A Message For People Mad About Brittney Griner’s Freedom

Brittney Griner is free. 

I’d love to talk about one of the best women’s basketball players of all time returning home after being held as a political prisoner over a vape pen… but enough of you have made today’s events about YOU, YOUR morals, YOUR preferences, and YOUR politics, that I’m not sure it’s even possible to talk about Brittney Griner.

So let’s talk about you.

You don’t think the Biden administration should have traded a convicted arms dealer for a female basketball player, especially with former Marine reservist and Iraq War veteran Paul Whelan going on four years behind bars for what may or may not be false charges of espionage. 

That’s sensible I guess. 

But my question for you is this. When did you first learn Paul Whelan’s name? When was the first time you appealed directly to the Biden administration for his release? Or the Trump administration before that? Or at the very least, publicly posted on any social media platform to alert your followers of a cause that today’s events have revealed is apparently so near and dear to your heart?

Go ahead. Pause the video and look it up for me. 

Was it before Brittney Griner’s detention? And if not, are you prepared to keep that same energy from here forward, to pressure our leaders to negotiate the release of political prisoners from vindictive, undemocratic countries?

Maybe you’re completely committed to fighting the injustice of Brittney Griner’s release in the face of Paul Whelan’s continued detention on behalf of the Whelan family. Surely they must be furious at this inexplicable injustice, and you’re just doing your part on their behalf, with their blessing.

It’s not like Paul Whelan has a twin brother out here saying something to the effect of “I am so glad Brittney Griner is on her way home,” or “The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”

Can you imagine if Paul Whelan had a twin brother named David that said those exact things today? That would mean that your outrage wasn’t about the family at all. Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?

Or maybe you just want to make sure that a member of the United States armed forces is treated with dignity and has his needs prioritized. You’re pro-military. That’s it, right? You’re so pro military you have the same rules as USAA- you don’t just care about our troops, you care about their families. So if former Marine Paul Whelan hypothetically had a daughter imprisoned in Russia, you’d probably rather have her home than Brittney Griner, right?

Wouldn’t it be crazy if there was someone out there named Raymond Griner that served two tours in Vietnam and spent 30 years as a cop, hoping for someone as pro military as yourself to come along and reward the sacrifice he made on your behalf to help get his daughter home? I’d imagine that would motivate someone as pro military as yourself into action.

Or maybe you just spent too much time on ESPN’s trade machine, and you don’t want a war criminal back on the St. Petersburg streets because it’s an objectively unfair price for this country to pay. Certainly you’ve known of Viktor Bout’s imprisonment since the Bush justice department pursued him, and the Obama administration extradited and imprisoned him. And I know that you can provide lots of public evidence that you’ve posted about how important an asset he is to the American government in hostage negotiations. Posts that you definitely made before Brittney Griner’s arrest. You can show me all that, right?

Look, maybe you just want the Secretary of State to publicly acknowledge how lopsided and unpopular this is. I’ll do you a favor. Let me read this direct quote from the Secretary of State. “We acknowledge that the release of these prisoners is unpopular, but this difficult action will lead to an important result…”


Oh wait, my mistake. That was Donald Trump’s Secretary of State talking about the release they negotiated of 5,000 imprisoned members of Taliban and ISIS, 400 of which were said by the Afghan government to be “convicted of serious crimes, including the killing of Afghans and citizens of the international community.”

Ah, that’s my bad guys. I’m positive you’ll also be able to provide me with several examples of the outrage you publicly expressed when Donald Trump’s treaty to get us out of Afghanistan called for the release of nearly 5,000 Taliban and ISIS soldiers. I didn’t mean to make more work for you, but I know you’re consistent, so I’ll wait here while you gather that up.

But hey, there’s always the few of you that just don’t think the United States should be doing anything to negate the foreign punishment of a spoiled athlete that hates America. After all, Brittney Griner called for an end to the playing of the national anthem before WNBA games. 

It doesn’t matter that Brittney Griner was specifically protesting the unjust killing of Breonna Taylor at the hands of the Louisville, Kentucky police. It doesn’t matter that Griner repeatedly said that she loves the police, and grew up wanting to be a police officer like her father. It also doesn’t matter that she repeatedly said she supports the idea of a new national anthem, rather than stand for one that includes an unsung third verse about hunting down rebel slaves. 

