A week after being re-elected, Sepp Blatter is suddenly resigning as FIFA President. My question is what did they have on him, as clearly he was doing victory laps over the weekend. Whatever it was, the guy went from king of the castle to royally screwed in record time.
Of course, maybe John Oliver was the one to finish him off.
Open thread.
raven
AMF
MattF
Well, Oliver called on the FIFA sponsors (almost all US companies) to finish off Blatter– aaannnnddddd… he’s gone.
Crusty Dem
I’m starting to think this is Oliver’s world and we’re just living in it.
Which is a vast improvement over what I HAD been thinking…
Keith P.
Is that good enough to get Oliver to drink a Bud Lime?
Breezeblock
@Keith P.: JO sounded like he would drink the entire bottle of Bud Lime. Isn’t that against the Geneva Convention? Or if you willingly drink that, it’s OK, I guess…
dr. luba
UEFA was threatening to pull out and stage its own World Cup……but I think there is more than just that.
Pleased: soccer fans worldwide, FBI
Unhappy: fellow corrupt soccer officials, Qatar, Putin
catclub
@Crusty Dem: That is a remarkable improvement over Drudge being the assignment editor for the US press.
Mandalay
The Europeans hated Blatter like poison.
We’ll probably never know exactly what actually made him quit, but it looks like UEFA was seriously considering telling FIFA to shove their World Cup up their ass, and hold their own competition in its place. Had UEFA done that, and been able to lure Brazil and Argentina to participate as well, then it would have been curtains for FIFA.
TLDR -> If Blatter hadn’t quit FIFA would have imploded.
Jay C
Well, that was quick…..
From what I’ve read about the FIFA scandal (mostly from foreign new sources: US media coverage has been, IMO, thorough but superficial) old Sepp seems to have actually thought he could ride the scandal out, having (he assumed) personally distanced himself from the corruption enough to feign “innocence”; plus: having a well-oiled network of cronies inside FIFA (including, it’s theorized, a great many probably in on the grift themselves) willing to keep him in power: hence the election results from last week.
Elizabelle
It was appalling Blatter was reelected. No pity here.
Clean it up.
Origuy
Will Oliver wear those gold Adiddas on the show next week?
Karen in GA
Maybe today will be the day that I get to sit and read up on this stuff so I understand it. There was an in-depth report on ESPN a few days ago, but my husband was talking over most of it. Then near the end of the show he looked at the screen, and then he asked me, “What’s going on with this?” That’s what I was hoping to figure out. (I love the guy anyway.)
And since this is an open thread, Muppet is Iggy’s unwilling muse.
NotMax
Few things more daily discomfiting than a Blatter infection.
Doug R
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy
catclub
@Elizabelle:
But since he was, he can now go out on his own, before being pushed.
Cacti
Brian Phillips at Grantland nicely summarized why FIFA should be raked over the coals:
lol
Yes, it was John Oliver. Not the Justice Department.
White guys doin’ it on their own.
Marc
@lol: You might want to look up the definition of the word “joke”.
scav
Timing does rather smell a bit like crepe paper ego management somehow. Somehow something multinational and necessarily involving a lot of money sounds most likely to be swimming beneath the surface.
Brachiator
It was that phone call from Denny Hastert.
Linnaeus
@Mandalay:
So like a Euro Cup+ ?
Mandalay
@Cacti:
There is some serious bullshit right there. A “clear line” for an estimate of what might happen in the future? FFS. Qatar has the fourth fastest growing economy in the world, and they are building like crazy, with or without the World Cup. And the author fails to cite any migrant deaths associated with the World Cup. There is plenty to condemn about FIFA, and about how Qatar treats its migrant workforce, but it takes some serious cognitive dissonance, and intellectual dishonesty, to blame FIFA for (estimated future) migrant deaths!
Also, the Qatari government has explicitly stated that the have been ZERO migrant deaths associated with the 2022 World Cup.
I’m not remotely defending Qatar or FIFA, but I’m tired of lazy, ignorant assholes writing bullshit on this issue.
lol
@Marc:
Seeing way too many folks pushing this seriously.
Gin & Tonic
Since it’s an open thread, and since Vlad is already semi-on-topic anyway, here’s a great piece from this coming Sunday’s NYT Magazine about the St. Petersburg troll factories.
