdown on Hong Kong, to the aggressive moves towards Taiwan, to that virus that started in Wuhan which has killed almost 6 million people around the world officially and perhaps many, many more.  There are no live audiences or cheering crowds at the events, a television correspondent got dragged away on air, waiters and bartenders in the hotels are wearing full hazmat suits, and there's not even the usual pretty scenery — the ski-jump platform was built next to a steel plant with structures that reminded American audiences of nuclear reactors.  There's something absurdly dystopian about this whole debacle.

Olympic ideal exposed as farce on sad night in China.  No matter how the IOC tries to spin it, the enduring symbol of the Beijing Games — and really, the entire Olympic movement — is a sad little girl put in an untenable position by adults who have no shame.  A lot of serious issues will need to be addressed after the flame is extinguished, from doping rules to age limits to tyrannical coaches, but we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger questions:  What will it take for the Olympics to truly live up to its ideals?  Is meaningful change even possible at this point?

Chinese Athletes at the Olympics get 5-Star Food, Nice Hotels, This is what the Rest of the Worlds Athletes Get.  It's no surprise the Communist Chinese are doing everything they can to make the lives of the Winter Olympic athletes pure hell.  From sleep deprivation to absolutely horrific living conditions and terrible food.  Here is a video showing yet another 'water main break' in a brand new building.  These seem to always happen on the same floors that the competitors who will soon be competing occur on.  History will show you, we should never again have the Olympics in China.  They cheat!  This video was filmed by Finnish athletes who were set to compete the next day.  [Video clip]

Finnish athlete posted pictures of water leaking into her apartment, ordered by Chinese officials to delete them.  The habits of tyranny are hard to break.  China expected that the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing would once again impress the world with China's ability to build shiny new venues and organize vast and impressive mass ceremonies.  But, instead, what is becoming known as the "Genocide Games" is exposing the autocratic authoritarianism of China's governing officials and the downright shabby nature of its treatment for foreign athletes, some of whom dare to complain in public.  Unlike Chinese citizens, they don't have to worry about their social credit scores once they leave the Middle Kingdom.

Beijing's Olympics are Downright Dangerous:  Here's Why.  The 2022 Winter Olympics have just begun in Beijing.  It's China's second opportunity to export its ideology since the 2008 Summer Olympics.  It's happening despite China's harsh repression of its ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which has been condemned by many countries as genocide.  Nevertheless, all but 14 countries (plus North Korea) appear to be responsive to the IOC's "Sports without political interference" initiative in sending delegations and athletes to the Beijing.  Little do they know, the Chinese government uses its hosting of the Olympics as a propaganda tool precisely to silence this criticism of its human rights record.  The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is like the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  Each event is being used to showcase the host country's glamour and fearful power.

American skier ditches Team USA to compete for communist China in Olympics.  American-born-and-raised Olympic skier Eileen Gu reportedly gave up her American passport and was naturalized as a Chinese citizen to compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics for communist China, new reports highlighted last week.  After growing up and training in the United States and competing as a member of the U.S. freestyle ski team, Gu revealed on Instagram in 2019 that she had decided to compete for China in the Beijing Winter Olympics.  "This was an incredibly tough decision for me to make," Gu wrote at the time, according to a The Wall Street Journal report last week.  Gu, whose mother was born in China, said she hoped the controversial move would "inspire millions of young people where my mom was born."

Uyghur Concentration Camp Survivor:  NBC 'Supports Genocide' by Airing Olympics.  Tursunay Ziawudun, a survivor of China's brutal concentration camp system for Uyghur people and other Muslim ethnic groups, accused NBC and Comcast of supporting genocide by airing the 2022 Beijing Olympics in an interview with Breitbart News on Saturday [2/5/2022].  Ziawudun joined a large group of mostly Uyghur protesters in front of the White House on Saturday to observe the anniversary of the 1997 Ghulja massacre — which resulted in thousands of arrests and an estimated hundred dead after Uyghurs organized peaceful protests against the communist regime in Beijing in the northwestern city that year — and to protest the Beijing Olympics.  Opponents of the Games argue that a country openly engaging in genocide should not receive the honor of hosting such a prestigious event and that focusing on sports competition in China distracts from the long list of atrocities that government is committing.

Olympics Viewers, Onlookers Scratch Heads Over Controversial Call DQing US, Russian Skaters As China Wins Gold.  Some Olympic viewers were left perplexed during the weekend when a speed skating judge's decision disqualified the United States and helped China win a gold medal.  The United States had finished second in its semifinal race of the mixed team relay event in short track speed skating Saturday, joining first place Hungary to advance to the finals.  That was until an official's review after the race determined that the United States and Russia, the fourth place finishers, had impeded skaters from team China, causing both teams to be disqualified.  Team China, the world's number one ranked team in the event, had initially finished third and not qualified for the finals.  However, thanks to the penalty against the U.S., China took their spot in the final and went on to win the gold, the country's first medal of the games.

Olympians lament inedible food and 'unreasonable' conditions.  As many athletes watch their Olympic dreams get dashed by a positive COVID test, more and more are taking to social media and speaking out against the conditions of the Beijing "quarantine hotels" into which they are being forced to check in.  "My stomach hurts, I'm very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes," said Valeria Vasnetsova, a Russian athlete competing in the biathlon, in an Instagram post shared from isolation.  "I want this all to end.  I cry every day.  I'm very tired."  Thursday, Vasnetsova posted a picture of her food tray.  On it sat a bit of plain pasta, some charred meat, a sprinkling of potatoes, and some orange sauce.  According to Vasnetsova, that was "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already."

TV Ratings Tank For The Olympics In Communist China.  The ratings are in for NBC's first day of coverage for the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in communist China and they are down from the previous year.  The network's coverage in prime-time Thursday for the opening ceremony to kick off the games averaged 7.7 million total viewers, according to a report published Friday by TV Line.com.  The Olympic viewership also landed with a 1.3 rating in the coveted demographic of ages 18-49, the outlet noted.  While those numbers helped the network lead the night, those numbers are down over the last decade, Outkick's Clay Travis noted.  He appeared to be noting numbers from Sports Media Watch.

Chinese official physically removes Dutch reporter covering Olympics during live broadcast.  Gold or Gulag?  It's a question on the minds of many anxious athletes and journalists as the Olympics kick off in Beijing — one made more urgent by the physical removal of a reporter by Chinese officials on live television.  "Our correspondent @sjoerddendaas was pulled away from the camera by security guards at 12:00 p.m. live in the NOS Journaal," tweeted Dutch public broadcaster NOS, Friday [2/4/2022].  "Unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming a daily reality for journalists in China.  He is fine and was able to finish his story a few minutes later."  The not-so-subtle move from the Chinese is further proof that the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOC) meant business when it announced it would punish those foreigners who spoke out in a manner the Chinese Communist Party deems is "against the Olympic spirit."

Goons Drag Reporter Away on Live TV at Beijing Games Opening Ceremony.  The Beijing Winter Olympics are officially underway — but, before the Opening Ceremony even finished on Friday [2/4/2022], Chinese authorities proved to the world once again that it won't tolerate any kind of free press.  In an extraordinary clip from Dutch broadcaster NOS, one of its reporters who is in Beijing to cover the Games can be seen being manhandled by a security guard sporting a red armband.  The reporter, Sjoerd den Daas, attempted to carry on his broadcast while being grabbed and yelled at by the guard, then NOS decided to cut away back to the studio.

Protesters Surround NBC HQ Asking for Ban on Genocide Olympics.  Tibetan exiles and supporters of Tibetan freedom gathered outside Chinese embassies, Olympic headquarters, and NBC studios to protest the Beijing Winter Olympics, derided by critics as the "Genocide Games" because the event risks validating Communist China's brutal suppression of minorities like the Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims.

China's Olympic tyranny.  Why are Americans participating in the Winter Olympics while the host nation, China, perpetrates a genocide and menaces its neighbors?  The Biden administration has announced a diplomatic boycott, meaning no "high-level" U.S. officials will be going to China.  But American athletes are still going, along with diplomatic, consular, and security personnel to protect them.  NBC Sports is still televising the Games.  Corporations such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Visa are still paying millions of dollars to sponsor them.  Why?

Winter Olympics guests describe 'dystopian' scenes inside the village.  'Dystopian' scenes from inside Beijing Olympic village include barmen in full PPE mixing cocktails and robots spraying clouds of disinfectant into the air as China attempts to host a Covid-free Games.  Video shot inside the Nanshanli Condotel on Thursday reveal journalists and Olympic personnel in light-touch masks mixing with hotel staff wearing full hazmat suits due to fears the Games could become a super-spreader event.  A Reuters reporter inside the hotel described the atmosphere as 'dystopian', saying the air smells like disinfectant due to the number of times floors and walls are sprayed, while all food service arrives in hotel rooms plastic-wrapped.

Big Brother Olympics:  Beijing to feature Uighur surveillance company as major sponsor.  The Olympics, which are all dedicated to peace, human dignity, and brotherhood, have a pretty creepy sponsor now that the host is Beijing. [...] That so-called artificial intelligence firm, which translates languages, is neck deep in China's surveillance of ethnic Uighurs, the Turkic people in China's northwest, millions of whom have been systematically forced into labor camps in order to wring any vestige of non-communist culture out of them.  This company's 'products' provide China's "Lives of Others" surveillance apparachiks the means to know what individual Uighurs may be saying or writing in private, the better to abuse and imprison those who do not conform mindlessly to China's communist party line.  It's as Big Brother as such things get.

Boycott the Beijing Olympics.  If ever there was an Olympics that should be boycotted, this is it.  The purpose of the quadrennial games is, or ought to be, to promote goodwill among nations while allowing athletes a stage where they can test their skills against world-class competition.  No one believes that is the purpose of the Beijing Olympics.  In the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping could apologize to the world for allowing the coronavirus virus to spread from Wuhan throughout the planet while authorities hushed it up and worked hard to prevent its spread to the rest of China.  That would be a demonstration of goodwill and a modicum of decency, given the millions globally who have died.  That is not going to happen.

China Insists 'No Lockdown' for Genocide Olympics as More Regions Go Under.  Organizing officials for the 2022 Winter Olympics said Tuesday the Games' host city, Beijing, has no plans to lock down any sections of the capital to prevent the spread of the Chinese coronavirus during the event — scheduled to take place from February 4 through February 20 — despite mounting lockdowns in surrounding areas.  "Beijing won't need to be sealed off for the Games next month," Huang Chun, who leads the 2022 Winter Olympics' coronavirus prevention efforts, told reporters on January 11, adding that a lockdown order for either Beijing or its surrounding province of Hebei remains "off the table" for now.

NHL Considers Not Sending Players to Beijing's Genocide Games over Coronavirus Fears.  On the heels of its decision to postpone many of its games through December, the NHL is also now contemplating withdrawing its players from the Beijing Olympics, all because of its concerns over the coronavirus.  The National Hockey League had intended to take a three-week break in February to make room to send its players to Beijing for China's "genocide" Olympics.  Still, after delaying as many as 40 games this year over fears about the coronavirus, the make-up games have put the Olympics in doubt.

China Plans to Pay American Influencers to Promote Beijing Olympics Amid Boycotts.  China is paying American social media influencers to promote the Beijing Olympics and tout U.S.-China cooperation on climate change, according to government filings.  The Chinese consulate in New York City hired the public relations firm Vippi Media to run the influence campaign, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  For $300,000, Vippi Media will hire prominent Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch users to tout the games and promote China-U.S. cooperation on issues like climate change, the contract says.  The firm's founder, Vipp Jaswal, tells the Washington Free Beacon he has not yet chosen the influencers to be used for the campaign.

The Concentration Camp Olympics.  This February will see U.S. participation in the winter Olympics at Beijing.  The games will occur amid the knowledge that Xi Jinping is committing some of the most appalling human rights abuses on the planet.  A million Uighurs are being persecuted, as are Falun Gong practitioners.  Hongkongers have had their liberties crushed.  Since Joe Biden's election, Xi is increasingly menacing Taiwan.  In 2018, Xi named himself "president for life," and has been busy returning China — an authoritarian state as-is — to totalitarianism.  Xi continues to make unwarranted claims on the South and East China Seas, militarizing these international waters.  Both are vital to U.S. and global trade.  Imagine Mexico or the U.S. claiming the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean as territorial waters.  Xi is growing more bellicose, threatening Asia Pacific nations, including U.S. allies Australia, Japan, and South Korea, among others.  The Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics is an empty gesture.  It signals weakness, not strength.  An apex predator like Xi only respects actions that have real teeth.

Why we must boycott the Olympics in China.  Back in 1936, the Olympic games were held in Hitler-led, fascist, Nazi Germany.  In Berlin, to be specific.  For years afterward, the world shook its head in wonder at how the International Olympic Committee (IOC), could ever have been so out of touch with reality that it honored a dictatorial, despotic nation.  Now, they've done it again.  The Communist Party of China (CCP) is scheduled to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.  Stupid knows no limits.  Before we go into the decades of China's human rights violations and utter disregard for international laws, the latest outrage from this totalitarian state is the disappearance of a three-time Chinese female Olympian tennis star, Peng Shuai, after she accused a former vice-premier of sexual assault.  She's obviously paying the price for outing a Commie biggie and is either dead or tucked away for life in some rancid prison.

Boxing bouts [were] fixed at [the] 2016 Olympics, investigation finds.  Boxing bouts for medals at the 2016 Olympics were fixed by "complicit and compliant" referees and judges, an investigation reported on Thursday [9/30/2021].  Investigator Richard McLaren was appointed by the International Boxing Association, known as AIBA, and found AIBA officials selected referees and judges to ensure that bouts could be manipulated in Olympic qualifying and at the Rio de Janeiro Games.  He also found signs the 2012 Olympics in London were affected.

China Hosting the Winter Olympics Is an Extremely Bad Idea.  The Summer Games in Japan, which organizers and the world had hoped would mark a milestone toward the end of the sixteen-month-long global shutdown, unfortunately fell prey to the COVID-19 virus.  In Tokyo, the delta variant has impacted how the Olympics have been staged and can only lead to speculation on how the upcoming Winter Games might play out.  One thing is certain:  testing and more testing of athletes will undoubtedly remain a greater part of any participation in future sporting events.  Fast-forward to the XXIV Winter Olympics, to be held in Beijing in February.  There's talk that under the guise of widespread COVID-19 testing, the People's Republic of China will have carte blanche access to the collection of DNA samples from the world's highest-ranked athletes.  A sufficient amount of genetic material is readily available from each PCR swab test collected from an individual.  This massive data sweep will allow the Chinese government to embark upon an extensive analysis of the samples, enabling it to configure the information toward applications of its own design.

Viewership Ratings for Woke Olympics Continue to Crash.  Not even the USA winning the gold for all-around gymnastics lifted the ratings for the 2020 Woke Olympics anywhere close to respectable territory. [...] Even more disastrous for the Olympics has been the crashing and burning of all their woketard athletes and icons.  Megan Rapinoe's all-girl soccer team was supposed to be on the easy path to Olympic gold and then lost in a major upset to Canada. [...] Honestly, who loses to Canada?  Gwen Berry, the insufferable hammer thrower who disrespected the flag during her Olympic trials and then threatened to do so again if she won an Olympic medal, did not win anything.  In fact, out of 12 competitors, she came in 11th. [...] And then there's my all-time favorite, a 43-year-old fat guy named Laurel who competed as a woman weightlifter.  But even with all the advantages of being a guy, he still blew it.

Take A Knee, Then Take A Seat.  It was a weird position in which to find myself — actively rooting against the United States Olympic team.  Not the whole team, though I've been rather open about my indifference on that subject, but the women's soccer team.  Or should I say, the wymxn's soccer team?  Who knows, and who cares?  They lost and it's glorious. [...] Led by Megan Rapinoe, the Americans lost to Canada in the semi-finals, ending their chances at a gold medal.  Excellent.  I love the country, I don't support those to take it for granted or those who would protest against it while in the midst of representing it.  If it's so awful, don't play for it.

Did a terrorist actually just win an Olympic gold medal?  The woke Tokyo Olympics doesn't discriminate.  No matter your race, gender identity, or affiliation with a terrorist organization — all are welcome and celebrated!  You may have heard of a little group called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019.  Well, one of their members just won a gold medal in the Olympics and even gave a military salute on the podium.

Laurel Hubbard, transgender weightlifter, exits Olympic competition early after failing on all three attempts.  Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand, was knocked out of the women's 87+ kilogram competition early after failing on all three of her attempts.  Hubbard failed on her first attempt to get 120-kg above her head, bailing out early.  On her second attempt at 125kg, she was able to get the weight up and pumped her fist after in satisfaction, however judges ruled it a "no lift."  She returned quickly for another attempt at 125kg only to fail to be able to stand up with the weight above her head.  Hubbard was the only one of the 13 finalists to not complete at least one lift.

The Editor says...
Go home, be a man, and accept reality.  Not necessarily in that order.

Paris 2024 Olympics logo roasted for looking like a 'Karen'.  The "Karen" meme is back, and it's funnier than ever.  The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are currently well underway but that doesn't stop the fact that people are already talking about the 2024 games.  The next cycle of the Olympics is set to be held in Paris, and while the logo was released back in October 2019, fans can't help but roast the design again.  The logo is very reminiscent of the "Karen" meme — a Caucasian woman with a short haircut who always "needs to speak to the manager."  The Parisian emblem is meant to depict three symbols: the Olympic flame, a gold medal and the hair and lips of Marianne, the personification of France since the 1789 revolution.  She represents liberty, equality and fraternity.

A Disaster of Olympian Proportions.  Is it wrong that I'm rooting for the U.S. Women's National Team to lose, and humiliatingly so, this Olympics?  Of course it's not wrong.  The USWNT, led by America's favorite histrionic Megan Rapinoe, protested against racism and discrimination by taking the knee before their first Olympic match.  Though the stadium was empty (certainly nothing new to the USWNT), the attending "reporters" revived each other with smelling salts to swoon and gape at the unparalleled fortitude exhibited by these privileged virtue-signalers in what was dubbed a "social justice reckoning".

U.S. Olympians: gold-worthy performances in social protest; in athletic competition not so much.  The U.S. Olympic team is off to a sluggish start in Tokyo, to put it mildly.  U.S. athletes failed to deliver a medal on the first day of competition, something that hasn't happened in nearly 50 years.  It's only gotten worse from there.  The women's soccer team, expected to snag the gold, got shut out in its very first match against Sweden.  That shocker ended the team's 44-game unbeaten streak, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.  They beat an overmatched New Zealand squad 6-1 but had to settle for a 1-1 tie against Australia to squeak into the next round.  The squad, most notably lavender-locked team captain Megan Rapinoe, famously kneel before each game, but not during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem.  Other teams in the Olympics also kneel before games to protest racism.  The formerly invincible USA basketball squad is nothing of the sort these days.

NBC has 33-year low viewership for Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony: 'Not a happy' benchmark.  The Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest audience for the network broadcast in the past 33 years, according to data from the Comcast-owned NBCUniversal on Saturday [7/24/2021].  The TV audience dropped 37% from the Rio de Janeiro opening ceremony in 2016, when 26.5 million people watched, and 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the London opener.  The Tokyo ratings factored in both the live broadcast early Friday morning and a primetime re-airing.  Reuters described Friday's fall, the lowest since the 1988 Seoul Games, as a "steep drop."

Woke USA Women Soccer Team Lose 3-0 at Olympics.  Perhaps if they spent a little more energy on soccer skills, and a little less energy attempting to be the woke champions of US sport, the outcome may have been different.  Alas, there's a great number of Americans who shrug because USA women's national soccer has evolved into a political assembly who happen to play soccer.  The team's egotistical, arrogant, pompous and virtue-signaling attitude is a considerable turn-off.  This is the same team that wears 'Black Lives Matter' on their uniforms, and kneels instead of stands for the U.S. national anthem to showcase to the world just how woke they are.  Team Captain Ms. Rapinoe refuses to sing the U.S. national anthem; kneels during ceremonies to make her hatred for America visible; and grabs every microphone to tell the media about her politics in an effort to increase her woke resistance credentials.

Deaf-blind Paralympian quits Team USA when told she can't bring assistant to Tokyo.  Becca Meyers is a six-time Paralympic medalist with three golds from the 2016 Rio Games.  She was expected to compete for up to four medals in Tokyo.  Instead she's not going.  After the 26-year-old deaf-blind swimmer was told she couldn't bring her mother and personal care assistant (PCA) Maria Meyers to help her navigate Tokyo and the Olympic facilities, Meyers informed Team USA that she was quitting the team.

Keywords:  Adultery, fornication, promiscuity, AIDS.
Athletes to sleep on 'anti-sex' cardboard beds at Olympic Games amid COVID.  Lustful Olympic athletes should think twice before making the bed rock in Tokyo.  The world's best sports competitors are set to spend their nights on cardboard beds — allegedly designed to collapse under the weight of fornicators to discourage sex amid COVID-19.  Olympic officials — who already warned 2021 Games participants to avoid two-person push-ups because of the coronavirus — have set up 18,000 of the cardboard beds in the notoriously sex-crazed athletes' village, according to Dezeen magazine.  "Beds to be installed in Tokyo Olympic Village will be made of cardboard, this is aimed at avoiding intimacy among athletes," American distance runner Paul Chelimo tweeted.

Everything that's gone wrong for the Tokyo Olympics so far.  With the opening ceremony just days away, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are off to a rough start.  After being delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the games are seeing serious challenges in the days leading up to them, including COVID-19, inclement weather, and suspension for marijuana use.  Here's everything that's gone wrong at the Tokyo Olympics so far:  Olympians testing positive for COVID-19 [...] Opening ceremony composer resigns [...] Top sponsor pulls ads [...] U.S. Men's Basketball team loses members [...] Fans banned from events after state of emergency declaration [...] Rising temperatures [...]

With Spectators Banned, Tokyo Olympics Look Like an Even Bigger Money Pit.  Spectators will be banned from all 339 events to be held during the upcoming Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin in Tokyo on July 23, after a state of emergency was declared in that region of Japan this week.  These Olympics had already been dubbed the "No-Fun Olympics" — and by none other than the typically stoic Associated Press — due to pandemic-related policies of testing, quarantining, and limited attendance that were expected to severely curtail the usual athletic bacchanalia enjoyed by athletes and fans (previously, events were expected to be capped at 10,000 spectators each). Now they will be the No-Fans Games as well.  More than 30 venues, some of which predate the Olympics but many of which were purpose-built at public expense, will be occupied solely by coaches, athletes, and judges.

The Editor says...
With no spectators, the event could be held in a big city in almost any country!  For TV coverage, the Olympic venue would have to be somewhere with satellite access and plenty of electricity, but with no crowds on hand, there is no great demand for hotel rooms, mass transit, crowd control, sanitation, and and many other factors.

Members of U.S. Women's Soccer Team Turn Away from the Flag as WWII Vet Plays Anthem.  Several members of the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) did not face the flag as a 98-year-old WWII veteran played the national anthem.  The incident occurred Monday [7/5/2021], just before the USWNT took-on Mexico in their final tune-up before the Tokyo Olympics. [... Update:] An account representing U.S. Soccer teams denies that the video shows any players disrespecting World War II veteran Pete DuPré and posted a video of players, including Megan Rapinoe, greeting him and signing a ball.  Breitbart News' story never said the players disrespected Pete DuPré; rather, it said some players disrespected the American flag.

Base Olympic competition on biological sex, not testosterone levels.  A pair of female sprinters from Namibia can't compete in the Olympics this year, even though the biologically male Laurel Hubbard can compete in weightlifting for team New Zealand.  Sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi cannot compete in the 400-meter dash due to naturally high testosterone levels.  World Athletics requires that for women to compete in events such as the 400-meter and one-mile runs in track, they must lower their testosterone levels to 5 nanomoles per liter.  It's unclear if these athletes are intersex and have XY chromosomes as well as internal testes instead of ovaries.  However, what is clear is that these two not being able to compete while Hubbard can compete is a failure of liberal compromise.

Olympic Jiggery-Pokery.  Jiggery-pokery is a perfect phrase to describe recent Olympic news, especially decisions on who is allowed to compete and who is not. [...] Third is transgender New Zealand weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard.  A successful male weightlifter until age 35, Hubbard now identifies as a female and the Olympic committees think it is perfectly fair that he competes against biologic women.  Guys outlift gals by over 20 percent meaning that the guy who identifies as a gal is a lock for a medal.  Talk about performance enhancement.  This makes Lance Armstrong's blood doping look like child's play.  Missing a few random doping tests or smoking a joint is disqualifying but growing up as a male, muscles, and bones bathed in testosterone during puberty, is not a performance enhancement?  Jiggery-pokery.  Finally, the woke media overlook the obvious racism and sexism at play here. [...] If anything, this confirms that transgenderism sits higher on the intersectionality and victimhood totem pole compared to being female or Black.

Several Women on US Soccer Team Turn Away From US Flag as 98-Year-Old Veteran Plays National Anthem.  Several women on the US soccer team on Monday turned away from the US flag as 98-year-old WWII veteran Pete DuPré played the national anthem on a harmonica.  The US Women's soccer team is playing against Mexico in East Hartford, Connecticut in a pre-Olympic sendoff game before heading to Japan.  These women should not be allowed to represent the US at the Olympics.

Photos From Gwen Barry's Website Reveal That Her Anthem/Flag Protests Are Nothing But A PR Stunt.  Hammer thrower and activist Gwen Berry has received fierce backlash after she appeared to turn her back to the American flag as the national anthem was being played at the U.S. Olympic Trials over the weekend.  Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called Monday for US Olympic track and field athlete Gwen Berry to be kicked off the squad after she turned her back on the American flag while the national anthem was played over the weekend at the Olympic trials in Oregon.  "I don't think it's too much, when athletes are competing to wear the Stars and Stripes — to compete under the Stars and Stripes in the Olympics — for them to simply honor that flag and our anthem on the medal stand," Cotton, a former Army infantry officer, told "Fox News Primetime".  "If Ms. Berry is so embarrassed by America, then there's no reason she needs to compete for our country.  She should be removed from the Olympic team."  Cotton's remarks echoed those of Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a former Navy SEAL, who told "Fox & Friends" Monday that Berry should not travel to Tokyo for next month's Games.

Dan Crenshaw Calls For Gwen Berry to Be Removed from Olympic Team.  Rep. Dan Crenshaw called for Gwen Berry to be removed from the U.S. Olympic team after the bronze medal-winning hammer thrower in the weekend trials expressed frustration and appeared to protest the national anthem played while she was on the podium.  As Steve Doocy explained earlier in Fox & Friends, the national anthem is played once during the evening event, and it just so happened to play while Berry was on the podium.  Berry was displeased by the anthem and expressed her frustration by holding up a tee-shirt that read "Activist Athlete."  The hammer thrower has predictably been an immediate subject of criticism in conservative circles, evidenced by the extensive coverage she received on just Fox & Friends alone.

Crenshaw Calls for Olympic Qualifier Who Snubbed the National Anthem to Be Removed.  U.S. Olympic qualifier Gwen Berry is under fire for turning away from the national anthem on the podium at the Olympic Trials over the weekend.  The Hammer Thrower felt she was "set up" by having to hear the national anthem, and draped a t-shirt reading "Activist Athlete" over her face during the anthem. [...] Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) had harsh words for Berry's unpatriotic behavior, and called for her to be removed from the team.  "We don't need any more activist athletes.  She should be removed from the team.  The entire point of the Olympic team is to represent the United States of America.  That's the entire point," Crenshaw said on Monday morning.  "It's one thing when these NBA players do it, okay fine, then we'll just stop watching.  Now the Olympic team, multiple cases of this, they should be removed.  That should be the bare minimum requirement: that you believe in the country you're representing."

Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry [angry] national anthem was playing at Olympic trials.  A US hammer thrower turned away from the American flag as the national anthem played while she and two other athletes stood on the podium at the Olympic trials Saturday [6/26/2021], later saying she was "pissed" that "The Star-Spangled Banner" played as she received her bronze medal.  Gwen Berry — who qualified for her second US Olympic team during the trials — shifted to face the stands rather than the flag before holding up a black shirt that read, "Activist Athlete."  "I feel like it was a setup, and they did it on purpose," Berry said of the anthem being played.

Furious backlash against Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry for turning her back on flag during national anthem.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended hammer thrower Gwen Berry's right to 'peacefully protest,' after the Tokyo-bound athlete turned her back on the US flag during Olympic trials.  Psaki told Fox News' Peter Doocy at Monday's press briefing that while she and President Joe Biden hadn't spoken specifically about the incident, Biden is 'incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it respresents, especially for our men and women serving in uniform all around the world.'  'He would also say, of course, that part of that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we are, as a country, haven't lived up to our highest ideals, and that means respecting the rights of people, granted to them in the Constitution, to peacefully protest,' Psaki added.

COVID Wins Again:  Olympics Bans Cheering, Advises Crowds to 'Feel Joy in Their Hearts' Instead.  Japan's released its COVID guidelines, and this year won't be a particularly uproarious affair.  As reported by Agence France-Presse, for one, alcohol is banned.  So for attendees hoping to booze it up, sobering disappointment awaits.  Another thing:  Due to germs, no autographs will be allowed.  And affection's taking a back seat to safety:  No hugging. [...] And everyone entering will have their temperature checked.  Masks will also be mandatory.  For those who don't pass muster, no refund will be issued.  Once inside, Seiko explained, folks will be forbidden from "making direct contact with other spectators."

Former NBA star Jalen Rose says US should have sent all-black team to Olympics, calls inclusion of single white player, Kevin Love, 'tokenism'.  Team USA's inclusion of white forward Kevin Love on the Olympic roster is an example of 'tokenism,' according to retired NBA star Jalen Rose, who says black Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton would make a better choice even though he's from the Bahamas.  'Kevin Love is on the team because of tokenism,' Rose, now an ESPN commentator, said on his podcast. [...] Love and 11 African-American NBA players will be vying for the country's fourth-consecutive gold medal in men's basketball at the Tokyo Games next month.

New Zealand Sends Male Weightlifter to Defeat Women in the Olympics.  New Zealand will set a transgender first by sending a biological male to the Olympics to compete against women in weightlifting.  Former Olympians have condemned the decision.  Other males competing in women's weightlifting have set new records, demonstrating the common-sense principle that sports are sex-segregated for a reason.  Laurel Hubbard, who set New Zealand junior records in weightlifting in 1998 before he transitioned to identify as a woman in 2013, qualified for the Olympics in women's weightlifting due to a 2015 International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule change, CNN reported.  According to the Olympics guidelines, males can compete in women's divisions so long as their testosterone levels stay below 10 nano moles per liter for at least 12 months before their first competition.

Transgender Olympic Athlete Wants to Win Medal So He Can Burn US Flag.  And they say the Left isn't patriotic.  I don't know what they're thinking.  What could be more patriotic than this?

Lola Goes to the Olympics.  Women first competed in the Olympic Games in 1900 in Paris, participating in tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf.  By 2016, 45 percent of participants were women.  Men and women competitions were separate for obvious reasons of strength and speed.  Yet this summer at the Tokyo Olympic Games, these two distinct categories may be blurred with transgender athletes competing, specifically transgender biologic males competing against biologic females.  Lola, who "walked like a woman but talked like a man" will be an Olympian.  New Zealander Laurel Hubbard, is a biologic male now aged 43, who competed as a male weightlifter until transitioning into a female in her [sic] mid 30s.  She [sic] won a silver medal at the 2017 world championships and has a serious shot at winning a medal in Tokyo.

The Editor says...
The man is a transvestite.  He has not "transition[ed] into a female," and never will, because he is a biological male.  Every cell in his body has the DNA of a man.  Wearing women's clothes and assuming a woman's name does not "transition" a man into a woman.

Report: Athletes Told To 'Be Quiet' About Trans Weightlifter Ahead Of Olympic Qualification.  A former Olympic weightlifter claims that female athletes are being told to "be quiet" about transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard ahead of his Olympic debut.  Hubbard is a 43-year-old biological male competing as a woman.  Should Hubbard pass the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) fitness and performance standards, he would become the first trans athlete to compete in the Olympics.

Olympics ban 'Black Lives Matter' apparel, could punish athletes for political demonstrations.  The IOC says athlete protests and political messages will remain banned at the Olympics after a survey found that a majority of competitors were in favor of keeping the ban in place.  That means raising a fist on the podium or taking a knee would still risk punishment at the Tokyo Games this year.  The IOC also said that slogans such as "Black Lives Matter" will not be allowed on athlete apparel at Olympic venues, though it approved using the words "peace," "respect," "solidarity," "inclusion" and "equality" on T-shirts.

Olympics Bans 'Black Lives Matter' Apparel, Again Threatens To Punish Athletes Who Protest.  Athletes will not be allowed to wear clothing with the slogan "Black Lives Matter" at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee has decided, reiterating that it plans to enforce the Games' "Rule 50," which bans political or social justice protests of any kind at the international athletic event set to take place in just a few weeks.  The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the IOC's rules against "slogans" with a political or social justice meaning are "granular" this year and that the IOC has specifically banned apparel bearing the racial justice mantra, "Black Lives Matter."

The Editor says...
The Olympics might not exist without the income generated by the sale of exclusive television rights.  Those rights would be worth a lot less if the BLM decimates the audience numbers in the same way that they've ruined the TV ratings for the NFL and NBA.

U.S. State Department backs away from the idea of a Beijing Olympics boycott.  The State Department denied Tuesday evening that it was considering a joint boycott alongside allies of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.  "Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed.  We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners," a senior State Department official wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC.  Department spokesman Ned Price had initially suggested during a press briefing earlier on Tuesday that a boycott of the Olympic Games was among the possibilities for addressing China's human rights abuses.  The Olympic Games are due to take place between Feb. 4 and Feb. 20.

China now dominates the world, thanks on large part to senile and corrupt Joe Biden.
State Department Backs Off US Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics as China Threatens "Robust Response".  China has once again beat the US into submission.  The State Department backed off of talks of the US boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics as China threatened a "robust" response.  State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday said a boycott is something that the US wishes to discuss with our allies.  "It is something that we certainly wish to discuss," Price said, "A coordinated approach will not only be in our interest but also in the interest of our allies and partners."

Japan bans foreign spectators for 2021 Olympic Games.  Foreign spectators will not be allowed into Japan to attend the 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games because of concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese government and Tokyo 2020 officials announced Saturday [3/20/2021].  International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee officials were informed of the decision in a virtual meeting with Tokyo 2020, Japanese government and Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials.  "In many ways the Tokyo 2020 Games will be completely different to any previous Games," Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said in a statement. "

A tough-on-China GOP is split on whether to boycott the China Olympics.  President Joe Biden is under growing pressure from hawkish Republicans to use the 2022 Winter Olympics to punish the Chinese government over its human rights abuses.  But even within the GOP, there's disagreement over how far to push.  Some are calling on Biden to outright boycott the Beijing Games, which China is hosting.  Others say they oppose boycotts, arguing that only the athletes get punished.  Many are instead pressing Biden to push the International Olympic Committee to revoke China's role as host and stage the Games in another country — or at least to delay the competition.

Breakdancing now an Olympic sport, will debut at Paris in 2024.  Breakdancing has been confirmed as an official Olympic sport.  The International Olympic Committee's pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games.  The IOC executive board also confirmed skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing for Paris.  Those three sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo Games which were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

LA told to cancel 2028 Olympics 'privilege'.  Tokyo would have begun hosting the Olympics on Friday [7/24/2020] had not the coronavirus gripped the globe.  As it turns out, the 2028 Summer Games slated for Southern California might also be in doubt, for political not pandemic reasons.  NOlympics of Los Angeles launched a campaign calling on city leaders to scrap the competition eight years from now, boosted on Twitter by the trending hashtag #CancelTheOlympics.  "We are years away from the proposed 2028 games but we know that they'll be used not only to boost the LAPD budget but to once again run with the recovery narrative," NOlympics LA declared in a manifesto this week.

Meet the Olympic Athletes Who Probably Don't Belong There.  The history of the modern Olympic games is littered with stories of dreamers.  These athletes work hard, sometimes in obscurity, training long hours for that moment of glory as the world watches.  Sometimes those moments end in medals, but obviously the vast majority don't make it to the podium.  And some of the athletes who finish nowhere near the gold have the most fascinating stories.  And these unbelievable Olympians have done what they've done without the left-leaning politics that seem to have permeated these games.

Guess I won't be rooting for Poland in these 2018 Olympics.  The recently enacted Media law says that it is forbidden to make public any statement that links Poland to Germany's evil in the Holocaust.  Up to three years in prison if you are caught saying "Polish death camps" out loud, especially through the press.  So let's keep this private.  Make sure not to pass this around... that the Poles were not innocent bystanders.  They were horribly complicit before, during and after.

Stop pretending the Olympics are about world peace.  The Olympics are the United Nations of sports — high-minded principles and feel-good sentiments exploited by hypocrites to the detriment of the cause of freedom.  The Olympics are great for athletes and for a network like NBC that ponied up billions for the rights to cover them.  They're sports for casual fans, and they make great television.  More than that, the games thrive because of notions about sports transcending conflicts that are essential to the Olympic myth.  The reason the North Korean gambit worked so well is because these fables have always been a load of baloney.  The worst example was the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted by the Nazis.

The Disgrace of the Olympics.  The 2018 Winter Olympic Games have opened in the mountains of northeastern South Korea.  The next two weeks will showcase some of the finest athletes in the world: men and women who've trained relentlessly and, whether they win a medal or not, deserve our esteem and best wishes.  The United States has sent 244 competitors — 109 women, 135 men — and we have every reason to think they will bring credit to our country.  Yet we will not enjoy these games with an untroubled conscience.  Stories of sexual abuse and rampant cheating are everywhere in the news, both here and abroad — more so this year than in years past.  The Olympics have become so scandal-ridden and cynically unsportsmanlike as seriously to raise the question of why we continue them.

Maybe the Olympics should be held in a civilized country.
Olympic Venue Surrounded by Dog Meat Farms, Dog Soup on Menus Despite Protests.  The South Korean government offered restaurants serving dog-meat soup money to take it off the menu during the 2018 Olympic winter games taking place in Pyeongchang but most refused, according to media reports.

Black Lives Matter Goes to the Olympics.  Race became the National Football League theme this year, as a bunch of privileged young athletes, being paid millions of dollars for playing a game, supported by an organization worth $75 billion, found it necessary to take a knee against the National Anthem.  There they were, protesting the very country leaving them on the winning end of such income inequality.  The NFL season, thankfully, is in our rearview mirror for the next six months.  Ahead is the Winter Olympics.

Going for Broke — Can Los Angeles Afford to Host the Olympics?  By now you probably know that Los Angeles has the honor, or should I say heartburn, of hosting the 2028 Olympics.  Long gone are the days when such an announcement would fill the locals with pride, as it is now generally understood that local residences will have to put up with increased traffic, never-ending infrastructure headaches and a soul crushing financial commitment by the host city that gets little financial return for its investment.  Within moments of the announcement, the blogosphere was full of articles of how this could become a financial boondoggle for Los Angeles.

Chicago is still paying for its failed Olympics bid.  The site of the now-closed Michael Reese Hospital on the South Side was supposed to be where the athletes village for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago.  But despite Barack Obama flying out to Copenhagen to personally plea for the games to be held in his hometown, the International Olympic Committee members chose Rio de Janiero.  Meanwhile Chicago taxpayers are in a familiar situation--paying for the expensive mistakes of the people they put in power.

Rio's Olympic warm-up pool has turned a disgusting shade of orange as the village continues to fall apart.  Rio de Janeiro spent about $4.6 billion to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.  Six months later, four months after the end of the Paralympic Games, the city's Olympic infrastructure is falling apart.  Over the weekend, the Brazilian news outlet O Globo published footage of various abandoned and decrepit Olympic venues.  According to O Globo, limited security has resulted in theft, and the ceilings are falling in.  Other venues appear to not have received any necessary upkeep.  Even the Maracana, Rio's Olympic stadium, is without power as city officials argue about who should pay the electricity bills.  Most shocking is a warm-up pool that has turned orange.

4 months after Olympics, organizers unable to pay some bills.  Almost four months after the Olympics ended, Rio de Janeiro organizers are unable to pay some of their bills, including $3.7 million owed to the International Paralympic Committee.

Three months after the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is broke.  The state of Rio is broke.  It hasn't been able to pay its bills since long before the games.  A federal bailout kept police on the streets and hospitals open while Olympics tourists were in town.  But now the money has dried up, and public employees aren't being paid.  The state government is voting on an austerity package that could slash state workers' wages and pensions by 30 percent.  That's triggered violent protests and led demonstrators to briefly storm the state Legislature last month.  Meanwhile, crime is surging across the state.

Rio Olympic golf course eerily empty three months on.  Built specially for the Olympics on what had been a nature reserve next to the beach in western Rio, the links-style course was meant to convert Brazilians to a sport they barely know and put Rio on the international golfing map.  Instead, the $19 million facility created by star US designer Gil Hanse risks turning into a white elephant.

Europe's top Olympic official taken to maximum security prison.  International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Pat Hickey was sent to Brazil's Bangu maximum security prison on Friday while police investigate his involvement in a plot to illegally resell Olympic tickets, civil police said.  The elderly Irishman was arrested in his dressing gown during a dawn raid at his luxury beachfront hotel on Wednesday, where Hickey had been staying with his wife and fellow IOC members.  Police said they had discovered evidence linking Hickey to an international scheme to illegally pass tickets to touts who were reselling them at well above their original price.

Looks like Rio police were the biggest liars in the Lochte drama — if anyone still cares about the truth.  You heard it all weekend:  "Four American swimmers trashed a Rio bathroom in a drunken rage and then lied to investigators about an armed robbery to cover-up their story."  It's become conventional wisdom from network anchors trying to paint a rosy picture on a troubled Olympics to journalists who embrace the narrative of "ugly Americans" taking advantage of the downtrodden, third world Brazilians.  There's only one problem with this narrative:  It appears it's completely false.

British Athlete Robbed at Olympics, Officials Say.  A British athlete was robbed in Rio during the Olympics, according to officials.  'We can confirm there has been an incident of theft involving a Team GB athlete returning to their accommodation.  All members of our delegation, including the individual concerned, are accounted for, and are safe and well," Scott Field, a spokesman for Team GB, said in a statement to NBC News Thursday [8/18/2016].  No other details were provided.

Ryan Lochte, James Feigen Indicted in Brazil After Robbery Claim.  The U.S. Olympic Committee Thursday night apologized to Brazil for the "distracting ordeal" stemming from what Brazilian authorities call a fabricated claim of a gunpoint robbery by a group of swimmers in Rio de Janeiro.  "The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members," the statement said.  "We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States."

Dozens of Robberies Caught on Video in Rio — in Broad Daylight.  It's actually not a new video — it's been making the rounds for several months — but it's shocking and informative nevertheless.  It shows mostly young males (in some cases very young boys) grabbing wallets and bags from people passing through a busy intersection in Rio.  In one instance, a two thugs appear to grab the necklace right off a man's neck, attacking him several times before they successfully get what they're after.  In some cases, fearful looking individuals just hand over their things to the robbers to avoid confrontations.

Olympics-Brazil judge orders U.S. swimmers not to leave country — daily.  A judge in Brazil has issued an order to prevent U.S. swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country on the grounds they gave conflicting accounts of their robbery outside the Rio Games on Sunday, a Brazilian newspaper said on Wednesday [8/17/2016].

Olympic-Sized Climate Propaganda.  XXXI Olympiad competitors are joyfully showcasing their skills and sportsmanship, while delighted fans revel in their amazing efforts.  But opening ceremonies featuring colorful history, dance, song and athletes were rudely interrupted by an unprecedented propaganda film.  As audiences around the world were getting pumped up in eager anticipation for the upcoming events, a slick but deceitful video soured the mood by inserting partisan climate change politics.

If you're at the Rio Olympics, you've probably already been hacked.  While athletes head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to compete for medals in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, hackers in the area have their eyes on a different prize: the personal information of unsuspecting travelers.  According to a new report from mobile security firm Skycure, visitors to the former capital of Brazil are being targeted by malicious actors who have set up fake Wi-Fi hotspots designed to steal information from connected devices.  These phony wireless networks were spotted by Skycure around the city, but they were most prominent in locations where travelers were most likely to look for a place to connect, like shopping malls, well-known coffee shops, and hotels.

Olympic officials opt to drain green pool, say they learned 'painful lesson'.  After the diving pool was closed for a scheduled practice session Friday [8/12/2016], Germany's Patrick Hausding posted a couple of pictures, one holding his nose with the caption "Good morning from the green lake!"

Rio Olympics:  Green Pools Caused by Hydrogen Peroxide Dump.  Olympics officials on Saturday [8/13/2016] gave what they said was a definitive explanation why the water in two competition pools turned green this week.  Someone, the officials said, mistakenly added 160 liters of hydrogen peroxide on Aug. 5, neutralizing the chlorine and allowing the growth of "organic compounds" that might have included algae.  On Saturday, the water in the diving pool was still a murky bottle-green color, while the water in the second pool, used for water polo and synchronized swimming, had begun to look a bit lighter and a bit bluer.  Athletes have been complaining that the water or the chemicals treating it hurt their eyes, and that murkiness makes underwater visibility impossible.

Rio 2016: Food and Drink is Running Out.  There is not enough food and drink for visitors at the 2016 Rio Olympics, even though the Games started just six days ago.  Attendees queued for hours at food stalls, only to find that everything had run out when they reached the counter, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.  On Saturday [8/6/2016], food stalls at the Future Arena — where handball games are played — were forced to shut early because there were no more supplies left.

America First.  The Olympics tend to be the Island of Misfit Spectator Sports, showcasing competitions that got left by the wayside of popularity, such as volleyball and diving.  So every couple of years when the Olympics roll around, there is much grumbling about how outmoded they are.  Yet large numbers of people always seem to end up watching the Olympics anyway and having a good time.  Why?  Nationalism.

Olympians officially terrified of green '[foul]-smelling' water.  There's something in the water in Rio — and it's getting worse.  The Olympic diving pool was closed Friday morning [8/12/2016] as the water continues to be a disturbing, murky shade of green.  The concern for those who have been diving into the pool has grown as the problem persists.

Queasy, being green:  Olympic diving pool making the wrong kind of splash.  It's primordial, this pool.  You expect a cold, dead hand to come jutting up out of it.  The Olympic diving tank is dark and seemingly bottomless, and as a rule in life, nothing good grows or happens in dark-green water.  Things that are green and wet: spoiled kale.  Decomposition.  Industrial subatomic runoff.  Old ceiling leaks.  Dead seaweedy things that clutch at your ankle.  Would you wade in that, much less put your face in it?  Mothers all over the world are worried about that pool:  They know what the toddler section of a public aquatic park looks like late in the day.  Anyone who has stared at the bottom of an old fountain is worried about that pool.  "The swamp pool," British gold medalist Chris Mears called it.

Rio's infamous green diving pool closed.  The Olympic green pool saga has been through more twists and turns than the divers plunging into it.  On Tuesday [8/9/2016] the diving pool was green.  Then on Wednesday, the water polo pool also turned green.  Now on Friday it appears that the diving pool has been closed to training altogether — so as not to disturb the water and help it turn blue again.

Fake wi-fi hotspots at the Olympics.  A cybersecurity report reveals several fake WiFi hotspots have been set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to take advantage of the influx of people attending the 2016 Olympics.  Skycure, a mobile security firm, found that places like Rio Galeão Airport are unaware they were inadvertently hosting several nefarious networks, according to Forbes.  In other words, tourists arriving in the city are leaving themselves vulnerable to hackers once they turn on their phones or turn off airplane mode.  Another report, published by Kaspersky Lab, discovered that 18 percent of the available networks were highly unsafe.  Another 7 percent used antiquated encryption technology.

Judo medalist beaten up while celebrating on Copacabana Beach.  Dirk Van Tichelt probably didn't envision one of the greatest days of his life ending in the hospital.  But that's exactly where the Belgian judoka found himself Monday night hours after winning his first-ever Olympic medal.  Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on Monday.  Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement.  And that's where things went awry.  Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the face.  He was taken to the hospital after the incident.

The 2016 Olympics In Rio Are A Hotbed For Hackers.  A cybersecurity report reveals several fake WiFi hotspots have been set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to take advantage of the influx of people attending the 2016 Olympics.  Skycure, a mobile security firm, found that places like Rio Galeão Airport are unaware they were inadvertently hosting several nefarious networks, according to Forbes.  In other words, tourists arriving in the city are leaving themselves vulnerable to hackers once they turn on their phones or turn off airplane mode.  Another report, published by Kaspersky Lab, discovered that 18 percent of the available networks were highly unsafe.  Another 7 percent used antiquated encryption technology.

Protesters Are Legally Allowed To Ruin The Olympics.  The Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may be in danger of constant disruption by protesters since a Brazilian federal judge ruled Monday night that protesters can peacefully voice dissent at the Games.  Brazilian Federal Judge João Augusto Carneiro Araújo decided that to block protesters from demonstrating their discontent with the Games is to prevent them from freely expressing themselves.  While Brazilians opposed to the Olympic Games see the judge's ruling as a victory for free speech, Olympic organizers will likely appeal the judge's decision.

Reports claim Olympic kayaker capsized after hitting underwater sofa.  The report, which immediately sparked the #kayaksofa hashtag on Twitter, was not corroborated by anyone else.  Nevertheless, the organizers are taking it seriously enough as to investigate it.

Olympic venues see thin crowds for some sports in Rio.  Olympic athletes have been competing in near empty venues and before thin crowds in other locations during the opening days of the Rio Games — a problem that can be traced to long security lines, traffic and a lack of familiarity in some sports.

Rio 2016: Two Australian coaches robbed at knifepoint by teens near Ipanema beach.  Two Australian rowing coaches were robbed at knife-point by teenagers in Rio, just before their athletes were due to compete, as they walked back to their hotel near the city's Ipanema beach.  The pair were forced to handover their mobile phones, a wallet and even an Olympic team jacket in the incident.

Olympic network NBC vows full Rio coverage, woes included.  Bob Costas and other top members of NBC's Olympics coverage team veered between optimism and caution in predicting Rio de Janeiro's ability to pull off a successful Summer Games and said NBC will cover the good and bad.

NBA stars get mega-yacht to avoid filthy Olympic digs.  Another reason the rest of the world will loathe Team USA. As leaking pipes and exposed wiring — to name two disasters — continue to plague the athletes settling into their digs at Rio's Olympic Village, Carmelo Anthony and his teammates will be resting their heads at night aboard a luxurious liner.  The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that the Silversea Silver Cloud will house the US men's and women's basketball teams throughout the Games.  The 196-cabin, nine-deck supership boasts 7-foot beds and access to a pool, spa and shops.

U.S. Deploying Over 1,000 Military, Intelligence Officials for Olympics.  The United States is prepared to deploy more than 1,000 law enforcement, special operations, military, and intelligence officials to Brazil with the Olympics set to kick off Friday.  Hundreds of personnel have already arrived in Rio de Janeiro as part of a highly classified effort to protect the 2016 Summer Games, including American athletes and staff, according to a U.S. intelligence report obtained by NBC News on Friday.  The U.S. Special Operations Command has also sent more than a dozen highly skilled Navy and Marine Corps commandos to Rio to work with the Brazilian Federal Police and the Brazilian Navy, senior military officials told NBC.

Huge queues and angry fans mar the start of Rio Games.  The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday [8/6/2016] as fans queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of eerily empty stands.  Games organizers apologized for dropping the ball on the first day of full competition, the morning after a dazzling opening ceremony, as iconic venues such as beach volleyball on the famed Copacabana beach saw only a few hundred spectators.  Outside, lines stretched for several blocks as angry fans stood in full sun, waiting as security staff struggled.

Rio Olympic Golf Problems 2016: Capybaras, Crocodiles, Sloths All Over The Course.  After a 112-year absence from the Olympics, golf's return to the world's biggest sporting stage at the Rio games has hit a number of speed bumps.  The latest trouble:  the golf course is "overrun with wildlife," as People Magazine put it in a report Tuesday night [8/2/2016].  The list of critters spotted thus far on the course is impressive.  It includes sloths, mini crocodiles, boa constrictors, mico monkeys, burrowing owls and dozens of capybaras, the world's largest rodent.

Expert to Rio athletes: 'Don't put your head under water'.  Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.

The Olympics are being Caster-ated!
Intersex athletes to take center stage at Rio.  Caster Semenya is a South African runner who could emerge as one of the most compelling figures of the Rio Olympic Games.  She is favored to win gold at 800 meters while perhaps breaking track's longest-standing world record, even as her stunning speed is leading to uncomfortable controversy at the uncertain intersection of gender and athletics — and of human rights and athletic fairness.  Semenya has never said she is intersex — a word preferred to the stigmatizing hermaphrodite — but speculation follows her around the globe, her private parts a mortifying matter of public debate.  Track observers believe Semenya is hyperandrogenous, meaning her body naturally produces high amounts of testosterone, the hormone that helps build muscle, endurance and speed.

Athlete with No Womb or Ovaries but Internal Testes Will Compete with Women in Rio.  With reports of dead bodies and excrement floating in the water, the threat of Zika and the Russian doping scandal, the Rio Olympics appears the Frankenstein of athletic events.  And now Rio seems dopey in another way:  owing to political correctness, a runner with, reportedly, no womb or ovaries but internal testes will be allowed to compete with women.  This person is South African middle-distance competitor Caster Semenya.

Semenya wins gold in the 800 as testosterone controversy simmers.  The South African Caster Semenya, world champion in 800 meters in 2009, ran in 1:55.28 to become the Olympic champion with gold in Rio, as controversy still simmers over her condition of hyperandrogenism.

Rio Mayor Says What We're All Thinking: 'Obviously This Is a City That Has Problems'.  The Olympics are now just four days away, and the serious concerns about whether Rio is up to the task of hosting continue to mount.  Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes is already in damage control mode, blaming an international organizing committee for some of the problems in the Olympic Village.  In an interview with Matt Lauer on Today [8/1/2016], Paes finally said what we're all thinking:  "Obviously this is a city that has problems," Paes admitted to Lauer.

Australia hit again: computer, shirts stolen at Rio Olympics.  A laptop and team shirts have been stolen from Australia's accommodation at the Olympic athletes' village while the building was being evacuated because of a small fire, the head of the team's delegation at the Rio Games said Sunday [7/31/2016].  Kitty Chiller said other computer equipment was "rifled through" but was left behind during the theft on Friday.  She said security seems to have improved, but called the theft "concerning."

Explosion at Rio's Olympic stadium just days before opening ceremony.  An explosion has rocked the Olympic stadium in Rio just days before it's set to host the opening ceremony after police found a suspicious toolbox.  Authorities sent in a robot to investigate the toolbox on Sunday at the Maracana Stadium as rehearsals for the ceremony were underway.  The toolbox is believed to have exploded when the robot touched it.

Corpses, excrement, litter: welcome to Rio Olympic sailing venue.  When Olympic sailors compete in Rio the cameras will show a made-for-television scene of sparkling tropical waters and mountains.  Luckily, the billions of viewers won't catch the revolting stink.  More than nine million people live in Rio and towns around the rest of Guanabara Bay.  At best only half the sewage they produce is treated before it pours into the city's watery heart.

Brazil cuts ribbon on much-delayed $3B subway expansion crucial for Olympics.  Brazil's highest officials celebrated the completion of a much-delayed $3 billion subway expansion that will play a crucial part in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday just days before the games are set to kick off.

Rio Olympics security firm fired, maligned police force takes over.  Less than a week before the 2016 Rio Olympics are set to start, the Brazil Ministry of Justice terminated its contract with a private firm that was supposed to provide security for the games.  The ministry cited "incompetence and irresponsibility" from the Rio de Janeiro-based firm Artel, and moved to strip them of their duties.  It's not hard to see why the Ministry of Justice reacted so harshly.  With only a few days left until the first venues are set to open, Artel admitted that they have only hired 500 security personnel.  They were supposed to hire 3,400.

