Schumer Shutdown Could Deprive Overseas Troops of NFL Title Games
For deployed members of the military who were looking forward to Sunday’s NFL conference championship games, they may not be able to watch them and they can thank the Democrats.
The Armed Forces Network (AFN) is one of the victims of the genius political gambit by Senate Dems to sink a stopgap government funding measure as a way to hold the Trump administration hostage until they get their way on granting continued amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under DACA.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer aka #SchumerShutdown refused to concede any ground to President Trump over immigration reform and just as he and Nancy Pelosi have been promising, they chose to put the interests of those illegals over those of 360 + million American citizens including the troops.
Message to Chuck, this is not exactly a winner when it comes to public relations.
— AFN (@AFNlistens) January 20, 2018
Via Yahoo Sports “Government shutdown could prevent military from watching NFL playoffs”:
United States military personnel stationed overseas may be unable to watch Sunday’s NFL conference championship games due to the government shutdown.
As part of the shutdown, the American Forces Network, which allows U.S. armed forces to watch American TV around the world, has been unavailable since a standoff over immigration policy caused the shutdown Friday night at midnight.
The Pentagon, according to CNN’s Barbara Starr, said that AFN would remain unavailable if the shutdown continued into Sunday. It had been scheduled to show both the AFC championship and NFC championship games.
Saturday was the first day of the shutdown. Photos on Twitter appeared to show TVs displaying a message that the network was unavailable:
AFN had been scheduled to show both the AFC championship game, between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots, and the NFC championship game, between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.
NFL PR director Brian McCarthy tweeted that military members would be able to watch the game at USO Centers online through NFL Game Pass. But USO Centers are few and far between around the world.
Classical music was playing on American Forces Network radio and television stations and the network posted a message online that said AFN services early Saturday morning in Europe were not available due to the government shutdown https://t.co/H9hcTrIfwZ
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) January 20, 2018
According to Stars and Stripes “Overseas military families lose AFN; access to other services remains unclear”:
Defense Department personnel and their families overseas woke up Saturday to much confusion, uncertainty and some anger about how their lives would be affected by the U.S. government shutdown.
The shutdown became official at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to agree on a last-minute spending bill to fund government operations.
It didn’t take long for some DOD operations to grind to a halt: American Forces Network, which provides entertainment and command information to U.S. servicemembers worldwide through its television and radio services, was dark early Saturday morning in Europe.
Classical music was playing on its radio and television stations and the network posted a message online that said AFN services were not available due to the government shutdown.
The loss of AFN programming means U.S. military personnel overseas had to find another way to watch the NFL’s NFC and AFC football championship games.
The network received some angry comments on Facebook from viewers about the timing, though some of the ire was directed at members of Congress. “No NFL divisional championship games … perfect timing … I bet members of congress are gonna watch it,” someone wrote on AFN Europe’s Facebook page.
The military should be exempt from the bullshit of domestic politics and even if the NFL all but spat on the troops by throwing in with the national anthem protesters football is football.
For those who have been in the armed services, life can be pretty miserable at times and the games are an invaluable way to rest and unwind. This is even more so in areas that are hostile and where the men and women who just took it in the shorts from Schumer are laying their lives on the line every time that they leave the base and may not come back.
But one thing that the Democrats can never be accused of is doing what is in the best interests of those who serve and who for some odd reason they seem to view as adversarial forces.
It could be that a deal will be yet reached for the games to be broadcast to the deployed troops but you can be damn sure that the illegal aliens will be able to tune in without a problem.
Conservatives should hand the closure of certain federal functions around the necks of Schumer and all democraps. They may be yhe “non-essential” elements of government, but they will cause discomfort to a lot of individuals who expect less government interference in their lives.
Who gives a crap. As former Marine, would be a cold day in purgatory before me and mine watched NFL take a knee and did Ole Glory. NFL and it’s anti American players can take a hike for all I care.