ohhh_yeah

One of you nerds will enjoy this immensely. 94 pages! https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3553590-NASA-responses-to-Trump-Transition-ART.html

Yes, please!

Dropped a MOAB in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. First ever combat use.

Mike Sarimsakci aka the Turkish Trump, on Tuesday told Dallas City Hall the Trump Organization's new Scion line of luxury hotels has failed. A previous effort to build a Scion hotel in St. Louis also failed after residents protested a $20 million tax break the city was considering for the project.

Wandrille Lefevre, a defender for the Montreal Impact, has been suspended for posting this. "Since Donald is in power, better safe than sorry” in French.

Ramage and Shaun Wright-Phillips have a new teammate. Drogba has announced he is to become the first owner/player after becoming part owner of US third tier franchise Phoenix Rising. They are one of twelve teams bidding for four new MLS franchises.

Bellends.

Is Donald Trump Making America Hate Golf Again? by Dylan Dethier The Masters wrapped in dramatic fashion on Sunday, with Sergio Garcia taking home the green jacket in a sudden-death playoff. But it’s worth noting that three of the nation's biggest golfers didn't tee off when the tournament began on Thursday. Tiger Woods, unable to practice, announced his absence a week prior. World-ranking No. 1 Dustin Johnson slipped on the stairs of his rental home the day before and was forced to withdraw on the very first tee. And the most famous golfer of them all, President Trump, announced that his Thursday hosting of Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago would involve no fairway diplomacy. China’s Communist Party, citing the game as a symbol of capitalist excesses and corruption, holds a longstanding scorn for golf—in 1949, Mao Zedong declared it the “sport for millionaires.” Xi’s disdain for the game echoes the sentiments that many share of our new president’s extremely pricey biweekly excursions to Florida. Of all the ways in which our inexperienced president should be spending his hours and his taxpayer money…golf?! In turns, he's taken a beating from news outlets, late night hosts, and Twitter users alike—much of it from the left but plenty from his supporters, too, who grow frustrated with the appearance of inaction. It raises the question: has Trump made America hate golf again? You could say that America has always hated golf—country clubs have been targets of disdain since their inception, and their exclusivity makes it rather easy. Augusta National is the sport’s nirvana but also the most obvious target for criticism: it’s situated firmly in slave country yet hosts a tournament called “The Masters,” and didn’t admit a black member until 1990—or a female member until 2012. (2012!) Anti-Augusta sentiment has been tempered somewhat in the years since the 1997 Masters, when a fiery, red-shirted, multi-racial Tiger Woods fist-pumped his way to his first major championship at age 21. Tiger as the face of golf signaled a major shift for the game. He was athletic, young, inspiring, hard-working, and a self-described “Cablinasian.” Though it didn't mitigate the transgressions of the sport’s exclusive, elitist history, it soothed their sting. The joy in watching him win was amplified by the fact that he was doing so in spite of a game whose institutions would have turned him away for so many years. But Tiger is gone now (no, not officially, but effectively, having played one PGA tour event since 2015), and Trump’s ascendency to the status of golfer-in-chief comes at a time when the sport is still struggling from the vacuum he left behind (though the PGA Tour boasts an impressive roster of young talent—Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day—none can or will approach Tiger’s transcendent star power). Golf’s important numbers are all in decline: TV ratings, player participation, total courses. An increasingly unpopular president is playing an increasingly unpopular sport. The cost and hypocrisy of Trump’s outings—Trump was among the most outspoken critics of Obama’s trips to the golf course, yet spends millions in taxpayer money every Mar-a-Lago weekend—are easy targets; every golf critic will tell you that the game takes too long and costs too much money. But perhaps Trump’s decriers are most incensed by his reinforcement of a third stereotype: that golf is the exclusive domain of the rich, white, and powerful—those who have always made the deals, but don’t have to live with their real-world consequences outside the country club walls. To his supporters, President Obama’s rounds seemed like another class and race barrier broken by the most powerful black man in history. Trump’s rounds, on the other hand, embody each disparagement of the game, and the surrounding conversation has ripped the Tiger blanket off golf’s problems, re-exposing old wounds. Trump ran as a populist. He positioned himself antithetical to the club of elites the Clintons belonged to (all while living in his own marble tower in midtown Manhattan). He defied and denounced political correctness, and promised candor and honesty. He was all in on the resurgence of West Virginia’s mines and Michigan’s manufacturing. His rounds feel like a betrayal: they benefit his own properties, he mingles only with those who have paid to join his clubs, and he’s escaping during a time of near-crisis for his young administration. That he campaigned on coal yet governs while golfing is an easy criticism to lob, and, inevitably, some of that outrage has rubbed off on the game itself. With the President now serving as the most famous golfer in the country, it makes sense the sport faces renewed criticism, the same type leveled by the party of President Xi: that golf, like government, continues to look like a game only for millionaires and crooks. On Saturday, as the tournament leaders teed off at Augusta, with President Xi headed back to China and Syrian airstrikes dominating headlines, Trump headed to familiar turf: Trump International Golf Club. I spent two years playing (mediocre) professional golf; I’ve seen courses at every corner of the U.S. and most of Canada. I spent a winter living in West Palm Beach, too; I worked and practiced at a private club not far from Mar-a-Lago. And yet my single trip to Trump International is seared in my memory—I’ve never been treated as so important, nor seen a practice area so impeccably manicured, nor hit into a backdrop as gaudy as the waterfall behind the 17th green. The clubhouse was a Floridian palace, littered with pictures of its founder. But most shocking of all was the trophy case at the end of the hall, showcasing the amateur course record: 66, held by Trump. A caddy accompanied our group, and I couldn’t wait to ask him: Was Trump really that good a golfer? "Oh, yeah, man," he told me. "He’s a good player, and a fun guy to be with, too. Plus a big tipper." "Did he shoot 66 here?" He laughed. “You saw that, huh? Look, he’s a good player. And he never gets a bad lie, if I’m with him. But 66? Not a chance." He paused. "Just don’t tell him I told you that." http://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-golf-backlash