Rio Athletes Village faces leaks, power outages; Australia refuses to move in.  Thousands of athletes arriving for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics could find major plumbing and electrical problems in their rooms at the Athletes Village with the games opening in just under two weeks.

American Jordan Spieth drops out of Rio over 'health' concerns.  Jordan Spieth withdrew from the Olympics on Monday [7/11/2016], leaving golf without its top four players when the sport returns to the games for the first time since 1904.  The decision was announced by International Golf Federation President Peter Dawson.

Armored cars, soldiers in camouflage secure Rio Olympics.  Rio's rising crime rate is at the top of a long list of problems confronting South America's first games:  the Zika epidemic, severe water pollution, a crushing recession and slow ticket sales.

'Super bacteria' discovered in Rio's waters as Olympics near.  A group of Brazilian scientists have detected a drug-resistant bacteria growing off of some of Rio de Janeiro's most stunning beaches, one month before the city is due to host the 2016 Olympic Games.  According to lead researcher Renata Picao, the "super bacteria" entered the city's waterways when sewage coming from local hospitals got channeled into the bay.

Brazil's Olympic Catastrophe.  On June 17, fewer than 50 days before the start of the Games, the state of Rio de Janeiro declared a "state of public calamity."  A financial crisis is preventing the state from honoring its commitments to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the governor said.  That crisis is so severe, he said, it could eventually bring about "a total collapse in public security, health, education, mobility and environmental management."  The authorities are now authorized to ration essential public services and the state is eligible for emergency funds from the federal government.  Measures like these are usually taken for an earthquake or a flood.  But the Olympics are a man-made, foreseeable, preventable catastrophe.

Body parts wash up on popular beach near Rio Olympic venue.  Authorities in Brazil said Wednesday [6/29/2016] that body parts washed up on shore of a popular Rio de Janeiro beach near where the beach volleyball Olympic event is set to take place in August.  The latest gruesome discovery is another obstacle the city has to grapple with among the laundry list of concerns athletes and fans will have to deal with.  The finding was first reported to Brazilian media by a Rio street vendor.  A police officer standing near a security perimeter confirmed the discovery to Reuters.  However, it's unclear how the mutilated body wound up on Copacabana Beach.

Cops and Firemen Warn Olympics Visitors Rio Won't Be Safe.  When tourists arrive for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this summer, they might be taken aback by the police and firemen who meet them at the airport.  Brazil is in a state of disarray, and the confused priorities of big government have led to fire and police layoffs.  As a result, cops and firefighters meet tourists at the airport with this sign, "Welcome to Hell."  The sign adds, "Police and firefighters don't get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe."  These public servants have been forgotten in the country's massive corruption scandal.

Rio de Janeiro's acting governor:  Olympics could be a 'big failure'.  The headache for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games organizers shows no signs of subsiding.  Six weeks before the Games are set to begin, Francisco Dornelles, the acting governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo that the state has not yet received recently-approved federal funds to beef up security and transportation for the quadrennial competition.  "I am optimistic about the games, but I have to show the reality.  We can make a great Olympics, but if some steps are not taken, it can be a big failure," Dornelles told O Globo.

Call for More Rio Security After Paralympic Athletes Robbed.  An estimated 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling the streets during the Olympics and Paralympics, but violent crime remains a fact of life in Rio.

The Editor says...
Next time, perhaps they should select a city that isn't saturated with criminals, that isn't going bankrupt, and doesn't have sewage in the river.

Rio state government declares financial disaster as Olympics loom.  The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro's state government declared a state of financial disaster Friday [6/17/2016] in an effort to change budgetary priorities without disrespecting Brazil's fiscal laws.  Francisco Dornelles' move will let him adopt exceptional measures to pay costs related to the upcoming Olympic Games as the state grapples with the country's steep economic recession.  Dornelles' office said in a statement that the decision was made because a dip in revenues from taxes and oil royalties was "stopping the state of Rio de Janeiro from honoring its commitment to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."  He said the state is facing a "public calamity."

Studies find 'super bacteria' in Rio's Olympic venues, top beaches.  Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant "super bacteria" off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5.  The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally found only in hospitals.  They also heighten concerns that Rio's sewage-infested waterways are unsafe.

Trash creates obstacles for Rio 2016 Olympic sailors.  When Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz rip through the water aboard their racing skiff, they are doing far more than sailing at the fastest possible speed.  The two athletes from the German Olympic Sailing team are also learning the unique currents, tides and wind patterns of Rio De Janeiro's Guanabara Bay, to try to get an edge when they compete in the upcoming Olympic Games.  And they are keeping a look-out for floating obstacles.  "Its possible you hit while sailing some plastic or you don't know what," says Jurczok, a 26-year old from Berlin.

The show must go on!
UN Health Agency Rejects Call to Postpone Rio Olympics.  The assessment, in a statement early Saturday [5/28/2016], came a day after 150 health experts issued an open letter to the U.N. health agency calling for the games to be delayed or relocated "in the name of public health."

Corruption, doping, instability:  Is it the end of the Olympic Games as we know them?  The ideals of the Olympics are noble and worthwhile.  In sports, nothing is better than the gathering of a peaceful, friendly competition, where the youth of the world can display the best in athletics that the planet can offer.  The corruption of Russia, through its state sponsored sanctioning of doping of their Olympians, threatens the entire institution and the games themselves.  Cheating and doping is nothing new.  It's been going on in Olympic competition for a long time, and it's not confined to Russia.  It's just much worse there, and now that it's unraveling, it is certain to have wide reaching effects and reverberations.

Stop the Olympics.  Discredited long ago by the very corruption and nationalism they were originally meant to transcend, the Olympic Games are embroiled in a wave of scandal that's embarrassing even by the sorry standards of this hypocritical "movement."  It's hard to say what's more outrageous: credible new allegations of a clandestine state-sponsored doping scheme carried out by the 2014 Winter Olympics' host nation, Russia — or the fact that the International Olympic Committee entrusted the event to a despotic regime run by a glory-hungry former KGB agent in the first place.  Meanwhile, the integrity of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing — another dictatorship's showcase — has been retrospectively undercut by the discovery of previously undetected doping by a reported 31 athletes from 12 countries; similar findings may be about to taint the 2012 London Games.

U.S. Athletes Told to Skip Rio Olympics if Concerned About Zika.  The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has recommended that any athlete or trainer concerned about the Zika outbreak in Latin America should consider not attending the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  Two anonymous sources told Reuters that the USOC issued the suggestion late in January on a teleconference call.  President and board chairman of USA fencing Donald Anthony said no person should travel if "they don't feel comfortable going.  Bottom line."

Can the Rio Olympics survive outbreak of head-shrinking Zika virus?  Rio's Olympics are on the verge of disaster as fear grows over the Zika virus, which has left more than 4,000 newborns with shrunken heads.  Female spectators and even athletes of childbearing age are being warned by countries and medical professionals around the world to reconsider their plans to travel to Brazil for fear of what could happen to their unborn children after the country was overrun by the mosquito-borne disease.

Why Boston's Sports Fans Rejected the Olympics Boondoggle — and L.A. Said Bring It On.  How Boston's rabid sports fans rejected the Olympics — and how chumps in Los Angeles enthusiastically stepped up to potential bankruptcy — is a tale worth understanding, especially the next time your city or state tries selling voters on a new stadium or venue for billionaire sports team owners.  The Summer Games routinely use billions of taxpayer dollars to throw the equivalent of a three-week-long international party that ends with a trashed house and a financial hangover that lasts for years. [...] As sports economist Andrew Zimbalist has noted, the Summer Games might generate $6 billion in total revenue, half of which goes to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while costing the host city $20 billion (London) or even $40 billion (Beijing).  And don't think that any new stadiums or infrastructure will have much of an economic afterlife.

AP test: Rio Olympic water badly polluted, even far offshore.  A new round of testing by The Associated Press shows the city's Olympic waterways are as rife with pathogens far offshore as they are nearer land, where raw sewage flows into them from fetid rivers and storm drains.

Russia fights back after being slammed over doping.  The Russian government has begun fighting accusations that the country operated a vast state-sponsored doping program, even as the first punishment was handed down Tuesday [11/10/2015].

Russia used spies, secret lab in massive Olympics doping: report.  Russian track and field athletes could be banned from next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a devastatingly critical report accused the country's government of complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups.

Terror prep may be LA's biggest card in campaign for '24 Olympics.  Los Angeles' 2024 Summer Olympics bid has a lot going for it — ready-made venues and hotels, countless tourist attractions and a massive media market that guarantees top-notch coverage and a huge international audience.  But the ability to provide security against terror attacks may be LA's best card to play.

Audit: Boston Olympics would have cost $970M more than estimate.  A scathing independent audit of Boston 2024's Bid 2.0 ordered by state government leaders found the economic impact likely would have been lower than projected by Olympics supporters and the costs likely would have been at least $970 million higher, according to the report released today [8/18/2015.  "Past experience suggests that Boston 2024 would have been unlikely to meet those cost estimates, and a more reasonable cost estimate would have been over $970 million higher than reported in Bid 2.0.," the report said.

The Winter Olympics problem — nobody wants them.  Beijing has won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.  Now all it needs is some snow.  China 's capital — a city with scant snowfall and a limited winter sports experience — was chosen last week to host the Games, beating out Almaty, Kazakhstan.  While Beijing boasts sparkling facilities left over from its 2008 Summer Games, the International Olympic Committee's decision perplexed many observers.  But the governing body may not have had a choice.  Despite the IOC's efforts to make bidding and hosting more appealing, some of the stronger possible host cities have shied away in recent years.

With only one year to go until the Rio 2016 Olympics there are major concerns over construction, security and pollution.  A year to go until Rio 2016 and there are still serious issues facing the organisers.  Pollution will top the agenda this week, mainly because sailors, rowers, triathletes and marathon swimmers are all in town for test events during August.  Yet there are also major concerns over security — London 2012 470 sailing silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clarke were held up at knifepoint and robbed last December on a training camp.

A Winter Olympics in a City Without Snow.  China's northern plain is extremely dry, and what precipitation that falls in the capital tends to occur during the summer.  Beijing's Olympic planners have assured the IOC this won't be a problem — the country will simply use artificial snow to accommodate events, such as skiing, that require it.

The Editor says...
What kind of "carbon footprint" will be required to cover the Olympic Village with snow?  One would think the environmentalists would be upset about this plan, yet they are all completely silent.

WHO and Sailing Body Seek Virus Tests in Rio Olympic Venues.  The World Health Organization has asked the IOC to analyze virus levels in Rio de Janeiro's Olympic waters, and the governing body of world sailing says it will start doing its own independent virus tests.

Filthy Rio water a threat at 2016 Olympics.  The waters where Olympians will compete in swimming and boating events next summer in South America's first games are rife with human sewage and present a serious health risk for athletes, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Olympic teams to swim, boat in Rio's filth.  Athletes in next year's Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found.

No Countries Want to Host the 2022 Olympics.  Add Krakow to the growing list of cities who do not want to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.  The Polish city withdrew its bid this week after residents overwhelmingly voted against the plan, according to the Associated Press.  Now only four cities remain in the bidding process, and two of those may soon be ruled out — leaving only Kazakhstan and China as contenders.

Why Sochi?  In all the comment about this month's Sochi Olympics, there is bewilderment above all about Sochi itself:  Why on earth would the Kremlin decide to host the Games in an underdeveloped place where terrorists lurk nearby — a place that a front-page New York Times story this week describes as "the edge of a war zone"?

At the Sochi Olympics, you have to be a Russian politician to know it's not raining.  Ignore the attacks from the rear by the perfidious Western conspirators and propagandists, our common enemies who falsify their reports about the Sochi Games.  This great national festival has dissolved all dissent, and every fear and problem has been resolved.  The Olympics are gigantically staged, and a smiling mood reigns.  We see no evidence that it is raining here.

The Media's Most Outrageous Olympic Outbursts: Saluting the Socialists.  Sports fans checking in on coverage of Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia might want to brace themselves for unexpected outbursts of liberal preaching from reporters covering the games.  Over the years the [Media Research Center] has documented lefty reporters and writers using the games to celebrate socialist policies, bash expressions of patriotism and even work in jabs against Republicans, like when Bryant Gumbel, in 2006, complained that the "paucity" of black athletes "makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."

Russian Village Used, Abused, and Forgotten by the Olympics.  If any one place embodies the allegations of corruption, abuse, and alarming human cost of the Sochi Olympics, it's here.  Ashtyr, a tiny, impoverished village in the foothills between the coastal and mountain parks where the upcoming Winter Games will be held, has been used by Olympic planners for its limestone deposits, suffered from the effects of nearby construction, and had its pleas for help ignored.

Olympic visitors' horror at hotels awash with stray dogs, brown water, bugs and no light bulbs.  Journalists checking in were left stunned as they arrived for bookings made last summer to be told they would have to wait indefinitely.  The few that did get rooms, were met with stray dogs, half-built walls, and toxic yellow water spitting from the sinks.

The many, many problems of the Sochi Olympics.  [Scroll down]  "The Sochi Olympics are an unprecedented thieves' caper," says former deputy prime minister and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.  He claims that some $26 billion in phony costs may have been creamed off by contractors, many of whom are Putin cronies.  Consider the new 31-mile road and railway that run from the beachfront town of Adler to the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort, overseen by Vladimir Yakunin, a former KGB general and Putin pal who heads Russian Railways.

The Most Expensive, the Most Corrupt, and the Most Dangerous Olympics in History.  There is a good summation of the problems with the Sochi Winter Olympics by Frances Weaver in The Week today.  It's about what you'd expect from modern day Russia ruled by former KGB agent Vladamir Putin.  In fact, the Olympic movement hasn't seen anything remotely like it.  First, the cost:  $51 billion.  By contrast, the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 cost around $8 billion.

IOC Makes U.S. Hockey Goalie Remove Constitution From Mask Before Olympics.  The International Olympic Committee is requiring U.S. women's hockey goalie Jessie Vetter to remove an inscription of the U.S. Constitution from her custom mask.  The IOC says the inscription is propaganda which promotes the United States above other countries.

Messiah Obama Turns 2014 Winter Olympics into Sexuality Games.  Anyone who thought the Olympics was about sports competition among nations apparently was wrong, at least according to President Barack Obama.  Just like he has tried to reinvent America off her throne of greatness, Obama uses the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia to remake the games into a forum on gay rights.

Olympic outsourcing: Team USA snowboarders' uniforms foreign-made.  The newly-unveiled uniforms for the U.S. Olympic snowboarding team are star-spangled and red, white and blue — but they're not made in America.

Olympic-Level Corruption in Putin's Russia.  Last week, there were two amazing, related stories out of the Putin dictatorship.  In the first one, the brilliant Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov, who specializes in watching the Russian secret police, broke the deeply disturbing news that Putin is planning a massive campaign of eavesdropping on all attendees during the Winter Olympics to be held next year in Sochi, Russia.

Russia planning 'near-total surveillance' of visitors, athletes at Sochi Winter Olympics.  Security measures at the Sochi winter Olympics will include such extensive electronic eavesdropping and surveillance that the US State Department has advised Americans headed to Russia to leave smart phones and laptops at home, an investigation has revealed.  Research by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two Russian investigative journalists who specialise in covering the security services, reveals a picture of near-total surveillance, Soldatov said.

The IOC's Biggest Scandals.  Juan Antonio Samaranch ruled the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001.  Once a youth organizer for Spain's fascists, he was considered a pioneer in the modern Games.  He wanted to be called "Your Excellency."  He created bidding wars for the chance to host the Games, which also makes him the father of modern Olympic corruption, the architect of selling committee votes to the highest bidder.

Washington DC to Bid for 2024 Summer Olympics.  The inconveniences of the daily routine in the nation's capital will be a selling point as Washington, D.C., makes a push to host the 2024 Olympics.

D.C. bids for 2024 Summer Olympics; Capital tired of being snubbed.  Officials in Washington Tuesday announced plans to seek the 2024 Summer Olympics, a bid to finally bring the world games to one of the few major capital cities to never hold the event.

The Editor says...
The selection of the host city for the Olympics isn't about finding adequate sports arenas and hotels — it's all about politics.  Washington is run by left-wing Democrats, which makes it a perfect match for the Olympics, which promotes a massive world-wide government under which any given country is equivalent to any other.  The Olympics paints a picture of affirmative action on a global scale:  Obscure countries that produce nothing get the same standing as major countries that drive of the world's economy.

Enough with the Kumbaya Olympics. Let's keep wrestling.  The International Olympic Committee issued a surprise decision on Tuesday [2/12/2013] to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games.  For a number of years, the committee has drawn fire for its lack of transparency.  With its secret vote to remove one of the original Olympic sports — one that dates back 2½ millennia to the first games in ancient Greece — it has added another decision that deserves scrutiny.

All normal girls banned from locker room because one cross-dressing boy demanded it.  They're coming for you next: This story, which broke on September 28, 2022, is so absurd that at first glance it is hard to believe:  Officials running Randolph High School in Vermont have banned from the girls locker room all girls from the school's volley ball team because one cross-dressing boy was using it and the girls had the unmitigated nerve to express strong discomfort changing clothes in the presence of a male.  The quote below tells the tale, but in order to make it more precisely describe reality, I have replaced the meaningless words ("trans", "transgender" "they") that our queer dictators have imposed on mainstream news sources with words that actually describe the facts. [...] This story illustrates perfectly the real goal of the queer agenda, all part of the larger critical race theory movement.  These goons aren't interested in "equity".  What they want is power.  In Randolph High, this one cross-dressing unstable boy now rules.  Don't you dare challenge him or question him in any way, for if you do, the school will punish you.

Vermont girls' high school volleyball team are barred from their OWN locker room after complaining about transgender student.  Members of a Vermont girls high school volleyball team have been banned from using their own locker room and now have to change in a single bathroom stall after they complained about a transgender teammate.  Some teammates allege that the transgender player at Randolph Union High School made an 'inappropriate remark' to some of them while they were changing in the locker room.  They now want the school to relocate the transgender player, who hasn't been named.

People still want boy-girl divide in school sports.  When hundreds of Virginia students this week left classrooms to protest Gov. Glenn Youngkin's effort to scale back pro-transgender policies in schools, it was heralded by some media outlets as a slam-dunk sign that teenage LGBT rights have won out.  But coming on the anniversary of when former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe blew his chance in the 2021 election battle with Youngkin by suggesting parents shouldn't tell schools what to do, it reminded others that the issue is far from closed.  In fact, Youngkin's office sent Secrets a handful of stories about parents walking out of school board meetings across the commonwealth to protest proposed policies to give transgender students new rights, such as the right to enter bathrooms or participate in sports as their desired sex, not the one "assigned at birth."

The Editor says...
One's sex is determined by immutable genetics at the moment of conception.  It is not "assigned at birth," or assigned at any other time.

Most Americans Less Likely To Vote For Candidates Who Let Biological Males Compete In Women's Sports.  More than 60% of voters are less likely to back candidates who support allowing biological men to compete in women's sports, according to a September CRC Research poll obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  Approximately 49% of voters are "much less likely" and 13% of voters are "somewhat less likely" to choose a candidate who is in favor of permitting biological men to compete in women's athletics, according to the poll.  About 86% of Republicans, 65% of Independents and 37% of Democrats said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who support transgender athletes.  Of the voters, 57% believe the transgender movement undermines "significant opportunities and essential protections for women," the poll showed.  Nearly 45% of Democratic voters and 69% of Republican voters believe this statement to be true.

Nonbinary Nonsense: Boston Marathon Creates New Division For 2023.  Boston Marathon Registration began Monday for next year's Boston Marathon, with a new pronoun category for nonbinary runners.  They, them and their will compete in a separate division for the first time and will no longer have to suffer the agony of checking the box for male or female upon registering.  Aiming to please demanding LBGT fascists, the Boston Athletic Association is "currently working on expanding opportunities" for nonbinary athletes in the Boston Marathon and other road races, according to Huffington Post's Sanjana Karanth.  "While we do not currently have qualifying standards for non-binary athletes, we are working on ways nonbinary participants are accepted into the event," the Boston Athletic Association said.  "Discussions are ongoing with non-binary athletes in an effort to further promote inclusion at all BAA events."

Biden's New Title IX Proposals Will Codify the Gender Derangement of the Left.  If there is anything that has advanced American society, you can be sure that 'woke' leftists will destroy it.  So it is with Title IX — a one-sentence statute of the Education Amendments of 1972 that ended sex-based discrimination in educational institutions, opened the doors for women aspiring to become doctors, engineers, or experts in any field of choice, brought parity to college sports, and launched the battle against sexual harassment.  In this fiftieth year of that landmark law, the Biden administration wants to rewrite it to suit the radical leftist ideology of gender identity and fluidity.  This is dangerous because it codifies the spreading gender derangement of the left.  Worse, it will immerse young minds in learning environments that condition them to believe, without critical thinking, that the biological idea of sex is false.  It will unleash other complications as well.

WaPo Op-Ed Claims Trans Athletes Will Help Girls Learn to Lose Gracefully.  An op-ed in the Washington Post has argued that men in women's sports could actually be a good thing for young girls by teaching them the art of losing gracefully.  According to Alyssa Rosenberg, the aim of school athletics is not to teach children the art of achieving excellence but rather to build character, and what better way to build character in a teenage girl than having her experience the frustration of losing that championship title to a biological male?  Her argument largely hinges on the unicorn of "sports-crazed parents" who will theoretically use transgender athletes in women's sports as an excuse in the event their daughter loses.

A man is competing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association.  Before going any farther with this, I have a major complaint about conservative outlets: they keep referring to people as "transgender."  There is no such thing.  It's like calling people "unicorns."  You can say that Jill Biden is a unicorn, but that doesn't make her one because there is no such thing.  When you use the word, you're accepting the delusional premise.  There are definitely transvestites, because that refers to a real phenomenon: men who sexually fetishize women's clothing by wearing it.  Some are gay men; some aren't — but they are real.  However, there is no such thing as crossing over from one sex to another.  There is no medical literature supporting this.  There are no studies saying, aside from the minute number of people born genetically intersex, that a man can be a woman simply because he wants to be or vice versa.  What we call transgenderism is a form of mental illness called dysphoria, and it's identical to the person whose weight is normal but nevertheless insists she is obese.

Another Biological Male Dominates in Women's Sports, This Time It's Women's Golf.  In another women's sport, another biological male competes with women.  As we saw with Lia Thomas, the transgender who dominated in women's swimming but lost badly in men's swimming, and as we saw with Laurel Hubbard, the transgender who competed in the women's Olympic weight lifting competition. Hubbard lost, but the media turned it into a "historic" achievement because Hubbard became the first transgender to compete in the Olympics. Hubbard won the University of Otago "sportswoman of the year award."  Thomas was nominated for NCAA "Woman of the Year."  Now, transgender golfer Hailey Davidson is competing at The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) as the professional women's golf qualifying school tournament is underway.  Davidson finished the first round at 2-under, which puts the golfer in a strong position to win. Davidson is competing against 310 biological females.

Federal Judge Blocks Biden Admin's Guidance Allowing Biological Males In Girls' School Bathrooms.  A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration's Title IX guidance on gender identity and sexual orientation.  U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled last week that the administration's guidance misquoted the Supreme Court to equate sex and gender identity, likely violating federal law.  The administration's guidance effectively forced states to allow biological males to use girls restrooms, forbade states from barring males from participating in female sports, and forced employers to use employees' preferred pronouns, all at the risk of losing federal funding, according to the state attorneys general who sued the administration.  The guidance was released last year by the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Rationalizing Transgender Sports.  Much has been said about categorizing transmen as men and transwomen as women for purposes of sport competition.  Many oppose this vehemently.  Many support this vehemently.  Just about any system of categorizing will have some weakness.  Hence, the exception to the rule.  The idea is to make a system of categorization as solid as possible.  My modest proposal is to categorize athletes according to the presence or absence of the Y chromosome.  This will assist in making athletic competitions fairer, as in like competing against like.  In essence, athletes can be divided into Ys and Y-Nots.  Such a system would avoid the current tensions in the Men-Male/Women-Female system.

Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration's Effort to Allow Males to Compete in Women's Sports.  A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration's recent rules giving gays and transgender people extended rights in schools and the workplace because Biden's regulators bypassed a critical requirement of federal law that must be satisfied before issuing such a regulation: giving the public notice of the regulation, time to file comments, and forcing the agency to respond to those comments.  U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. agreed with 20 state attorneys general that the regulations may infringe on states' rights and could be seen as having been improperly drawn.  Atchley blocked the implementation of the rules until a lawsuit addressing the changes could be resolved, the Associated Press reported.

Will Transgendered Athletes Now Give Back Their Medals and Titles?  A decade or two ago, who would have thought a topic such as this would be newsworthy or relevant?  Athletic competitions and sports leagues were always separated by age, gender, weight class, or other physical attributes which could convey an unfair advantage to some athletes, with a goal of creating a "level playing field."  Yet here we are today, in the age of wokeness and virtue-signaling, with biologic males, under the guise of transgenderism, competing against biologic females, putting the latter at a huge and often insurmountable disadvantage.

This used to be called bullying.
Trans-Identified Adult Male Takes First Place Against 13-Year-Old Girl in Women's Skateboarding Event.  Netizens are expressing outrage after an adult man beat out a 13-year-old girl for first place in a women's skateboarding competition held today [6/25/2022] in New York.  Ricci Tres, also known as Ricci And Tres, took top spot in the women's division of The Boardr Open today held in New York City, taking home a $500 prize for a first place win.  Tres, a 29-year-old trans-identified male, came in first place against 13-year-old Shiloh Catori.  Of the 6 competitors, 4 were under the age of 17, with the youngest being 10-year-old Juri Iikura.

Biden Administration Moves to Expand Title IX to Eliminate Gender-Exclusive College Facilities, Sports Teams.  The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed changes to the federal civil-rights statute banning sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, including expanding protections to sexual orientation and gender identity.  One proposed change "would make clear that preventing any person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity would subject them to more than de minimis harm on the basis of sex and therefore be prohibited, unless otherwise permitted by Title IX or the regulations."  If adopted, the rule change would bar universities any other federally funded institutions from maintaining men and women's sports and sex-segregated spaces like locker rooms and dormitories.

US women's soccer legend Megan Rapinoe says she is '100% supportive' of including transgender women in women's sports.  US women's soccer hero Megan Rapinoe has come out strongly in favor of including transgender women in women's sport, labelling the arguments against 'cruel and disgusting'.  The veteran soccer star, who co-captained the United States Women's National Team in 2019 as they won a second successive World Cup, was dismissive of the notion that trans women are dominating women's sports and thus need regulating.  Instead, she argued that excluding them from competing at lower levels is cruel, as people value their 'kid's high school volleyball team' ahead of the lives and wellbeing of transgender people.

This battle is all about creating "rights" which have never existed before.
Title IX's next battle:  The rights of transgender athletes.  When the gender equity legislation known as Title IX became law in 1972, the politics of transgender sports was not even a blip in the national conversation.  Today, it is one of the sharpest dividing points in American culture.  As the transformational law heads into its second half-century on the books, the Biden administration wants transgender athletes to enjoy the same protections Title IX originally gave to women when it was passed 50 years ago.  That stance is at odds with efforts in states across the country.  "We're at a time where Title IX is going to be exploited and celebrated," said Donna de Varona, the Olympic champion swimmer who heads the Women's Sports Policy Working Group, which seeks a "middle way" to be inclusive of transgender athletes while also not "forcing" what it sees as unfair competition.

International Swimming Federation Will Ban Some Biologically Male Athletes from Women's Competitions.  The international swimming federation FINA announced a new policy on Sunday to ban biologically male athletes who have gone through male puberty from competing in women's competitions.  To qualify for women's competitions, the swimmers must either have never gone through male puberty or had male puberty suppressed at the stage when physical changes begin to appear or before the age of 12, whichever occurred later, according to the policy.  The athletes also have to prove that they have continuously suppressed their testosterone levels since that time.  "We have to protect the rights of our athletes to compete, but we also have to protect competitive fairness at our events, especially the women's category at FINA competitions," FINA president Husain al-Musallam said in statement.  The policy also includes proposals for an additional open competition category.  FINA is set to form a new working group that will spend six months studying the most effective ways to set up the new category.

Teammate Says Trans UPenn Swimmer Lia Thomas is 'Mentally Ill'.  A teammate of Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who upended college swimming last season, says that Thomas is "mentally ill."  According to an interview the University of Pennsylvania swimmer anonymously gave to the Washington Examiner, Thomas spent the 2021/22 swimming season refusing to come to terms with the damage he was doing to his "real" female opponents and teammates.

The Editor says...
All transvestites are mentally ill.

Republicans Introduce a Bill That Defines What a Woman Is.  Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko is doing something for women, and not the kind no one can define.  The Republican has sponsored a "Women's Bill of Rights" to provide ladies legal protection against gender ideology.  "[T]here are important reasons," H.Res.1136 asserts, "to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletes, prisons, domestic violence shelters, restrooms, and other areas, particularly where biology, safety, and privacy are implicated."  The initiative goes so far as to claim it knows what a woman is.

Indiana Lawmakers Override Governor's Veto to Enact Law Banning Males from Girls Sports.  GOP lawmakers in Indiana voted Tuesday [5/24/2022] to override a veto by Governor Eric Holcomb (R) and enact a law banning male athletes identifying as female from competing in girls' sports.  Indiana joins at least a dozen other U.S. states in enacting similar laws.  "State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28 vote by the House earlier in the day," the Associated Press reports.  "Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill did not provide a consistent policy for what he called "fairness in K-12 sports" when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March."  Dozens of pro-trans activists protested at the state capitol but to no avail.

New South Carolina law bans biological males from women's sports.  Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) signed a bill that bans biological males from participating in women's sports into law.  The Save Women's Sports Act was passed by the South Carolina General Assembly on May 10 and signed by McMaster on Monday [5/16/2022].  The law seeks to "ensure that fair opportunities are preserved for all children to compete in sports" based on "a student's biological sex on the student's official birth certificate."  "Athletic teams or sports designated for males, men, or boys shall not be open to students of the female sex, unless no team designated for females in that sport is offered at the school in which the student is enrolled," the bill reads.  "Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex."

World Swimming Coaches Association Announces Stance on Transgender Athletes.  On Friday, the World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) released its official position on transgender athletes.  This comes after biological male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas made headlines for competing on the women's swim team at University of Pennsylvania after competing on the men's team for three consecutive years.  At the NCAA women's swimming championships in March, Thomas came in first place in a race against female swimmers, as Townhall covered.  The WSCA's position is that the "grounds of fairness" in swimming cannot be maintained with the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports.  This was published in a lengthy statement on the organization's website.

Don Quixote and the Trans Madness.  The Spanish novel, written by Miguel de Cervantes, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha, is often credited as the first modern novel in Western literature. [...] In short, Alonso Quixano is delusional, and, in throes of his madness, he is bent on imposing his own self-perception upon the world around him. [...] Alonso Quixano imagines himself to be the wealthy and revered Don Quixote, and he makes efforts to look, dress, speak, and act in a manner that the society around him would recognize as authentic.  Similarly, a perfectly average male collegiate varsity athlete named Will Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania imagines himself to be a woman named Lia Thomas, making some efforts to look, dress, speak, and act as the society around him would expect of an authentic woman.  Both fail at that task in the eyes of the audience and onlookers, of course, and both appear as caricatures rather than authentic.  But both have people around them that find the delusion fascinating, and who are eager to take part.

LGBTQ+: Leftism's corruption of God's sacred gift to humankind.  In other news, one Lia Thomas, a twenty-two-year-old man masquerading as a woman, finished first in a freestyle swim race.  This unsurprising result seems readily explained as deriving from Thomas's masculine physique, easily outclassing the feminine physiques of the other competitors.  The only thing actually surprising is that a substantial number of officials and observers see this outcome as the result of anything other than overt, deliberate fraud.  Or maybe, in this current age of sexual confusion, it's not so surprising anymore.

Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Barring Male Students from Girls' Sports.  Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed legislation that bans transgender athletes from participation in girls' high school or college sports on Wednesday [3/30/2022].  The Save Women's Sports Act passed the Oklahoma House by a 79-18 vote last week, and was subsequently approved by the state Senate.  "This bill... to us in Oklahoma is just common sense," Stitt, a Republican who is running for reelection this year, said at the signing.  "When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls.  Boys should compete against boys.  And let's be very clear:  That's all this bill says."

Utah legislature overrides veto of transgender sports bill.  The Utah State Legislature has voted to override the governor's veto of the bill banning transgender children from participating in school sports.  The House voted 56-18, while the Senate voted 21-8 for House Bill 11 on Friday, overturning the governor's veto of the bill.  It came after some passionate debate in both chambers.  Outside the Utah State Capitol, people for and against the bill demonstrated at times shouting over each other "trans rights" and "girls rights."  "It preserves the integrity of women's sports," said Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, who sponsored HB11.  The bill, which was amended in the final hours of the legislative session, now bans transgender children from middle and high school sports.  In the event of a lawsuit, however, the bill defaults to a special commission that would evaluate transgender children's eligibility to play a sport that matches their gender identity.

The Editor says...
"In the event of a lawsuit," they say.  That's amusing.  Of course there will be a lawsuit.

Arizona, Oklahoma pass bills banning transgender youth in girls' sports.  Arizona and Oklahoma passed bills on Thursday that would ban transgender youth from participating in girls' sports, the latest in a flurry of state legislation passed by Republicans on the hot-button, election year issue.  In addition to the Republican-sponsored "Save Women's Sports Act," Arizona lawmakers passed legislation that would prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming surgery to minors.  Both bills are now headed to the desk of Governor Doug Ducey, also a Republican.  The votes largely fell along party lines.

Call Him William Thomas.  [Scroll down]  You'll know exactly how we got here by how every mainstream media outlet, even the ones that feign rage, has reported on the man who, pretending to be a woman, has secured a position in the NCAA Women's swimming finals this year.  That man's name is William Thomas.  He was ranked in the mid-500s when he competed as a man — after being recruited as a man to swim for the University of Pennsylvania.  Naturally now, he ranks first among women.  But even as, say, Fox News (with the exception of Tucker Carlson), makes noise in opposition to the unfairness of it all, even as they opine the physiological differences between men and women, they call him "Lia Thomas."  They call him "her."  They bring on Bruce Jenner and call him Caitlyn and nod enthusiastically as he, too, says this is a bridge too far.  If sex differences matter, they matter.  If they don't, they don't.  Actions speak louder than words:  by conforming to the delusion of transgenderism by any degree, the issue is lost completely.

4 Reasons Why Lia Thomas Is Not the New Jackie Robinson.  In an op-ed piece for NBC News, Cheryl Cooky, professor of American studies and women's, gender and sexuality studies at Purdue University, likened "Lia" Thomas (formerly Will) to Jackie Robinson.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, Prof. Cooky's editorial is a slap in the face to female athletes and an insult to the legacy of Jackie Robinson, who courageously broke the color line in professional sports.  Yet, according to Cooky, and with reference to Thomas's blow-out victory in a national swimming competition last week, "For anyone who cares about the advancement of sports, and women's sports in particular, her win should be celebrated."  To repeat: nothing could be further from the truth.  To the contrary, and in the words of Haley Tanne, a female, college athlete (herself a runner), "My teammates and I are watching our records, our scholarships and our competitive opportunities slip away... wondering if anyone in authority is going to have the courage to step up and save women's sports."  This is a travesty, and it must be stopped.

Men Now Dominate Women's Sports.  Last week University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly William Thomas, became the first transgender athlete to win the NCAA title in the women's 500-yard freestyle.  During the award ceremony, Thomas towered over the biologically female runner-ups, including University of Virginia's Emma Weyant, a silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics who finished 1.75 seconds behind Thomas.  [Podcast]

Lia Thomas saga highlights instances of biological men winning women's sports.  University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas is only the most recent and most visible example of biological men competing and winning against female athletes, with examples now dating back several years.  Thomas, who is biologically male, finished first in the women's 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA championships last week over three swimmers who had each won silver medals at the last Olympics.  The result capped the collegiate swimming season with a shadow of controversy while providing the most high-profile image of a biologically male transgender athlete competing in women's sports.

DeSantis Dismisses Lia Thomas, Declares NCAA Women's Swimming Event Winner the Second Place Finisher.  Many may have to play along with declaring Lia Thomas as one of the greatest female athletes of all time, but everyone else lives on planet Earth where dogs bark, the sky is blue, and men can't suddenly be women because they said they were.  Thomas is definitely a man and there's no escaping that fact.  It's why when he was declared the winner of the NCAA women's swimming championship, many people immediately rejected his first-place victory and focused on the girls who finished below him.  In one stunning moment, the girls did the same.  [Tweet]

DeSantis Turns the Tables on the Gender-Bending NCAA Women's Swimming Wokesters.  We've got quite a post-modernist culture war on our hands over transgender issues.  Former Navy SEAL and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just went kinetic with fiery remarks about the NCAA.  On Tuesday, DeSantis issued a proclamation announcing that native Sarasota, Fla., athlete Emma Weyant, who swims for the University of Virginia, logged "the fastest time among all women swimmers" at the NCAA championship in the NCAA Division I final over the weekend.  He accused the NCAA of "destroying opportunities for women" and perpetuating "a fraud on the public," and berated them for "putting ideology ahead of opportunity for women athletes."

GOP Indiana governor vetoes transgender girls sports ban.  Indiana's governor on Monday vetoed a bill banning transgender females from participating in girls school sports.  Opponents of the transgender sports bill argued it was a bigoted response to a problem that doesn't exist, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana saying it planned a lawsuit against what it called "hateful legislation."  Republican sponsors of the bill said it was needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarship but pointed out no instances in the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes.  Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signaled support for the bill last month but said in his veto letter that the legislation "falls short" of providing a consistent statewide policy for what he called "fairness in K-12 sports."

Social Media Users Congratulate Emma Weyant for Winning 'First' Instead of Lia Thomas.  University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant won second place in the women's 500-yard freestyle championships, losing to a man, Lia Thomas.  Many viewers took to social media to congratulate Weyant for actually winning first place.  A tweet by the University of Virginia (UVA) Swimming and Dive account, which congratulated Weyant — who attends UVA — for winning second place, "with the third-fastest time in UVA history."  Weyant also won a silver medal in last year's Summer Olympics.

Congratulations to Emma Weyant, the real woman who won the NCAA 500-yard freestyle event.  Until sanity is restored in our country, records will show that Lia Thomas was the winner of the 2022 women's NCAA 500-yard freestyle event.  However, we all know the story behind Thomas by now.  Lia is not a woman, but a man identifying as a woman.  Anyone interested in the sanctity of competition, biological integrity, and saving women's sports, should celebrate Emma Weyant, the actual woman who won the 2022 women's NCAA 500-yard freestyle event on Thursday night.  The records will show that Weyant finished in second place behind Thomas.  But Weyant is the actual she who should be recognized as champion.  Thomas's victory represents everything that detractors feared would happen in the national championships: that females would not be able to compete against a man claiming to be a woman.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler's account locked for tweet criticizing transgender athletes in women's sports.  Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Republican, was locked out of her Senate campaign account for a tweet declaring that "men pretending to be women" don't belong in female sports.  Hartzler campaign manager Michael Hafner posted a shot Monday of the Twitter message saying that his boss' account had been "locked for violating the Twitter Rules," specifically for violating prohibitions on "hateful conduct."  Her tweet said:  "Women's Sports are for Women, not men pretending to be women."

UPenn, Philly DA ignore complaints about Lia Thomas's male nudity in women's locker room.  Imagine you are a parent to a female college student-athlete.  Now, imagine, what would you do if your daughter told you that someone who was a man and still had male genitalia was frequently naked in front of your daughter every day after practice.  How would you feel as a parent?  That is a current predicament at the University of Pennsylvania.  A letter was sent to city and school authorities addressing the vast concerns over the situation.  It appears to have been ignored by all those addressed in the letter.

Lia Thomas is a bad man.  I don't hate Lia Thomas because she's a transsexual; I hate her because she's a cheat.  At the Ivy League Championship Swim Meet last weekend, Thomas easily won four events, setting pool and league records.  She may be the most-improved swimmer in history.  She was ranked 462nd in the country a few years ago, and is now ranked Number 1.  The difference is not that her swim times have gotten better.  It's that her competition has gotten worse.  Her Number 462 ranking was against men, while her Number 1 ranking is against women.

The Editor says...
I don't hate Will Thomas.  He is obviously a confused young man.  But he should keep that confusion to himself, instead of using it as a weapon.

Dude Looks Like a Lady — Ivy League Swimming Style.  Rock group Aerosmith released a song in 1987 entitled, "Dude looks like a lady" about a man with an effeminate appearance who could be mistaken for a woman.  Today the inverse is playing out in the athletic world, where a lady who looks like a dude — a male who has transitioned to a female as much as basic biology permits — is making a mockery of women's sports.  I speak of Lia Thomas, a transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer who last week, "Dominates 200 yard freestyle at Ivy League swimming championships and sets a new tournament record."  But Lia wasn't always a woman swimmer.  In fact, not too long ago she was a dude, but she looks more like a lady these days, yet she still swims like a dude, and that is where the problem lies.

Lia Thomas Has Exposed The Fallacy Of The LGBTQ Narrative.  Guys competing in girls' sports is becoming a real thing.  Lia Thomas is all over the news these days. [...] Lia is the male swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team, who stuffs his man parts into a girl's Speedo, and struts out onto the pool deck — while the crowd is expected to pretend as if it's all perfectly normal.  Never mind that as a male swimmer he was mediocre at best.  On the female team, he's the star — both of the media and the statisticians.  He's in the news, and he's breaking all of the collegiate swim records — for women.  It seems sex is no longer defined by anatomy or genetics.  It is defined by wishful thinking.  Of course, wishful thinking is the definition of fantasy, not reality.

16 Penn Swimmers Say Trans Teammate Lia Thomas Should Not Compete.  Is the dam finally breaking on maintaining the fantasy that trans women do not have an inherent advantage over biological females in competitive sports?  Sixteen members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team sent a letter to the school and to the Ivy League, asking them not to take legal action that would challenge the new NCAA rules for transgender athletes to compete.  The new rules would make it very difficult for their trans teammate, Lia Thomas, to compete as a female.  The 16 swimmers — out of 39 on the team — are asking that Thomas be sidelined.

The Editor says...
It is impossible to "transition" from a man to a woman or vice versa.  The DNA in every cell in your body shows you're male or you're female — permanently.  But today's college students have been indoctrinated for years already, and badly mis-informed about homosexuality, individual expression, and "inclusion."  You can't have it both ways:  You can't insist that it's okay for a male transvestite to claim he's a woman, and then be offended when he shows up in the women's locker room — or restroom, or dormitory, or anywhere else.  This can of worms will remain open indefinitely, so now you have to decide if swimming is really that important to you.  Or, for that matter, a college degree.

I Will Stop Crying Out When the Transanity Stops.  One of my colleagues has been combating LGBTQ extremism for several decades, working tirelessly for almost no money, and with constant vilification as his main reward.  I asked him one day on the air, "Why don't you just stop?"  He answered, "I'll stop when they stop."  That is exactly how I feel.  When I no longer have to read headlines like this, I'll stop:  "'We're uncomfortable in our own locker room.'  Lia Thomas' UPenn [female] teammate tells how the trans swimmer doesn't always cover up her male genitals when changing and their concerns go ignored by their coach."  Seriously?  Her male genitals?  What kind of madness is this?  And the fact that a biological male with male plumbing (who, by the way, is attracted to females), shares a locker room with women — where they disrobe and shower — is absolute insanity, not to mention terribly unfair.  In fact, it is outright abusive.

Female Swimmers Complain Trans Teammate Lia Thomas Exposes Male Body Parts in Locker Room.  There are plenty of legitimate objections raised against allowing transitioning transgender athletes to compete as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.  But it's the practical objections that resonate the most with the rest of us.  And for those objections, trans activists have no good answers.  One such practical objection is the locker room situation.  Anyone who has ever competed in any sport — either as an individual or as a member of a team — knows that segregating the sexes in a locker room is necessary to maintain a comfort level for everyone.  And comfort is vitally necessary to aid in creating an atmosphere that allows for peak performance from an athlete.  But what if a transitioning male athlete is allowed to walk around naked in a locker room full of women?  That's the situation that is facing members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team who are forced to share a locker room with transitioning male Lia Thomas.

Lia-bility Issues and the Dictatorship of the Subjunctive Mood.  "Penn swimmer Lia Thomas came away with wins in the 100 meter and 200-meter freestyle races against Harvard on Saturday," Fox News reported last week. [...] Based on the new NCAA policy, "there is nothing that would preclude Lia from racing in March at the NCAA Championships."  Michael Phelps, who won 13 individual Olympic gold medals, has problems with the policy.  "I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field," Phelps told reporters.  "I don't know what it looks like in the future.  It's hard.  It's very complicated and this is my sport, this has been my sport my whole entire career, and honestly the one thing I would love is everybody being able to compete on an even playing field."  The Olympic champion might rethink the "very complicated" part.  The pool is already perfectly level, and the disparity belongs to Thomas.  This swimmer transitioned from the Penn men's team to the women's team, where Thomas now demolishes the competition.  That could send a signal to other athletes.

Lia Thomas' UPenn teammate tells how the trans swimmer doesn't always cover up her male genitals when changing.  Sharing a locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has become a point of contention for some of her University of Pennsylvania teammates, who feel uncomfortable changing in the private space with someone undergoing gender transition, the DailyMail.com can reveal.  'It's definitely awkward because Lia still has male body parts and is still attracted to women,' one swimmer on the team told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.  Lia has told her teammates that she dates women.

The Editor says...
Fifty years ago, a man caught in the women's locker room would have been immediately expelled from any university in the U.S.  Five years ago, what newspaper editor would have permitted the phrase, cover up her male genitals?  Wake up, fools!  It's a man!  This problem will persist until you get rid of the people who caused it.

Maybe that's because he's a man.
Teammates say they are uncomfortable changing in locker room with trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas.  A member of the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team said some team members are uncomfortable changing in the locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, according to a teammate.  Thomas, 22, who spent the previous three years swimming with the men's team before she began transitioning to a woman, has created an uneasy environment in the locker room, as she still retains her biologically male genitalia — which are sometimes exposed — and is attracted to women, one teammate told the Daily Mail in an interview.

The girl is a man.  Our insane world has hit woke bottom.  This is from Fox News:  ["]Penn swimmer Lia Thomas came away with wins in the 100 meter and 200-meter freestyle races against Harvard on Saturday.  The victories came days after the NCAA updated its policy for transgender participation and how it will be determined on a sport-by-sport basis.["]  What did Thomas do?  He, and he is a he, shattered women's records.  Who knows what women were denied scholarships because of this?  The answer is for men to compete with men and women with women.  It's not discrimination.  It's common sense.

NCAA changes transgender athlete participation policy amid calls for reevaluation.  The NCAA changed its policy regarding transgender athletes, it announced Wednesday.  The new approach to allowing transgender athletes will follow a sport-by-sport model similarly adopted by the U.S. and international Olympic committees, Sports Illustrated reported.  The NCAA said if there was no international federation policy then the "previously established IOC policy criteria would be followed."  "We are steadfast in our support of transgender student-athletes and the fostering of fairness across college sports," John DeGioia, Georgetown University's president and the NCAA board's chairman, said in a statement Wednesday, announcing the change.

Lia Thomas Is Guilty of Institutional Cheating and Gender Eugenics.  You were born a biological male.  You have XY chromosomes that irrevocably designate your sex as male.  You began to identify as either non-binary or female around two years ago.  You are currently a member of the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim team where you recently were victorious against Cornell University women's team.  As a transwoman with the physical advantages of still being a biological male, you have broken several of the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim records.  In your 1,650-meter freestyle win, you beat second-place finisher and teammate Anna Kalandadze by 38 seconds.  Because of you, women such as Kalandadze who held records no longer hold them.  You, as a biological male, have unfairly stripped them of their hard-fought honors.

USA Swimming official who resigned over trans swimmer Lia Thomas says athlete is 'destroying women's swimming'.  A USA Swimming official who resigned in protest of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas told Fox News on Monday that she can't stand by and watch as girls are "thrown under the bus" by "biological" male competitors.  Cynthia Millen stepped down last week after officiating USA Swimming meets for over three decades.  Her decision came days before the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Greensboro, N.C.  "The fact is that swimming is a sport in which bodies compete against bodies.  Identities do not compete against identities," Millen said in an appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."  "Men are different from women, men swimmers are different from women, and they will always be faster than women."

It's Time to Stop Denying Reality About Transgender Athletes.  A transgender athlete, Lia Thomas, dominated during a Nov. 20 women's swim meet with athletes representing Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. [...] Just a few weeks after Thomas trounced biologically female teammates, President Joe Biden's Department of Education announced plans to amend Title IX regulations to conform to the president's executive order on what it calls "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation."  Such amendments by the Education Department would allow biological males to compete against women in the name of "equality" and "preventing discrimination."  But the truth is, these amendments would contradict reality, equality, and popular opinion.  Hormone levels alone don't make someone a woman.  And no amount of cross-sex hormones can undo the biological benefits of male genetics and development.

Kristi Noem Advances Bill Requiring Trans Athletes to Compete According to Their Birth Gender.  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has advanced a bill in the state legislature that would codify her executive orders limiting transgender athletes to competing only in categories that correspond to their birth gender.  Noem filed the bill on Tuesday to limit K-12 girl's school sports and state-funded colleges to allowing only natural-born girls to compete in girl's categories, according to the Argus Leader.  The governor issued her two executive orders in March after the legislature rejected her revisions of House Bill 1217.

The Real War on Women is From the Left.  Remember how the left not long ago went on and on and on about the supposed "war on women" from the right?  The irony is that according to current leftist dogma, women no longer exist.  After all, the Biden Administration's Department of Health and Human Services is insisting in referring to mothers (once understood as a significant subset of beings known as "women") as "birthing persons," because current leftist dogma says men can have babies, too.  Which means women no long have anything naturally distinctive about them. [...] Which brings me back to the story I've commented on before of Lia Thomas, the "woman" swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania who is shattering women's swim records after having competed for three years as an average male swimmer for Penn.

Men Make the Best Women.  There is no difference between men and women, we're told by leftist activists, none whatsoever.  We're also told by these same people that there's nothing a man can do better than a woman, [...] We've all heard about the high school sprinters who were not very good as boys, but mopped up the track when they started competing as girls.  I couldn't care less how someone chooses to live in their personal life, my problem with the idea of "trans" is when I'm forced to deny reality to make someone else feel comfortable.  If you're a man and you want to wear a dress and be called Betty, I'll call you Betty.  But if you want me to pretend you can get pregnant or have to worry about cervical cancer, you've lost me.  In the UK, they are spending good money reminding women to get screened for prostate cancer and other absurd things that simply are not real.  Forcing me to pretend they are is when you lose me, and you're not getting me back.

Why I'm celebrating news that a man is breaking women's swimming records.  Will Thomas is a strapping 22-year-old man who swam competitively at the University of Pennsylvania for three years.  This year, though, Will announced that he's a woman named "Lia" and, thanks to Biden's executive orders regarding so-called "gender identity," got a place on UPenn's women's swim team where, to no one's surprise, he swam faster than the women.  Frankly, I think it's wonderful.  That's not because I've gone woke; it's because this is so blatantly unfair to women, and Will is so obviously a man, that Americans are finally saying that the emperor is wearing the wrong dress.  I will never, absolutely never, use female pronouns for a man who claims to be "transgender."  He is either mentally ill, which is sad, but does not make him a woman, or he's a sleazy, skeezy opportunist.  It's amazing how many of these so-called "transgender" men who suddenly get to compete in women's sports and use women's locker rooms and restrooms (and women's prisons), have kept their original biological equipment and are "lesbians," rather than real women who like men.  Let me say this as clearly as possible:  There is no such thing as "transgenderism."

Boys Replacing Girls in Sports — Feminists Yawn.  Women's sports are again under attack.  Decades ago, it was due to tradition and patriarchy, with funding and attention lavished primarily on men's sports.  Title IX came in 1972, leveling the playing field.  At the time, there were just over 300,000 women and girls participating in high school and college sports.  Female athletes only received 2 percent of college athletic budgets and few if any women received athletic scholarships.  Forty years later in 2012, great progress was made with 3 million girls participating in high school sports and 190,000 in college sports, a sixfold increase since 1972.  But instead of continued progress, our new woke culture is turning back the clock on women's sports, all in the name of equity, tolerance, and diversity, setting female athletes back decades.

Male Swimmer Dominates UPenn's Women's Swim Team.  Will Thomas was a moderately successful swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania's men's swim team for three years.  But then he took a year off, reemerged as transgender, and started dominating the women's swim team.

The 'Equality' blues:  Feminists cry foul when boys' netball team wins girls' tournament.  The Queensland Suns won the Nissan State under-18 netball tournament last month, and the wrath of many, by easily defeating seven other teams.  The issue?  The Suns are sons — not daughters like the rest of their competitors.  Netball is a variation on basketball played in many Commonwealth countries.  The game also apparently doesn't have many male competitors in Australia, which is why the Suns were allowed to compete with the lasses.  As Netball Queensland, the organization running the Nissan tournament, stated, it was choosing "inclusion over exclusion."

Texas Senate Passes Bill Requiring Athletes To Compete On Team That Matches Birth Gender.  The Texas Senate passed a bill on Friday night [10/15/2021] that requires student athletes to play on sports teams that match their birth gender and not the gender with which they identify.  "The legislation is primed to become law after the state Senate voted 19-12 on Friday to pass House Bill 25, authored by state Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-Spring," The Texas Tribune reported.  "The Senate floor vote followed a swiftly held committee meeting where a 24-hour notice rule was suspended and the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee voted to advance the legislation.  Under HB 25, students would only be permitted to compete on sports teams that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificate that was assigned at or near the time of birth."  The Texas House must now approve an amendment that the Senate added before it heads to Governor Greg Abbott's desk.

Texas House Passes Bill Banning Students from Competing against Opposite Sex in Sports.  The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday [10/15/2021] mandating that transgender athletes participate in school sports teams corresponding to the biological sex listed on their birth certificate.  The bill passed 76 [to] 54 after failing to advance on three previous attempts, and will now be sent to the state Senate for deliberation.  Representative Valoree Swanson, the bill's sponsor, said it would protect women and girls from unfair competition.

Christian Schools Join Fight To Protect Female Athletes From Transgender Competitors.  A coalition of Christian schools and female athletes are fighting back against President Joe Biden's efforts to redefine sex to be based on "gender identity," not biological sex.  If successful, female athletes would have to compete in sporting events against biological men who "identify" as women and force them to share private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms.  The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit Christian legal organization, filed a motion on Monday asking a federal district court to allow the Association of Christian Schools International and three female athletes in Arkansas to intervene in the case, State of Tennessee v.  United States Department of Education.

Piers Morgan:  Transgenders in women's MMA will get someone killed.  It's no longer a surprise when Piers Morgan weighs in on hot-button cultural issues in favor of the conservatives, as he does today in the question of transgender access to women's sports.  Today, he writes in the Daily Mail that such crossovers in MMA are likely to get someone killed, and uses one bout this weekend as a prime example: [...] Morgan makes his pitch against transgenders in women's sports on a broader basis than safety.  It's not only "incredibly dangerous" in the context of MMA, but also unfair and unequal for all women forced to compete with biological males.

Leftists cheer as a violent man assaults a woman.  Mixed Martial Arts took a serious hit the other day when the sport allowed a man to beat a woman brutally and then claim a victory for having done so.  ESPN, others in the leftist establishment, and the Combate Global competition were all incredibly excited about this violent, misogynistic event.  Worse, the man had trained for years in the United States Army's Special Forces.  Why was this all condoned, indeed, applauded?  Because the man suffers from body dysphoria which has led him to believe that he's a woman.  I feel sorry for him but — and this is the important point — he's not a woman and it's a travesty that people pretend he is.

