Some members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison.
Wildfires still burning out of control in California. Some border babies still not reunited with their parents. Markets reeling from Turkey’s plummeting economy, pushed further down by Trumpian tariffs.
But thank God President Donald J. Trumpet has made us safe from kneeling NFL players….
Read MoreI tend to use this headline to write about young men who have a disproportionate rage at the world and take it out on others as mass murderers, assassins, terrorists and serial killers. I’ve also written about a number of literary works that deal with such young men – Homer’s “The Iliad,” John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” among them.
But I think it is also an appropriate title for a post about the Lambda Literary Awards, which I attended Monday night at New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts as a nominee. My book “The Penalty for Holding,” published by Less Than Three Press, the second novel in the series “The Games Men Play” was a finalist in the Best Bisexual Fiction category. (When I got the news, I had two thoughts: This must be an email for somebody else. And, were any of the characters in my book bisexual? It goes to show that the readers sometimes know more than the authors do.)
As I sat there, I had a feeling of disassociation. I didn’t know anyone …
Read MoreDo you think it was the premature commemorative coin, in which “L’il Kim” Jong-un is portrayed with two chins and President Donald J. Trumpet with only one? (Which is laughable. Melania could do a step workout on her husband’s triple chins.)
The much-“Trump”eted summit between the two narcissists – which Donnie Two Scoops suddenly called off after Kim essentially pulled out – may be on again for June 12 in Singapore. Or not. We don’t know. Because that’s the way Trumpet rolls.
He sent Kim a letter that set new standards for passive aggression in what can only be described as a cross between a threatening lawsuit and an insecure society hostess’ thank you note…
Read MoreIt’s the season in which we give thanks for our blessings as a nation and as individuals. But that’s not what prevails in certain quarters.
Here we must begin at the top. Usually, American presidents use the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to express how grateful we all are. Instead, El Presidente Trumpet, issuing a decree from his cell phone at the Winter White House (Mar a Lago) in Florida, is using the holiday to complain about how ungrateful certain people are toward him. Namely LaVar Ball, father of LiAngelo Ball, the UCLA basketball player picked up for shoplifting in China. ...
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Kudos to Colin Kaepernick, who has been named GQ magazine’s “Citizen of the Year.” He’s a reminder, though, that the path to activism and humanitarianism isn’t always paved with glory. I’m sure he’d rather have a job in the NFL. I’m sure he’d rather not be vilified.
But we don’t always get to choose our circumstances. Sometimes they are chosen for us. What matters is how we react to them. And what we do with them. ...
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On Tuesday, the NFL owners and representative players will meet to discuss the National Anthem protest that has been a driving issue this season – this as protest initiator and former San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL, saying the 32 owners colluded to keep him out of the league because of his activism.
A bit of background: “The Star-Spangled Banner” has been played before NFL games since at least 2009 at the behest of the U.S. Department of Defense, ostensibly to bolster recruiting. The NFL rulebook says that teams must be suited up and on the field before the Anthem begins, standing facing the flag, with their helmets in their left hands and their right hands over their hearts. In the third preseason game of 2016, a reporter noted Kaepernick sitting through the Anthem to protest police brutality against people of color.
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A new development in the continuing saga that is the Trumping of some NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality against people of color: Vice President Mike Pence left the Indianapolis Colts-San Francisco 49ers game after several Niners – former teammates of protest initiator and onetime quarterback Colin Kaepernick – took a knee during the Anthem.
"I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem," Pence wrote on Twitter.
But he and @POTUS must’ve known that there would be kneeling players, particularly on the Niners – who, along with the rest of California, are to the resistance of @POTUS what Boston was to the American Revolution. ...
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