E.J. Dionne: Memorial Day lessons for the NFL

Washington • It is, unfortunately, appropriate that the National Football League’s owners decided to issue their new rule attacking free expression the week before Memorial Day.A holiday dedicated to those who gave their lives for our nation’s freedom has itself been mired in political controversy almost from the beginning. The latest round of posturing and pandering around patriotism should not surprise us.Samuel Johnson saw patriotism as “the last refuge of a scoundrel.&