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Just realized today is D-Day. 76 years ago today many of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers from multiple countries landed on the beaches into a hail of artillery barrage and gunfire to liberate Europe from fascism. 

Today 76 years later millions of Americans are taking to the streets to liberate the White House, Congress, and police forces from fascism. 

The war wasn't over on D-Day, but just like our forefathers we have to have the patience to keep fighting and not let up. The enemy today is American and wears a red hat and/or blue uniform but fascist all the same. 

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nsiap...

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-video-roger-goodell-racism-black-lives-matter-players-employees-110927703.html

How a 'rogue' employee forced NFL, Goodell into new Black Lives Matter stance

The NFL’s public shift on the Black Lives Matter movement, which led to a Friday video from commissioner Roger Goodell condemning racism and admitting wrongdoing, started with an Instagram DM.

“Hey Mike,” it began.

Bryndon Minter wasn’t sure Saints receiver Michael Thomas would even read the message. He knew it could get him fired. He continued anyway.

“Want to help you create content to be heard around the league,” Minter wrote. “I’m a NFL social employee and am embarrassed by how the league has been silent this week. The NFL hasn’t condemned racism. The NFL hasn’t said that Black Lives Matter.

Roger Goodell on Friday released his strongest statement yet on the Black Lives Matter movement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

On Friday morning, NFL employees convened via Zoom for a company-wide town hall. Some had, in the preceding days, been “angry” and “exasperated,” says Nick Toney, another social media staffer. At the virtual town hall, brave employees shared emotional stories.

“People cried,” Toney says. “People were upset. People had prepared statements. People revealed that they hadn’t slept in days over this. People asked very direct questions.”

Colin Kaepernick, sources say, was mentioned multiple times.

Goodell took those questions, then later in the day took to his basement camera.

“We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people,” Goodell said, just as the players had demanded. “We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.”

‘That’s what inspired me to go rogue’

The public shift, in reality, began with employee frustration that dates back to 2016. That’s when Kaepernick first took a knee to protest racial injustice and police brutality. The aftermath, Toney says, was “crazy and scary at times.” The league, in many ways, attempted to suppress protests. Internally, some employees weren’t happy with its response.

Almost four years later, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the same topics arose again. In deep conversations, social staffers dreamed up their ideal NFL response. While acknowledging it was a “fool’s errand,” they crafted strong, pointed statements — the type they hoped the league would release. Then, last Saturday, they had to hit send on the actual one, which, Minter says, “we felt was empty.”

On Monday, they were still posting highlights, going about business as usual against their will. “We came to a point where we didn’t feel comfortable posting stuff like that,” Minter says. Distress spread in private discussions. Employees expressed concerns in meetings. Those who spoke up got supportive Slack messages from co-workers they didn’t know.

“The sentiment was pretty unanimous,” Minter says. “We wanted a simple acknowledgement that we, as a company, condemn racism.”

Instead, they got promises but nothing “actionable.”

“We didn’t feel like our voices were heard,” Minter says. “And that’s what ultimately inspired me to go rogue.”

On Wednesday night, he circumnavigated standard protocol for NFL video producers and reached out directly to Thomas. They had no personal relationship, but Thomas was immediately on board. Thomas entrusted Minter with drafting a script the players could read on camera. Minter went for a walk and called Toney. Toney’s first idea got shot down. Then he realized: For days, we’ve been talking amongst ourselves about what we wished the NFL would say. What if the players told the league to say it?

Minter got goosebumps. He rushed home, and they got to work. They started with “Black Lives Matter” – because, Toney says, “to that point, we weren’t able to say that, as a league.” Toney wrote, Minter refined and rearranged his words, and presented prompts to Thomas. Thomas loved them and reached out to friends around the league. Minter sent his boss a text, saying they needed to talk in the morning. Toney went to sleep. 

The following morning, Minter awoke to videos from three players and promises of more. Ezekiel Elliott had already recorded. The project, he realized, was already accelerating beyond expectations.

Toney awoke to an email from Minter. The subject: “Holy s- - -.”

‘I was ready to lose my job’

Minter disclosed the plot to his boss on Thursday morning. Bosses told their bosses, and news filtered up through the NFL’s hierarchy. Within 30 minutes, Minter says, he was invited to a Zoom call with superiors. “And I was ready to lose my job on that Zoom,” he says.

By that point, he had videos from five players, and buy-in from many more. Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were in. Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley were in. Lamar Jackson, he says, was in as well — but never ended up sending videos.

