🇺🇸 Drive for Show, Sue for Dough

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Plus, there’s a cooking oil shortage in Europe. This Munich pub came up with a creative solution…

Also, you’ll be crying in your kitchen if you pass up this Flag Find.

FLAG POLLS

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 43, Disapprove 55 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 46, Democrats 43 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐴 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 43, Democrats 45 (Politico/Morning Con.)

TRENDING

Right: Sinema among top private equity cash recipients as she removed billionaire tax loophole from Manchin bill (Fox News)

Right: Abbott begins busing illegal immigrants to NYC after Mayor Adams gaffe (Washington Examiner)

Right: Democrats slam Biden as he sinks their midterm prospects: 'More of a drag than Obama' (The Blaze)

Left: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Agrees To Vote For Inflation Reduction Act (Huffington Post)

Left: Election deniers are one step closer to taking control of voting in 4 key states (CNN)

Left: Monkeypox should have been easily controllable. How did we fail so badly? (Vox)

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QUICK CLICKS

Bernie Unimpressed, Chinese War Games, Biden Tests Negative

US: Bernie Sanders Slams 'The So-Called Inflation Reduction Act' (Daily Wire) + What is in the Inflation Reduction Act? (NPR)

World: Taiwanese shrug off China drills: "Everyone becomes numb to it" (Axios) + China ‘rehearsing sinking US aircraft carriers with hypersonic missiles’ in Taiwan war games as WW3 fears loom (The Sun)

US: 'I'm feeling good': President Biden FINALLY escapes two-week COVID isolation with a smile and a wave (Daily Mail)

US: Poll: Many Americans say 2nd Biden or Trump term would be 'worst thing that could happen' in 2024 (Yahoo)

US: A Netflix show starring Keri Russell stirs buzz among US diplomats (POLITICO)

US: Bill Maher slams America’s ‘fat acceptance’ movement as ‘Orwellian’, supporters have ‘blood on their hands' (Fox News)

US: Britney Spears' Ex Says Her Sons Find Her Nude Selfies 'Tough' (Daily Beast)

World: Elon Musk gives scalding take on Biden's push to free Brittney Griner (NY Post)

US: Insulin Will Remain Expensive for Many, Thanks to Republicans (Rolling Stone)

US: Stock trading ban becomes hot-button campaign issue (The Hill)

SPORTS

Drive for Show, Sue for Dough

Last week eleven professional golfers associated with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf sued the PGA Tour. The plaintiffs argue the PGA harmed their careers by suspending them after they joined the rival league.

News Coverage from the Left: PGA responds to lawsuit filed by 'Saudi Golf League employees' in scathing memo (Yahoo Finance)

News Coverage from the Right: Greg Norman Says How Much Tiger Woods Turned Down To Play On Saudi-Backed Golf Tour (Daily Wire)

From The Flag: The league has proven controversial largely due to its financial backing by Saudi Arabia. Several family members of 9-11 victims have been highly critical of LIV Golf given the reputed connection between the terrorists and Saudi interests. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Greed in Golf, and a Shameful Disrespect to 9-11 Families

• Family members of 9-11 victims have every right to be outraged and disgusted by Saudi Arabia’s backing of LIV Golf.

• This is another example of the corrupting nature of capitalism and the idea that more money is always better.

• The PGA has enjoyed a monopoly over professional golf for years and they only suspended LIV players because they don’t want competition.

“Don't let Saudi-backed LIV Golf off the hook” Tom Joyce, Washington Examiner: “LIV hosted a golf tournament… at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, and it was met with protests from family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The victims’ families have every right to be outraged. These were the worst terrorist attacks ever to occur on American soil… Even more than 20 years later, questions remain. Was the Saudi royal family funding al Qaeda ? And did they know about these attacks? Legitimate concerns exist surrounding Saudi involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. … After all, the Wahhabi Islam practiced in the country has led to the emergence of terrorist groups, and the Saudi government has long been an alleged state sponsor of terrorism. A professional golf tour partially funded by Saudi Arabia doesn’t belong in the United States, former President Donald Trump’s willing participation in it is disgusting, and every pro golfer participating in it deserves condemnation.”

