There is no law broken by taking a knee during the National Anthem..

[Peacetrain]

Anyone who thinks he can get people fired for kneeling during a song.. is a brick short of that proverbial full load..

We are the United States of America, and we have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.. and under the rights to liberty is the right to kneel during the National Anthem.. We also have the right to do jumping jacks during the anthem and stand on our heads while saying the pledge..

I fully understand the protest of why athletes are kneeling during the anthem.. but lets just get this straight. Protest or no protest.. as Americans we can kneel, cross our legs, raise our arms.. during the playing of the anthem.. it is our right.

[gratuitous]

1. Also . . .

Other people don't get to tell you what you're protesting. The person who gets to explain the protest is the person doing the protesting.

[Peacetrain]

2. Precisely.. and no one has the right to try and take away your livelihood because you protest.

[demigoddess]

6. political speech-covered in the FIRST AMENDMENT

[onenote]

11. The First Amendment covers government action

if a private employer wants to fire someone for kneeling during the national anthem, they can do so unless the employee has more rights than is typically the case (most employees are "at will" meaning they can be fired for cause or for no cause.

[JonLP24]

14. They have a collective bargaining agreement

And there is a collusion case underway against the NFL by Kaepernick and Eric Reid where they all they need is to show preponderance similar to a civil case. They also allege they were motivated by fear from Trump so his many tweets as well as Elway's stupid comment actually makes their case stronger.

[tblue37]

15. But when the president pressures the private business and threatens them

with loss of revenue by firing up his base, that is government interference in both free speech and free enterprise.

[demigoddess]

18. and when you have the president screaming about it and other people decide to attack

physically and verbally.

[Iggo]

12. Charlottesville Nazis. (n/t)

[dump2020trump]

3. Couldn't have said it better

Amen. I couldn't have said it better

[Peacetrain]

4. Thank you... I am just stymied by people

who are claiming a patriotic point of view.. by taking away someones rights to liberty.. its mind boggling

[Trust Buster]

5. If I owned a store and had a Trumper running one of my cash registers who repeatedly chased

Away some of my customers because the Trumper cashier would not quit stating his/her Trumper opinions to my customers, I would fire that cashier in a heartbeat and have every legal protection to do so. #Just another brick in the wall

[Ms. Toad]

7. Correct - a legal reality that quite a few people seem to be missing.

If an NFL team chooses to fire football players for taking a knee, it is within its legal right to do so.

[JonLP24]

16. That would make sense

If NFL teams didn't have rosters with players with legal issues that are in the league plus the Cardinals owner was pushing Kavanaugh. What about that? I'm a Cardinals fan that opinion is chasing me away but am still supporting them and the NFL because fuck Trump. The sport is equally popular in red and blue cities.

Also last season some team's were horrible because we didn't see all of the best players in the league because owners are cowards scared of racist access Hollywood tape Trump. That is chasing away customers.

[GulfCoast66]

8. My job requires that I occasionally represent my employer in the media

And other public venues.

I guarantee that if I were to make a political statement of any kind during one of those appearances I would shortly be unemployed.

Not defending the owners cause the nature of the NFL is different than where I work. But the owners do indeed have the right to terminate a player that kneels. The only thing that would prevent it is if the player’s collective bargaining agreement allows it. Of this I have no information. Another reason to support unions.

[Yupster]

10. I have an office which our clients visit

If I plastered my office walls with "Bernie 2020" posters I would quickly be told to take them down.

If I didn't I would be fired.

I am free to protest all I want to. Just not at work.

I don't know why people can't get their brains around that.

[JonLP24]

17. They had no rules over this

They have a union there is a case moving against the NFL and Trump's multiple tweets on this helps their case.

[Captain Stern]

9. That is true.

It's also true that there is no law being broken when players are fined, or fired, for kneeling during the anthem. People have been fired for far less.

To say that our right to liberty means we can do whatever we please while we are at work surely can't be a serious opinion. I think you might be confusing the Declaration of Independence with actual law.

The whole anthem thing isn't really a legal issue, it's a moral one. In my opinion, it shouldn't really be an issue at all....it's some high-profile athletes using their positions to make a peaceful statement in protest of very real injustices in our country. Their protest is both peaceful and respectful.

[tblue37]

13. Beto O'Rourke's response to a question about taking a knee:

snip

The freedoms that we have were purchased not just by those in uniform—and they definitely were—but also by those who took their lives into their hands riding those Greyhound buses, the Freedom Riders in the deep south; and in 1960, who knew well that they would be arrested, and they were—serving time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Rosa Parks getting from the back of the bus to the front of the bus.

Peaceful, non-violent protests—including taking a knee at a football game—to point out that black men, unarmed; black teenagers, unarmed; and black children, unarmed; are being killed at a frightening level right now, including by members of law enforcement without accountability and without justice. And this problem, as grave as it is, is not going to fix itself. And they're frustrated, frankly, with people like me, and those in positions of public trust and power, who have been unable to resolve this or bring justice for what has been done and to stop it from continuing to happen in this country.

And so non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it. That is why they are doing it. And I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully, standing up, or taking a knee, for or your rights, anytime, anywhere, in any place. But thank you very much for asking the question.