The ability of people to get offended by shit that doesn’t impact their lives in any way is amazing:
Furious San Francisco 49ers fans are burning Colin Kaepernick jerseys after he refused to stand for the national anthem as part of a racial protest.
One fan even played The Star-Spangled Banner as he set light to the Number 7 shirt, watching with his hand on his chest as it was reduced to ash.
Another, who uploaded a video to Instagram under the handle Nate3914, called the $19million-per-year athlete an ‘ignorant son of a b****.’
He added: ‘People die every single day defending that flag you refuse to stand for and I won’t stand for that.’
‘This jersey was the worst $50 investment I have ever had … you should never play in the NFL again, move to Canada.’
Thousands of football fans also took to Twitter in order to shout down Kaepernick’s protests, accusing him of being unpatriotic, spoiled, and childish.
First things first- “WHO THE FUCK CARES?”
Second, there was already reason enough to burn Kaepernick jerseys before the other day:
I’m not even going to get into whether or not his statement was right or appropriate, because whop fucking cares?
People don’t die every day defending our freedoms. The vast majority of our military exploits since World War II have been basically military adventurism and over-reactions, and/or attacking the wrong damned country. Our actual constitutional freedoms, with the exception of the 2nd amendment, have been under assault by lawmakers in the defense of the failed war on drugs and protecting Hollywood and software developers, but no foreign agent has been attacking them.
Soldiers and police do die every day defending the law and fighting the war on terror, but that hasn’t defended your freedoms. That’s kept you safe, maybe. The War on Terror itself has been used repeatedly to attack your actual Constitutional freedoms.
So if you want to thank someone for defending your freedoms, along with soldiers and police, thank the ALCU, the SPLC, the Innocence Project, and other folks who are waging a day to day unheralded battle to defend your freedoms.
And if soldiers were dying every day to defend your freedoms, they would be defending Kaepernick’s right to be a dickhead and not stand during the national anthem, for BLM to protest police, and for people and police union’s to say all live matters, and basically everything that someone says or does that pisses you off.
Because freedom means letting people do their own thing, and not sheltering you from things and get hurt feelings from things that offend you. And you know what? If the NFL and the 49ers want to do whatever they can to get rid of Kaepernick, so long as they honor their contractual obligations, fine.
That’s how things work when you are an adult.
max
So if you want to thank someone for defending your freedoms, along with soldiers and police, thank the ALCU, the SPLC, the Innocence Project, and other folks who are waging a day to day unheralded battle to defend your freedoms.
And if soldiers were dying every day to defend your freedoms, they would be defending Kaepernick’s right to be a dickhead and not stand during the national anthem, for BLM to protest police, and for people and police union’s to say all live matters, and basically everything that someone says or does that pisses you off.
Amen. Righteous rant, Cole.
Nitpick: First things first- “WHO THE FUCK CARES?”
‘Who fucking died and made you God?’ is probably more appropriate.
max
[‘I wonder how they’d react if he was a Jehovah’s Witness? Although I can’t think of any Witnesses that play in the NFL.’]
schrodinger's cat
Who cares? Obviously you do. Enough to write a bloggy screed about it.
p.a.
So much for those unamerikan san francisco values.
Major Major Major Major
@p.a.: You can have my unAmerican San Francisco values when you pry them from my cold, dead hands, with my laptop and my gay marriage.
redshirt
Dumb ass 49ers fans should have burned their jerseys last year.
Bobby D
I’m laughing, because I laugh at any GROWN ASS MAN that buys and wears a pro sports team jersey in public, and double for one that has their little “hero’s” name on the back.
Framed on display in the garage, pub, or rec room. Ok. Worn, un-ironically?LMFAO.
enplaned
Main reason to think Kaepernick made a mistake is that the reaction was predictable, so to the extent Kaepernick actually wanted to make a difference, that chance has largely been lost. Which suggests that he might have been more successful making an impact had he taken a different tack.
Viva BrisVegas
Presumably these same jersey burners are among those convinced by Trump that America has gone to shit and are willing to say so at every opportunity.
Hal
What’s the point in fighting and dieing for a right no one is allowed to exercise?
ItAintEazy
I can honestly think of better hills for Kaepernick to die on, but he’s doing us a service exposing these shitheads who get offended.
Emma
@enplaned: When was the last time you were so morally outraged that you may have blown a 19-million dollar paycheck?
RepubAnon
Funny how the folks screaming loudest about “political correctness” are the first to demand that people follow the right wing’s rules for political speech.
Baud
I wonder what people are going to do if he has a good year.
M. Bouffant
What is this, daily deaths playing “capture the flag”?
So damned tired of the shallow-to-empty symbolism these crypto-fascist cretins indulge in.
OH NOES, TRAITOR OBUMMER WASN’T WEARING A FLAG PIN!1!
redshirt
@Baud: It’s unlikely.
Baud
@redshirt: Whew.
PsiFighter37
Anyone stupid enough to spend money on overpriced sports gear – and then burn said sports gear when said person does something that they don’t like – isn’t worth even trying to reach out to. These are probably folks who can’t afford to effectively be lighting $200 on fire.
That said, I did buy a MJ jersey back in the 1990s that I still have, and I got a Mariano Rivera jersey (42, without the name on the back) before he retired. So maybe I’m the stupid one.
PhoenixRising
@enplaned: oh, I think he’s made an impact.
More to the point, I’m not really in a position to second guess what the last straw was for Kap. And he has a couple of unusual biographic details–mixed race, adopted as a newborn by a white family who raised him like their other [white] children, white bio mom who wants to tell everyone in the English speaking world his private business re his black roots–that make this very complicated. I’d love to hear more from him about why now…
Lizzy L
Great rant, John. And yeah — (ex-49er fan here) — the 49er fans objecting to Kap’s refusal to stand are clueless a**holes.
Anoniminous
I feel REALLY DEEPLY about this so I vow to eat no boiled cucumbers until Kaepernick stands for the national anthem and pledges allegiance to the United States giving the original salute.
