Tag: sports

US soccer journalist Grant Wahl dies covering World Cup in Qatar, brother thinks ‘he was killed’

Influential U.S. soccer journalist Grant Wahl died in Qatar while covering the World Cup, his brother announced. He was 48.

While covering Argentina’s quarterfinal win over the Netherlands on Friday, Wahl, who had run his own Substack after a long career at Sports Illustrated, collapsed at Lusail Iconic Stadium and was rushed to a nearby hospital. It’s unclear whether he died at the hospital or in transport.

His brother, Eric, believes foul play from the Qatari government may have been involved.

“My name is Eric Wahl. I live in Seattle, Washington. I am Grant Wahl’s brother. I’m gay,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram account before making the account private. “I’m the reason he wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup. My brother was healthy. He told me he received death threats. I do not believe my brother just died. I believe he was killed. And I just beg for any help.”

Prior to the USMNT’s World Cup game against Wales, Wahl was initially not allowed into Ahmad bin Ali Stadium and detained for 30 minutes for wearing a shirt depicting a soccer ball surrounded by a rainbow. He was eventually let into the stadium.

Keep reading

Qatari Official Casually Admits ‘Between 400 & 500’ Worker Deaths For World Cup Construction

An Amnesty International campaigner on Tuesday led calls for “truth, justice, and compensation” after Qatar’s World Cup chief admitted that hundreds of migrant workers died during the construction of projects related to the FIFA tournament.

In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan aired on TalkTV, Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary general of the Qatar World Cup Supreme Committee, was asked how many migrant workers—who make up 90% of the nation’s workforce—have died during the construction of $300 billion worth of tournament-related infrastructure including stadiums, hotels, highways, railways, and an expanded international airport. “The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500,” Al-Thawadi replied. “I don’t have the exact number, that’s something that’s been discussed. One death is too many, it’s as simple as that.”

Responding to Al-Thawadi’s remarks, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, said that “the continued debate around the number of workers who have died in the preparation of the World Cup exposes the stark reality that so many bereaved families are still waiting for truth and justice.”

“Over the last decade, thousands of workers have returned home in coffins, with no explanation given to their loved ones,” he noted. An analysis by The Guardian found that more than 6,500 workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka died in Qatar since the repressive Gulf monarchy was awarded soccer’s premier international tournament in late 2010. The Guardian‘s estimate, however, has been criticized for counting all foreign worker deaths in the country over the past decade.

Keep reading

A Student Was Sodomized With a Pole at His Public High School. This California Congressional Hopeful Rejected His Damages Claim.

As a school board member in Southern California, Democratic congressional hopeful Jay Chen voted to reject a damages claim from a high school student who was sodomized with a pole as part of a horrific hazing ritual.

Chen—who is now running for Congress in California’s 45th Congressional District—sat on the Hacienda La Puente school board during a high-profile hazing incident in 2011, which saw older members of a boys’ high school soccer team in the district sexually assault and sodomize their younger teammates with a sharp, javelin-like pole. In October 2012, one victim filed a claim for at least $25,000 against the district, alleging that Chen and other top officials failed to protect him. Chen led a motion to reject the claim in November 2012, board meeting minutes show.

The victim later detailed the brutal attack in a lawsuit against Chen’s district, which cited the initial damages claim. “Plaintiff and other varsity soccer players were victimized after being lured to the backroom … where athletic equipment was stored,” the suit stated. “Before the assault, the victim is asked whether he wants it ‘the easy way’ or ‘the hard way.’ The easy way meant that the victim would bend down and accept the sexual assault without resistance—while the hard way meant, upon resistance by the victim, he will be physically attacked by those present and forcefully have a foreign object inserted into his anus.”

Chen was explicitly mentioned in the lawsuit, which alleged that Chen knew or should have known of the “sexually abusive actions” and that the district “failed to protect” the victims. Chen’s district settled the suit just days before its scheduled trial date in March 2016. The attacks also led to felony assault convictions against three juveniles.

Keep reading

Former Gov. Phil Bryant helped Brett Favre secure welfare funding for USM volleyball stadium, texts reveal

Text messages entered Monday into the state’s ongoing civil lawsuit over the welfare scandal reveal that former Gov. Phil Bryant pushed to make NFL legend Brett Favre’s volleyball idea a reality.