Cue some Bob calling me a Nazi in 3, 2, 1….
MattF
Somewhat off topic… This is a NYT Magazine article about large-scale internet trolling originating in Russia. We’ll see, given Putin’s defense of FIFA, if the Russian trolls start attacking The Daily Show.
ETA: Great minds think alike.
Amir Khalid
@Mandalay:
The Qatari claim that no one has died in the massive World Cup construction projects is hard to believe.
Laertes
@Mandalay:
Why on Earth should we accept that claim at face value?
You’re insisting that we accept them as a credible source of information about their cruel treatment of migrant workers. That is a defense.
scav
@Amir Khalid: It’s right up there with all the shootings of unarmed people by cops in whatever those counties are in FL and elsewhere being justified.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mandalay: Since you are too lazy to do a google search on your own, or even read the news about it, I did one for you.
I’ll go one step more for you: Qatar government admits almost 1,000 fatalities among migrants
Keith
Over at The Guardian the running theory is that this morning’s revelations concerning the FIFA secretary general, putting the trough closer to Blatter’s nose:
Also, FIFA now has an empty Blatter – which I’m sure came as a relief.
Mandalay
@Laertes:
Oh bullshit. I’m attacking an asshole who is making bogus claims about “a clear line” between estimated future deaths and FIFA. Get a fucking grip.
Keith G
@lol: Whew. Skin here it is thin.
Just a jaw dropping unnecessary comment.
Cacti
@Mandalay:
The actual statement from the Qatari government is that there have been zero deaths at “World Cup construction sites”.
What is or is not a world cup construction site remains undefined.
Mandalay
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh FFS, you are providing a link that shows there are a lot of migrant deaths in Qatar. I explicitly stated “There is plenty to condemn … about how Qatar treats its migrant workforce”.
Get back to us when you have a link supporting the author’s idiotic claim of a “clear line” between estimated future migrant deaths in Qatar, and FIFA.
Jay C
@OzarkHillbilly:
Check your link, it’s occupying Room 404…
@Laertes:
And yeah, that “zero deaths” claim is bogus as all get-out: unless the Qataris are claiming that there’s been an epidemic of suicide among their migrant workers….
Cacti
@Jay C:
The zero deaths at “World Cup construction sites” reeks of plausible deniability weasel-speak.
Laertes
@Mandalay:
No. Here’s what you meant to say:
“Wow, okay. You’re kind of right? In hindsight, it was pretty silly to accept the claims of the Qatari government. You write fast and mistakes happen, so let’s drop that bit. Maybe if you weren’t such a dick about it it’d be not quite so difficult to walk it back. That aside, I’m still not convinced that it’s reasonable to blame FIFA for the easily forseeable consequences of their decision to hire murderously careless contractors, but I’m giving it some more thought now that I’ve rejected the transparently self-serving claims of a bunch of psychopathic slavedrivers.”
Cacti
@Laertes:
I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the paid flaks for a wholly unaccountable absolute monarchy.
dedc79
@Mandalay: I’d like to hear you address the clear link you appear to draw between what Qatar’s government says (i.e. zero migrant deaths associated with 2022 world cup) and reality.
shell
Mysteries, mysteries.
In a similar vein, last night Rachel Maddow wondered about the Hastert indictment. How come there hasn’t been, from him or his lawyer, the usual protestation of innocence or welcoming his day in court? Noone even knows who’ll be representing him.
fuckwit
Every time I hear about the Rethug Clown Car Circus, I keep hearing that classic circus song, the stereotypical “clown song”…. what the hell is the name of that song? Doo do doodle doot doot doot doot doo do.. etc. that one.
Second random thought: people here are often confused why Obama’s economic and financial and trade policies are so firmly right-wing and corporate and why he’s always had corrupt banking insiders running his financial policy…. then stop for a minute and realize who his VP is: the former Senator from MBNA. I like Biden for many things, but his financial policies have always been slightly to the right of Chuck Shumer (the Senator from Lehman Bros). It’s straight-up insider crap, and there’s no way with Biden around that any kind of dirty hippie oversight of banks, corporations, and financial theives/pirates would ever happen. Clinton will be no better. Really the only hope would be Sanders, but that’s unrealistic, so ultimately there is no way financial corruption and income inequality will get fixed top-down, we’ll have to do it ground-up grassroots.
dedc79
@Mandalay:
If you accept that Qatar doesn’t protect its migrant workers adequately, and that as a result hundreds (thousands?) have died on recent construction projects (see numerous press reports, including those by the Guardian).