Someone has to make a stand.
RepubAnon
@Baud: Kaepernick have a good year? No danger of that.
hope
Why in the world is the national anthem played before sporting events? Last time I was at the theater, it wasn’t played. This is stupid
redshirt
This is why I will only own scandal proof jerseys. Like Trot Nixon.
And BRUSCHI!!!!!!!!
redshirt
@hope: Just wait. And they’ll do America The Beautiful during the intermission.
shortribs
> People die every single day defending that flag you refuse to stand for and I won’t stand for that.
So a sit-down protest?
gene108
Excellent rant John. (((Applause)))
Original Lee
And of course, many of these people so very very offended by improper national anthem behavior are the exact same people who think this makes sense.
Found this in my FB feed, posted by a retired Navy officer who is currently a minister of a small church. I’m seriously thinking of blocking him until after the election.
ding
@Emma: Kaepernick’s 2016 base salary (11.9 million) is fully guaranteed along with preseason incentives
The Ancient Randonneur
@Bobby D: This.
Maybe the should go to an NFL game to see how many 12 sandwich eating drunken slobs are sitting, laughing, and generally being jerks during the National Anthem. Kaep was making a political, and good on him! The fuckstains in the crowd are boorish unaccomplished nobodies.
PsiFighter37
@ding: What incentives are there for the preseason? Not get injured?
germy
Reminds me of all the Beatle records being stomped on and burned after John’s (blown out of proportion) Jesus remarks.
Trentrunner
This will filter up to the presidential race in the next 48 hours.
What will Trump and Clinton say?
Anoniminous
Is this one of the items on the Manocide Vagenda?
Asking for a friend.
Trentrunner
@germy: This is different. Kap was not “misunderstood”; he means it, and it’s about race, sports, military, and “patriotism” in one big incendiary cocktail.
germy
@Trentrunner: Well, Lennon wasn’t misunderstood either. He meant what he said. And he had a right to say it, and his statement was correct. And it was blown out of proportion, and I believe it contributed to his demise (his shooter was a young Christian folksinger).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: It was really Ruttles albums, so it’s OK.
ETA Trivia: A sitting US Senator was in the Ruttles film “All You Need is Cash”.
germy
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Cheese and Onions.
hovercraft
@enplaned:
Since it comes on the heels of the Gabby Douglas hates America because she didn’t put her hand over her heart during the Star Spangled Banner nonsense, I suspect he knew exactly what he was doing. Gabby didn’t mean anything by that, while he meant to make a statement. The idiots are going to use this as an excuse to attack him, but the racism in many of the responses is telling.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: Ah, from the “Yellow Submarine Sandwich”.
The Ancient Randonneur
Damn shame he didn’t go all John Carlos / Tommy Smith on them.
chopper
oh, so it’s the Italians’ fault.
Chris
THIS.
I will add to that the other point that soldiers, no matter what the context is, don’t primarily “defend freedom.” Soldiers follow orders. Order them to take part in a war that results in the end of slavery in America, and they’ll do it. Order them to take part in a war of ethnic cleansing against the native populations in America, and they’ll do that too. Same thing overseas. Order them to help overthrow fascist regimes in Europe, and they’ll do it. Order them to defend fascist regimes in Central America from, basically, their own people (admittedly this was mostly instruction, supply, training and the like rather than war), and they’ll do that too.
Which sounds like a criticism, but it really isn’t – this is basically what a professional military is supposed to do, and a military that picks and chooses which orders to follow (whether it’s framed as “does this Defend Freedom” or something else) is on a very short road to the world of periodic military coups that’s plagued so many countries throughout history and, in some cases, continue to do so today. It’s the least bad system around. None of this makes soldiers bad guys, nor does it take away from the fact that they have one of the hardest jobs in creation.
But Christ almighty, am I sick of hearing “we/they died for your freedoms!”
rikyrah
This is insane!!!
………………………………
Soaring insulin prices have diabetics feeling the pain
August 25, 2016, 6:00 AM
Insulin is fast becoming a medication that only the well-insured or well-heeled diabetic can afford.
With the price of insulin more than tripling in a decade, some diabetics are having to make tough choices about how to pay for the medication. In some cases, diabetics are cutting back or even going without the drug. Many of the 26 million Americans with diabetes must use insulin daily to treat the disease, or else risk illnesses such as kidney failure and disabilities such as blindness.
While American diabetics may have faced monthly costs of $100 to $200 several years ago, some are now grappling with costs of $400 to $500 per month.
raven
At the Illinois-Ohio State game in 1973 I wouldn’t stand up for the anthem. A couple of seats down was Al Kustock, former Illini lineman and notorious wild man. He told me to stand up and I didn’t. It passed, he’s now in prison for killing his wife.
hovercraft
@germy:
And the idiots burning Dixie Chicks CD’s. Perhaps someone should inform these morons that the musician/athlete still gets paid. Nah let them think they are punishing them.
Baud
@raven: You showed him!
Chris
@M. Bouffant:
I’m fairly convinced that the entire purpose of patriotic ritual is precisely to allow people like this to share scandalized gossip about who is and isn’t Behaving Properly.
Jeffro
@hope:
More importantly…why was it played before each of the GOP debates? Oh wait…nevermind…
People are welcome to stand or not for the anthem & burn jerseys or not in response, which is a lot more than many other countries can say. I’ve never thought that things like sitting for the anthem or burning an American flag are helpful, not because I fear the blowback but because it’s not very specific about what the protest is about…and being specific usually means there is going to be a better way to engage people about that issue than doing something so often broadly interpreted as ‘I hate America’.
In other words, I prefer to pin the opposition down on the specifics of what they’re doing wrong, and not let a horde of mouth-breathers obscure the issue with knee-jerk demonstrations of faux patriotism.
p.a.
@hope: last time i heard the anthem played before a movie it was at a drive in that only showed pornos!
