Jun 7, 2023·edited Jun 7, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
The rabid Republican fascist "religious" minority are gleeful to have made law that causes needless suffering and deaths of American women, forced births by 10-year-old little girls and forced births by the victims of rapists. They exhibit the worst immorality imaginable while parading around as "good Christians."
So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the PGA was not detered from joining forces with the Saudi LIV Golf League, even though it is backed by money from a country that sponsored the 9/11 terrorist assassins and a hit team who murdered and dismembered a Saudi journalist and contributing writer for The Washington Post. And even though just one year ago, the PGA alluded directly to the terrible things the Saudis had done to America and was "at war' with LIV. Money and power clearly trampled over morality again.
So tonight, it should not have shocked me that some business experts in public relations and related areas who appeared on Stephanie Ruhl's MSNBC Show, as well as sports writers in a few publications, talked about golfers like Phil Mickelson, who left the PGA Tour last year to make more money from the Saudis, as todays "Winners." They went on to say that golfers like Tiger Woods, who stayed with the PGA Tour this past year instead of taking what amounted to an 800 million dollar bribe to join LIV, were "the Losers." But I was shocked.
Right out of the gate, these business and sports professionals are identifying winners and losers of today's announced merger by who grabbed the most money once the dust settled. Not one of them talked about morality, the Saudi murder of innocents in America, terrorism or the virtue of taking a principled, ethical stand against monsters.
I just want to apologize to the many people who lost loved ones on 9/11, to the former fiance and many friends of Jamal Khashoggi, and to any Americans who have suffered because of the murderous Saudi regime. America deserves much better than this disgusting and disgraceful takeover of an admired American sports institution by a barbaric country seeking to whitewash it's bloody reputation at the expense of the American people and the reputation of America. What the PGA did is shameful and outrageous.
Thank you, Robert, for making the PGA/LIV merger the lead for Today's Edition Newsletter. I wondered whether anyone would care enough to pursue the story. How can people be so heartless/cruel. Two things while I try to keep my emotions in check: Americans need to pursue green energy in earnest. Americans need to vote Democrats in office everywhere.
My old dog no longer can differentiate outdoors from indoors & so he poops on my favorite rug. That’s what the Saudi government did to my favorite sport. its called Capitalism. LIV (Saudis) NRA (U.S.) & it’s the same poop: profits over people.
911 was the turning point of our country’s credibility , when Neo conservatives put their focus on Iraq versus facing the those with the real responsibility. Imagine had we not invaded Iraq but demanded real accountability from Saudi.
As always, thank you, Robert, for providing news, context, and perspective. Speaking of Saudi Arabia, has anyone ever explained how on 9/11 the bin Laden family was allowed to fly out of the US while all other flights were grounded or not allowed into US air space? I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it seems evident that somebody in government knew enough about their family's link to the terrorist attack to let the family flee.
I call your readers' attention to the New Yorker: May 8th, The Fugitive Princess: Fleeing Dubai's Royal Family. You will quickly see that when protecting the racing horses or business transactions of United Arab Emirates versus the protection of seriously abused women, business wins every time.
Thanks for featuring a great analysis of the PGA sellout. I missed most of the commentary yesterday because I was working the polls for NJ's primaries (in my retirement, I've become a poll dancer). I was impressed last year when the PGA took its stand against turncoat golfers, and puzzled as some outcasts were seemingly back on tour this year (I don't know that to be the case, but it crossed my mind as I watched a couple of tournaments on TV). PGA's reversal has lost me as an interested bystander, and I won't be watching any more of their self-destruction.
I like your term, "sports-washing," as an apt synonym to "money laundering," which I think I may have heard in passing on MSNBC. It's amazing how sports entertainment and illicit or immoral behavior sometimes seem related in a Sodom and Gomorrah sort of way. Maybe professional golf deserves to suffer the same fate.
This week's comments from Robert's able keyboard (alas, typewriters are now in museums) make it clear that America's corporations will justify anti-American conduct in their Board rooms and shareholder meetings in a hot minute if there is money to be made. And they know which party butters their bread.
Support LGBTQ in the public marketplace but appease the anti-gay political forces with large donations to the worst of them, no matter if they are out to injure the LGBTQ persons who they publicly support.