It’s the principle of the matter. This is America. You can’t just go around protesting our hallowed institutions because a woman got shot by law enforcement. And you, you’re consistent. It’s not like you’re out here calling for justice for Ashli Babbitt. 

Are you?

Certainly you’ve thought this through. You’ve been consistent. You cared about the executive branch’s role in political prisoner negotiations long before Brittney Griner was detained, and you’re going to keep caring long after she’s been freed. I’m definitely going to see you at the rallies to release Paul Whelan, and I’m definitely not going to see you doing anything but deferring to the statements and wishes of his loved ones. 

You certainly condemned Trump’s prisoner release, and you’re not partisan at all, so you’ll do the same when the next republican president is faced with a similar decision. 

And every time someone brings up January 6th, I’m going to hear you talking about how the police have a hard job, and how anyone that protests the convictions that came out of the events that day hate America, and are criminals that deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. 

Because today’s energy has always been your energy, right?

Let that sink in.

We Need To Have An Honest Conversation About Debt Relief And The Future Of Student Loans

The Biden Administration’s decision to relieve student loan debt, specifically $10,000 for those that make less than $125,000 in annual income, and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, has kicked off a massive debate about the fairness of relieving debt for people that contractually agreed to pay it back. Much of the noise came from those on the political right, and which resulted in a tit-for-tat back and forth between United States Congressmen and the official Twitter account for the White House.

We need to cut through the partisan noise and have an honest conversation about debt relief and the future of student loans.

Two things are true

1) People should pay their debts.

2) People should be protected from predatory lending practices.

An in-state degree, and let’s use an education degree as an example, can easily run a student well over $100,000 when you factor in tuition, room, board, books, transportation, and an unpaid student teaching period.

Let’s assume that the student in this scenario accumulated $40,000 in government-backed student debt over this 4-5 year period. Assuming the average starting salary of a teacher is around $40,000, if that student is on a 10-year repayment plan, the monthly minimum payments are going to exceed 20% of that teacher’s monthly pre-tax income.

If this hypothetical student is able to make every minimum payment over the 10 years in order to repay that debt, they will have paid back over $80,000 to the government, and likely surrendered one fifth of their income over the course of a decade (assuming they’re still able to stomach a teacher’s salary into their early 30’s in the face of needing housing, family planning, inflation, etc).

That same student that was able to secure $40,000 in student loans was probably early enough in their credit history that opening a bank-backed bankruptcy-protected line of credit for a few hundred dollars would have been harder than securing an unprotected, previously unforgivable loan for tens of thousands of dollars.

When banks don’t think you’re a good bet to recoup a few hundred bucks, why should education lenders think you’re a good bet to saddle with exponentially more unforgivable debt in an economy where wages stagnate in comparison to inflation and housing?

I totally get the frustration of people that went through the pain of full repayment looking at people that have yet to complete that process and feeling as if it is unfair. But what we can’t do is pretend that the government doesn’t have a history of targeted bailouts that benefit one group over another.‪

American taxpayers bailed out the banks, the auto industry, the farming industry, and most recently, businesses struggling to meet payroll during Covid through PPP… We also perpetually help subsidize mega corporations that fuel the creation of bazillionaires.

We even, and this is absolutely true, spend hundreds of millions making sure that free penis pumps are available to men who are unable to attain an erection under natural circumstances.

So why is it, that when the topic of addressing a student debt crisis born out of college tuition rising between 4-8% annually, outpacing inflation nearly five times over, so many people start decrying and mocking the generation of people who took out those loans in hopes they’d be qualified to fill available jobs and live with the same quality of life as previous generations? If millennials are drowning in debt at a never before seen rate, and wages aren’t increasing to assist in making sure that debt is resolvable, then without relief, the people that truly suffer are anyone and everyone producing any type of good or service that is dependent on expendable income.

In other words, if we don’t have any money left over at the end of the month, you can’t have any of it.

I sympathize with anyone that views those receiving loan forgiveness as rewarding irresponsible individuals, and as an endemic symptom of a “gimme generation.” But does your definition of “gimme generation” include the soybean and corn farmers of America? What about the subprime-mortgage writing baby boomers that drove the 2009 financial and housing crisis? Or the restaurant owners that needed a grant to retain employees through the worst pandemic in 100 years? Or the millions of people and businesses that benefit from bankruptcy protections?

What about those suffering from erectile dysfunction?

At the end of the day- colleges are bloated, charging too much, and not being responsible in the area of helping students understand the employment landscape in relation to the debt they accrue.