And if you accept that building a whole bunch of stadiums constitutes an enormous construction project that will involve a lot of migrant workers (and you do, right?).
And if you accept that FIFA shouldn’t have but did award Qatar the World Cup, and that it would not have done so but for a hell of a lot of corruption and bribery.
Then what’s your problem with projecting that migrant workers already have and likely will continue to die as a result of that decision?
Mandalay
Now you’re flat out lying. I didn’t say I accepted their claims and you know it. I posted what the Qatari qovernment had stated, since it strongly conflicted with the argument the linked aiuthor was making.
The problem is that the author made bold claims about FIFA and Qatar in the absence of any hard evidence.
What mistake? I stand by what I wrote, and have I previously posted here on the subject of lazy assholes making bold claims about migrant deaths in Qatar due to the World Cup on very flimsy evidence.
I notice that, for all your poutrage, you are very careful not to defend the author of that drivel.
fuckwit
@Gin & Tonic: Bob appears to have been fired a long time ago. Maybe he sat next to the undercover reporter who wrote that story? Someone should ask her if she knows dear old Bob.
Laertes
@fuckwit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrance_of_the_Gladiators
Punchy
Sepp Bladder is up to his : in this shit. It makes me ileum to think about all the suffering in Qatar caused by this football mouthpiece. Whether he liver dies in the next few years, his legacy is pure grift. It may be heart to prove his fiduciary bloodthirstiness in court, but in the quart of pubic opinion, he’s vein, arrogant, and generally, an asshole.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Yup. Thought of Bob in Portland (not) immediately.
FlipYrWhig
@fuckwit: Then again, Biden’s top economic adviser was Jared Bernstein, often seen as an oasis of progressivism in the administration.
FlipYrWhig
@Punchy: Blatter has a lot of gall. It’s enough to make a person vent his spleen!
Laertes
@Mandalay:
You quoted them as an authoritative source, and this was essential to your argument. It’s a little rich to claim now that you thought the quote was bullshit. I invite you to re-read your comment and see what I’m talking about here.
So it’s pretty much like I said: You accepted the Qatari claims uncritically, without giving it much thought. You’ve been called on it, but because you’re proud, and because you’re being piled on, and because you’re human and it’s just natural to defend a position that’s under attack even if it’s a stupid position that you merely blundered into by accident, you’re now stuck with it. On another day, with another writer making that exact same argument, you’d see right through it and join the pile-on. But today you drew the short straw. Bad luck. Could happen to anyone, really. Don’t feel bad.
Gin & Tonic
@fuckwit: There’s been another Bob here with much shorter posts but the same recycling of RT crap.
rikyrah
the question is…
WHAT DO THEY WANT WITH THESE CHILDREN?
WHY ARE THEY SO INTERESTED IN AFRICAN CHILDREN?
…………………..
Uganda’s adoption ‘racket’
June 2 2015 at 01:03pm
By Reuters
Kampala – Ugandan families have been bribed, tricked or coerced into giving up their children to US citizens and other foreigners for adoption, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation has found.
Leaked documents, court data and a series of exclusive interviews with officials, whistleblowers, victims and prospective adoptive parents have revealed:
* A culture of corruption in which children’s birth histories are at times manipulated to make them appear as orphans when they are not.
* A lucrative industry in which lawyers acting on behalf of foreign applicants receive large payments.
* A mushrooming network of unregistered childcare institutions through which children are primed for adoption.
* An absence of reliable court data to counteract allegations of negligence or fraud by probation officers involved in the adoption process.
Across Uganda, church-backed orphanages and private child care institutions are springing up. “Fifteen years ago there were just two dozen orphanages, now there are as many as 400 such institutions,” said Stella Ayo-Odongo, executive director of the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/uganda-s-adoption-racket-1.1866592#.VW33Gl50y71
Punchy
@FlipYrWhig: And there’s a vas deferens between a bilious org like FIFA and a much more ro-bust org like UEFA. Not to split hairs, but Bladder was a boob. A untrustworthy heel. Not to rib him too much, but anyone with a backbone and goalie gloves would be a better choice.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: Russian blogger on Twitter says Blatter’s next presser will be in Rostov-on-Don. Pretty funny, actually.