Felonius Monk
This is what happens when you spend too many Sunday afternoons on the couch in front of the TV, drinking beer and
watching NFL footballmasturbating .Baud
@Jeffro: The anthem was played before the Dem debates too.
The Ancient Randonneur
@raven: Don’t you love the self righteous dickheads who never served anything but a personal agenda. To these guys love of country is waving a flag and standing for the Anthem. Almost to a man they are cowards.
RSA
@chopper:
Fox News alert: Typo exposes subliminal anti-white racism.
Chris
@enplaned:
That’s true, but I’m not sure the question should be phrased in terms of “what’s the maximum impact that could be made here.” He’s not an activist or running for office. I see this as a dude who for whatever reason decided that he’d had enough, and vented about it in public. Since most of the stuff he’s venting at is spot on, I’m good with it.
Does it offend the professionally patriotic? Who gives a shit.
NotoriousJRT
@germy:
Don’t forget the vilification of the Dixie Chicks for the comments by Natalie Maines. The stoopid continues to burn.
Baud
@RSA: The Italians are white now? What a world.
Felonius Monk
Because it is the one song that they don’t have to pay royalties to use.
Michael Bersin
Heh. Ah, yes. Years ago, right after the controversy, we went to the local anti-union [sigh, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do] national chain mega store to buy a Dixie Chicks CD (one we didn’t already own). At the checkout the register clerk cheerily said, “Oh, are you going to burn it?” I returned a look that I thought said, “We can’t possibly look that stupid to you, can we?” My spouse politely replied, “We agree with them.” The clerk mumbled something, bagged our purchase, and handed it to us.
At the time we wondered how many morons bought Dixie Chicks CDs at that store (adding to their sales numbers and royalty bottom line), expressing their intent to burn their purchase to checkout clerks as they paid for it.
All these years later experience has given my an idea of the proportion of the population in this country who would consider buying and burning a CD a productive way of punishing the artists. The floor is 27%. The maximum is whatever percentage votes for Trump in the general election.
Major Major Major Major
@Felonius Monk: They should take a page from Republican campaign events and just play whatever damn song they want.
p.a.
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve never been able to straighten out the differences (if any) between SF values and Hollywood values in the wingnut smearatorium. Maybe Hwood implies Jewish more, and SF gay more (pretty obvious on that count.)
Mary G
@rikyrah: It’s disgusting. Greed for profit and higher CEO salaries over people’s health and lives. I hope it’s going to backfi
Amir Khalid
@p.a.:
In Malaysia, the national anthem is played before the main feature in cinemas only from mid-August to mid-September — basically the run-up to Merdeka (independence) Day on August 31, and then to Malaysia Day on September 16 (the anniversary of Sabah and Sarawak joining the Federation in 1963, which for some reason is not a holiday in Peninsular Malaysia).
Baud
@Michael Bersin: “I’m going to play it over and over until I’m sick of their songs. That’ll show em.”
Pogonip
Cole, this rant is completely irrelevant to my life and I find it highly offensive. If Walter were here he’d rate it triple-poop worthy.
I got a kick out of Walter pooping 3 times before he left. The magic number!
Emma
@ding: And that makes his actions less admirable?
Jeffro
@Baud:
Ugh, really??
But…but I liked my moral high horse…can I borrow Obama’s time machine, go back, and make them unplay the anthem at the Dem debates?
p.a.
@Baud: IT’S TRUE! Cops never stop me except when they catch me speeding. And they are invariably polite. Of course, I don’t sport a pencil thin moustache or wear black suits w black shirt and white tie.
Major Major Major Major
@p.a.: And what are New York values, anyway? Even more Jewish?
redshirt
Apropos of nothing, take a moment to tell the people you love that you love them and that they know it. You might not get the chance.
dexwood
Are the same people who demonstrate ugly and stupid towards those who they think show disrespect for the anthem the same people who dislike the anthem, who think it’s too hard, who want to replace it with America the Beautiful?
Suzanne
Damn skippy. Every military exploit on my lifetime has been to protect people in other countries (which I generally think is a good thing), or has made me less safe. This is why I hate the “fights for your freedom blar blar”. We should be honest about when we are protecting the rights of others and when we are being self-interested.
p.a.
@Amir Khalid: Additions to a nation dilute the power of the already-existing parts. We here in the Original 13 ™ don’t celebrate the addition of the interlopers. Only we get stripes, you frakers.
Lizzy L
@rikyrah: Yes, it is. Breaking news, Big Pharma sucks and they’re only in it for the money. Film at 11.
Don’t get me wrong — I loathe these capitalist bastards. I just posted this very article on my FB page, with a polite suggestion that folks who work for Big Pharma should consider doing something else, because they are cooperating with evil. Damned if I know what to do about it, though, except spread the word, and it makes me crazy.
p.a.
@Major Major Major Major: wholesale prices. *ducks*
redshirt
@Suzanne: “Fights for the Empire” is a far more honest evaluation of American military action over the past 50 years.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Bobby D: I don’t buy pro sports team jerseys, but I do have a collection of Gopher women’s hockey jerseys. I can’t buy them personalized; I have to buy generic Minnesota jerseys and take them to an embroidery shop. However, I’ve talked with all of the players whose jerseys I have, and almost kind of know them, if you squint just right.
And there was the entertainment value of last year’s trip to Madison, when I wore my Sophie Skarzynski jersey. I sat down and the people around me started laughing and thanking me. It turned out that, by accident, I’d sat down right in the middle of her extended family, up from Chicago for the game.
Suzanne
@Major Major Major Major: New York values are equally gay, even more Jewish, with equal parts black and Latino. And let us not forget FILTHY IMMIGRANTS.
They hate New York because of its universities, parks, museums, cultural amenities, Ellis Island, and generalized attitude that different kinds of people can all live together in close quarters in relative harmony.
lamh36
@Emma: it’s the American way isn’t…everyone wants to be rich, but if/when you become rich you lose all right to complain about anything apparently.
