YOU'RE FIRED!

That is indeed what got him elected.

I still think what got him elected was Hillary Clinton.

That he was able to win despite the opposition of the mainstream of both major parties is not in itself a bad sign for democracy. The same can be said of Macron in France. It's Trump's attitude towards democratic norms that is concerning to me.

Macron had the full of the powers that be usually behind the two main parties in France.
 
I still think what got him elected was Hillary Clinton.

Yeah, pretty much. A lot of people who ended up voting for Trump did so not be cause they support Trump, but rather because they were voting against Hillary and actually wanted their vote to matter. I am still wholly convinced if they had run anyone other than Hillary, there would be a Democrat in the White House right now.

What really kills me though is there is still a sizable faction within the Democratic establishment that want Hillary to run again in 2020. Can a Democrat here please explain what the obsession with Hillary is all about? Why do you want her specifically to be president instead of putting up a candidate that is more likely to win over the fence-sitters?

Anyway, in NFL news, this past week sponsors and advertisers have started expressing concern over the continually dropping ratings the NFL is experiencing. If anything will kill these protests, it will be this. It's easy for the NFL to ignore angry and outraged fans as long as they are still getting that sweet, sweet sponsor money, but the NFL can't ignore worried sponsors and advertisers. The league is going to have to do something to reassure and calm the sponsors and that might involve doing something to convince these players to stop their protest.

Four weeks into the current NFL season, television ratings are down nearly 10% overall compared to the first four weeks of last season. Sunday’s games in Week 4, according to Nielsen, had the smallest audience of any season so far: an average 14.2 million viewers.

Add that ratings dip to the ongoing controversy around player protests, and you might reasonably wonder how official NFL sponsors, as well as brands that buy advertising during NFL games, feel right now about the league.

The answer: “They’re nervous,” says Brian Cristiano, CEO of ad agency Bold Worldwide. “Everyone is looking at the numbers, they’re looking at the ratings… they’re nervous. They’re like, ‘Are we overpaying? What are we going to do? Can we have makeups? How else are we going to get this exposure back?'”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-advertisers-nervous-amid-protests-ratings-dip-161454056.html

There was also a recent poll that shows the NFL is currently the least popular sports league in the US right now because of these protests with 40% of respondents to the poll saying they view the NFL unfavorably and just 42% saying they view the league favorably. So anyone who thinks these protests aren't hurting the league is severely misguided. Things aren't at a crisis point yet for the NFL, but it will reach that crisis point if they continue going on acting like nothing's wrong. Will the NFL collapse? No, it won't. But it certainly could fall from grace and become irrelevant in the American sports scene just like NASCAR.

The survey of 1,000 people from The Winston Group showed the favorability rating of the sport dropped between the end of August and the end of September, amid controversy over protests against police brutality towards African Americans during the national anthem.

Just 42 percent of people surveyed had a favorable opinion of the NFL, marking a drop of more than 40 points since the end of August, when 73 percent had a favorable view.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-spat-nfl-now-least-201348298.html
 
What really kills me though is there is still a sizable faction within the Democratic establishment that want Hillary to run again in 2020.

This seems to be one of those things that conservatives think which has no basis in reality. I see zero push anywhere for her to run again. The only people talking about her running again seem to be conservatives wondering why Dems want her to run again. Dems don't.
 
The league is going to have to do something to reassure and calm the sponsors and that might involve doing something to convince these players to stop their protest.

Very simple fix. Encourage the TV stations to not show the protests. The TV stations should be just as worried about ratings as the NFL and advertisers are. (not that I support that action, I could care less if they show the protests or not).

But, as one of the articles linked in your article states, NBA and NASCAR ratings are down as well for reasons obviously not connected to the protests, so the drop in ratings could be much ado with nothing.
 
Yeah, pretty much. A lot of people who ended up voting for Trump did so not be cause they support Trump, but rather because they were voting against Hillary and actually wanted their vote to matter. I am still wholly convinced if they had run anyone other than Hillary, there would be a Democrat in the White House right now.

Bill Clintons mixed and tainted presidency
Hillary own mini scandals, probably overblown by all accounts but the Clintons enriched themselves from the Presidency immensely

The rest appears to be a combination of a perfect storm, which paved the way for Trump, its still amazes me that Trump was able to lie so brazenly and make so many outrageous comments without any political damage
So many Republicans just seemed ready to throw a bomb at the political system, Moore seems to think it was just anger at being left behind and ignored while the rest of the country made gains.
 
The main reason people voted for Trump was the R next to his name.
 
Illegal voting certainly widens Hillary Clinton's popular vote winning margin, but there shouldn't be 2.5 millions of such voters in the polling places as Donald Trump claimed.

There were only around 11 millions of illegal immigrants total and many of them were children under 17. So President Trump claimed, over 40% of those adults casted illegitimate votes.
 
The TV stations should be just as worried about ratings as the NFL and advertisers are.

This might actually work to the TV stations' advantage though. If ratings are down for the NFL, then when it comes time to renegotiate their contracts with the NFL, they can press the NFL to give them a more favorable deal.

But, as one of the articles linked in your article states, NBA and NASCAR ratings are down as well for reasons obviously not connected to the protests, so the drop in ratings could be much ado with nothing.