Amir Khalid
So who is going to be the new FIFA president? Platini? David Ginola? English FA vice-chairman David Gill? Prince Ali of Jordan? Former Brazilian sports minister Pele? The job needs someone to clean house at one of the world’s biggest, richest, and most corrupt sports governing bodies. (I think FIFA’s only real competition on this regard is the IOC.)
Laertes
@Gin & Tonic:
I’m embarrassed that I don’t get that joke. Can you spell it out for me?
jl
I hope Budweiser had something to do with the resignation. Oliver promised to drink a bottle of Bud beer and like it, if the swill mongering corporation helped push Blatter out.
Rafer Janders
@Mandalay:
Well, if you can’t believe a self-interested statement from the Qatari government, what can you trust?
Tree With Water
FIFA is a lot like Bush-Cheney. Apparently everyone understood that FIFA’s corruption was absolute, yet year after year its corruption was ignored. Likewise, everyone understands Bush-Cheney (et.al.) plotted the War in Iraq, and yet that fact is even still treated as taboo, as though an indiscretion has been committed that social grace commands be ignored altogether.
Face
Wow. Does everyone think Bud Lite Lime is that shitty?
/quietly pushes 12pack of BLL into dark corner with left foot
Mandalay
@Laertes:
Not at all. I quoted them because they conflicted with the claims that the author was making. And the argument I was making was not that the Qatari government has a treats its migrant workers otherwise – I explicitly stated otherwise – but that the journalist was making bold claims without supporting evidence.
Hardly. I made a very similar argument on BJ the other day, and I stand by it.
Oh, by the way:
Now you may or may not believe that data, but that is somewhat beside the point. It is a very specific claim being made about deaths arising from World Cup construction: there have been ZERO deaths. So when an author wants to rant about how Qatar is killing migrant workers due to World Cup construction, the burden is totally on that journalist to provide some evidence, and they don’t provide any. Citing a biased third party which is providing an estimate about future deaths is meaningless, and gutter journalism, and you know it. At least you would if you took your blinkers off.
You keep wanting to frame this as my support for Qatar, which is competely non-existent. My post was about a shitty journalist making a sensational claim without any evidence.
ET
This is totally OT (and in contrast to the dishonor of FIFA officials) but I am excited about the 2 Medals of Honor that were awarded today for soldiers of WWI. I didn’t hear about the the events surrounding Sgt. William Shemin but i have heard about Sen. Schumer’s efforts on behalf of Sgt. Henry Johnson of the 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters).
NorthLeft12
I was watching CBC Newsworld on Saturday and they had a reporter on a panel who said that Blatter was going to be gone very soon. The other two journalists pretty much laughed out loud in disbelief. He hinted that there were some powerful interests [UEFA and sponsors] who were fed up with his act, and would see to it that he was removed as FIFA President.
I did not believe the guy either.
ThresherK
ESPN’s OTL today is a pretty good primer / history, filling in some gaps that even this Edmonton Drillers fan had about Seppo*.
The major chunk of it seems like a “videobituary” piece which they put together months ago in preparation for the passing of Blatter’s career.
(*The lost, and least, of the Marx Brothers.)
different-church-lady
So wait, what happens to the cats in the pet apartment?
Paul in KY
@Gin & Tonic: Ms. Savchuk should watch herself. Might accidently run into a hail of bullets or ingest polonium.
Mandalay
@Rafer Janders:
It’s nothing to do with believing or disbelieving. It’s a specific claim being made that completely refutes the argument that the author made that FIFA was causing migrant deaths in Qatar due to World Cup construction. But the author ignores that claim, which he surely knew about, and yet still claims FIFA is killing migrant workers in Qatar without a shred of evidence.
I can understand why you might not necessarily believe the what the Qatari government says. But are you really gullible enough to believe the author instead?
Paul in KY
@fuckwit: They probably actually might have one (besides Bob) who posts here. That’s sorta sad. The mighty nation that used to be the CCCP reduced to paying doofuses to post comments in blogs.
Laertes
Qatar’s appalling human rights record is well-known. Recapitulating it in every article about Qatar is silly. The statement you’re quoting is ridiculous on its face.