This argument about Kaep having a money meaning he can NEVER complain about injustice against others…
Or because he’s not having the best year professionally, that he should just shut up and play, doesn’t sit well with me.
and don’t get me started on this idea that some folks have that cause Kaep was adopted and raised by white parents that somehow that means he should shut up about folks in underprivileged areas? Or because he’s half white that he has no right to even talk about the inequalities between Black and White folks..
Funny thing about being rich…unless you got around looking that way i.e. bodyguards, flashy clothes, paparazzi following you where you go…most folk would likely not even know who you are.
I mean I’m here in NOLA, all kinds of celebs come here and even live here…wouldn’t know many of them from adam except when you see them surrounded by excess
So yeah, you can be rich and Black and STILL be profiled…hello, just last month remember the story about Dr Dre al most getting arrested in front of his own darn house?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Major Major Major Major: New York values are San Francisco values with more profanity.
M. Bouffant
Stand up or die!!
p.a.
@lamh36: Hell even that Black Repub Sen (SC) called bullshit on ‘all lives matter’ and Fox bs when he recounted how many times he’s been stopped.
Chris
@lamh36:
The absurdity of that reaches a new high when you remember that these are the same people who unironically compare OWS protests to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
Svensker
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Fantastic.
lamh36
And on the subject of Keap just mad or trying to get attention cause he likely to get benched or let go cause he’s not playing so well.
Who knows, but could also be that the dude spent alot of time off the field coming to the realization that he’s likely not long for the football life and began to start thinking about life afterwards and about how other like him may live or not lived and he decided, to go out in a blaze of glory if not on the field, but then at least using his visibility to make a statement he wasn’t likely to have been able to once his star had fallen and he was out the lineup.
It was just what bout 2 months ago some of same folks that lauded Ali were praising him in death when it was just as likely if not for his illness that silenced him, they’d likely still be cursing his name.
Who knows…maybe Kaep was sitting at home, thinking about his life and the lives of his fellow players, family, friends, watching countless news programs about dead and dying folks killed under the authority and eyes of local law enforcement and their agencies…and was watching alot things like maybe this interview that Ali gave about what he thought of other athletes that were silent and maybe he figured he had enough…
@BellicoseGarvey
Muhammad Ali on other athletes:
Disrespecting the soldiers is a strawman argument. Just another way to not have to discuss the focus of his protest. The strawman is much easier to defend and be outraged over as opposed to the real context behind which he said he was protesting.
Browser
@The Ancient Randonneur: fun fact: Kaepernick spoke with Harry Edwards, who’s a 49ers consultant and friend of Chip Kelly, before today’s practice.
Major Major Major Major
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: That makes sense.
Ken
@raven: thankfully he didn’t blame you for Illini getting their asses kicked ;)
Ruckus
@Chris:
Not just who is behaving properly but also who is thinking properly.
Will you follow orders without question? Will you support your government no matter what they do? Not sure if it’s the end result or not but I think Trump or his kind is one most likely outcome of total obedience in a democracy.
Matt McIrvin
Our freedoms are far too valuable for them to ever be used.
piratedan
when it comes to “how do veterans feel” I always enjoy what JC has to say and also check out Jim Wright of the venerable Stonekettle Station and as another voice of sanity in the wilderness, I’ll link to what he has to say about “this affair”
https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/1084172264951509“
Tom Shipley
One of the things that makes America a great nation is that we don’t have to honor the flag. We can sit, stand, turn out back, sing “I’m Henry the Eighth” or play cribbage during the singing of the National Anthem if we so choose.
Of course people are free to rant on twitter and burn jersey’s in response, but at least Kaepernick (#1 on the current list of most carefully spelled names) was thoughtful in his actions and wasn’t driven by knee-jerk patriotism/racism.
WaterGirl
@piratedan: There’s a problem with your URL. Fixed.
Edit: either I have lost my mind or you fixed the URL after posting.
redshirt
@lamh36: As the sports radio guys just said, even the most successful black man or woman getting pulled over by the police is just another black man or woman getting pulled over by the police in America. Money or success means nothing in that regard.
piratedan
@WaterGirl: nope, I realized I hosed it and came in afterwards to clean it up… TY for having my back WG!
Chris
@lamh36:
It pisses me off double because they are the fucking first to disrespect any soldier who doesn’t fit their perfect mold. John Kerry. Max Cleland. John McCain. The Khans. Heck, the entire “spitting on the troops!” thing is right wingers displacing the behavior of their own assholes in the VFW and American Legion onto the hippies.
WaterGirl
@piratedan: Any day when I get confirmation that I haven’t lost my mind is a good day!
BR
OT: Under Pence, state gave incentives to companies that offshored jobs:
JanieM
@lamh36: Let’s not forget Henry Louis Gates while we’re at it.
germy
EBT
Let’s clarify one thing. No one dies for a flag.
germy
@lamh36:
Which is why I disagree with those who say “it isn’t race, it’s poverty!” Because when Oprah can be followed around a store and Al Roker can’t get a cab, it’s about race.
rawhide rawlins
This flag thing. Maybe flags cause a lot of trouble. Let’s get rid of flags altogether, folks might get along better.
Aleta
Speaking of white guys. My partner has suddenly taken to Norwegian slow TV.
WaterGirl
@germy: Is that for real?
WaterGirl
@JanieM: Didn’t I just read about some guy who called the cops about an intruder and the cops came and shot the home-owner in the stomach? I’m pretty sure that guy was not white.
Iowa Old Lady
@Aleta: I just googled “slow tv.” So it’s just ordinary stuff in real time? What’s he watching? And even more, what’s the point?
lamh36
@germy: Right…Oprah without all the makeup and no entourage looks like some random poor Black person trying to get into Hermes to buy a $1000 bag…i.e. NOT WANTED.
wmd
For some reason when I saw the video of the burning jersey I thought of burning crosses. Help me out, why did I associate the two?