And those same corporations seem to forget what happened on 9/11 and the murder and dismemberment of an American journalist. If there are profits to be made, the color green covers the blood.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the laws governing corporations puts the dollar ahead of all else. The notion of shareholder interests created a Frankenstein monster wearing an American flag, a monster whose animation is impossible to see.
A win for the embattled Trump. More riches to flow into the corrupt coffers of Kushner/Trump thanks to fellow gangster leader of Saudi Arabia. Great analysis but you did not mention what the prince had gotten from Trump/Kushner that inspired his generous gifts: Arms and nuclear technology during the Trump regime were reported in the major media at the time. Why isn’t the Senate looking into all of this? Why does a country with 365 days of sun and endless supply of oil need nuclear technology? To build an alternative energy source? I doubt it.
Robert: Your review and commentary on the latest plan in the professional golf world makes me wonder if there are other golfers out there who would be interested in creating a competitive golf association . In particular, why not develop and create the PMGA--i.e.--Professional Miniature Golf Association ? Requires only one club, no carts or caddie, not even any grass! There are hundreds of courses already available, and this could be international (perhaps excluding certain unfavorable countries). I wouldn't necessarily take this as a laughing matter. I have played and enjoyed the game of golf most of my life, and hope I may be able to stay with the sport, but perhaps in a modified form. Just a thought!
Money Trumps every other consideration. Everybody has their price I guess. I've never played golf, but I did n make a putt for Arnold Palmer once using his putter. After a second retirement at 78 I worked as an extra in the movies and TV for something to do in my old age, and occasionally fell into a little acting occasionally, but as an extra they sometimes cast you as a stand-in which I did a vouple of times, once for Ernest Borgnine in his last movie, and in Jerry Lewis's last movie as a stand-in for one of the other actors, anyway, I went to an audition one day as a they were doing an Arnold Palmer commercial for Xarelto and needed someone to stand in for him and as a body double for the long shots. So we did two days in Palm Springs and 3 days at his club at LaTrobe Pennsylvania. He could only work 4 hours a day as he had bad knees and on the last day of the shoot he'd already gone home and they needed one last shot with the camera on the ground filming the ball rolling in the hole. Somebody showed me how to hold the club but after a few arrempts no luck, but then I sunk the ball. However the camera wasn't rolling so a few more attempts, then I did it, about a 15 foot or so putt. In the commercial my blurry image quickly morphs into Arnold. In the long shots I was just driving the golf cart and walking a couple of times. The other players, Kevin Nealon and Brian Vickers (the race car driver) and later Chris Bosh, a basketball star. all were very nice, all had doubles as well. I have a neat photo of all of us. Arnold was really nice, he had a great sense of humor. He used to call me Arnie and once ran his golf cart really close to me and yelled "Get outta the way Arnie" so I yelled back. Hey, watch where you're goin' buddy :) I'm sure he's still playing golf, but in the heavenly realms now. . .
"...[a] constant reminder that American business is for sale at the right price...." Another way, perhaps, of saying limitless amorality, inhumanity, and depravity--?? Compare with Gen. Eisenhower - per Prof. HCR - on eve of Normandy landing in an unsent letter, paraphrased here, that if the invasion failed he bore full responsibility and he alone. Staggering.
Jun 7, 2023·edited Jun 7, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
First, my money is on an indictment tomorrow.
On the story about golf (it was Mark Twain who called it a good walk spoiled), the cursory coverage I saw referred to a merger between the PGA and LIV, not a total sell-out. Thanks for clarifying. And I do hope that there will, at least, be some high-profile people walking away and castigating the deal for what it is. (My own relatively brief experience with golf ended when I hit a ball in the fairway and it landed three feet behind me. (A tree was involved.)).
The whole situation with LIV and the PGA Tour saddens me a lot. Coming from someone who is a lifelong golfer and fan, it really makes it harder to watch PGA Tour events now. I genuinely worry where the Saudis will turn to next for their next sportswashing project. This isn’t new for them, about a year ago the PIF tried to buy the Premier League, and the British government had to step in and stop it. Overall, it’s simply driven by greed, and the fact that Trump is involved in it just makes it worse.
I like golf. But I will watch that blood sport no more. It’s consigned to the same bin as CNN, labeled SELL-OUT. (P.S. I’ll keep playing golf, though.)
