The latest on the National Anthem controversy in the National Football League: Vice-President Pence attended the Indianapolis Colts game today to see Peyton Manning’s jersey retired. (Indiana is, of course, Pence’s home state, where he served as governor.) But Pence walked out when a handful of players refused to stand for the Anthem:
Vice
President Mike Pence has left the 49ers-Colts game after about a dozen San
Francisco players took a knee.
***
Pence said on Twitter : “I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.”
Pence said on Twitter : “I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.”
The White
House also issued a statement from Pence, in which he says Americans should
rally around the flag. Pence said: “I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL
players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem.”
Colin
Kaepernick, meanwhile, says that if a team will sign him, he will stand for the
Anthem.
And a new
poll finds a shocking drop-off in the NFL’s image:
From the
end of August to the end of September, the favorable ratings for the NFL have
dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent, and it has the highest unfavorable
rating – 40 percent – of any big sport, according to the Winston Group survey
provided exclusively to Secrets.
***
The Winston Poll from the Washington-based Winston Group found that the attitude of [men aged 34 to 54] went from an August rating of 73 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable to 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, a remarkable turn against the sport.
The Winston Poll from the Washington-based Winston Group found that the attitude of [men aged 34 to 54] went from an August rating of 73 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable to 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, a remarkable turn against the sport.
It remains
to be seen how this will play out in game attendance and television ratings, but
it seems obvious that the NFL has been hurt badly by its tacit endorsement of
protests that most Americans see as wholly unjustified and anti-patriotic.
_____________________
In Other News
THE WHITE
HOUSE
Office of
the Press Secretary
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8,
2017
TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION IMMIGRATION POLICY PRIORITIES
Executive
Summary
The Trump
Administration is ready to work with Congress to achieve three immigration
policy objectives to ensure safe and lawful admissions; defend the safety and
security of our country; and protect American workers and taxpayers.
BORDER
SECURITY: Build a southern border wall and close legal loopholes that
enable illegal immigration and swell the court backlog.
- Fund and complete construction
of the southern border wall.
- Authorize the Department of
Homeland Security to raise and collect fees from visa services and
border-crossings to fund border security and enforcement activities.
- Ensure the safe and expeditious
return of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and family units.
- End abuse of our asylum system
by tightening standards, imposing penalties for fraud, and ensuring
detention while claims are verified.
- Remove illegal border crossers
quickly by hiring an additional 370 Immigration Judges and 1,000 ICE
attorneys.
- Discourage illegal re-entry by
enhancing penalties and expanding categories of inadmissibility.
- Improve expedited removal.
- Increase northern border security.
INTERIOR
ENFORCEMENT: Enforce our immigration laws and return visa overstays.
- Protect innocent people in sanctuary
cities.
- Authorize and incentivize States
and localities to help enforce Federal immigration laws.
- Strengthen law enforcement by
hiring 10,000 more ICE officers and 300 Federal prosecutors.
- End visa overstays by
establishing reforms to ensure their swift removal.
- Stop catch-and-release by
correcting judicial actions that prevent ICE from keeping dangerous aliens
in custody pending removal and expanding the criteria for expedited
removal.
- Prevent gang members from
receiving immigration benefits.
- Protect U.S. workers by
requiring E-Verify and strengthening laws to stop employment
discrimination against U.S. workers.
- Improve visa security by expanding State Department’s authority to combat visa fraud, ensuring funding of the Visa Security Program, and expanding it to high-risk posts.
MERIT-BASED
IMMIGRATION SYSTEM: Establish reforms that protect American workers and
promote financial success.
- End extended-family chain
migration by limiting family-based green cards to include
spouses and minor children.
- Establish a points-based system for green cards to protect U.S. workers and taxpayers.