Major Major Major Major
@wmd: Gosh, I couldn’t begin to guess.
Aleta
@Iowa Old Lady: First, a train trip with a lot of tunnels going up a fiord. The length of every tunnel is announced as well as the stations and the offerings at the snack car. Now a six day boat trip up a fiord. There is probably a snack bar recording playing on this one too.
ETA He says there is also one about sheep that are living in a meadow and then shorn and then the wool is knitted.
burnspbesq
@Baud:
If he has a good year, this never happened. Fandom and hypocrisy are cousins.
amk
LOLGOP @LOLGOP
Iowa Old Lady
@Aleta: What’s for snacks?
Mike in NC
@BR: Hey, Pence needs to worry about the important issues, like funerals for miscarried fetuses.
Aleta
@Iowa Old Lady: beer and wine
gex
Even supposing one grants the idiots the fact that soldiers sacrifice for our freedoms, if one does not have the freedom to hold and voice an opinion, then I’m afraid our soldiers have been sacrificing themselves for no goddamn reason.
Steeplejack (phone)
@wmd:
Because you’re a racist, man!
M. Bouffant
@wmd: The National Anthem?
Keith G
@raven: Well I hope you stood up for The Buckeye Battle Cry.
JanieM
@WaterGirl: I hadn’t seen that one, but lo and behold.
Keith G
@hope:
It’s marketing. It started in MLB, Wrigley Field, 1919. Grew from there.
magurakurin
@EBT:
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Yep. In front of his OWN DAMN HOUSE ???
cmorenc
@John Cole:
This applies even to Donald Trump being a flaming asshole. As it should.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: with an ID that showed he lived there!!!!
cmorenc
@gex:
The interests of Halliburton and Defense Contractors are definitely reasons our soldiers have been put in harm’s way at possible sacrifice. Extremely bad reasons, but reasons nonetheless.
hueyplong
@Browser: As you probably know, Harry Edwards has been a consultant to the 49ers and/or their players since back in the Bill Walsh days.
I’m kind of sorry Kaepernick did this because of the very predictable reaction. This probably goes triple for someone in the NFL, as opposed to other sports. Kaepernick already had problems on the field. It wouldn’t be shocking to find that RWNJ NFL fans had lit him up in social media during his subpar play last year and after he asked to be traded during the offseason. The Trump types no doubt enjoy showering with love AA guys who were raised by white surrogate parents.
frosty
@hope:
So we can holler “O!” in Baltimore. SATSQ.
Omnes Omnibus
I cannot stand Kaepernick, the player. That said, good for him for taking a stand about something he thinks is important.* He had to know he would take shit for it and he did it anyway. I think more of him as a person for doing this.
*The fact that I agree that the issue is important is irrelevant.
germy
@WaterGirl:
Trump will release medical records if Hillary will
lamh36
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: He’s also doubled down since the initial comments.
Good for Kaep.
Kaep at his prime was scary awesome. But that only lasted 2 years. Since then…. meh.
Adam L Silverman
@enplaned: Actually this is the third game in a row he’s done this. No one seems to have noticed and/or cared the first two times.
Adam L Silverman
@Hal: New In Box (NIB). The minute you take them out and use them they loose all their collectible and resale value.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I’m sure someone is working on an app for that. Most likely one of your neighbors.
Adam L Silverman
@hope: Here;s an excerpt. The entire history is at the link below:
http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/6957582/the-history-national-anthem-sports-espn-magazine
Omnes Omnibus
@enplaned:
Did Tommy Smith and John Carlos also make a mistake?
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: Did you read the story about the preppers in PNW in Washpost, this morning.
WaterGirl
@germy: Trying to call her bluff? Even more likely, whatever she releases will not be enough for Trump, so he won’t release his. Hope Hillary’s campaign can come up with a clever solution to that dilemma.
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: right someone I know pointed it out that this wasn’t the first time he’s done it.
So he wasn’t even making a show of himself…he just silently did what he did for past 3 games and folks finally noticed and of course shitstorm
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: She should just say that she already has – because it is true.
Adam L Silverman
@p.a.: Porn on the 4th of July? The Revolutionary Whore for Independence? 1600 Pornsylvania Avenue?
I’m guessing only all American, patriotic porn.
amk
@WaterGirl: She should call his bluff saying I already did, unlike you, donnie dick.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Fair enough. I’m just thinking that for Trump to say that, he must feel that she hasn’t released hers, and I have seen enough of his game and the media’s game to think that won’t be considered enough and Trump will get away with only that bullshit letter from his “doctor”.
edit: I should change “must feel” to “likely feels” – since I hate when people act like they can read someone else’s mind and KNOW the motivation behind someone else’s actions.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: I take it the funeral was today? How you holding up?
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: None of these games count.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Do Tread On Me*
*Not very well known BDSM flick – decent production values, so I have heard.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: wallstreet whores?
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Sad. You know that one person that EVERYONE loves? Yeah, that was her.
amk
@Omnes Omnibus: Ha.
Joel
Football fans are just the biggest assholes. It’s not context-dependent, either.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: I resemble some of that remark.
Darkrose
@Bobby D: Laugh away at me and my wife. We each have enough Giants jerseys to wear a different one for a four game series, because it’s fun and they make good gifts.
Darkrose
@redshirt: Niners fans should be burning effigies of Jed York, who’s done far more damage to that franchise than Kap could dream of.
Lizzy L
@WaterGirl: She can always say that she’ll release medical records when he releases his tax returns.
redshirt
@Joel: Tailgate during one of their games. You’ll learn new levels of disgust.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: No I did not. What did they do?