Companies are doing all they can to show investors ever-increasing profit margins at the expense of wage stagnation for a generation that is forced to accrue more debt than ever to even participate in many entry-level positions.$10,000 in loan forgiveness is nice… but colleges are going to keep billing students according to what the government will allow an 18-year-old to borrow, and knowingly sending them into fields that don’t pay a wage commensurate with the ability to both live and honor their commitment as a borrower.

The entire system needs an overhaul, but that’s not going to happen if we’re all busy bickering over who deserves this helping hand.

The only reason our entire economy hasn’t collapsed while fuel prices, food costs, and housing expenses run wild is that at the moment, tens of millions of Americans haven’t had to surrender 10%+ of their income to student loan repayment over the last two years. When those payments restart, times are going to be very tight. And the people that are upset that there are Americans benefitting from loan forgiveness right now, are going to be forced to realize that our economy is entirely interdependent on the spending power of its middle class.

Like it or not, we’re in this together, and the income that remains in the hands of people that were previously indebted to the government for loans they accrued at an age when a financial institution would have scoffed at even a $300 line of credit, is going to find its way into the economy, and potentially your pocket.

Instead of fighting, let’s be thankful that we get to hit the snooze button on our complete financial demise as a society to another day, and rally around making the changes necessary to ensure that people are using the collegiate system more judiciously, and being trained for the jobs that are going to keep us afloat for decades to come.

Reaction to the Mar-A-Lago FBI Raid Shows People Only ‘Back the Blue’ When it Suits Them

We need to talk about the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home.


Yesterday the FBI made a surprise visit to the 45th President’s South Florida home, reportedly looking for classified documents that the Trump administration failed to turn over. 


It’s an unbelievable and unprecedented event for many reasons, who would have ever thought that the Feds would be raiding the home of not only a former president, but an individual that has a realistic probability of being the next president.


 That is, as long as Florida governor Ron DeSantis doesn’t split the party by running in 2024.


The real reason that this FBI raid feels so unbelievable, is that after 7 years of the Trump administration stumbling their way into legal trouble, either through ignorance or incompetence, it was starting to feel like the family was invincible. 


Despite a laundry list of people that committed crimes in the process of either trying to get Donald Trump elected, trying to protect him while he was in office, or capitalizing on his presidency with an illegal grift (Shout out to Steve Bannon), it was never a member of the Trump family that had to be incarcerated or pardoned.


Not when payments were made to various women to discourage disclosures of affairs.


Not when a case could be made that the administration obstructed the investigation into Michael Flynn.


Not when the administration used the office of the president to promote commercial products manufactured by supporters.


Not when people seeking pardons were directly hiring one of Donald Trump’s attorneys to grease the wheels.


Not when a case could be made that firing James Comey was an obstruction to an investigation into Russian interference.


Not when the administration clearly pressured the Georgia Secretary of State to overturn election results.


And not, maybe until now, when the administration held onto classified documents, and turned over already destroyed documents to the National Archive and Records Administration.


After seven years of seeming invincibility, they’re gonna get this man over some paperwork.


And let’s be honest- they better get this man. You already have tens of millions of Americans that have convinced themselves that not only are we on the brink of civil war, but that they’re firmly on team Trump once the shooting starts. If nothing comes from this FBI raid, the people that believe there’s a Deep State whose sole purpose is to keep the Trump from draining the swamp, the same people that hold Ashli Babbitt up as a martyr, are going to make life in this country absolute hell.


And if there is a red-hat rebellion, you better believe those people that have spent the better part of the last seven years calling for law and order when it comes to Hillary Clinton’s emails, Hunter Biden’s substance abuse, Nancy Pelosi’s bank account, Asylum seekers at the border, Brittany Griner in a Russian airport, Eric Garner, Mike Brown and George Floyd at convenience stores, or a 12-year-old Tamir Rice on goddamn playground, will abandon their back-the-blue principles in the name of their orange savior just like Ashli Babbit did.


Because if we’re being honest, support for law enforcement from the populist right has never been about the welfare of the people behind the badge. To them, protect and serve means ‘protect me,’ and ‘serve me.’


Cops take three months to make an arrest in the Ahmaud Arberry murder case because they took the word of the killers? Unbothered. Back the blue. But let cops attempt to stop Trump supporters from hunting down the Vice President? Back the Blue becomes black and blue real quick.