If tomorrow Donald Trump says that Ceres is made of green cheese, I can go right on ahead and write a story about the Dawn mission without taking time to refute him.
For God’s sake, here.
Tree With Water
@Face: Bud was my beer of choice when I first started drinking beer, and remained so for years. This was back when selections of beer were pretty much limited to a handful of major brands. Anyway, after ten years or so I began to discern a chemical taste when I drank one (or two, or twelve), and began to avoid it. To this day I don’t know if Bud changed its recipe, or if somehow my metabolism had changed and that accounted for the sudden and unpleasant taste. But the last time I drank one it was the same story- it tasted awful.
Paul in KY
@Tree With Water: Good analogy. On Iraq war, lots of elites wanted it to happen, knew what was up & yet can not admit that, so they just agree to ignore facts, lying eyes, etc.
Paul in KY
@Face: It’s a helluva a lot better than Coors. They can use that in an ad!
Mandalay
@Laertes:
How fucking dumb are you? I can only restate what I have told you repeatedly :
Got it now, troll?
FlipYrWhig
@Punchy: Sepp Blatter thought he’d be inscrutable–when Loretta Lynch came calling, he’d’ve sphinxed ‘er. But it turns out FIFA shot de’ wad in ‘im. Alimentary.
Valdivia
I bury myself in work for class and I missed out on this. A true wow from me at this news. Now I have to catch up!
Cacti
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (Arabic: مؤسسة قطر) is a semi-private chartered, non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Emir (the current Emir is His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani), and his second wife Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.
The “Supreme Committe for Delivery & Legacy” is chaired by no less than the Emir of Qatar himself.
So yes, you’re arguing that the pronouncements of the absolute monarch of Qatar, on World Cup worker safety, should be taken at face value.
different-church-lady
@Mandalay: Oh man, don’t you get it yet? Bullshit is perfectly acceptable as long as it’s in the service of a righteous cause! Quit being such a fuddy duddy!
Laertes
@Mandalay:
Your post was about no workers are dying in Qatar because of FIFA, and you quote Qatar government sources as support. I understand that you wish your post had been about something else, and I understand why you’re repeatedly insisting that it was.
But it wasn’t. I mean, go read it. You’re defending the post you wish you’d written, not the one you actually wrote. And the reason it’s not working is that all we can see is that second one, and all you can see is that first one.
Gin & Tonic
@Laertes: Rostov-on-Don is the first place former Ukrainian President Yanukovych appeared in public after he [fled the country | was ousted in a coup.]
ThresherK
Bob Ley just said “It’s like the Volkswagen full of Republcan presidential candidates” regarding the top six-to-eight folks, which London handicappers are already making book on, for the next FIFA president.
And before that he referred to “Well, there was no helicopter taking off from the South Lawn of the White House”, comparing Nixon and Blatter.
A few days ago, didn’t he have a Howard Beale moment and just rip up a FIFA press release because he couldn’t handle the idea of reading its contents without laughing at it?
I always liked the cut of his jib.
Valdivia
@Amir Khalid:
Pele was a firm Blatter supporter so I don’t think so. I think it will Figo who was going to run and dropped out. Or Prince Ali maybe.
different-church-lady
@Laertes: Shorter: “Your assertion is unverifiable bullshit. Therefore this other unverifiable bullshit must be true.”
Cacti
@different-church-lady:
And you know it’s bullshit, because the Emir of Qatar said so?
Mandalay
@Paul in KY:
Some scallywag came up with a biting Bud ad for Qatar in 2022.
different-church-lady
@Cacti: I know it’s bullshit because someone said it, and at this point I just assume everything everyone says is bullshit. Which includes the Emir of Qatar. You sort that out.
Mandalay
@Laertes:
Bullshit. Try reading it again troll….
Keep lying fuckwit.
Laertes
Right. it’s funny how you say you’re not defending Qatar right after literally defending Qatar:
Mandalay:
It was a silly thing to do. I understand why you’d regret it. But you did it, and continuing to pretend that you didn’t instead of simply saying “Oops, my bad” or just ffs shutting up about it looks silly.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for explaining the Rostov business. I did not get it either. It is a funny quip. In more pressing news: does baby girl have a name yet?
@Laertes: gets the courage award for ‘fessing up first. I like that in a commenter.
