IndependentVoter

Speak for yourself VOLcano, I hate the B1G and think they are vastly overrated but screw UF, I want the coconut shrimp.

With all the recent discussion about whether we should still use the EC or switch to the Popular Vote (which I do not support, the entire country should get to decide who is president, not just the coasts), I started to think, why not just compromise and do a system in the middle.

The US could still keep the EC and even keep the same numbers, but make it more like the primaries where instead of winner take all it is proportional. This would in theory give all voters more power in terms of electing the president while still keeping the electoral process equal and not giving all the power to the coasts.

Think of it this way, currently California is winner take all and the Republicans have no chance of winning California. That is despite the fact that California is probably around 40% Republican. Instead of the Democrats getting all Electoral Votes from California like they currently do, they would only get 60 percent of the Electoral Votes in California while Republicans would get 40 percent of the Electoral Vote.

Same thing in Texas, Democrats currently have no chance of winning Texas, despite that probably a good 35 percent of Texas votes Democrat. Instead of those votes not mattering at all, Republicans would only get 65 percent of those Electoral Votes instead of getting them all and the Democrats would get 35 percent of the Electoral Votes in Texas.

This would actually help voter turnout as well since in a lot of states a lot of voters probably don't even care because they know their vote means nothing (Republicans in California and New York, Democrats in Texas). This would let those voters actually have a say while still keeping balance between the coasts and the middle of the country.

What irritates me about this is the need for attention. I don't care if they decide to stay at the Trump hotel or not, but why the need to bring attention to it? You're a professional basketball player, it's a business trip, just go to your non-Trump hotel and then go to the game. No need to make a big scene about it. This election really shows how vain some of these athletes are and how they think they are a much bigger deal than they really are.

Have fun LeBron when your next contract isn't as great because NBA TV ratings tank just like NFL ratings have this year. I know you won't care because you have more money than you know what to do with but your teammates might care when their contracts go down as well.

Jcaz that's all fine and dandy, but if I was over in Saudi Arabia would I be allowed to put up my Christmas tree without my life being threatened? Would I be able to wear a cross around my neck in public? I think we both know the answer to those questions.

But we're supposed to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion right?

I was just watching some news and of course with Christmas approaching we already have new examples this year of cities not being allowed to celebrate Christmas due to people of other religions (mostly Muslims) and Atheists being offended. I also saw an article about some Muslim woman who was the first to compete in a beauty pageant with the hajib and how she was hopeful that more people would come to understand and appreciate Muslims and how we can live together in peace, all that BS.

We hear all this stuff about how we need to embrace Muslims, how we need the support them when they get here and how we need to come together. How come to shoe is never on the other foot? I'm sorry but this is something I'm just really tired of. Muslims show up here and expect to be treated like royalty after essentially declaring war on the U.S. and the West. They expect to be treated like royalty while in their homelands in the Middle East they slaughter Christians. What happened to those Christians on the mountains that were surrounded by ISIS was nothing short of genocide. Yet somehow we're supposed to be compassionate and adjust to them here?

I'd really like a Muslim perspective on this because it really does bother me. Why should we even be nice to Muslims in this country? What do you think would happen if a couple million of us Christians decided to move to the Middle East? Lets go ahead and ignore the hellhole countries over there for a second, lets just say a few million Christians decide to move from the U.S. to say, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or Egypt, are we going to be met with open arms? Are you all going to learn about our beliefs and cultures? Are you all going to be accommodating if there is something we're offended by in your religious culture?

Of course we all know the answer, the answer is we would all be lucky to make a week without being beheaded or in the very least jailed indefinitely. This is where Muslims are so hypocritical, they expect tolerance here while practicing complete intolerance over there. Why do we allow this?

You know, I typically never hope for a player to get injured, even on a bitter rival team. With that said, Kaepernick is truly a player that I hate, and I hate every aspect of him.

The guy is literally everyone that is wrong about the U.S. If he were to suffer a career ending injury on the field I can tell you right now I would probably smile a little bit.

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Doesn't Azteca Stadium in Mexico City have a chain-linked barbed wire fence around the field?

I mean, between that, the altitude, and the pollution...what free agent would choose to go to a place like that?

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The stadium situation is absolutely the biggest issue with Mexico City, way above the altitude and pollution. No doubt Mexico would have to be willing to pony up some money for a new stadium, and with the pollution concerns my bet would be it would need to a dome or retractable roof stadium. My guess is though Mexico would make it happen if the NFL wanted to come there.

They would just have to do what they are doing with LA right now. They would have to play at Azteca Stadium for the first 2 or 3 years while the new stadium is being built.

Agreed, they even just mentioned on ESPN that the teams indicated the travel to Mexico City is much easier than it is to London. Mexico City and Toronto would not pose any real travel challenges like London would. There is a way around that though.