Omnes Omnibus
@Joel: Thanks, we think you are a very nice guy as well. Just off hand, when is the last time you rescued a dog you found in a house you just bought like some rabid Steelers fan recently did?
redshirt
@Darkrose: This is what I’m saying. Perhaps the worst ownership in the league though that’s a lively debate so I won’t declare it.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: I believe you’re looking for this:
http://nypost.com/2015/01/15/wall-street-intern-quits-to-become-a-porn-star/
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: I’m sure you all did right by her today.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Is that the one that comes with the leather hood?
amk
@Adam L Silverman: More honest work. Better asset management.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I really wouldn’t know. Wouldn’t that be like asking re: standard porn: Is that the one that comes with the women with breast implants?
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: I doubt it, but I appreciate the sentiment.
Keith P.
Things I hate – trying to actually watch political news on TV, and the cable news stations are all running documentary programming. Chilean miners, the Dave Laut murder (again)…I really want to just watch some election babble.
And I’m doubly hate that I’m watching all this on MS Edge. POS browser (crashes too damn much)
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: Been gone for a few days. I assume condolences are in order. You have mine.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: There was a famous adult vid from the 80s that parodied the Gordon Gekko excess of Wall Street. Got written up in quite a few mainstream papers. Wanda Whips Wall Street. Here’s the AV Club’s article on it:
http://www.avclub.com/article/istocks-blondesi-1984-47689
gwangung
@lamh36: Thabo Sefolosha and James Blake would agree with Mr. Kaepernick
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Dood, don’t
tread oncorrupt me.redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks. I sincerely appreciate it.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: Don’t play the faux-innocent with us. That’s my gig.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: Apparently preppers are buying real estate in PNW, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, calling it Redoubt, stockpiling ammunition and food, living off the grid.
Link
p.a.
@Adam L Silverman: The Autobiography of a Flea is the one flick that I actually remember. Didn’t know its history in Victoriana until just now:
long time ago
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Please, you are no innocent O2.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: May I ask what happened or would it be piling on to things you’ve already discussed ad nauseam?
amk
@Omnes Omnibus: screw copyrights.
another amurkan porn.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: I said faux.
Uncle Cosmo
@frosty: Fuckin’ A, hon!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I was paraphrasing a line from Dangerfield’s Back to School.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxAVebvweDI
:28 to :55
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
She sure likes those double entendres. Just saying.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: Thanks. I have heard about this though.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I stand by my response. :P
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: Everybody likes double entendres.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Last time I was in a British cinema, they did it.
p.a.
@Adam L Silverman: I hear the actors get paid more for that.
I’m here all week, don’t forget to tip your waiter!
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: Its okay to be punny if you are funny!
Emma
@lamh36: I was responding to the “not the best way to go about it” comment. It really irritates me when we decide that “I wouldn’t have done it that way” translates into “he didn’t do it right.” Money is a side issue, for the reasons you detailed.
catclub
@Lizzy L: Although she should say she will release medical records when he releases tax forms AND medical records.
ETA: ten years of tax forms.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I doubt that you could pass as a faux innocent, wouldn’t be credible.
catclub
@efgoldman: All I would guess is that SF values are the least jewish of the unpopular liberal values locations. But otherwise the most gay friendly.
p.a.
@efgoldman: Don’t worry, they hate us too. It’s just a spin of the Wheel of Misfortune to see which target this ratings period.
Omnes Omnibus
@Emma: He also put a bunch of endorsement deals at risk. Will he be rich if his career ends now with no more football or endorsements? Probably.
Did he put millions of dollars of future income at risk by doing this? Yes. How many people are willing to do that?
Uncle Cosmo
@redshirt: I gather I missed the backstory here, but please accept my condolences.
AFAICT that also describes Unc’s Skyler (whom we laid to rest last Tuesday). Hurts like hell to lose folks like them; it’s as if someone dimmed the sun.
p.a.
as comments reach x the likelihood of porn topics ➡️ 1
hovercraft
@schrodinger’s cat:
Maybe they should set up a place for displaying us, like the Tower of London.
This sounds so inviting, reliving the experience of ‘natives’ brought back to England back in the day as novelties.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: It’s a fair cop. Should I go for jaded roué?
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: Probably. And LA is ‘Hollywood Jewish’, while NY is ‘Finance Jewish’/’Lit Jewish’.
@p.a.: I don’t see it much here, just lately I think. Maybe I’m mis-remembering.
redshirt
@Uncle Cosmo: Yeah, it was an Aunt who never married and never had children and yet a hundred people showed up for her potluck and there were so many tears – no funeral, no mass, no burial, she was very specific.
My condolences for your loss.
For all our losses. That’s the thing about life – it always comes with death.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Um…are these actual titles, or did you just make them up?
The scary thing is, I’d believe either one.
Wait, skip it. On second thought, maybe I don’t really want to know.
schrodinger's cat
@@hovercraft: Didn’t they behead people in the Tower. Do. Not. Want.
Major Major Major Major
I checked Drudge because I like to be one day ahead of the wurlitzer, but can anybody explain to me what the hell I just read?
An Internet Giveaway to the U.N.
If the U.S. abdicates internet stewardship, the United Nations might take control.
It’s uh, something about ICANN and monopolies? I literally cannot read it. The sentences do not make sense. (WSJ)
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: To be fair, they beheaded people in other places too.
schrodinger's cat
@redshirt: Then that was a life well lived. She is Mrityunjaya, she has conquered death because she will live forever in the hearts of those she touched. {{ }}
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: A likely story.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: Yes, the author of werewolf erotica has led a sheltered life. //
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: They played the Star-Spangled Banner in a British theater?
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Probably more sheltered than someone who writes zombie erotica.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: Like my spirit animal, Tina from Bob’s Burgers!
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: National anthem. Bof.
redshirt
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes, I believe it. Some people set examples that dozens or hundreds or even thousands of others strive to emulate, perhaps unknowingly. One person can always make a difference.
Punchy
At least he didnt rape anyone.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Bof? What type of “cinema” were you at, anyway?
Dork
@Adam L Silverman: Saving Ryan’s Privates
hovercraft
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, but usually famous people. I was thinking more in terms of the exotic animals they kept there, on display. people coming up to me because they’ve never talked to a black person is much to reminiscent of the white people who just want to touch my hair to see what it feels like. Not racist at all.
