The professional football team representing Washington, D.C., has certainly had a difficult time establishing a brand.

The Washington Football Team officially became the Washington Commanders in February 2022, about 18 months after the franchise caved to corporate and public pressure and permanently retired the Redskins nickname and logo, designed by a proud member of the Blackfeet Tribe, because of supposed racism. Now, a little more than a year after they adopted a new name and a new identity, they find themselves having to reconsider that name and identity now that their trademark application has been denied.

On Wednesday, Washington, D.C., trademark attorney Josh Gerber reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the Commanders' application for two reasons. First, the name "Commanders’ Classic" has already been trademarked for the annual college football game between Army and Air Force, and the USPTO expressed concern that consumers might be confused by the similarity. "It's meant to protect consumers from being confused as to who's offering them a particular product or service," Gerber explained.

The second reason for the rejection involved Martin McCaulay, a D.C.-area resident who had already filed trademarks for "Washington Wolf Commanders" and "Washington Space Commanders" long before the Washington Commanders name was officially announced. However, McCaulay's attorney, Darren Heitner, claimed in July 2020 that McCaulay "has no intention to stand in the way of the Washington NFL team" and "will gladly do whatever is in his power to clear a path for the Washington NFL team to rebrand itself without the need to incur substantial legal fees."

\u201cAs for the pending trademark applications, McCaulay has told the press that he intends to turn over any trademarks the team may need, without any cost.\n\nWe'll see if he keeps his word.\n\n[5/6]\u201d

— Josh Gerben (@Josh Gerben) 1684941708

In other words, should the suits in the Commanders' front office opt to appeal the rejection, they might have a reasonable chance of succeeding. It is unlikely that anyone of good faith would mistake an NFL team for a college game or "think that these two are somehow related," Gerben suggested. And while McCaulay has filed for trademarks, they have not been registered. So as long as McCaulay "keeps his word" about a possible deal, the Commanders could likely buy out the rights to his current trademark filings.

Of course, the Commanders could always forego a trademark, but doing so would likely mean a substantial loss of future revenue due to unlicensed merchandise. Though the team would still have some rights, "the registration certainly provides a supercharge of any rights that you might have," Gerben said.

Still, if the Washington team decides to move on from yet another nickname, now would be the time to do so. Beleaguered owner Dan Snyder is reportedly working out a deal to sell the franchise to Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris, as well as billionaire Mitchell Rales and NBA and Michigan State University legend Magic Johnson, for a record $6.05 billion. The deal must also be approved by three-fourths of the 32 NFL franchise owners.

Snyder has been accused of attempting to derail a sexual harassment investigation and of using racial slurs. In 2021, the team was fined $10 million for the franchise's supposedly toxic work environment.

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A Georgia Democratic General Assembly member slammed members of her party recently, accusing them of "lying about their address" to send their own children to better schools while simultaneously rejecting a school choice bill.

Representative Mesha Mainor angered her fellow Democrats when she stood with Republicans in support of Georgia Senate Bill 233, which would have provided $6,500 vouchers to parents with students performing in the bottom 25% in the state. The vouchers could have been used to pay for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses.

SB 233 received support from Republican Governor Brian Kemp but was voted down last month by 16 House Republicans. However, the bill could be voted on again at a later time.

The legislation's critics claimed it would take much-needed funding away from the public school systems in poorer neighborhoods. As part of the program, a public school's funding would decrease with every student that opted to leave and use their voucher at a private institution.

Mainor, a supporter of "parent choice," was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the legislation.

"Why is no one fighting for young Black minds? Why isn't that one of the things that we're fighting for?" Mainor told Fox News Digital. "I actually say you're a hypocrite. That's what I tell them directly. You are being a hypocrite. There are state lawmakers right now where their children are in schools that they're not even zoned for … They're lying about their address, state lawmakers, but they won't vote for this bill."

Mainor accused some members of her party of failing to prioritize the educational needs of impoverished black children.

"I support parent choice because some parents have children in schools where their needs are not being met," she continued. "In my district in particular, we have schools with 3% reading proficiency, 3% have obtained math proficiency by the eighth grade. And so to say that this is just how it is and that the kid needs to just suffer these consequences, I don't agree with that. And I don't think that all parents agree with that either."

Mainor's fellow Democrats came after her after she failed to vote along party lines.

Democratic state Senator Josh McLaurin offered $1,000 to anyone willing to run against Mainor. McLaurin posted a photograph of a check on his Twitter account with the caption, "All I need is a name."

\u201cAll I need is a name\u201d

— Josh McLaurin (@Josh McLaurin) 1680369015

Democratic State Representative Michelle Au tweeted a link to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article titled "The Jolt: Democrats threaten primary against centrist Atlanta lawmaker." In the post's caption, Au explained that Mainor was not receiving pushback from colleagues for "voting differently" or "having different opinions."

"This is about floridly whipping votes in favor of a harmful bill we took a CAUCUS POSITION AGAINST," Au wrote. "And losing."

Mainor stated that there is a "collective effort" by her Democratic colleagues to get her out of office. She called the pushback "ludicrous."

"I think my fellow Democrats – and not all of them, I hate to say that because it's not all of them – some of my colleagues will march in the streets for abortion rights. I'm pro-choice. They were crying on the floor for transgender rights. They were very outspoken about antisemitism. My problem is, why is no one fighting for young Black minds? … And so to say that all these other issues are important, but a child living in poverty that's of color is at the bottom of your totem pole of priorities, that's a problem with the value system if you ask me," she added.

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