“LIV Golf and Homo Economicus” Micah P. Veillon, The American Conservative: “With its great history and traditions, its world-class competition, and when it has given so much to these golfers' careers, why leave the PGA for a brand new league? Why would American golfers leave the premiere American golf league to play for a tour backed by Saudi Arabia? The answer, in the end, is rather straightforward: money. LIV Golf will be paying the golfers absurd amounts of money. As a golf novice, I am not here to discuss the sport-related particulars. I mention this consequential moment in golf, alongside a consequential moment in my life, because I believe both illustrate a consequential development in our culture—the malaise that has befallen our social consciousness, an angst looming over the American mind produced by a culture whose ends are disoriented. … But the roots of our modern capitalist tree are sunk deeply in a false anthropology, and this tree often bears bitter fruit.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Golf war tees off because PGA won’t tolerate competition and LIV and let LIV Michael Levin, Fox News Opinion

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Selling Out Is Good Business, as LIV Golf Embraces MAGA

• The fact players are willing to leave the more reputable PGA Tour for LIV Golf shows that cancel culture is less powerful than sellout culture.

• LIV Golf has been demonized but its existence has forced the PGA to pay its best players more money.

• LIV Golf has cemented its MAGA status by holding an event at former President Trump’s golf club

“What Is Golf’s Problem? Sellout Culture.” Paul Krugman, New York Times Opinion: “Even if you don’t play or follow golf — which I don’t — you’re probably aware of the controversy now engulfing the game. A number of the world’s top-ranked pro players, notably Phil Mickelson, made extremely lucrative deals to play in a new tour, the LIV Golf International Series, sponsored by Saudi Arabia. The PGA Tour, which has traditionally dominated the sport, responded by suspending 17 of these players. … So if you ask me, the real story here isn’t that the P.G.A. may (or may not) have found a line it won’t cross. It is that so many members of the American elite evidently have no such lines. That is, the rise of cancel culture seems much less important and ominous than the rise of sellout culture. More and more people at the top of our social hierarchy appear willing to do anything, for anyone, as long as the money is good enough.”

“​​Tiger Woods walks away from LIV Golf payday. Phil Mickelson walks into a courtroom” Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star Opinion: “Mickelson, who has accused the PGA Tour of ‘obnoxious greed,’ has called his defection to the LIV series ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.’ And the PGA Tour hasn’t taken kindly to his grand visions. According to the antitrust lawsuit, Mickelson was suspended by the tour in March, about a month after he issued an apology for comments to biographer Alan Shipnuck about his willingness to overlook Saudi Arabian sportwashing to gain leverage over the tour. … as much as it’s been easy to cast the LIV Golf rebels as laughable sellouts… their pursuit of guaranteed cheques has forced the PGA Tour to write bigger ones. Its best players are being given a chance to get richer. And now, so are its best lawyers.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: By embracing Donald Trump, LIV Golf is branding itself as the MAGA Tour Dan Wolken, USA Today Opinion

FLAG THIS

Who’s Watching the LIV Links?

As to the popularity of LIV Golf, around 2 in 10 sports fans say they’re “very” or “somewhat” interested in watching the new golf league, with just 16% of “avid” golf fans saying they watched the inaugural event in June.

Around half of the group who identified as big fans of the sport said they were interested in checking out the new league (Morning Consult).

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Nixon Resigns, Pandemic Impulse Buys, Old Money

On August 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon finally bowed to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House. Above is White House Deputy Special Assistant Alvin Snyder with President Nixon prior to his resignation speech.

Vox: The pandemic impulse purchases we grew to hate

Ars Technica: How listening to uninterrupted noise helped millions to focus

Life Hacker: How to Estimate Distance Using Just Your Thumb

Today I Learned the British pound is the oldest currency in the world. It has been used for over 1,200 years, dating back to the Anglo-Saxon era when it was equivalent to 1 pound of silver. One pound could buy you 15 cows.