Tag: sports

China Censors Athlete Hug Photo for Inadvertently Showing Tiananmen Anniversary Date

A photo of two women track and field athletes embracing after a particularly contentious Asian Games event prompted widespread online censorship in China this week as a result of their assigned numbers – six and four, which together form the date of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, June 4.

Runners Lin Yuwei, the gold medalist in the event, and Wu Yanni, who was disqualified from a silver medal over a false start, hugged each other in their national regalia and draped in the Chinese flag, creating an image of apparent unity and solidarity on China’s “National Day,” the anniversary of mass murderer Mao Zedong imposing communism on the country. The state television network CCTV shared the image in its coverage of the race on Weibo, China’s largest legal social media outlet.

By Tuesday, the photo had disappeared from state media, prompting widespread confusion among Chinese social media users over why it was censored, as China has for decades censored any mention of the Tiananmen massacre and many Chinese citizens do not know it happened.

The Chinese Communist Party never explains its censorship to the public, but regularly deletes content from social media that in any way could be interpreted as a reference to the 1989 killings, including overt references such as “Tiananmen Square” and the date of the beginning of the massacre – June 4, 1989 – but also a vast array of potentially related items such as candle emojis (used in online candlelight vigils for the dead); the numbers six, four, and 1989; and even the word “today” if typed into a Chinese government social media search engine on the anniversary. The word “tank,” potentially a reference to an iconic photo of a protester staring down a Chinese military tank holding only what appears to be a grocery bag, also faces censorship online in China, particularly as the anniversary of the event approaches.

Keep reading

Transgender World Cup swimming races scrapped after no one enters

World Cup swimming races designed to accommodate transgender competitors have been abandoned because no one entered.

Open category events – made up of 50 and 100-metre races across all strokes – were due to be part of the competition starting in Berlin on Friday.

But no entries were received for the events, World Aquatics (WA) said.

“Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including open category races at Masters events in the future,” it said.

“The World Aquatics Open Category Working Group will continue its work and engagement with the aquatics community on Open Category events.”

In response, former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies – a vocal critic of transgender women competing in women’s sport – posted on social media: “If trans women aren’t going to get the physical benefit of racing females instead of others males, they’re not interested!”

Swimming’s governing body, formerly known as FINA, voted last year to only allow people who had completed their transition by the age of 12 to take part in elite women’s competitions – a deadline criticised as unworkable, given age restrictions in many countries.

Keep reading

Neil Degrasse Tyson Explodes During Debate About Trans Women Competing in Women Sports

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was confronted on his support for gender ideology concepts, including that biological males who identify as transgender should be able to compete in women’s sports in some circumstances.

Tyson discussed transgenderism on “TRIGGERnometry”, a free speech YouTube show run by British satirist Konstantin Kisin. Kisin pressed Tyson on criticism posed by the idea of biological males competing on women’s teams. At one point, Tyson spoke in an elevated tone, appearing to state that the entire sports infrastructure should be reconsidered to ensure inclusion and fairness for all.

“One of your functions over time has been to communicate scientific knowledge to the public,” Kisin said. Kisin then asked Tyson about his belief that gender exists “on a spectrum.”

During the show, Tyson said the biological differences between males and females in sports are a “solvable problem” for transgender inclusion. He said excluding biological males from women’s teams carte blanche was an “older view of the world.”

“What the trans conversation is foisting upon us is the need to find ways to slice the athletic universe such that we still have interesting, fair matches,” he said. “And is it a combination of did you go through puberty as a male and then transition? Did you have puberty blockers? What is your hormone level now… if you want to compete?”

Keep reading

‘Hard Knocks’ finale recap: Rodgers’ UFO story and more

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the star of this summer’s series, gave viewers a UFO story. Yes, right in the middle of the usual end-of-training-camp storylines — roster cuts, welcome-to-the-team moments, fiery speeches, etc. — was his story about the time he saw “an incredibly large object” flying over New Jersey.

