As a U.S. Navy Veteran who was lied to by Senior officers twice (on the practice shell bombing we conducted on the inhabited island of Culebra, Puerto Rico; -- and our so-called neutral stance on the fighting in then Portuguese Angola in 1969), I stand when the national anthem is played out of respect for my father, who served for 44 months in the South Pacific during World War Two, and for all brave men and women who fought in that war.  But because of my military experience, and the experiences of fellow veterans who are less fortunate than me without a home, or who cannot receive the time of day from the V.A., I support anyone who kneels during the national anthem.
    All of the anti-Christian materialistic whining about deregulation, which built to an obnoxious crescendo in the 1980s, has delivered us to a world where our priorities are out-of-whack.  When some people who criticize those who kneel consider "rolling coal" a patriotic duty, you have to know our country is sick.