Transgender MMA fighter who used to be in US Army special forces wins debut — reigniting debate over trans women in sports.  The second openly transgender MMA fighter in the US has won her debut match — reigniting the debate over trans women in sports.  Alana McLaughlin, 38, won her first professional fight in the Combate Global prelims Friday against Celine Provost, ending the match with a rear-naked choke 3 minutes and 32 seconds into the second round.  McLaughlin, from South Carolina, began her transition in 2010 after spending six years in the US Army special forces.

Reporter Asks Women Weight Lifters About Trans Competitor, Room Goes Completely Silent.  During their press conference after medaling in the women's +87 kg weightlifting competition, the three medalists gave a very telling reaction when a reporter asked them about the "historic" participation of transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a biological male.

If They Can Make You Believe a Big Strong Man Belongs in the Women's Division, They Can Make You Believe Anything.  Today, Monday, August 2, 2021, a big strong man bombed out of the superheavyweight class of the Women's division of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.  Read that sentence again:  We are living in a post-truth society.  The best that can be done with it is to finely hone your cynicism, question everything you are told, and learn to appreciate dark humor.  Gavin Hubbard is 6'1" at 285 pounds.  He was most assuredly born a physical male and competed somewhat successfully in the Men's Division of Olympic weightlifting up until 2001.  Psychological issues caused him to reevaluate his gender identity, previously based on his physical sex, and he was reportedly "surgically re-assigned" in 2012 to reflect his commitment to his new gender identification as "Laurel."  All of this is entirely his own personal business and has nothing to do with the rest of humanity.  If a guy wants to castrate himself and have cosmetic surgery, he should have the freedom to do so.  But being born a male — having developed in utero under male levels of testosterone exposure — makes you forever and always different from having been born a female, whose congenital development took place without testosterone at those levels.

Olympic Medical and Science Official Says "Everyone Agrees" That Trans Women Are Real Women.  International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical and Science Director Dr. Richard Budgett recently made some eyebrow raising comments when he claimed that "everyone agrees" that trans women are real women.  The comment came during a press conference on Friday [7/29/2021] when Budgett was praising male-turned-female New Zealand trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard for their "courage and tenacity."  "To put it in a nutshell, the IOC had a scientific consensus back in 2015," Budgett explained as he came up with an excuse for the IOC's decision to let a man compete with women.  "There are no IOC rules or regulations around transgender participation.  That depends on each international federation."

We Are Doctors.  Here's the Truth About Transgender Females' Bodies and Athleticism.  The International Olympic Committee ruled in 2015 that transgender athletes "who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the female category" so long as their testosterone level has been below a certain threshold for at least 12 months.  At least two recent peer-reviewed studies challenge this rule.  One published in the journal Sports Medicine found "the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women [men on estrogen] is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed" for 12 months.  A second review article found the male strength advantage to remain even after three years of testosterone suppression.  Even if the strength advantage could be eliminated, however, to reduce the definition of female human being to having a certain level of testosterone in your body for a certain amount of time completely ignores the scientific reality that genetics — not testosterone — is at the root of all that makes the two sexes different.  When males are allowed to compete in athletic leagues designed for females, they deprive female athletes of the opportunity to safe and fair participation in sports.  As Vanbellinghen said, "Life-changing opportunities are missed for some athletes — medals and Olympic qualifications — and we are powerless."

Judge blocks West Virginia law banning transgender students from girls sports.  A federal judge blocked a West Virginia law banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports, saying the legislation likely runs afoul of the Constitution.  Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, said if West Virginia wants to treat people differently, there must be a compelling reason to do so.  "I have been provided with scant evidence that this law addresses any problem at all, let alone an important problem," the judge wrote in a 15-page opinion.

Biden administration 'erasing the borders' of biological sex, women's sports activist says.  The first half of 2021 has been marked by a series of fierce cultural and legal battles over policies relating to transgender athletes participating in girls' and women's sports.  More battles loom as the Biden administration and some states take significantly divergent positions on the hot button issue.  One of the first actions President Joe Biden took following his inauguration was to sign an executive order preventing discrimination against people based on gender identity, which said children "should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports."  Opponents — including leaders in states such as Florida, Tennessee, and Idaho, and activists including Beth Stelzer — insist that female-identifying biological males playing against women is unfair to biological females.

The Problems with Laurel Hubbard's Qualifying for the Olympics as a Woman.  Weightlifting has always been an Olympic sport, practiced in Ancient Greece.  At the modern revival of the Olympics in 1896, and for the next 100 years, only men were allowed to compete.  But since the Sydney Games of 2000, there have been women's events too, in weight categories like the men's events.  Equity of the sexes is important to the Olympic movement nowadays.  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says that inclusion is important, too.  To that end, it has decreed that males who feel themselves to be women may compete in the women's events.  The only stipulation, besides declaring their commitment to their desired "gender," is that such athletes take a pill daily to lower their testosterone to below 10 nanomoles/Liter (nmol/L).  The typical female testosterone range is below 1 nmol/L.  So, we have Laurel Hubbard, born male 43 years ago, and now presenting as part of the New Zealand women's weightlifting team for Tokyo 2020, to be held this summer.

Laurel Hubbard is the beginning of the end of Women's sports.  The decision to allow Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old weightlifter who transitioned from male to trans woman in 2012, to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games against female competitors is the beginning of the end of women's sport.  Why does women's sport exist at all?  Because biology in sport matters.  Separate categories give females equal opportunities of sporting success.  Australian Weightlifting Federation's chief executive, Michael Keelan has spoken out about how unfair Hubbard's inclusion is to female competitors.  We all know it is unfair, even those speaking out in support of Hubbard's inclusion in the Olympics — they just don't care about women.

Cece Telfer, Champion Transgender Hurdler, Ruled Ineligible For US Olympic Trials.  Cece Telfer, a transgender woman who won an NCAA Division II championship in 2019, was ruled ineligible Wednesday [6/23/2021] to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials.  USA Track and Field (USATF) said in a statement Telfer failed to meet the World Athletic requirements to be eligible for trials.  She had initially been on the list for Friday's opening heats but an updated list Wednesday did not include her name.  World Athletics' guidelines, released in 2019, stated that female athletes' testosterone levels were at 5 nanomoles per liter or more were barred from events between distances of 400 meters and a mile.  Telfer was readying to compete in the women's 400-meter hurdles at Olympic trials.

The Editor says...
A man who wears women's clothing is not a champion.  A man with low testosterone levels is still a man.

Women's Olympic Weightlifters Should Take a Knee if Trans Athletes Are Allowed to Compete.  The International Olympic Committee has laid the groundwork for the destruction of the women's divisions in Olympic sports by permitting New Zealand to enter a congenital male in the women's division of Olympic weightlifting in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.  And as odd as this sounds, the only way to save women's sports is for the female competitors to boycott the event in its entirety. [...] It is why we have men's and women's divisions in all sports, with no sport allowing direct competition between men and women.  It has been apparent throughout human history that the sexes are different in terms of physical capacity, that this is true from birth, and I shouldn't have to point this out to anybody.

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar, Just not at the Olympics.  Helen Reddy sang a Grammy Award-winning hit in 1972 called "I Am Woman," an ode to the newly blossomed feminist movement. [...] Remember a time when major sporting competitions, like the Olympic Games, separated men from women, perhaps not in the Olympic Village, but on the track, in the pool, and in the gym.  One time, this was commonsensical as men and women differ greatly in terms of size, strength, and power due to a hormone called testosterone, abundant in growing boys, but not so in girls, leading to higher bone density, larger muscle mass, and more efficient power generation.  In last week's Olympic Trials, these differences were quite evident.

NFL legend Brett Favre blasts transgender Olympian as 'unfair': 'It's a man competing as a woman'.  Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre built a legendary career out of being on target when it counted.  But he was never more on target than when he nailed the issue of transgender "women" competing against true females on the biggest stages in sports.  Liberals are going to hate it, but no sane, honest person — man or woman — could disagree.  "It's a man competing as a woman," Favre said with characteristic bluntness.  "That's unfair."  The issue arose during Tuesday's [6/22/2021] episode of Favre's podcast "Bolling with Favre," co-hosted by former Fox News personality Eric Bolling.

New Zealand weightlifter to become first trans athlete to compete in Olympics.  A New Zealand woman has become the first transgender athlete to be selected to compete in the Olympics — a decision that is expected to launch debate about gender identity in sports.  Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, 43, who was born male but transitioned to female, was picked to participate in the upcoming summer games in Tokyo, New Zealand Olympic Committee chief Kereyn Smith said in a Monday [6/21/2021] statement.  "We acknowledge that gender identity in sport is a highly sensitive and complex issue requiring a balance between human rights and fairness on the field of play," Smith said in a statement.  "As the New Zealand team, we have a strong culture of manaaki (caring) and inclusion and respect for all."

Law banning trans athletes from women's sports unconstitutional:  DOJ.  The Department of Justice is mounting a case arguing that laws in West Virginia and Arkansas that bar transgender athletes from competing in women's sports are unconstitutional, despite the overwhelming majority of Americans supporting biological gender segregation in sports, according to a report citing court papers.  "The United States has a significant interest in ensuring that all students, including students who are transgender, can participate in an educational environment free of unlawful discrimination," the DOJ said in court documents filed in a West Virginia court case Thursday [6/17/2021], according to a report by the Daily Mail.  The DOJ asked a judge to overturn the West Virginia rule — signed into law by Republican Gov. Jim Justice in April — which blocks transgender athletes from playing in women's sports from middle school through college, the outlet reported.

San Francisco Giants Become First MLB Team to Wear Pride-Themed Uniforms.  The San Francisco Giants told fans Tuesday that the team will add gay pride colors to its hats and uniforms in recognition of Gay Pride Month.  "The 11 colors of the new Pride logo are emblematic of the Progress Pride Flag and signify inclusion and progression with the six pride colors," the team said in a statement, "red (life); orange (healing); yellow (sunlight); green (nature); blue (serenity); purple (spirit); and black and brown to recognize LGBTQ+ people of color and light blue, pink and white to recognize people who are transgender."

Our Increasingly Unrecognizable Civilization.  Over the same period as the pandemic lockdowns, we have seen an escalation of so-called wokeness.  And if you look at one of the most startling manifestations of this, transgender fanaticism — which involves, after all, the abolition of biological sex and, I'm sorry to have to say it, the physical mutilation of children — one notices that America is farther down this road than any other country in the Western world.  In other words, at this moment of crisis for Western Civilization, or for what we used to call Christendom, the leading country of the free world is pulling the wrong way.  Think of it.  Your daughter has been training since she was a little girl to run in school sports.  Now at 17, she's in the state high school track championships, and you are forbidden even to notice that she's competing against a woman who is 6'2" with thighs like tugboats, a great touch of five o'clock shadow on her face, and the most muscular bosom you've ever seen.  You're not supposed to notice the craziness of this, and the craziness is at its craziest right here in America.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill barring transgender athletes from female sports.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed legislation barring transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, joining seven other states in what he described as an effort to protect female sports.  Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave the Fairness in Women's Sports Act his signature flanked by teenage athletes at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville.  "I can tell you that in Florida, girls are going to play girls' sports, and boys are going to play boys' sports," Mr. DeSantis said at the event.

Trans Golfer Who Played On Men's College Team Wins Women's Title, Eyes LPGA.  Hailey Davidson, who is biologically male but identifies as female, played in women's golf last week and won a professional title after competing against biological women.  The transgender golfer, who previously played in men's college golf, now hopes to qualify for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) for female golfers.  According to a Golkweek report, Davidson beat LPGA player Perrine Delacour to win the women's title at Providence Golf Club in Orlando, Florida last week.

The NCAA Was All Threats and Bluster Against Non-Trans Athlete States, But It Just Crumpled Like a Cheap Suit.  The NCAA was threatening states that if they didn't allow men to compete in women's sports then they would pull tournaments from those states.  The entire issue even caused a once-loved Republican governor, Kristi Noem, to lose her support within the party after she bent the knee and refused to sign a bill banning biological men from declaring themselves women and signing up to compete against them out of fear of losing the revenue.  As it turns out, the NCAA was totally bluffing and picked three states for their tournaments to happen in.  According to Breitbart, the NCAA has announced that Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee will be host to the Women's College World Series softball regionals.

So much for fairness:  Transgender woman golfer wins mini-tour event, aims for LPGA.  Last week, Hailey Davidson, a transgender woman, won her first professional title in Florida, topping LPGA player Perrine Delacour for the win.  The same day, she was sent an email by the USGA saying she's met the organization's Gender Policy eligibility criteria and can now compete in its championships and she's hoping to hear similar news from the LPGA via a reciprocity agreement, according to Golfweek.  So much for fairness in women's sports.  In January, Ms. Davidson underwent gender reassignment surgery, and she's been undergoing hormone treatments since 2015.  Since transitioning, Ms. Davidson said she hits shorter and swings slower — yet she still was born a man, and obviously, has a physical advantage over biological women.

NCAA Caves, Will Allow States [Which] Place Restrictions on Trans Athletes to Host Events.  The NCAA made loud proclamations in April that it could pull events from states with limits on transgender athletes.  Still, now the college sports governing body has caved and will allow tournaments in states including Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas despite their laws restricting trans athletes.  The NCAA sided with transgender athletes only last month, saying they may cancel events in states that aren't "free of discrimination" against transgender athletes.

Transgender Female to Compete as Weightlifter in Olympics — Never Competed in Weightlifting as a Male.  Tell me a story about how it's just about letting little boys compete in sports using the gender identity that they are most comfortable with.  New Zeland transgender female weight lifter Laurel Hubbard, who lived life for 35 years as a man, will likely participate in this summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo as a 43-year-old female weightlifter.  Hubbard finished 2nd in the 2017 World Championships in the Women's Super Heavyweight division, but a serious elbow injury in 2018 put his/her career in jeopardy.  Under the revamped qualifying rules announced earlier this week due to the inability of most countries to have qualifying competitions, Hubbard will automatically be included as New Zealand's only entry in the Super Heavyweight Division if New Zealand decides to nominate Hubbard to be part of its Olympic Team.  At 43 years old, Hubbard would be the oldest weightlifter competing in Tokyo.

Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard set to make history at Tokyo Olympics.  History and controversy is expected to be made at the Tokyo Olympics this summer after the transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was effectively guaranteed a place in the women's super heavyweight category.  While the 43-year-old has not yet been named in the New Zealand team, an International Weightlifting Federation insider confirmed to the Guardian that she [sic] would automatically qualify because of amended rules approved by the International Olympic Committee.

Alabama Enacts Law Banning Transgender Athletes From Participating in Biologically Inconsistent Public School Sports.  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law a bill that bans transgender student-athletes from competing on K-12 public school single-sex teams that match their gender identity, making her state the second in the nation to enact such a ban.  House Bill 391, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-controlled state legislature last week, mandates that those who aren't biologically male or female won't be able to participate in school-sponsored sports events that are inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.  "A public K-12 school may not allow a biological female to participate on a male team if there is a female team in a sport," the bill reads.  "A public K-12 school may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team."

The Editor says...
One's sex is determined by genetics at the moment of conception.  It is not "assigned at birth."

This newspaper article reeks with bias:
Texas Senate passes transgender sports bill that critics decry as another 'bathroom bill'.  The Texas Senate approved a controversial transgender sports bill Thursday [4/15/2021] that would force young athletes in Texas to compete in sports that align with the sex designated on their original birth certificate rather than with their gender identity.  The 18-12 vote followed a marathon March 26 hearing that featured emotional testimony on the bill, which foes decry as discriminatory and anti-LGBTQ.

USA Today Beats Up On 'Hateful,' Ignorant Red States For Opposing Trans Athletes.  USA Today ultra-leftist Nancy Armour swung a big bat Tuesday [4/13/2021], verbally bludgeoning hateful, ignorant conservative state lawmakers working to protect women's sports.  She accused them of trying to "otherize" trans athletes and open a new front in the culture war, repeated LGBT talking points and urged the NCAA to hurt conservative states in the pocketbook.  Nearly half the state legislatures are trying to protect women's sports from the intrusion of confused males competing with females.  Armour accused them of passing bills that aren't based on scientific facts.  It's bigotry that comes with a price, and she exhorted the NCAA to inflict financial pain on conservative states.

NCAA backs biological males competing in women's sports, as showdown looms with Florida over pending law.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association, a cartel controlling the multibillion-dollar college athletics business, may be painting itself into a corner.  Probably because it is a creature of the higher education industry that has gone off the deep end in its commitment to far-left politics, the NCAA is taking an extreme position on transgenderism and apparently seeking a confrontation with the State of Florida if it passes a law currently under consideration that would limit participation in women's sports to women.

NCAA Upholds Policy of Transgender Women Competing in Women's Sports.  The NCAA reaffirmed its decision to refuse to hold college championships in states where laws "discriminate" against male athletes who identify as female.  The board of governors issued a statement that "firmly and unequivocally" supports the inclusion of transgender athletes in college sports.  The statement comes after several states have passed laws preventing biological males from competing in girls' athletics.  Apparently, the NCAA, which governs rules on competition in college sports, thinks it's OK for biological males to compete against biological females.  The only way they can allow this is if they ignore the biology in favor of being fashionable.

NCAA issues stern warning as Texas Senate prepares to debate transgender sports bill.  Amid all the talk of boycotts and corporate criticism of election bills going through the Texas Legislature, major resistance is shaping up to another top priority of Republican state lawmakers.  With the Texas Senate set to debate a bill to ban transgender girls from competing in girls' interscholastic sports, the NCAA recently issued a warning that it is watching the legislation.  NCAA policies allow transgender athletes to participate without limitation.  "The NCAA continues to closely monitor state bills that impact transgender student-athlete participation," NCAA officials said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle.  "The NCAA believes in fair and respectful student-athlete participation at all levels of sport.  The association's transgender student-athlete participation policy and other diversity policies are designed to facilitate and support inclusion."

America's creation of the transgender child.  [Scroll down]  One might imagine the locus of concern would be the ethics of medicating and operating on children physically to alleviate mental distress, but it is the impact on sport which has captured the public imagination.  The repeated triumph of biological males who identify as girls over actual girls in athletics has left the "transwomen are women" mantra looking a little flimsy.  There has already been one legal case challenging the fairness of allowing competition on the basis of "gender identity."  In some states, laws are coming into effect to ensure that girls are given a fighting chance and that events are divided by physical sex.  The evidence is clear, as developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton explained in a 2019 review of the International Olympic Committee guidelines:  "Males can run faster, jump longer, throw further and lift heavier than females.  They outperform females by 10 percent on the running track to 30 percent when throwing various balls...  Males have around 40 percent more muscle mass, even when height is taken into account, and 40 percent less body fat."

TN governor signs transgender sports bill, will require students to prove their sex before playing.  Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Friday [3/26/2021] signed a bill into law that will prohibit transgender students from playing on the team of the sex with which they identify, one of numerous such bills currently working their way through statehouses around the country.  Tennessee's H.B. 3 directs that "a student's gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event must be determined by the student's sex at the time of the student's birth, as indicated on the student's original birth certificate."  The rule effectively bars transgender athletes from selecting a team based on their internal sense of "gender identity."

SD House Speaker to Reject Gov. Kristi Noem's Request to Rework Bill on Transgender Athletes.  The battle over legislation in South Dakota to prevent biological men from competing against biological women in school sports will come to a head on "Veto Day," which takes place on Monday [3/29/2021] — also the last day of the state's legislation session.  And now House Speaker Spencer Gosch, a Republican, announced he would recommend lawmakers reject Gov. Kristi Noem's controversial stance to not veto House Bill 1217 but to ask for revisions to it, including removing the language to eliminate the ban in collegiate sports and removing the requirement for birth certificate sex to be proven annually.

Governor signs bill barring transgender athletes from female sports in Arkansas.  Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed Thursday [3/25/2021] legislation barring transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, an issue gaining steam in Republican-led state legislatures despite pushback from LGBTQ and business groups.  The Republican governor signed SB 354, the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, shortly after it passed both chambers by wide margins.  The bill was delivered to his desk Tuesday.  "I have studied the law and heard from hundreds of constituents on this issue," Mr. Hutchinson said.  "I signed the law as a fan of women's sports from basketball to soccer and including many others in which women compete successfully.  This law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women's competition."

Cancel the 'Cancel Culture' Defense of Terrible Republicans.  South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem claims she's a victim of "conservative cancel culture."  After vetoing a popular bill to defend women's sports from the transgender lobby, Noem insists she did no such thing.  She claims she only rejected the bill because legendary (but unnamed) conservative legal scholars told her she would lose a fight with the National Collegiate Athletic Association.  "If any number of conservative pundits are to be believed, that same governor who refused to cave is now caving to the NCAA and Amazon on the issue of fairness in women's sports.  What?  Apparently, uninformed cancel culture is fine when the right is eating their own," Noem spokesman Ian Fury said in a press statement.  "Furthermore, the bill picked a fight with the NCAA — a fight that renowned conservative legal experts advise Governor Noem that she will lose, especially considering South Dakota's unfriendly federal bench."  Apparently, if the NCAA threatens a lawsuit, you get a pass to betray your constituents.

The Worst Thing About Kristi Noem's Sports Capitulation Is Her Lies.  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem raised some valid concerns when she returned House Bill 1217 to the state legislature for "style and form" changes.  But two of the proposed amendments to the bill that legislators drafted to prevent males from competing as females in athletic events, coupled with the spin since Noem announced she would not sign H.B. 1217 as written, give the governor's game away:  She caved.  As I explained earlier this week, H.B. 1217 originally consisted of four sections, with Section 1 providing that elementary, secondary, and collegiate athletic teams must be defined as male, female, or coeducational, then further stating that teams or sports designated as female are "available only to participants who are female, based on their biological sex."

Oh Noem, Not Another Squish!  You know who is laughing right now?  Nikki!  Haley is, because Kristi Noem may have derailed her own electoral freight train as it rolled down the conservative governortrix tracks toward the GOP nom in 2024. [...] What did she do?  She vetoed a bill defending women athletes from the insanity of letting men dominate them, a "style and form" veto, and then offered the most weaksauce weasel word explanation imaginable.  Here tweet thread trying to explain it was lame; her appearance on Tucker was condescending gibberish.  Watching it, woke cons started out disappointed with her and ended up infuriated at her.

Alternative viewpoint:
Have We Lost Nuance?  What did [South Dakota Governor Kristi] Noem do that upset so many of my fellow conservatives?  She didn't sign a bill banning boys from playing in girls' sports in South Dakota.  That sounds simple enough, it's something she's said she's for and she went against it.  But, like everything in life, it's more nuanced than that.  But nuance isn't allowed anymore.  If Noem had signed the bill, it would have been immediately tied up in court and there would have been years of litigation, likely blocked by a court throughout.  Noem didn't veto it, she sent it back to the legislature to be revised.  How?  She wants the part about the law applying to colleges removed.  That might sound bad, and it's certainly not what most people want, but it's important to avoid that injunction and long legal battle because the governor has little to no say over college sports.  State governments have enormous influence over public schools K-12, but very little over private schools and universities.

Dakota Gov. Noem says she'll sign legislature's transgender sports bill after minor fixes made.  South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday she'll sign a state legislature bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports — after creating a conservative uproar last week by vetoing the measure.  Noem, considered a top potential 2024 presidential candidate, said at a press conference that she'll sign the bill after legislators make what she considers minor changes — limiting the ban to high school and elementary schools for male athletes who identify as female athletes.  The governor does want such a ban on college athletics at this time, she said, over concerns about the National Collegiate Athletic Association's standing on the matter.

Kristi Noem v. NCAA.  Kristi Noem should have paid attention to some of the history behind her own name rather than the listen to the advice of attorneys and lobbyists.  She didn't realize that she had the power to wreck the NCAA if it didn't bow to her wishes.  If she had signed the "women's protection" legislation she would have stayed on the path to the presidency.  Now, that future has almost certainly vanished. [...] By standing firm she would have directed a brilliant and withering light onto the power-mad cowards that run the NCAA.  She could have easily created the coalition against men-in-women's-sports that she desires.  Maybe she still can.  But now, all perceive her as weak.  Will she recover politically?  Maybe.  Probably not.

Bowing To Corporate Demands For Watered-Down Bill, Gov. Kristi Noem Sells Out Women's Sports.  On Friday [3/19/2021], South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem balked on signing House Bill 1217 when the bill to promote fairness in women's sports crossed her desk.  But instead of vetoing the legislation, Noem returned the bill to the House with what she called "recommendations as to STYLE and FORM."  The Republican governor's spin, however, cannot withstand scrutiny — most specifically her claimed reasoning for removing collegiate athletics from the bill's protections.  As finalized by the South Dakota legislature, Section 1 of H.B. 1217 provided that athletic teams and sports in the state, including at institutions of higher education, must be expressly designated as male, female, or coeducation.  It also stipulated that teams or sports designed as female must be "available only to participants who are female, based on their biological sex."

Gov. Kristi Noem Sends Transgender Athletes Bill Back to Legislature for Changes.  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) returned a bill designed to prevent biological men from competing in biological women's sports back to her state legislature on Friday for changes.  Noem cited in a public letter changes she is requesting to the bill, specifying they are revisions of "style and form." The changes include removing collegiate athletics from the bill, thereby limiting its application to K-12 athletics, and modifying language about civil liability and performance-enhancing drugs.

Track star's dream dashed by transgender rules.  The Louisiana State University Lady Tigers have won 25 national championships in track and field, and Alanna Smith dreams of contributing to another someday.  She just doesn't think she should have to beat guys to get there.  "When I didn't have to run against biological males, I felt I had a chance," said Alanna, 17.  "Whether I came in first or fifth place, I knew that was the spot I deserved.  Now it's dispiriting to know who is going to win."

Where Are All the Girls In Boys' Sports?  It's probably a question I'm not allowed to ask, but I honestly don't care.  And the fact that it will upset a bunch of pearl-clutching leftists and gender fascists just makes me want to ask it more, and louder.  But with all the talk from the left about transgender rights and how boys who believe they are girls should be allowed to compete in any sport they so choose, why aren't there any stories of the opposite happening?  Where are the girls in boys' sports?  It's pretty easy to find stories about boys competing in girls' sports, particularly track and field events, largely because they tend to win... by a lot.  Records are being broken, record books rewritten, and scholarships awarded to boys who "identify" as girls, but has there been one case of a girl identifying as a boy, not only competing in boys' sports, but dominating?  I can't find one.

Tate Reeves Signs Bill To Ensure 'Young Girls Are Not Forced To Compete Against Biological Males'.  Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Fairness Act into law on Thursday so that "young girls are not forced to compete against biological males."  "This is an important day for the women and girls of Mississippi," Reeves said.  "This important piece of legislature will ensure young girls in Mississippi have a fair playing field in public sports."  "I never imagined dealing with this, but POTUS left us no choice," Reeves wrote on Twitter.  "One of his first acts was to sign an EO encouraging transgenderism in children.  So today, I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure young girls are not forced to compete against biological males."

Mississippi Governor Bans Transgenders From Participating In Female Sports.  Not everyone is bowing down to the Biden regime.  The Governor of Mississippi has just banned transgender athletes from competing in female sports.  Gov. Tate Reeves's new ban defies Biden's Executive Order that called on schools to allow students to participate in athletics under their chosen gender identity.  Hats off to Gov. Reeves for standing up for woman's rights!

Arkansas Advances Bill Protecting Girls From Having To Compete Against Biological Males In Sports.  The Arkansas state Senate will vote on the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" after the state's Senate Education Committee endorsed the measure with a 5-3 vote at the start of the week.  "Senate Bill 354 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, would allow students 'deprived of an athletic opportunity' or suffering 'direct or indirect harm' as a result of a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school or higher-education institution not maintaining separate teams for cisgender female students to seek injunctive relief against the school, as well as monetary damages," the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.

Saying 'No' to the Cancel Culture.  [Scroll down]  On second thought, don't laugh.  If there's one thing we've learned from chronicling the inimical antics of the cultural-Marxist left for more than half a century, there's no idea too stupid or malignant for them to advocate and then channel into public policy.  Notions too absurd for words just a few years ago — such as allowing biological males in sports bras to compete with real women in various sports, including wrestling and boxing — are now mandated in some places.  Meanwhile, the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6 has become an "insurrection" and supporters of former president Trump have become "far-right extremists."  And if you object, you're a "bigot" or a threat to "our democracy."

Biden Celebrates International Women's Day by Forcing Girls to Share Bathrooms, Sports Teams, With Boys.  President Joe Biden pulled out all the stops for International Women's Day on Monday, but he arguably undercut women's advancement while paying lip service to it.  He issued a glowing statement about women's empowerment, launched a Gender Policy Council, and signed an executive order barring "sex discrimination" — including discrimination on the basis of gender identity — in public schools.  On one hand, Biden celebrated women's advancement, and on the other, he forced schoolgirls to share bathrooms and sports teams with biological boys.

These girls are hurt by transgender competition.  Alanna Smith's dedication to her sport is profound.  Just listening to the elite high school track star explain her training schedule is exhausting.  Yet no matter how hard she trains, if she has to compete against biological males, she stands no chance of winning.  "There is simply a biological advantage that males have over females," explained the daughter of baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Lee Smith.  "Here is a perfect example," Smith told me.  "I have a twin brother who is an athlete but does not run competitively for his sports.  We raced against each other recently, and he beat me.  Not because he trained harder, but because there are biological and physical advantages boys have over girls in some sports."

I Refuse to Play Make Believe Any Longer.  Unfortunately we have tens of millions of people still playing make believe, pretending that something is true when it absolutely isn't.  The simplest example on this is this whole idea that a teenage boy can declare himself a girl and now join the high school girls track team.  This requires everyone around him to suspend belief and pretend that he isn't a boy.  In fact, they DEMAND that we do so.  Even when it is patently obvious that it is simply not true.  Think about it.  If they can make you go along with the idea that a human body with a penis is actually a girl, in spite of all science saying otherwise, they can make you believe anything.  The make believe is designed to destroy the concept of absolute truth.

Judge Rules Miss USA Can Exclude Transgender Women.  A federal judge on Thursday [2/25/2021] dismissed a lawsuit brought by a transgender woman who accused Miss United States of America of discriminating against her after they denied her the right to compete because she was not a biological female, according to reports.  Pageant contestant Anita Noelle Green sued Miss U.S.A in December of 2019 after she alleged the pageant denied her application and refunded her entry fees on the day she applied.  The Miss U.S.A pageant only allows "natural born biological females" to compete, according to a Motion to Dismiss filed by the pageant.  The pageant argued that under the First Amendment it has rights to free association.  The pageant argued that the pageant is meant for biological women and that allowing Green to participate would "undermine its vision" and that had the court ruled in favor of Green it would be undermining the pageants "message about empowering only biological women."

Connecticut girls lose support from Biden administration in transgender athlete case.  The Biden administration has withdrawn from a Connecticut lawsuit that aims to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' high school sports.  A group of three female runners sued state and local education officials after losing state titles to transgender athletes in 2018.  Backers of the lawsuit contend that athletes who were born male have a natural and unfair advantage over competitors who were born female.  Supporters of the transgender athletes in the case argue that once hormone therapies take effect, the male genetic advantage fades away — although those effects aren't immediate, and many teens don't begin taking such drugs until after puberty.

DOJ withdraws from transgender athletes case.  The Biden administration has withdrawn its support for a federal lawsuit in Connecticut that seeks to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' high school sports.  Connecticut allows high school athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity.  The lawsuit was filed a year ago by several cisgender runners who argue they have been deprived of wins, state titles and athletic opportunities by being forced to compete against two transgender sprinters.  The Justice Department and the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights withdrew their support for the case ahead of a hearing scheduled for Friday on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Governor: Transgender athletes will 'destroy women's sports'.  Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday [2/10/2021] that transgender girls should be banned from playing on middle and high school sports teams or they will "destroy women's sports."  "I do believe that transgenders participating in women's sports will destroy women's sports," Lee, who is up for reelection next year, told reporters.  "It will ruin the opportunity for girls to earn scholarships.  It will put a glass ceiling back over women that hasn't been there in some time.  I think it's bad for women and for women's sports."

Psaki When Asked About Biden's EO Forcing Girls to Compete Against Biological Males:  Transgenders are More Important Than Your Daughters.  What about the rights of young girls?  When asked about the White House's message to young girls being forced to compete against biological males, Psaki said Biden's belief is trans rights are human rights.  In other words, Joe Biden believes biological males who identify as transgender, are more important than your daughters.  Psaki then deferred the reporter to the schools that are forced to allow biological males to compete with biological females — because of Joe Biden's executive order.

Girls will be Boys, and Boys will be Girls.  [Biden's] January 20 executive order, "Preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation" means that women's sports are now open to males who "identify" as females, [...] Not only sports, but also restrooms, locker rooms, and any school sports.  If members of the boys' high school soccer team decide to identify as girls, they can join the girls' soccer team and shower with them too.  What could go wrong?  Joe Biden instinctively knows there are biologic differences between boys and girls.  There are multiple photos and videos of Biden inappropriately touching and sniffing girls and women, but not boys or men.  He is disregarding his own executive order by discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Rand Paul Denounces Biden Transgender Sports Policy.  Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) challenged President Joe Biden's Education Secretary nominee on his statement it is "appropriate" to allow boys to compete in girls' sports by asking, "What planet are you from?"  During a confirmation hearing Wednesday [2/3/2021] of the Senate committee that oversees education, the Kentucky senator asked Miguel Cardona if he thinks it is "fair" to allow boys claiming to be transgender to participate in girls' sports, and about how it affects girls competing in these athletic events.  "I think it is appropriate," Cardona replied.  "It is the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities and this includes students who are transgender."

Be a tribe of one.  Suppose you're a die-hard Democrat.  What do you do about such issues as:  Transgenderism in women's sports.  Do you side with persons having male chromosomes but identify as women when they want to compete in sports against women, simply because such persons are overwhelmingly Democrats?  Or do you side with genetic women — who are also predominately Democrats — who are concerned that subjecting genetic women to competition from persons who've spent most of their lives developing height, girth and muscle mass as a man with male chromosomes and testosterone levels will destroy women's sports?

Retired NFL Player Calls For Separate Transgender Category Of Sports After Biden Executive Order.  Retired NFL defensive end Marcellus Wiley suggested a separate category for transgender athletes after President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order allowing males who identify as female to participate in women's sports. [...] Biden's executive order mandates that any school that receives federal funding must allow males who identify as females to play on girls' sports teams or face repercussions from the Department of Education.

So much for Joe Biden, moderate.  [For example,] allowing men in women's sports.  My guess is that Biden's day-one executive order that vastly expands the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision will come back to haunt both him and Democratic political candidates.  The order's language with respect to public schools says, "All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation."  Schools will likely interpret that as saying boys who simply identify as girls must be allowed to compete in girls' sports.  Ironically, the Supreme Court's 6-3 Bostock decision specifically excluded the Biden approach.  Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, "we do not purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind." — which is exactly what Biden's order does.  Given the undeniable additional strength, speed, size and stamina of most male athletes when compared to their female counterparts, it means that male athletes who identify as females will dominate their respective sport.  There are perks to being the top athletes in a class, including college scholarships and high-paying professional opportunities.

Kamala Harris undermines her historic vice presidency by supporting policies ruinous to women.  Kamala Harris made history when she became our country's first female vice president.  While electing the first woman to a nationwide office serves as an important milestone, Harris's policy positions themselves provide little comfort to women.  On numerous issues, Harris will undermine, rather than advance, causes that are important to women.  Take, for instance, Harris's support for the Equality Act.  This legislation, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories to the Civil Rights Act, would be bad for those born biologically female.  If enacted, the Equality Act would functionally give individuals born biologically male federal approval to enter sporting competitions previously reserved for those born biologically female.  It could also subject parents who prohibit their underage children from undergoing gender transition procedures to potential civil rights enforcement actions.

On Day One, Biden Destroys Women's Sports With Anti-Science Executive Order.  President Joe Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office, mandating that any schools that receive federal funding must function as if biological males who claim to be females are the same, and vice versa, or risk losing that funding.  This pro-transgender policy extends to male athletes who claim their gender identity as a female should allow them to compete on women's teams, receive women's scholarships, and be admitted in women's locker rooms.  "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports," the executive order reads, promising that the Biden administration is committed to "prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation."

Activists: Biden's Embrace of Transgender Athletes [is] a Blow to Women's Rights.  President-Elect Joe Biden's promise to embrace transgender ideology will likely include supporting biological men who say their gender identity is female to compete in sports against biological women.  Attorneys representing transgender athletes and women athletes expect Biden's Department of Education to reverse course in two lawsuits in Idaho and Connecticut that the Trump administration had backed to protect women's rights.

Equality Laws Should Protect Biological Women, Not Those Claiming to Be.  Title IX is landmark legislation that was passed to ensure that women would have the same opportunities as their male counterparts in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.  While Title IX did not explicitly mention athletics, it's come to be known for its impact on women and their participation in collegiate sports.  Fast forward a few decades.  Whereas it was clear that Title IX would apply to women, it has become increasingly difficult to define what, exactly, qualifies as a "woman" or more specifically, a female.  That is because the trans rights movement has made biological certainty less important than "identification."  Now we have biological men identifying as women, even though they were born with male genitalia, and may in fact still have that genitalia.  We have individuals who have all of the biological attributes of males, including their strength and innate athletic abilities, who present themselves as females.

Keeping Male Bodies Out of Women's Rugby.  From November 2015 until February 2020, World Rugby, rugby's global governing body, incorporated guidelines established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on transgender participation in sports.  According to these rules, males who wish to self-identify into women's rugby could do so if they committed to reducing their testosterone levels to 10 nmol per liter or lower for at least 12 months.  (The average level for men is about seven times that level.)  During this period, instances of biological males playing in the women's game increased, and some participants began to express alarm.  One rugby referee posted on the website Fair Play for Women, for instance, that "being forced to prioritize hurt feelings over broken bones exposes me to personal litigation from female players who have been harmed by players who are biologically male.  This is driving female players and referees out of the game."

New Bill Would Ban Biological Males From Women's Sports.  There is a reason why, even when discrimination based on sex is outlawed, we still allow separate sports teams (not to mention separate bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers) for males and females.  That reason has nothing to do with their psychological "gender identity."  Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that males and females have different anatomies from birth, with those differences accentuated after puberty.  The average man is larger, stronger, and faster than the average woman, so women would simply have no chance of reaching elite levels of competition if forced to compete against men.  Female high school track athletes in one state alone (Connecticut) have lost 15 medals to biological males in state competition in the last two years — reducing their chances for college athletic scholarships in the process.

Judge Blocks Idaho Law That Prevents Transgender Women From Participating In Female Athletics.  U.S. District Judge David Nye of Idaho ordered a preliminary injunction on Monday temporarily halting a state law that prohibits transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics, The Idaho Statesman reported.  Nye's ruling will allow transgender girls and women to participate in women's sports this upcoming fall at colleges and in secondary schools as the lawsuit proceeds, the Statesman reported.

High School Runner Who Lost to Transgender Athletes Will Compete in College.  By now, millions know the story of Selina Soule, the high school track star from Connecticut who missed qualifying for the New England track and field regionals by two spots in her top event.  Those two spots were taken by biological boys who identify as girls.  Soule, who is wise beyond her years, was well aware that she could face consequences for speaking out about being forced to compete against biological males.  But she recognized a greater need.  Little did Soule know that she would do more than speak out.  She became one of the most well-known faces of the movement to protect women's sports from being erased.

Ted Cruz:  Biological Males Should Not Be Allowed to Compete in Girls' Sports.  When asked whether biological males who identify as females should be allowed to play girls' sports, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, "no," and explained that it would undermine girls' sports and be unfair to be millions of female athletes.  At the Capitol on Wednesday [6/24/2020], CNS News asked Senator Cruz, "When the House Judiciary Committee considered the Equality Act it rejected an amendment that said the act would not require biological females to face biological males in sports competition.  Should biological males who say they identify as females be allowed to play girls' sports?"  "No.  I think it is unfair to girls to force them to compete against biological males," the senator said.  "And we're seeing a serious undermining of girls' sports — as state championships, state records in locations across the country, one after the other, after the other, are falling and being taken by biological males.  And I think that's unfair to millions of female athletes."

Congressional Dems Sign Letter Demanding Education Dept.  Allow Males in Girls Sports.  A group of congressional Democrats signed a letter on Wednesday demanding that the Department of Education allow males to participate in girls sports.  Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and 27 other Democratic members of Congress signed the letter, which stated that the department's order "discriminates against transgender youth" by ruling that it is a violation of women's access to education and athletics for public schools to allow biological males who identify as female to participate in female sports.

I'm a female student athlete.  Please protect women's sports from transgender athletes.  A female athlete at Idaho State University who is seeking to defend Idaho's new Fairness in Women's Sports Act has shared her story in the pages of the Idaho Statesman.  The law bars biological boys from participating in girls' sports and it faces a challenge from the ACLU.

Connecticut transgender sports policy discriminated against biological girls, feds conclude.  The U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has determined Connecticut schools' transgender athletics policy improperly discriminated against biological girls.  The finding was contained in a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action dated May 15 that concluded biological females were negatively impacted because the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and public schools allowed biological males to compete against them.  "For the aforementioned reasons, OCR also determined that the CIAC, Glastonbury, Bloomfield, Hartford, Cromwell, Canton, and Danbury treated student-athletes differently based on sex, by denying benefits and opportunities to female students that were available to male students," the letter states.

Idaho Bars Biologically Male Athletes From Competing in All-Female Sports.  Idaho governor Brad Little (R.) on Monday [3/30/2020] signed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act to prohibit biologically male students from participating in all-female sports.  "Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex," the bill states.  The law cites differences in male and female physiology that results in distinct athletic capabilities.  "Under this bill, boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it is not fair," state representative Barbara Ehardt told Reuters.

Trump DOJ defends female athletes.  The Justice Department has filed a statement of interest in a case challenging a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) policy that enables biological males to compete against biological females. [...] From a legal standpoint, it's important to note that Title IX of the Civil Righs Act and its implementing regulations prohibit discrimination "on the basis of sex," not on the basis of transgender status.  Therefore, the law neither requires nor authorizes CIAC's transgender policy.  Moreover, as the Attorney General explained, one of Title IX's core purposes is to ensure that women have an "equal athletic opportunity" to participate in school athletic programs.  This purpose is fulfilled by the establishment of separate athletic teams for men and women and by ensuring that those teams are on equal footing.

Transgender sports:  Trump's Justice Department weighs in on the side of science.  Title IX says that, in the education setting, people cannot be discriminated against based on their sex.  Congress passed Title IX in 1972, at a time when people had the old-fashioned idea that there were two sexes, one with XX chromosomes and the other with XY chromosomes.  Fast-forward almost fifty years, and you have Connecticut government entities insisting that if a boy claims to be a girl (and there's no requirement that he actually believes this false notion), schools must allow him to compete in girls' sports events.  That's how these two boys ran away with the Connecticut High School track championships and, in all probability, with the college scholarships that could go with them.

Ohio Joins Fight To Keep Boys Out Of Girls' Sports.  The battle lines are still being drawn in the effort to save women's and girls' competitive sports in the United States and the fight has now moved on to Ohio.  In the Buckeye State, legislators have introduced a new bill with the appropriate name of the Save Womens' Sports Act.  Much like similar legislation being debated around the country, this measure would bar boys who "identify" as girls from competing in girls' sports for all of the usual and obvious reasons.  This measure would apply to all public schools and colleges, as well as private schools and colleges that are members of a state or national athletic association.  As I'm sure you've already guessed, the proposal is drawing howls of protests from the usual suspects.

Arizona House passes ban on transgender females in women's sports.  Arizona House Republicans passed a controversial bill that would ban biological males who identify as transgender females from participating in women's sports.  Supporters say the "Save Women's Sports Act" is intended to prevent young girls and women in K-12 schools, community colleges, and state universities from being forced to compete against biological males, but opponents argue it allows for discrimination.  House Bill 2706 passed along party lines 31-29 and is headed to the state Senate, FOX 10 reports.  The bill is strongly opposed by Democrats.

Feminists Created the Monster Now Devouring Women's Sports.  [Scroll down]  They ought to point the finger at Equality Dogma, at whose altar moderns worship and which has been preached, incessantly, to advance an agenda.  The idea was that if you could convince people the sexes were basically equal in worldly capacities, no one would think there was any reason to keep women out of what traditionally had been male realms.  Voila!  Goodbye, discrimination!  This was convenient when girls/women wanted to join police forces and fire departments, enter military academies such as the Citadel or Virginia Military Institute, join boys' sports teams and Little League, and previously all-male clubs.  It's not so convenient now that the thinking is being taken closer to its logical conclusion.  But the point is this:  If because the sexes "are basically equal in capacities" there's no reason to keep women out of men's arenas, there's also no reason to keep men out of women's arenas.  In fact, not only is this turnabout an imperative of equality, there isn't even a good reason to have separate, sex-specific arenas in the first place.

Should Transgender Athletes Compete Against Women?  On February 12, three female high school students in Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit against the participation of transgender athletes (with male anatomy) in female track and field events.  The three students, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, have a fairly simple and straightforward argument:  They claim allowing biologically male students to compete against biologically female students is unfair and runs afoul (no pun intended) of their basic civil rights.  They also argue, quite convincingly, that allowing biologically male students to compete against them has undermined their ability to win races as well as opportunities for scholarships.  Alanna Smith, who is a sophomore at Danbury High School, described her frustration running against males who identify as women, "Mentally and physically, we know the outcome before the race even starts."

Summertime Blues for the Olympics.  Although we are currently in the dead of winter, summer will be here before we know it.  Democrats may be singing the Summertime Blues along with Eddie Cochran, "I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler" when they are forced to nominate a socialist to represent their party in the upcoming presidential election.  Or alternatively alienate half of their base.  There will also be a bit of fussing and hollering over the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.  Assuming the coronavirus outbreak doesn't turn into a science fiction movie leading to a near extinction event, gender politics and intersectionality are likely to provide a healthy dose of dyspepsia for Olympic committees and organizers.  As a preview of coming summertime gender wars, a biological male was invited to the US Olympic track and field trials to compete against American women.

Biologically Male Runner To Compete In USA Women's Olympic Trials.  A biologically male marathon runner who identifies as a transgender woman is set to compete in the USA Olympic trials later in February.  Megan Youngren "is set to make history on Feb. 29 as the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials," Sports Illustrated reported.  Youngren qualified for the trials after a strong performance on Dec. 8, 2019 in the California International Marathon. [...] The International Olympic Committee requires transgender athletes in women's sports to keep their testosterone levels below a certain threshold, but scientific research suggests that suppressing testosterone isn't enough to neutralize biologically male athletes' inherent physiological advantages.

Three female students file lawsuit against Connecticut transgender-athlete policy.  Three female high school athletes filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging Connecticut's prep sports rules that allow biological males to compete against girls, arguing that the policy robs them of competition and scholarship opportunities.  The lawsuit argued that teen track athletes Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell and Alanna Smith have been deprived of "honors and opportunities" after losing track-and-field races to biological males who identify as females, thanks to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference's policy allowing students to compete based on their gender identity.

Families Unite to Prevent Transgender Athletes From Competing in Girl's Sports.  When men compete against women in sports, men compete with an advantage over their female opponents.  Denser bone and muscle structure, more lung capacity for extra oxygen, and more lend to a physical advantage that usually makes it easy for a man to come out on top.  This is why transgender athletes, specifically biological men competing as women, tend to easily win competitions meant for women.  It's unfair, and three families are doing something about it.  According to ABC News, these three families from different high schools are coming together to file a federal lawsuit that would block transgender athletes from competing in competitions not meant for them.

NH bill limits women's sports to girls born female.  Legislation to prevent students born male from competing on female sports teams drew passionate testimony Tuesday, with supporters defending it as a way to ensure fairness and opponents decrying it as a violation of state anti-discrimination law.  Victoria Galla of Chesterfield told the House Education Committee she moved from Massachusetts and New York City to get away from the gender-identity politics she believes are destroying the lives of confused young people.

Georgia Introduces Bill to Make Transgender Students Compete as Assigned Birth Gender.  The Georgia legislature is set to debate a bill that would require students to compete in the category of their birth gender.  The bill was filed by Philip Singleton, a recently elected Republican State Representative from Sharpsburg, Georgia.  Singleton said that his bill aimed to eliminate the "unfair advantage" transgender athletes might have, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Male Transjacking Will Ultimately End Women's Sports.  This Friday, the top four NCAA Division III women's soccer teams face off in the national semifinals.  One of the final four teams' goalkeepers, Isa Berardo, is a male transgender playing as a female for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges.  Not surprisingly, the male goalie has dominated the field against opposing female players, giving his own a chance to win the national championship thanks to his physical advantages in a key position.  This is increasingly happening throughout women's sports, at all levels from elementary school through professional competitions.  It's creating not equality, but inequality.

Transgenderism and the Olympics.  Next year's Tokyo Summer Olympics may spell the swift death of the transgender movement as a dominant politically-correct touchstone.  Biological men, self-identifying as women, are poised to make a clean sweep of the Women's Olympics, triggering a very public debate on this third-rail subject.

Rachel McKinnon Is a Cheat and a Bully.  Rachel McKinnon — the so-called defending "world champion" of women's track cycling — is a man.  I'll repeat that so my meaning cannot be misconstrued.  He is a man.  Maybe my kind-hearted reader is offended by this blunt phrasing.  Why am I calling McKinnon a man — when, perhaps for complicated reasons, he would rather be called a woman?  Why don't I compromise and call him a "trans woman," as others do?  Or be polite and address him by "she/her" pronouns, like everyone else in the media?  Well, I'll tell you why, since you asked.  This is precisely the well-meant, tragically naïve logic that has enabled a structure of lies and tyranny to be erected around us, a structure that most cannot opt out of without incurring an enormous social cost.  It is a structure in which cheating and viciousness are rewarded while civility and truth-telling are punished.

Male Runner Wins NCAA Conference's 'Female Athlete of the Week'.  Earlier this week, the Big Sky Conference named a male runner as the female cross-country athlete of the week.  Jonathan Eastwood (yes, I'm deadnaming, sue me) previously competed on the men's team but joined the women's cross-country team at the University of Montana this fall.  By joining the women's team and competing under the name June Eastwood, he became the first "transgender" athlete to compete on an NCAA Division I women's running team — which is likely the only reason he was given the honor.

Biologically Male NCAA Runner Named Conference Female Athlete Of The Week.  The Big Sky Conference named University of Montana runner June Eastwood, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, the cross-country female athlete of the week.  "June Eastwood finished second in a field of 204 runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational," helping "Montana place seventh as a team," the conference noted in its announcement Tuesday.  Eastwood previously competed on the University of Montana's men's team.

Transgender Woman Wins 'Female Athlete of the Week' in NCAA Conference.  The Big Sky Conference named University of Montana runner June Eastwood, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, the cross-country female athlete of the week.  "June Eastwood finished second in a field of 204 runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational," helping "Montana place seventh as a team," the conference noted in its announcement on Tuesday.  Eastwood previously competed on the University of Montana's men's team.

Feminist Democrat:  Media Won't Let Us Speak Out Against Transgender Agenda.  In an interview on his Fox News show Wednesday night [10/23/2019], host Tucker Carlson spoke with Women's Liberation Front board member Kara Dansky — a self-described "lifelong" Democrat — about the controversy swirling around the latest championship won by a biological male in a women's sports competition.  In response to Carlson's questions about transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon — a biological male who just set a world record in a women's track cycling championship — Dansky said that many on the Left strongly oppose the transgender agenda but are "subjected to a media blackout."

Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon dominates as competitors raise questions.  Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon keeps dominating women's cycling.  And she keeps creating controversy all the way.  Last weekend at the Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, England, the 37-year-old Canadian first set a world record in qualifying for the 35-39 age category 200-meter sprint, then went on to defend her title in the finals.

Transgender Cyclist Wins Female Cycling World Championship, Claims Only Objections Come from 'Losers'.  Cyclist Rachel McKinnon, a biological male who presents as a woman, won the women's world championship on Saturday, and set a women's world record in the qualifying event.  McKinnon, a Canadian philosophy professor at the College of Charleston, won the same event in 2018.  In a Friday [10/18/2019] interview with Sky News, McKinnon said that attempts to level the playing field for women's sports by discriminating against transgender athletes was the equivalent of "denying their human rights."  "All my medical records say female," McKinnon said.  "My doctor treats me as a female person, my racing license says female, but people who oppose my existence still want to think of me as male...["]

Democrats Are Making Girls' Sports A 2020 Campaign Issue.  Establishment Media Aren't Telling You.  Democrats have made girls' sports a 2020 campaign issue, but establishment media outlets are keeping their viewers and readers in the dark.  Every Democratic frontrunner has pledged their support of the Equality Act, which would make "gender identity" a protected characteristic under federal anti-discrimination law.  Among other things, the bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls.  Every Democratic frontrunner for president has pledged their support for the bill, which passed the House in May with unanimous Democratic support.  But when establishment media outlets have covered the Equality Act in relation to the 2020 election, the girls' sports issue has gone missing.

Poll: 'Transgender' Men Ads Lead to 8-Point Voter Swing to Republican Matt Bevin from Democrat Andy Beshear.  A conservative group notes polling data shows an eight-point swing in voters' shift to incumbent GOP Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin from Democrat candidate Andy Beshear after they view ads highlighting Beshear's support of biological men competing in women's sports.

Transgender athletes deserve compassion, but not the right to transform women's sports.  Since the advent of Title IX — a federal law that expanded athletic and educational opportunities for women — millions of girls and women have benefited from their own teams and chances for growth.  But these opportunities risk being redefined and obliterated, because of a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will be argued this October.  The case centers on the question of whether the meaning of the word "sex" in employment law (Title VII) also covers gender identity.  While its outcome obviously matters for the people immediately involved, the Supreme Court's ruling on the meaning of the word "sex" has direct and profound implications for other parts of federal law.  It matters for the millions of girls and women affected by analogous laws such as those that ensure equal opportunities for education and athletic opportunities "on the basis of sex."

Dems' Transgender, Sexual Assault Policies Wage War On Both Sexes.  A new ad supporting Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who is in a tight race with his Democratic opponent Andy Beshear, shows female track athletes being left in the dust by a male competitor who identifies as female.  The looks on the faces of the girls watching the male athlete celebrating are unforgettable.  "Andy Beshear supports legislation that would destroy girls' sports.  He calls it 'equality.'  Maybe.  But is it fair?" asks the ad's female narrator.

Liberals Embrace Anti-Feminism in Transgender Sports Debate.  Anti-feminists continue their unapologetic efforts to destroy women's sports at all levels.  Not satisfied to just ruin high school girls' athletics, they are setting their sights higher.  This week's headline indicated that Juniper Eastwood, a University of Montana cross-country runner, will become the first transgender (i.e. biological male) athlete to compete as a female in division I cross country.  Anyone want to bet against him completely dominating his sport?

Is It Trans Discrimination or Legitimate Concern for Women?  The landscape of women's sports has changed drastically in the last few years.  Natural-born males who now identify as women can compete athletically against natural-born women simply by stating they identify as a woman.  This includes quite masculine males who have long since passed the age of puberty before their purported "transition."  What has been buried under the identity politics cacophony are facts of biology, and the indisputable differences between the two sexes.  Those who have spoken out against the sudden turn of events say they are being censored; some professionals have been fired for not following the trans activist narrative that prevails in public discourse.

This Is What LGBTQ Organizations Are Doing to Society.  Last month, a transgender weightlifter won multiple gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.  Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand won two gold medals and a silver in the three heavyweight categories for women weighing more than 87 kilograms, or 192 pounds.  Hubbard is physically male.  Last year, two biologically male sophomores at different Connecticut high schools competed in the female division of the state open track and field competition.  They came in first and second place in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.  Because the Western world cowers before LGBTQ demands, no matter how unfair they are to women athletes, men who deem themselves female must be allowed to compete against women.  They almost always win.