The texts show that the then-governor even guided Favre on how to write a funding proposal so that it could be accepted by the Mississippi Department of Human Services – even after Bryant ousted the former welfare agency director John Davis for suspected fraud.

“Just left Brett Favre,” Bryant texted nonprofit founder Nancy New in July of 2019, within weeks of Davis’ departure. “Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your projects on course.”

When Favre asked Bryant how the new agency director might affect their plans to fund the volleyball stadium, Bryant assured him, “I will handle that… long story but had to make a change. But I will call Nancy and see what it will take,” according to the filing and a text Favre forwarded to New.

The newly released texts, filed Monday by an attorney representing Nancy New’s nonprofit, show that Bryant, Favre, New, Davis and others worked together to channel at least $5 million of the state’s welfare funds to build a new volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi, where Favre’s daughter played the sport. Favre received most of the credit for raising funds to construct the facility.

Bryant has for years denied any close involvement in the steering of welfare funds to the volleyball stadium, though plans for the project even included naming the building after him, one text shows.

New, a friend of Bryant’s wife Deborah, ran a nonprofit that was in charge of spending tens of millions of flexible federal welfare dollars outside of public view. What followed was the biggest public fraud case in state history, according to the state auditor’s office. Nonprofit leaders had misspent at least $77 million in funds that were supposed to help the needy, forensic auditors found.

New pleaded guilty to 13 felony counts related to the scheme, and Davis awaits trial. But neither Bryant nor Favre have been charged with any crime.

Keep reading

31-Year-Old Transgender Footballer Celebrates Being Able to Use Same Changing Room as Team of Teenage Girls

A 31-year-old Dutch male-to-female transgender celebrated being allowed to play football with a group of teenage girls and use their changing room by saying it was “the best gift I could get.”

Yes, really.

A report by Dutch news outlet VRPO reveals the ‘struggles’ Marjolein Schepers underwent trying to comply with rules set by the Royal Football Association (KNVB).

However, after being given a new passport that certified the biological male to be a woman, Schepers was then able to register as a woman with the KNVB.

After initially encountering difficulties with his hometown team in Westerbork, Schepers traveled 200 kilometers to join up with a team of teenage girls in Lisse, with Schepers proclaiming it to be, “The best time of my life.”

“I was finally accepted by my teammates. I joined in,” said Schepers, adding that the ability to use the same dressing room as the young girls was “the best gift I could get.”

However, Schepers was subsequently suspended from playing by the KNVB due to him being significantly older than teams comprising of players under the age of 20.

“I’m 31 years old, but I don’t feel that way. I’m full of hormones, and I feel like a 15-year-old girl,” said Marjolein. “The KNVB is afraid that I am too strong to play with and against young girls. That is not the case, and you cannot judge that from a chair in Zeist.”

Marjolein insisted that the KNVB should come and watch him in a training session to reassure them.

Keep reading

Twitter Bans Women Who Complained About ‘Transgender’ Rugby Player Competing Against 16-Year-Old Girls

After a biological male in his 30’s who identifies as a transgender woman was allowed to compete in a Gaelic soccer final against 16-year-old girls, women who complained about it had their accounts banned by Twitter.

The transgender in question, Giulia Valentino, is a balding man who moved to Dublin from Italy and has previously advocated for women’s sport to allow transgenders to compete as well as complaining about not being able to use female changing rooms.

As the image above shows, Valentino clearly has an unfair physical advantage over the female players yet was allowed to compete anyway for Na Gaeil Aeracha, which describes itself as Ireland’s “first explicitly LGBTQ+ inclusive” football club.

After Na Gaeil Aeracha won the 2022 Junior J Shield tournament with ease, critics were censored for questioning Valentino’s involvement.

“I think it is preposterous. Twitter clearly has its own agenda and considers this to be hate speech. Utterly bonkers,” one woman told the Daily Mail.

“Seemingly many individuals have had their accounts locked or suspended by merely pointing out a scientific truth.”

Some had their accounts locked, but many were banned outright for calling Valentino a man.

Keep reading

This Jewish Skateboarder Spoke Out About Women’s Rights. Social Justice Warriors Responded With Anti-Semitic Hate.