When Donald Trump said he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody without losing support, it wasn’t a metaphor. And if that scenario did play out in reality, do you think Trump’s most aggressive supporters would simply let a homicide detective slap cuffs on the Donald?


I’m not out here to cape for the FBI. That organization has done nothing to deserve anyone’s unrelenting support, and some of the people on the left that are cheering them on right now were almost certainly criticizing them a couple of years ago for failing to act on a tip about Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. There’s a chance the Feds screw this up, and I hope they understand the full gravity and danger of pursuing a case against a former president in a country that is already at a boiling point.


To quote Omar Little, “You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss.“


Let that sink in.

The Real Reason People on the Left Need to Pay Attention to the Hunter Biden Scandals

We need to talk about Hunter Biden

You know and I know that most of what we see on social media regarding the president’s son is in bad faith. 
There are conservatives doing anything they can to find examples of wedge issues and hypocrisies to claw their way back to executive power. When you have over 80 million votes for anyone but your guy, you’re going to do whatever it takes to get back in the game.


For Republican operatives, Hunter Biden is the gift that keeps on giving.


The Make America Great Again crowd keeps Hunter’s name trending, but every time a new recording or email comes out that shows how deep Hunter’s addict brain had him into destructive, hurtful, and illegal behaviors, people on the left react the same way every time-


“Why should I care about someone that isn’t an elected official? It’s not like Joe has him doing state business like Jared and Ivanka.”


Well, as a black man in America,  I’m about to tell you exactly why you should care.


If you are a liberal that has become dependent on the minority vote to retain power and push for progress in this country, you need to know that the more that comes out about the consequence-free illegal activities of the president’s son, the more some of us are reminded that nearly 400,000 people in this country are incarcerated for drug offenses, a number that disproportionately affects people of color.


Black people overwhelmingly forgave Joe Biden for his roles in 1986 and 1994 crime bills in order to cast a vote against a guy in Donald Trump who didn’t seem to see anything wrong with the result and legacy of those laws.


But here we are in 2022, with jails still full of people that committed non-violent drug offenses. Many are there because of the harsh sentencing involved with Hunter’s drug of choice in a lot of these leaked videos- crack cocaine. Of course they don’t have the benefit of having a daddy in the Senate or the White House.


They also don’t have the advantage of having lived in the under-policed neighborhoods where Hunter Biden had the privilege of struggling with his addiction.


I’m not here to advocate for Hunter Biden to be punished, or for this ongoing scandal to take down the Bidens. I’ll leave that to conservatives on Twitter. I want for Hunter Biden what I want for anyone struggling with addiction- opportunities for peace, prosperity, and amends with anyone they hurt along the way.


What I am here to say is that if this administration expects to continue to carry the minority vote, they need to see these Hunter Biden stories the same way that a lot of us see them, as another exhausting example of how things work one way for us and another for them.


If Hunter Biden can avoid jail, and enjoy the benefits of multiple stints at rehabilitation facilities, we should at the very least be aggressively reducing and commuting the sentences of Americans whose penalties directly resulted from the laws his father, and our current president, put into place.


Let that sink in.

Rehabilitation and Redemption Part 2: Virginia Politicians, Megyn Kelly, and Blackface

Blackface Megyn Kelly Northam Herring Virginia

Virginia is undergoing a massive unearthing of scandals with their major politicians. Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, Governor Ralph Northam, and Attorney General Mark Herring all find themselves defending themselves and calls for their resignation. A 1968 yearbook of Virginia’s Military Institute, which Norment was the managing editor of, contained racial slurs, blackface, and Confederate flags. In another yearbook, this time a medical school yearbook of Ralph Northam, he was accused of appearing in blackface or in KKK garb. Herring, amidst everyone else’s blackface revelations, disclosed that he also had worn blackface in decades earlier. As is the case with Kareem Hunt, these actions are inexcusable. However, shouldn’t there be a path to redemption for people who run afoul of social standards?

It’s 2019 and most of us can agree that blackface is completely in the wrong. Granted there are still some that are inexplicably confused by it and thus turned it into a “complicated” subject. For example, this last October NBC canceled Megyn Kelly Today because of her remarks about blackface.

Megyn Kelly Spoke Her Truth

Kelly stated, ”Back when I was a kid that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”

“There was a controversy on The Real Housewives of New York with Luann, and she dressed as Diana Ross, and she made her skin look darker than it really is and people said that that was racist,”Kelly said. “And I don’t know, I felt like who doesn’t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day. I don’t know how, like, that got racist on Halloween.”