The London team could essentially have two bases of operation, their home operation in London as well as their U.S. based operation. The way they could schedule it is this, the London team would play in groups of 4, so in a season it could be 4 home games, then 4 road games, then 4 homes games, and finish up with 4 road games, or vice versa. This would help a lot with traveling for the London based team and they could essentially stay in the U.S. at their U.S. base for a month at a time.

In terms of the visiting team, while I would be a disadvantage to the London based team the NFL could try its best to make sure a team goes to London AFTER it's scheduled off week, that way they could arrive in London early and adjust to the time. If a team does have to be scheduled the week before going to London they could try their best to make sure they play the Thursday night game the week before, again allowing them more time to get to London in advance In the very least there could also be a rule that a team could not play a Sunday night or Monday night game before going to London.

These would be some solutions to the travel and logistical issues with a London based team.

Good riddance NBA. I mean how dumb can you be, did they not see the NFL ratings slide after all the Kaepernick stuff started? I agree that the NFL ratings slide wasn't just about the kneeling stuff, but I think it had a huge part of it. And before this season everyone thought the NFL was the one league pretty much immune to any kind of ratings decrease.

If the NFL can lose ratings, what do they think is going to happen to the NBA, a league that already struggles a lot of times with ratings in the regular season. These people are just complete hypocrites. I'm glad they came out though, while I was always a huge college basketball fan I have never cared that much about the NBA outside the playoffs. I went to one NBA game about 3 years back and honestly just didn't care for it.

It's okay though, something else I don't have to spend money on. I have already quit watching the NFL outside of Saints games (and even then I didn't watch the Saints-49ers game because of I didn't want to give the 49ers credit of watching a second of their games this year) and now I don't have to worry about watching any of the NBA either.

I used to be a big NASCAR fan back before Brian France ruined it, it's too bad it's been down for about a decade now. They could've easily benefited a lot from this election. Despite all the stupid rules at least you know where NASCAR stands, they are American. They always pray before the race, proudly show the American flag, and you never see a driver do a stupid protest during the National Anthem.

NASCAR has been going in the right direction the last year or two with the emphases going back to winning races. I might have to go back to NASCAR more with my disposable income since the NFL and NBA obviously don't want it anymore.

Noonan yep same here. This lady I'm friends with, I've always known she's a liberal but she's just gone crazy since the election. I'm hopeful in a couple weeks they'll all start to calm down.

And honestly, after the situation with the UL-Lafayette, I don't believe most of the stories. I think people are making these stories up in the hopes they make Trump supporters look bad and to try to make the argument that Trump is encouraging these types of actions. I think they are mad that most Trump supporters are just going about their normal lives and not succumbing to the stereotypes the media has placed on them.

Even with my friend, I don't know if I believe her story or if she's just making it up to confirm in her own mind what she thinks about Trump supporters. Unless I see video evidence in some of these incidents I won't believe them.

I have not yet but I fear I may have to lose one soon here. I tried to be nice to the people I know and care for who voted for Hillary. I didn't brad about the election, didn't rub it in their face, didn't even try to say that Trump was a perfect candidate, tried to emphasize that I don't agree with everything he's done but that after deep introspection that he was the better candidate. Of course none of that seems to matter to these people.

Now given, family or long time friends are off limits. I'll disagree with them but I would not cease to be friends with them. With that said, I do have one friend of mine who I play tennis with and we've been friends for a little over a year. The day after the election she was freaking out about Trump's victory, calling the people who voted for Trump racists, bigots, uneducated, ignorant, uncultured, all the typical names. She was stunned when I told her I voted for Trump and was saddened and ask how I could do it. She seemed to accept it, but when we played tennis Friday night she definitely still seemed off and much more distant than usual. Then on Saturday she calls on a tirade talking about how she just saw a racist white Trump supporter tell a black family that they are going to have to move back and how they aren't as good as whites. She basically then called all Trump supporters racist and said she wanted to remind me what I just voted for. She also said she planned to do this every time she saw this type of outright racism by Trump supporters.

Now at this point I haven't talked to her since then, honestly because I didn't see it until early today. My plan is to just ignore the message, not even grace it with a response, still be kind and then when I see her at tennis on Wednesday to not even mention it. If she does try to do it again though I plan on telling her that I will not discuss any political topics with her. If she continues on after that then sadly I may have to re-evaluate our friendship and if I want that friendship to continue in the future.

Have any of you all had to face this type of decision after the election? Have friends who supported Hillary tried to guilt trip you in this fashion? I'm honestly thinking at this point that with the Democrats acting so vile that unless I'm already friends with you that I could honestly never make a new friendship with a Democrat. Do you feel the same way at times? Would someone's political views affect if you want to be friends with them?