Stephen Hawking on Adversity

Joseph Sobran on Education

R.I.P. Tom Petty

Rock legend Tom Petty died today after being found unconscious after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in Malibu, California.  The 66 year old rock iconoclast was taken to the hospital and put on life support.  However, since Petty showed no brain activity, it was decided to pull the plug.

Petty had been around the entertainment world for four decades.  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Petty was also a successful solo artist as well as a member of the 1980s supergroup "The Traveling Wilburys".  Petty also hosted a music channel on Sirius XM.

President Trump on the Las Vegas Shooting

NFL Players Pissed Off at Trump

Fox Sports sideline reporter Pam Oliver predicted on MSNBC that NFL players will continue to Take the Knee throughout the regular season.  Oliver opined the protest is about President Trump, while others have pushed a Black Lives Matter motivation or even an anti-American animus.

Former President Clinton spokesman Joel Lockhart, reportedly advised the NFL to shift the symbolic protest to locking arms to show unity during the National Anthem.  Unfortunately, not all players adhered to this crisis management suggestion.  In addition, the lock step pose still did not allay the ire of many patriotic NFL fans. 

It is unclear what sort of behavior that League officials will tolerate.  In the past, the NFL has threatened New York team players  from donning decals  to show solidarity with 9/11 victims.  More recently, the NFL denied the Dallas Cowboys  permission to wear a "5" on their helmets  to remember the fallen law enforcement officers from a shooting.  Yet antics like Odell Beckham Jr. seems to be tolerated.

A better question is what NFL fans will tolerate.  Television ratings are markedly down. Long time fans are publicly burning licensed merchandise and even tickets.