President Trump vs. the Black Lives Matter athletes
Players kneeling to support Black Lives Matter during National Anthem
President Trump has hit back at professional football players who are supporting the anti-police Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement by refusing to stand for the national anthem. In response, The New Yorker is charging the President with racial demagoguery. A former Democratic Congresswoman is calling for all NFL players to kneel during the National Anthem. And former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann urges fans to also remain seated during the playing of the Anthem.
The President’s defenders are likely correct in observing that the Left has picked a losing cause. The fans of pro-football are largely patriotic and working class, and their attendance at games is already in decline. Anti-Trump tirades by pro basketball players are also facing rebuttals.
Never Trumpers like Senator Ben Sasse and the National Review criticize the pro-BLM protesters but fault Trump as unpresidential for wading into this fight.
Celebrity culture, the Kardashians, and tattoos
Kardashian family
But one of the reasons Trump got elected is a rebellion by Middle America not only with ruling class politics but also the popular culture being promoted by its media mainstays — such as the promiscuity of the Kardashian family and tattoos, which may also be a health hazard.
Declining dynamism and over-leveraging of debt
Declining dynamism in the economy has also arguably contributed to the blue-collar voting rebellion against the establishment.
Many economists think that markets, not the Fed, should set interest rates, and the public seems to agree. The ultra-low interest rates the Fed has mandated have fueled an over-leveraging of debt.
German elections
As we go to press, German exit polls are predicting a 13% vote for the anti-establishment conservative party, the AfD, which will give the party its first representation in the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel has won the election, as expected, but will have to form a coalition government with one or more of the other parties.
Extra-galactic cosmic rays, space travel, and the weather
Sky from Pierre Auger Observatory, Argentina
Astronomers now have solid evidence that the most energetic particles in nature come from sources outside the Milky Way.
The particles — colloquially referred to as “cosmic rays” — are also crucial determinants of climate change through their seeding effect on cloud formation.
But threats to human health from cosmic radiation pose a problem that must be solved prior to successful planetary space travel and colonization.
Click here to go to the previous Founders Broadsheet (“Saturday’s news – 9/23/2017”)
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