Feds Investigating Violation Of Girls' Civil Rights In CT After Trans Athletes Smoke Competition.  The U.S. Department of Education Office has agreed to investigate a violation of girls' civil rights in Connecticut following a complaint filed in Boston concerning two biologically male transgender teens triumphing over biologically female competitors in high school track.

Democrats Denied Transgender Athletes Have Advantages In Women's Sports.  Science Says They're Wrong.  Suppressing testosterone levels in male athletes isn't enough to eliminate their natural advantages over female athletes, according to a recently published paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics.  The paper's findings contradict congressional Democrats' claim that male athletes who identify as transgender don't have an inherent advantage over their female competitors.  The paper, "Transwomen in elite sport: scientific and ethical considerations," concluded that male athletes who identify as transgender women have an "intolerable" advantage over their female competitors.

Democrats, Transsexuals, and Women's Sports.  The gradual subversion of women's sports by the LGBTQ movement could receive a steroidal-like boost with a victory by Democrats in the 2020 elections.  All Democratic presidential candidates have pledged their support for the Equality Act, which declares one's sex to be whatever he or she self-identifies as, regardless of the "designated sex at birth."  House Democrats voted overwhelmingly in May to approve the measure.  Joe Biden says getting the act passed would be his top legislative priority.  Critics say it could devastate girl's and women's sports.  It comes down to a numbers game.  Transgenders are just now coming out, much as gays came out 40 years ago.

Transgender weightlifter wins two gold medals in women's competition.  The transgender conquest of women's sports continued over the weekend as a New Zealand weightlifter took home multiple gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.  Laurel Hubbard won two gold medals and a silver in the three heavyweight categories, for women weighing more than 87 kilograms, or 192 pounds, finishing first in the snatch-lift and combined categories and second in the clean-and-jerk.  The 41-year-old weightlifter was born as Gavin Hubbard and reportedly transitioned while in the mid-30s.

Sorry, Ladies:  It's Just Biology, Psychology, and Economics.  The "inequality" that exists in women's sports is nothing new, and in spite of what many on the left would have us believe, it involves nothing nefarious.  The fact that consumers overwhelmingly prefer men's sports to women's sports is merely a matter of biology and psychology and not due to some mythical misogynistic plot.  The facts and the data clearly bear this out. [...] Unless the Left continues down this road, where gender-deluded (or financially savvy?) men are allowed to compete as women, there will never be "equal pay" or "gender equality" when it comes to athletics, because human sexes are not — and will never be — equal.

Female athlete alleges retaliation by coach because her mother complained about transgender policy.  Boys are competing in girls' track and field events in Connecticut, at the direction of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, so that transgender students don't feel invalidated.  They are often winning, and the girls are afraid to publicly object for fear of "retaliation," according to Selina Soule, one of the female competitors.  That's why Soule and two of her unnamed female peers are asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate CIAC for Title IX violations.

Understanding Leftists in Three Easy Steps.  America is fighting a culture war and the Progressive Left is the aggressor.  The latest front was opened on June 21 when the House of Representatives passed the so-called "Equality Act," which would allow boys who self-identify as girls to compete in school sports as girls.  Conservatives point to the Democrats' embrace of transgender ideology as further evidence the party has gone off the rails, but typically left unexplained is how and why Leftists get to the positions they hold.  Here is an attempt to do that.

Hey, 'Trans' Men in Women's Sports:  Good Luck, Fellas — Go for the Gold!.  "Equality" cries were cherished by feminists when they gave females entry into military academies, boardrooms and the ranks of police; prize-money parity in some sporting events; and access to boys' athletics.  But with these appeals now putting sexually confused men in women's sports, well, feminists' cries are a tad different.  Equality can be a real downer when it's principle and not ploy.

Survey: 1 in 4 okay with trans athletes competing in women's sports.  The survey, conducted by ScottRasmussen.com, was conducted in mid-April 2019 — and according to the findings, less than a quarter of respondents (23%) believe men should be able to compete in women's competitive sports events.  But Steve McConkey, president of 4 WINDS Christian Athletics, is concerned that individuals under 35 are evenly divided on the question (41% yes, 44% no).  "[The poll] showed that the younger generations ... are not opposed to transgenders in sports — [whereas] the older adults ... are more situated in their belief, thinking there are two sexes," he summarizes.

High School Track Star Who Lost Race to Transgender Athletes Explains Why She's Fighting Back.  The female high school athlete who was forced to sit on the sidelines at a major track tournament because two transgender runners landed the No. 1 and No. 2 spots isn't just speaking out about the unfairness of her situation — she's fighting back.  Hours after filing a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Selina Soule and her attorney, Christiana Holcomb of Alliance Defending Freedom, sat down with Kelsey Bolar on this week's edition of "Problematic Women" to discuss the latest developments in her case.

Transgender Policy Forces Catholic Girls School Out Of Athletic Conference.  ConservativeHQ.com has obtained exclusive information that Oakcrest School, an independent Catholic school for girls in grades 6-12, has withdrawn from the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) due to the athletic conference's decision to allow boys who "identify" as girls to compete in the conference's girls athletic programs.  According to information shared exclusively with CHQ, back in March the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) voted to amend its constitution to allow students to participate in athletics in a manner that is "consistent with their gender identity."

High School Girl Who Lost Race to Transgender Athletes Files Federal Complaint.  A female high school athlete who didn't qualify for a track event because two boys who identify as girls ran faster filed a complaint Monday with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.  "No one in the state of Connecticut is happy about this, but no one has enough courage to speak up," Selina Soule said during an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired Monday night [6/17/2019] on his Fox News Channel show.

Girls file federal discrimination complaint after transgender track wins.  Three Connecticut girls who have run high school track have filed a federal discrimination complaint saying a statewide policy on transgender athletes has cost them top finishes in races and possibly college scholarships.

Female Track Runner Sidelined By Male Competitors Petitions The Department Of Education For Justice.  It's striking how quickly the culture can change.  Just a short time ago, surely few would've believed that a common viewpoint — that it would be unfair to let guys take away athletic victories from girls by allowing them to compete in women's sports — would be labeled the result of an irrational fear.  Yet here we are:  What was considered common sense and common goodness is now a symptom of mental illness.  "Transphobia" has gotten so much traction, in fact, that Brazil just criminalized it — it's punishable by a half decade in prison.

Run-of-the-mill as a man, champion as a 'woman'.  Last year, Craig Telfer (pictured, center) was a solid but not dominating athlete competing in men's track and field at Franklin Pierce University.  But this year, Telfer — now identifying as a woman — competed in women's events, setting numerous school and conference records, and ended up qualifying for the Division II NCAA championships in two events: 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles.  Steve McConkey of 4 WINDS Christian Athletics says that's unfair because "the physical characteristics of this athlete ... are far superior than women — the length of the joints, the top parts of the leg are far superior than women for hurdling, [the event] in which this person was successful in doing."  McConkey is opposed to this trend, claiming it will ruin women's sports.  However, he says that some notable female athletes are beginning to speak out.

Finally! A poll on transgender athletes competing as women.  The concerted push for the public to accept the notion that men can become women by an act of will, perhaps with the aid of hormones and surgery, has always struck me as a measure intended to ratify mind control by means of institutional pressure and ostracism of non-compliant people.  The fact that transgenderism is blatant scientific nonsense makes the exercise all the more important.  A subject population that can be made to assent to such nonsense will accept totalitarianism as it creeps up.  That's why until now I have not been able to find any poll asking the public what it thinks.  The danger in mass mind control exercises is that people will recognize they are not alone in [questioning] what the media, the deep thinkers, and the activists tell them.  But, as I expected, it turns out that a majority of the public isn't buying the party line that the media, the education establishment, Hollywood, and the entire arts and culture establishment fanatically push.

Transgender hurdler easily wins NCAA women's national championship.  A hurdler who competed as a man last year won an NCAA championship in women's hurdles over the weekend.  CeCe Telfer of Franklin Pierce University easily won the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division II outdoor track-and-field championships Saturday, winning the final race by more than a second.  Telfer also finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles, earning All-America honors.

"It is better to deserve honors and not have them
  than to have them and not deserve them."

— Mark Twain         

Transgender Woman, Who Remains A Biological Male, Wins NCAA Women's Track Championship.  A biological male won the first Women's Track and Field NCAA title, even though she was previously competing as a man named Craig as recently as 2018. CeCe Telfer, a transgender woman from New Hampshire attending Franklin Pierce University, won the first ever NCAA title for the sport, and also made history as the first biologically male competing on a woman's team to do so.

The Editor says...
EVERY "transgender woman" remains a biological male.  You can make drastic surgical alterations to your body, but you cannot change your chromosomes.

Liberals Are At War With Science In The Transgender Athlete Controversy.  [Scroll down]  Nowhere is this disconnect between science and modern liberal ideology (and its harm to those the party claims to champion) so evident as in the dispute over transgender athletes who demand to compete in women's sports.  On one side of the debate you have people like Jaycee Cooper, a transgender woman who is in a dispute with USA Powerlifting because the federation doesn't allow biological men to compete with women.  USA Powerlifting says Cooper has an unfair advantage over them as a biological male, but Cooper says it's discriminatory to ban transgender people from competing with the sex they identify with.  "I really do love this sport, and it's not fair to genetically eliminate an entire group of people," Cooper told NBC News.  The federation rules do allow transgender athletes to compete freely in competition with people of their biological sex, with the exception of biological women who use testosterone.  But more importantly, Cooper's discrimination argument disregards the fact that women's sports are designed to exclude an entire group of people — men — from the competition in order to level the playing field.

Trans Powerlifter Stripped Of Titles In Women's Championships.  This is the latest in our apparently endless series of stories covering the destruction of competitive women's sports by the introduction of "transgender women" into the events.  This time we're back to the sport of weightlifting.  A transgender powerlifter named Mary Gregory recently "dominated" the field at a Powerlifting Federation competition last month, smashing four world records for that weight class in the process.  This had the actual women competing in the event understandably upset and protests were lodged.  But after an investigation was conducted, the federation chairman posted an announcement saying that the record lifts were being taken off the books.

Sports League Rejects Transgender Athlete's Claim to Female Weightlifting Records.  A weightlifting league has revoked awards to a transgender weightlifter who claimed to have broken several women's weightlifting records.  "Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather thana identification," said a statement from Paul Bossi, president of 100% RAW Powerlifting Federation.

8th Place:  A High School Girl's Life After Transgender Students Join Her Sport.  When two high school athletes who were born male but identify as female took first and second place at Connecticut's girls indoor track championship this year, it wasn't just a local news story.  To some, it was a story of triumph and courage.  The winner, a junior from Bloomfield High School, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and went on to win the New England titles in both the 55-meter dash and the 300-meter dash.  To others, it was a story of shock and disappointment:  Is this the end of women's sports?

Girls and Women Deserve Single-Sex Sports.  Our culture is so steeped in the idea of equality (in most ways, a very good and noble commitment) that we lose sight of obvious but important facts that we must acknowledge if we are to create a truly level playing field and make functioning equality possible.  Take sports.  Today, most people recognize that participating in athletics is associated with positive benefits for both males and females.  It's just as important to encourage our daughters to join a team as it is to encourage our sons.  Individuals of both sexes have the capacity to be great athletes.

Man Competes In Women's Powerlifting, Sets Four World Records.  Do people no longer realize the extreme difference between XX and XY muscle?  Reality keeps rearing its ugly head in sports, as a liberal position eliminates women from competition like Dolly Parton crashing a Men's Largest Chest championship.  Case in point:  Mary Gregory.  On Sunday [4/28/2019], Mary — who's a man — shattered four women's division powerlifting world records.  Due to his dominance in girls' deadlift, squat, and bench press, he set a Masters total record.

Transgender Athletes Dominate at Connecticut Girls' Track State Meet.  According to FairPlayForWomen.com, a nonpartisan grassroots campaign based in the UK dedicated to fighting for the sex-base rights of women and girls, there are a number of skeletal and muscular differences between men and women.  Women are, on average, 9 percent shorter than men, and have shorter and weaker bones.  Women also have shorter arms and legs relative to body size — one can easily see where longer legs might benefit males in track sports.  As for muscles, women "are around 30-35% muscle by weight, while men are 40-50% muscle."  Women's ligaments are also thinner and softer than men's.  The impact these biological differences have when it comes to competitive sports is undeniable — and there are victims whose concerns are not being heard.

Every House Democrat But One: 234 Elected Officials Demand The Extermination Of Women's Sports.  Sarah Warbelow of the left-wing Human Rights Campaign testified before a House subcommittee Tuesday [4/9/2019] that the notion of men having an athletic advantage over women is not "rooted in fact."  Here's a secret:  The very much "rooted in fact" fact that men have an advantage is the very reason there's such a thing as women's sports in the first place.  If there's no advantage, then just eliminate women's sports.  Which, effectively, they're doing.

All but one Democrat in the House co-sponsors a bill to allow males to compete on female athletic teams.  It may be counterintuitive to rationally examine an irrational proposal, but it's the only way to defeat it.  Not all male athletes will be able to beat all female athletes.  This is especially true at the highest levels of competition.  But it is also true that the best male athletes will defeat the best female athletes every time.  And in some sports — field events in track — even average male athletes will have a competitive advantage over females.  This hardly matters to female athletes who train for years, bringing their bodies to peak conditioning, only to find that their best wasn't good enough because a biological male who might be an average or above average male athlete was allowed to compete against her.

Former Olympic medalist:  Female athletes afraid to speak out about males competing as women.  British former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies said Monday that she knows of "quite a lot" of female athletes who are afraid to publicly share their concerns about biological males who identify as transgender women competing in women's sports.  Davies told Sky News that she's had "many" conversations with female athletes who are afraid to speak out, especially "people who are competing at the moment."  "They're worried that their governing bodies will frown on it, they're worried that their sponsors will think it's not PC and that they're not allowed to do this," said Davies, who won a silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

First They Came for the Catholics, Then for the Christians, and Then for the High School Kids.  [Scroll down]  Meanwhile, in Colorado, they now have disqualied Brendan Johnston from the state's high-school wrestling championships.  Johnston is a Christian teen boy who politely, as a matter of religious principle and personal conscience, refused to wrestle a girl.  As he explained, "There is something that I really do find problematic about the idea of wrestling with a girl, and a part of that does come from my faith and my belief.  And a part of that does come from how I was raised to treat women.  I don't think that I am looking at them as not equal.  I am saying that they are women, and that is dierent than being men, because I do believe that men and women are different, and we are made differently.  But I still believe that women are of equal value to men.  I don't think that seeing men and women as different... [opposes] the idea of equality."

Girls' sports being decimated by biological males claiming to be females.  There are only two genders in this world of ours, male and female, and it doesn't matter how someone "identifies," that biological fact is established and unalterable. [...] With that being said, the Left is nevertheless hard at work trying to convince us that gender is a 'fluid' thing and in some cases, an outright choice, so old societal constructs like "male" and "female" sports are no longer necessary or relevant.  That's why they go along with allowing biological males to participate in (and dominate) all-female events simply because they 'identify' as a girl, claiming — remarkably and unbelievably — that there are no physical differences between the sexes.

If You're A Biological Man Competing In A Women's Sport, You're A Cheater.  It's one thing to have someone shout that they are female when they're really male.  If they just kept it to that, then that's not something I particularly care about.  You do you, just don't force everyone else to pretend along with you and we're good.  However, it's another to not only force everyone else to agree with you but then applaud you as you put women down.  That's exactly what's going on in the sports community, as headline after headline comes out detailing victories by transgendered "women" in women's sports as highlighted by my colleague Elizabeth Vaughn on Tuesday [2/26/2019].  These are only being celebrated today as triumphs because the current trend says people not only should cheer it on, but they have to.  Any talk to the contrary evokes the wrath of the mob, and God have mercy on your soul if you become their target.

The Testosterone-Fueled He-Men of Women's Sports.  Female sprinters (good ones) tend to have broader shoulders and narrower hips, but still cannot match the anatomical advantages that a biological male does.  In addition, all females, even masculine ones, have a wider Q-angle.  That's the hip to knee ratio.  And here, that difference is again obvious.  Finally, look at the muscle density.  The biological girls could work out their whole lives and not build that muscle naturally.

Boys Will Be Boys, Except When They Are Girls.  In the recent Connecticut girls' state indoor track championships, two men calling themselves women finished first and second place in the 55-meter sprint, one of them setting a state record.  Connecticut is one of 17 states allowing high school athletes to compete without restriction with members of the opposite sex.  States, in an effort to be diverse, tolerant, and woke, have passed anti-discrimination laws requiring students who so desire to be treated in school as members of the opposite sex.  Interestingly, the sporting competitions are binary:  male or female.  If these school administrators were true to their intentions, they would have separate sporting events for each of the 60 genders in order to make things fair.

Trump-Hating Lesbian Tennis Champ Destroyed for Saying Men and Women Are Different.  Navratilova defected from communist Czechoslovakia in 1975 and became a U.S. citizen in 1981. That same year, when there was still a price to be paid for doing so, she came out as a lesbian and has since engaged in a long career of LGBT activism.  She lent her name and support to ballot initiatives, spoke at LGBT marches, and in 2000 was the recipient of the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group.  She is active on Twitter and firmly in the Orange Man Bad camp.  No one could ever accuse Martina of not being down for the cause.  All this was not enough to protect Navratilova from ostracization and accusations of bigotry last week when she questioned the wisdom of allowing men pretending to be women to compete in women's sports.

Martina Navratiola Removed From Board of LGBTQ Organization.  Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was officially removed Wednesday from the advisory board of a prominent LBGTQ organization after making comments about transgender athletes.  Navratilova released an op-ed in The Sunday Times on Feb. 17 discussing her opinion on why transgender athletes should not be able to compete against female athletes.  She wrote that having men compete as women is unfair because of the physical advantage.

Political Correctness Is Ruining Sports.  For the second consecutive year, Mack Beggs, an 18-year-old transgender wrestler, has won the Texas girls' Class 6A 110-pound division.  Born a female, Beggs is in the process of transitioning to a male, or so she thinks.  Beggs, who takes a low dose of testosterone, had wanted to compete against boys, but Texas public high schools, which have yet to get with the progressive times, require athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificate.  Last year two girls, not wanting to risk being injured by her, forfeited against Beggs.  So did a girl this year.  Whether they were compelled to undergo empathy training I don't know. [...] Transgenderism is a problem in the Olympics, too.  Per the latest rules, transgender "women" must test below a specified level of testosterone for more than one year in order to compete.  But while this is doubtless somewhat effective, aren't these athletes, with their still bigger, still stronger, and still more durable bodies, out of place even so?

Man "Identifying" As Woman Wins Women's World Cycling Championship.  Having covered the topic of transgender athletes extensively here, this is a story I've been expecting to cross our path for quite a while now.  At the 2018 UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles this weekend, the winner of the women's 35-39 age bracket was Canadian competitor Rachel McKinnon.  McKinnon is a male who identifies as a female.

The Editor says...
If a heavyweight boxer "identified" as a middleweight, and then beat his opponent to a pulp, would that be unfair?  Yes, because there are pragmatic ways (involving a calibrated scale) to determine (before the contest begins) who's a heavyweight and who's not.  Similarly, there are ways to determine if one has XX chromosomes or XY chromosomes; and indeed, there are no others.

World cycling bronze medalist cries foul after transgender woman wins gold.  The American bronze medalist who lost a world-championship cycling race to a transgender woman from Canada has criticized the results as unfair.  "First transgender woman world champion...ever," Rachel McKinnon, an assistant professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, bragged Sunday in a tweet that set off a massive debate.

Biological Male Wins World Championship In Women's Cycling.  A biological male who identifies as a transgender woman won a women's world championship cycling event on Sunday [10/14/2018].  Rachel McKinnon, a professor at the College of Charleston, won the women's sprint 35-39 age bracket at the 2018 UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles.  McKinnon, representing Canada, bested Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen of the Netherlands and American cyclist Jennifer Wagner to take home the gold.

It's time to end women's sports.  It's time to end women's sports — especially since they're not just "women's" sports anymore.  A case in point is "Rachel" McKinnon, Ph.D., a man masquerading as a woman (MMW), or a "transgender," as the enlighteners say, who just won a women's masters cycling event.  As The Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft (almost) put it, he "whooped them little girls."  McKinnon isn't alone, as many MMW have won women's sporting events during the last decade.  To name just a few, a 55-year-old MMW won a women's long-drive competition (golf) in 2008.  Last year, a 39-year-old MMW won a women's weightlifting event.  Then there were the Connecticut's State Open track and field championships in June; the top two finishers in the 100-meter dash were both MMW (okay, being boys, they were BMG), with one of them setting the girls' state record in both the 100- and 200-meter runs.  Hey, you go...uh...girl.

State of Modern Sports:  Boy Identifies as Girl, Boy Competes as Girl, Boy Wins Everything.  A high school in Connecticut has accepted a new boy on their track team.  Except, he won't be going to the boys track team, he'll be going to the girls team.  Andraya Yearwood, a freshman and biological male from Cromwell High School in Connecticut, identifies as a girl and recently received permission to join the girls track team after competing as a boy in middle school.  Not surprisingly, Yearwood has been extremely successful as a male competing against females.

NFL: Hey, you know what would really improve our ratings?  A transgender bathroom bill fight.  You may have missed it in the rush of "other news" last month, but Texas is considering implementing their own transgender bathroom bill similar to the one in North Carolina which we spent most of 2016 fighting over. [...] One unexpected entrant into this particular field of battle seems to be the National Football League.  For reasons which currently baffle me, the NFL decided to weigh in on the subject this week and issue what sounds something like a warning to the Lone Star State, hinting that Texas may not be hosting any more Super Bowl events if they follow such a path.

NFL more forceful on Texas 'bathroom bill' after Super Bowl.  The NFL sharpened its warning to Texas on Friday [2/10/2017] about a "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people, suggesting for the first time that the football-crazed state could miss out on hosting another Super Bowl if the proposal is enacted.

NFL Warns Texas There Could Be Consequences for 'Bathroom Bill'.  Days after the Super Bowl in Houston, the NFL is warning Texas that legislation requiring individuals to use public bathrooms in accordance with their biological sex could cost the state future opportunities to host the big game.

Seattle Mariners apologize after lesbian couple are told to stop kissing at the baseball team's first ever gay pride night because it was against their 'family-friendly' policy.  The Seattle Mariners had to make a groveling apology after a lesbian couple were told off for kissing at the team's first ever Pride night.  Mary McHale and her partner Sara Hinton had enjoyed the game against the Milwaukee Brewers — which the Mariners won 7-6 — and were waiting for a ride afterwards when a steward told them to stop smooching because it was a 'family-friendly' event.

Trans-thinking: When 98 Percent of Students Would Let Men in Women's Sports.  Imagine a fairly muscular, athletic young man, acting like a man and dressed as a man, tells you he identifies as a woman and asks you to sign a petition supporting his effort to play on his college's women's basketball team.  Your response?  If you're like 49 out of 50 students approached at the University of Maryland recently, you may sign and say "You go, (girl?)!"  And, no, according to Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips, who masqueraded as the aspiring woman, he didn't show just the eyebrow-raising responses.  He says that he asked only 50 students for support, and 49 offered it.

7 Reasons Why the Equality Act Is Anything But.  [#4] It would allow more biological males to defeat girls in sports.  Two biological males who identify and compete as women easily defeated all of their female competitors in an event at the Connecticut State Track Championships.  Transgender athlete Terry Miller broke the state record in the girls'100-meter dash.  Andraya Yearwood, also transgender, took second place.  Selina Soule, a female runner, not only lost to the biological males in the championships but also lost out on valuable opportunities to be seen by college coaches and chosen for scholarships.  Soule said about the 100-meter event:  "We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it's demoralizing."

Transgender Prof Claims Excluding Men from Women's Sports is Like Excluding Black Women.  This comparison seems awfully unfair to black women, but what do I know?  I'm not a professor.

Opera singer becomes first transgender woman to sing national anthem at professional sporting event.  History was made at the Oakland Athletics stadium this week when a transgender woman sang the national anthem at a professional sporting event for the first time ever in the country.  Classically-trained opera singer Breanna Sinclaire took the mic at the O.co Coliseum for a sold out game between the A's and the San Diego Padres on Wednesday [6/17/2015].  Sinclaire had a 30,000 audience at the A's LGBT Pride Night as she belted out the Star-Spangled Banner, and that wasn't counting the people who were watching the game on television.

Transgender Woman Sings National Anthem at Pro Sports Event for First Time.  Transgender woman Breanna Sinclairé made history Wednesday night [6/17/2015] by becoming the first transgender person to sing the National Anthem at a professional sporting event.

The Editor says...
I'd be at the ticket counter demanding a refund before the first batter took a swing.

Men will now compete against women:
Olympics Loosen Rules to Allow Pre-Op M-to-F Transsexuals to Compete with Women.  There's great news for adventurous male Olympic hopefuls:  if they declare themselves women and reduce their testosterone below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to competition, they can compete against ladies.  There's even better news for these men; according to transgender guidelines approved by the International Olympic Committee, genitalia does not serve as a prerequisite.  The guidelines state:  "To require surgical anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights."

'I feel gay', FIFA chief attempts to empathise with marginalised.  FIFA President Gianni Infantino raised eyebrows on Saturday when he attempted to show empathy with marginalised groups by telling reporters in Qatar 'I feel gay ... I feel like a migrant worker'.  Infantino opened the traditional pre-World Cup news conference on Saturday with a lengthy monologue lambasting the critics of Qatar hosting the tournament because of the country's human rights record.

USA make a statement at the World Cup in Qatar.  The United States' men's national team have made a huge statement at the World Cup in Qatar by redesigning their crest to incorporate the rainbow flag, in a bid to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.  The tournament, which starts on Sunday and sees the US play their opener against Wales on Monday, has been hugely controversial in its build-up, given Qatar's human rights record and attitude to homosexuality.  As recently as this month, a Qatar World Cup ambassador told a German TV broadcaster that homosexuality was 'damage to the mind', and it remains illegal to be gay in the conservative Muslim country.

Woke Sports — Why Do We Still Watch?  The slippery slope wins again — the Disease of Wokeness is consuming sports top to bottom. [...] Canadian broadcasts are unwatchable, though admittedly I still tune in occasionally.  It's always with a measure of penance.  First, I'm treated to the Indigenous Land Acknowledgement, where I'm told I'm a horrible person and I live on stolen land.  It used to be one sentence.  Lately it's part of an extended ceremony.  Finally — blessedly — the game starts, but the lecturing is by no means over.  White Man Bad incidents are a regular feature.

So Long as Fans Acquiesce, Very Little Will Change.  The National Hockey League (NHL) recently joined the "woke train" after an internal review found that the league was "too white."  By "going woke," the NHL joined the NFL and the NBA, both of which continue to unapologetically promote woke, anti-American policies, as described here, here, and here.  Unfortunately, these professional leagues, and others like them, will continue to engage in such conduct because fans are enabling them to do so. [...] It goes without saying that, without punishment (primarily in the form of lost revenues), there is nothing compelling these leagues to slow down, stop, or reverse course.  If people continue to watch/attend games, purchase league merchandise, and/or otherwise support the various leagues, the leagues will continue to push forward, and other businesses/companies will follow their lead.  It is not enough for Americans to voice their discontent with the various policies and practices.  Rather, they should stop watching the games, buying merchandise, and supporting the players.  Only then will the various leagues learn that decisions have consequences.

Why the left went after sports.  The Cleveland Indians are the most exciting team in baseball.  They have 10 rookies on their 26-man roster.  Six others were rookies last year.  They play small ball and win.  They are managed by Tito Francona Jr., a grandpa who led the Boston Red Sox in 2004 to their first World Series championship in 86 years.  Fans in Cleveland shun the Cleveland Indians this year.  That's because the team is not the Cleveland Indians.  Management caved in to Woke Know Nothings and changed the name to Guardians this year.  Attendance was 25th among the 30 major league teams. [...] Clevelanders shun the team because it is not the Indians.  It is the Guardians, named for four stone carvings on a bridge near the ballpark.  The name change came because the left deigned naming a team the Indians to be an insult to Indians. [...] Why do left propagandists screw around with team names?  For the same reason they get players to kneel.  They want to undermine the social fabric that draws people together rich and poor, young and old, black and white, East Side-West Side.

NBA Will Not Schedule Games on Election Day.  The NBA will not be scheduling any games on the midterm election day, but all 30 teams will play the night before on November 7, the Associated Press stated.  The league looks to use this as an opportunity to encourage its fans to get out and vote to "amplify the need for civic engagement."

The Editor says...
It doesn't take all day to vote.  The polls are open for twelve hours on Election Day.  Anybody who really wants to vote can do so.

Christian female soccer player chooses to sit out match rather than wear LGBT jersey.  A professional female soccer player chose to boycott a recent game instead of wearing an LGBT pride jersey.  Jaelene Daniels, a defender for the North Carolina Courage team, chose to sit out during a July 29 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) game rather than don the "Pride" jersey her team was scheduled to wear.

Jaelene Daniels is forced out of North Carolina Courage's game against Washington Spirit after refusing to wear a Pride jersey.  Jaelene Daniels refused to play for North Carolina Courage in the NWSL game against Washington Spirit on Friday because her team were wearing a Pride jersey.  The Courage held its first ever Pride Night on Friday around the game but a spokesperson for the team told WRAL-TV in North Carolina that the 29-year-old Daniels, a devout Christian, had chosen not to participate.  'Jaelene will not be rostered tonight as she has made the decision to not wear our Pride jersey,' the spokesperson said.  'While we're disappointed with her choice, we respect her right to make that decision for herself.

Australian Rugby Players Revolt After Being Told to Wear Gay Pride Jersey.  Up to seven players from the Manly rugby league club in Sydney, Australia, are threatening to boycott their match Thursday after a decision was made without consultation for them to wear a gay pride jersey in the fixture.  Management of the Sea Eagles, as they are known, announced on Sunday night [7/24/2022] players would wear an LGBTQIA+ jersey for the match, with a rainbow design replacing the strip's traditional white hoops.  That decision has caused unrest among some players unhappy they were not consulted by club management, ABC News Australia reports.

Conservatives need to stop supporting people who hate them.  In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the corporate and entertainment world have joined the pro-abortion chorus in denouncing the decision, the Court, and the pro-life movement.  Their reaction has been swift and predictable. [...] Not to be outdone, the NBA and WNBA released a statement saying in part:  "We stand in solidarity with those who fear for the repercussions of the Supreme Court decision."  NBA star LeBron James, who plays nice with the Chinese Communist Party, says the Dobbs decision is about "power and control."  Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. national soccer team described the decision as "cruelty."  Former Tennis star Billie Jean King said, "It is a sad day in the United States."

Sports Illustrated says SCOTUS ruling for praying coach 'erodes democracy'.  Sports Illustrated is taking heavy fire over a tweet suggesting that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a former high school football coach who was fired for kneeling in silent prayer after games would be a blow against democracy, the latest example of the sad decay of a magazine that was once an American institution before it became a propaganda vehicle for radical leftist ideology.  The nation's highest court will decide the case of Joe Kennedy, a retired USMC gunnery sergeant and combat veteran who in 2015 was fired by the Bremerton School District in Washington State for honoring God at the 50-yard-line at the completion of games.  He was unceremoniously dumped from his job after refusing to obey orders to cease and desist resulting in a long legal battle that has made its way to the SCOTUS.  SI, which has celebrated cop-hating, anti-American heel Colin Kaepernick as its sportsperson of the year and specializes in evangelizing for the "woke" left, has a serious problem with the bedrock principle of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution and decried a ruling in Kennedy's favor as a danger to "democracy" — a term that has been hijacked by power-drunk Democrats and the cultural revolutionary left.

Washington Commanders coach fined $100,000 after calling Jan. 6 a 'dust-up'.  Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was hit with a $100,000 fine Friday for calling the Jan. 6 Capitol riot a "dust-up."  Commanders head coach Ron Rivera made the announcement in a statement posted to social media.  "This morning I met with Coach Del Rio to express how disappointed I am in his comments on Wednesday," the statement said.  "His comments do not reflect the organization's views and are extremely hurtful to our great community here in the DMV.  As we saw last night in the hearings, what happened on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an act of domestic terrorism.  A group of citizens attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and as a result, lives were lost and the Capitol building was damaged."

The Editor says...
Almost every aspect of Mr. Rivera's statement is either untrue or misleading.  There was no "free and fair election."  The 2020 presidential election was stolen, and the proceeds given to Joe Biden, who is just venal enough to accept the position to which he knows he was not genuinely elected.  There was no "domestic terrorism," except on the part of the FBI agitators placed in the otherwise harmless crowd.  The televised circus last night proved no such thing.  Why do football teams have political positions, anyway?

Coach's comments deal another blow to Commanders reputation.  The NFL's Washington Commanders once again find themselves at the center of an off-the-field issue that has nothing to do with football, dealing another blow to their rapidly sagging reputation as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in professional sports.  The fallout from the latest misstep requiring an explanation or apology — assistant coach Jack Del Rio comparing the protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — could have far-reaching consequences beyond the locker room.  It immediately scuttled the team's best opportunity to reach a deal to build a new stadium, which was the most important long-term project facing owner Dan Snyder amid a lengthy drought without a playoff victory and a dearth of fan enthusiasm.

The NFL fines a Redskins coach for failing to take January 6 seriously.  Jack Del Rio, the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins (and yes, I'm deadnaming a football team originally named to honor the Native American fighting spirit), very politely suggested that, if the Democrats are going to get hysterical about January 6, they also need to take seriously the summer of BLM riots.  For his temerity in failing to respect Saint George Floyd, the drug-addicted ex-con, and not taking sufficiently seriously the worst day in American history since Southerners fired on Fort Sumter in 1861, the Redskin's head coach fined him $100,000.  It all started when Del Rio tweeted out that he cannot understand why so much attention is being paid to January 6, a day of minimal destruction and only one death (at the hands of a Capitol police office), and so little to the BLM riots, which caused dozens of death and billions of dollars of damage across America:  [Tweet]  In a subsequent press conference, Del Rio doubled down on his query, stating it calmly and respectfully, while reminding assembled reporters that free speech is an American right.

Commanders NFL Coach Fines Assistant $100K Over 'Dust up' Remarks, Comparison of BLM Riots and Jan. 6.  [Scroll down]  Unfortunately, as we have seen happen time and again in these high-profile situations, Jack Del Rio decided he had better bend the knee, take his lumps — and keep his high-paying job.  Later on in the day, he made his mea culpa through an obviously forced press release, via social media:  [Tweet]  On Friday, the coach of the Commanders, Ron Rivera released his own statement — not only highlighting his employee's apparent failure as a good enough soldier for the left's narrative du jour about what happened on January 6 in D.C. — but fining Del Rio $100,000, to boot.  When this is the obvious result of apologizing to the mob, I can't feel much sympathy for Del Rio.  He made his own bed.

Baseball players attacked for not wearing 'Pride Night' special uniforms.  [The Tampa Bay Rays] recently decided to engage in a little shameless virtue signaling by literally wearing their support for the LGBTQIIA+ Community on their sleeves. [...] Rays' president Matt Silverman stated, "Our Pride Nights continue to grow both in terms of visibility and participation.  By doing this, we extend an invitation not just for this game but for all of our games that the LGBTQ+ community is invited, welcomed, and celebrated." Apparently, heterosexual Christians need not apply, so to speak.  However, not every Rays player was eager to be used in this manner.  The Times reported that at least five members of the squad removed the rainbow burst logos from their jersey sleeves and donned the team's standard cap instead of the Pride cap sporting a rainbow-colored "TB" on the front.

At least five Tampa Bay Rays players refuse to wear uniforms with LGBTQ rainbow logos for Pride month.  A number of Tampa Bay Rays players decided not to wear rainbow-colored logos on their uniforms as part of the team's annual 'Pride Night' on Saturday [6/4/2022].  In the buildup to Saturday's MLB game against the Chicago White Sox, which also marked the franchise's annual 16th Pride Night celebration, the Rays added rainbow-colored logos to their uniforms, caps and on the right sleeve of their shirts.  'Our Pride Nights continue to grow both in terms of visibility and participation,' Rays president Matt Silverman told the Tampa Bay Times.  'By doing this, we extend an invitation not just for this game but for all of our games that the LGBTQ+ community is invited, welcomed and celebrated.'

The Editor says...
Homosexuality is nothing to celebrate.  Neither is pride.

Milwaukee Brewers to Host Drag Queen Night.  It's Pride Month again, and that means corporations all over are busy virtue-signaling.  In Milwaukee, the Brewers baseball team is getting into the spirit of the season by hosting Pride Night next Wednesday at their ballpark, a place whose name has taken on a new irony:  American Family Field.  The family fun Wednesday will include at least four drag queens, and hey, if they already strut their stuff on a routine basis in public libraries and elementary schools (and even Taco Bell), featuring them at baseball games at this late date just shows how hidebound and conservative the Grand Old Game is.  The first thing that Pride Night (no word yet on when the Brewers are hosting Anger Night, or Lust Night, or Sloth Night) at American Travesty of the Family Field is about, of course, is making money.  Drag queens have never, to my knowledge, been big baseball fans, but now that we're all woke and love the LGBTQ alphabet soup, the Brewers are clearly hoping to attract a new fan base that, if it doesn't care anything about the game, can at least ogle the players.

NASCAR continues to abandon its customer base.  Last Sunday NASCAR held its All-Star Race at the Texas Motor Speedway.  There's a big NASCAR fan base in Texas.  If you go to the list of NASCAR tracks, you'll notice that the seating at the tracks is, on average, bigger in conservative states than in progressive states.  Thus, the Texas Motor Speedway seats 137,000 fans while the Watkins Glen International in New York seats 33,000 fans.  The biggest track, in Indiana, seats 257,325 fans, while the track in Portland, Oregon, holds only 30,000 fans.  It's not a perfect political alignment but it's plenty close.  NASCAR fans are male, older (over 45), White, and live in the rural South or Midwest.  Oh, and they're much more likely to be Republicans.  These are, on average, people like me who neither want to punish nor celebrate the LGBTQ+++ crowd and who support Texas's willingness to define as child abuse surgical and chemical "gender" treatments performed on children.  NASCAR, though, has been having a bit of a problem keeping fans.

'Woke' NASCAR Apologizes to LGBTQ Community After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Waves Green Flag at Event.  NASCAR issued an apology Wednesday for "recent actions" that are "not aligned" with its mission after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) waved the green flag ahead of last week's All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.  The world-famous auto racing and operating company, headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, marked the first day of LGBTQ+ "Pride Month" with a unique version of the pride flag along with a message apologizing for actions it deemed uncharacteristic of its mission.  "As we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, we acknowledge that recent actions have not aligned with NASCAR's mission to be a welcoming sport for all," the company wrote.

The Editor says...
This is a huge marketing mistake on the part of NASCAR.  What percentage of NASCAR fans are homosexuals — particularly in Texas?  If I were to pick the nearest whole number, I'd select ZERO.

MLB's Detroit Tigers to funnel ticket sales to 'gender-affirming' procedures for kids.  The Detroit Tigers will send money to organizations that pay for so-called "gender-affirming surgeries" for minors and adults as part of its "Pride Night" game on Wednesday.  Fans who buy tickets for Wednesday's game can donate a portion of the proceeds to a number of LGBT organizations, including the Ruth Ellis Center, as first reported by National Review.

San Francisco Giants Manager Boycotting National Anthem Until He Feels Better About Direction Of America.  San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters prior to his team's Friday night game against the Cincinnati Reds that he will not be taking the field for the national anthem and will not be doing so until he feels better about the direction of the country in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting that occurred earlier this week.  Journalist Andrew Baggerly tweeted, "Gabe Kapler told reporters in Cincinnati that he doesn't plan on coming out for the national anthem and that will be his plan going forward 'until I feel better about the direction of our country.'"

Miami Heat blatantly politicize Texas tragedy.  Decent people — and organizations — do not politicize a tragedy.  They do not use a tragedy to further their own aims or agenda.  Nor do they take advantage of a calamity in a blatant, public attempt at virtue-signaling.  There is no virtue in that.  Prior to Wednesday night's NBA playoff game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, the stadium announcer stated:  "The Heat organization, the Boston Celtics and the NBA family also mourn those who lost their lives in the senseless shooting that took place yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas." [...] A moment of silence was then observed for the 19 children and two teachers who were slaughtered by an apparently mentally ill 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos.  And then the Heat broadcast the following announcement:  "The Heat urges you to contact your state senators by calling 202-224-3121 to leave a message demanding their support for commonsense gun laws.  You can also make change at the ballot box.  Visit Heat.com/vote to register and let your voice be heard this fall."  This is unprecedented and deeply disturbing.  So now major league professional sports teams are going to urge fans attending games to contact their representatives to lobby for or against specific causes, policies and bills in a manner that fits their political agenda?

MLB teams go political over gun control on social media accounts.  Two Major League Baseball teams announced a collaboration on Thursday to use their social media accounts to post facts about gun violence instead of posting updates from their game.  The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays cited recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. [...] The Tampa Bay Rays donated $50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety, billionaire Michael Bloomberg's pet project promoting gun control. [...] The teams shared gun violence statistics on their Twitter and Instagram accounts.  Sorry, legit baseball fans looking to catch the score.  You're being lectured by baseball teams on the evils of gun ownership.

Activist Who Renounced US Citizenship Knocked Out of French Open in First Round.  Naomi Osaka, the leftwing activist and former tennis champion who renounced her American citizenship to represent Japan at the Tokyo Olympics, suffered an embarrassing loss in the first round of the French Open on Monday.  New Jersey native Amanda Anisimova, 20, defeated the four-time Grand Slam winner 7-5, 6-4 at Roland Garros.  Osaka, 23, said following the match that she didn't know if she would be "motivated" enough to take part in next month's Wimbledon tournament.  "I'm not 100 percent sure if I'm going to go [to Wimbledon]," Osaka said.

Muslim soccer player refuses to wear rainbow jersey backing LBGTQ, sits out game — now leftists smell blood: 'Homophobia is not an opinion but a crime'.  Idrissa Gueye — a Muslim soccer player for French team Paris Saint-Germain — refused to wear a jersey adorned with rainbow-colored numbers in support of an LBGTQ agenda and sat out his team's 4-0 Saturday win against Montpellier, the Daily Mail reported.  Now, one activist group wants an investigation, and others want Gueye punished.  The Daily Mail said players across France wore the special jerseys over the weekend in solidarity with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, which takes place Tuesday [5/17/2022].  Gueye's manager Mauricio Pochettino said the player's absence from the match was for "personal reasons, but he is not injured," the outlet added.

America-Hating WNBA Player Brittney Griner's Russian Nightmare Goes From Bad To Worse.  Brittney Griner had been one of the premier players in the WNBA.  She is undeniably a blessed athlete, standing at 6'9" tall with remarkable coordination and agility for such a large athlete.  She's an Olympic gold medalist, a league champion, and has received scores of individual awards honoring her athletic achievements.  And along with those physical blessings have come financial rewards as well, with Griner reportedly worth in excess of $3 million.  One might assume that someone like Brittney Griner would have been grateful for her gifts.  For her natural size and abilities.  For her good fortune in being able to stay healthy despite a rigorous athletic schedule.  And considering that Griner is both gay and a racial minority, we certainly might expect Griner to have been thankful for being an American and living in a country that provides unequaled opportunity and tolerance.  But that wasn't the case.

Megan Rapinoe Hardest Hit as Finger-Pointing Begins After 'Subway' Releases Dismal 2021 Numbers.  Women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe is in the news again, and this time around the story doesn't involve any goals she's hit or missed (though the NWSL's 2022 regular season started Friday) or any complaints from her about alleged gender pay gap issues but rather the finger-pointing that has begun in her direction after public filings from the Subway fast-food franchise revealed some pretty dismal 2021 numbers.  Per the New York Post, Subway had to close "1,043 more outlets across the US than it opened in 2021," which diminished "Subway's total footprint by nearly five percent."  It lost more in 2020 (1,609), presumably in part due to the coronavirus pandemic.  But as for what's at the root of the 2021 closures, there are a number of issues potentially to blame, including "tougher" efforts from the company's CEO to get locations stay open more days during the week and work more hours to cover all meal shifts, and also how some customers turned their backs on Subway after they ran several ads in 2021 featuring Rapinoe, a prominent woketivist known for kneeling during the national anthem and being a lousy spokesperson for "women's equality."

Woke Company Still Suffering After Featuring Angry, Far-Left Megan Rapinoe In Ads.  I don't really know anyone that eats at Subway anymore — it offers stale bread, tasteless lunch meats, and soggy vegetables.  At least back in the day you could get full for $5, but even now a basic sub runs almost double that.  The sinister Covid lockdowns didn't do much for Subway's business, either.  Of course, no analysis of Subway's futile decline would be complete without accounting for their hair-brained hiring of pink-haired ingrate Megan Rapinoe. [...] Megan Rapinoe is tanking the Subway brand, but her embarrassments don't stop there.  Just a few months ago, she was snubbed by her coach and program, being left off the next internationally-competing squad.  The thirty-eight-year-old self-centered brat is closing in on the tail end of her career, and not a moment too soon.

ESPN Host Goes On EPIC Rant, Torches Colin Kaepernick For Four Whole Minutes.  Stephen A. Smith is someone with whom sane people rarely agree.  He is loud, obnoxious, and intentionally controversial.  Rational dialogue doesn't get clicks, and credit to him for carving out a niche where people love to hate him.  I mean, I don't know who can stand watching him and he's absolutely part of the corporate media problem, but he gets paid by ESPN for doing his schtick, so there's that.  The free market works.  On the subject of the enslaved millionaire Colin Kaepernick, ingratitude personified, Smith has had some of the worst takes. [...] Somehow, though, this raving leftist lunatic saw the light.  It was dimmed, because he still threw in hackneyed lines about Kaepernick getting screwed over and the system being rigged, but overall, his rant is on point.  Credit where credit is due, this guy nailed what we've been saying for years.

Colin Kaepernick reveals he's desperate to return to NFL.  Colin Kaepernick has claimed his decision to take the knee during the national anthem was good for the NFL's bottom line.  Speaking in a newly-released interview, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback also took issue with claims made by league executives that re-hiring him would be 'bad for business'.

NY Hockey Fans Show Their Gov Hochul What They Think Of Her By Booing Her Mercilessly.  Gov. Kathy Hochul was met with loud jeers as she donned a New York Rangers jersey for the ceremonial puck drop before the team's Tuesday night home game against the Anaheim Ducks.  The chorus of jeers rang down from the rafters as Hochul walked to center ice to kick off the game and she was introduced over the PA.  The state's first female governor was honored as part of "Women's Empowerment Night" at the Garden, announcers told fans over the loudspeaker, according to footage shared to social media.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
[#1] Is it no longer possible to attend a hockey game without having to listen to a political speech delivered by the PA announcer?  [#2] Politicians attend events like this for their benefit, not yours.  There are very few cases where this is not necessarily true, and the only one that comes to mind is the long-standing tradition of the President of the United States throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the beginning of the baseball season.

MLB players who refused COVID shot won't get paid for missed games in Canada: report.  Major League Baseball (MLB) players who have chosen not to take one of the abortion-tainted COVID shots will likely not get paid for missed games due to Canada's vaccine passport system.  The latest collective bargaining agreement reportedly does not protect players who cannot travel to play the Toronto Blue Jays due to Canada's restriction on visitors who have declined to get jabbed.  The MLB season starts April 7.

Brittney Griner Hates America and Deserves to Languish in a Russian Prison.  Despite allegedly happening a few weeks ago, news is now circulating that WNBA standout Brittney Griner is being detained in Russia for the reported crime of traveling with hashish oil.  The charge comes with a possible sentence of up to ten years in prison. [...] In the summer of 2020, following the drug overdose by George Floyd, Griner explained that she would be protesting the playing of the national anthem before games by remaining in the locker room.  She went on to say that:  "I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season.  I think we should take that much of a stand."  Before that, Griner felt called to social activism when Republican-led states sought to restrict male pedophiles from entering women's restrooms.  Desite her young age and limited impact anywhere, one article even promoted her to one of the "most influential social activists" in sports history because of it.

Toyota Ad Says Kaepernick Anthem Protest Was 'Sign of Respect to the Military'.  A new Toyota commercial featuring Colin Kaepernick claims the former NFL quarterback's controversial national anthem protest was a "sign of respect to the military."  The ad, which aired Friday morning on Howard University's radio station, says Kaepernick's decision to go "on one knee" during the national anthem "came as a sign of respect to the military" and "changed the world."  The commercial also calls Kaepernick a "two-time Super Bowl quarterback," which is false.  Kaepernick appeared in one Super Bowl, a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Woke Soccer Player Megan Rapinoe Left Off U.S. Women's Team Roster.  The wokest of all U.S. national sports teams just got a little less woke.  U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) head coach Vlatko Andonovski has called up a roster that features youth and players the team will rely on in the future.  It does not, however, feature noted USWNT anthem-protester Megan Rapinoe.

As the Racing Season Opens, NASCAR Finds Itself With Some Political Engine Trouble.  [Scroll down]  There is a difference, however, between the political actions with NASCAR, and those seen in recent years in other sports, as the energy behind the issues seems to be flowing in the opposite direction.  Unlike, say, in the NFL with national anthem protests, or the NBA going all-in with Black Lives Matter activism, NASCAR has repeatedly been in the position of having to act against the intents of its fan base, rather than attempting to foist a message onto those watching the sport.  The governors have repeatedly taken action seemingly in an effort to appease those outside the sport — and in opposition to those who support racing.  It began years ago, when the sport's offices put out a message imploring fans to refrain from flying the Confederate flag at NASCAR events.

Brandon Brown signs '8-figure' LGBcoin sponsorship despite NASCAR ban.  [Brandon Brown, the] NASCAR Xfinity series driver has inked a two-year sponsorship deal worth with the cryptocurrency worth a reported "eight figures," even though he has been banned from advertising it on his race car.  The exact dollar amount of the deal was not announced, but LGBcoin said Brown is now a "holder" of the currency and his spokesperson confirmed to FOX Business that he is being paid in "both cash and coin."

NASCAR driver reverses stance on 'Let's go, Brandon'.  NASCAR driver Brandon Brown has turned a corner and decided to completely and outwardly embrace the political slogan inadvertently inspired by his namesake, "Let's go, Brandon" after previously trying to distance himself from the phrase.  The 28-year-old racecar driver unveiled a new racecar that uses the popular acronym for the phrase, "LBG," [sic] as part of a cryptocurrency promotion for LBGCoin [sic] which promotes itself on Twitter as a "meme coin inspiring patriotism."

The Editor says...
It's LGBcoin, not LBGcoin.  I suppose LGBTcoin is something else altogether.

Xfinity Driver Brandon Brown Unveils Anti-Biden-Themed Cryptocurrency As 2022 Partner.  NASCAR Xfinity driver Brandon Brown tweeted that he has a primary partner for the 2022 season — LGBCoin, a "cryptocurrency meme coin" whose first three letters stand for "Let's Go Brandon."  However, NASCAR has not approved it nor has the approval process begun as of Thursday evening despite Brandonbilt Motorsports' announcement.  "We are thrilled to partner with Brandonbilt Motorsports and Brandon Brown for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season," said James Koutoulas, LGBcoin HODLer and founder of Typhoon Capital Management, in a news release.  "Brandon is not only an incredibly talented driver, but also a thoughtful individual wise beyond his years.  His commitment and singular focus on his profession is inspiring and his personal story is one that we can all be proud of — an American story of success and perseverance.  Brandon is truly America's Driver."

NASCAR Caves! 'Let's Go Brandon' Race Car Put on Hold.  As Joe Biden's popularity and approval rating continue to fall, the popularity of the "Let's Go Brandon" slogan continues to rise.  However, NASCAR driver Brandon Brown was told by NASCAR authorities that his "Let's Go Brandon"-sponsored car will have to be re-evaluated.  Is NASCAR caving to the left?  [Video clip]

NASCAR is throwing away one of the best marketing opportunities in its history.
NASCAR rejects Brandon Brown's 'Let's go, Brandon'-themed car.  NASCAR has officially rejected Brandon Brown's "Let's Go Brandon" sponsorship deal.  According to multiple news reports, the auto-racing giant told Mr. Brown's team that cryptocurrency firm LGBCoin cannot sponsor his car.  The company's first three letters are an allusion to "Let's Go, Brandon," the coded form of a vulgar insult of President Biden.

Does NASCAR have a death wish?  A pair of reports yesterday lead me to question the sanity of the management of NASCAR, the privately held giant of the sport of stock car racing.  While I am far from an expert on auto racing, and have never been to a NASCAR race, I have a rough idea of who attends their races and what the political preferences of the fans are. [...] The entire "Let's go Brandon" craze began at a NASCAR track when an NBC reporter pretended the crowd chanting "F--- Joe Biden" were instead chanting "Let's go Brandon," in celebration of the victory of Brandon Brown, whom she was interviewing live on-air.  So, we have pretty good idea that NASCAR fans tend to be political conservatives.  If the sport's Southern origins and male, blue collar atmosphere were not clues enough.

Background information:
Linguistic Weaponry and the Rhetorical Mechanics of "Let's Go Brandon!"  For those who are unfamiliar with the phrase, "Let's Go, Brandon!" has become a rallying cry for those opposed to Biden and his agenda.  Only a few months after the inauguration, as the nation sat in stunned awe of the new administration's remarkable ineptitude, crowds across the nation began impromptu chants of "[...] Joe Biden" at public events.  Personally, I use very little profanity and I still hold to the old idea that even if you can't respect a particular President, some respect is owed to the office.  But over the course of decades, the left has worked aggressively to normalize the practice of telling the President to [get lost] (when he isn't a Democrat).  Their victory was consolidated when Trump's ascendancy brought with it a 4-year tsunami of vulgarity from leftists of all stripes, bravely "speaking truth to power" by inexplicably telling others to do to Trump what Stormy Daniels did.  But only months after Trump's exit, leftists lamented the new norm they created:  they were aghast at Americans' lack of decorum in speaking of the President.  Wherever calls of "[...] Joe Biden" arose, there were efforts undertaken to distract from them, avoid broadcasting them, or otherwise silence them.  Then, in the aftermath of an October auto race, as the victor Brandon Brown was interviewed on a television broadcast, the crowd began the familiar chorus of "[...] Joe Biden."  In a predictable effort to redirect attention from Biden's failure to the matter at hand, the interviewer said "And you can hear the chants from the crowd: 'Let's Go, Brandon!"  In that moment, a meme was born.

The NFL is funding 'defund the police' groups.  The NFL funds groups that openly advocate for defunding the police.  Through the Inspire Change program, funded by the League, the NFL backs the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon Justice Resource Center, and the Community Justice Exchange.  Each of these support defunding or even abolishing police.  Fox Business uncovered that the NFL gave $300,000 to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, which has called for police defunding as well as other social justice measures. [...] The Vera Institute of Justice advocates for the abolishment of prisons, and for language changes to be put into effect in order to not "dehumanize" criminals.

NFL funding 'defund the police' groups through 'Inspire Change' program.  The National Football League's "Inspire Change" partners, which receive financial backing from the multibillion-dollar league, include multiple groups that have openly advocated for defunding the police, a Fox News Digital review of the program found.  Groups who have received funds as part of "Inspire Change," the NFL's social justice initiative, include the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon Justice Resource Center and the Community Justice Exchange.  All three of those groups support defunding or abolishing the police, a review of their public statements shows.  While the NFL's general support of social justice causes is widely known, the fact that the league is propping up groups trying to defund police departments has not been previously reported.

A Brief Guide to Leftist Destruction.  Until last year, sports was a great American unifier.  It was one place Americans could go and, leaving politics behind, Left and Right, Democrat and Republican could root for the same team.  No longer.  The Left has ruined it by radically politicizing baseball, football and basketball.

Perception is Not Reality.  Television ratings for sports, cable news, entertainment and children's programming are all nose-diving in direct proportion to the amount of agenda-driven ideology being pumped into the content.  No amount of denial, self-deception or spin among the left can change the fact that the public wholly rejects their nightmarish fever-visions for humanity.  What was once a subtle and nuanced bias in the media has become a sledgehammer of over-the-top propaganda, and the viewers are voting with their wallets and TV remotes to reject such indoctrination tactics.