An old college teammate from Cal, Steve Levy, visited training camp one day, prompting Rodgers — in a sitdown interview — to talk about the time they witnessed what he believes was a UFO.

“It was definitely unidentified, it was definitely flying and it was definitely a large object,” Rodgers said.

It happened in 2005, when he was in New York for the NFL Draft. He stayed at Levy’s house in New Jersey and, in the middle of the night, he heard an alarm in the distance and walked outside with Levy and his brother to check it out.

“Up in the clouds we heard this sound and we saw this tremendously large object moving through the sky,” Rodgers said. “It was like a scene out of ‘Independence Day,’ when the ships are coming into the atmosphere, creating this kind of like explosion-type fire in the sky.”

Rodgers said they froze.

“About 30 seconds later, we heard the real recognizable sound of fighter jets going zoom, zoom, zoom. They seemed to be chasing this object. … We just stood there in disbelief for another few minutes. Nobody said a word. Then we all looked at each other like, ‘Did we just see what we thought we just saw?'”

According to Rodgers, an alarm from a nearby nuclear power plant went off that night. “And if you know anything about UFOs, there are a lot of sightings around nuclear energy, around volcanoes, around power plants,” he said, citing research he says he did.

Keep reading

NASCAR Blasted for ‘Blatantly Illegal’ Diversity Internship Program that Excludes Whites

NASCAR is under fire for an internship program that excludes white people from applying.

The car racing organization’s “Diversity Internship Program” directly lists specific racial requirements for the applicants eligible to join the program, according to the criteria on the website.

Under “requirements,” the website tells applicants that they must be a U.S. citizen or be eligible to work in the U.S. and must have “at least” reached their sophomore year in college.

But those requirements are secondary as the list also lays out racial requirements as its first bullet point.

Applicants must “Be a member of one or more of the following races/ethnic minority classifications: Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Latino or Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,” the web page says.

Not listed is “Caucasian,” or “white,” or even “European.”

The racial requirements seem to be a “blatantly illegal” violation of Title VII and the 1866 Civil Rights Act, according to David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.

“Having a 100% quota for minorities for a position is illegal even under a very generous view of what is allowed,” Bernstein told the Daily Wire.

This “diversity internship” is not the only program that NASCAR seems to be excluding white applicants from being eligible to join.

The racing organization has similar racial stipulations for its Pit Crew Development Program, Driver Development Program, and Supplier Diversity Program, all connected to its Drive For Diversity program.

Keep reading

World Anti-Doping Agency Experts Say Marijuana Use Violates The ‘Spirit Of Sport’ And Makes Athletes Unfit Role Models

Members of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) panel say that marijuana use by athletes violates the “spirit of sport,” making them unfit role models whose potential impairment could put others at risk.

In an editorial published in the journal Addiction, several members of WADA’s Prohibited List Expert Advisory Group summarized the reasons that the body decided to continue prohibiting cannabis use by athletes in competitions last year amid growing calls to end the policy.

Perspectives were “mixed” over whether marijuana “enhances or has the potential to enhance sport performance,” they wrote. And the group also acknowledged that athletes have reported that cannabis benefits them by “facilitating recovery and reducing pain.”

But in the end, they said that the use of marijuana in competitions violates ethical standards, justifying the ban.

Specifically, the editorial says that cannabis consumption runs counter to the “spirit of sport,” which “encompasses a number of universal values of sport, and four aspects that were particularly relevant to the discussion on cannabis remaining in the list.”

Keep reading

‘Native American Guardians Association’ Petition To Restore Washington Redskins Name Goes Viral

A Change.org petition in support of changing the Washington football team’s name BACK to the Redskins has gone viral and is racking up tens of thousands of signatures in real time.

At the time of publication, the petition was nearing its goal of 75,000 people.

The petition was launched by an organization called the Native American Guardians Association whose stated goal is to end the “cancel culture” of Native Americans. 

