Originally Posted by charlie g

ya, hard to believe someone would be offended by this expression unless they were looking to be offended.

People are not really educated about the constitution or the bill of rights. The first amendment does not guarantee the right of free speech. The first amendment was to limit congress from enacting laws to limit free speech. You can go into your bosses office and tell him he is a douchebag, but chances are you are going to get fired. There is no way you can sue your boss for wrongful termination using your"first amendment rights" were violated. The first amendment does not say you can say whatever you want whenever you want to whomever you want....without facing repercussions
and consequences for the content of your speech.

The NFL players do not have a legal right to say or do whatever they want. There are conduct clauses in every single player's contract in ALL major sports that spell out what is appropriate behavior for players on and off the field. While it would be hard to defend a team sanctioning a player for something as minor as kneeling for the national anthem when they are away from the field, there is definitely a case for sanctioning when the player is dressed out and standing on the field. At this point they are directly representing the team as they ARE the product. For years the NFL stood for the No Fun League as most celebrations were not permitted, as well as other on field actions that expressed individualism.

What trump was originally commenting on is a view held by millions of other Americans. He did not say any legal action should be taken or that congress should look into the matter. Trump simply stated his opinion about a situation- the owners could tell these guys to knock it off and stand for the anthem. There is nothing wrong with this, it is part of his job as president to be the moral leader of the nation. Many past presidents have commented on current issues in their times. I am sure they took shit too