NBA coach compares Christopher Columbus to Hitler.  The coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, actually compared Christopher Columbus to Hitler today in a manner of speaking as he was trashing schools in San Antonio for not getting rid of the holiday altogether:  As Popovich expressed dismay that any school in his city would honor Christopher Columbus at all, he also dismissed his anti-Columbus hate as an attack on Italian Americans:  "It's no knock on Italian Americans.  That's a silly argument.  It's like saying, 'We should be proud of Hitler because we are German.'  It makes no sense.  It's about Columbus.  It's not about Italian Americans."  Popovich calls Columbus a genocidal monster, when that's the furthest thing from the truth.

College Football and the NFL: Two Different Americas.  Football is back — and so are the fans.  America no longer sees empty stadiums on TV, as people return to watching the games in person.  But Americans will notice sharp differences between college and professional football, and it's not just the skill of their players.  The pros seem to embrace Biden's New America, while college ball still evokes the old America.  The pros embrace social justice messages, while college ball steers clear.  Unlike other pro leagues, the NFL decided to carry on wokeness for the 2021 season.  The NBA famously painted Black Lives Matter on its courts and encouraged players to turn their jerseys into social justice billboards.  The basketball league suffered a ratings decline and consequently decided it would be unwise to continue this practice.  The NFL also saw its ratings drop, but league officials wouldn't let that get in the way of their BLM advocacy.

The Editor says...
If you watch a football game on TV, and the game is about to start, and some BLM ceremony breaks out, the so-called Black National Anthem is played, or some other repugnant insult is hurled your way, don't just turn the sound off.  Switch to another TV channel for a few minutes.  If your "smart" TV is connected to the internet, and it probably is, this will send a clear message to the Nielsen ratings people (and thus to the networks) that you won't put up with that stuff.

NFL will allow social justice phrases on helmets this season.  The NFL will allow players to choose from six different social justice phrases to wear on the back of their helmets for the 2021 season as the league re-ups its efforts in their Inspire Change initiative.  The league also said teams will be allowed to have the phrases "It Takes All of Us" and "End Racism" emblazoned in their end zones.

New Texas Law Requires Pro Teams In The State To Repay Money If They Don't Play The National Anthem.  Pro sports teams in Texas refusing to play the national anthem will be making a very expensive decision.  According to Outkick, a new Texas law took effect September 1 that requires all pro sports teams to play the national anthem or repay any government money received.  [Tweet]  Seeing as how most pro sports arenas are at least publicly funded in part, teams that refuse to play the national anthem could be on the hook for an outrageous amount of money.  For those of you who might not remember, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tried to stop his team from playing the national anthem and his choice caused massive backlash.

Biden Takes a Knee During Photo-Op With WNBA Champions.  The WNBA champions apparently do have time for losers.  Even as thousands of Americans have been left stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the Seattle Storm came to the White House for a photo-op with Joe Biden to celebrate their victory.  The Storm are the first NBA or WNBA team to visit the White House since the Cleveland Cavaliers came in 2016.  But their return to the White House came with an awkward, cringeworthy moment, when Biden, during a photo-op, bizarrely kneeled in front of the team as he showed off a jersey that read "Biden 46"

Time to Convert to Soccer?  A lifelong baseball fan, I abandoned the game this year after MLB sided with the Democratic Party in its campaign against ballot integrity in Georgia.  It wasn't just that: my home town team has put a "Black Lives Matter" sign and a memorial to George Floyd in right field.  If I can't escape politics at a baseball game, I'd rather go somewhere else.  For the first time in decades, I haven't seen a major league baseball game this year.  Not only that, I haven't watched or listened to a single pitch on radio or television.

Losers, in more ways than one.
U.S. Women's Soccer Team Takes Stunning Loss After Kneeling For BLM At Olympic Opener.  The U.S. women's soccer team took a devastating 3-0 loss to Sweden early Wednesday morning in their Tokyo Olympic opener, breaking their 44-game winning streak.  All 22 players on Team USA took a knee in solidarity with the radical leftist group Black Lives Matter before the game, a major point of contention with U.S. fans.

Joe Biden's Misery Index Rises.  [Scroll down]  Other highlights in this week of continuing political disappointment include [...] the news that the National Football League will play what is generally regarded as the African-American anthem "Lift Every Voice" prior to the national anthem at their games this year, and have "social justice messaging" interspersed among other diversions at the games and on the players' outfits.  If one looks hard enough, the social justice of an NFL game is probably not found in the affront to the U.S. flag and anthem of obscenely overpaid athletes milking their natural gifts through 20-hour week/seven-month work years.  Instead of rolling over like poodles, the NFL owners should have contracted the league, expelled the most demonstrative malcontents, and chucked the invertebrate commissioner, Roger Goodell.  If they had done that and asked the fans for support they would have received it, and the anti-American players would have straggled back eventually.  At least, unlike the National Basketball Association, they haven't yet been suborned by the Communist Party of China.

NFL launches new ad proclaiming 'football is gay, football is lesbian...'  The National Football League (NFL) recently joined virtually every other American institution in lauding — and marketing to — the LGBTQ Community during Pride Month in June.  It did so by releasing a new 30-second commercial proudly proclaiming that "football is gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, bisexual and exciting."  The ad begins by stating "football is gay" to the sound of drums rolling and people cheering. [...] "Football" is pandering.  Football is pathetic.  Football will say or do anything to chase down the very last potential viewer/customer.  I'm surprised the ad didn't also state, "Football is Chinese."

NFL 'will play the black national anthem 'Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing' before the Star Spangled Banner at its 2021 season games'.  The NFL plans to play the 'black national anthem' before every game in the first week of the 2021 season, according to a new report.  Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing, will be performed before The Star-Spangled Banner to kick off each game in Week 1, beginning with the September 10 season opener when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans.  A source familiar with the league's discussions confirmed the controversial change to ESPN's The Undefeated on Thursday.

Report: The NFL Will Have More Social Justice Messaging During The 2021 Season.  The NFL reportedly plans on ramping up social justice messaging during the upcoming season.  According to Front Office Sports, the league "will introduce more social justice messaging on fields and player helmets during the upcoming 2021 season, following up on initial efforts from 2020."

MLB All-Star Game Limps to Second Lowest Ratings in History.  Any Guesses Why?  Go woke, go broke.  Major League Baseball is learning the hard way that catering to the far left isn't remotely helping their desperate attempts to resurrect what once was America's proud pastime.  MLB's All-Star Game, played Tuesday night [7/13/2021], predictably tanked in the Nielsen ratings, delivering the second-lowest official total in the sport's history.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the game narrowly avoided "a third straight all-time audience low" with 8.24 million viewers, "about 100,000 more than the 2019 game's 8.14 million."  Except, it's quite possible that this could indeed be the game's lowest ever viewership.  Why?  According to THP, "It's also worth noting that the Nielsen figures for Tuesday include out of home viewing and 2019's do not."  Ouch!

Get Ready for the Wokest Olympics Ever!  [Scroll down]  Those earlier athletes never took a knee during the National Anthem.  They were Americans first and always.  Finally, when those athletes took to the field, they understood that fans came to watch a sporting event, not a protest.  When it came time to play, they let their talent do the talking.  That concept is lost on the modern day woke activist-athlete and the enablers in social and sports media.  Today, you don't even have to be that good to get noticed, so long as you openly align yourself with a cause supported by the political left.  It's often difficult to understand even what the cause is, as many of woke can only speak in platitudes.

Most Black People Oppose Olympic Protests Like Gwen Berry's:  I&I/TIPP Poll.  When hammer thrower Gwen Berry decided to protest the national anthem at an Olympic trials event last month, she raised the prospect that athletes will try to use the Tokyo Olympics to disparage their own nation.  If they do so, they will get precious little support at home.  The latest I&I/TIPP poll finds that the public overwhelmingly rejects athletes showing disrespect for the American flag at international games.  The poll found that 79% of the public say it's important "for professional athletes to publicly respect the American flag on the international level," with 60% saying it is "very important."  Just 16% of the adults surveyed think it's not important.

How Barack Obama Begot Gwen Berry.  "I never said that I hated the country," said Gwen Berry, the world's most famous hammer thrower — male, female or non-binary.  "All I said was I respect my people enough to not stand or acknowledge something that disrespects them.  I love my people point blank, period."  Berry, who finished third in the female hammer throw at the U.S. track and field Olympic Trials, was attempting to explain why she turned her back on the National Anthem.  If her subversive pout appalled half of America, it surprised no one.  In the year 2021, sports fans have come to expect athletes, black and white, to disrespect symbols of national pride.  It didn't use to be this way.  When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, race relations were better than they had ever been.  As to athletic protests, it had been forty years since any Olympian grabbed the kind of attention Berry got.

I Shouldn't Be Forced Into Politics To Play College Sports.  "Black Lives Matter is not political, it's basic human rights," my coaching staff and teammates heading our new "Call to Action Committee" told me and the other team members after practice.  They were responding to some of the concerns I had expressed prior to the team meeting.  By the next game, while running out of the tunnel 10 of my 13 Davidson College teammates and all four of my coaches were wearing T-shirts with "Black Lives Matter" bannered across the front.  When the national anthem played and with our U.S. Army veteran team doctor behind us, most of my team dropped to one knee in protest of America's "institutional racism."  The virtue signaling was clear: those wearing the T-shirt and those on their knees supported basic human rights, and the rest of us simply did not.  Political messaging in sports isn't new, but the grip and scale this possesses over sports is.

Biden BACKS anthem tantrum athlete.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended hammer thrower Gwen Berry's right to 'peacefully protest,' after the Tokyo-bound athlete turned her back on the US flag during Olympic trials.  Psaki told Fox News' Peter Doocy at Monday's press briefing that while she and President Joe Biden hadn't spoken specifically about the incident, Biden is 'incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it respresents, especially for our men and women serving in uniform all around the world.'  'He would also say, of course, that part of that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we are, as a country, haven't lived up to our highest ideals, and that means respecting the rights of people, granted to them in the Constitution, to peacefully protest,' Psaki added.

Psaki defends Gwen Berry's anti-America Olympic tantrum as right to peaceful protest.  As if the Biden administration couldn't sink any lower than it already has, in comes White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki to dig the hole deeper. [...] Is there any other leader on the face of the planet who endorses a position like that?  It almost suggests [Biden]'s not in the White House legitimately, given the contempt he holds for the flag of the nation he supposedly represents.  It's really incredible.  This is the man who sends men into battle and expects them to die for that flag.  Now he's defending an athlete who lived a cosseted existence yet who was able to develop her talents only courtesy of the United States of America, in self-centered ingratitude that insults every other American who has fought and died for the flag of her freedom and opportunity?  He doesn't care.  All he cares about is his own power by fair means or foul.  The country is optional to him.  So is the flag.

Gwen Berry, Flag-Snubbing US Track And Field Star, Defended By The White House.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki Monday defended U.S. track and field star Gwen Berry's decision to turn her back on the nation's flag, saying Berry was seeking to "peacefully protest" the moments that Americans "haven't lived up to our highest ideals."  Berry, 31, placed third over the weekend in the hammer throw during the U.S. Olympic trials, earning her a spot on the team.  As the National Anthem was played, she turned from the flag.

NFL says 'Football is gay' in new commercial that makes clear its support of LGBTQ+ community.  As Pride Month comes to a close, the NFL has released a new commercial that makes clear its support and embrace of the LGBTQ+ community.  The 30-second spot begins with the line, "Football is gay" as light cheering plays in the background.  "Football is lesbian.  Football is beautiful.  Football is queer.  Football is life.  Football is exciting.  Football is culture.  Football is transgender.  Football is queer.  Football is heart.  Football is power.  Football is tough.  Football is bisexual.  Football is strong.  Football is freedom.  Football is American.  Football is accepting.  Football is everything.  Football is for everyone."

'Pride' Night at the Old Ballpark.  Major League Baseball teams have been celebrating "Pride Month" via Pride Nights at ballparks across the Majors.  June is Pride Month, in case you've missed the hype.  Outdoing itself, the MLB is partying "all season long."  One wonders why there needs to be a month of any celebration.  Should October be refashioned as "Halloween Month?"  Is there an "Irish Month," which St. Patrick's Day is the capstone?  And why limit Groundhog Day to a day?  Yet gay pride is now LGBTQ+ (the plus is currently optional) pride because being homosexual isn't enough.  Every sexual variant not heterosexual and practiced by a tiny minority of people is to be granted a month's worth of recognition and celebration.  The Grand Old Game has no reprieve from being rainbowed.

Hate to break it to you, but Major League Baseball just got even worse.  Coming off the All-Star Game P.R. debacle, where they moved the game out of Atlanta, MLB is upping its radical chic several notches with its latest political advocacy.  On the anniversary of George Floyd's death, MLB highlighted its social justice initiatives, which are a series of suggested readings, video viewings, and social justice activities that it recommends people do.  Nothing like giving your customers a homework assignment.  And they wonder why people find baseball less fun these days.  As you can imagine, the suggestions they give are real humdingers.  For instance, they advise we read Dr. Ibrahim X Kendi.  Kendi is a totalitarian utopist who is popular on the P.C. lecture circuit.  He believes that capitalism is inherently racist and advocates for a Department of Anti-Racism.

Major League Baseball Team Becomes First in the League to Wear 'Pride' Uniforms.  Baseball just got brighter.  This Saturday, fans of the San Francisco Giants will get a multicolored treat to the tune of commemorative uniforms.  As hailed by NBC Chicago, the Giants will "become (the) first MLB team with Pride Month hats (and) jerseys."

Eugene Chung claims NFL team said he's 'not the right minority' in job interview.  NFL assistant coach Eugene Chung says he was told Asians are not the "right minority" when he interviewed for a job this past off-season.  Despite a resume that includes 55 games of experience as an NFL offensive tackle — the first Asian American first-round draft pick in history — and 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Super Bowl winners Andy Reid and Doug Pederson, Chung was turned away.  "It was said to me, 'Well, you're really not a minority,[']" Chung told The Boston Globe.  Chung is Korean, as are both of his parents.

Virginia Little League Coaches Must Attend 'Antiracist' Training.  Little League baseball coaches in Alexandria, Virginia, will be required to take a diversity, equity, and inclusion course this month.  In an email to coaches on Thursday, Alexandria Little League board president Sherry Reilly announced the league's partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance.  All Little League coaches and board members were asked to cancel practices in order to attend the Sports Can Battle Racism workshop on May 24.  Virginia school districts have mandated similar training for their teachers.  Arlington County schools required teachers to participate in an equity training program in which they were taught how to create an "actively antiracist learning environment."  Loudoun County schools spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on teacher training sessions based on critical race theory — the idea that American institutions are inherently racist.

New Kaepernick book: 'To eradicate anti blackness, we must also abolish the police'.  A new book from controversial former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick calls for the absolute abolishment of all police departments and prisons in the United States, positions that are not popular with the vast majority of Americans, according to polling data.  "In order to eradicate anti-Blackness, we must also abolish the police," is the thesis of the book, which is a collection of 30 essays, one of which is written by the former San Francisco 49ers starter, TMZ reported Wednesday.

Did they do this on Easter Sunday?  I must have missed it.
Miami Dolphins Partner with Radical South Florida Mosque for 'Drive-Thru' Ramadan Meal.  Given all the community food drives the Islamic Center of Greater Miami (ICGM) has conducted, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the testing and vaccinations it has co-sponsored, one could be fooled into thinking that the center is a civic minded institution.  It is easy to understand why the NFL's Miami Dolphins would want to be a part of such "charitable" endeavors.  However, there is a dark side to ICGM — a side linked to terror and bigotry — which overshadows its "charitable" activities, and this makes it incumbent upon the Dolphins or any other group which has chosen to associate with ICGM to sever ties with the Islamic center.

Talladega Superspeedway offering free laps to those who receive COVID-19 vaccine on site.  On Saturday [5/15/2021], the Talladega Superspeedway will be hosting a free drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination and testing site from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.  All participants will be asked to review educational material about COVID-19 vaccine and sign a consent form.  Vaccines will be administered by members of the Alabama National Guard, with a public health nurse present.  After receiving the vaccine, people will wait 15 minutes to be observed for any rare allergic reactions.  Registration is not required, but encouraged.

The Editor says...
If the vaccine is so helpful, and the disease is so terrible, why are incentives necessary?  The answer is obvious:  The disease has been inconsequential to the overwhelming majority of those who have had it, and serious questions are now being asked about what's really in that vaccine and why so many people have had adverse reactions to it.

Woke Takeover:  NFL Hires Katie Hill, Former Obama Comms Director.  The NFL continued its trend of hiring liberal former White House communications and public relations people this week by making former Obama communications director Katie Hill their senior vice president of communications.  "As Senior Vice President, Hill will be responsible for leading the NFL's day-to-day communications operation, aligning the League's communications strategy with its priorities," the NFL wrote in a press release.

Nike, NBA Silent After LeBron James Tweets 'YOU'RE NEXT' at Columbus Cop.  Lakers star LeBron James' sponsors and the league he plays for have remained silent in the wake of his tweet targeting an Ohio police officer.  On Wednesday [4/21/2021], James tweeted a photo of a white Columbus police officer with the caption, "You're next, #Accountability."  But after suffering a major backlash, the player deleted the tweet and attempted to claim that he deleted it to stop people from "creating more hate" over his message.  The explanation for his removal of the tweet did not satisfy many.  But regardless of whether the fans have accepted James' reasoning, his sponsors seem unconcerned by his tweet targeting a police officer.  Thus far, sponsors and partners including Nike, 2K Sports, AT&T, Beats Electronics, Blake Pizza, Coca-Cola, GMC, KIA Motors, Nike, RIMOWA, Upper Deck, State Farm, and Walmart have remained silent over James' threatening tweet.

Ex-Virginia Tech soccer star sues coach, claims he forced her off team because she wouldn't kneel.  Kiersten Hening, a former Virginia Tech women's soccer player, is suing her former coach after she was allegedly benched and forced off the team because she didn't want to kneel during a pregame demonstration last September.  Hening, 21, was a midfielder/defender for the Hokies from 2018 to 2020.  In a federal lawsuit filed last month, Hening said that her former coach, Charles Adair, wasn't a fan of her political views.  According to the documents obtained by TMZ Sports, Hening said during the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer, she often had a difference of opinion from her teammates on social justice topics.

Trump Savages LeBron James For Threatening a Police Officer's Life.  On Wednesday [4/21/2021], NBA Lakers star LeBron James tweeted something that looked very much like an incitement to murder a police officer.  James rushed to conclusions about the shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, a black girl who appears to have been lunging at someone with a deadly knife when the cop shot her.  James later took down the tweet, but he claimed that this shooting represents yet more evidence of systemic racism.  President Donald Trump took him to task on Thursday night.  "LeBron James should focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television RATINGS, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the League," Trump said in a statement.  Recent ratings are indeed at an all-time low after the NBA painted the politically-charged slogan "Black Lives Matter" on its courts.

LeBron James Incited Millions to Murder a Police Officer.  Will It Cost Him Anything?  As America learned that a Columbus, Ohio, police officer shot and killed a teenage girl while she was in the act of wielding a knife at two other girls, NBA star LeBron James took to Twitter and incited his followers against the police officer.  James has 49.6 million Twitter followers and is a hero to millions for winning basketball championships.  He is very influential.

American Businesses can be Woke, or they can be the Best, but they can't be Both.  The fallacious ideas driving the corporate push for diversity, equity, and inclusion are not even the most problematic thing about it.  The push for DE&I is a cancer that results in organizational atrophy for corporate America, not strength or progress.  Consider what it would do to the NBA as a simple example.  Black men account for more than 80-percent of the league's talent.  That's problematic, of course, because only 27-percent of the NBA's fans share those players' skin color.  Shouldn't the product on the court look more like the fans buying the tickets and watching at home, as many corporations now insist should be their basis for hiring talent?  To ostensibly make the product better for fans, imagine that the league decided that only 50-percent of the players entering the league over the coming decade would be Black men.  The other 50-percent would, in an effort to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion, be comprised of other identities that are underrepresented in the NBA, such as whites, Hispanics, and women, the latter of whom currently represent a shocking zero percent among the NBA's players.

Former MLB Star David Wells:  Major League Baseball Losing a Lot of Fans over Political Stance — 'They Don't Want to See That'.  Monday [4/19/2021] on FNC's "Fox & Friends," former Major League Baseball pitcher David Wells sounded off on polling, showing a drop in MLB popularity among Republicans after the league decided to move its All-Star Game out of Georgia.  The move came in response to new election integrity laws.  The two-time World Series champion said changes brought on by "knucklehead" Commissioner Rob Manfred have already turned him off of watching MLB but said the All-Star Game change "put the icing on the cake."

How corporations conspire with Democrats to hoard power at the public's expense.  Georgians adopted voter-integrity measures supported by a large majority of Americans, that are in the mainstream of state regulation and in fact are less stringent than the rules in Delaware, President Joe Biden's home state, and New York.  By more than a 2-1 margin, Americans think such rules are not unfair or discriminatory.  Nonetheless, these measures have produced an unprecedented effort by large corporations to interfere in the workings of a democratic government.  Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game out of (majority-black) Atlanta to (majority-white) Denver in protest.  Coca-Cola's president weighed in against the changes.  And in a statement organized by Kenneth Chenault, former chief executive of American Express, and Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of Merck, hundreds of CEOs voiced opposition.

It Sure Looks Like the MLB Made a Big Mistake by Getting Political.  One of the dumbest things a company can do in the corporate world is alienate a large portion of their consumer base.  Appealing to the widest swath of people is just good business because it maximizes the pool from which you can draw profit.  That fact is also true for sports teams, which are still businesses at the end of the day.  You especially don't spit in the face of one of your strongest demographics.  That's exactly what Major League Baseball did, though, and they are learning that lesson the hard way as new data shows just how dumb their decision to get political was.

MLB's favorability rating plummets.  Major League Baseball has suffered a massive loss in popularity among Republicans due to its intervention on the side of Democrats in the political dispute over Georgia's voting law.  According to a poll by Morning Consult, MLB's net favorability rating (the difference between the percentage of those who view the sport positively and those who view it negatively) among Republicans has dropped from 47 points to 12 points in the past month.  Until commissioner Rob Manfred moved the all-star game, MLB was the big-time sports league viewed most favorably by Republicans.  Now, it is viewed less favorably than the NFL and the NHL.  It's still viewed more favorably than the NBA, though.

MLB Is Latest US Pro Sports League to Upset Republicans.  Following Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to Georgia's new voting law, Republicans are now out on MLB.  MLB's net favorability rating among Republicans was 47% in the middle of March, the highest rating amongst the four major U.S. sports leagues.  Since then, it has crashed to 12%, dropping the league below the NFL (15%) and NHL (26%), according to new data from Morning Consult.  (The NBA has a favorability rating, which is calculated by taking the difference between the share of respondents with a positive opinion of the league and the share with a negative opinion, of -5 among Republicans.)  In general, Republicans have been becoming increasingly dissatisfied with pro sports in the U.S. due to players kneeling during the national anthem, messaging about social justice issues and the relatively recent embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement.  "As a result, Republicans now have a less favorable view than Democrats of all four major U.S. sports leagues," according to Morning Consult's Alex Silverman.

Brett Favre Wants Sports, Politics To Be Separated: 'I want to watch the game'.  Brett Favre thinks politics are hurting sports and would like to see both things go back to being separate.  Favre made comments earlier this week, saying sports are better off being something to unify the country rather than used as a tool to further divide people.  "I think both sides, for the most part, want to see it just remain about the sport, not about politics," the Hall of Famer said.  "At least, that's my interpretation.  I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch the game.  I want to watch players play and teams win, lose, come from behind.  I want to watch all the, you know, important parts of the game, not what's going on outside of the game.  And I think the general fan feels the same way."  Favre's comments came days after Major League Baseball moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta to Denver over Georgia's new voting laws.  He said he's heard fans tell him they don't watch sports anymore because it has gotten too political.

Timberwolves honor Daunte Wright in pregame ceremony.  The Minnesota Timberwolves honored Daunte Wright before the NBA team's game on Tuesday night [4/13/2021].  Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by a police officer Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park.  Body camera footage of the incident has sparked racial justice protests across the city and renewed calls by activists for police reform measures.  The Timberwolves wore special T-shirts during pre-game warmups before their game against the Brooklyn Nets and held a moment of silence on the court prior to the playing of the national anthem.

Fixing Racism by Being Racist?  If diversity is such a good thing at Princeton [University] or United [Airlines], how about professional sports?  59 percent of NFL players are Black, compared to only 13 percent of the US population.  And no women play in the NFL.  If professional sports leagues are to be sufficiently woke, reflecting the diversity of America, then half of all players should be women, and only 13 percent black, 18 percent Hispanic, 6 percent Asian, and so on.  Why are woke news networks, Ivy League universities, and professional sports leagues not practicing the diversity that they preach?  Major League Baseball thinks the new Georgia voting laws are racist.  They should look in the mirror at their owners, managers, and players and see how they compare to American diversity and admit their own racism and sexism.

Fans Are Tuning Out on Woke Sports.  Last Friday, after President Biden, left-wing activists, and the national media spent weeks peddling lies about Georgia's new voting law disproportionately impacting people of color, Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred caved to the radical mob and decided to move this year's All-Star Game out of Atlanta.  In the name of equality, Manfred's decision will cost Atlanta, a city with a 50 percent black population, an estimated $100 million in economic losses.  The game will now be held in Denver, Colorado, a city that is only 10 percent black.  As nonsensical as Manfred's decision was, no one should be surprised by it.  Over the past few years, it has been fairly obvious to any impartial observer that the higher echelons at MLB, along with those in charge at the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), have made a conscious decision to alienate a large percentage of their fanbase by conceding more control of their sports to the demands of social justice warriors and the tyrannical Left.

Baseball strikes out.  [Scroll down]  Hopefully I've established my baseball bona fides, so now I'll get to the point:  I condemn Major League Baseball, especially its spineless Commissioner Rob Manfred, for pulling the annual All-Star game from Atlanta.  Like so many other useful idiots, Manfred bent over for the left-wing mob and its lies, this time regarding Georgia's new voter ID law.  Sporting events are a diversion and should never be used as a political prop.  My response?  I'm unequivocally boycotting Major League Baseball.  If I can do it, so can you!  Yeah, I'm a lifelong baseball guy, but first and foremost I'm a patriot.  I love our Republic, for what it was before the communist cancer metastasized, and for what it can be again!  But we have to take a stand against the Marxist bullies.  Baseball is just one example of a major corporation that went "woke."

In Defense of Major League Baseball — An Explanation That Makes Sense and Seems Rational.  The MLB All-Star game over the past 20 years has become an event where some of baseball's biggest stars decline to play in order to have a 4-day break in the middle of the grind of 162 game schedule.  But the prospect of having a large number of the sport's best players publicly decline to participate because of where the game was being played was a potential PR nightmare that would last for weeks, and continue right up to the start of the game — if there was a game.  As more and more players would likely announce their intention to boycott the game under pressure from media and players in other sports — like LeBron James — a cascading effect would have like developed where the outcome might have ultimately have been that no players agreed to play.  If some players did agree to play — say some white players — the potential for conflict inside the locker rooms of MLB clubs between boycotting players and non-boycotting players would escalate.  The fallout for the sport in the aftermath of such a development would be disastrous.

Fire Manfred and return the All-Star Game to Atlanta.  If Major League Baseball team-owners don't act fast, the MLB will experience a hemorrhaging of fans that might damage the pro game for years.  The way to repair the damage is to fire Commissioner Rob Manfred and return the All-Star Game to Atlanta this summer.  An April 7 report from Fox News (via Becker News) says Manfred decided to pull the game from Atlanta after consulting with Stacey Abrams and a voting rights group associated with LeBron James and the always sketchy Al Sharpton.  The timing of Manfred's decision caught owners off-guard, reports Fox.  Manfred's decision should not only incense team-owners, but serve as grounds to dump the commissioner.

Thanks, Captain Obvious!  NBC Realizes MLB Move Hurts Black-Owned Atlanta Businesses.  After a campaign of disinformation over the Georgia voter bill that helped pressure Major League Baseball (MLB) to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver, Colorado, Wednesday's [4/7/2021] NBC Nightly News stumbled onto the truth once they poisoned the well, which was the decision will have a negative economic impact on Atlanta businesses and especially Black-owned establishments.  Anchor Lester Holt stated the obvious in an opening tease that there was "unintended fallout from the MLB moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta on local businesses."

Jake Tapper strikes out over MLB moving All Star game when reminded CNN has its HQ in Atlanta.  CNN anchor Jake Tapper's so-called inside information about the "simple facts" behind Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star Game from the Atlanta area is turning out to hardly be a home run.  That's because those Twitter users — those who apparently are able to evaluate the Georgia voting law on its substance and free of the one-sided narrative pushed in Tapper's industry — are reminding him of an additional simple fact:  CNN's headquarters just happens to be located in Atlanta.  Shouldn't CNN also boycott Atlanta, too, they wonder?

Major League Baseball stupidly falls for Democrats' partisan game.  There's no defense for MLB's action pulling the All-Star Game out of Georgia.  A corporation based in New York, which has more restrictive voting laws than Georgia's, has moved the Midsummer Classic to Colorado, which, like Georgia, has the supposedly objectionable voter ID requirement.  It did so at the request of President Joe Biden, who is from Delaware, which also has more restrictive voting laws than Georgia.  Why?  Because Georgia passed a bill that generally expanded access to voting.  As Gov. Brian Kemp pointed out, when MLB issued its anti-Georgia announcement, the league didn't bother to cite a single provision of the law it was supposedly objecting to.  That's easy to explain:  MLB doesn't actually care that much about voting laws — otherwise, it wouldn't have its headquarters in New York.

Ex-MLB commissioner Fay Vincent slams successor Rob Manfred's decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.  Former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent has slammed successor Rob Manfred over the 'mistake' of moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to the new voting law in Georgia that many believe to be racist.  'Major League Baseball can't become a weapon in the culture wars, a hostage for one political party or ideology,' the 82-year-old Vincent wrote in The Wall Street Journal's opinion section.  Georgia's new law limits mail-in voting and allows for more legislative control over the election process following former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.  Critics of the law, including Delta and Coca-Cola, say it unfairly targets minority voters in metropolitan areas.

Report: MLB Commish Pulled All-Star Game from Atlanta After Talking to Stacey Abrams.  According to a report from Fox Business Network's Charles Gasparino, sources inside Major League Baseball claim that Commissioner Rob Manfred "blindsided" MLB owners with "at least" the "timing" of his decision to pull the All-Star Game from Atlanta.  Moreover, Gasparino's report claims that Manfred spoke with defeated 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams before he decided to move the game.

MLB commissioner decided to move All-Star Game after pressure from Stacey Abrams on voting issues: sources.  Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Robert Manfred decided to move the All-Star Game on his own after holding extensive discussions with voting rights groups associated with Lebron James, Stacey Abrams and Rev. Al Sharpton, sources familiar with the move tell Fox News.  Abrams and Sharpton told the commissioner players would boycott the game if not.  Sources say that Abrams' current stance, that she is disappointed about the Georgia boycott, is suspect as she was a key player in the decision.  James has publicly supported the Georgia boycott.  Abrams' group and Sharpton also urged the commissioner to support other issues, including voter drives and H.R. 1, the For the People Act — sweeping election reform that recently passed the House.  Manfred decided the easiest way to deal with the matter was to leave Georgia, according to a source.

Things We Can Live Without.  The NFL was an early casualty.  The sight of players, coaches, even owners kneeling to protest demonstrably nonexistent "systemic police racism" sent me to the sidelines.  Colin Kaepernick's socks, featuring pigs wearing police hats, revealed his true feelings as the leader of that movement.  A lot of fans like me make other plans on Sundays now.  For decades I suffered with the fickle fortunes of the Boston Red Sox. [...] The Sox lost me when they plastered "BLACK LIVES MATTER" on the marquee at Fenway, in the iconic typeface used on their uniforms.  BLM organizers are Marxists who support the dismantling of the nuclear family.  Marxists perpetrated the greatest evils ever visited on mankind.  It's so hard to cheer for those who pander to them.  I stopped.  Major League Baseball has yanked its All-Star Game from Georgia because that state made a modest effort to prevent fraud in future elections.  Joe Biden expressed support. [...] Can liberals alone fill baseball stadiums?

MLB strikes out with proposed All-Star Game relocation.  Major League Baseball officials are mulling relocating the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Coors Field in Denver, though Colorado has the same voter ID requirement and fewer early voting days than Georgia.  Several outlets reported the development Monday, noting that the Colorado Rockies would be hosting the annual game on July 13 instead of the Atlanta Braves.  The league moved the game out of Georgia following an outcry by Democrats, corporations headquartered in Atlanta, and left-wing pundits that a new voter reform law unfairly targeted minorities.

MLB's new All-Star Game location — Denver's Coors Field — is steeped in its own history of discrimination.  By moving the All-Star Game from suburban Atlanta to a stadium in Denver, Major League Baseball may have gone from the frying pan into the fire in the controversial case of cancel culture.  MLB ignited a firestorm last Friday — with the support of President Joe Biden — when it announced it was moving America's pastime's biggest game next to the World Series because it disagreed with a new Georgia voting law that liberal critics say helps Republicans and hurts minorities.  But the new venue, Coors Field, in Denver, comes with its own dark cloud of controversy, and may ignite even more problems.

The Woke Left Ruined Baseball.  Is Golf Next?  On Friday, Major League Baseball announced they will move the 2021 All-Star Game and 2021 MLB draft out of Atlanta in response to Georgia's Election Integrity bill. [...] Corporations are now rushing to cave to the woke Left, with Major League Baseball joining the ever-growing list of organizations who decided that folding was easier than making a stand.  There was a time when sporting events were a wonderful way to get away from it all.  It gave us a short reprieve from days filled with doom and gloom headlines and nasty political disagreements with neighbors.  Those days are long gone.  Sports, athletes and politics are now tied together at the hip.  From athletes kneeling during the national anthem to Black Lives Matter commercials at every turn, political statements during sporting events have become our "new normal."

Biden Encourages Masters to Move Out Georgia by Continuing to Lie About State's New Election Laws.  First baseball, now golf.  Joe Biden delivered remarks from the White House on Tuesday [4/6/2021] and encouraged Americans to continue to cower in fear over a virus with a 99.98% survival rate.  Joe Biden was asked by a reporter if he supports moving the Masters Tournament out of Georgia after the MLB decided to move its All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver.  "That's up to the Masters," said Biden before he nudged corporations to bludgeon American citizens based on debunked claims about Georgia's election laws.

Stacey Abrams [is] to blame for costing Georgia $100 million in lost All-Star Game revenue:  Rand Paul.  Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has urged people not to boycott Georgia, but Sen. Rand Paul says she and other Democrats are squarely to blame for Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta.  The founder of Fair Fight, Ms. Abrams led the charge against Senate Bill 202, the Georgia election law that requires identification for absentee ballots, expands early voting and bans electioneering within 150 feet of polling entrances, calling it "Jim Crow 2.0."  "There's all these people who are woke, but now even the woke like Stacey Abrams, are starting to see, oh, no what have I unleashed?  I just lost my state $100 million in revenue," said Mr. Paul on Fox's "The Story."  "Stacey Abrams and the Democrats cost Georgia $100 million in revenue because they complained about something they didn't read and they said something about it that wasn't true."

Strike Out Major League Baseball.  Woke pro baseball, strike one.  A cowardly MLB commissioner, strike two.  Corporate sanctimony, strike three.  Major League Baseball pulling the 2021 All-Star game and this year's amateur draft from Atlanta is batter out, game over.  As a lifelong baseball fan, I take no pleasure in declaring that I won't spend another penny on the Grand Old Game this season.  And that might turn into many seasons.  The MLB is against Georgia's sensible election reforms.  Election reforms that better ensure honest, fairer contests are critically more important than my pleasure.  They should be more important than yours.  Over the weekend, President Trump called for boycotts.  As usual, Trump hit the nail on the head.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Throws Fastball at MLB's Virtue Signaling.  The Texas Rangers baseball team had asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to throw out the first pitch at their home opener.  Major League Baseball then took a stand against sensible voting reforms in Georgia, reforms that include extending early voting days making it easier to Georgians to cast votes.  After Joe Biden shamelessly and repeatedly lied about that law, MLB moved the All-Star game from Atlanta.  MLB's leadership evidently did not read the law before launching an economic war against the state of Georgia.  Texas is considering similar reforms, and American Airlines is among corporate America's partisans taking shots at the law without bothering to read it first.  Gov. Abbott has decided enough is enough.  He released a letter Monday telling the Rangers that he will not support the politicization of baseball and therefore will not throw out the first pitch.

White House Spins Biden's All-Star Game Remarks:  He Didn't Definitively Say He Supported Moving All-Star Game From Georgia.  On Monday [4/5/2021], White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to mitigate the effect of comments President Biden made last week in which he stated that he supported major league baseball players who wanted to relocate the All-Star game from Atlanta because Georgia GOP Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a bill that dealt with voting law.  Biden stated, "I would strongly support them doing that."  At the White House press briefing on Monday, a reporter asked, "I just wanted to ask you a question about Major League Baseball.  The league decided to move its All-Star Game out of Atlanta.  That's something that the President said he supported before.  Does he then agree with their decision to move that game out of Atlanta because of the voting law?  Psaki framed Biden's answer as being supportive of the players' capacity to make a decision rather than the decision itself.

MLB All-Star Game to be played at Coors Field after league strips event from Braves: reports.  The Colorado Rockies will host the 2021 MLB All-Star Game after the decision to move the event from Atlanta over Georgia's restrictive voting law, according to multiple reports.  ESPN and Altitude TV reported the game was going to be moved to Coors Field in Denver on July 13. [...] MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement to strip the Braves of the event on Friday in response to the mounting pressure to change the location of the July game in response to Republican-backed election reform legislation recently signed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

MLB relocates All-Star game to state with voter-ID laws, and fewer early-voting days.  That'll show 'em! After caving to a boycott of Georgia over its new election law, Major League Baseball has relocated its All-Star Game event from Atlanta to Denver. [...] However, let's not overlook the blow that MLB has struck for solidarity with the black community.  They moved the All-Star Game from a state where 31.2% of the population is black, and moved the $100 million business opportunity to a state where 4.1% of the population is black.  This is what's known as "redistribution of wealth," at least to progressives and the MLB.

Why did baseball capitulate?  Jim Geraghty wonders why Major League Baseball pulled its all-star game from Georgia, but major sporting events are still scheduled to take place in that state.  He cites the Masters Golf Tournament, as well as all home games for professional Atlanta teams and Georgia's collegiate athletic programs.  In addition, the following events are still a go, as of now:
      The 2021 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games in Atlanta
      The 2021 SEC Championship Game
      The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
      The PGA Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in September
      The USTA Atlanta Open
Why, Geraghty asks rhetorically, if there is a moral imperative to move the baseball all-star game, is there no obligation to move other sporting events to a different state?  The answer, of course, is that there is no such obligation.  That, I take it, is Geraghty's point.  But why has baseball moved the all-star game, while comparable events will still take place in Georgia?

Oops: Chuck Schumer Invites MLB All-Star Game to NY, but Then Facts About the State Get Dropped.  As we've previously reported, President Biden, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and other Biden officials are outright lying about Georgia's new voting law, so much so that even Democrat-friendly fact-checkers are not letting them get away with it.  The Biden administration's falsehoods and those of failed 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams have now cost the state the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which was yanked Friday just two days after Biden said he would "strongly support" them doing so.

Georgia County That Voted For Biden To Lose $100+ Million Over MLB Relocating Game After Biden Remarks:  Report.  The Georgia county that was set to host the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game said over the weekend that it will lose more than $100 million after the league pulled the game and draft out of the state — a decision that comes after Democrats Madeline number of false claims about the state's new election law and signaled they would support the league boycotting the state.  Holly Quinlan, president and CEO of Cobb Travel and Tourism, said that the "estimated lost economic impact" for the county was more than $100 million.

(Censored) Major League Baseball.  [Scroll down]  I am also, like most conservatives, not a big believer in boycotts.  I even wrote a newspaper column several years ago arguing against them.  But once again, there is a time for everything.  And once again, this is that time: time for every conservative in America, along with anyone else who cares about the future of our republic — who cares that it has a future that doesn't include full-on totalitarianism — to utterly abandon Major League Baseball.  Don't go to a game.  Don't watch games on TV or listen to them on the radio.  Don't buy any official gear.  Just pretend like MLB no longer exists.

A Biden Advisor Is Asked About the MLB Boycott of Georgia, Her Response Is Mind-Boggling.  With the MLB pulling the all-star game out of Georgia, the questions for Democrats are piling up.  Specifically, what exactly did they accomplish by lying about the election reform bill except costing Georgia business owners over $100 million in revenue?  Stacey Abrams has been the least self-aware in the aftermath, claiming that she's not to blame despite clearly being to blame.  Others like Raphael Warnock haven't even tried to pretend they don't the result.  Of course, it wasn't just Georgia-centric figures in the mix here.  Joe Biden also voiced his support for the boycott, and one of his advisors was asked about it this morning [4/4/2021]. [...] This is what being out of touch looks like.

Boycott boomerang:  Genius Dems start to realize Georgia boycott will cost them votes in the Peach State.  Democrats thought they had a brilliant plan to force Georgia to permit widespread voting fraud by getting their woke pals in corporate America to bully the state into repealing its brand-new voting integrity law that mandates voter ID and other commonsense measures.  Two Atlanta-based corporate giants, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, denounced Georgia's new voting integrity bill, and Major League Baseball announced it was moving the All-Star Game away from Atlanta.  Oops!  Guess who gets hurt in the estimated $100 million impact from the loss of the MLB showcase.  That would be the little guys who work at hotels and restaurants, who are vendors at the game, and who work in other service industries.  The local Dem pols realized this quickly.

The Democrats' rash behavior is due to a lack of foresight.
Boycott boomerang:  Genius Dems start to realize Georgia boycott will cost them votes in the Peach State.  Democrats thought they had a brilliant plan to force Georgia to permit widespread voting fraud by getting their woke pals in corporate America to bully the state into repealing its brand-new voting integrity law that mandates voter ID and other common-sense measures.  Two Atlanta-based corporate giants, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, denounced Georgia's new voting integrity bill, and Major League Baseball announced it was moving the All-Star Game away from Atlanta.  Oops!  Guess who gets hurt in the estimated $100 million impact from the loss of the MLB showcase.  That would be the little guys who work at hotels and restaurants, who are vendors at the game, and who work in other service industries.  The local Dem pols realized this quickly.

MLB requires photo ID to pick up tickets from Will Call, but boycotts Georgia for voter ID law.  Major League Baseball responded to calls to boycott the state of Georgia over a controversial new voter-ID law by moving the All-Star game out of the Peach State.  But teams still requires fans to show photo ID to pick up their tickets from the Will Call booth.  South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace called the league out on Twitter.

What's More American than Coke and Baseball?  [Scroll down]  The immediate target of these corporate actions was efforts by Georgia and Texas to revise their election laws, laws which in many states have resulted in widespread disbelief that the 2020 elections were conducted on the up and up.  When people believe election procedures are untrustworthy, it shatters voluntary acceptance of the election results.  Under pressure from racist propagandists of the left and using COVID as an excuse, jurisdictions in several states so loosened the election rules that widespread fraud was made easier.  One state in particular was Georgia, where asleep at the switch (or corrupt — your choice) officials permitted the sloppy, untrustworthy, opaque, and disputed election procedures.  In an effort to prevent a repeat, Georgia enacted a new election law.  (In pdf form it's 104 pages, and that makes it unlikely to me that any of the corporate bleating about it was made with knowledge of its contents.)

Baseball is the last straw.  Time to start boycotting.  Under the influence of racist organizations such as BLM, and in response to ignorant denunciations of Georgia's new election integrity bill by an ignorant president, it [major league baseball] has thrown in with the woke mob that would judge the worth of individuals on the basis of the color of their skin rather than on the content of their character.  In the process it has begun to unravel the progress made in the preceding half-century.  Now, not even baseball, the all-American game, is a haven from the culture wars unleashed by the ruthless left.  It would not have been hard for Rob Manfred and the big businessmen who run MLB to resist the demands of the radical left to take sides in a political dispute.  All they needed to say was that the business of MLB is baseball.  Not politics.  But that would have taken courage — courage that they do not have.

Major League Baseball and the Voting-Rights Con.  It has been years since I've watched the All-Star Game, the can't-miss event of my youth.  When I learned that the woke Left had gotten the woke commissioner to accede to the woke White House's instruction that the game be moved out of Atlanta — part of the campaign to slander Georgia's voting law as racist — it was the first time I'd even heard that the game was scheduled to be in Atlanta.  They could play it on Mars for all I care, or, better yet, not play it at all.

Major League Baseball's Cowardly 'Stand'.  Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred announced that it would not be holding its 2021 All-Star Game or draft in Georgia as originally planned because of the state's much — and unfairly — maligned new elections law. [...] What a humiliating spectacle for the league and the country.  Manfred doesn't state what the MLB's problems with the bill are because he either can't or is embarrassed to have to articulate them out loud.  The move comes after President Biden — who called the law "Jim Crow on steroids" — said he agreed with the suggestion that the MLB move the All-Star Game, and as he continues to deceive the public about the legislation's contents.

Georgia Democrats stare down a mob of their own making.  Leftist activists are busy whipping up a national boycott of Georgia-based businesses over the state's new election integrity law.  The boycott has the support of Hollywood and the White House, with President Joe Biden saying this week that he would support moving the MLB's All-Star Game out of the state as a sign of protest.  Georgia Democrats are now left trying to talk the mob down.  "I absolutely oppose and reject any notion of boycotting Georgia," Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff said in a statement on Thursday [4/1/2021].  "Georgia welcomes business, investment, jobs, opportunity, and events.  In fact, economic growth is driving much of the political progress we have seen here."  Stacey Abrams, who, having lost Georgia's governorship in 2018, rebranded herself as a voting rights activist, agreed and reminded Democrats that economic boycotts would hurt the very communities they claim to represent.

LeBron James, Liberal Elites Celebrate After MLB Takes All-Star Game from Georgia.  On Friday [4/2/2021], Major League Baseball decided to take its All-Star Game away from Atlanta's Truist Park in response to the state's new voter integrity law.  Liberal supporters exploded with delight after the MLB announcement. [...] Unsurprisingly, the baseball player's union supported the move.  After all, they had already been pushing for it.  [Numerous tweets]

MLB is fine with ball games in Cuba and training in China, but Georgia is the human-rights problem.  You could tell that the Major League Baseball (MLB) decision to pull its All-Star game out of Atlanta was a deeply unpopular one, based on the ambivalent reaction of far-left failed gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams. [...] After all, isn't she the one who pushed through most of the fraud-enabling laws on the books in Georgia which triggered the recent legislative action?  The blacks-are-too-dumb-to-have-voter-ID idiotic notion, so by extension, nobody should have to show voter ID to vote, even though everyone needs to show ID to buy a beer at a MLB ball game, or buy a ticket to one?  She needs to make up her mind.  So which is it?  Not wanting to see families hurt, or being all-in for the boycott of Atlanta, which certainly should affect the city tax base?  She wants to have it both ways, boycott but nobody hurt.  That's because unlike MLB, she wants to win public office, and knows that screwing over black businesses, which will get it in the teeth with this MLB maneuver, is going to make her unpopular.

This is How To Do It — President Trump Calls for Boycott of Major League Baseball.  This is exactly how to fight back against the insufferable leftist politics that is infecting everything.  Today President Trump has called for a boycott of Major League Baseball.  If these corporations realize their actions will cause 80 to 100 million people to stop using their products, they will feel the scale of their financial position being crushed.  Keep in mind MAGA supporters are the people who economically represent the largest audience with a greater percentage of their income available for recreational purchasing decisions.

GOP Senators Propose Revoking MLB's Antitrust Status.  Republican lawmakers, including Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah) have called for an end to Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption after the league announced it would pull the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta.  The league's decision came in response to a Georgia voting law that critics claim makes it more difficult for individuals, particularly black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Joe Biden might just have killed Major League Baseball.  One of the highlights of the baseball season is the All-Star Game, which was set to be played on July 13 in Atlanta.  Since 1933, midway through the MLB season, fans pick their favorites from the American League and the National League and then the chosen stars compete.  I'm not a baseball fan but I'm willing to bet that, in terms of ad revenue and merchandise sales, it's an important part of the business end of pro-baseball.  And it certainly brings revenue to the city hosting it.  On Thursday [4/1/2021], Biden made one of his little scripted appearances, this time on ESPN. It's worth noting that ESPN, which Disney owns, long ago transferred its allegiance from sports to leftism with a serving of sports on the side. [...] Remember, there are only 30 baseball teams but there are around 80 million Trump voters.  We can make the franchise hurt for its decision to weaponize America's game against the integrity of America's elections.

The Editor says...
The quickest and easiest thing you can do about this issue is to turn off ESPN.  Step two:  Don't watch another baseball game this year.  (Do you have nothing else to do?)  The Democrat fans may be able to keep the politicized sport afloat, but I doubt it.

Woke to Broke:  Moving All-Star Game Costs Atlanta Tens of Millions in Revenue.  Major League Baseball announced this year's All-Star Game would be relocated out of Atlanta, Georgia, costing the city as much as $190 million in revenue, according to official estimates.  Bill Volckmann, Finance Director for Cobb County, appraised the All-Star Game's economic impact to fall somewhere between $37 million and $190 million in his 213-page agenda packet.  While some dispute the high-end of those projections, it's safe to say the city — especially lower-wage workers who would have worked the event — would have benefited greatly.

Atlanta Braves Fire Back After MLB Moves All Star Game.  Major League Baseball has been under intense pressure from Democrats to move the annual All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia's election integrity law and on Friday [4/2/2021], the league caved.  On the second day of the 2021 season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a clear message to all MLB fans that his league takes its marching orders from activists and politicians.

The Editor says...
Throw the ball.  Hit the ball.  Catch the ball.  Big deal.  Play your big game somewhere else.  Or don't play at all.  Who cares?

Trump Calls For Boycotting Major League Baseball After They Cave To 'Radical Left Democrats'.  Former President Donald Trump called for people to boycott Major League Baseball (MLB) on Friday night after the league caved to pressure from leftists to cancel the All Star Game, which was scheduled to take place in Atlanta, after Georgia passed a law to tighten up voting security around the state.  Trump's statement comes after MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced earlier in the day that the league was moving both All-Star Game and MLB Draft to a new host city following a misleading pressure campaign from leftists about the state's new laws.  "Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections," Trump said in a statement.  "Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections.  Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!"

Et tu, baseball?  I can easily overlook the flamboyance and over-the-top showmanship of many of today's players in the interest of letting them have a bit of fun while they play.  But I can't go along with this calculated, political move on the part of the owners.  The commissioner works for the owners, and the possibility that a move like today's could have been made without a majority of owners going along with it is more than unlikely.  It is impossible.  So baseball has joined the NBA and NFL in their wokeness.  Politics has contaminated every form of entertainment in our country.  I am beyond sad and beyond furious for this latest insult.  I have never before been so upset with "my" game that I have been tempted never to watch another inning.  I may get over it, but then again, I may not.

Remember when baseball brought us together?  My guess is that there is going to be a huge backlash against this decision.  I trust that the commissioner understands that.  It would have been wiser for the commissioner to have responded to the wokes by saying we play baseball, not get involved in partisan politics.  Twenty years ago, baseball brought us together.  Now it will add to the growing polarization in the land.  Sad but true.

MLB yanks All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia's new voting law.  MLB is taking its ball and leaving Georgia.  The league announced on Friday that it is moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta as backlash grows over a new Georgia law that is seen as an attack on voter access.  "I have determined the best way to demonstrate our value as a sport is relocating this year's All-Star Game and MLB Draft," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.  "MLB fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box."  The Braves, in a statement, opposed the move.

Biden 'strongly supports' moving MLB All-Star game over new Georgia voting law.  President Joe Biden said he would "strongly support" moving the Major League Baseball All-Star Game out of Atlanta because of Georgia's new voting law that critics say may suppress turnout at the ballot box.  Biden spoke to ESPN's Sage Steele in an 11-minute interview Wednesday night, saying he would back the MLB if the league decided to move the July 13 game out of Georgia in response to the GOP-backed election reform signed last month by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

After promoting this behavior for decades, now they say it's forbidden.
Cleveland Indians prohibiting fans with redface, Native American headdresses into Progressive Field.  In a long list of what fans can expect at Progressive Field for the 2021 season, the Cleveland Indians announced it will not allow fans into Progressive Field with "headdresses and face paint styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions."  Anyone wearing inappropriate or offensive images, words, dress or face paint must be covered or removed, and failure to do so will constitute grounds for ejection or refusal of admission, the organization stated.

The Editor says...
The professional baseball teams derive their income by selling tickets to baseball games; and to a certain extent, by selling the television rights to those games.  (I suspect that every major league game is attended by a TV crew, whether the entire game is televised or not, just in case something extraordinary happens.)  The fans come to the game in person, expecting to have an enjoyable experience.  In Cleveland, for the last several decades, part of that experience has been the opportunity to root for the Indians while dressing and acting like stereotypical cartoon Indians.  Until very recently, nobody thought for a moment that such behavior was offensive to Indians in general.  But the fans don't like to have their traditions uprooted, and they don't like to see leftist politics injected into their favorite sports, after paying to attend the game (and park the car).  If specific teams or the MLB organization put a wet blanket on the fans' enthusiasm, they can expect to make less money.

Because the game is more important to them than their country:
U.S. soccer will now allow players to kneel for national anthem.  The U.S. Soccer Federation will no longer require players to stand for the national anthem, voting to repeal a 2017 policy that called on national team players to "stand respectfully" during the Star Spangled Banner before national team games.  During a virtual conference of the group's annual general meeting on Saturday, 71.34 percent of National Council members voted to repeal the policy which had already been nixed by the USSF board of directors last summer.  Hundreds of voters make up the National Council, including representatives for youth, adult amateur and professional populations, in addition to the athletes' council.

If College Basketball Players Don't Want to Stand for the National Anthem, Yank Their Scholarships.  The men's basketball team at East Tennessee State University disrespected the national anthem by dropping to a knee on Feb. 16th.  That act of defiance led state lawmakers to fire off a letter to every public university in the state.  "We expect all those who walk onto the field of play representing our universities to also walk onto the field of play to show respect for our National Anthem," read a letter written and signed by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally along with 26 Republican state senators. [...] Unfortunately, many student athletes cannot be persuaded to do the right thing because of patriotism or human decency.  It's all about dollars and cents.  So lawmakers should present the basketball players an offer they cannot refuse.

No Kneeling:  Scotland And Wales Players All Remain Standing Before Rugby Game.  Players for Scotland and Wales all remained standing ahead of their Six Nations rugby match on Saturday, defying uproar over many players not kneeling to Black Lives Matter at the earlier Scotland vs England fixture.  While players for England — with some notable exceptions — decided to "take a knee" for Black Lives Matter before facing off against the Scots team in their home stadium, only a handful of Scottish players followed suit.

Virginia College Forfeits Basketball Game After Suspending Players For Kneeling During Anthem.  Bluefield College, a small Baptist liberal arts school nestled in the Appalachian mountains in Bluefield, Virginia doesn't seem to be a likely place to make national news.  But when players on the men's basketball team took a knee during the playing of the national anthem — after being warned several times it was against school policy — the school president promptly suspended the players and forfeited a game.  The players had knelt several times before games in January and February, at both home and away contests.  After being warned about the practice, the players decided to stay in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem before an away game.