Of course. NFL ratings and popularity have been wavering for a few years now, especially now that college football is absolutely exploding in popularity since introducing a playoff. Just as college basketball eclipsed the NBA, we are finally starting to see college football eclipse the NFL. I think a big part of that has something to do with fans starting to see professional athletes in a more negative light than they used to. The common perception of the professional athlete in the US now is that they are entitled, spoiled brats that care more about their multi-million dollar contracts and endorsement deals than they do about the sport itself. On the other hand, college players are perceived as still having a "love of the game" and, while not as talented as professional athletes, are more entertaining to watch because they seem to give 110% every time they take the field.

In short, I think people are just getting tired of professional athletes and this whole protest thing is just exacerbating those feelings, but it certainly isn't the cause.
 
This might actually work to the TV stations' advantage though. If ratings are down for the NFL, then when it comes time to renegotiate their contracts with the NFL, they can press the NFL to give them a more favorable deal.

And when advertisers go to buy ad time from the networks they can offer the TV stations less money. Nobody wins from lower ratings.

especially now that college football is absolutely exploding in popularity since introducing a playoff.

That is probably the biggest boost to college football. Playoffs are way better than toilet bowls.

Cord cutters is a bigger reason for a drop in ratings than professional athlete entitlement or the protests. Fewer and fewer people need to have cable TV. After that, I think the concussion thing turned people off from the NFL. NBA has a problem with 'don't care' regular season games, the NFL not so much (sure, they don't play as hard as they do in a playoff game, but they aren't like the NBA that may sit 3 or more starters for a game.)
 
Illegal voting certainly widens Hillary Clinton's popular vote winning margin, but there shouldn't be 2.5 millions of such voters in the polling places as Donald Trump claimed.
You'd be hard pressed to find five people intentionally voting illegally. Repeated investigations by the DoJ have found that of the handful of people who intentionally voted illegally, most were people trying to show there was illegal voting going on.
 
Cord cutters is a bigger reason for a drop in ratings than professional athlete entitlement or the protests.

True. I know I only keep my cable service specifically so I can watch college football and basketball.
 
When is it okay for black people to protest?

"It's wrong to do it in the streets, its wrong to do it in the tweets
you cannot do it on the field, you cannot do it if you've kneeled
and dont do it if you're rich, you ungrateful son of a <snip>
because there's one thing thats a fact, you cannot protest if you're black" - Trevor Noah

Moderator Action: Partially censoring words is not sufficient enough. - Vincour
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
 
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You'd be hard pressed to find five people intentionally voting illegally. Repeated investigations by the DoJ have found that of the handful of people who intentionally voted illegally, most were people trying to show there was illegal voting going on.

He was being sarcastic
Given that the people caught voted for Trump, including an Mexican whom as then deported. I guess she personally got what she voted for.
 
Cord cutters is a bigger reason for a drop in ratings than professional athlete entitlement or the protests. Fewer and fewer people need to have cable TV. After that, I think the concussion thing turned people off from the NFL. NBA has a problem with 'don't care' regular season games, the NFL not so much (sure, they don't play as hard as they do in a playoff game, but they aren't like the NBA that may sit 3 or more starters for a game.)

"Ratings" is a totally antiquated notion anyways. They just haven't come up with a way to accurately measure actual audience size, so we're stuck with the legacy measuring tool. I don't think anyone can meaningfully gauge the weekly audience for anything any more; I think the future of pro sports (and all home entertainment options) is a la carte, pay-for-streaming. There is a ways to go before there is true nationwide broadband capability that can replace traditional broadcasting, but they've got to be getting fairly close. Once they do, the benefits of traditional TV broadcast contracts - universal nationwide reach - disappear entirely. Then the NFL can charge a nominal fee for people to watch and still collect all that ad revenue, instead of contracting with a middleman that is taking profits.
 
Well, it would seem the players are about to lose this fight. Goodell just issued a memo to all 32 teams stating that the NFL believes all players and coaches are to be on the field and standing for the national anthem. The memo also states that when the owners all meet in New York next week for their annual meeting, they will be discussing the issue at length. Given Jones's influence as an owner and his public statements against these protests, sponsor concern over sagging ratings, and this memo; I think it's safe to assume there is a very real possibility the owners are going to make a more concrete "you must stand for the anthem" rule at their meeting in New York. Such a rule isn't unprecedented either. The NBA has a rule that says players must stand during the anthem and there's never been a successful legal challenge to that rule, so I don't see why the NFL can't go ahead and do the exact same thing.

Here's a quote from the memo:

Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem. It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us. We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues. The controversy over the Anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.

Also, Sommer, it appears the NFL disagrees with you on the "players can't be punished for not standing" thing.

The manual states, “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking.”

Lockhart declined to say whether the league’s stance on anthem protests is aligned with Trump and Jones, but he indicated that as the rule is written, the NFL believes there is latitude for some retribution for protests during the playing of the anthem amid the display of the American flag.

I would assume the NFL has consulted their lawyers about this and if they believe there is room for punishing players, I'm inclined to believe them over you. No offense, but there's a reason those lawyers are working for a massive organization like the NFL, and it's not because they're bad at their job.

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-owners-decide-can-cant-happen-national-anthem-games-172243553.html
 
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LOL are these the same NFL lawyers that lost the case against Brady and will eventually lose the one regarding Zeke Elliot?
 
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