Taylor Silverman is grateful for all the anti-Semitic Instagram comments.

The 27-year-old amateur skateboarder made waves earlier this year when she spoke out against biological men participating in women’s sports. A self-described Zionist who is rarely photographed without a Star of David necklace, Silverman wasn’t surprised that online backlash quickly turned anti-Semitic. But she’s a little surprised by how much of it came from her friends.

“If I hadn’t spoken up, I would still be friends with people who are blatantly, and proudly, anti-Semitic,” Silverman tells the Washington Free Beacon. “I’m grateful I did, because it showed which of my old friends are anti-Semitic pieces of trash.”

The friendly fire was only part of the backlash Silverman faced for speaking publicly about her experience competing against transgender athletes. It wasn’t a political protest. Silverman had been skating for a decade, and only just began to feel that the skateboarding community was making space for women. But as soon as the community began to take shape, she felt it come under attack.

“The first time I lost to a trans man, I thought people would recognize it was unfair and speak out. The second time, I thought, ‘Someone has got to do something about this!’ The third time, I realized: I am somebody. And so, I spoke up.”

In a May 11 Instagram post, Silverman recounted losing first place in the 2021 Red Bull Cornerstone Contest to Lillian Gallagher, only the latest instance where she had gone up against transgender competitors.

“I am sick of being bullied into silence,” Silverman wrote in the post, which also included a screenshot of a concerned email she sent to Red Bull. “A biological man with a clear advantage won the women’s division,” Silverman wrote to Red Bull sports marketing manager Erich Drummer. “This took away the opportunity that was meant for women to place and earn money.”

Red Bull never responded to her email. But the trolls did.

“This argument is transphobic as fuck and shows what type of person you are,” one commenter wrote. “Hopefully you give up on life soon since you’re bad at everything,” added another.

Soon, the hateful comments began popping up on Silverman’s other posts.

“Taylor the type of girl to rat someone out at the camps just to get some extra bread,” reads one comment on a photo of Silverman at the Dead Sea, an apparent reference to the Holocaust. “It’s chill I can say this too I’m an actual Jew not some token ass white girl,” the commenter added.

Silverman’s Instagram feed is an object lesson in what happens to those who take the unpopular position on hot-button issues. The comments beneath her photos are a minefield of the left’s choice insults: “transphobe” and “TERF,” “colonist” and “Free Palestine!” As Silverman sees it, most of the vitriol comes from the same place.

“It’s anti-Semitism and misogyny disguised as some kind of social justice,” she says. “They’re just going with the latest trendy word to get away with hateful shit.”

Keep reading

Biden Education Secretary Says Biological Males Should Be Allowed To Compete In Girls’ Sport

Joe Biden’s Education Secretary declared Thursday that he believes biological boys should be allowed to compete against girls in sports, and even accused his questioner, GOP Congressman Jim Banks, of wanting to exclude children by discussing their biological gender.

During a Congressional hearing, Banks questioned Cardona on the administration’s attitude toward “gender identity”.

Banks told Cardona that “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. However, your department is currently pushing a rule to force every school in America to add non binary as a sex characteristic.”

“How can the Department of Education enforce sex based discrimination when the very definition of sex is so unclear?” Banks asked.

“We’re not pushing for that. We are allowing states who have different categories to use those different categories of data collection that they’re already collecting,” Cardona claimed.

“So you’re not waiting for a rule to add non binary?” Banks further asked Cardona.

“We’re allowing states to report whatever classifications they have in their states,” Cardona responded.

Banks then moved to probe on the sports issue, asking “do you believe that biological male athletes competing in women’s sports are in conflict with Title IX protections for female athletes?” 

After failing to properly answer the question, Banks doubled down, asking “Do you think it’s fair for biological boys to compete against girls in sports?”

Cardona responded “Sir, I see where your questions are going, and I’m going to be very clear with you — our transgender students need to feel supported, included, and seen,” adding “And, your line of questioning is, even by describing it the way you’re doing it, shows me that you don’t believe that all students should have access to the extracurricular activities that schools provide.”

Banks told Cardona that “somehow, somewhere you and this administration believe that Title IX somehow protects biological boys for competing against girls and sports. You’re okay with that.”

Keep reading