The rabid Republican fascist "religious" minority are gleeful to have made law that causes needless suffering and deaths of American women, forced births by 10-year-old little girls and forced births by the victims of rapists. They exhibit the worst immorality imaginable while parading around as "good Christians."
So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the PGA was not detered from joining forces with the Saudi LIV Golf League, even though it is backed by money from a country that sponsored the 9/11 terrorist assassins and a hit team who murdered and dismembered a Saudi journalist and contributing writer for The Washington Post. And even though just one year ago, the PGA alluded directly to the terrible things the Saudis had done to America and was "at war' with LIV. Money and power clearly trampled over morality again.
So tonight, it should not have shocked me that some business experts in public relations and related areas who appeared on Stephanie Ruhl's MSNBC Show, as well as sports writers in a few publications, talked about golfers like Phil Mickelson, who left the PGA Tour last year to make more money from the Saudis, as todays "Winners." They went on to say that golfers like Tiger Woods, who stayed with the PGA Tour this past year instead of taking what amounted to an 800 million dollar bribe to join LIV, were "the Losers." But I was shocked.
Right out of the gate, these business and sports professionals are identifying winners and losers of today's announced merger by who grabbed the most money once the dust settled. Not one of them talked about morality, the Saudi murder of innocents in America, terrorism or the virtue of taking a principled, ethical stand against monsters.
I just want to apologize to the many people who lost loved ones on 9/11, to the former fiance and many friends of Jamal Khashoggi, and to any Americans who have suffered because of the murderous Saudi regime. America deserves much better than this disgusting and disgraceful takeover of an admired American sports institution by a barbaric country seeking to whitewash it's bloody reputation at the expense of the American people and the reputation of America. What the PGA did is shameful and outrageous.
Thank you, Robert, for making the PGA/LIV merger the lead for Today's Edition Newsletter. I wondered whether anyone would care enough to pursue the story. How can people be so heartless/cruel. Two things while I try to keep my emotions in check: Americans need to pursue green energy in earnest. Americans need to vote Democrats in office everywhere.
My old dog no longer can differentiate outdoors from indoors & so he poops on my favorite rug. That’s what the Saudi government did to my favorite sport. its called Capitalism. LIV (Saudis) NRA (U.S.) & it’s the same poop: profits over people.
911 was the turning point of our country’s credibility , when Neo conservatives put their focus on Iraq versus facing the those with the real responsibility. Imagine had we not invaded Iraq but demanded real accountability from Saudi.
As always, thank you, Robert, for providing news, context, and perspective. Speaking of Saudi Arabia, has anyone ever explained how on 9/11 the bin Laden family was allowed to fly out of the US while all other flights were grounded or not allowed into US air space? I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it seems evident that somebody in government knew enough about their family's link to the terrorist attack to let the family flee.
I call your readers' attention to the New Yorker: May 8th, The Fugitive Princess: Fleeing Dubai's Royal Family. You will quickly see that when protecting the racing horses or business transactions of United Arab Emirates versus the protection of seriously abused women, business wins every time.
About professional golf's completely conscience-free sell-out and acceptance of Saudi blood money:
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony
-- Bob Dylan, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
(with apologies to those who saw the same comment following a WaPo article)
Thanks for featuring a great analysis of the PGA sellout. I missed most of the commentary yesterday because I was working the polls for NJ's primaries (in my retirement, I've become a poll dancer). I was impressed last year when the PGA took its stand against turncoat golfers, and puzzled as some outcasts were seemingly back on tour this year (I don't know that to be the case, but it crossed my mind as I watched a couple of tournaments on TV). PGA's reversal has lost me as an interested bystander, and I won't be watching any more of their self-destruction.
I like your term, "sports-washing," as an apt synonym to "money laundering," which I think I may have heard in passing on MSNBC. It's amazing how sports entertainment and illicit or immoral behavior sometimes seem related in a Sodom and Gomorrah sort of way. Maybe professional golf deserves to suffer the same fate.
This week's comments from Robert's able keyboard (alas, typewriters are now in museums) make it clear that America's corporations will justify anti-American conduct in their Board rooms and shareholder meetings in a hot minute if there is money to be made. And they know which party butters their bread.
Support LGBTQ in the public marketplace but appease the anti-gay political forces with large donations to the worst of them, no matter if they are out to injure the LGBTQ persons who they publicly support.