“The iconic Diana Ross came up as an example. To me, I thought, why would it be controversial for someone dressing up as Diana Ross to make herself look like this amazing woman as a way of honoring and respecting her?”

Kelly was completely wrong in her idea that blackface can be used to honor someone. It might seem like a great idea and you might truly adore the person you are dressing up as, but you are ignoring the brutal past of blackface. Blackface has a harsh history of white actors portraying racist caricatures of black culture. They insulted, belittled and disparaged black culture while at the same time perpetuating stereotypes. If there wasn’t a history of blackface used in this way, perhaps Kelly would be right. However, because of its past, we can’t accept that. This is something most of us know now. We understand the apauling history and why it is completely unacceptable in today’s culture. But Megyn Kelly wasn’t completely wrong in her understanding of blackface.

The Past vs The Present

She was right about America’s past. Things were different. Despite it being disgusting, it was socially acceptable to dress in blackface. Blackface, sexual harassment and many other offenses didn’t disturb people’s moral fabric or have the consequences that they do today. Society wasn’t as educated, aware, and didn’t care about the victims and the reasons why each were misdeeds. Barry Bonds played baseball in the steroid-era of baseball, yet he’s still not in the Hall of Fame because of this. Whether it is a politician, athlete, or even an inmate, we have to consider the environments that people grew up or operate in.

With that being said, let’s review our Virginia politicians, where they went right, where they went wrong, and how politicians and citizens should move forward with redemption at the forefront of their focus.

If you recall, there are three Virginia politicians that have been linked to blackface and they each came out in different ways. Norment, after his 1968 yearbook came out, condemned blackface and also protecting his own actions by stating that he was “one of seven working on a 359-page yearbook.” Northam initially admitted to appearing in the image, though he did not say whether he was the one dressed in blackface or as a member of the KKK. Yet, later he retracted that admission, even though the photo appeared on a yearbook page dedicated to him. However, he did still admit that he appeared in blackface as Michael Jackson in a 1984 party. Herring, unlike the others, came out before anyone had accused him. He claimed to have worn blackface decades earlier.

Time Heals Voter’s Wounds

The most peculiar thing in all of this is that there is still large support for these politicians. A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll found that 60-percent of Virginians said that Herring should stay in office and 58-percent of African American Virginians said that Northam should stay in office. Even though Northam retracted his admission, he still had support by many. The reason why is because of people like Louise Butler, a 76-year-old woman with a deep history of Virginia, including segregation. She said that whatever views Northam held in 1984, she was confident that he was now committed to advancing racial equity. “He’s been a good governor, and he’s been good, as far as I know, to black people,” Butler said. The poll also showed that more Whites believed Northam should resign from office.

This support for political leaders in turmoil is similar to the careers of Richie Incognito and Tyreek Hill, discussed in Part 1 about Kareem Hunt . In the NFL, fans and teams need talent. In politics, citizens look for party lines, common ground and issues that pertain to them. They vote and support many times in spite of the controversy. Nevertheless, just as it did with Incognito, scandals have a way of compiling and spiraling if change and growth are not actually sought after.

In contrast to the current political cycle of dodge and spin, America should adopt a new age of moving forward. Imagine this. A photo comes out of a politician in blackface. Instead of denying that it was him, or retracting his admission, he (or she) comes out and takes full responsibility, admitting the racism and wrongdoing. He then explains the roots of his actions, why he did it, society around him. Context is given. It helps people understand his background. But not stopping then, he explains how and why he has grown and changed since then. He enlightens the public on the policies he’s supported to eliminate racial bias. Last, he commits to serve the community, support bills that will lift up communities of color and push America forward into greater equality. This is the way of Tyreek Hill and should be every politicians attitude and first choice.

Redemption and Rehabilitation

If we want politicians to start doing this, we need to set up an America that is focused on reform and rehab. We can start with our criminal system. America currently represents 4.4-percent of the world’s population, but houses around 22-percent of the world’ prisoners. We need reform. Rehabilitation should not be something that is just awarded to those we like. It should be a right that each of us are granted. And are many ideas on how to do this: give district attorneys, judges, and parole officers more discretion, don’t lock up mentally ill or addicts, provide more educational options in prison, use house-arrest for non-violent offenders, provide tax credits to employers who hire ex-convicts, allow for expungement after good behavior or community service or completion of programs, decriminalize drugs, bail reform, more halfway houses, larger public defender system, create more groups and ministries inmates can join, etc.

