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Protesters Targeting Retailers in Chicago as Crucial Holiday Shopping Season Kicks Off
John Layfield: Forget about whether the cause is good or bad. I agree with a lot of what they're protesting but all you're going to do is drive people to buy more stuff online or to not shop. The problem you have in Chicago right now specifically with the police department, with social services, is politicians. That what you should be protesting. To go out there and to hurt retail, you're hurting your own city by doing this, I think the cause is lost.
Patrice Lee Onwuka: To create a scenario where you're either cutting the tax base as the other guest mentioned or making it difficult for workers to get to work or shoppers to get to shop you're not winning people over to your cause. Criminal justice reform is a critical issue but they may need reassess whether they are accomplishing what they set out to do.
Gary B. Smith: It certainly hurts the retailers. People live in their own little bubble. They're not going down there seeing a protest and saying I really ought to do something about that. No what they are is annoyed that they can't do their shopping, so they turn around and it hurts the city of Chicago. It's not the right environment.
Julie Alvin: There are a lot of studies that show that protest is an effective form of raising awareness, getting policy makers to pay attention, getting communities to be politically activated so if the goal is to raise awareness and get people to start taking action against what has been some pretty scary police action in Chicago it's helping that particular cause absolutely.
Jonas Max Ferris: If you told me there would be less protests with Trump in the White House than Obama over police brutality I would have been like that's not likely because they mismanage the protests. These protests should be at city hall or the police stations, these are legitimate issues but the public just wants to shop and this isn't about wages.
Report: New Fallout Over NFL National Anthem Controversy
Patrice Lee Onwuka: The national anthem protests are really not about police brutality or criminal justice reform, instead they're trying to be divisive unfortunately the left has used this as a tool to divide Americans based on race. The idea that maybe NFL players should be kept in the back until the national anthem is sung, that's not going to change their behavior. They will find another way to be disruptive and at the end of the day they will be the ones who suffer.
Gary B. Smith: I don't like President Trump being involved in this, this is beneath him. The NFL is doing more harm to themselves than they ever could do as a result of President Trump tweeting.
John Layfield: I'm a part of major league rugby, we had a league meeting to decide what to do with anthem protests and even though I personally agree with what they say they are protesting as inequality and judicial system and incarceration rates among minorities, we decided all should stand and respect every national anthem. But the NFL is a private business, point they have a right to do whatever they want.
Jonas Max Ferris: The NFL players are actually doing a much better job raising awareness to an issue than the other groups we've talked about earlier. It's relatively interesting and the public kind of knows what they're doing and whether you agree with it or not they are raising the issue and they have a right to do it. I like my sports heroes being politically agitated even if I don't agree with their politics. I don't think Trump is right about them not doing it, I think he's right about the mistakes being made by the NFL handling the whole thing.
Julie Alvin: This is about our president being divisive. He is the one driving this narrative and so I think that the NFL is kind of saying okay, maybe we'll just opt out of this because apparently this is something that the president thinks it's worth his time. I'd rather my president find this below him and focus on more important things.
Federal Judge Blocks President Trump's Executive Order Targeting Funding For Sanctuary Cities
Patrice Lee Onwuka: As much as I want to see sanctuary cities disappear, I believe the president's potential overreach and kind of violating federalism and the idea of the tenth amendment could place him at a disadvantage here.
Gary B. Smith: People forget we are a confederacy of states. We're not a dictatorship. We're made up of the states and the states have rights equal if not superior to the federal government. Second of all the funding is controlled by congress not by the president. It's not President Trump's issue to get involved with.
Julie Alvin: Exactly. If Trump wants to bully sanctuary cities then constitutionally he needs congress to write those rules and what he's trying to do here is blatantly unconstitutional.
Jonas Max Ferris: First of all they will already financially punish California and they are taking the away the deduction for state tax. Second of all the solution is in federal immigration troops. You don't take away their allowance even though it's tempting because some of the places need their allowance taken away once in a while.
John Layfield: There's a separation of powers here, it's constitutionally a violation if the president overrides congress because they are the one that direct the spending. But we have an incompetent congress who has no immigration policy. If we had an immigration policy sanctuary cities would not be the symptom that manifests itself.
Predictions
Gary B. Smith: Alibaba sells planes! (BABA) rings up 30 percent gain in 1 year
John Layfield: Merger madness continues! (T) dials up a 20 percent gain in 1 year
Jonas Max Ferris: Holiday sales help "Brick & Mortar" (CX) builds up 25 percent in 1 year
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