Putin: "We can say that the level of trust at a working level, particularly in a military level, has not improved but rather has degraded."

http://www.sueddeutsche.de

They should add this phrase on the plaque for the statue.

Trump: Rodong Sinmun:

Oi!

Charlize Theron!

The Washington Post are claiming the FBI and the Justice Department obtained a warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications. "Among other things, the application cited contacts that he had with a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013, officials said. Those contacts had earlier surfaced in a federal espionage case brought by the Justice Department against another Russian agent. In addition, the application said Page had other contacts with Russian operatives that have not been publicly disclosed, officials said."

by Ben Rumsby Liverpool tried to cover up their tapping-up of an 11-year-old boy by instructing his father to lie to Premier League investigators, according to shocking allegations about their conduct that can now be revealed. The lengths to which one of the world’s most famous teams were allegedly prepared to go to conceal forbidden inducements made to a Stoke City schoolboy and his family can be laid bare by The Daily Telegraph following an investigation into the events which saw the Anfield side become the first to be punished under strict new Premier League rules. The saga also left the youngster’s parents in thousands of pounds of debt and the boy – now 13 – unable to join another academy until former club Stoke are paid £49,000. The inducements allegedly offered by Liverpool included all-expenses-paid trips to tournaments in Paris and Denmark, £50 cash in hand every time the boy went for training at their academy, and even money to help his father replace a faulty car exhaust. It can also be disclosed that during a meeting with the elder son of the family, which he recorded on his mobile phone, Liverpool told him the club were willing to pay a £5,000 debt incurred in school fees but were unable to do so while his parents pursued a formal complaint against them. The Premier League announced last week that Liverpool had been banned from signing schoolboy players for at least 12 months and fined £100,000 over a pursuit of the boy his family alleges was led by the club’s head of pre-academy recruitment and player retention, Ian Barrigan, for nearly two years. The sanction followed an investigation – the existence of which was exclusively revealed by The Telegraph – triggered when the boy’s parents pulled out of a deal with Liverpool following a rule change that prevented the club honouring a pledge to pay his tuition fees if he joined them. The Premier League found Liverpool to have funded an all-expenses-paid trip for the youngster and his family to a match at Anfield and made “other efforts” to encourage him to leave Stoke. No more detail was provided about the nature of those transgressions, which the Premier League has since refused to discuss with The Telegraph. Determined to ensure no one else suffers the same fate at the hands of Liverpool, or another club, while they pursue legal action against the Anfield side, the boy’s family have now disclosed to The Telegraph many of the alleged offences they say took place and were communicated to the Premier League. They include a claim – denied by Liverpool – that two representatives of the club told the boy’s father last September not to disclose the tapping-up or inducements when interviewed by a lawyer acting on behalf of the Premier League. It can, however, be revealed that academy director Alex Inglethorpe and head of academy football operations Nick Marshall – neither of whom is one of the aforementioned two representatives – did meet the eldest son of the family on Nov 25. The trio discussed the fallout from a saga that saw Liverpool withdraw their offer to take over the funding of the boy’s education from Stoke after he had already begun his first term. That followed a rule change prohibiting the payment of a child’s private school fees by clubs unless they make the same offer