In spite of all of the brilliant ideas that there are, they are nothing without a commitment by us to reform and accept. We need to give second chances. Otherwise, we will continue to send people to prison, let them serve time, refuse to accept them back into society and watch them fall back into prison. We’ve created a debilitating system that desperately needs attention, both politically and socially. It’s time we start creating opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation. If we want change to happen, we need to be that change. When we start pushing forward, giving people the space to admit their wrongs and grow, they will start changing. It won’t matter if they are an athlete, a politician, a friend or a family member. Everyone deserves redemption.

Rehabilitation and Redemption Part 1: Kareem Hunt is Entitled to a Second Chance in the NFL

Tucker Carlson Wants to End the War on Scrubs. As a Scrub, I say “What War?”

Tucker Carlson Fox News

I remember how hard it used to be to convince my wife to join Twitter. About the sixth time during each day that I’d burst into an immature cackle while scrolling through my feed, she’d roll her eyes, and I’d take that as my cue to try and convince her that Twitter was indeed a public good. I’d exalt the virtues of its use during instances of government suppression during the Arab Spring, or point out its real-time efficiency in figuring out traffic issues (people love to tweet about traffic while in traffic), but she knew the truth. I was in it for the nonsense.

Sometimes I wish I hadn’t have taken up the task of persuading her to join the fray. For one, I’d be able to avoid seeing all the Kliff Kingsbury-related tweets she favorites. (Apparently, he’s good looking?) But the biggest reason I regret my wife’s presence on Twitter is that she recently alerted me to a piece of video that has launched me into a tailspin of mind-numbing internal debate and dissonance.

“Studies Show”…

Maybe you’ve seen it, and perhaps I’m just reopening old wounds, but Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson recently let this bit of “wisdom” fly:

“Study after study has shown that when men make less than women, women generally don’t want to marry them. Maybe they should want to marry them but they don’t. Over big populations, this causes a drop in marriage, a spike in out of wedlock births and all the familiar disasters that inevitably follow, more drug and alcohol abuse, higher incarcerations rates, fewer families formed in the next generation.”

Here’s the point that Tucker Carlson was trying to make, summed up. White rural modern families now resemble urban families of the 1980s in that there’s rampant male unemployment, a drug epidemic, and an increased rate of births out of wedlock. And his culprit? Women making more money than men.
“This is not speculation; it’s not propaganda… it’s social science. We know it’s true.” Carlson opined, without citing any of the studies he so confidently referenced.
And who did Tucker Carlson blame for his assertion that poor white men can’t afford to put a ring on it? Rich, married folks.
“Here’s the bewildering and infuriating part. The very same affluent married people, the ones who make virtually all the decisions in our society, are doing pretty much nothing to help the people below them get, and stay married. Rich people are happy to fight malaria in Congo, but working to raise men’s wages in Dayton of Detroit? That’s crazy. This is negligence on a massive scale. Both parties ignore the crisis in marriage. Our mindless cultural leaders act like it’s still 1961, and the biggest problem American families face is that sexism is preventing millions of housewives from becoming investment bankers or Facebook executives.”

Modern Family

I don’t know where to start here. I suppose I’ll define where I’m coming from. I’m a work-from-home dad supporting a spouse whose income at her second job greatly outweighs my primary income. I know that on the whole, there’s little value in anecdotes, so take it for what it’s worth when I say I’m not just content in my complimentary role to my spouse, but that I feel, as much as anyone with four kids can, that we’re thriving. I mean, we’re drowning in life’s unceasing avalanche of responsibility, but as far as drowning goes, I feel like we’re doing a decent job. If we were on a metaphorical drowning talent show, I like to think Simon Cowell would be impressed.
Anyway, I’m happy. So maybe it’s the fact that I can’t relate that causes these comments to fail to resonate with me. Or perhaps it’s that I tend to be on the conservative side of things politically, which is where I thought Tucker Carlson resided. It’s hard for me to place the blame for society’s woes on the fact that women aren’t falling all over themselves to wear a white gown and recite vows across from “Cletus the unskilled laborer,” who grew up residing in a manufacturing graveyard and refused to pivot so he could support himself, much less an eventual theoretical family.