Miss Bianca
@efgoldman: Honestly, most porno movies that I’ve seen have bored the crap out of me, so I haven’t watched that many. I much prefer my smut in print form.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Oddly, it was the premier of The Company of Wolves. It was preceded by the premier of the video of David Bowie’s video “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean.”
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: Is *that* what I’m writing? Wait’ll I tell mom! Oh, wait…
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: Someone did a play on that back in the 70s or 80s focusing on Jewish Americans. Here’s the script:
http://www.usy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/last_american_jew.pdf
Prescott Cactus
@Omnes Omnibus: Tommy Smith and John Carlos and a small handful.
Mohammed Ali: “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: You tell me!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Wanda Whips Wall Street is a real one. I think Porn on the 4th of July might be as well. The others I made up as far as I know.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Ooh, that’s the one based on the Angela Carter story? Thanks for reminding me – I’d actually like to watch that one! Missed it back in the day.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Apparently, he’s recycling old news again. He seems to hit this one every year or so figuring his readers either don’t know about it, but it sounds like something nefarious the Obama Administration is doing or they’ve forgotten about it since his last coverage of it.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Actually that one is a low budget, Sony b movie R rated film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Strippers
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I have no idea. I was 20 and offered the chance to go to a London movie premier without having to sexually gratify someone icky.* I went. It was fun.
I had a friend whose dad was a London restaurateur who had entertainment industry contacts. He got five or six tickets and gave them to his son. Hence tickets.
Prescott Cactus
@redshirt: Time heals. Remember love !
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: We are now talking highbrow written shit like Miss Bianca writes. I think.
ETA: Why do you know this much about this stuff? Does your mother know?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Well that makes it all different then…
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: LOL – that last one is making me think *bad* thoughts about the first Clinton years!
@Major Major Major Major: Sex scenes, more than likely. However, since they’re not really going to be the point of the story, I’d hesitate to call it “erotica”.
redshirt
@Prescott Cactus: Time runs out.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
That looks to be a cautionary tale about assimilation, and a warning to American Jews to never abandon Israel. I’m surprised that Bibi is not having this play performed every night in every city, town and village.
Scott Alloway
This why we are Americans. not something else. We have a right to protest, to disagree, to say what is not polite, to offend the privileged. But heaven forbid we antagonize the NFL.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Now *this*…I’d almost want to see. Accent on the “almost”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scott Alloway: His team supported his right to do what he did.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
Oddly plausible for a porn plot.
catclub
@Adam L Silverman: Adam. did you see this at Informed Comment?
I wish there was a way for the Kurds to not get screwed in the middle east.
A nation along the border between Iraq and Turkey – all the way to the ocean.
Lizzy L
@catclub: And you might be wrong. Where do you think Levi Strauss originated from? Adolph Sutro, mayor of San Francisco just before 1900, was Jewish. Come visit the San Francisco Jewish Museum.
Adam L Silverman
Shiny new open thread is up!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I know the Zombie Stripper movie as I saw it on late night tv while on TDY. When I got back from Iraq in late 2008 I was put on almost permanent TDY for the next 13 months or so. After a while you wind up watching whatever is on late at night on extended basic cable in your hotel room.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: I am not a fan of the play.
Miss Bianca
@catclub: Ah, the Kurds…as a friend of mine summed up the history of our involvement with them:
“Here’s some money and some guns!”
“Hooray!”
“Of course, we’re only going to give you enough to keep fighting, not enough to actually win!”
“Awwwww…!”
schrodinger's cat
@Miss Bianca: Amen sister! Its for the male gaze, me thinks.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: I have now. This does not surprise me.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Uh…yeah. That one’s a winner, all right.
Prescott Cactus
@redshirt: Love never will. Infinite. Hopefully.
Amaranthine RBG
What bullshit is this?
First, police do not die every day. Being a police officer is not even one of the top ten most dangerous occupations in this country.
Second, police officers don’t die “defending the law”. What the fuck does that even mean? Most of them who die, die in car accidents.
Can we please stop with the reflexive now-towing to police officers as if they are any more worthy of respect than the local grocer or taxi-driver.
Please?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: If someone gets Miranda to set it to music, Mnem will go nuts though.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Your basic cable differs from mine.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amaranthine RBG: Deleted
lamh36
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep
Adam L Silverman
@Amaranthine RBG: You have the right to a continental breakfast. You have the right to a cup of coffee in the precinct break room…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Luy502C920
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, you are so BAD! : )
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I was in so many different hotels in so many different places. I’m pretty sure it was on SyFy late one night. Maybe Spike. Regardless, that’s how I encountered it.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Pretty sure Adelson is going to loose this one. And if he doesn’t, than Las Vegas elected officials deserve whatever they have coming to them.
Prescott Cactus
@Amaranthine RBG: @Amaranthine RBG: A taxi driver might protect me from getting wet with a quick up. A grocer might save me from getting the listeria soaked carrots out of the veggie sections.
Cops walk out of the house every day not knowing if they will return. NO, I am not standing up for the unions who may hide and bury complaints, or the bad apples of the force.
ATA:
The 10 Deadliest Jobs:
1. Logging workers
2. Fishers and related fishing workers
3. Aircraft pilot and flight engineers
4. Roofers
5. Structural iron and steel workers
6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
8. Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers
9. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
10. Construction laborers
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Too bad. SyFy and Spike blur boobies. Blood and decapitation, not so much. Weird.
JR in WV
@redshirt:
Sorry for your family’s loss. Always a hard thing. Best wishes ging forward!
Omnes Omnibus
@Prescott Cactus: The guy is a pro-gun troll. Bear that in mind if or when you respond.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s why I like El Rey after 10 PM. They issue very specific warnings about violence, nudity, and/or sexual content. Then they show the movie the way it was supposed to be shown.