And those same corporations seem to forget what happened on 9/11 and the murder and dismemberment of an American journalist. If there are profits to be made, the color green covers the blood.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the laws governing corporations puts the dollar ahead of all else. The notion of shareholder interests created a Frankenstein monster wearing an American flag, a monster whose animation is impossible to see.
A win for the embattled Trump. More riches to flow into the corrupt coffers of Kushner/Trump thanks to fellow gangster leader of Saudi Arabia. Great analysis but you did not mention what the prince had gotten from Trump/Kushner that inspired his generous gifts: Arms and nuclear technology during the Trump regime were reported in the major media at the time. Why isn’t the Senate looking into all of this? Why does a country with 365 days of sun and endless supply of oil need nuclear technology? To build an alternative energy source? I doubt it.
Robert: Your review and commentary on the latest plan in the professional golf world makes me wonder if there are other golfers out there who would be interested in creating a competitive golf association . In particular, why not develop and create the PMGA--i.e.--Professional Miniature Golf Association ? Requires only one club, no carts or caddie, not even any grass! There are hundreds of courses already available, and this could be international (perhaps excluding certain unfavorable countries). I wouldn't necessarily take this as a laughing matter. I have played and enjoyed the game of golf most of my life, and hope I may be able to stay with the sport, but perhaps in a modified form. Just a thought!
Ed Cherlin
Money Trumps every other consideration. Everybody has their price I guess. I've never played golf, but I did n make a putt for Arnold Palmer once using his putter. After a second retirement at 78 I worked as an extra in the movies and TV for something to do in my old age, and occasionally fell into a little acting occasionally, but as an extra they sometimes cast you as a stand-in which I did a vouple of times, once for Ernest Borgnine in his last movie, and in Jerry Lewis's last movie as a stand-in for one of the other actors, anyway, I went to an audition one day as a they were doing an Arnold Palmer commercial for Xarelto and needed someone to stand in for him and as a body double for the long shots. So we did two days in Palm Springs and 3 days at his club at LaTrobe Pennsylvania. He could only work 4 hours a day as he had bad knees and on the last day of the shoot he'd already gone home and they needed one last shot with the camera on the ground filming the ball rolling in the hole. Somebody showed me how to hold the club but after a few arrempts no luck, but then I sunk the ball. However the camera wasn't rolling so a few more attempts, then I did it, about a 15 foot or so putt. In the commercial my blurry image quickly morphs into Arnold. In the long shots I was just driving the golf cart and walking a couple of times. The other players, Kevin Nealon and Brian Vickers (the race car driver) and later Chris Bosh, a basketball star. all were very nice, all had doubles as well. I have a neat photo of all of us. Arnold was really nice, he had a great sense of humor. He used to call me Arnie and once ran his golf cart really close to me and yelled "Get outta the way Arnie" so I yelled back. Hey, watch where you're goin' buddy :) I'm sure he's still playing golf, but in the heavenly realms now. . .
"...[a] constant reminder that American business is for sale at the right price...." Another way, perhaps, of saying limitless amorality, inhumanity, and depravity--?? Compare with Gen. Eisenhower - per Prof. HCR - on eve of Normandy landing in an unsent letter, paraphrased here, that if the invasion failed he bore full responsibility and he alone. Staggering.
First, my money is on an indictment tomorrow.
On the story about golf (it was Mark Twain who called it a good walk spoiled), the cursory coverage I saw referred to a merger between the PGA and LIV, not a total sell-out. Thanks for clarifying. And I do hope that there will, at least, be some high-profile people walking away and castigating the deal for what it is. (My own relatively brief experience with golf ended when I hit a ball in the fairway and it landed three feet behind me. (A tree was involved.)).
The whole situation with LIV and the PGA Tour saddens me a lot. Coming from someone who is a lifelong golfer and fan, it really makes it harder to watch PGA Tour events now. I genuinely worry where the Saudis will turn to next for their next sportswashing project. This isn’t new for them, about a year ago the PIF tried to buy the Premier League, and the British government had to step in and stop it. Overall, it’s simply driven by greed, and the fact that Trump is involved in it just makes it worse.
I like golf. But I will watch that blood sport no more. It’s consigned to the same bin as CNN, labeled SELL-OUT. (P.S. I’ll keep playing golf, though.)