NAGA spox Healy Baumgardner joined Newsmax’s Carl Higbie to discuss the groups efforts, quipping that the Washington Commanders must be getting advised by Megan Rapinoe.

Keep reading

College football quarterback takes plea deal in child porn case that doesn’t require him to register as sex offender

The former backup quarterback for the University of Florida pleaded guilty on Wednesday to disorderly conduct charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping the child pornography charges against him, according to The Orlando Sentinel. Jalen Kitna won’t have to register as a sex offender because did not admit to a sex crime.

Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Susan Miller-Jones reportedly sentenced him to separate six-month terms of probation for each of the second-degree misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. The court will release him from the second set of probation if he follows the terms of the plea agreement.

In court, Kitna, the son of retired NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, voiced an apology to his family, friends, and people who care about him.

“The valuable lessons that I’ve learned through this whole deal have been very helpful,” he reportedly said. “I’m looking forward to applying those things and moving forward.”

“My hope is that we never cross paths again,” Miller-Jones told Jalen Kitna in court. “Go do something great with the rest of your life.”

Keep reading

Activists Demand Reparations for Latinos for Land Under Dodger Stadium

Activists are demanding reparations for land in the Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles that currently sits under Dodger Stadium, part of a broader movement across California that has focused thus far on African Americans.

The New York Times reported Wednesday on “the growing call for reparations from descendants of the people who lived where Dodger Stadium was built.” It cited reporting earlier this month by Jesus Jiménez, who wrote:

[I]n the early 1950s, the city of Los Angeles began displacing the residents of Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop, through voluntary purchases and eminent domain, with plans to build a housing project in the area.

It was never built, and eventually, after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, the team acquired the deed to the land. A condition was that the team build a stadium with capacity for at least 50,000 people.

…

The last of the families were forcefully evicted by sheriff’s deputies in May 1959. One woman, Aurora Vargas, who was known as Lola, was infamously photographed being carried out of her home by deputies. An article in The Los Angeles Times on May 9, 1959, described the scene as a “long skirmish.” Vargas was kicking and screaming and children were “wailing hysterically,” the newspaper reported.

The activists formed an organization in 2018 called Buried Under the Blue. They drew encouragement from the successful effort to obtain restitution for the original black owners of Bruce’s Beach. As Breitbart News noted:

The owners, Willa and Charles Bruce, purchased the land in 1912 and created a beach resort catering to black clients before the city used eminent domain to seize the property.

The land was dormant for decades until the city built a park in 1960 and later renamed it Bruce’s Beach. Descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce sued, claiming the eminent domain program was racially motivated.

The website for Buried Under the Blue states that the group’s mission is “to preserve our history of our three destroyed communities” and “[t]o empower and educate all people to create healthier communities, sustainable communities, and maintain historical documents for self-determination.” While the Times describes the group as “Latino,” the website refers to the former inhabitants of the area under Dodger Stadium as “indigenous.”

Keep reading

NBA Takes Steps to Ease Cannabis Restrictions: This Week in Cannabis Investing

The NBA took a major step forward this week by allowing players to invest in and promote cannabis brands. 

Michele Roberts, a former executive director of the NBA Players Association and now a member of the board of directors at Cresco Labs (CRLBF(opens in new tab)), previously predicted that NBA would consider changing its policies around cannabis. 

As of the terms listed in the leagues’ new collective bargaining agreement, cannabis will also be removed from the banned substances list for players. This is a welcome change for a cannabis industry seeking additional sources of capital while it continues to erode the old-world stigmas created by previous generations. 

We’ve seen a number of professional athletes getting involved in the cannabis industry after their sports careers. They are a group that is keen on the benefits cannabis provides for pain and inflammatory management, and many are also passionate about making a difference. Former NBA veteran Al Harrington’s Viola Brands(opens in new tab) immediately comes to mind as a trailblazer here. We’re excited to welcome more athletes, especially those as passionate about building their brands and business ventures as they are about their active profession.

Keep reading