Correlation or Causation?

Is my gender having a crisis? Sure. And we always have been. The fact that some women make some money now isn’t the root of our ills. Correlation doesn’t prove causation. I seem to remember learning that one of the things that historically hyper-accelerates women’s participation in the workforce are the wars we testosterone-possessing Homo sapiens show an affinity for both generating and participating in.
There’s nothing more emasculating to me than Tucker Carlson’s assertion that the L’s that the male gender has been collecting aren’t even L’s that we earned. We’re all just victims in a dark timeline, and the reason we’re strung out on the trailer sofa, playing Xbox, and waiting for the coal mine to reopen, is so that we can at least enter some kind of tunnel since the fairer sex has abandoned us. And it’s all because some well-adjusted suburban couple was busy helping reduce the global malaria death rate 48% from 2000-2015. Those charitable bastards.

Is He Right?

Maybe Tucker Carlson is right. I mean, he isn’t. This is an aggressively anti-woman diatribe that also manages to make America’s men completely dependent on government assistance to get them a job and a partner. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that he at the very least has a point about the fact that women should be attracted to men who don’t make a whole lot of money.
I mean, that’s something I’m not going to spend too much time fighting him on. Especially since it worked out for me. My wife seems to have failed to heed the words of Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas, who once famously said, “Wanna get with me, with no money, oh no, I don’t want no scrub.”
I suppose another option for our gender would be to man up while manning up still implies exerting effort in order to overcome adversity. We could learn and develop marketable skills in order to attract a mate, and help take care of the kids we sire. Maybe we can stop acting like scrubs altogether?
But why would we do that when our TV talking heads are hanging out the passenger side of their Fox News ride, trying to holler that there’s someone else to blame?

Don’t Let the Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins Rift “Co-opt” the Movement

Malcolm Jenkins

If there is one thing that social justice movements have proved, it is that there are multiple ways to successfully effectuate change.   The Civil Rights Movement is certainly proof of this. Everyone contributed something that was instrumental to the betterment of the movement. Multiple groups and individuals emerged to push the movement forward each in their own unique way.  The same can be said of the contributions that North Carolina Panthers’ (Panthers) safety Eric Reid and Philadelphia Eagles’ (Eagles) safety Malcolm Jenkins have made to the movement started by Colin Kaepernick in 2016. While they differ in approach, each has made invaluable contributions.

However, on Sunday their contributions were overshadowed.  The attention was turned away from their contributions and was diverted to the escalating rift between Reid and Jenkins.  Immediately following the pre-game coin toss, Reid approached Jenkins, and the two had an unpleasant exchange.

This rift is an unfortunate distraction from the greater purpose of the movement. In the midst of this feud, people may lose sight of the issues that Kaepernick sacrificed his career to bring light to. Kaepernick started the movement to shed light on the injustices of minority communities and to offer solutions to combat police brutality. It is important to make sure that this feud does not overshadow the purpose of the movement.

What Led to the Dispute between Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins on Sunday?

It would have been better for their differences to be worked out in private and for the protesting players to present a united front. Unfortunately, that is not the case.  The rift between Reid and Jenkins is no secret.  It stems from Colin Kaepernick’s protest and the establishment of the Players Coalition.  In 2016, Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and lost his job as a result.   Eric Reid was the first to join Kaepernick in the protest. Reid appeared to suffer the same fate as Kaepernick until the Panthers signed him in late September.

Other players eventually joined the protest.  Among those to join was Malcolm Jenkins, who protested by raising his fist during the national anthem. Jenkins along with Anquan Boldin founded the Players Coalition (Coalition) in 2017 to combat social justice issues and racial inequality.

Initially, Reid was a member of the Coalition, and he and Jenkins stood together in their protest. Unfortunately, their union ended when Reid left the organization. Reid left due to a difference of opinion on what should be the Coalition’s primary focus and who should lead the organization.  Reid wanted one of the Coalition’s goals to be getting Kaepernick back into the league. However, other members did not think Kaepernick’s employment should be a primary goal.  With Jenkins at the helm, the Coalition struck a deal with the NFL without ever putting the Kaepernick issue on the table.  After making the deal, Jenkins stated that he would no longer protest.  After that, Reid left the Coalition.  On Sunday after the game, Reid called Jenkins a “sell-out” and accused him of “co-opting” the movement.