NFL execs chose to reckon with the final product rather than retaliate. Minter went back into his bunker, with Thomas working tirelessly to feed him roughly 100 clips from more than a dozen stars. Minter edited them into 71 seconds that could change the league for good.

“It’s been 10 days since George Floyd was brutally murdered,” Thomas says off the top.

“How many times do we need to ask you to listen to your players?” Tyrann Mathieu asks.

Their conclusion, in unison: “We will not be silenced. We assert our right to peacefully protest. It shouldn’t take this long to admit. So, on behalf of the National Football League, this is what we, the players, would like to hear you state: We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting. We, the National Football League, believe Black Lives Matter.”

Players published the video while NFL social media staffers were in a meeting. They saw it, and soon learned the backstory. When they did, many swelled with pride. Dozens retweeted it with a simple message: “I stand with the players.”

The message came from the players because it had to. “The players are the league,” Minter says. “Without the players, no one gives a s- - -. Our game is the players, it’s our players’ personalities, it’s our players’ performance, it’s all about them. And if they speak up, they have the power.”

But their message reflected those of NFL employees at all levels. Minter says colleagues from various departments, of various colors, have reached out to him to say: “Thank you so much for voicing that. It encapsulated exactly how I’ve been feeling.”

To see Goodell listen at Friday’s town hall, and then to hear him voice those same words, brought some a sense of relief.

“I’ve heard a lot of people, this week, say that working at the league was tough for them,” Toney says. “Because they needed that leadership. And then to finally receive it … means the world to me.”

He and others acknowledge, of course, that a couple videos are different than actions and change. But they’re hopeful. Minter had a “constructive” conversation with a league executive on Friday. “Based on what I have been told,” he says, “that video armed [them] with a very well-thought-out, simple, unavoidable message that had to be addressed and is making historic things happen.”

Says Toney: “It’s such a huge opportunity to turn the page, and be right, and see the point of view of an entirely new generation of fans — and frankly, an entirely new generation of players.

“It’s clear, at least to me, that they’re trying to get on the right path, both internally and externally. Both with the people who root for the teams on Sunday and with the employees, especially employees of color, who make this league run. Because you can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. You can’t have a league that’s 70 percent black and have no stance when it comes to this. … So the real lesson here is that there’s a human side to this league that I hope, and I pray, we embrace going forward.

“I think it’s a turning point,” he concludes. “I think it’s a turning point.”

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6 hours ago, BigHorn'13 said:

No one's out here yet. I'll check back in a couple hours. Brought the kiddo along with...

20200606-115059.jpg

In case you can't read my shit for handwriting it reads "Just got my haircut... Where did the 'Patriots' go? Silence kills. BLM."

By all means and bask in scared white people glory!

Quick update as I'm driving and I'm almost certain I've got the cops called, kiddo and wife are in another vehicle. Smaller group but they remembered me. Apparently people have been dropping off various items all day so there was nothing Soros could do this time. 

Apologies (but not really) to anyone I just offended at the intersection of 27 and 16 for temporarily blocking traffic. 

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3 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

Trump's methods have awoken a lot of Americans to injustice and need for reform in a lot of areas.  The BLM is the most obvious one, so let's start there, implement reform...then progress to the next issue.   Pick one: Wealth/Income disparity, Healthcare, Criminal Justice (which should be addressed with BLM), education reform, Climate Change, et al.   

We need change, we need it soon.  We have been lulled and duped over the past 60 years by corporate America into trusting DC to do the right things by us.   To correct their greedy/nefarious actions quickly is going to be hard to do.    Maybe this is the start.   

We as a nation are waking up to the fact that the presidency can't be filled with a reality TV star.  That we need to pay attention to all these crooks who are elected and the crooks they surround themselves with.  We are beginning to think that yes, our vote can make a difference.  These huge numbers are giving hope to that idea.

 

 

i want to believe santa GIF by Sean Solomon

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8 hours ago, Ths71 said:


Add Alpine and McKinney to the list. I’m sure there are others missed. Kinda surprised at the turnout at some of the D/FW ‘Burbs.
Floyd protests:
1 Locations
1.1 Abilene
1.2 Amarillo
1.3 Arlington
1.4 Austin
1.5 Corpus Christi
1.6 Dallas
1.7 Denton
1.8 El Paso
1.9 Fort Worth
1.10 Frisco
1.11 Houston
1.12 Laredo
1.13 Lewisville
1.14 Lubbock
1.15 Lufkin
1.16 Odessa
1.17 Plano
1.18 Round Rock
1.19 San Angelo
1.20 San Antonio
1.21 Texarkana


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Add San Marcos. They did a great job. Everyone was respectful. A quick march, great speakers, mixed crowd. Ended with live music from local artists. Very impressive. Went with my 18 year old daughter and a good friend. 