Adam L Silverman
@Prescott Cactus:
Well there goes @Miss Bianca: based on what she’s informed us about her lumberjacking (lumberjilling?) activities in the next thread.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Speaking of Monty Python…I can only say…”I’m not dead yet!”
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Since you weren’t getting paid, I’m sure you’re safe. It doesn’t say logging amateurs or logging volunteers or logging hobbyists…
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Charter does not make that available to me. Assholes. Also, most people know the word “fuck” was intended when the show says ” freak”. and “airhead” does not equal “asshole” except in syllable count.
Prescott Cactus
@Omnes Omnibus: THX +
I got a dead cousin whose betrothed had already had her wedding shower when he got gunned down over 40 years ago.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m sorry. Its an interesting network. Thursday night classic martial arts movies. Monday classic action thrillers. Friday night classic monster movies. Monthly themes. Special theme marathons for holidays. Classic 70s and 80s reruns during the day. Lucha Underground on Wednesday nights. Weekend movie marathons.
Omnes Omnibus
@Prescott Cactus: Just a word to the wise. Their whole point is to seem reasonable.
Prescott Cactus
@Prescott Cactus:
The 10 Deadliest Jobs:
4. Roofers (Carps)
5. Structural iron and steel workers
7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers (Electricians)
8. Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers (Teamsters
10. Construction laborers
So essentially half are construction workers, splintered out by trade.
Prescott Cactus
@Omnes Omnibus: THX again.
Has to be my top 5 worst days ever. First world problems. . .
Shake it off and start anew tomorrow.
Chris
@catclub:
Huh.
My grandfather was a Green Beret in Southeast Asia. Apparently, during his time there, he did not get along well with the CIA/Air America types in his area. Partly because the Army and these guys were tied in with different, and sometimes opposing, chieftains, which made an already murky war even less clear.
It’s apocryphal (doubly so since I heard it from relatives after he died), but seemed plausible. This story kind of makes it more so.
Omnes Omnibus
@Prescott Cactus: Cheers.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: The headlines kind of misleading.
cokane
let’s not lie tho, if Kaepernick were having Cam Newton’s career, fans would be a lot more foregiving or so-what-ing. it’s the combo of declined play.
i do get your point. i never understood why fans give so much of a shit about non-field related exploits (crime excepted of course)
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
I clicked after posting that. Indeed, the article doesn’t seem to actually mention CIA, more Turkey and U.S. That’s what I get for commenting without clicking.
Omnes Omnibus
@cokane: If Kaep were having a good year, his quiet protest might attract more attention.
ETA: He still was brave for doing it.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: No worries. Your comment was very accurate regarding what went on in Vietnam. COORDS, which was a SOF (primarily Green Berets) operation embedding ODAs among local villages, teaching them to secure themselves against the VietCong and Operation Phoenix, which was the CIA’s counterinsurgency program were at odds. My understanding is that things have gotten much better, especially over the past decade or so. That doesn’t mean that conflicts don’t still happen, but great efforts have been made to not just get the military to be Joint in working across the services, but also with the other agencies within the Interagency in an Intergovernmental approach. Is it perfect? No. Does it always work? No. Is it better than it was? Often.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36: I thought that you didn’t want to hear from me again.
Citizen Alan
@JanieM:
What always amazed me about the Henry Louis Gates “controversy” is that it only came to national attention because Obama was president. Because there is no way on God’s Green Earth that the DC Press Corp would have asked President John McCain an unscripted question about his thoughts on a black professor in Massachusetts getting arrested under those circumstances. But part of Obama’s job apparently was to be the guy who had to respond to every single incident in America in which a black person was involved in any way.
Villago Delenda Est
@RepubAnon: THIS RIGHT HERE
It’s always projection with these assholes. Always.
Mom Called
I suppose freedom of speech and thought extends to juveniles burning their football jerseys, and other meaningless expressions of outrage.
The Other Chuck
@EBT:
Not their own, anyway.
The Other Chuck
@rawhide rawlins: Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do.
Uncle Cosmo
Late to a thread yet again, but FTR…
@Prescott Cactus: Time heals. It doesn’t necessarily restore. Even when it does, it does so slowly. And when the seasons left to heal in are so few…
I’m resigned to carrying Skyler’s too-young passing around in my heart like a deep bruise, bent half over, braced for the stab of remembrance that curls in the crack of a bat or the pop of a fastball into the catcher’s mitt or the scrape of spikes on a cinder warning track or the arc of a deep fly in high August. With luck and time I may learn (pace Uncle Joe Biden) to smile through tears at the pain that reminds me he’s still with me in there. Right now it feels like the best I can hope for.
(And if that strikes anyone as excessively sentimental & maudlin, they can talk to my Beijing lawyer, Su Mi.)
The Other Chuck
@Major Major Major Major:
The gist is that there’s two agencies that “own” the Internet in any meaningful way: IANA and ICANN. IANA hands out blocks of IP addresses and other such numbers, and ICANN runs the domain name system (and they’re both heavily delegated through multiple layers of registrars). But now IANA is getting absorbed into ICANN, and that’s resurrected talk about switching ICANN’s oversight away from the FTC to the ITU, a UN committee. This of course has the usual crowd of screechy simpletons gibbering about black helicopters. Virtual ones this time, I guess.
This paper explains the situation pretty well. It’s hardly unbiased — it’s freakin Heritage — but it does give you a detailed lay of the land.
The Other Chuck
@The Other Chuck: Forgetting one item here: technically it’s just IANA that runs the whole show, including the domain name system, and ICANN had a contract to run that piece for IANA. But the Commerce Department, who runs IANA decided to just let ICANN have the job for all time and not bother with the oversight role anymore, leaving the FTC to be the sole overseer.
Since the transition, there might have been concrete steps to move away from the FTC to the ITU, but as far as I can tell, it really is just wingnut screeching and not a real thing.
rawhide rawlins
@The Other Chuck: Nice.