College suspends basketball players for kneeling during anthem because of how 'it's perceived by some'.  The dean of a small Baptist liberal arts college in western Virginia suspended basketball players after they repeatedly knelt before games during the playing of the National Anthem in violation of the institution's rules.  The suspension of several Bluefield College players by President David Olive led to a forfeit against NAIA rival Reinhardt on Thursday [2/11/2021], the New York Post reported.  Olive, who is white, said in a statement he made the decision to suspend all the team's players after discovering that they had knelt prior to several games this season.

The Editor says...
If Mr. Olive were a man of some ethnicity other than white, would that have been mentioned in this article?  Of course not!

Minnesota colleges adapt as 'Star Spangled Banner' stirs dissimilar emotions.  When it comes to the national anthem and sports, Americans remain divided.  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reignited the issue last week when he said he had stopped playing the anthem at games.  The mention of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who last played in the league three years ago, still angers people upset by his choice to kneel during the anthem.  But some schools, including St.  Thomas and the University of Minnesota, are incorporating social justice messages into their pregame anthem presentations.  The Tommies' statement is one of several new anthem introductions developed by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for use by its teams.  The Gophers are playing "Lift Every Voice and Sing," often called the Black national anthem, before "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Mark Cuban Insists The Dallas Mavericks Won't Play National Anthem Anymore.  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Tuesday [2/9/2021] that his franchise would no longer play the national anthem prior to his team's NBA home games.  It's a long-standing tradition to play the anthem before home games in all major professional sports, and even all the way down to high school athletics.  Cuban said that will come to an end with the Mavericks.  The national anthem hasn't been played at any Mavericks games so far at the American Airlines Center this season — preseason or regular-season games.  Cuban told ESPN that he consulted with NBA commissioner Adam Silver before letting the rest of the world know about his decision, ESPN reported.  A team source told ESPN that no players, coaches or referees have mentioned the anthem's absence so far.

The Editor says...
If you hate America, don't play the National Anthem before the game.  Your customers will let you know if they concur.

Jen Psaki:  Mark Cuban's attempt to ditch national anthem educates people on U.S. failures.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's attempt to ditch the national anthem was an acknowledgment of U.S. shortcomings.  The White House spokeswoman was asked about the billionaire's move, which was quickly torpedoed by the league as the news went viral.  "I haven't spoken with the president about the decision by Mark Cuban or the Dallas Mavericks," Ms. Psaki said of the plan to omit the national anthem from the Mavericks' first 13 home games.  "I know he's incredibly proud to be an American, and has great respect for the anthem, and all that represents, especially for our men and women serving in uniform around the world."

The Editor says...
Now you know where Psaki stands — as an official representative of the President.

White House Supports Mavericks Scrapping The National Anthem Because America Fails 'Often'.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki expressed support for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's decision to remove the national anthem from the team's home games because they "feel [the anthem] doesn't represent them."  During the Wednesday [2/10/2021] press briefing, Fox News's Peter Doocy asked Psaki about the Biden administration's stance on Cuban's decision.  While the press secretary acknowledged that President Joe Biden is "proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem," she also said he would support the Mavericks for calling out the frequent times when "we as a country haven't lived up to our highest ideals."

The Editor says...
Cuban, Psaki, and Biden have made it clear:  They are annoyed by the National Anthem, apparently because they hate America.

Update:
NBA Responds after Mark Cuban Skips National Anthem for Home Games.  The National Basketball Association announced on Wednesday [2/10/2021] that all teams would play the national anthem before games.  The announcement marks an apparent rebuke of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who decided he would not mandate the playing of the anthem before the team's home games.  The Mavericks have already played their first home games without the anthem, including their first home game with fans in the audience.

But at least now you know where Mark Cuban stands.
Dallas Mavericks PLAY national anthem before home game against the Hawks - just hours after owner Mark Cuban relented.  The Dallas Mavericks have played the national anthem before a home game against the Atlanta Hawks, just hours after billionaire team owner Mark Cuban relented to the NBA's demand that the song be played at all games.  A recorded version of the Star-Spangled Banner was played before Wednesday night's game at American Airlines Center, while Mavericks and Hawks players and staff stood lined up on the court.  As the anthem concluded, the smattering of fans in attendance broke out in applause and cheers.  The Mavericks are currently allowing 1,500 fans at home games, with tickets available to vaccinated healthcare and essential workers.

Did Biden Get Booed?  Bidens Make Creepy Video Appearance at Super Bowl, Tell Americans to Wear Masks and Get Vaccinated.  Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked off Sunday [2/7/2021] at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.  According to reports, 22,000 fans attended the Super Bowl on Sunday.  The Bidens barged in and made a creepy video appearance before kickoff to lecture Americans about "social distancing."  Americans just can't get on with their lives because the Democrats have to drone on and on about Covid every second of every day.  Joe Biden and his  handler  wife Jill made a video message from their Delaware basement bunker that played on the jumbotron — as if people watching football and drinking beer want to hear from Dementia Joe.

The Editor says...
The attendance at the big game might have been 24,835, which is less than 40 percent of the previous year's attendance.

Super Bowl LV Kicks Off with' Black National Anthem'.  Super Bowl 55 kicked off Sunday with recording artist Alicia Keys singing the so-called black national anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," along with a poem.  Hitmaker Alicia Keys was tasked with a virtual performance of the 121-year-old spiritual song that has come to be known alternately as the "black national anthem" after being introduced in 1899 for Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  The poem read in 1899 was set to music in 1900.

Roger Goodell Praises Colin Kaepernick — Says He Deserves 'Our Recognition And Admiration'.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell praised former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during his annual state of the league address.  Fox News reported that Goodell said that Kaepernick deserves "our recognition ... and our appreciation" for talking about systemic racism in 2016, when he began taking a knee during the national anthem before his games in protest.  "I said very clearly back in June that we wish we had listened to our players earlier, and we had a lot of players that were coming and bringing these issues to us," Goodell told reporters.  "It didn't start last summer; it started over two years ago and we've been working with the Players Coalition over that period of time."

The Thirty Tyrants.  A decade ago, no one would've put NBA superstar LeBron James and Apple CEO Tim Cook in the same family album, but here they are now, linked by their fantastic wealth owing to cheap Chinese manufacturing (Nike sneakers, iPhones, etc.) and a growing Chinese consumer market.  The NBA's $1.5 billion contract with digital service provider Tencent made the Chinese firm the league's biggest partner outside America.  In gratitude, these two-way ambassadors shared the wisdom of the Chinese Communist Party with their ignorant countrymen.  After an an NBA executive tweeted in defense of Hong Kong dissidents, social justice activist King LeBron told Americans to watch their tongues.  "Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech," said James, "it can be a lot of negative that comes with it."

Megan Rapinoe rips woman wearing USWNT hoodie and Trump mask: 'That is not the kind of fan we will welcome'.  Megan Rapinoe had a clear message for any so-called fans of the U.S. women's national soccer team who support the Trump administration:  "Don't bring that [...] here."  Rapinoe, 35, the national team's outspoken leader and social justice activist, watched in horror from the team's January training camp in Orlando as white supremacist and domestic terrorists wreaked havoc on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.  Their purpose?  Trying to undermine democracy and overthrow a government at the behest of President Trump, who was unhappy he lost re-election to Joe Biden.  A photo was snapped and shared of someone trying to return home after the insurrection wearing a USWNT sweatshirt while also dawning a TRUMP 2020 face mask, which of course caught the attention of the team and Rapinoe, who stand against the man who has continued to lie and spew hatred about non-white, BIPOC.

The Editor says...
[#1] I really doubt if there were any "white supremacist(s)" in the DC crowd last week, and the only "domestic terrorists" were from the political left.  [#2] At least 9,999 out of every 10,000 people in the crowd were assembling peacefully, which the Constitution guarantees their right to do.  [#3] Nobody was "trying to undermine democracy [or] overthrow a government at the behest of President Trump."  That is a vicious canard.  Trump never asked encouraged anyone to engage in violence.  [#4] President Trump is not just "unhappy he lost re-election to Joe Biden."  He is justifiably indignant because his re-election was stolen, and the counterfeit victory given to Biden, by means of wholesale voter fraud.  Joe Biden is one of the few people who is corrupt and venal enough to accept such a gift.  [#5] One can easily imagine that the rest of the article above — and the entire web site — is replete with further lies and disinformation.

Confessions of a Sports Dropout.  [Scroll down]  Common sense still mostly prevails at the amateur level.  I've not seen a Black Lives Matter banner at a Little League game yet.  But it's early days, and we all know what rolls downhill.  The NFL, MLB, and NBA are now adjuncts of Black Lives Matter, complete with banners, sweatshirts, and sappy and misleading television commercials.  League executives have given no indication whether their loyalty is to the sentiment — which is unassailable but irrelevant, as no one ever said black lives don't matter — or to the Marxist organization, which has a much more toxic agenda than racial peace and equity.  In fact, racial peace is the last thing BLM wants.  It would put them out of business.  The price of attending or viewing one of these now-political leagues' games, in addition to the usurious ticket or cable package tariff, is to see America insulted by kneeling athletes, indulged young prats whom America has made rich and privileged beyond their wildest dreams.

NBA coach Stan Van Gundy calls white people 'racist,' says he's a 'poster boy for white privilege'.  New Orleans Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy said white people are "racist" and need to change to help African Americans.  "We're the ones that are racist," Van Gundy told ESPN's The Undefeated in an interview.  "It's a white person's problem that affects people of color, and so we're the ones who have to change. ... Certainly you want to promote Black voices, right?  But if they're the only ones speaking out, a lot of people just push it aside.  There needs to be people saying, 'No, wait a minute.  This is wrong, and we need to correct these things.'"  Van Gundy said that he is part of the problem, calling himself a "poster boy for white privilege."

Soccer Team Bans Fans From Booing Team Members Taking A Knee.  Cambridge United have handed a stadium ban to fans who booed players taking a knee before their home game against Colchester.  Other fans have been asked to undertake education around discrimination and equality before they are allowed back into the Abbey Stadium.  A handful of fans could be heard booing ahead of kick-off in the League Two fixture on December 15, even though it was quickly drowned out by applause.  [Video clip]

BLM Leader Who The Red Sox Honored On The Field Is Arrested For Punching An 80 Year Old Woman On Video.  A 32-year-old Black Lives Matter leader who was honored by the Boston Red Sox during an August "Hats off to Heroes" ceremony, normally used to honor members of the military, was arrested Saturday in Swampscott, Massachusetts for punching an 80-year-old female Trump supporter in the chest.  Jacques Jr., who was released on $550 bail, can be seen in a video posted by Trump supporter Dianna Ploss unloading a right to the 80-year-old woman.  According to his Facebook page, Jacques Jr. was approached by the Red Sox back in August.  The team planned to honor the BLM leader on a night normally reserved to honor members of the military.  [Video clip]

NFL Honors Gunman Killed While Trying To Murder Cops.  The National Football League (NFL) has chosen to honor a gunman who was killed while shooting at police by allowing players to wear his name on their helmets.  Protesters have demanded that Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Officer Dejoure Mercer be sent to prison for murder for returning fire after 21-year-old Dreasjon Reed shot at him on May 6, The Indianapolis Star reported at the time.  Special Prosecutor Rosemary Khoury announced in November that a grand jury determined the shooting was justified, according to The Indianapolis Star.  The Indiana State Police (ISP) said evidence in Reed's phone indicated he was involved in two drive-by shootings prior to livestreaming the police chase and gun battle with Officer Mercer, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Thanks for representing our country so well.
U.S. Olympic Committee Will Allow Athletes To Kneel In Protest, Raise Fists.  The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) announced Thursday that it won't sanction athletes who raise a fist or take a knee on the medal stand at the Tokyo Games in 2021.  USOPC said on Dec. 10 that it agreed with the calls from American athletes that asked the committee to change the rule prohibiting inside-the-lines protests at the Olympic Games, according to ESPN.  The provision known as Rule 50 in the Olympic Charter has been under scrutiny and International Olympic Committee (IOC) has told its athlete commission to explore other options, according to The Washington Post.

Social Justice Bowl?: Ad Agency Predicts 'Black Lives Matter' Theme for Super Bowl LV.  TV advertisers may be preparing to turn the NFL's biggest game into the "Social Justice Bowl" with hours of woke commercials and messaging.  If reports on the ads coming for Super Bowl LV are to be believed, the funny and heartwarming ads, the cute kids and heroic animals will be running alongside Black Lives Matter themes.  Along with social justice activism, advertisers may be preparing commercials filled with coronavirus messaging as well, according to Front Office Sports.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Wears Black Lives Matter Jackets to International Match.  The U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) wore Black Lives Matter Jackets to their international friendly match against the Netherlands on Friday.  In a message posted before the game, USWNT star Alex Morgan said the team chose to wear the jackets as a way to "affirm human decency," and as a stand against "racial injustice and police brutality."

The Colin Kaepernick spectacle needs to end now.  Last week, the man who has made millions stirring racial anxieties and allying himself with massive corporations that profit mightily from slave labor, decided to use his voice not to promote harmony and unity, but to once again stoke discord.  One would think that a man who has profited so handsomely by turning a blind eye towards the human rights abuses that fund his underwriters would experience at least a modicum of shame before attempting to lecture humanity on matters of "justice."  But Colin Kaepernick has proven he is nothing if not shameless.  So at a virtual conference last Monday [11/23/2020], the Nike millionaire zoomed in to lend his voice to the cause of freeing Wesley Cook, the former Black Panther who, after shooting white police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 for daring to pull his brother over for a routine traffic stop, changed his name to Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Detroit Lions and Houston Texans Quarterbacks Kneel During Anthem to Show Their Disgust for America on Thanksgiving Day.  Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the blessings of the past year.  But not everyone is grateful to be from the United States of America.  Professional athletes in the US are now cheerleaders in anti-American hate.

Colin Kaepernick goes full radical with call to free cop killer.  It had to happen.  This day had to come.  For an attention-seeking activist, the worst scenario is to lose the limelight.  It means the death of influence.  So [Colin] Kaepernick — who's already run the course on calling for police reform, who's already spent his media capital on aligning with Black Lives Matter and crying racism when NFL teams, surprise, surprise, failed to rush to extend lucrative offers — Kaepernick had to ratchet the cries.  He had to find a new rally call.  He had to grab a hold of a new campaign.  From police reform to "let my cop-killing people go" — it's the predictable next step.

Colin Kaepernick calls for release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, former Black Panther convicted of killing police officer.  Activist and free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick called for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther who was convicted of killing a White Philadelphia police officer in 1981.  He made the comments during a virtual conference with supporters fighting for his release on Monday [11/16/2020].  "We're in the midst of a movement that says 'Black Lives Matter.'  And if that's truly the case, then it means that Mumia's life and legacy must matter," Kaepernick said in a video statement.

NFL releases National Coming Out Day PSA.  In honor of National Coming Out Day, the National Football League (NFL) released a video celebrating former LGBTQ+ players and encouraging those still in the closet to come out.  The heartwarming clip features former out gay and bisexual athletes Wade Davis, R.K. Russell, Jeff Rohrer, and Ryan O'Callaghan encouraging current athletes to live freely and speak their truth.  They collectively announce:  "To all current players who are thinking of coming out, when you are ready, so are we."

NFL to Air 'National Coming Out Day' PSA During Sunday Night Football.  The NFL is set to celebrate the LGBTQ community's "National Coming Out Day" during its Sunday Night Football broadcast this weekend.  The campaign, labeled "It Takes All Of Us," will feature a 30-second video starring openly gay or bisexual NFL players including Ryan O'Callaghan, Jeff Rohrer, R.K. Russell, and Wade Davis.  The ad encourages gays to come out and be proud of their sexual proclivities, according to CNN.

NBA caves!  No 'Black Lives Matter' on courts and jerseys next year.  NBA commissioner Adam Silver casually let drop the bombshell news that the NBA will remove the name of the Marxist revolutionary organization Black Lives Matter from its basketball courts and player jerseys next season.  This comes following catastrophic ratings declines to all-time lows for the league's playoff games.

The Progressive Medusa.  Sports was once a place to escape work, politics, and family tensions — a unifying experience where grudges, feuds, and vendettas disappeared for a few hours.  Not now.  Franchises became self-acclaimed woke ministries, in which poorly educated athletes — almost exclusively multimillionaires and without much knowledge or appreciation of where their seemingly limitless salaries derive — have become preachers.  And they are poor preachers at that.  The more a LeBron James remonstrates with America, the more NFL athletes refuse to honor the national anthem, the more all professional sports display glitzy politicalized logos, so all the more fans who pay their salaries tune out.  The problem is not just that half the country is at odds with the politics of professional sports, but also that it watches them to see athletic excellence and root for favored teams — not to hear adolescent rants about their own moral shortcomings from supposedly victimized elites, some of whom have less than sterling characters.  Worse still, the monotonous anti-American fantasies of half-educated players are cynically predicated on their own careerist realities — and more than just constructed to appeal to woke 20-something consumers with cash for sneakers and downloads.

Utah Company Gives Up Suite at Jazz Games Over Anthem Kneeling, BLM Promotion.  A Utah company is giving up its suite at Jazz games, citing the players' decision to kneel during the national anthem.  The company, Salt Lake County-based SME Steel Contractors, is asking the NBA franchise to "put a stop to all disrespectful actions during the anthem and remove the Black Lives Matter logo from the arena."  "The recent actions of the NBA — including the owners, coaches and players of the Utah Jazz — have converted a beloved entertainment venue into a forum for dissemination of political propaganda which is divisive and completely out of step with our company and its values," a Sept. 9 letter sent from Salt Lake County-based SME Steel Contractors to Jazz owner Gail Miller states.

Company Gives Up Its NBA Suite, Fires Off Letter to Franchise Owner Over the Ruining of Sports.  If you've paid much attention to NBA games as of late, you know one thing for sure:  Black Lives Matter.  With large letters labeling the court, it's hard to miss the message. [...] Unsurprisingly, not everyone's on board, and you can count SME Steel Contractors among them.  In a September 9th letter to Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller, the Salt Lake County-based company made that clear.  In fact, SME's giving up its suite at the arena.  And it's asking the NBA franchise to "put a stop to all disrespectful actions during the Anthem and remove the Black Lives Matter logo from the arena."

The NFL gets woke and goes broke.  The woke crowd is putting pressure on us to believe we are a racist country.  From 2016 to 2019, a few NFL players took a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner to say this country is racist.  The pressure became so intense that the NFL now accommodates them.  This year, the Black National Anthem is played before games.  Most players either kneel or stay in the locker room during the real National Anthem.  These players must believe that this country is racist.  Since we are citizens, they must believe we are racist.  Almost all of them are millionaires.  They worked hard at their profession and rose to the top.  They are a typical American success story.  They now get money and fame.  We enjoy watching them play and contributing to their wealth.  They should be grateful that they live in this country.  Instead of gratitude, the players are using their fame to call attention to their low opinion of the fans, their customers.  The natural fan response is to boycott the games.

Steelers' Star:  I should have done more research before honoring drive-by shooter.  I wrote [elsew]here about how the Pittsburgh Steelers will be honoring Antwon Rose, a drive-by shooting participant and probable shooter, by wearing his name on their helmets this season.  Only one player — Afghan war vet Alejandro Villanueva — refused to go along with this nauseating decision.  He will wear the name of a fallen warrior, Alwyn Cashe, an African-American who was killed in Iraq.  Now, however, another player, star center Maurkice Pouncey, has balked at the Steelers' decision.  Pouncey, who has worked with the police in Pittsburgh and Florida, says he was given "limited information" about the circumstances concerning Rose.  I "should have done more research to fully understand what occurred in its entirety," he admitted.

Why We Stand for the American Flag.  Now that the political left has decided to strain our few remaining bonds of national unity by encouraging disrespect for the American flag and the National Anthem, will there ever be a day in the future when Americans can pause from political division and join together as one nation to remember all we've accomplished?  Can the athletes who have decided to kneel in protest of America imagine that future?  Won't there always be some injustice, somewhere, that forces athletes to their knees?  Won't there always be some kneeler who feels compelled to judge the actions of another American, even if those actions occurred decades or centuries ago?  Do athletes who take a knee plan to stay on the ground for decades to come?  Will they teach the lesson to their children and their children's children that disrespecting the flag is the noble thing to do?  Just how many generations of kneeling will it take before America is properly punished?

How the Underground Press Will Thwart the Media and Re-Elect Donald Trump.  To understand the samizdat's effect, consider a recent Gallup poll on the U.S. sports industry.  A year ago, by a 45-25 margin, most Americans had a favorable view of professional sports.  Today, by a 40-30 margin, most have an unfavorable view.  These numbers had to shock the more woke among NFL and NBA execs.  All summer, these execs have been reading about the largely peaceful protests against the systemic racism responsible for the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks among others and the crippling of Jacob Blake.  How, they wondered, could sports fans not embrace those athletes who stood (or knelt) in support of social justice?  The players all endorsed the BLM movement or appeared to.  So did the sportscasters, the advertisers, the TV networks, Hollywood, Big Tech, the New York Times, the major magazines, and just about everyone with a prominent soapbox except for Fox News — and even Fox waffled.

Racial Justice Agitators Are Killing Sports.  The NFL is starting to kill American football fans' interest in football with their endless politicization of the sport.  This is the first year my husband refused to join fantasy football leagues because he's had enough of the NFL forgetting why they exist.  Ratings are way down.  Football fans in Kansas City didn't boo the players because they were showing "unity" (whatever that means), they did it because they don't want any politics in sports.  None.  It doesn't matter what side it's on, sports fans don't want to hear about real-world problems when they are escaping the real world full of violence, sadness, war, despair, cities on fire, for a few hours of sports when the only battle that matters is the one on the field.

Roger Goodell and Wokeness Have Ensured the Decline of the NFL.  Until Roger Goodell and the NFL recently signified their devotion to the anti-American mythology promoted by Black Lives Matter and prostrated themselves before its pantheon of privileged heroes such as Colin Kaepernick, football had for decades been something that made us all incredibly happy and was a central feature of our lives each fall.  Now it will not be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future, and I seriously doubt that we're unique.  That should strike fear into the hearts of NFL executives.  There is a seismic shift beneath our feet in the world of sports today, and I think most sports fans of a certain age see it clearly, even if the top brass of the NFL cannot.

NFL kneeling, fists in air, hiding in locker except during black national anthem.  The all-black Howard University choir sang the Black national anthem before the Washington — Eagles Football game and it will be played before every game.  The players and coaches, everyone tied to the teams, stood respectfully for this fake and divisive anthem.  Reportedly, for the real national anthem, Washington stood and the Eagles hid in the locker room.  This is blatant racism, divisiveness, and segregation.  They are honoring the Marxist hate group, Black Lives Matter.  Diversity is not our strength, unity is!

Racial injustice themes fill empty NFL stadiums.  Jason Myers kicked off to start the Seahawks' season-opener against the Falcons, and the ball sailed through the end zone for a touchback.  No one moved a step.  Instead, the players all dropped to one knee.  After years of pleading with the NFL to act against systemic racism, they were willing to wait another 10 seconds to make their point.

The Editor says...
Anyone foolish enough to pay the high price of admission to an NFL game is paying to see the players play football, not to engage in some rehearsed and choreographed ritual about what victims the players perceive themselves to be.

Conservatives' Crushing Counterattack In the Culture War.  We're all supposed to applaud the kneeling zillionaires of the NFL — the most spoiled bunch of jerks on planet earth — and yet when they came out and tried to rub their cultural power in our faces, when they tried to make us just sit there and silently be insulted presented by the felons, losers, and accused sex offenders whose names were emblazoned on their helmets, tons of us refused to tune in and those who showed up live booed these pretentious twits.  How dare those peasants refuse to submit to the cultural commandments of their betters!

NFL Releases List of Approved Names for Helmet Padding, Including Jacob Blake.  The NFL has disclosed their list of approved names that they will allow players to wear on their helmet bumpers for social justice messaging.  Among the names are Jacob Blake, who is accused of sexual assault.  The list is apparently fluid, in the sense that new names are being added all the time.  Also among the names is that of slain retired St. Louis police officer David Dorn.  Dorn was killed in early June by rioters while checking on a friend's store in St. Louis.  The listing of Blake's name, given his alleged violent history of sexual assault, stands in stark contrast to the league's recent efforts to improve the game's appeal to women through cracking down on domestic violence and promoting breast cancer awareness.

Political expression at the NFL opener, by players and fans.  I didn't watch the NFL's opening game last night between Kansas City and Houston.  However, I've read several accounts about the players' approach to the National Anthem and related activity.  Apparently, the NFL decided to play both the National Anthem and a song called "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which is sometimes referred to as the black national anthem.  The idea of a black national anthem should be offensive to all but racial separatists.  As long as we're one country, we should have just one anthem, and it should be the only one played at sports events.

The NFL returns with 17,000 socially distanced fans, kneeling players and anthem walkouts.  Kansas City Chiefs fans booed a moment of silence aimed at promoting racial justice, the Houston Texans remained in the locker room during the Star-Spangled Banner, and the reigning Super Bowl champions lined up for a singing of 'the black national anthem' on Thursday night [9/10/2020] as the NFL opened its 2020 campaign under dramatically different circumstances than any other season in league history.  'With everything going on in this country, we wanted to show that we're unified as a league,' Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes told NBC after throwing three touchdowns in a 34-20 win.  'We are not going to let football distract us from making a change in the world.'

The Editor says...
The few remaining football fans are only interested in seeing how well you can play football.  They aren't tuning in, or attending in person, to see how much you can "change the world."

On Covid and Race, Sports Suddenly Ignore Analytics.  What has happened with big time sports' fascination with crunching all kinds of numbers and statistics?  Has this fascination with stats vanished in lieu of a political agenda with respect to the Covid and the BLM protests?  Is getting rid of Donald Trump worth obliterating multi-billion-dollar operations?  Do they have any idea what they are doing to themselves?  These are open questions, and the answers carry monstrous cultural, political and economic ramifications.

Why I'm Voting for Trump, Even Though I Don't Want To.  I stopped watching the NFL four years ago, and now I've stopped watching all pro sports because of the disrespect.  The Democrats do not condemn flag-burners.

Primetime Ratings Crash for Woke MLB.  Major League Baseball opened this year by kneeling for the anthem and standing for Black Lives Matter.  Though, despite the apparent belief that our sports-starved nation's hunger for baseball would outweigh the league's social justice activism, the ratings have been in the basement.  According to the numbers, baseball has joined the NBA in struggling to get sports fans to tune in and watch games.

NFL Player:  We Have 'Green Light' to 'Do Something That Makes a Boom' During Protests.  Apparently, simply kneeling and disrespecting the American flag and national anthem during NFL pregames every week doesn't quite deliver the virtue-signaling "social justice" high to players it once did.  So, as is the case with all addictions, players are looking for a new twist to pregame protests.  You, know, something with a few more bells and whistles; just to make sure non-woke fans who have gotten used to the same old kneeling routine are still paying attention to the "social injustice" and "white privilege" that permeates their every pore.  If Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford has anything to say about it, players are going to do just that.  Dallas Cowboys players, at least.  Moreover, Crawford suggested Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already given players the go-ahead.

NBA viewers flee as the league turns "too political," poll finds.  A recent Harris poll has revealed that 39% of self-identified sports fans have chosen to watch fewer NBA games this season, largely because the league has become overly politicized.

NBA ratings continue to drop as fans abandon the league that's abandoned them.  The NBA is facing continuing drops to their ratings, probably as a result of the polarizing political stances they have been taking recently, according to City Journal.  The latest sharp drop in ratings for the NBA appears to be directly related to their recent round of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which many people see as corrupted by outside influences, and conflated with totalitarian socialist ideals.  Fans have also been voicing discontent over the continued postponing of key playoff games.  They feel they have had to wait a long time for basketball to come back already, and further delays are not acceptable to many of them.The NBA had postponed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday NBA playoff games last week as a sign of protest.

NFL Announces Social Justice Slogans Will Be Inscribed on Every Field.  NFL end zones will be inscribed this season with two slogans:  "It Takes All Of Us" on one end line, "End Racism" on the other.  As part of its social justice awareness initiatives, the NFL also will allow similar visuals on helmets and caps.  Previously announced were decals on the back of helmets, or patches on team caps, displaying names or phrases to honor victims of racism and/or police brutality.

The Editor says...
When major sports team stop glorifying victims, fewer people will see victimhood as a goal.

When NBA, MLB And NHL Players Picked Jacob Blake To Be Their Saint, They Chose Poorly.  The officer who shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been tried and convicted by Democrats, the media, and truth-[averse] activists before the case is resolved.  It's a mirror image of the Michael Brown shooting (the officer was cleared) in Ferguson, Missouri, and the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd (the officer has yet to go to trial).  The difference is this time, pro athletes, pampered and well-paid, joined the mob.  They should be ashamed of their behavior. [...] As sports journalist Clay Travis tweeted when the players quit on their fans and employers, "the NBA never said no to the players," when they returned to play after the pandemic shutdown.  "They okayed everything — political messages on jerseys, kneeling for the national anthem, political messages on the court itself — and it still wasn't enough.  And now their business doesn't exist.  Lesson: you can't ever be woke enough."

MLB fans' reaction to Jacob Blake boycotts says it all.  Whatever the issue or cause, it's a lot easier to be righteous when there are no paying customers to send home.  Timing was everything.  This season, with no tickets, tack-on fees, parking, hideously marked-up eats and drinks to sell, Thursday [8/27/2020] there was no one to rip off except cable and satellite TV subscribers, who have been conditioned to bait-and-switch abuses.  For better, worse and all that lies between, here's the problem:  Fans don't care nearly as much as they did.  They've learned to live without sports, especially in their current diminished condition.  They've learned that they're taken for granted.  And more and more they've determined that they won't pay another dime to attend games or to watch them on TV.

NHL players group demands league pay $100 million and change blue line to 'black line' for racial equality.  On top of their formal request for the National Hockey League to suspend all playoff games last night, Rick Westhead, a senior correspondent for TSN, reports the HDA (Hockey Diversity Alliance) has a number of other demands.  Hockey Diversity Alliance, an association made up of seven players whose stated purpose is to eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey, have also revealed these demands:
  •   Team owners offer NHL rinks to be used as polling stations for the upcoming US election
  •   NHL should be fully transparent about "all information related to the policies, targets and commitments" related to the hiring of employees who are visible minorities.
  •   NHL to commit to funding $100 million dollars over 10 years to battle "systemic racism."
  •   NHL make a statement by temporarily changing the blue line to black.
  •   NHL to run PSAs for the HDA during the playoffs this summer.
  •   NHL to have on-ice presence of the HDA logo.

Advice to woke pro sports:  Try doing just sports again.  Here's a tip for you.  Go to YouTube and watch Harry Caray broadcasting an old White Sox game.  At times he was clearly drunk on air, butchered the players' names, talked about their ethnicities as well as good-looking women in the stands.  Everyone loved Harry Caray because he was entertaining and fun to listen to.  There is nothing fun about the new generation of sports broadcasters, who sound like an old Pravda TV announcer telling us the virtues of Leonid Brezhnev.  American sports fans are being pushed around.  If they are pushed any farther, we will have an Atlas Shrugged moment on our hands.

An NBA so woke it cancels itself.  Deciding to go Colin Kaepernick one better, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks players decided to cancel their playoff game to protest the Kenosha, Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake, a career criminal with a warrant out for 3rd degree sexual assault, who was resisting arrest.  That act triggered racial grievance riots, along with lootings, destruction, and a likely permanent decline for Kenosha, as usually happens in riot-torn cities.  But the NBA didn't want to leave it alone and let justice take its course.  Someone in the locker room of the Bucks suggested a game strike, and then the rest of them, lemmings-like, jumped onboard.  The act was followed with at least five teams calling off their games, too, and two teams — the Clippers and Lakers of Los Angeles pulling out of the season entirely.  Meanwhile, Kenny Smith a longtime TNT sports commentator walked off, and LeBron James, who plays for some other team, jumped in, too, effectively calling the walkout a political protest to Get Trump, declaring:  "Change starts in November."

Mark Cuban says he'd support Dallas Mavericks players boycotting games.  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he'd support his players if they seek to boycott games.  Cuban's comments to FOX 4 came after three NBA playoff games on Wednesday were postponed following player boycotts in the wake of the shooting of a Black man by police in Wisconsin.

Report: NFL Dropping Military Honor Guards for National Anthem.  The NFL is preparing to end the use of military honor guards to present the American flag ahead of the national anthem, according to reports.  A league source claims that the policy benching military, federal, and police guards is part of its COVID-19 response, according to Front Office Sports.  "They won't be on the field," a source told the site.  "That could change as the season progresses.  But that's the plan at the beginning."

Twenty (Uncomfortable) Questions.  [#3] Why does the NBA have "Black Lives Matter" painted on the court?  If black lives didn't matter, would there be any players on the court?  It reminds me of the old joke:  "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Now it's, "I went to a protest and a sporting event broke out."  [#4] How does kneeling during the national anthem help fight "perceived" racism or inequality in any way?  It's incredibly annoying to try to enjoy a game or a television show and have to sit through a lecture or a sermon.

Players Kneeling for Anthem Met with Boos Before MLS Game.  There was a smattering of boos when players from FC Dallas and Nashville SC collectively took a knee during the national anthem before their MLS game on Wednesday night [8/12/2020] in Frisco, Texas.  Dallas defender Reggie Cannon said he was disgusted by the boos at Toyota Stadium when players and officials knelt to call attention to racial injustice.  He said teammate Ryan Hollingshead turned to him afterward and said he was sorry.

Dallas Soccer Star Reggie Cannon Calls Fans "Disgusting" for Booing and Chanting "USA!" as Players Knelt for National Anthem.  Several soccer fans out of a crowd of about 3,000 in attendance booed and chanted "USA!" at an MLS game Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas between FC Dallas and Nashville SC as players and refs knelt in unison for the playing of the national anthem before the game.  In a post-game press conference, Dallas star Reggie Cannon went off on fans for chanting "USA!" and booing the players, calling the fans "disgusting" and whining that his team has been through "absolute hell" the past six months because of the pandemic.  Cannon ranted for over two minutes about the booing of the players for kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Woke Mobs Demand You Must Now Explain Why You Stand For The Anthem.  Kneeling for the national anthem at sporting events used to be the occasional episode of player activism protesting the United States as an evil racist empire.  Amid the new 21st century woke revolution however, kneeling has become a key signifier for players and teams to declare which side of the culture wars one sits on.  It's those who love America versus those who hate it, the latter of which despises the American flag and all that it represents as a relic of white supremacy that must be condemned.  Those who still stand out of respect for the nation's ideals and the uniformed men and women who protect it are now the outliers forced to defend themselves in a new age of no dissent, because dissent is racist, racism is oppression, oppression is violence, and violence is not to be tolerated, even if it isn't real.

Key Fans [are] Unhappy With Sports Leagues Kowtowing to Black Lives Matter.  If anyone was hoping that the return of the long-awaited Major League season would lift our spirits and bring us together, they had to be disappointed to learn that we are more divided than ever over the National Anthem kneeling debate.  And although President Trump has not chosen to join the burgeoning #BoycottMLB movement on Twitter, the president has joined a growing number of disheartened baseball fans who are unhappy that their favorite teams are taking the knee.  Even before the start of the season, President Trump tweeted that he was "looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!"  This is not a small issue.  Rasmussen released a new poll of 1,000 Americans which indicates that "Americans are sending more negative signals than positive ones over the decision by many professional sports organizations to promote the controversial Black Lives Matter movement."

NFL: Now the No Freedom League.  I grew up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before they had satellite TV. As such, on the Monday after the Super Bowl, everyone on the entire base would try to get through the day without knowing who had won the game.  That night, after a tape of the game had been flown down from the U.S., we'd watch the game and be riveted to our TVs. [...] Today, however, I doubt I'll watch another NFL game, and I most certainly won't spend a penny on NFL merchandise.  Why?  It's simple.  The NFL, helmed by men who are ostensibly some of the smartest businessmen in America, literally helped bring America to the brink of revolution, maybe even led the way.  We're talking about Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter.  The NFL, and to a lesser degree MLB and the NBA, used to be oases from which all Americans could seek refuge from the slings and arrows of daily life. [...] Since Kaepernick started his grandstanding, however, the conversations became more about who was kneeling, what star was lecturing America about this grievance or that, and ceased to be about the excitement or pain or joy of the actual games.

The Sickening Hypocrisy of the NBA.  I am not speaking about individual NBA players or their motivations (although some players, to be sure, could be called out).  I'm speaking of the league as a whole, of the organization.  Its hypocrisy is absolutely sickening.  In October, 2019, I stated that the NBA was a spineless little bully, noting that "this multi-billion dollar organization, which spans the globe, was happy to bully North Carolina in 2016 when the state had the audacity to declare that men's bathrooms were for men and women's bathrooms were for women."  Yet, I wrote, the "NBA has had no problem getting in bed with an oppressive country like China, which imprisons and tortures Christians and Muslims and others who do not toe the party line.  "Tens of millions of people experience severe daily restrictions under the tyrannical policies of President Xi, with countless tens of thousands suffering right now in 'reeducation camps' and jails."

"Woke" Sports Bombing With Fans.  I never understood why pro sports leagues thought that buying into a far-left, anti-American narrative would ingratiate them with their fans.  At the moment, it looks like my skepticism (shared by many, of course) was justified.  Breitbart reports:  "Ratings crash for NBA, MLB after protest-filled debuts." [...] Why would anyone think that America's sports fans yearn for far-left "social justice" messages as part of their sports programming?

Report: Group of Pac-12 Players Threatens to Boycott Season over Virus, Social Justice Concerns.  While professional football, baseball, and basketball players have been opting out of their upcoming seasons by the dozens, less has been heard from the nation's collegiate athletes.  Well, that's beginning to change.  According to a report obtained by ESPN, a group of players from several different Pac-12 schools have threatened to sit out preseason and regular season games unless the Pac-12 makes certain concessions.

Ratings Crash for NBA, MLB After Protest-Filled Debuts.  As the NBA and MLB return from their coronavirus-imposed hiatus, it appears TV viewers are not interested in what the increasingly woke leagues have to offer.  With both baseball and basketball draped in all sorts of Black Lives Matter and social justice symbolism for their opening games, a substantially smaller number of fans tuned-in to the rest of the week's games.

Every NHL Player Stands For The National Anthem During First Game Back.  Every single player on the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers stood during the national anthem Saturday afternoon [8/1/2020].  In the first game of the NHL's 24-team postseason return during the coronavirus pandemic, not a single player on either team took a knee.  Protesting during the national anthem is front and center again in the world of sports, and virtually the entire NBA has done it.

Strike Three:  Major League Baseball's Sordid Romance with Race-Baiting Politics.  For 65 years, I was a major league fan of major league baseball.  But as of last week, that all changed, and I will never again follow the sport.  MLB's woke owners drove me away.  I don't watch baseball — or any sport — to have moralizing political lectures rammed down my throat.  Yet that is now the order of the day, not only in the NFL and the NBA, but in major league baseball as well, where filthy rich franchise owners are falling all over themselves kowtowing to Black Lives Matter, a Marxist political organization that hijacked the noble cause of racial justice as a fig leaf to disguise its profoundly un-American ideology.  At the 2020 Season Opener between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees, every player and every coach was told to kneel prior to the National Anthem.

Every Player and Coach Takes a Knee During National Anthem Before NBA Restart.  The NBA promised a social justice message when they restarted their season, and they delivered.  On Thursday night, every player and coach for the Jazz and Pelicans took a knee during the national anthem.  In addition, every player wore a Black Lives Matter shirt.

Every Player On The Jazz And Pelicans Kneels During The National Anthem.  Every single member of the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans took a knee during the national anthem Thursday [7/30/2020].  While the anthem played before the first game of the NBA's return, all coaches, players and a ref took a knee.

Our Summer of Cultural Suicide.  Over the last century, professional football, basketball and baseball were racially integrated and adopted a uniform code of patriotic observance.  The three leagues offered fans a pleasant respite from daily barroom politics.  As a result, by the 21st century, the NFL, NBA and MLB had become global multibillion-dollar enterprises.  Then hubris ensued.  The owners, coaches and players weren't always racially diverse.  But that inconvenient truth did not stop the leagues from hectoring their fans about social activism — even as they no longer honored common patriotic rituals.  All three leagues have suffered terribly during the viral lockdown, as American life mysteriously went on without them.  And they have almost ensured that they won't fully recover when the quarantine ends.  Many of their often-pampered multimillionaire players refuse to honor the national anthem.  In the NFL they now will broadcast their politics on their helmets.  They will virtue-signal their moral superiority to increasingly turned-off fans, as if to ensure that their sources of support flee.

Pittsburgh Steelers Player Stephon Tuitt Says He's Not Kneeling During The National Anthem.  Pittsburgh Steelers star Stephon Tuitt won't take a knee during the national anthem.  There are going to be gigantic national anthem protests all over the NFL during the 2020 season, but Tuitt won't be joining.  He tweeted Monday [7/27/2020] that he's not taking a knee and added, "screw anybody who have a problem with that."  He cited his grandmother being an immigrant as a major reason why he won't take a knee.

Spurs' Gregg Popovich:  People who don't understand BLM movement 'just ignorant'.  San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, one of the NBA's most outspoken voices on social justice issues, took to task people who he said still did not understand the Black Lives Matter movement.  In a video conference call with reporters, Popovich, who is preparing for the league's upcoming restarted season, was asked what the social justice movement means to him[.]  "It's no different for me than it is to anybody else who cares about justice and who can be empathetic to the fact that justice has been denied to a group of people for far too long.  And enough is enough," he said, according to the Dallas Morning-News.

Mike Ditka tells kneeling athletes to 'get [...] out of the country'.  Former Chicago Bears coach and noted commercial pitchman Mike Ditka shared his thoughts on the growing wave of anti-racist athlete demonstrations occurring during the pregame national anthems at sporting events.  For anyone who has ever listened to Ditka talk politics before, his beliefs on the matter were unsurprising.

Former Chicago Bears Coach Has a Message for Kneeling Athletes.  During an interview with TMZ, Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka shredded National Football League players that decide to kneel during the national them.  According to Ditka, it's disrespectful to "protest" against the flag and the country that has provided opportunities to professional athletes.  "The whole kneeling thing in the NFL, you've got guys saying they're gonna do it.  You know, baseball players, different teams, last night I watched baseball, you got the Red Sox and the As and the Giants, a lot of teams are kneeling, athletes are kneeling.  In your league here, you're the chairman of this league, is that going to be allowed if the women want to take a knee during the anthem?" TMZ asked.  "What's the policy on that from you guys?"

WNBA players WALK OUT during national anthem and wear Black Lives Matter jerseys.  The WNBA's Seattle Storm and New York Liberty teams walked off the court during the playing of the national anthem before the season-opening game on Saturday afternoon [7/25/2020].  The two teams' planned walk-off was part of the league's season-long Justice Movement initiative — designed to fight systemic racism and violence — which the WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association announced earlier in July.  On Saturday, players from the Storm and the Liberty headed for their locker rooms while the national anthem played at the WNBA bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

The Week in Pictures:  Play (Protest) Ball!  Edition.  So we have sports back, starting with major league baseball in empty stadiums, but with artificial crowd noise piped into TV broadcasts as if the game is an unfunny sitcom or something.  And in one sense it is an unfunny sitcom, since so many players seem intimidated into the political exhibitionism of kneeling for the national anthem.  Here's a thought:  if we want to get real crowds into stadiums, let's label the games as "BLM protests" instead, since they are exempt from the social distancing rules.  The crowd can sing the Black national anthem during the 7th inning stretch, or perhaps a new tune — "Take Me Out to the Riot" — can be specially composed.  The kneeling players are already doing their part.

Americans Should Tell the NBA 'Not In My House'.  Once upon a time, basketball had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with showcasing American athletic prowess. [...] The NBA bent over backward for China the minute it retaliated in response to Morey's statement.  In stark contrast, the league continues to trample over America and its patriotic citizens, meaning money talks.  So, let's stop watching their games and buying their products — until the NBA cuts all ties with China and players begin standing during the national anthem — in respect for this extraordinary country which turned them into heroes.  Or, let them spend the rest of their careers as pathetic zeroes in the eyes of Americans.

Baseball Returns With Less Games, More Preaching.  After so many months with zero professional sports, the atmosphere should be one of anticipation and excitement.  Yet, this entire moment just feels like we might be watching the swan song of professional sports.  Baseball could have really seized the moment when the pandemic started, and made plans to strategize, to reach out to fans, to make every effort to get back on the field.  Instead, we got a labor dispute with fingers pointed at both sides, some big name players who are declining to play this season for a myriad of reasons, and fans submitting cardboard cutouts of themselves to sit in empty stadium seats.  Nothing feels right, and yet baseball should feel familiar and comforting.  But it doesn't, because first we have to sit through another lecture and demonstration on the social justice cause du jour.

Yankees and Nationals kneel in unison before the first game of season just days after Trump said the game was 'over' for him when players took a knee.  The Yankees and Nationals knelt in unison before the first game of the season just days after Donald Trump said the game was 'over' for him when players took a knee.  Players from both clubs knelt during the opening day ceremony Thursday night, which featured several references to the ongoing civil rights movement that was triggered by the Memorial Day 'murder' of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  The symbol of protest has divided opinion of late, with the president tweeting Tuesday that kneeling during the national anthem is a 'sign of great disrespect' and the game is 'over' for him when players do it.

San Francisco Giants Pitcher Sam Coonrod Refuses To Kneel During The National Anthem, Cites His Christian faith.  San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod refused to kneel during the national anthem Thursday night against the Dodgers.  According to NBC Sports, members of the Giants took a knee during the national anthem, and Coonrod didn't join them.  Every member of both teams also kneeled before the anthem.  The pitcher also didn't participate in that action.  The reason why?  His Christian faith.

Red Sox Raise Large Black Lives Matter Sign at Fenway Park.  The Boston Red Sox made a very visible statement of anti-racism Wednesday as they put up a huge Black Lives Matter sign on an exterior wall of Fenway Park.  The sign, which says "Black Lives Matter" in large letters followed by the Sox' logo, faces the Massachusetts Turnpike and directs viewers to the Red Sox Foundation website for more information.  On the website is a statement on "Social Justice, Equity and Inclusion" from team President and CEO Sam Kennedy posted last month in the wake of the major protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others.

MLB Allows Black Lives Matter, Social Justice Jersey Patches.  Major League Baseball players have the option of having a patch with "Black Lives Matter" or "United For Change" on a jersey sleeve on opening day of the pandemic-delayed season, and Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle says his team may is considering whether to take a knee in support Thursday night [7/23/2020].

Anthony Fauci to Throw First Pitch for Washington Nationals' Season Opener.  Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will throw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals on opening day on Thursday, the Major League Baseball team announced Monday [7/20/2020].  "The Washington Nationals are thrilled to announce that Nats super-fan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has accepted our invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, Thursday, July 23," the team said in a statement.  "Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World Series Championship title."

Under China's thumb:  So you can buy a KillCops t-shirt from the NBA but not a FreeHongKong one.  When China is your master, nobody cares if you stand or kneel or thumb your nose at the U.S. flag, but you'd better not cross the Chinese one.  Tha't's [sic] the ugly picture regarding the China-coopted National Basketball Association (NBA) and its personalized t-shirt sales operation, where Chicom censorship is alive and well.  Turns out you can personalize your t-shirt to say all kinds of ugly things — but not FreeHongKong.  Someone programmed that if/else exception in, preventing any freedom lover from printing that reminder of China's broken treaty destruction of Hong Kong onto their personalized t-shirt.

NFL Again Fumbles Opportunity to Unite America.  The National Football League once again is fumbling away an opportunity to unite America.  This is the result we could have expected, given the NFL's playbook over the past few years.  The NFL's decision to play what is known as the black national anthem — "Lift Every Voice and Sing" — before every Week 1 game seems poised to divide, not unite, our country.  But a secondary, more certain outcome of this decision is that the NFL will lose its luster at a greater pace than it achieved its dominant allure.

It's Not Trump vs. Biden.  It's Trump vs.  Losing Your Country.  Just Look at the NFL!  [Scroll down]  Look at the NFL.  The NFL is literally afraid of a Marxist, communist organization, literally afraid of it, literally doing anything it can not to make that bunch of people mad at them.  The NFL has made it clear that they are no longer the institution and value set that we always thought they were.  You got Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints who tweets his support and love for the American flag and the fact that he will never do anything to disrespect it, and he's practically drummed out of the league, he's practically destroyed.  He had to apologize four times, his wife had to apologize two times, had to give a bunch of people a bunch of money.  All he did was stand up for the flag.  The Philadelphia Eagles have an abject idiot wide receiver named DeSean Jackson, who just tweeted a bunch of things he thought Hitler said, and he said the Jews are gonna come for the blacks, the Jews are gonna wipe out the blacks, the Jews are gonna do this, he thought Hitler said it.  He tweeted it.  Nobody's upset.  Nobody's insisting DeSean Jackson be sent someplace to get his mind right.

How Philadelphia Eagles' DeSean Jackson's Anti-Semitic Fiasco Just Got Worse.  The Philadelphia Eagles' wide receiver DeSean Jackson is causing problems in the locker room again.  I guess in some odd way, he thought sharing anti-Semitic posts, Louis Farrakhan videos, and fake Hitler quotes wouldn't be an issue, not least of the reasons being that Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, and its executive vice president and general manager Howie Roseman, are Jewish.

So, Kaepernick Lied.  [Scroll down]  No one buys Kaepernick's love of country any more.  But that works out fine because he's no longer selling it.  In 2016, you still had to dilute your anti-Americanism with a drop of patriotism to get the really good press.  That's over with.  Today, the American media market rewards the pure stuff, the straight-up hatred of the United States.  Which is why on July 6, Kaepernick announced his new partnership with The Walt Disney Co. to produce scripted and unscripted content about, presumably, the country that has been so terrible to Kaepernick (and Disney).  Of course, all those 2016 Kaepernick defenders really believed and approved of his claims to patriotism.  Just as today, they believe and undoubtedly approve of his undiluted anti-Americanism.  You'd think that they feel duped, but you'd be wrong; they're appreciative.  No one on the left is dropping Kaepernick.  In coming out as a full-throated anti-American, he helped his woke supporters shed their habit of white supremacy.  He once had to play the game of good citizenship, but his liberation from those restraints is their liberation, too.  Where he leads, they'll follow.  What he rejects, they'll reject.  And whatever cognitive dissonance arises will be chalked up to past ignorance.  This holds true not just for Kaepernick but for all social-justice celebrities.  Indeed, it applies to social justice generally.  Whatever is done or said in the name of the cause is good and just.  Fool them once, fool them forever.

NFL Embracing BLM Ideals Highlights Its Leadership Void.  Four years ago, the NFL forbade Jason Witten and the Dallas Cowboys from placing "Arm in Arm" stickers on the back of their helmets that would honor five slain Dallas police officers.  This year, according to a Thursday report by ESPN The Undefeated's Jason Reid, the NFL Players Association and the NFL are collaborating on an idea to list the names of black people killed by police on jerseys.  The absurdity of this pivot could only be topped by the folly of DeMaurice Smith's and Roger Goodell's other proposed pivot.  According to Reid, in Week 1 the NFL will play the "black national anthem," Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing, before playing The Star-Spangled Banner.  So the NFL is going to start its season with all of its employees standing for the "black national anthem" and a majority of its on-field employees immediately taking a knee for the American national anthem?  That's the game plan Smith and Goodell cooked up?

NBA releases list of 29 pre-approved social justice messages for players' shirts, unfazed by hilarious irony.  The virtual-signaling, very woke National Basketball Association has reportedly settled on a list of social justice messages that can be displayed on the back of player jerseys for the first four days of the restarted season.  The suspended NBA season is scheduled to restart on July 30 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., at the Walt Disney World Resort.  The NBA has reportedly already agreed to paint the words Black Lives Matter inside the sidelines on all three arenas that will be in use when the games begin.  Given massive guaranteed salaries and other forms of leverage, the players pretty much run the NBA, even though there is no constitutional guarantee of free speech in the private sector workplace.

Roger Goodell's National Anthem Gambit.  It is now being reported that the NFL will be playing "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," a song that has been called the "Black national anthem," before all NFL games in Week 1.  This is a high-risk, low-reward move by the NFL.  There are countless problems with this strategy to appease the woke mobs, and it would be difficult to overstate just how foolish and dangerous it is.  First of all, a "Black national anthem" can only exist if there is a broad acceptance of the notion that black people, as a racial category, share a common identity with other sovereign nations.  Additionally, defining a separate "Black national anthem" to be played alongside the America's National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," presupposes that the latter is insufficient to alone represent black Americans as it represents all others.  These are insane propositions that would, until recently, have been unthinkable at any moment of my life.

Sports Commentator Rips NBA Painting 'Black Lives Matter' On Courts.  This week, former NFL defensive end Marcellus Wiley, who attended Columbia University and now co-hosts Fox Sports' "Speak for Yourself," slammed the idea that the NBA will paint "Black Lives Matter" on courts where their games are played, asserting, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."  Wiley began, "It's not a good idea.  I do want to give the players credit for their flex to even get this to be more than just an idea, but something that's gonna be, in reality, I give the players that.  But there's a problem with — when you start to go down this road of 'freedom of expression,' 'freedom of speech,' and how much social space is allowed for those who don't support in that same place.  And that's where I wonder where this is going to go in terms of identity politics."

Ted Cruz blasts NFL's reported plans to play 'Black national anthem'.  Calls to boycott the NFL trended Friday on social media following reports that the league plans to play the song known as the Black national anthem before all Week 1 regular season games.  Multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press and the Undefeated, cited sources saying that "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," known as the Black national anthem, would be played or performed before the first week's games, immediately before "The Star-Spangled Banner."  The hashtag #BoycottNFL trended on Friday morning as some Republican lawmakers and others condemned the idea, saying it promoted the concept of a nation divided by race.

Former NFL Player Burgess Owens Rips League Over 'Black National Anthem' Playing Before NFL Games.  On Thursday [7/3/2020], former NFL star Burgess Owens ripped into the football league over reports that the NFL will play "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing," dubbed the "Black national anthem," before all Week 1 games this season.  The retired safety suggested the move was in line with "trying" to "segregate" the nation "again."  "There is no 'black national anthem,'" Owens posted via Twitter.  "Why does it feel like the country is trying to segregate again sometimes?"

NFL all in with toxic identity politics, will play separate 'black national anthem' before Week 1 games.  The NFL will play the "black national anthem" before all Week 1 games of the 2020-2021 season as the National Football League continues caving to race-baiting, leftist mobs.  Most Americans never even knew that a "black national anthem" existed since black and white civil-rights activists fought for decades to end racial segregation.  However, since segregation is a goal of the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement, the "black national anthem" will be played before the Star-Spangled Banner at all Week 1 NFL games.

Source: NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games.  "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing," traditionally known as the Black national anthem, is expected to be performed live or played before every Week 1 NFL game, and the league is considering a variety of other measures during the upcoming season to recognize victims of police brutality, a source familiar with the league's discussions told The Undefeated on Thursday [7/2/2020].

Report: NFL Expected to Play Black National Anthem Before Season Opening Games.  The NFL reportedly plans to play a song titled, Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing, also known as the Black National Anthem, prior to every season opening game this year.  The song, according to a source to ESPN, will be played prior to the Star-Spangled-Banner.

NBA Will Let Players Replace Name on Jersey With "Social Justice Statement".  Some may wonder if the NBA now stands for No Brains Anymore or, perhaps, if the NBA has become an NPC.  Whatever the quip, what sounds like a joke but isn't is the latest National Basketball Association news:  When the league launches its abbreviated 2020 season July 30 in Orlando, it will allow players to replace their names on their jerseys with a "social justice statement." [...] ESPN, which itself has become the Entwining Sports with Politics Network, provides more detail, writing that "Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul, president of the National Basketball Players Association, told ESPN's The Undefeated on Saturday that the players' union and the league are collaborating to allow players to wear jerseys with personalized social justice, social cause or charity messages on the backs instead of their last names during the upcoming restart of the NBA season."  Reacting to this, Red State's Mike Miller wrote, "I'll go out on a limb and predict that there will be exactly zero 'charity messages' on the backs of those Jerseys, come July 30."