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21 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The Antifa narrative and thus the reason to crack down on protests is falling apart.

https://apnews.com/20b9b86dba5c480bad759a3bd34cd875

So who's going to tell the Next Door Warriors they need to stand down? They've been waiting for days for the caravan, COVID lockdown patrol, antifa to invade.

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28 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The Antifa narrative and thus the reason to crack down on protests is falling apart.

https://apnews.com/20b9b86dba5c480bad759a3bd34cd875

"The president has tried to portray the protesters and looters with a broad brush as “radical-left, bad people,” ominously invoking the name “antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist militants bound more by belief than organizational structure"

 

Don't you generally have to be armed to be a militant?

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3 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

My boy is on a roll protesting.   He was on the sidelines about participating, and then early this week cops shot a tear gas canister that exploded near his h.s. swim coach's head, and BANG - skull fracture and maybe brain damage.   He is pissed.  I had to coach him up not to white knight his coach and get into a tussle with the cops. He has been going out every night lately with my blessings. 

my niece has also been going down to APD regularly since last friday. she got pepper sprayed last weekend but i think it's been calmer since monday or so. she's ended up with a microphone a few times even. 

she's supposedly wearing her mask regular...but i do make her sit in the backseat with it on when i drop her off down there...as i blast RATM with all my windows open to show my support lol 😊

god bless these kids

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1 hour ago, 406W30th said:

I would love to know what percentage of Americans have participated in some sort of protest/march in the past week. And what would that number be if not for COVID-19? 

I went today. Local event. Smallish. Took my kid. Was very proud of my community. 

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1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

If they can believe in fucking pizzagate pedos sponsored by Soros, I guess it's ok we believe in this.   

 

1 hour ago, Message Board User said:

 

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Add San Marcos. They did a great job. Everyone was respectful.

Just want to point out I wouldn't be kicking things up a notch (blocking traffic, swanging back and forth the couple blocks separating the PD and courthouse, blaring NWA, etc) in a bigger city. Plenty of others are doing that and a valid argument could be made that this form of protest does little to nothing in convincing others to change their mind. I definitely get that. 

 

However, out where I live, the quoted posts are more the attitude of the norm and not the outlier they are in cities. Can't tell you how many Q stickers and rebel flags are out. Or how many still live under the falsehoods that somehow mixing races is bad for the world and its future success. Or how, just a couple weeks ago, I went in to pickup my to-go order from the newly built wingstop and noticed the long line of "Patriots" (some openly carrying) next door at super cuts waiting to get their mullets touched up, and the looks I got when I asked if this was the line for wings.

 

Fuck, you wouldn't think there's a pandemic in kerrville, TX. It's a typical Saturday night out here where restaurants are packed, most (albeit dive) bars I saw had plenty of patrons consuming their liquor, and only 10-20 people in the whole fucking county are truly bothered by what's going on. Everyone else is just happy to be ordering frozen margaritas again. Getting back to some sense of normalcy while (maybe, if at all) talking about "those issues" from afar. 

 

Well, if I can make "afar" somewhat here in this community resemble the places these people want to be away from, then I've taken away that comfort they so desperately seek. Sometimes, it's necessary to push buttons and make those who don't want and need to listen, listen. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing and don't give one maga fuck about who it offends. 

 

 

TLDR-- Peaceful protests are a good thing. Bring drama to the smaller areas of the state. Turn the lights on and clean out racists in every corner of our state/country. It's those (primarily white) places where the people need a wakeup. 

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6 hours ago, Bevo14 said:

If that's a great dude then the rest of us are gods. He can go fuck himself.

Just fuck him. He does not give two shits about anything except football. Just another dumb fucking meathead that should never be listened to on anything. We have a pandemic going on and he said all he was focused on was football when asked about that as well. People like that guy have no business having the job they have when all they can think about is a damn game while people are dying every single day from a virus ravaging our nation and protests going on to change the very fabric of our country into something far more positive than it currently is.

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4 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

Dictator-in-chief. 

 

This clown is definitely a coward. The moment he is confronted and pushed back on by protestors he builds a damn wall around the White House. We will never, ever have a worse human being as president than this fugazi.

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