The Feud Cannot Takeaway From the Movement

The public division amongst the protesting players puts the purpose of the movement at risk of getting lost. It is easy for dissenters of the movement to focus on the spectacle and use it to discredit the movement.  The optics of the spectacle affirms what many dissenters think, which is that the movement is disorganized and fueled by protestors who cannot even agree amongst themselves. While this is not true, this is exactly the type of ammunition that opponents of the movement will use to discredit it.

Furthermore, the optics on Sunday affirms the contentions that NFL games are not the time or place for protesting because it distracts from the game.  After Reid and Jenkins’ exchange, it is hard to argue that the protest does not distract from the game.  Therefore, the feud between Reid and Jenkins could “co-opt” the movement.

What Reid and Jenkins Could do Differently

To keep that from happening, the protesting players need to demonstrate unity.  They need to remind the public of the issues that they are fighting for. Although Reid and Jenkins have different approaches, they are both working for the betterment of minority communities.  They both want to see improved police relations in minority communities. Both Reid and Jenkins have taken steps to move the movement forward and effectuate real change. This is what Reid and Jenkins need to keep in the headlines instead of their rift.

Jenkins has already taken a step in that direction. On Wednesday, Jenkins reminded everyone that Kaepernick started the movement and that it cost him his career.  He also stated that Kaepernick should have a job in the NFL.  While this is a step in the right direction, all protesting players need to make sure their actions do not distract from the greater purpose of the movement.

Hot Takes: FitzMagic will fade, Urban Meyer Shut Up, GGG got robbed

Game 163

Unafraid Show is introducing a new weekly staple called HOT TAKES: These are hot takes and fun from the weekend. Send us your hot takes to ImMad@unafraidshow.com and they may make the next week post. Do not read any further if you are easily offended.

NFL

1. Enough with the ties in the NFL. We can’t just be friends. You called me those names, and I wore those outfits. We CANNOT just be friends. How can the cities of Green Bay and Minnesota accept a tie? Raiders vs Rams would never accept a tie. They would do a duel in the parking lot, Carr vs. Goff. Someone would die, but someone would WIN.

2. I applaud Vonte Davis for retiring at halftime of Bills game. Teams cut, release, and bench players (Bill Belichick/Malcolm Bulter) without notice. They don’t care about the precarious positions it put families, relationships, or friends in. So, why should I feel bad for the team? I shouldn’t and don’t. But it does suck for his teammates.

Donald Trump is calling this a win. Two weeks ago Davis would have retired during the anthem; now he did it in the locker room instead.

3. The Buffalo Bills are bad, but the Arizona Cardinals are worse.

4. Don’t expect this Ryan Fitzpatrick magic to last if he is named the starter. Every time he is the backup he plays excellent, but when he’s named the starter, it all falls apart. I love the FitzMagic outfit though.

5. Jaguars > Patriots, even when the playoffs come this year.

6. The NFL is smart. They got NFL fans are more mad about the roughing the passer calls than players kneeling.

Sidenote: what was Clay Matthews supposed to do, ask him to fall or lay a pad down for Kirk Cousins before the hit?

7. Patrick Mahomes will be better than Sam Donald, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson combined.

College Football

1. Urban Meyer should quit while he is ahead. All this talking isn’t convincing anyone. It is only going to make reporters dig for more dirt that will actually get him fired.

Meyer is the guy who gets away with a crime then writes a book called, ” If I Did It”.

2. The NCAA is going to lose the Alston v NCAA case, and the landscape of college athletics will forever be changed. Players will be getting paid sooner rather than later.

GGG vs Canelo Robbery

GGG got worked by the judges. I wouldn’t trust boxing judges to judge a bake sale. They continuously deliver head-scratcher decisions. Boxing needs to make the judges scorecards public after each round. I bet there would be more knockouts when fighters press because they know they are behind!

When I see Canelo standing up to all those GGG power punches all I can think of is the PED tests for Canelo and how they may have made stronger.

People/Politics

1. Mueller must have had Paul Manafort’s ass in a sling if pleading guilty to two counts, forfeiting over $46 million in accounts and real estate, waving your right to an attorney, and snitching is your best option.

2. Things I’m waiting to hear about Tom Arnold and Mark Burnett’s Emmy’s preparty fight, but know I won’t:

I’m tired of these THUGS.

Spoiled brat millionaires.

What a terrible example to all the kids who aspire to be like them!

Send us your hot takes to ImMad@unafraidshow.com and they may make the next week post.