to all their scholars. Inglethorpe more than once told the elder son that Liverpool could not pay the bill incurred by the parents or sign the boy while the family were pursuing a formal complaint against the club with the Premier League. He then said, “Do you think we’re bothered about five grand?”, with Marshall interjecting, “It’s Liverpool Football Club,” before Inglethorpe continued, “For God’s sake, I would happily write you a cheque now for it. Happily.” Inglethorpe then said it was the Premier League which told him Liverpool were not permitted to settle the family’s debt or sign the boy while the grievance process remained active. Asked what would happen if the complaint was withdrawn, Inglethorpe replied: “It changes things.” When asked about Liverpool paying an entire year’s tuition fees, he said the club would “happily” do so but the Premier League would not allow it. Liverpool initially failed to acknowledge the above exchange had taken place, instead alleging the boy’s father had offered to drop his complaint if the school fees were paid. In order to rebut that, the family released a recording of the Nov 25 exchange to The Telegraph, one they said had been provided to the Premier League during its investigation. Liverpool on Tuesday night maintained their allegation about the father but did not dispute that Inglethorpe, Marshall and the elder son had discussed the prospect of the family dropping the case and the school fees being paid. During the meeting, Inglethorpe also told the elder son that even Stoke would no longer have been able to continue paying for the boy’s private education following the Premier League rule change. When the elder son argued the league’s guidelines indicated Stoke’s deal with the boy took precedence over this rule change, Inglethorpe branded the contract “meaningless”, claiming his own information had come directly from the Premier League itself. The Premier League on Tuesday night refused to confirm or deny either whether it had told Inglethorpe this or even divulge the true status of the Stoke contract. In addition to the recording, the family have provided The Telegraph with a list of allegations they say they made to the Premier League about Barrigan, including one that he repeatedly promised the club would pay the boy’s school fees if the youngster joined Liverpool. The most recent of those pledges was alleged to have been made in August 2016 – the month after rule changes ironically brought in to clamp down on widespread tapping-up by its clubs. Among the other allegations are that Barrigan: *Arranged for kit to be given both to the boy and his family and friends. *Offered £1,500 per month to compensate for the costs of taking the boy to and from training, backdated to whenever he resigned from Stoke. *Offered the services of Liverpool’s team doctor when the boy contracted a chest infection that left him unable to play for Stoke. *Procured the login details for the boy’s Performance Management Application monitoring system. *Told the family to contact other football clubs to give the appearance of uncertainty as to where the boy would next register. *Contacted the boy’s school last summer to tell it Liverpool would take over paying for his education, later confirming it should send the bill for his school uniform of more than £400 to the club. Liverpool refused to confirm which of the allegations against him Barrigan accepted or denied but said not all the claims and/or the way they had been presented were complained of by the family during the Premier League investigation. Stoke confirmed last week they were pursuing the Premier League for compensation over the loss of the boy but have since repeatedly failed to respond to requests for comment about whether they would allow him to resume his career were that paid. The Premier League on Tuesday declined to comment on that or any other aspect of the Liverpool case beyond its statement of last week.

Class!

Dybala! Get in.

Three explosions. Do not know if it could been a firecracker. Reports that the explosions came from hedges that the bus was driving by.