The Hour of Heroes Is Nigh.  To be honest, I actually lost some sleep over the Mike Gundy video earlier last week.  Maybe you've seen it — the video where the Oklahoma State University football coach is seen apologizing for the offense of wearing a shirt bearing the logo of the conservative news company OANN.  It was a disturbing scene with the coach robotically parroting the talking points of the delicate running back who originally took issue with the offending piece of apparel.  It's reminiscent of a hostage video of a captured US soldier.  Either that or something out of a cartoon villain's mind control experiment.  You can practically see the spirals in his eyes.  Beyond the bizarre visuals, the most disturbing thing about this was the fact that an ostensible adult and leader could be brought to heel by his subordinate — an early adult many years his junior — by something as meaningless and inconsequential as the running back's tender feelings.

Why Are We Letting Democrats Steal from Us?  [Scroll down]  Frighteningly, the fascists are now stealing patriotism, and the woke leftists are joining forces.  In the sports world, team owners, players, and spectators who used to believe that standing for the National Anthem was the traditionally respectful, patriotic thing to do, now condone and even encourage taking a knee as a symbol of Lord knows what.  Colin Kaepernick was elevated to heroic stature by Nike even as he wore socks portraying police officers as pigs.  Now he is the darling of the American media and the NFL as owners and managers climb over each other to prove who's the most woke. [...] As the Atlanta Braves pivot away from the famous Tomahawk Chop chant, the University of Florida outlawed its "Gator Bait" cheer.  The University of Virginia followed suit by reworking its logo.  The craziness began before the recent riots, with liberals wishing to change the name of the Washington Redskins, something we'll likely see in the near future as a statue of the former owner was removed last week.

Report: Ratings for Woke ESPYs Crash by 81 Percent.  Ratings for last weekend's woke ESPY Awards crashed to the lowest numbers the show has ever recorded.  The ESPYs only earned 482,000 viewers over both ESPN and ESPN2 combined, making it the smallest audience the show has ever reached dating back to its inaugural awards in 1993.  The previous low occurred in 2011 when 1.98 million viewers tuned in, according to Sports Media Watch.  "This year's ESPYs was tape-delayed, lacked its usual live audience, took place a month earlier on the calendar," Sports Media Watch explained, "and occurred more than three months into a historic drought of live sporting events.  With no live sports to focus on, this year's ESPYs was largely devoted to humanitarian and social issues."

Bubba Smollett, Jussie Wallace.  [Scroll down]  Wallace is not a natural prodigy, but instead is a product of the Tiger Woods era of child competitors given every advantage by their parents.  Wallace's father, a wealthy white business owner, paid for his son to compete in youth motorsports from age 9 onward.  Soon he was the star of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. [...] He now drives the most legendary number in stock cars, Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 43.  Unfortunately, Wallace hasn't yet proven more than mediocre at the highest level, finishing 28th among drivers in each of the past two seasons. [...] It's not just the ensuing safety reforms that have eroded stock car racing's 1990s popularity.  NASCAR is basically an ethnic pride parade for the people who aren't allowed to hold ethnic pride parades, and the 21st century has been a bad one for the white working class.  This year, Wallace jumped on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon, which is, perhaps not coincidentally, much beloved by corporate America's deep-pocketed sponsors, with the support of NASCAR. He had his car painted with the BLM slogan for the Talladega race.

'The Masters' Golf Tournament Should Change 'Racist' Name, Writer Says.  One of golf's four "major" tournaments every year is called "The Masters."  The field of golfers is the smallest of all the majors — only the best allowed — and the winner can be deemed "The Master" (plus, he gets a cool green jacket that every pro golfer covets).  But one writer at Deadspin has decided that the tournament's name is racist and should be changed.

Will Americans choose the USA, or will they choose the NFL?  NFL owners who support their players kneeling during the National Anthem are routinely heard saying they feel that the act of kneeling shows respect for the hardships minorities have endured and that it exhibits inclusivity and brings the country together.  At the risk of sounding overly disdainful regarding such deceptive drivel, those owners, pretending to be "woke," are fully aware that kneeling during the National Anthem has historically been viewed as a sign of protest against the country.  Beyond disrespectful, kneeling is divisive unless, in unison, the entire stadium decides to kneel.  Getting down to brass tacks, those NFL owners who support their players kneeling during the National Anthem do so to protect their investment.  That's right.  It comes down to the almighty dollar, as it always does.  The NFL has taken sides, and it's not with Old Glory.

What Happens When the Madness Ends?  In a few weeks, we are promised that multimillionaire NFL players and coaches in unison will not deign to stand up for the National Anthem.  Promises, promises.  TV play-by-play announcers will praise them — or else likely lose their jobs.  But millions of Americans simply will decouple from the NFL.  Their silent disappearance will make the prior Kaepernick drop-off in attendance and viewership seem like child's play.  The same will be true perhaps of the more canny NBA, if they foolishly emulate the NFL.  Millions will surmise that billionaire basketball players can far better make their billions in China and should — an NBA deity whose dictatorship players and coaches fear and worship while criticizing their own democracy.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell:  I Want Colin Kaepernick To 'Help Us, Guide Us' On Social Issues.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during an interview on Tuesday that he wants a team to sign former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and that if Kaepernick does not make it back on the field then he is invited to the "table" to "help" and "guide" the NFL on social issues. [...] Kaepernick has been widely criticized for some of his actions, including kneeling during the national anthem, donating money to a group honoring convicted cop killer and wanted terrorist Assata Shakur, wearing socks portraying police officers as pigs, and wearing shirts of brutal Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Univ. of Texas football players refuse to participate in donor, recruiting events until 'woke' demands met.  Members of the University of Texas football team say they'll refuse to participate in donor and recruiting events on behalf of the school until a list of demands is met to address alleged racial injustices.  The players will, however, continue to practice and play in games.  That said, participation in donor and recruiting events are a very important function for college athletes and the universities they attend and play for.  The list of demands was posted to Twitter by at least two Texas football players, but according to reports, they were submitted on behalf of the entire squad.  However, as The Blaze noted, thus far there is no real indication that all team members are in agreement with the demands or if anyone on the team has dissented.

San Antonio Spurs Coach, Gregg Popovich Calls America A Lie, Racist, Ashamed To Be White.  San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who is a long-time critic of Donald Trump, blasted the history of America as racist and declared his shame in being white after the death of George Floyd.  [Video clip]

Denver Broncos Declare If You Are Not Virtuous Enough To Support Their Antifa Politics Then Get Lost.  The NFL has been moving further and further toward the political left for several years.  Many NFL players and teams openly castigate their fans and denigrate anyone who doesn't conform to their political correctness.  Overall, the NFL has become a toxic stew of identity politics and divisive intollerance.  However, the Denver Broncos are taking division up a notch today by declaring if their fans do not stand with their brand of virtue signaling politics, then you stand against them.

NFL decision to permit kneeling protest by players enrages Donald Trump.  The US National Football League is embroiled in a standoff with President Donald Trump after it said players would be allowed to "take the knee" during the American national anthem in protest against racism.  After the NFL announced its U-turn, Trump tweeted late on Friday night:  "We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart.  There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag — NO KNEELING!"  Support among sports personalities and organisations for the Black Lives Matter movement was also bolstered by an announcement from basketball star Michael Jordan that he was donating $100 [million] to organisations promoting racial equality.  The move was a significant departure from the former Chicago Bulls player's previous reluctance to be drawn into politics.

Denver Broncos Declare If You Are Not Virtuous Enough To Support Their Antifa Politics Then Get Lost.  The NFL has been moving further and further toward the political left for several years.  Many NFL players and teams openly castigate their fans and denigrate anyone who doesn't conform to their political correctness.  Overall, the NFL has become a toxic stew of identity politics and divisive intollerance.  However, the Denver Broncos are taking division up a notch today by declaring if their fans do not stand with their brand of virtue signaling politics, then you stand against them.

NFL commissioner:  We were wrong to silence our players in the past and now encourage them to speak out and protest peacefully.  I can't believe that kneeling during the anthem is going to be in the mix as an issue during the home stretch of the campaign this fall in a year when we're coping with a pandemic, an economic collapse, and widespread looting.  But it will.  First Trump and then the NFL made that clear enough yesterday [6/5/2020].

NFL: 'We were wrong' to oppose players kneeling during national anthem.  National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized for the league's position opposing players kneeling during the national anthem.  The NFL walked back the league's position in a video statement Friday [6/5/2020] after expressing condolences to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, later issuing a strong condemnation of racism.

NFL pledges allegiance to BLM.  Like most of America's broken corporations and institutions, the National Football League has completely bent the knee to the radical Black Lives Matter lobby, thus potentially guaranteeing its own demise as fed-up former fans flee in search of sanity.  After years of pushing back against disgraced former NFL star Colin Kaepernick's widely disliked national anthem protests, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued an apologetic video statement Friday reversing course on everything.  [Video clip]

Obnoxious liberal soccer champ Rapinoe determined to make Olympics about politics.  Megan Rapinoe's roaring again.  The International Olympic Committee published new rules that prohibit "political, religious or racial propaganda" "at medal ceremonies and Olympic venues," and Rapinoe says she "will not be silenced."  She later added that she will kneel anyway, which would force the IOC to enforce its rules or back down.  Not one for fine distinctions, Megan understands the world only in relation to herself and, as usual, completely misses the point.  The IOC said nothing about silence.  They said she couldn't use the Olympic stage to push politics.  You can noisily talk about anything else — your girlfriend, the state of soccer, the game you just played, your house, your car, your dog.  Just don't use the Olympics to push politics.  That would include kneeling.  If you get to do it, then everybody gets to do it, and in short order, WWIII would erupt.  But that's okay, Megan — keep running your face.  It would give many of us satisfaction to see this woman barred from play at Tokyo in 2020 because of her obnoxiousness.

'We will not be silenced' — Megan Rapinoe says of new rules on political protests at Olympics.  U.S. Women's National Team and Seattle Reign FC star Megan Rapinoe responded Friday to the new guidelines from the International Olympic Committee on political protests at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

No anthem kneeling at the Olympics:  IOC announces political protest rules.  The International Olympic Committee announced its rules for political protest for the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and some popular forms of athlete protest have been banned, according to The Hill.  While athletes will be allowed to say what they want during interview and news conferences outside the Olympic Village, and on social media, they won't be able to protest in the village, on the field of play, or during medal ceremonies.

Kaepernick's disgraceful, ridiculous 'racial' lens on Soleimani slay.  In the torrent of idiotic commentary unleashed by the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Colin Kaepernick's deserves a place of honor.  The NFL washout and Nike persona who makes sure the company doesn't produce any overly patriotic sneakers tweeted:  "There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against black and brown people for the expansion of American imperialism."  For Kaepernick, Soleimani is just another dark-skinned man brutalized by America.  The Iranian terror master was, in effect, driving while non-white and paid the ultimate price.

Nike, an Anti-American Company.  After the U.S. killed arch-terrorist Qasem Soleimani, ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick took to Twitter to express his opinions:  [Tweets]  This is the kind of ignorant twaddle you expect from a radical teenager.  Kaepernick has never grown up.  What is significant, though, is that Kaepernick is one of the primary spokesmen for Nike, a $34 billion a year international marketing powerhouse.  Nike signed Kaepernick to a multimillion dollar deal after Kaepernick's mediocre athletic career had ended, precisely because Nike wanted its brand to be associated with Kaepernick's anti-American stance.

Nike's new Colin Kaepernick sneakers sell out in one day.  Nike's new sneaker collaboration with NFL quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick sold out on Tuesday [12/24/2019], just one day after its release.  The "Nike Air Force 1 '07 x Colin Kaepernick" was unavailable in both adult and children's sizes as of Tuesday morning, the footwear titan's website shows.

AOC reveals new level of hypocrisy after praising Harvard-Yale climate activists.  The annual Harvard-Yale football game was interrupted by climate change activists shortly after halftime on Saturday [11/23/2019], which is a pretty good idea inasmuch as there's no group more amenable to guerilla activism on the environment than sports fans from two universities where anyone who doesn't believe in the tenets of the climate science movement would quickly find themselves out in intellectual Siberia.  According to The Harvard Crimson, the incident occurred just before halftime at the annual game between the two Ivy League giants.

Environmentalist Killjoys Are Coming for Your Football.  Some of the nation's supposedly best and brightest college students are employing theatrical protest tactics similar to [Greta] Thunberg's, with the message that ordinary life must be disrupted if we are to save the planet.  At the Yale Bowl, the goal was to pressure the two universities to divest themselves of investments in fossil fuels. [...] The students made it clear that their political agenda is more important than allowing people to enjoy an annual entertainment. [...] The Harvard-Yale protest was very much in line with the Thunberg-style politics of angry and intolerant children.  Such demonstrators pay little heed to democratic processes or any counterarguments to their climate catechism.

Climate Change Protesters Storm Field at Halftime of Harvard-Yale Football Game.  The 136th edition of The Game between Harvard and Yale has been delayed at halftime after protesters took over the field.  Students from both schools occupied midfield after the Yale band had finished performing.  Some held banners asking their colleges to act on climate change and Puerto Rican debt relief.

Debunking the Sports Media's Excuses for the Browns' Myles Garrett and the Helmet-Swinging Incident.  Last week, there was quite a bit of confusion and outrage about an incident on Thursday Night Football when Myles Garrett got into an altercation with Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, where the Browns' defensive end ripped the helmet from his opponent's head in the game's meaningless final seconds, and then proceeded to ferociously swing it at Rudolph's exposed skull.  Action from the League was swift, and Garrett was suspended indefinitely, with no established timeframe regarding his potential return.  It wouldn't have been hard to predict, however, that the fans' attention and furor around the incident would be short-lived, despite the act being tantamount to assault with a deadly weapon.

Does the Left Hate America?  Leftists have contempt for the American flag.  I am unaware of a single left-wing individual or organization that has condemned NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for the flag during the playing or singing of the national anthem that precedes NFL games.  To the contrary, on the Left, he is universally regarded as a hero.  Indeed, Nike anointed him as one, making him its brand model.  Leftists might respond that Kaepernick's public refusal to stand for the flag and national anthem says nothing about his love for America, as it is only a form of protest against racial injustice.  But that is nonsense.  Would leftists argue that anyone who publicly refuses to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.  Day really loves Dr. King?

Everyone Hates Kaepernick Now.  In the three years since Colin Kaepernick knelt his way off of the San Francisco 49ers and out of the National Football League, the one thing the drama has lacked is ambivalence.  People either hated him or viewed him as a social hero who was being mistreated and prevented from playing the game he loves.  Now everybody just hates him.

Leftists Vow to Cancel Nats' Kurt Suzuki for Donning MAGA Hat:  He 'Should Be Banned from Baseball'.  Leftists on social media blew a collective fuse after Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki donned a MAGA hat during the White House's welcoming ceremony for the World Series champions.

Trumpenfreude hits NHL boycotter.  When the Washington Capitals visited the White House in March for winning the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship in, it was without Devante Smith-Pelly, the star of that championship series.  He was very vocal about not attending when the team won the championship as he trashed the president.  But by the time the team visited the White House, he wasn't part of the team.  His game had fallen apart.  He was a fourth string winger that season until the team demoted him to the minor league Hershey Bears.  This season, the Capitals dumped him.  He tried out with the Calgary Flames but he quickly extinguished his hope of returning to the NHL.

Muslim cross-country runner demands rules be changed after she was disqualified for wearing hijab in a competition.  She thinks because of all the alleged messages of support she got from doing this video, that the rules of the sport will have to be changed to accommodate her Muslim supremacist beliefs.  I expect BNI readers will tell her otherwise.

Fans, Media Erupt After LeBron James' Outburst During National Anthem.  The NBA was understandably excited to start its season and get away from the China controversy that had embroiled the league over the past couple weeks.  However, even more controversy ensued on Tuesday night and on into Wednesday as video surfaced showing LeBron James walking off the court and screaming while the national anthem played.

Moral Relativism Taking Over Everything:  Sports, Politics, Libraries.  Since so many of us pay little to no attention to the NBA, you may have forgotten their "principled" stand on the North Carolina "bathroom bill."  In late February of 2016, ignoring science and sound morality, liberals on the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance that would allow men into women's restrooms, locker rooms, and so on.  As is typical with the Left, the ordinance applied not only to city-owned property, but to private businesses as well.  In other words, Charlotte liberals "legislated morality," and they did so to the point of forcing all of the city's citizens to adhere to perverse liberal dogma.  To correct this gross injustice, the North Carolina Legislature passed a commonsense law (H.B. 2) that reversed the foolish Charlotte city ordinance.  In opposition to H.B. 2, later in 2016, ignoring the long understood truths on sex and sexuality, and goose-stepping along with the rest of the liberal elite, the NBA decided to pull its all-star game from the city of Charlotte.

NBA losing money — and well it should.  The NBA's commissioner, Adam Silver, acknowledged in recent remarks that China had pressed for the firing of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey — for the crime of publicly supporting freedom-fighting protesters in Hong Kong — and that the league, as part of the fallout from its seeming siding with the reds, rather than with the red, white and blues, has been losing money.

Defense of free speech [is] no longer a slam dunk in America.  When Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey issued a tweet in support of Hong Kong's freedom protestors, it caused outrage among China's totalitarian oligarchs.  A contract signed last June between the NBA and China's Tencent streaming television service, worth a cool $500 million, is in jeopardy.  In total, the NBA garners more than $4 billion in revenue from China.

The Woke Sports Fraud.  The controversies the NBA saw this week serve as reminders that it would be wise for professional athletes and those associated with professional sports to avoid opining on politics, because while making their righteous pronouncements, these persons, who nowadays are overwhelmingly left-wing, sometimes show themselves to be inconsistent takers of positions; or at their worst, sheer hypocrites willing to overlook an ostensible evil for lucre's sake.  What is more, their opinions, which are often ignorant, may well alienate fans, who don't, after all, follow professional sports in order to learn jocks' and coaches' views on human rights and transgender bathrooms.  The first controversy concerned Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, the man having tweeted his support — "Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong" — for the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.  Now, the NBA is hugely popular in China, where the league generates millions in revenue each year, and in response to the Chinese backlash (and to pressure from within the Rockets organization, one imagines), Morey quickly deleted his tweet and issued an unmanly apology.

Trump-hating NBA millionaire LeBron James stands up for China.  I guess this is getting to be a pattern now:  if you've made your pile and you've made a lot of it from China, to heck with the Hong Kongers and their protests for freedom.  You'll be sticking up for their oppressor, communist red China, home of sweatshops, intellectual property theft, attacks on Southeast Asia, the laogai, the enslavement of the Uighurs, the social credit system, Venezuela's money, the supposedly lightened one-child policy, and Mao's many murder revolutions.  Because for such lefties, the only thing that matters is money.  We saw it with billionaire tycoon Michael Bloomberg.  Now we are seeing it with NBA big LeBron James, a millionaire athlete who was last seen in the non-sports news calling President Trump "a bum."  Asked if Texas basketball team owner Daryl Morey, who set off a firestorm by tweeting support for the Hong Kongers, ought to be punished, the famous social justice warrior went into hypocrite mode, sticking up for the ChiComs.

LeBron Jame$ Is A Coward.  NBA superstar LeBron James says Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was "misinformed" and "wasn't educated on the situation at hand" when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong's freedom demonstrations.  Morey's sin was sharing an image of a slogan that read, "Fight for freedom.  Stand with Hong Kong."  Even though the GM, regrettably, deleted his tweet, one strongly suspects his grasp of China — where the state is running "re-education" camps filled with Uyghurs — is considerably stronger than any of the NBA's leading apologists.  Only last year, James, a purported champion of social justice, came out in support of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick with the vacuous platitude, "I stand with anyone who believes in change."  Anyone?  Of course, LeBron's stand, as with most acts of pretend celebrity bravery, resulted in hosannas being thrown at him by the press, and, more importantly, never costing him a penny.

Thanks, Houston Rockets, you've done us all a favor (and so has the NBA).  Everyone has been outraged at the recent spectacle of the NBA seeming to steer clear of fans supporting democracy on American soil, cutting off questions from reporters, and watching Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey delete his tweet supporting the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.  It's not enough for the NBA to kowtow to China's authoritarian regime, it seems, it also has to appear to act like that regime, as well.  But in fact, I think we all owe the NBA a vote of thanks.  They've helped to draw attention to a long history of American appeasement of the Communist regime in Beijing, including by successive presidents.  Our collective refusal to call China to account for their human rights abuses and violations of international law have done decades of damage to our economy, national security, and moral standing.

The Editor says...
What is the point of the NBA, anyway?  Throw the ball.  Bounce the ball.  Catch the ball.  How are you better off after watching an NBA game?

Pop Goes the Weasel.  "Fight for Freedom.  Stand with Hong Kong," read the tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.  The Chinese Communists didn't like it.  As CNBC reported, the Chinese Consulate-General in Houston attacked the tweet and urged the Rockets to "correct the error."  The tweet promptly disappeared, then came a statement from NBA boss Adam Silver.  "We have great respect for the history and culture of China," Silver said, "and hope sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together."  And so on, but nothing about fighting for freedom and standing with Hong Kong.  San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said Silver's speech "helps you understand what direction you need to go in."  It was a curious statement for someone with experience in dealing with totalitarian governments.

Hill editor-in-chief:  NBA is 'bending down' to 'almighty dollar'.  The Hill's editor-in-chief Bob Cusack said the NBA has a "disaster" on its hands following the league's response to a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.  "This is a disaster for the NBA," Cusack told Hill.TV on Friday [10/11/2019], noting how the league is shutting down questions from journalists and not allowing players to respond to the controversy.

NBA takes a stand against freedom.  Last Friday [10/4/2019], Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, tweeted what seemed like a noncontroversial statement.  He wrote:  "Fight for Freedom.  Stand with Hong Kong."  Now, China, as you may have seen, is trying to crush Hong Kong, and it's not hard to pick a side.  China is a racist Communist ethnostate that bans dissent and murders its political opponents.  They have Muslims interned in forced reeducation camps at this very moment.  They viciously suppress the freedoms that we Americans take for granted.  You'd think every American would stand with Hong Kong without even thinking about it.  But not the NBA. The NBA is on China's side.  So, Morey was forced to delete his tweet.  The NBA issued a statement making it clear that under no circumstances do they support Hong Kong or human freedom.

China's Ultimate Goal Is To Control American Culture, And Companies Should Resist It.  If ESPN thought shutting down on-air discussion about China and Hong Kong would please its Chinese master and protect the commercial interests of itself and its corporate parent Disney, it's dead wrong.  What China wants is not simply to police a few words on social media or on air.  It wants to control American culture, period. [...] Chinese leaders closely studied America's ascent to a global superpower, and they believe America's cultural influence is a key ingredient to the country's success.  China wants to emulate America's success, albeit with Chinese characteristics.  Former Chinese President Hu Jintao said, "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will definitely be accompanied by the thriving of Chinese culture."

Portland Trail Blazers Join Boycott Against Israel.  The Portland Trail Blazers announced that they have severed relations with a company that does business with Israel following a pressure campaign by activists tied to the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.  As the NBA is facing outrage after the general manager of the Houston Rockets capitulated to censorship by the Chinese communist government, the Trail Blazers quietly severed ties with the manufacturer Leupold, which has a contract to produce accessories for the Israeli Defense Forces.

If Woke Corporations Had Police Power, They Would Act Exactly Like Communist China.  Since the NBA-China affair blew up last weekend, a number of commentators have lambasted the NBA for its craven response to China, noting the hypocrisy of a league that publicly prides itself on being the social vanguard in America but has no problem kowtowing to Chinese autocrats to maintain access to their lucrative markets.  The argument goes like this:  there's a massive disconnect between the values the NBA espouses and its willingness, say, to look the other way in China, where the league runs a training program not far from where Uighur Muslims are forcibly sent to reeducation camps.  The NBA's pursuit of filthy lucre, in this view, undermines its carefully crafted public image.

Nearly all of the NBA's Chinese partners have cut ties with the league.  Out of the 25 official partners listed on the NBA China website, 13 are Chinese businesses.  So far, 11 of those companies have distanced themselves from the sports league amid escalating tensions between China and the NBA.  Ctrip.com, Anta Sports, Changhong, Meiling, Dicos, EHi Car Rental, Master Kong, China Mengniu Dairy, Migu Video, WuZun and Xiaoyin Technology are among the Chinese companies that have ended or suspended their cooperation with the NBA, according to Chinese public statements translated by CNBC.  The remaining two Chinese partners are joint-venture brands that have not issued any statements yet.

Pro-Hong Kong Sixers Fan Booted From Philadelphia NBA Game.  A Philadelphia 76ers fan says he was tossed out of a preseason game after showing their support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, according to NBC Philadelphia.  Sam Wachs and his wife brought signs which read "Free Hong Kong" and "Free HK" to Tuesday night's game between the Sixers and the Guangzhou Loong-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.  According to Wachs, he lived in Hong Kong for two years and supports the anti-government movement.  "We were just sitting in our seats near the Chinese bench," said Wachs.

Fans With 'Free Hong Kong' Sign Kicked Out Of NBA Game.  On Tuesday night [10/8/2019], a husband and wife holding "Free Hong Kong" signs at a preseason NBA game in Philadelphia were kicked out of the stadium.  The man, identified as Sam Wachs, and his wife had their pro-Hong Kong signs confiscated by NBA employees and were escorted out of the Wells Fargo Center arena after Mr. Wachs shouted "Free Hong Kong," a statement in support of the ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations.

NBA, Houston Rockets Cower To Communist China, Get Blasted Online.  The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Houston Rockets cowered to communist China on Sunday after Rocket's General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted out support for Hong Kong which sparked an immediate backlash from Chinese businesses and the Chinese government.

Nike Commercial Starring Colin Kaepernick Wins Emmy Award.  Nike's controversial Dream Crazy ad, narrated by and starring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, won an Emmy Award for best commercial at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday [9/15/2019].  The commercial, which first aired in September, features Kaepernick waxing philosophical about the nature of sports, human achievement, and social justice.

Major League Soccer Team Bans Betsy Ross Flag, Calls it a 'Symbol for Hate Groups'.  America's premier soccer league, Major League Soccer, has declared the red, white, and blue Betsy Ross flag a "symbol for hate groups" and banned a couple in Utah from waving it at games.  A Utah couple who were in attendance at a Major League Soccer Real Salt Lake game says they were told by stadium officials to put away their Betsy Ross flag because the original flag of the American Revolution is a "symbol for hate groups."

Major League Soccer club bans 'controversial' Betsy Ross flag at games.  Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake has banned people from waving the Betsy Ross flag at games, claiming that the Colonial-era flag design has been "adopted as a symbol for hate groups" and doesn't fit with the team's mission of inclusiveness.  The controversy started last month after season-ticket-holders Randolf and Diana Scott started bringing their giant Betsy Ross flag to games at Rio Tinto Stadium, which "ignited a firestorm" against the couple on social media, the local Fox News affiliate reported.  Last weekend, stadium staff asked the couple to put the flag away.

NASCAR Begins To Inject Left-Wing Politics Into Racing.  The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, otherwise known as NASCAR, has reportedly started to take a "gradual shift" on its stances surrounding the Second Amendment.  The revelation comes after multiple gun companies have said that NASCAR, which has a primarily Republican base, banned them from running advertisements that feature guns. [...] The Free Beacon added that the reaction to NASCAR adopting left-wing politics, specifically the demonization of the Second Amendment, has generated a significant amount of backlash.  One specific example came in an article written by radio host Mark Walters, who wrote:  "Go ahead NASCAR, try to fill the stands with a bunch of David Hogg, Moms Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety, urban, progressive, skinny jean wearing, soy sipping, man-bun wearing, Antifa loving, gun-hating socialists.  I won't be around to see how that turns out for you."

US fencer punished for kneeling on podium at Pan Am Games, other athletes warned.  Two U.S. athletes were given a year of probation by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for staging protests while on the podium at the Pan American Games earlier this month, letters sent Tuesday revealed.  Hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised her fist and fencer Race Imboden took a knee while on the medal stand last week in Lima, Peru.  All athletes at the Pan American Games and the Olympics agree to rules forbidding political protest.  The committee also warned other athletes that future protests could face more serious consequences.

It's Time for Colin Kaepernick to Move On.  Colin Kaepernick.  Remember him?  Below-average quarterback.  Above-average poseur.  Not "activist," not really.  Activists actually say stuff.  Kaepernick almost never says anything.

Another athletic egomaniac looking for some extra spotlight by dissing the U.S. flag.  By now, the routine of athletes calling attention to themselves by dissing the U.S. flag at some athletic event has become so de rigueur you could write the script before it happens.  Lose the big prize.  Take a knee to the flag.  Make a raving or two to the press about the awfulness of the U.S. And reap lots of media attention your athletic performance wouldn't otherwise merit.  Instant fame.  Endorsement deals.  Money.  Profit big from insulting the very flag of the country that made your performance possible.

U.S. athletes protest Trump on medals stand at Pan Am Games.  Two Americans used their medal-winning moments at the Pan American Games to draw attention to social issues back home that they feel are spiraling out of control.

Hegseth, Rep. Crenshaw slam anthem protest by U.S. fencer: 'Delusional' if you think that's sacrifice.  "Fox & Friends" host Pete Hegseth and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, both U.S. military veterans, blasted a member of the U.S. fencing team who kneeled for the national anthem after winning the gold medal.  Hegseth emphasized Monday [8/12/2019] that Team USA won 293 medals at the competition and there only two protests.

Poll: Megan Rapinoe Beats Trump in Hypothetical Presidential Race.  A recent poll from Public Policy Polling, showed U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) co-captain Megan Rapinoe defeating President Trump in a hypothetical 2020 presidential matchup.

The Editor says...
Being a troublemaker is never a resumé enhancement, except in politics.

Inslee says he'll ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be secretary of State.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state.  He said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy.  "My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said.  "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."

Black Pastors Call on Nike to Sever Relationship with Colin Kaepernick.  The Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) called on Nike Thursday [7/12/2019] to end its relationship with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has a prominent endorsement deal with the athletic company.  Rev. William Owens, president of CAAP, said his organization is responding to Nike's decision to pull an athletic shoe celebrating the Betsy Ross flag after Kaepernick expressed objections to it.

US Soccer Final Viewership Down by Almost Half Thanks to Trump-Bashing, Far Left National Team.  They cursed the US President and disrespected their Country — What did they expect?  The US Women's Soccer Final viewership was down by ALMOST HALF this year thanks to the Trump-bashing, anthem protesting US national team.  You insult half your audience — you lose half your audience!  Great job, ladies!

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Cut Star Player For Christian Views.  Christian views may have kept star player Jaelene Hinkle off the US women's soccer team.  Back in 2015, Hinkle had objected publicly to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Accused Of Snubbing Star Player For Christian Views.  The absence of one of the best women's soccer players in the nation from the national squad that just won the World Cup has prompted questions as to whether she didn't make the team because of her openly professed Christian faith. [...] The Irish Times, which called Hinkle "the finest left-back in the NWSL," wrote in June, "Hinkle likely would have been a fish out of water on the uber-woke women's national team, some of whose biggest stars are openly lesbian, raising questions about whether she would have thrown off the squad's chemistry."

Megan Rapinoe Is No Leader.  Appearing on multiple news outlets, Megan Rapinoe appeared self-centered and divisive.  She criticized President Donald Trump, as expected.  She made accusations of homophobia, as expected.  And an adoring Rachel Maddow called for Rapinoe to run for president, as expected.  After famously scoffing at the very notion of interacting with people who hold different opinions, Megan Rapinoe took to the stage during the World Cup victory parade in New York City to call for unity:  "This is my charge to everyone:  We have to be better, we have to love more and hate less.  Listen more and talk less."  Speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Megan Rapinoe said that she would be willing to have a "substantive conversation" with "anyone" ... who "believes the same things" as she does.

Guess I'm a Female Chauvinist.  I don't particularly care for soccer anyway but it was the purple-haired star player Megan Rapinoe who turned me off by spouting her disdain for any White House visit before she was even asked.  Did she do that for publicity or was her Trump derangement too deeply entrenched?  Stomping on the American flag even accidentally during the World Cup celebration was more proof of her unworthiness to represent our great country.

We hate Trump, we hate you.  But buy our soccer jerseys.  The leftist women's World Cup team has made a lot of noise about wanting more pay, or pay that's equal to the men's teams, yet already the economics of the picture shows that they're actually overpaid.  This isn't something unfixable — more ticket sales, more team memorabilia revenue, more television watchers, more public interest would correct that easily, and it's clear that star players such as Megan Rapinoe know it.

The ladies won and let's salute them.  The TV ratings were great and everyone is happy. [...] Actually, not everyone is happy.  I am not happy and lots of people I've heard from are not happy.  First, the tournament showed that international women's soccer is a total mismatch. [...] The U.S. is obviously "the queen" of soccer and will only get better because our young women have more resources.  On that point, it did not help that some of the ladies showed so little class, as when they pounded Thailand 13-0!  Second, someone should remind the ladies that they are wearing the U.S. uniform not "blue states."  They should show respect for U.S. fans who don't like to see flag disrespected.

Megan Rapinoe rips Trump WH visit, says she'd accept invites from Pelosi, AOC.  U.S. Women's Soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe doubled down in her opposition to visit the Trump White House on Tuesday but expressed that she was open to accept invitations from anyone who "believes the same things we believe in" like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Won't Go To White House, So Pelosi Makes Announcement.  With U.S. Women's Soccer star and outspoken Trump critic Megan Rapinoe having preemptively rejected any invite to go to the "[...] White House," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a big announcement on Monday:  Congress is formally inviting the Wold Cup-winning team to be honored on Capitol Hill.

The Woke World of Sports.  [Scroll down]  In the woke world of sports, [the history of the US flag] carries less weight than what a millionaire retired athlete with weird hair thinks constitutes "social justice," and the billion-dollar company caved when Kaepernick vetoed their design.  In real fact, the most socially useful thing the fellow could do would be to tell kids in the inner cities to spend their money more wisely than on Nike sneakers, which, by the way, are made by slave laborers under any other name in countries characterized by the late Karl Wittfogel as "Oriental Despotisms."

USA Women Win Soccer World Cup, Then Toss USA Flag on Ground & Dance On It.  The video says it all.  No exaggeration required.  Members of the US Women's Soccer team won the World Cup on Sunday then while celebrating, tossed the US flag to the ground like a rag doll and danced around it while posing for the cameras.  Trump-hater Megan Rapinoe was front and center of course.  She's the all star who has trashed President Trump and who was criticized for taking a knee during the national anthem before matches.

Allie Long, Megan Rapinoe Drop American Flag During World Cup Celebration.  U.S. women's national soccer team members Allie Long and Megan Rapinoe stepped on an American flag after Long dropped on the ground as they posed for post-game photos Sunday [7/7/2019].  Following their repeat World Cup win in Lyon, France, the team was celebrating on the field and posing for photos when Long dropped the flag she was holding.  She and Rapinoe then stepped forward, leaving the flag underfoot.

U.S. soccer fans chant 'F--- Trump' on live TV.  After the United States won the Women's World Cup by beating Netherlands 2-0 in Sunday's final match, a group of American soccer fans in France chanted an expletive about President Trump on a live television broadcast.  Fox News prepared to do a live TV shot from a sports bar in Lyon, France — the site of the final — that was populated with American fans.  Fans in the background began to chant shortly after reporter Greg Palkot began to speak.

USWNT fans chant 'F--- Trump' on live TV after World Cup title.  The U.S. women are World Cup champions.  Millions of fans across America are celebrating.  In parks, on downtown streets, in living rooms, and elsewhere.  So are the tens of thousands who travelled to France for the occasion.  Fox News figured it would send a reporter and camera crew across the Atlantic to capture the scene in Lyon.  And ... uh ... they found quite a scene!

The Democrats' Situational Racism.  [Scroll down]  Nike, not content to sell shoes to Americans of all political persuasions, stepped in it again via their vice president for social consciousness, Colin Kaepernick.  Nike made a special edition Betsy Ross flag shoe for Independence Day but Kaepernick objected to the flag as being racist and appealing to white nationalist groups.  Nike promptly recalled the shoe to virtue signal their wokeness over such a symbol of hatred.  MSNBC regular and Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson, "related the flag to other symbols of hate such as the Nazi swastika and burning crosses."  Why?  Because the situation called for it.  Anything to fan the flames of racism at a time when minority unemployment is at an all-time low in advance of a presidential election.

Megan Rapinoe is dividing Americans instead of uniting them in the fight for gender equity.  [Colin] Kaepernick, who blew up his NFL career by refusing to stand for the national anthem at games, is not alone in his hostility to patriotic symbols.  Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain of the U.S. national women's soccer team, refuses to place her hand over her heart with the rest of her team when the national anthem is played at the World Cup in Lyon, France.  "I'll probably never put my hand over my heart," she told Yahoo Sports.  "I'll probably never sing the national anthem again."

The Left's War Against America.  [Colin Kaepernick] has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since he decided to forgo his NFL career and become a professional protester.  His decision to disrespect the American flag by choosing NFL games to protest police treatment of African Americans was divisive to say the least.  While millions of Americans did not support Kaepernick's actions, Nike chose to affiliate with those Americans who agree with a spoiled former NFL player denigrating our national symbols.  His supporters tend to be young people, African Americans and progressives.  Kaepernick also has plenty of admirers in the media who are also disgruntled with our country.  In a July 1st New York Times video editorial, the authors claim that the United States of America is not the greatest country on earth, but "just okay."

Ted Cruz sacks Colin Kaepernick, grabs ball and scores (on Twitter).  Colin Kaepernick, Nike's commissar of America-hatred, may have been a quarterback, but he took a half-[bak]ed approach to anti-slavery hero Frederick Douglass.  Flaunting the blinders that progressives wear when they consider our collective history, he took a quotation out of context in order to try to score an own goal against the country that birthed him, made him a multi-millionaire, and now indulges him in his extended adolescence.  Fortunately, Ted Cruz knows much more than Kaepernick and demolished his point on Twitter (hat tip:  Twitchy).

Nike Fans the Flames of the Culture War.  Nike is doing it wrong.  I don't mean the shoemaking, though that thing with Zion Williamson was pretty bad, I have to say.  No, Nike is doing it wrong because it managed to do something that all the neo-Nazis, Klansmen, alt-righters, and other denizens of the lowest coprophagic phylum of our political life could never do:  It turned the Betsy Ross flag into a racist symbol.

Mo Brooks:  Colin Kaepernick Should Leave if He Hates America.  Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) says Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player and the face of multinational corporation Nike, should leave the United States if he does not like the country.  This week it was revealed that Nike had ditched the production and sale of a pair of shoes that featured the famous flag created by Betsy Ross at the behest of former President George Washington because Kaepernick was offended by the emblem.

Corporate America Tilts Left.  [A] manufacturer of sports beverages, has made a commercial featuring soccer player Megan Rapinoe, who has refused to stand for the American flag and has sparred with President Trump.  That makes her a hot commodity in the world of advertising.

The Ugly Americans of soccer.  Somewhere in France today a group of ugly American female soccer players are sipping tea from imaginary cups to mock a polite society they make no efforts to understand or respect.  The Americans are loud and ostentatious.  They are ugly Americans personified.  If the female soccer players are trying to be ambassadors for their game, they are failing miserably.  I cared little for their sport before they arrived in France, and my interest has chilled considerably in the ensuing weeks.

Why Doesn't The Far Left Complain About Nike Sweatshops Anymore?  Protesting Nike used to be a go-to event for various far-left groups in America.  A massive company using slave-labor conditions to produce low-cost products that are then resold at 1000% mark-ups was representative of what was, in their minds, so wrong with globalized capitalism.  Then, suddenly, all that protest vanished.  Why?  The answer is simple.  Nike's marketing machine turned its attention to controversial anti-police, anti-America, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.  The company paid Kaepernick millions to divert attention away from its deplorable overseas operations and instead convince consumers how horrible American was — except for those who wore Nike products apparently.  No, it doesn't really make a lot of sense but it appears to have worked.

Killing The Fourth of July.  Never to be out-woked, Nike took the opportunity this July 4th to lash out at patriots (read: most Americans) by putting the kibosh on their planned 'USA Air Max 1' training shoes.  The design featured the Betsy Ross flag:  one of the first known emblems of the colonies that would go on to become the United States.  We're led to believe it was Colin Kaepernick — who is famous for just about everything except what he should be famous for:  football — who drove Nike to nix the shoe.

Now Betsy Ross Is a White Supremacist, Apparently.  Dear Reader, I do not care about shoe companies.  I don't care about professional athletes, current or former, who work for shoe companies.  They can sell what they want to sell, or not sell what they don't want to sell, and it's all the same to me.  I don't understand why anybody would care.  If you don't like it, don't spend your money on it.  What's the problem?  But no, it has to become a whole big thing.  Now this dumb Nike non-story has escalated.  It's no longer about a shoe company.  It's about America itself.  Now, feminist icon Betsy Ross is considered racist.

This Independence Day, Nike Appeases America Haters and Dictators.  Want a sign that the left is now bringing ruin to the business world, after it has done the same for the education and entertainment industries?  Look no further than Nike.  Days before the U.S. celebrates Independence Day, Nike pulled sneakers back from retailers that contained a small image of the famous Betsy Ross flag on the back.  Apparently that small homage to America's founding offended the delicate sensibilities of Colin Kaepernick, the reprehensible leftist former football player who protested the national anthem, whose idea of appropriate footwear is socks depicting police officers as pigs, and who prefers shirts honoring Cuba's murderous dictator Fidel Castro.

Kaepernick, Nike, Democrats:  Spitting on America and the 4th of July.  Nike has pulled its Betsy Ross American Flag shoe from the shelves.  Why?  NFL has-been Colin Kaepernick's complained that the Betsy Ross flag was a symbol of white supremacy.  Nike said they didn't want to potentially "offend" anybody.  Surprise to Nike.  They are offending a significant portion of the American public[.]  But spitting on America, and her freedom has become a way of life in 2019.  Not only for Nike and Kaepernick but also Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and soccer's Rapino as well.

Julian Castro praises Nike, compares Betsy Ross flag to Confederate flag.  Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro on Wednesday praised Nike's controversial decision to pull shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag, saying the early flag design that represents the Thirteen Colonies evokes pain among some Americans, much like Confederate symbols.

WSJ: Nike's 'Patriotic Fumble' an 'In-Kind Donation to Trump's Re-Election'.  The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial board observed Tuesday [7/2/2019] that Nike's decision to allow ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick to "call the play" of rescinding the company's release of its "Betsy Ross flag" sneaker is essentially an "in-kind donation to Trump's re-election."  The WSJ board referred to Nike's cave to Kaepernick as one of those "harebrained controversies" that ultimately "give many Americans the not unreasonable sense that their country is being maligned by pampered social-justice warriors."

Uh Oh, Guess Who Had the Betsy Ross Flag at His Inauguration.  As you've heard by now, Nike decided to pull the sale of a Betsy Ross American flag themed sneaker this week after woke and washed up athlete Colin Kaepernick complained it is tied to racism.  But there's just one huge problem with that argument:  [Photo]

CA Governor After Nike Cancels American-Themed Shoe:  They 'Represent The Best Of Our American Values'.  On Tuesday night, after Nike had canceled an American flag-themed shoe, triggering Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to withdraw financial incentives for Nike to open a manufacturing facility in Arizona, California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted that Nike was "doing the right thing" and represented "the best of our American values."

Limbaugh: Kaepernick-Nike Shoe Saga Proof NFL Kneeling Not About Police Brutality — 'He Opposes Honoring the Flag'.  Tuesday [7/2/2019] on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh argued that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's opposition to Nike's so-called Betsy Ross footwear was proof Kaepernick's kneeling was not about alleged police brutality but animosity toward the American flag.  Nike pulled the product line based on Kaepernick's opposition, which came because the footwear featured the Betsy Ross flag.

Colin Kaepernick Lands Nike in Hot Water Over Recall of Shoe With an American Flag.  Colin Kaepernick has used his influence with Nike to have the company's American flag-themed shoe called the "Betsy Ross" pulled from production just days before they were to be sold to the public, prompting swift and immediate backlash.  Citing sources close to the story, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Air Max 1 USA was slated to go on sale this week in celebration of the Fourth of July.  "The heel of the shoe featured a U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle, a design created during the American Revolution and commonly referred to as the Betsy Ross flag," WSJ reports.  And while Nike is claiming that it has declined to release the sneaker because it featured an "old version of the American flag," the real reason the sneaker has been recalled, according to WSJ, is because Kaepernick reportedly told Nike that the shoes were "offensive," prompting the company to recall the shoe and demand that retailers return their stock.

Old Photos From Obama's Inauguration Show Just How Ridiculous Nike's Shoe Ban Really Is.  It seems that those criticizing Nike for attempting to have a Betsy Ross flag on a pair of their shoes in celebration of Fourth of July forgot about former President Barack Obama using the same flags at his inauguration in 2013.  Nike stirred up controversy when they tried to have the earlier American flag, that displays 13 stars in a circle, on their Air Max 1 USA shoes but reportedly nixed the shoes after former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick called them offensive.  "Attention Nike:  The flag Colin Kaepernick told you was unacceptable on your shoes was displayed rather prominently at Barack Obama's inauguration," the Washington Examiner's Bryon York tweeted.

Nike steps on its own shoelaces in latest Kaepernick fiasco.  Just in time for the Fourth of July, Nike and washed-up footballer Colin Kaepernick have joined forces in an America-bashing cavalcade.  The enormous sportswear company planned to release a new red, white, and blue sneaker adorned with American Revolutionary Betsy Ross' 13-star flag, this country's first banner.  However, Kaepernick complained to Nike that this all-American symbol is — what else? — racist.  "After images of the shoe were posted online, Mr. Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reached out to company officials saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nike Has Offered Shoes Displaying Flags of Human Rights Abusers Such As China and Turkey.  This week, sportswear giant Nike agreed to pull their "Betsy Ross Flag" sneakers after former NFL player nd anthem-protester Colin Kaepernick, advised them that the American flag is a symbol of racism, hate, and slavery.  However, the company has had no issue offering shoes with many other national flags and colors, including human rights abusers such as China and Turkey.  Naturally, Nike was quick to create gay pride flag-themed shoes.  There are quite a few styles set up in the rainbow colors of gay pride.  So, as far as Nike is concerned, gay pride is great, but American pride is "racist."

Outrage for Profit — NIKE Pulls "Betsy Ross" Sneaker.  Is it possible to manufacture outrage as a profit strategy?  Yes.  Brand imagery is part of the overall business model for any business.  Begin with an ideological executive office; consider a manufacturing model dependent on a China/Asia supply chain; add a dose of political calculations into the mix; turn loose the actuaries and a unified CFO and CEO could easily find a way to turn market grievance into profit.  I'm not saying that NIKE is manipulating their market price.  However, I am saying if they were to consider their brand scale to enhance financial results, and buying back shares of their own stock to be timed with coordinated media events, you could see a benefit behind the controversy.

Colin Kaepernick objects to flag-themed shoes, so Nike pulls them.  For America's Independence Day, Nike released a new sneaker shoe style with the image of the early U.S. flag stitched by the notorious revolutionary Betsy Ross.  It had the familiar red and white stripes and 13 stars in a circle for the original colonies.  Apparently, sales were going well until noted kneeler Colin Kaepernick objected because, well, some of the 13 colonies had slaves at the time and we shouldn't be knowing that in this Woke era.  Naturally, the mega-company with $36 billion in annual shoe and athletic-wear sales responded to the unemployed NFL player by immediately pulling the patriotic shoe off the market, as the Wall Street Journal first reported.  What else could it do really?  He outnumbers the rest of us.  And a company can't be associated with patriotism these days unless it involves overpaid pro athletes refusing to stand for the National Anthem because, slavery.

AZ governor steps up for America, will 'withdraw all incentive dollars' from Kaepernick's Nike.  BizPac Review published reports on Monday that Nike developed a Betsy Ross-themed shoe just in time to celebrate Independence Day, then yanked it from production.  Shortly after, sponsored activist Colin Kaepernick reportedly complained that he found the imagery depicted on the clothing to be offensive.  As happens all too often in our softened society, Nike immediately recalled the shoe and drew the ire of patriots like Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who called the decision "pathetic" and declared that she will no longer be buying Nike sneakers for her family.

Betsy Ross costs Nike plenty.  When Colin Kaepernick objected, Nike stopped selling shoes that were a tribute to Betsy Ross, a woman legend of the American Revolution.  Now that will cost the company millions in incentives Arizona offered to snag a Nike plant.  It will cost the state 500 jobs.  More than a million soldiers have died defending that flag that Nike turned its back on.  The shoe featured the flag that legend holds designed the flag.  That seems to be based on family lore.  But she did more for America than any of today's quarterbacks did.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ends Nike deal after cancellation of 'Betsy Ross Flag' sneakers.  Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday [7/2/2019] the state would be canceling the incentives offered in a deal with Nike in response to the athletic company scrapping plans for a Betsy Ross-inspired sneaker[.]  The sneakers, featuring a U.S. flag with 13 stars on each heel, reportedly was canned after former football player and political activist Colin Kaepernick said the design could be seen as an offensive symbol of slavery.

Nike Ditches 'Betsy Ross Flag' Sneaker After Colin Kaepernick Raises Concerns over the Flag's Connection to Slavery.  Nike has decided to pull their America-themed 4th of July sneakers which featured the "Betsy Ross" flag, after former NFL anthem-protester and Nike pitchman Colin Kaepernick raised concerns over the offensive symbolism he felt the flag displayed, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Nike Nixes 'Betsy Ross Flag' Sneaker After Colin Kaepernick Intervenes.  Nike Inc. is yanking a U.S.A.-themed sneaker featuring an early American flag after NFL star-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick told the company it shouldn't sell a shoe with a symbol that he and others consider offensive, according to people familiar with the matter.  The sneaker giant created the Air Max 1 USA in celebration of the July Fourth holiday, and it was slated to go on sale this week.

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe accepts invitation to hang with AOC instead of Trump.  Megan Rapinoe accepted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's invitation for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team to tour the House of Representatives after Rapinoe rejected an invite to the White House.  "Consider it done @AOC," Rapinoe said Friday after the New York congresswoman extended the invite and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team beat France 2-1 in the quarterfinal of the Women's World Cup.

Yankees add Stonewall Inn plaque to famed Monument Park.  A plaque behind the center field fence at Yankee Stadium was dedicated Tuesday night [6/25/2019] to commemorate the Stonewall Inn uprising 50 years ago, which sparked a pivotal rebellion in the LGBTQ rights movement.

Knicks feel their black front office helps in free agency.  Knicks president Steve Mills indicated having a pioneering predominately black front office will help the team in the upcoming free agency.  "The African American front office, that doesn't get lost on guys," Mills said in an article published Tuesday on The Undefeated, which deals with race issues.  After getting the job when Phil Jackson got canned, Mills hired GM Scott Perry, who is black, and player developmental director Craig Robinson, the brother of Michelle Obama.  Also hired after Jackson's firing was director of player personnel Harold Ellis and college scouting director Gerald Madkins.  Both are African American.

Megs, put a sock in it.  Megan Rapinoe, star forward for the women's U.S. national soccer team, seems to hate the world.  She goes around with a scowl permanently etched into her weathered face.  Though an outstanding soccer player, Megs has it in her head that she's getting cheated, and that the cheater is Donald Trump.  So she refuses to go to the White House if the team wins the women's World Cup.  Trump then extended an invitation to the team whether they win or lose, and of course, Megan took it with ill grace.  The girl has no graces, only grimaces.  Megan, like all liberal females, holds Trump personally accountable for every unfun thing that ever happened in her life or anybody else's life.  Despite her extraordinary skill on the field, Megan's about as ordinary a liberal as it's possible to be.

Brilliant Play — President Trump Invites U.S. Women's Soccer Team to White House "Win or Lose".  Megan Rapinoe is the co-captain of the U.S. women's national soccer team and a rabid hater of President Trump.  Ms. Rapinoe refuses to sing the U.S. national anthem; kneels during ceremonies to make her hatred for America visible; and grabs every microphone to tell the media about her politics in an effort to increase her resistance credentials.  The age-old axiom is: 'be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it".  Today [6/26/2019], President Trump brilliantly responded to Ms. Rapinoe.  First, by calling out her arrogance in declaring victory before she even played the World Cup matches; and secondly, by inviting the entire team to the White House "win or lose".

Adam Silver:  NBA done using term 'owner' over racial sensitivity questions.  NBA commissioner Adam Silver told TMZ the league office is done using the word "owner" amid concerns whether the title is racially insensitive, adding they stopped using the term a few years ago.  TMZ reported earlier this month that some NBA teams were debating whether to move away from the title, given some feel its racially insensitive in a league where the majority of players are African American.  Warriors forward Draymond Green also raised the issue on LeBron James' HBO Show "The Shop," saying he took offense to the term.

US women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe refuses to sing the national anthem before the Thailand World Cup match.  US soccer star Megan Rapinoe stuck to her resolve not to sing the national anthem ahead of the team's first match in the Women's World Cup against Thailand in France on Tuesday [6/11/2019].  The player stood silent and stony-faced as her teammates sang along to the 'Star-Spangled Banner' in the Auguste-Delaune Stadium in Reims.

NFL Dishes Out $20 Million in Grants to Social Justice Causes.  The NFL announced this week the list of various organizations that will receive nearly $2 million in "social justice grants."  One of the recipients is the Civil Rights Corps which "empowers communities to change the unjust legal system."  This brings the total of "social justice grants" by the NFL to $20 million for the year.

The Growing Popularity of Foot Shooting.  I used to be an NFL fan, especially of the San Francisco 49ers in the Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice era.  So far as I know none of them ever publicly expressed their political opinions.  I have not watched five minutes of a 49er's game in over a year.  The only NFL game I've watched in the past year was the Super Bowl.  I've heard numerous people say essentially the same thing.  They say they're done with the NFL.  Former fans are angry at the players for disrespecting their country, but the greater anger is directed toward the teams' owners and the NFL hierarchy.  The NFL has unfortunately revealed who and what they are.  Although they're good people in most ways, in this instance they've behaved like spineless, clueless cowards.  They should have nipped the protests in the bud before they became overblown and out of control.

Soccer Star Rapinoe on Her National Anthem Protests.  Soccer star Megan Rapinoe has vowed to continue her national anthem protests while representing the US in next month's Women's World Cup [...] Rapinoe created a furor when she knelt during the national anthem following former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who roiled the NFL with his anthem protest in 2016.

Yankees fans threaten boycott after ban of Kate Smith's 'God Bless America'.  Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America" has been scrapped at Yankee Stadium, but Bronx Bomber fans are going to bat for her over allegations of racism.  Smith's niece, Suzy Andron, told The Post she is "honored" by the groundswell of support for the late singer among fans and media.  "Most are solidly behind the positive notion that this is a misunderstanding by a few people who took two or three of her songs [out of 3,000 that she recorded] out of context and inflated a story that my Aunt Kathryn must have been a racist," Andron said.  "Unfortunately, the Yankees bought into it."

Elizabeth Warren praises Red Sox manager Alex Cora for skipping White House visit.  Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is learning this week what it's like to be a political lightning rod.  Cora publicly confirmed he won't visit the White House when the Red Sox make their official championship trip Thursday [5/9/2019].  And now he finds himself in the middle of the typical Washington partisan battle.  Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, Democratic presidential candidate and long-running Donald Trump adversary, is praising Cora for taking a stand against Trump and the White House.

Virginia Basketball Declines White House Invite to Celebrate National Championship.  The Virginia men's basketball team has declined, while the Baylor women's team has accepted a visit to the White House after NCAA tournament title wins.  Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett tweeted Friday the decision of the program to decline the invitation to celebrate their 2019 NCAA men's tournament title win.

NCAA basketball champs will not accept invitation to White House — here's the coach's statement.  The NCAA championship basketball team from the University of Virginia will not accept the invitation from President Donald Trump to the White House, but the coach say it's simply a matter of scheduling.  Coach Tony Bennett released a statement that was tweeted out by the official University of Virginia account.