Paul in KY
@Mandalay: Ha, ha!!!! Thanks for link.
different-church-lady
@Laertes: So you’re just going to ignore…
Condemning someone is a funny way of defending them. Just observing.
gene108
@dedc79:
Sigh…what Mandalay tried to get at is Qatar is building new buildings like mad, with or without the World Cup…
Given the general lack of concern of worker’s rights in the Persian Gulf countries, deaths will occur.
How you can tie a death at Lusail City directly to the World Cup is looking for correlations, which might not be directly mapable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Doha,_Qatar
PurpleGirl
Just my .02 (and I haven’t been following the FIFA story or anything about Qatar) but maybe deaths don’t occur on the construction sites but some place off-site, like late in the evening after a long day in the sun and heat. Just a thought.
dedc79
@Mandalay: If prior to the construction of the Panama Canal, someone had pointed to the lack of adequate workplace protections in Panama, the danger associated with the type/scale of the construction project, and America’s history of considerable workplace casualties on massive transportation projects, and based on all of this wrote an article projecting that the decision to build the canal in panama would result in a number of casualties, am I to understand that you’d call such a claim bullshit and fault them for not drawing a clear line between the decision to move forward with the project and the estimated future casualties?
You’ve written a bunch of increasingly angry responses, but you haven’t told us what your point is. How does one draw a clear link between a decision and an estimate of future deaths without doing some projecting/extrapolating?
different-church-lady
@PurpleGirl: Things like that would be fascinating to know. It’s a shame hardly anyone is interested in knowing them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Centrimamism!
Valdivia
@Gin & Tonic: yes is there a name for the little grandchild yet?
dedc79
@gene108:
I understand what he’s trying to get at, and I’m all for pointing out that some of the Qatar-bashing articles have presented overall migrant casualty stats as if they were World Cup stats, but Mandalay’s point as described by you is ridiculous on its face.
The international community doesn’t have much say in whether Qatar builds a new skyscraper and kills 100 nepalese migrant workers in the progress. The international community did/does have a say in whether Qatar builds a bunch of new football stadiums that will in all likelihood result in MORE deaths, and which are unlikely to serve any function after the World Cup is over. And I’m not making any gigantic leap in logic or reason to point out that if the tournament had been awarded to England instead of Qatar, far fewer people would die during construction.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Head to desk. And the man is paid for that output.
Not so far from our paid trolls in Russia …
Elizabelle
@Valdivia: It’s been lovely to see you on threads more! Yea summer, hmmm?
catclub
The guardian has stream of consciousness coverage:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/jun/02/fifa-calls-press-conference-amid-latest-corruption-claims-live
les
Lemme see if I get it. The quote:
Let’s see–nobody doubts migrant workers die–reportedly in large numbers– on construction projects in Qatar. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will require construction projects–some might say massive construction projects–in Qatar. International Trade Union Confederation–which could possibly have some experience in such matters–makes an estimate of possible/probable deaths.
Mandalay says:
and cites Qatari propaganda as backup.
Leave Mandalay alooooone!
Tree With Water
@Paul in KY: Reporters are hardly “elite”. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, not a single one has asked any of the democratic candidates, prospective candidates, or party shot callers if they believe that Bush-Cheney (et.al) plotted to War on Iraq. I submit the evidence is conclusive, and that war was launched because of their deliberate lies and distortions. And while I’ll tolerate equivocations, and downright incompetence from any politician on any number of issues, I refuse to do so when the issue is war or peace. To turn a blind eye is to set the table for the next avoidable catastrophe, as the false narratives and fairy tales about our War in Vietnam set the table for the Bush administration’s treachery. I don’t understand why more people don’t see it that way, either.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Doesn’t sound good to me but perhaps I’m being paranoid.
SatanicPanic
@Laertes: I gotta say, this comment is very nice and I applaud you for trying to walk Mandalay back from the brink.
Elizabelle
@Punchy: Enjoyed your and Flip’s anato-quipping. Well done.
David Koch
Thanks Obama
Valdivia
@Elizabelle: thank you, it’s great to be here. yay, summer. Though I was just told I have to teach an extra class starting next week, but it’s art so it should be fun :)
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t know how well he can multitask, but given his relatively successful (at least when compared to his predecessors) efforts to do some housecleaning in the large organization he heads, and given that he loves soccer (or “football/futbol” as you anti-‘Muricans put it), I would nominate Pope Francis.
He could probably fit it in during the weekends. Well, except for Sunday Mass, of course.
Tree With Water
Huffy Post is reporting:
“Former Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) likely knew about allegations that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) sexually abused a male student when he previously worked as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, an anonymous source told The Huffington Post for an article published Tuesday.
The source, who HuffPost said did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told the news site that Watt had been approached about the alleged abuse years ago by someone who knew him informally and was acting as an intermediary for the family of Hastert’s alleged victim. The conversation happened “relatively early” in Hastert’s tenure as House speaker, according to the report…”.
If true, that means the republicans must have known as well. Which begs the question: what did the GOP shot callers know about Hastert, and when did they know it?
Death to the republican party.
Joel
@Mandalay: The Guardian seems like a reputable source.
As far as the Qatari government denying the migrant death toll, well no shit. You know why the 1918 influenza epidemic was called the “Spanish Flu”, right?
gene108
@dedc79:
What gets me about the coverage of the worker’s treatment in Qatar is that it went largely “unnoticed” until the World Cup was awarded there and people went, “WTF is Qatar? Let’s check the place out.”
I think the overall crappy treatment of the workforce in the ME has been conveniently ignored. The engineering firms, for example, doing the planning for some of these construction projects are European or American and therefore, even the skyscrapers are projects, where international pressure could be applied to improve worker’s protections.
I’m just of the opinion that, if there’s a bare spot of ground in Qatar, the sheiks will build something on it sooner or later, so whether or not a soccer stadium gets built there to me is just moot because they will build and develop those grounds.
I also think FIFA awarding the World Cup to Qatar stinks for a number of reasons, independent of stadium construction, which actually got some attention to the feudal mindset of the sheiks, who run the Persian Gulf countries.
les
@gene108:
F’n NYU took a potful of money to site a satellite campus in Abu Dhabi–and were shocked, shocked I tells ya! to find abuses of construction workers on the project. Jeebus.
Valdivia
According to the NYT Blatter is under investigation by the FBI as it seems those already arrested are cooperating.
Also, Buzzfeed is reporting that Qatar officials involved with the world cup bid have been told not to come to the US or they will be arrested. More dominoes to come.
lethargytartare
@Mandalay:
I’m gonna go ahead an rename you “Doha Bob” in my head if that’s okay.
lethargytartare
@different-church-lady:
and you’re just going to ignore that what followed was essentially,
“however, we cannot condemn FIFA and Qatar for workers deaths on WC construction sites because Qatar says there haven’t been any”
lol
lethargytartare
@gene108:
what mandalay is willfully ignoring is that FIFA added huge buildings and a deadline to that already murderously mad schedule.
different-church-lady
@lethargytartare: A person who was interested in a genuine debate would say, “Uh, hey, you seem to be trying to butter the bread on both sides, which is it here?”
A person who was only interested in an augment, on the the other hand, would do what Laertes (and others) are doing: focusing on one part of the contradiction to the exclusion of the other. For what reason I do not know.
different-church-lady
@Joel:
Knee slapper!
les
@different-church-lady:
Fuckin’ logic, how does it work?
different-church-lady
@gene108:
DING! You control the board.
MCA1
@Linnaeus: Yes. But the awesome thing would have been if it had come to pass and the newly led splinter group, being comprised of the entirety of the OECD, decided to call their new event “The World Cup” and invited FIFA to bankrupt what was left of itself even faster by trying to enforce their trademark rights in various courts around the world.
different-church-lady
@les: So you find it logical that a human rights crisis means sloppy journalism is forgivable?
I find it logical that they’re not mutually exclusive.
lethargytartare
@different-church-lady: a person interested in a debate wouldn’t have said:
without understanding the article they were decrying.
and frankly, I’m not interested in a debate abut this. Qatar is a civil rights hellhole for migrant workers. Sepp Blatter is a mafia Don who’s made billions for his evil cabala by pouring the blood of the disfranchised into the foundations of giant stadiums and luxury hotels through decades of extortion and bribery.