Virginia basketball latest champions to decline White House invite.  Add Virginia men's basketball to the long list of teams who won't celebrate a championship with President Trump at the White House.  The program tweeted a statement from head coach Tony Bennett Friday [4/26/2019] that stated the team has "received inquiries about a visit to the White House.["]

Nike launches 'Icon' Kaepernick jersey days after NFL collusion case settlement.  Nike released a special edition Colin Kaepernick jersey Wednesday just days after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback settled a grievance with the NFL.  The Kaepernick Icon Jersey — a black design with white lettering — resembles the '#ImWithKap' jerseys that quickly sold out last fall.  The jersey sells for $150.  "We believe Colin Kaepernick is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward," Nike spokeswoman Sandra Carreon-John told USA Today, adding that the jersey "marks Nike's continued product collaboration with Colin."

All about race:  NFL shoves left's radical social justice agenda down throats of Super Bowl viewers.  Super Bowl LIII appeared to be the NFL's latest down payment in appeasing the hard left and their social justice agenda.  The NFL responded in December 2017 to the more radical elements of the game who were disrespecting the national anthem by taking a knee by committing $90 million over a seven year period to social justice causes — much of the money going to a number of left-wing organizations.  And Sunday, the league shoved a divisive race-driven message down the throats of Super Bowl LIII viewers at every opportunity.

Maroon 5 frontman hints Superbowl show will be hip-hop kneeling fest.  Proud, flag-loving patriots who hate seeing the American flag be disrespected may have no other option but to tune out of the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.  The show has been mired in controversy because of a concerted effort by radical far-left activists to stop any artist from performing at the event.  To them, any performance would be a slap in the face to unemployed former NFL quarterback and continued race-baiting agitator Colin Kaepernick.

The NFL Recovers From Kneeling Frenzy.  Ratings for NFL regular-season games rebounded, gaining 5 percent over the previous season.  That's not as amazing, since it's a small increase after two years of frightening declines.  But in today's ever-declining ratings for broadcast TV, due to livestreaming and cord cutting, the NFL is still a dominant player, far outdrawing regular scripted TV shows.  The panic in NFL offices has ended.  The bleeding stopped.  Everyone knows why, and it's not the powerful high-scoring offenses and the snazzy touchdown celebrations.  The NFL put an end to the national anthem kneeling protests.

Miami Dolphins' Robert Quinn complains about lack of coverage for his protest during national anthem.  Colin Kaepernick has received a ton of publicity for his protests during the national anthem, but he can't seem to find a job in the NFL.  Miami Dolphins defensive end Robert Quinn has the opposite problem.  Quinn lashed out at reporters Thursday [12/27/2018] over the lack of coverage he's received over his fist-raised protest during the national anthem, something he's done since joining the Dolphins in the offseason, according to the Miami Herald.

More Than an Athlete?  Lebron James is perhaps the most privileged person on the face of the Earth.  Graced with once-in-a-generation athletic talent, he also happens to be 6 feet, 8 inches tall.  And, best of all, he was born in the United States of America.  Our free enterprise system has allowed James to parlay his talent, and lots of hard work, into an $85 million a year income.  Not bad!  But not enough for King James.

Lebron James says NFL owners are a "bunch of old white men" with a "slave mentality".  LeBron James had some strong words for NFL owners on his HBO show "The Shop" which aired Friday night.  [He] blasted NFL owners for having what he called a "slave mentality" and calling them "a bunch of old white men".

NFL kneeling goes full circle.  The NFL has a long way to go until it is broke, but given the number of liberals put in charge of the league, it is but a matter of time.  The league took its fan base for granted, tried to expand its appeal, and virtue signaled like a Hollywood award ceremony.

The National Anthem Protests — Do Facts Matter?  NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who started the protests, did so over the supposed widespread instances of police brutality against blacks.  Kaepernick said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. ... There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."  According to the Centers for Disease Control, since 1968 police killings of blacks have declined nearly 75 percent.  According to The Washington Post, almost 500 whites were killed by cops in 2015, an average of more than one a day.  Two hundred fifty-nine blacks were killed by the police.  Most suspects killed by police had a weapon.  Now for some perspective.  Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning?  Neither do most people.  Yet each year an average of about 300 Americans are killed or injured by lightning.  That's approximately 40 more than the number of blacks killed by the police in 2015.  Is there an "epidemic" of Americans being struck and injured by lightning?

Fans Furious As NFL Cheerleader Hears Anthem, Gives Troops the Finger.  Fans who came out to see the Raiders take on the 49ers on Thursday were furious over what one cheerleader did as soon as she heard the National Anthem start to play.  Mediocre former-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick became the most hated man in the NFL two seasons ago — which is quite a feat in a sport filled with wife-beaters and convicts — when he began "taking a knee" as The Star-Spangled Banner was played before NFL games in 2016 to protest "police brutality" and "racial discrimination" in America.  Of course, this could not have been more ironic, seeing as Kaepernick was adopted by a white family who raised him with every advantage in the world.  Not to mention the fact that he makes more money than ninety-nine percent of white people.

49ers cheerleader takes a knee during anthem.  A cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the national anthem Thursday night ahead of the team's game against the Oakland Raiders.  The cheerleader has not been identified, but photos of her kneeling quickly circulated on social media.

Amy Schumer wonders whether white NFL players who don't kneel are 'complicit' in racism.  Amy Schumer on Friday [10/19/2018] questioned whether or not white players in the NFL who don't kneel with their black teammates are 'complicit' in the 'endless racism people of color face in our country.'  The "Trainwreck" star went on to propose that more white players should stand up for their "brothers and sisters of color" by taking a knee.  "I wonder why more white players aren't kneeling," she wrote.  "Once you witness the truly deep inequality and endless racism people of color face in our country, not to mention the police brutality and murders.  Why not kneel next to your brothers?  Otherwise how are you not complicit?"

Kneeling NFL players earn $16M combined this season.  Miami Dolphins wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson have knelt during the national anthem every game this season.  Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who joined Colin Kaepernick during the original kneeling protests in 2016, resumed kneeling before his season debut in Week 5 last Sunday.  The three players are slated to earn a combined $16.5 million in 2018, or more if they meet certain bonuses.  Under the NFL's current rules, none of the players will face fines or other disciplinary action for the protests.  [President] Trump has repeatedly called on the NFL to impose stiff penalties on any player who fails to stand for the national anthem.

Eric Reid takes a knee during national anthem in first game as Carolina Panthers player.  Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid took a knee during the national anthem before Sunday's game against the New York Giants in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Reid was the only player to kneel during the "Star Spangled Banner," continuing the protest he began while playing for the San Francisco 49ers.  He was the first Panthers player ever to kneel during the national anthem.

'Standup for America' jersey is Trump's latest attack on NFL kneelers.  Colin Kaepernick probably hasn't clicked on the shopping cart.  A popular online Trump merchandise site is hawking "Standup for America" football jerseys, the president's latest salvo in his war against the NFL and those kneeling for the national anthem.

Harvard to award Colin Kaepernick medal for work in African-American studies.  Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be one of eight people honored by Harvard University next month with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.  The medal is given annually by the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.  "The medal honors those who have made significant contributions to African and African American history and culture, and more broadly, individuals who advocate for intercultural understanding and human rights in an increasingly global and interconnected world," the university said.

New NFL Season — Same Old National Anthem Protests.  The 2018-2019 football season kicked off this past weekend, and much to the dismay of many fans, so did a new season of National Anthem protests. [...] The original basis for the protests came as an anti-police and anti-America protest by Colin Kaepernick (who claimed both were racist), who wore socks with police pictured as pigs and lauded the murderous government in Communist Cuba, even though more whites than blacks are killed by police, though, according to the FBI, black Americans are charged with most of the murders in this country, most of the robberies, and nearly half the assaults (while only making up about 13 percent of the population) — and Cuba regularly "disappears" or imprisons or tortures citizens who criticize it.  That's what the protesting players are siding with.  Meanwhile black police officers are much more likely to kill both black and Latino suspects than white officers are, and more than 99 percent of those killed by police are armed at the time they are shot.

Colin Kaepernick thanks 2 Miami Dolphins players who kneel during anthem.  Miami Dolphins teammates Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson were the only two players to kneel during the national anthem on the NFL's opening Sunday, and Colin Kaepernick, who may no longer be welcome on an NFL sideline, offered his thanks to the players on Twitter.  "My Brothers (Stills) and (Wilson) continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed," Kaepernick tweeted.  "They have not backed down, even when attacked and intimidated... Love is at the root of our resistance."

Famed UFC Fighter, Special Forces Vet Tim Kennedy Says Special Forces Furious About Nike's Kaepernick Ad.  Tim Kennedy, the famed UFC fighter who served in the army and later in the 7th Special Forces Group where he was a sniper, sniper instructor, and the principal combatives instructor for C Company, 3rd Battalion, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, said Special Forces members that he spent time with this week were furious about the Nike ad with Colin Kaepernick in which Kaepernick said he had "sacrificed."  Speaking to TMZ, Kennedy began, "There are problems.  There are huge problems in the city; urban problems, police problems, crime problems, and they have to be addressed and something needs to be done about it, but not by disrespecting the flag and somebody making a few million dollars off a sponsorship.  Come on."  When TMZ asked, "Will you wear Nike ever again?", Kennedy responded, "No, no."

The Circus of Resistance.  Nike hired NFL renegade Colin Kaepernick to peddle its sports products.  For all its billion-dollar market research, it apparently did not know what Donald Trump's animal cunning had almost immediately surmised:  a majority of Americans do not appreciate the pampered multimillionaire Kaepernick sanctioning violence against the police by wearing "pig" socks, or mocking the National Anthem by taking a knee.  Nike could just as well have hired Bowe Bergdahl to push its sneakers.

The Party of Kaepernick.  The Democrats' winning midterm campaign message would seem simple enough:  Trump is bad and must be opposed.  Yet at the moment the party risks being associated with a somewhat less attractive message:  The American flag is bad and must be opposed.  Last week, left-wing Democrat Ayanna Pressley ousted long-term incumbent Michael Capuano from the John F. Kennedy/Tip O'Neill House seat in the Democratic primary while praising the NFL anti-flag protests, which her opponent called "wrong."  Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke says — in Texas! — that there is "nothing more American" than kneeling for the national anthem.

Empty Seats Plague NFL Stadiums in Week One of Season.  Americans are fed up with athletes kneeling during the National Anthem and it showed — plenty of empty seats plagued stadiums on Sunday [9/9/2018].

Just Blew It:  Nike Favorability Drops By Double-Digits, No Boost In Key Demos.  [Colin] Kaepernick is a source of controversy, a vehicle for the left wing social justice activism that struck the NFL two years ago when he started to take a knee during the national anthem.  There were a multitude of reasons but race relations and police brutality seem to be the top issues for why he and other players started this nonsense.  No doubt the cause is worth a discussion.  I totally disagree with their take, but it's worthy of a discussion.  All that good will went out the window as soon as you start trashing the flag.  Kaepernick's anti-police stance also drew a backlash.  These players see their side getting attention.  Everyone else sees them trashing the flag, our veterans, and those who have died in service to the country.  It's unpatriotic.  It's not appropriate — and the NFL knows it.

The Things That Won't Fit in a Nike Ad.  When it comes to the Kaepernick-inspired debate, there are many serious issues at play — issues worthy of reasoned discussion.  You might think that athletes should be able to kneel during the national anthem as a matter of free speech.  You might think it's disrespectful to do so.  You might think that Kaepernick was right to call attention to police violence, but wrong to wear socks depicting police officers as pigs.  You might even think all of these things at the same time!  But these things are complicated, and they certainly don't fit in a Nike ad, which has one overarching goal:  To bring attention to Nike, a massive corporation under fire for various ethical issues as we speak.

College Dumps Nike:  "If Nike is Ashamed of America, We are Ashamed of Them".  The collegiate market is big for Nike.  And while much of that market will only embrace the sweatshop sportswear firm harder after its anti-American stance, there are still some American schools left in America.

Poll Reports Nike Kaepernick Ad Is Shoe-icide.  This might be turn out to be the biggest marketing disaster since Coca-Cola changed its formula to become New Coke.  Last week Nike was an iconic American brand.  But that was before it decided to commit shoe-icde.  Since it signed anti-American protester Colin brand favorability for its 30-anniversary "Just Do It" public support for the brand plunged.  In other words, Nike Did It — to themselves.

Massive Collapse in Brand Image for Nike Following New Colin Kaepernick Branding Campaign.  Never before in the history of corporate branding decisions has a multi-billion dollar company had such a massive and swift drop of brand image as Nike.  The results from Morning Consult Intelligence, a firm that specializes in monitoring and measuring the brand image and reputation for thousands of major companies, reflects a massive drop in brand image across every single demographic.  We suspected there would be a diminishment of brand image, but nothing like the scale discovered within the polled data.

Nike Becomes Face of Social Justice Despite History of Outsourcing, Employing Slave Labor.  Despite having a long, documented history of allegedly employing workers at slave wages, the multinational Nike corporation has become the face of the social justice wing of the political left with its newest ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.  As Breitbart News reported, the Nike corporation laid off 1,400 Americans just last year in the state of Oregon, cutting out workers who were older and likely sending their jobs overseas as the sports brand has done in the past.

Poll: Nike Favorability Crashes 34% with Kaepernick Ad Campaign.  A poll from Morning Consult shows devastating results for Nike's brand favorability, in the days after making Colin Kaepernick the face of their new ad campaign.

Nike, NFL, and Levis Strauss Political Business Strategy.  On its face, it just seems absurd.  Why would any major corporation intentionally stake out a branding position that is adverse to their financial interests? [...] The bigger risk to Nike has nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, U.S. Consumers, or Antifa-like political advocacy.  The bigger financial risk to the Nike Corporation has everything to do with geopolitics and a reset of international trade agreements.

Former Obama CIA Director John Brennan Praises Washed Up Athlete.  It's well established John Brennan is a weird one.  How a man who once voted for a communist to be President of the United States became head of the CIA is a story unto itself (See:  China) but just as confounding is how Mr. Brennan has conducted himself since riding into the proverbial has-been sunset.  The most recent example is his effusive praise of washed-up former NFL quarterback turned racist division-maker, Colin Kaepernick.  Mr. Kaepernick lost his starting position due to lackluster play and soon after he declared himself an anti-white and anti-police advocate who was then warmly embraced by the radical Black Lives Matter crowd.  Nike threw Kaepernick some "good boy" bucks for which Brennan is now glorifying as the Second Coming.

Nike steps in it!  Vets, ex-fans furious over Kaepernick deal.  Nike is under fire from military veterans for using Colin Kaepernick in a new ad campaign.  Many say the sports brand is promoting unpatriotic protests against the American flag since Kaepernick has been a Nike brand ambassador since 2011.  Army veteran Kurt Schlichter, an attorney and Townhall columnist, said Kaepernick's claim that he's "just making a statement" is disingenuous because there are more effective ways for him to protest without disrespecting the flag or the national anthem.

They Destroy Everything They Touch, Volume 2.  Nike's decision to turn [Colin] Kaepernick, the National Anthem-defiling, skills-atrophying, cellar-dwelling Social Justice Warrior ex-quarterback who last played NFL football with the then 2-14 San Francisco 49ers in 2016, into its latest corporate product pitch man was announced over the Labor Day weekend, and on Tuesday [9/4/2018] when the New York Stock Exchange got its first opportunity to weigh in on it the results weren't good.  Nike's stock closed Tuesday at $79.60, though it did rise a bit in after-hours trading.  That was a pretty serious bath from the $82.20 at which the stock closed on Friday before word leaked of Kaepernick's contract — a loss of 3.16 percent of its value, or more than $3.5 billion in market capitalization.

Get woke and go broke.  The American footwear company Nike made the disastrous decision to pay Colin Kaepernick millions of dollars a year to be a spokesperson for their "Just Do It" advertising campaign.  The company's new tag line for Kaepernick is:  "Believe in something.  Even if it means sacrificing everything."  By "sacrificing everything," evidently Nike means "make millions of dollars more a year to appear in an advertising campaign than you would make as a back-up quarterback in the NFL."  Boy, has Kaepernick ever sacrificed!  According to Yahoo Sports, he gets his own branded shoe line, shirts, jerseys and specific Kaepernick apparel.  He will be paid a comparable amount to the best NFL players signed to Nike deals, millions a year.

Kaepernick Deal:  Nike May Discover To Be Woke Is No Joke.  Nike's decision to make controversial former quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th Anniversary "Just Do It" campaign marks the logical extension of politics into two places it shouldn't be:  sports and business.  Nike may regret its move.

Nike Decides to Make "Inspirational" Colin Kaepernick The Face of The Brand.  In the latest example of a corporation making a ridiculous decision to brand itself based on politics, Nike apparel has decided that Colin Kaepernick is the modern face of the brand.

Americans Launch Boycott Against Nike After Colin Kaepernick Named as Face of 30th Anniversary.  Colin Kaepernick ruined the NFL after he started the National Anthem boycott by 'taking a knee.'  He made headlines in 2016 when he wouldn't stand for the National Anthem because of cops.  NFL ratings have plummeted since Kaepernick's National Anthem boycott.  Stadiums often have rows and rows of empty seats because Americans are fed up with the politicization of football.  Now it's Nike's turn.

Colin Kaepernick to be face of Nike's 'Just Do it' campaign.  Nike has a new face for the 30th anniversary of their iconic "Just Do It" campaign:  Colin Kaepernick.  Kaepernick, who has filed a collusion suit against the NFL over his unemployment after he knelt and protested racial inequality during the anthem, unveiled the new advertisement on his Twitter.

Big & Rich Singer Promotes Nike Boycott in Response to Kaepernick Ad Campaign.  Nike announced its new campaign ad featuring controversial anthem protester Colin Kaepernick on Monday [9/3/2018], drawing support from some quarters and plenty of criticism from others.

Nike shares drop amid backlash over new Kaepernick ad.  Shares of Nike fell 3.2 percent on Tuesday [9/4/2018] as calls for a boycott of the sportswear giant gained traction on social media following its choice of Colin Kaepernick as a face for the 30th anniversary of its "Just Do It" slogan.  Former San Francisco quarterback Kaepernick, the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism, posted a black-and-white close-up of himself on social media on Monday featuring the Nike logo and "Just do it" along with the quote, "Believe in something.  Even if it means sacrificing everything."  Over 30,000 people were tweeting with the hashtag #NikeBoycott on Tuesday morning, making it among the top trending topics on Twitter.  Some posted images of themselves burning and ripping their Nike shoes and apparel.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tweets Support for Colin Kaepernick.  Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to Twitter on Monday [9/3/2018], to lend support to anthem-protesting former quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Did Nike make a huge NFL-like mistake embracing Colin Kaepernick?  Is there business logic for Nike embracing Colin Kaepernick?  I think there is, for the NFL and athletic shoe business are very different.  In the conservative blogosphere, on Fox News, and among my friends, the name of Nike has been forever damaged by the brand's embrace of Colin Kaepernick, who sparked the widespread disrespect for our flag by NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.  Pictures and videos of Nike gear burning already are proliferating among the outraged.

Kaepernick won't stand for the flag but he'll bow down to the Nike dollar?  'Believe in something, even it means sacrificing everything.'  Those are the words emblazoned across NFL star Colin Kaepernick's face in Nike's new campaign to mark 30 years of its 'Just Do It' advertising slogan.  'Sacrifice' is a big word, meaning 'to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person'.  'Everything' is an even bigger word, meaning 'all that exists'.  So to sacrifice everything is a major undertaking.

Corporate Suicide Watch, Nike Edition.  Nike has chosen the star of its 30th anniversary #JustDoIt advertising campaign:  Colin Kaepernick.  At first glance, it seems weird for an athletic shoe company to select as its corporate icon someone who is no longer an athlete, and was never a star.  At second glance, it gets weirder:  Nike apparently thinks Kaepernick has sacrificed everything, which tells you something about 21st century corporate America.  Kaepernich is a multimillionaire whose "sacrifice" consisted of kneeling during the National Anthem, wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs, and generally denouncing his country.  Which has led to a second career as a leftist spokesman.  That is not exactly a contender in the annals of Greatest Sacrifice Ever.

Kaepernick fronts Nike's 'Just Do It' ad campaign.  Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is part of a new Nike campaign to mark the 30th anniversary of the sporting equipment giant's iconic "Just Do It" slogan, reports said Monday [9/3/2018].  Kaepernick, who triggered a political firestorm after kneeling during the US national anthem in 2016 to protest racial injustice, has not played in the NFL since early 2017.

Tom Brady signals his support of Colin Kaepernick's controversial Nike ad.  [Colin] Kaepernick has not played a game of football for 11 months.  He opted out of his San Francisco 49ers contract last August after causing controversy by taking a kneel during the national anthem in a sign of protest against police brutality against African Americans.  On Monday [9/3/2018], Nike unveiled the campaign to mixed reviews.  Star athletes including Serena Williams praised the company for putting Kaepernick's message at the forefront of its advertising.  But Nike customers who opposed Kaepernick's on-the-field protests were outraged by the move.

James Woods Dumps Nike Stock in Response to Kaepernick 'Just Do It' Ad Campaign.  Veteran actor and conservative firebrand James Woods is selling all his Nike stock in response to the athletic apparel company's decision to name former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and infamous anthem protester Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new "Just Do It" campaign.  Woods on Tuesday [9/4/2018] tweeted a screenshot to his nearly 1.7 million followers of an email he sent to his portfolio manager asking all his Nike stock be sold.  "Please divest my portfolio of all Nike stock in my personal account and in the plan.  Henceforth never buy Nike stock for me again," the email read.

ESPN Goes Insane Over Tiger Woods' Trump Comments: 'He's Not Black'.  ESPN continued down their politically progressive path on Monday [8/27/2018], going fully insane over golf superstar Tiger Woods' recent comments about President Donald Trump.  "First Take" co-host Max Kellerman, fully triggered by Woods' comments, ranted about how "angry" he was about the "thoughtless statement."  And Kellerman's counterpart, Stephen A. Smith, said that Woods is "not black" and doesn't identify as black, which has upset the African-American community and explains the golf phenom's Trump comments.  Woods was asked about Trump, whom he has a personal relationship with, by a New York Times reporter on Sunday:  "I think a lot of people, especially people of color, immigrants feel threatened by him, by his policies. ... What do you say to people who might find it interesting, I guess, that you have a friendly relationship with him?"

ESPN host fumes at Tiger Woods' Donald Trump 'respect'.  ESPN's Max Kellerman said Monday on "First Take" that Tiger Woods' response to questions about President Trump made him "angry."  Woods was asked after the final round of The Northern Trust on Sunday about his relationship with Trump and urged people to respect the office of the president.  "He's the president of the United States.  You have to respect the office.  No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office," he said.  Kellerman blasted Woods' remarks, saying it was a "thoughtless statement dressed up as a thoughtful statement."

Kaepernick's Lawsuit with NFL Just Blew Up in His FACE.  Colin Kaepernick claims that the NFL colluded against him.  Cry me a river.  They certainly have a right to not hire him, particularly after his kneeling stunt.  Why should a company be forced to hire a disruptive employee?  Regardless, it appears now that Kaepernick's claims are baseless.  His claims of collusion just got a hole poked in his hot air balloon, at least according to John Elway.  Elway claims that the Broncos offered Kaepernick a deal, but he turned it down.

Beto O'Rourke says 'nothing more American' than NFL anthem protests.  Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke has jumped into the NFL national-anthem fray by defending players taking a knee during the ceremony, saying he could think of "nothing more American."  In a response going viral on social media, the Democrat seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, compared the NFL kneelers to civil-rights icons like Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders during a campaign appearance last week in Houston.

Kneeling NFL players will help Republicans in November.  If National Football League players continue their protests during the national anthem this season, it will rile some Republican voters, increasing their intensity and making it more likely that they will vote.  At a time when Democrats want their candidates to be less controversial and let dissatisfaction with President Trump carry them into office, continued protests by NFL players will force the issue back into the public spotlight and onto the campaign trail, where Democrats will mostly have to side with the protesters.  I am often frustrated that President Trump and Republicans do what their political opponents want them to do.  But in this case, it is the Democrats who are being escorted by a few athletes into a position they would rather avoid.

[A few] Eagles Players Stay in Tunnel During National Anthem.  Three members of the Philadelphia Eagles refused to take the field in protest, during the playing of the national anthem at Thursday's [8/16/2018] preseason game.  Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and cornerback De'Vante Bausby continued their protests from last season by refusing to take the field ahead of their game against the New England Patriots.  The pair took the field after the song concluded, according to NBC Sports.

ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro:  Network won't show national anthem on 'Monday Night Football'.  New ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro told reporters Friday [8/17/2018] that the network does not plan to televise the national anthem as part of its Monday Night Football broadcasts this season.  Pitaro, who was hired March 5 following the abrupt departure of John Skipper, told reporters at a media event on ESPN's campus in Bristol, Conn., that the network has not previously shown the national anthem during its Monday Night Football broadcasts and does not have plans to change — at least, not in the immediate future.  According to Axios, Pitaro also said that ESPN has informed the league of its plans "as (a) courtesy" given their partnership.  Earlier, he had told reporters that he has spent much of his young tenure at ESPN working to strengthen the company's relationship with the NFL.

The NFL Doesn't Actually Care About You, or Your Service.  Last year, when the kneeling controversy erupted like a California wildfire and the president launched a series of attacks on the NFL and Colin Kaepernick, I argued that cooler heads should prevail and a middle ground could be reached by both sides.  Like the recovering alcoholic I am, I must have been in denial, hoping like a chronic gambler that Roger Goodell would do the right thing, or even just do his job.  Obviously, I was wrong, because here we are again, my friends:  another year, another round of protests.  And all because the NFL and Roger Goodell have been subverted by the most sinister of human endeavors — politics.

Police Union Cancels Discount Ticket Program After Miami Dolphin Anthem Protests.  A union that represents police officers in Florida's Broward County is canceling its participation in a discount ticket program with the Miami Dolphins after several of the team's players refused to stand during Thursday's pre-season game rendition of the national anthem.  Despite the Broward County Police Benevolent Association's belief that the Miami Dolphins team would be requiring its players to stand, wide receivers Albert Wilson and Kenny Stills kneeled while one player, defensive end Robert Quinn, raised his fist before the team's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

NFL won't discipline kneelers as anthem protests make preseason return.  Professional football is back and so are the take-a-knee protests, but the NFL isn't planning on disciplining players who refuse to stand during the national anthem — at least for now. [...] In a statement, the NFL said it was still engaged in "constructive discussions with the NFL Players Association regarding the anthem and issues of equality and social justice that are of concern to many Americans."

NFL preseason sees kneeling, raised fists, during national anthem.  NFL players continued to protest during the national anthem on Thursday night as the league began the first full week of its 2018 preseason.  Some players held their fists in the air, while others decided to kneel, despite the controversy surrounding the action.  Wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, both of the Miami Dolphins, knelt during "The Star-Spangled Banner," ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Miami Herald reported.

Ingrates who won't stand for the anthem.  Colin Kaepernick started it back in 2016 when as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers he refused to stand for the anthem during a preseason game.  His gripe?  "Racial inequality," or so he says. [...] Yes, it started while Obama was still president.  So you can't blame Trump for this one.  But they do.  Why not?  They blame him for everything else — the news media first of all.

Top 10 Black Racists.  [#6] Colin Kaepernick:  Colin Kaepernick, who launched a high-profile protest movement within the NFL, may now be unemployed and off-the-radar for many Americans, but he's still able to generate media attention.  His anti-American activism, best exemplified by the taking of a knee during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before football games, helped to alienate fans and accelerate the NFL's downward slide that was already in progress.  Like DeRay Mckesson and Alicia Garza, Kaepernick is a supporter of convicted cop killer Assata Shakur who broke out of prison in 1979 and fled to Communist Cuba where she still resides.  Kaepernick acknowledged raising $20,000 for Chicago-based Assata's Daughters in matching donations, on top of the $25,000 he personally gave the group previously, the Washington Times reported in February.

NFL should just dump the national anthem and get on with playing football.  Eyes will be focused on watching knees right from the jump of the NFL preseason in the annual Hall of Fame game Thursday between the Chicago Bears and the Baltimore Ravens.  Television cameras will capture just who is taking a knee and who is not as the national anthem plays.  But should Francis Scott Key's ode to his country even be played before sporting contests?  Sports are entertainment.  The national anthem is not played as you enter the museum, sit down at the symphony or stroll into the movie house, which also represent forms of entertainment.

The Editor says...
The USA Today writer (of the article immediately above) is apparently unaware that the national anthem is played in movie theaters on military bases — and everyone stands at attention while it is playing.

Jerry Jones May Have Single-Handedly Blown Up the NFL's New Anthem Policy.  Jerry Jones has a history of doing what he wants.  And last week, when it came to the NFL's new policy regarding player demonstrations during the national anthem, he broke with the league yet again.  The rule, announced in May, was controversial from the beginning.  It banned players from kneeling, raising fists, or otherwise participating in on-field demonstrations during the anthem, but gave them the choice to remain in the locker room while the song played.  The NFL Players' Association, which negotiates its collective bargaining agreement with the league, objected to the rule — and they weren't the only ones.

Projection:
LeBron: Trump is using sports to divide us.  LeBron James thinks President Trump is using athletics, and athletes, to split up the country. [...] "What I've noticed over the past few months," James shared with CNN's Don Lemon during a sit-down interview on Monday [7/30/2018][,] "(Is) he's kinda used sports to kinda divide us, and that's something that I can't relate to."  Referencing Colin Kaepernick, whose kneeling protests during the pre-game national anthem launched an NFL movement, and more recently, Stephen Curry, who honored his promise of skipping a visit to Donald Trump's White House, James bemoaned a myriad of instances in which Trump has twisted peaceful displays of dissent into an indictment of a decaying American value system.

The Editor says...
President Trump didn't originate Black Lives Matter protests or inject anti-American tantrums into football games.

Vegan soccer club first in world to be certified carbon neutral by UN.  An English soccer team has become the first professional sports team in the world to be certified carbon-neutral by the United Nations.

Follow The Money:  Will NFL Owners Choose George Soros or Millions of Their Fans?  [T]he same players who are funneling $90 million from last year's "settlement"/shakedown to left-wing activists have forced the owners back to the negotiating table.  These are the team owners who saw a 10 percent drop in viewership last season, eight million fewer Super Bowl viewers this year, and advertisers threaten to leave.  From a purely business perspective, capitulating to the players is clearly a bad idea.  The fans have identified the anthem protests for what they are:  the promotion of a false narrative that America is a racist country.  And they have made themselves heard loud and clear by simply tuning out. [...] The NFL's fans are the league's financial driver and represent a broad swath of America that turns to sport for what it is — entertainment, not politics.

Jerry Jones:  Cowboys players must stand for national anthem.  Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doubled down Wednesday on insisting that his players stand for the national anthem, declaring that he wouldn't support anyone who chose to stay in the locker room.

New NFL Anthem Protests are upon us.  Football season is fast upon us and the world's most profitable sport has fans geared up and ready to go, but the national anthem protest controversy that has plagued the NFL just won't die.

Tennessee Titans' Jurrell Casey says he plans to keep protesting and will 'take my fine' in upcoming NFL season: report.  Despite a recently-imposed NFL rule regarding players and personnel behavior during the national anthem, one Tennessee Titans player reportedly says he'll "take a fine this year" and continue to "protest during the flag."  NFL defensive end Jurrell Casey intends to keep holding up his fist in protest following the conclusion of the Star Spangled Banner, like he did during the 2017 season, regardless of the fines that may come his way, he told CNN Sport while attending an event in London on Wednesday [7/18/2018].

Trump says NFL players who kneel during the anthem twice should be banned for the season.  President Donald Trump demanded on Friday that the '$40,000,000 commissioner' of the NFL suspend players for a whole season if they kneel during national anthem more than once.  In a rehash of last year's controversy, the President took to Twitter to blast NFL commissioner Roger Godell for not doing enough to stem the tide of players protesting racial inequality in America.

NFL, NFLPA freeze anthem rules amid backlash to Miami policy.  Hours after The Associated Press reported that Miami Dolphins players who protest on the field during the anthem could be suspended for up to four games under a team policy issued this week, the league and the players union issued a joint statement late Thursday night saying the two sides are talking things out.

NFLPA files grievance challenging NFL's new anthem policy, claims it 'infringes on player rights'.  The NFL Players' Association announced on Tuesday that it has filed a grievance on behalf of the players challenging the league's controversial anthem policy, which was introduced in May.  "The union's claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL's governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights," the NFLPA said in a statement.

Colin Kaepernick receives civil rights award from National Education Association.  Colin Kaepernick was among a dozen honorees who received a human and civil rights award from the National Education Association.  Kaepernick was given the NEA's President's Award to recognize his work "to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism" through the Know Your Rights Camp, a campaign that is fully funded by the footballer.  The youth camp aims "to raise awareness on higher education, self empowerment, and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various scenarios," according to its website.

Colin Kaepernick receives civil rights award from National Education Association.  Colin Kaepernick was among a dozen honorees who received a human and civil rights award from the National Education Association.  Kaepernick was given the NEA's President's Award to recognize his work "to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism" through the Know Your Rights Camp, a campaign that is fully funded by the footballer.  The youth camp aims "to raise awareness on higher education, self empowerment, and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various scenarios," according to its website.

The Ways Roger Goodell Has Politicized the NFL: 
  •   Tim Tebow was banned from wearing "John 3:16" on his eye black
  •   The NFL required the Pentagon to pay the league for military tributes
  •   The NFL made RG3 turn a "Know Jesus" t-shirt inside out
  •   The NFL pleaded with teams to consider signing Michael Sam
  •   The NFL banned a gun vendor's ad from the Super Bowl
  •   The NFL banned off-duty cops from carrying guns to games
  •   The NFL denied the Cowboys' request to honor Dallas police after a mass shooting
  •   The NFL refused a veterans group's "please stand" Super Bowl ad

Minnesota United Hosts Pride Night.  Minnesota United FC hosted Pride Night during its game against FC Dallas Friday night [6/29/2018].  The celebration came on the same day United midfielder Collin Martin announced he is gay.  Martin is the only openly gay active player in any of the five major male professional sports leagues.

Offending NFL Fans Isn't Just Bad for Owners, but Players Too.  One of the most obnoxious stories in America the past year has been the controversy over players protesting during the national anthem.  While I personally sympathize with both concerns from athletes about police brutality in minority communities, as well as the desire of most football fans to simply not have any sort of political advocacy mixed into their sports, the resulting media coverage — from both political and sports outlets — has been largely nauseating.  While the NFL offseason obviously brought discussion of the topic down to a simmer (with the exception being the occasional update on Colin Kaepernick — and now Eric Reid's — lawsuit against the league), the NFL's decision this week to change its anthem-policy has it once again at a raging boil.  Unfortunately most of these articles try to make this issue more complicated than it really is:  it's all about money.

Vikings Hold First Sports LGBTQ Summit.  The Minnesota Vikings made history on Thursday.  Vikings players, coaches and members of the LGBTQ community came together for a first of its kind inclusion summit held by an NFL team.  The LGBTQ summit and fundraising event was held at the TCO Performance Center Auditorium in Eagan.  It centered around bridging the gap between the LGBTQ community and sports

Hollywood "Celebrities", Deviants and Predators, Continue Showcasing Democrat Ideology.  When millionaire football players kneel down rather than honor our fallen soldiers and stand proud of our country, we see that.  Check the NFL TV ratings — take note.

Remembering Old Glory.  As the NFL continues to dig their knees into political Astroturf, Americans continue to tune out.  Even the most diehard fans get riled up when they witness disrespect shown toward our flag and, ultimately, to the men and women who have sacrificed dearly to preserve the very freedom that the NFL has flourished under.

How Poisonous Politics And Social Media Managed To Even Ruin Sports.  Now we've learned that not only were most of the Philadelphia Eagles not planning to go to the White House, but neither the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors were intending to go even before their championship series was over. [...] What was once just a pleasant, if pointless, afternoon of fun for the team and the White House staff has morphed into a toxic brew.

Trump cancels Eagles' White House celebration on eve of visit after fewer than 10 players planned to attend.  President Trump on Monday [6/4/2018] abruptly rescinded an invitation to host the Eagles at the White House, citing the "smaller delegation" that was planning to attend and again stoking a national debate by insisting that players "proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart."  The celebration was canceled fewer than 24 hours before the team was scheduled to visit.

Trump Cancels Eagles Reception Amid National Anthem Protests.  President Donald Trump canceled a planned Super Bowl reception for the Philadelphia Eagles Monday after many players would not attend due to his position that all players must stand for the national anthem.

Trump taunts NFL over 'escaping' to locker rooms after changing Eagles visit to a national anthem party.  President Donald Trump taunted the NFL on Tuesday by hyping up a party at the White House he decided to throw without them.  Typically, US sports teams who win a championship may be invited to the White House.  But during Trump's presidency, with his repeated criticism of the NFL and sports teams, the affair has become more complicated.  On Monday [6/4/2018], the White House released a statement saying the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles would not attend the ceremony.

Yo, Philly!  Trump says your Eagles can go take a knee somewhere else.  NASCAR has no kneeling problem.  It flaunts the flag and patriotism at every race with drivers and their families standing together outside the cars for the anthem and prayer before harnessing themselves in.  Ten days ago for a 600-mile contest at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR handed out more than 5,000 free race tickets to military and invited troops into garages to talk shop.  But a convivial championship ceremony will not be happening today with the NFL's Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at Donald Trump's White House.  Faced Monday evening with a boycott by a significant number of team members and employees, who object to Trump objections to their National Anthem protests, Trump disinvited everyone.

Report: 'Five or fewer' Eagles planned to visit White House.  The ongoing battle between Donald Trump and the NFL added another chapter when the President announced the Philadelphia Eagles' trip to the White House had been cancelled.  And it appears not many players would've showed up anyway.  According to ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr., the number of Eagles making the trip could've been counted on one hand.

Trump absolutely correct to rescind Eagles' White House invitation.  Being invited to the White House for public recognition of your achievements is an honor.  This is true regardless of who is president.  Why?  Because the president — whether you personally approve of him or not — is the representative of the American people and the White House is the people's house.  So, what happened when the Eagles were invited to the people's house for a ceremony to honor them for their Super Bowl victory?  Fewer than 10 members of the organization accepted the invitation.  Apparently all of the other Eagles had something more important to do than to condescend to accept the accolades of their fellow Americans.

Black firefighter takes heat after taking knee at police-fire football game.  A political and emotional brush fire is smoldering within a grieving Chicago Fire Department over a national anthem protest that marred a charity football game dedicated to the memory of two fallen Chicago heroes.  Camron McGarity, an African-American firefighter, kneeled while the Star Spangled Banner was being played before the CFD Blaze faced off against the Chicago Police Department's Enforcers last Saturday in the eighth annual "First Responders Bowl."  A photo of the protest clearly shows the firefighter, wearing the No. 7 jersey, kneeling on the sidelines while players on either side stood at attention dressed in bright red jerseys and matching red pants.

Athletes Can No Longer Play Nice.  An invitation from the commander-in-chief of the United States to visit the White House in celebration of your Super Bowl victory sounds like a great time, but you can't visit this particular commander-in-chief without appearing to endorse his conflict with the NFL over the national anthem or, for that matter, his conflict with anyone about anything.  A brief review of the facts of the case is in order. [...]

Disney/ABC Should Merge with Starbucks and the NFL.  Disney/ABC, Starbucks, and the NFL should merge, as they are this week's prime example of how to drive away customers while engaged in absurd CEO virtue signaling.

The NFL: It's Game Over.  The mainstream media fell all over itself announcing that [Colin] Kaepernick was the Social Justice Warrior that the world had been waiting for.  Here, at last, was a black sports icon who could start a movement.  All you had to do was open the New York Times to discover the San Francisco 49ers quarterback was really Martin Luther King Jr.  The media had finally found its Chairman Mao in Kaepernick, and its Red Guard in the NFL (of all places!) which suddenly turned itself overnight into the sports-entertainment arm of the DNC. [...] Once all the losses are totaled, the NFL's anthem outrage will go down as the most spectacularly stupid business decision that has ever been made.

The NFL controversy is about so much more than a flag or song.  What are the chances that this minority of unhappy players will forsake the opportunity for national publicity by sitting obscurely in a smelly locker room instead of making their "statement" by publicly kneeling in front of thousands of paying fans and millions more munching Doritos at home?  About the same as the Cleveland Browns winning the next Super Bowl.  The controversy, which began almost two years ago when a benched quarterback refused to stand for the anthem, is a disturbing one.  It plays off a mere game, albeit one that has supplanted baseball as the national pastime.  It's serious business though, costing the league, teams, advertisers, television networks, parking lots and sports bars countless millions in lost sales of tickets, concessions, merchandise, meals and drinks, lost viewers and considerable good will even among disaffected non-fans.

NFL Owners To Players:  Get Off Your Knees, Boy.  The idiotic "take a knee" scandal in the NFL was launched in 2016 by a mediocre quarterback named Colin Kaepernick, a mudpuppy ingrate who was the product of miscegenation and apparently had to loudly declare to the world that he's black because even he has his doubts.  It was based on the idea that racist cops are wantonly slaying young black males in the streets because they are jealous of their charm, good looks, and sexual prowess rather than the fact that it is young black males who are statistically far more likely than any other group to be shooting at them.  Last NFL season Donald Trump nuzzled his way a little further into our hearts when he said, "Get that [despicable person] off the field" when referring to the blockheads who knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner with the same sort of defiance that leads several black males to resist arrest or reach for policemen's guns during routine traffic stops.

NFL stars 'threaten to sit out games until Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are signed by new teams'.  Several NFL stars are reportedly considering not playing until Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are signed by teams.  According to columnist Shaun King, the protesting players are hoping that up to 25 percent of the league will join them in sitting out.  In 2016, Kaepernick drew worldwide attention and sparked a protest movement after he began to kneel during the national anthem to raise awareness of racial equality and police brutality.

Democrats and the media are losing the culture war.  The New York Times ran three pieces this week opposing the NFL's new policy requiring players to stand for the national anthem during games, or remain in the locker room if they won't.  The Times' liberal columnist David Leonhardt called the rule "unpatriotic" because it "reject[s] a basic American value."  (Making a statement about your special interest during a short patriotic song, you see, is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind.)  The paper's editorial board injected its favorite topic, race, writing that the NFL "capitulated to a president who relishes demonizing black athletes."  And in keeping with the Times' long tradition of publishing conservative voices so long as their opinions are weak, the paper gave space to anti-Trump writer David French to denounce "the conservative mob" for approving of the NFL's policy.  By "conservative mob," French apparently means the large majority of Americans who don't approve of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.

Liberals Put The "F" In NFL.  It's not often you get to watch a major corporation publicly try to pull out of a self-inflicted nosedive, but that's exactly what the National Football League attempted to do this week.  The last two seasons have been a time of shrinking viewership for the league that "owns a day of the week," as they saying goes, and that negatively impacts the bottom line.  So the NFL came up with a solution to what they see as the problem.  Starting this season, the NFL will fine teams with players who don't stand for the national anthem.  Whether or not those teams fine the actual players who refuse to stand is up to them, but the team will also be penalized, which could cost some teams some games.  If that isn't enough to at least give activist players pause — harming their teammates — nothing will.

The Editor says...
Sunday used to be called "The Lord's Day."  To state that the NFL now owns it is blasphemy.  Moreover, the NFL also conducts games on Mondays and Thursdays.  They don't own those days either.  Nor does your television.

NFL players, leave your agendas in the locker room.  The idea that the NFL is only implementing its new national anthem policy because of falling ratings and public pressure is exactly how businesses work.  No business exists to employ people; they exist to make as much money as possible.  Hemorrhaging fans, or customers, is the quickest path to failure, so it's smart for the NFL to do all it can to stop the swirling public relations disaster its players created.  Fining teams whose players kneel during the anthem isn't "punishing dissent," it's the people who sign the front of the players' sizable checks exerting the authority inherent in any employer/employee relationship.

In the NFL, patriotism is for sale.  On Wednesday [5/23/2018], the NFL announced a new policy of fining teams whose players decline to stand for the national anthem and empowering the teams to fine those players in turn.  This is heavy-handed and probably will prove foolish.  The pro-football establishment — not only the NFL itself but also its media partners — has done far more than Kaepernick to turn the sport into a political spectacle.  It's simply that the nationalist pageantry that is appealing in Trump country is welcome, while the Black Lives Matter-inspired displays of Kaepernick et al. are not.

Report: NFL to Fine Teams for 'Any Flag, Anthem Disrespect'.  The NFL will allow players to remain in the locker room during the national anthem.  However, if they come out and protest the flag or anthem, their teams will get fined.  That is the new policy announced in a statement by Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday [5/23/2018].

Keith Ellison boycotting NFL games over 'cowardly' kneeling ban.  Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said that he will boycott NFL games this upcoming season over the league's new policy requiring players to stand during the national anthem.  "Friends who know me, know that I love football.  But I won't be watching this NFL season because of the unfair cowardly and idiotic kneeling ban," the progressive lawmaker tweeted on Sunday, adding the hashtag "Boycott NFL."

NFL Players' Association criticizes new league policy on kneeling during national anthem.  The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) on Wednesday criticized the league for its new national anthem policy.  In a statement, the union said it would review the new policy and "challenge any aspect of it that is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement."  The union accused the league of contradicting its previous statements and of ignoring players' wishes in developing the new policy, which instructs that all team and league personnel should stand for the national anthem.

NFL is 'considering 15-yard penalties for teams who kneel during the national anthem'.  NFL club owners are considering potential 15-yard penalties for kneeling during the national anthem among ways of coping with a backlash over player protests, Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday [5/22/2018].  According to a story on the magazine's website, owners set aside three hours to talk about the anthem issue, which President Donald Trump elevated into a major controversy last year.  Ideas to handle players kneeling during the anthem included allowing home teams to decide if players should be out of the locker room during the pre-game playing of The Star-Spangled Banner or not.  If players are on the sideline, then 15-yard penalties could be imposed on teams with players who kneel during the anthem.

Trump suggests NFL players should leave the U.S. if they don't stand for the national anthem.  President Donald Trump backed an NFL rule change Wednesday that bans kneeling during the national anthem and hits violators with fines.  However, the president — who instigated the new policy with his withering rebuke of players refusing to stand during the tribute to America — said the measure doesn't go far enough.  'I don't think people should be staying in the locker rooms,' he told Fox & Friends in a pre-taped interview that aired on Thursday's [5/24/2018] program.  'You shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there.  Maybe they shouldn't be in the country.'

Jets chairman Christopher Johnson says he'll pay any anthem-related fines for Jets players.  Despite the institution of a new policy requiring players to stand during the national anthem and imposing fines for any that don't, no New York Jets players will be paying any fines.

NFL Completes Hail Mary to Beat Social-Justice Wreckers.  Though even at the height of the phenomenon just a small percentage of the players knelt, the spectacle of millionaire athletes disrespecting the country that made them rich proved so offputting to fans that television ratings tanked.  Ratings declined by 10 percent in 2017 over the previous season.  And in 2016, when the league lamely attempted to blame the presidential election, the numbers dropped by 8 percent.  While numerous factors contributed to the sharp decline in viewers, the kneelers undoubtedly wrestled the ratings down the most.

Players Considering New Forms of Protests for Revised National Anthem Policy.  Some NFL players are reportedly considering new ways to protest after NFL owners voted on a new national anthem policy Wednesday [5/23/2018], reports Sports Illustrated's Robert Klemko.  According to Klemko, some are discussing ways to skirt new rules "just to spite the NFL."  The policy removes a requirement for players to be on the field for the anthem, and gives players the option to stay in the locker room.  Teams will be fined for any personnel that "do not show proper respect for the flag and Anthem" on the sidelines.

NFL players mulling new anthem protests 'to spite' league over planned crackdown: report.  Some NFL players are reportedly planning new protests during the national anthem "just to spite the NFL" in wake of the league's new anti-kneeling policy that was announced Wednesday [5/23/2018].  The players, who weren't planning on demonstrating during the national anthem this season, said they were looking for way to "skirt" the new NFL rules, Sports Illustrated reported Thursday.  Some NFL players are reportedly planning new protests during the national anthem "just to spite the NFL" in wake of the league's new anti-kneeling policy that was announced Wednesday.

Kneeling NFL players should choose a different form of protest.  For nearly three weeks last fall, the National Football League waged war against President Trump over player protests during the national anthem.  After 19 days, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell began a slow-moving public relations train wreck of capitulation, culminating in a new rule announced Wednesday [5/23/2018] that will allow the league to fine teams for actions taken by players deemed disrespectful during playing of the anthem.  Under the policy, it is up to individual teams to decide whether they want to discipline players for protesting during playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Rep. Pete King: 'Indefensible to Kneel' for 'False Narrative' on Police Violence.  It is "indefensible" when National Football League players refuse to stand for the National Anthem, and represents a "false narrative of police bias against black men," Rep. Pete King said in a column Saturday [5/26/2018].  In the column, as in a tweet earlier in the morning, the New York Republican drew a comparison between those who kneel in protest of police violence to people who would make a Nazi salute on the football field.  In his tweet, King declared it "disgraceful" that the owner of the New York Jets, Christopher Johnson, would "pay fines for players who kneel for National Anthem.  Encouraging a movement premised on lies vs. police.  Would he support all player protests?  Would he pay fines of players giving Nazi salutes or spew racism?  It's time to say goodbye to Jets!"

Vikings to Host Daylong Summit on LGBTQ Inclusion.  The Minnesota Vikings will become the first NFL team to host a summit on LGBTQ inclusion in sports.  The Vikings announced Wednesday the summit will be held at the team's headquarters in Eagan on June 21.  A reception will be held afterward to raise money for local and national LGBTQ organizations.  The team is working to create opportunities for people in the LGBTQ community.  "We hope that this really jump-starts the conversation," Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren said.

Whatever the Left Touches it Ruins.  The left is increasingly poisoning sports.  In most football stadiums this past season, one could not attend an NFL game without being subjected to left-wing contempt for America and its flag.

Report: Seahawks Cancel Meeting with Colin Kaepernick After He Refuses to Stop Anthem Protests.  According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Seattle Seahawks canceled a visit with Colin Kaepernick after he refused to say he would stop protesting during the playing of the national anthem.  Schefter reported that the Seahawks tried to get the former NFL player to commit to ending his protests, but Kaepernick refused.

Transgender Runners Can Race Boston Marathon Under Identified Gender.  Transgender runners who qualify can take part in the Boston Marathon as their identified gender, according to Boston Marathon officials.  The issue has garnered attention following a profile in Canadian Running of three transgender women signed up for the race.  Comments to the article included reservation from readers that the elevated testosterone levels would potentially bump other women from the race, who would otherwise have qualified.

Kaepernick's "Collusion" Grievance Against The NFL Moves Forward.  If you thought we'd heard the last of noted National Anthem protester and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, think again.  The budding social justice warrior still hasn't given up on the idea that he can land a starting spot with a National Football League team simply by demanding that one is owed to him.  He filed a "grievance" against the league last year claiming that the league and the various team owners were all "colluding" against him to keep him from playing.

NFL owners finalize $90M social-justice deal without resolving anthem protests.  NFL team owners unanimously gave their final approval Monday [3/26/2018] to an unprecedented $90 million social-justice initiative but made no decisions about how to handle players refusing to stand for the national anthem.  Instead, owners are expected to continue the discussion about whether to change the game-day policy, which does not require players to stand, at the spring league meeting in May, according to a post on NFL.com citing the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.  The decision to avoid an anthem vote at the March 25-28 annual league meeting in Orlando came with the owners split on how to handle the divisive two-year-old sideline protests, which have been blamed in large part for the NFL's 9.7 percent ratings decline in the 2017 regular season.

NFL owners' social justice cash may defuse anthem protests, may not satisfy fans.  After two years of kneeling players and plummeting ratings, NFL owners are expected next week to put the finishing touches on an $89 million social justice package intended to defuse the sideline protest problem that began with Colin Kaepernick in 2016 and put the focus back on what happens on the field.  But while some activist players have indicated that it's time to move on — unsigned safety Eric Reid, for one, said Thursday that his anthem-kneeling days are over — others have said no deal.  The package's $25 million for former Obama administration figure Van Jones and his left-wing Dream Corps isn't likely to sit well with conservatives already fed up with the league's politics.

The Patriots Flew Parkland Students to D.C. Ahead of 'March for Our Lives' on Team Plane.  Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left Florida on Thursday, for the "March For Our Lives" against gun violence in Washington, DC, this weekend.  And their transportation came courtesy of the New England Patriots.  According to the Boston Globe, "On Thursday [3/22/2018], team owner Robert Kraft provided the team's official plane to fly the families of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and some of the students who were injured and survived the harrowing incident to the nation's capital for the event, according to Patriots spokesman Stacey James."

Hollywood stars, athletes driving away viewers with political activism, poll finds.  Actors and athletes increasingly using their forums for political activism are turning off viewers, according to a newly released poll.  A McLaughlin & Associates/Media Research Center survey released Wednesday [3/21/2018] found that 44 percent were less likely to watch sports and entertainment shows "because they have become too political."  In addition, 75 percent said they watch sports and entertainment to escape from politics, and "do not want to be bombarded with partisan political messages."  The poll of 1,000 likely voters comes with television ratings plummeting in the last year for high-profile sports and entertainment events.

QBs cashing in — except for the unwelcome Kaepernick.  As free agency kicked off the start of a new football season, the NFL sent a clear message to anyone paying attention:  Colin Kaepernick, you're still not wanted.  Probably not ever.  Oh, and while we're at it, it's pretty clear the owners have every intention of clamping down on any other players who tries to carry on Kaepernick's legacy.

Four NBA Teams Play 'Negro National Anthem' at Games for Black History Month.  At least four NBA teams have played the Black National Anthem before their games last month.  The Washington Wizards was the fourth NBA team to play the anthem at a game in February for Black History Month.  The white national anthem was not played this year.

The Editor says...
If there's a black national anthem, that means the blacks think they have their own nation.  That's black separatism.

Several Eagles will skip Donald Trump White House visit after winning Super Bowl.  Several Eagles players plan on skipping the traditional White House celebration after winning Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots on Sunday night.  Wide receiver Torrey Smith, defensive end Chris Long, and safety Malcolm Jenkins are among the players planing to boycott visiting President Donald J. Trump.

Confronting Leftist Lies.  Millions are outraged at the NFL.  Americans who simply tuned in to watch Sunday football games were slapped in the face by NFL players, coaches, and management politically protesting on the field against our flag, country, national anthem, and police.  And yet, NFL management had the audacity to reject an ad for the Superbowl program booklet, claiming it is too political.  The ad featured a veteran, a U.S. flag and the words, "#Please Stand."  The NFL's rejection of the ad is evidence of the NFL arrogantly supporting the American Left while dissing mainstream Americans.

'All I know is murder'.  Everything you need to know about the Super Bowl can be found in the rap hit "Dreams and Nightmares," by Meek Mill.  But which more truthfully could be named after a line in the song:  "The Murder Game" or "All I Know Is Murder."  Everything about how far professional football has fallen and how the NFL celebrates the obscene, the vulgar, the dangerous, and the foolish will be on full display as that song blares as the Eagles take the field.  This song that the Eagle players have chosen is about guns, drugs, money, bitches, and murder, over and over and over.  Just like the rest of Meek Mill songs, which also include a healthy dollop of the evils of the white man. [...] Meek Mill will not be there.  He's in the joint.

Kaepernick Raises $20K In Donations For Group Honoring Cop Killer.  There's always something new shedding light on who this guy really is, to say nothing of the celebrities who ponied up the 2-large for this group.

Kaepernick raises $20K in celebrity donations for group honoring convicted cop-killer.  Colin Kaepernick said Friday he has raised $20,000 for Assata's Daughters, named after convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur, through matching donations from his celebrity friends as p