There was nothing even an inch out of place in the quote Mandalay objected to, he might as well peddle that shit at Slate.
les
@different-church-lady:
Not so much; what I find laughable is the statement that connecting World Cup building to worker deaths is “serious bullshit,” backed up by Qatari propaganda. And I presume your “sloppy journalism” is reporting the estimate of the International Trade Union Confederation, but you’re ok with countering with the Qatari royal family. Shades of the original church lady.
lethargytartare
@different-church-lady:
what was sloppy about the journalism?
different-church-lady
@lethargytartare: So what you’re saying is that if FIFA did not exist, there would be no migrant construction deaths in Qatar?
Because that, to my eye, appears to be what the Grantland writer wants people to take away: “FIFA = death”
different-church-lady
@les:
I’m not okay with it, and I don’t know why Mandalay has not chosen to stand down on it — it’s obviously not credible.
les
@different-church-lady:
Fuckin’ logic, how does it work?
Sasha
If US actions end up directly leading to end of corruption at FIFA, I think the world will give us a bye on Iraq.
lethargytartare
@different-church-lady:
fortunately that’s not what the quote actually says
well, that part is true – under Blatter, FIFA has been completely and willfully oblivious to the lives lost so they can sell the beautiful game to the highest bidder, not solely, but most egregiously, in regards to awarding WC venues.
dedc79
@different-church-lady: No. No. No.
What Grantland and other are calling attention to is the world’s complicity via FIFA. As I wrote above, the world doesn’t have a say in whether Qatar builds a skyscraper and kills people in the process. The world did/does have a say in whether Qatar builds a stadium and kills people in the process.
This is not that complicated. It’s the difference between living with the knowledge that people die in traffic accidents, and driving someone over with your car.
les
@different-church-lady:
Geeze, that’s remarkably stupid analysis.
Geeze, that’s remarkably stupid analysis.
What was that comment about people who would rather argue?
les
@different-church-lady:
Geeze, that’s remarkably stupid analysis.
Geeze, that’s remarkably stupid analysis.
What was that comment about people who really just want to argue?
dedc79
Are others as alarmed as I am that there are multiple BJ commenter who appear to believe that the same number of migrant workers will die in qatar with or without the world cup?
lethargytartare
@dedc79:
presumably it would be sloppy journalism, worthy of vehement disavowal, to report that,
” Congressional corruption matters because Congressional actions keep killing people. There is a clear line connecting the absurd antics of the aristo-doofs in DC and the 33,000 citizens whom Bloomberg.com estimates will die from gun wounds in the US in 2015″
since the NRA says you can’t confirm those people wouldn’t have been stabbed to death instead.
dedc79
@lethargytartare: yeah that seems to be their position, hard as it is to believe.
les
@dedc79:
Yes. Not only that, it’s mean and illogical to contradict them.
les
@les: Alas, I have double posted, and I have no edit. Woe is me. Oh wait–woe is you.
lethargytartare
@dedc79:
I’m more alarmed that anyone would even accidentally and tangentially defend FIFA.
ewww
SFAW
@Sasha:
I realize it’s sometimes de rigueur at Balloon Juice to write exceedingly stupid shit to be controversial or cutting-edge-snarky or whatever, but not every exceedingly stupid thing needs to be written.
les
@SFAW:
Shit, now you tell me.
SFAW
@les:
Would it have mattered if I had told you earlier? If so, then I’ll hop into my handy-dandy time machine and …
SFAW
@SFAW:
… OK, I’m back. Did it work?
les
@SFAW: Not so much. History is long, man, history is long.
Aussie Sheila
@Mandalay:
Here’s a link which might assist you. It doesn’t actually give an estimate of actual deaths to date, but in any event, I am more than comfortable with stating the obvious-Qatar is a slave labour state, which means the death toll could be close to 20% of the workforce, and neither you nor I would know for certain. That is the point really. Many slaves were, are, and will be, killed by their appalling record. I don’t give a flying f&*^ how fast that family dictatorship is growing.
Slavery is not, should not, and never will be a remotely acceptable mode of production.
Unless you are an A-hole, that is.
Paul in KY
@Tree With Water: The ‘reporters’ I’m talking about are a lot more elite than you or I. ‘Elite’ in their connections (professional and/or social) with policy making people in government, etc. IMO, many of them wanted it due to their perception that it would help Israel.
Everyone knows that it was ginned up, but to focus on that is to focus on all the help they got from these ‘reporters’. Thus, no mention.