🇺🇸 Hole in One or Foul Ball?

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TRENDING

Right: Will DeSantis' War Plan Against a 'Weaponized' DoJ Work? Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

Right: Biden Should Read 'Harmless Banned Books' to Kids David Harsanyi, The Federalist

Right: We Need To Know If Joe Biden Sold Out America Rep. James Comer, FOX News

Left: Blue State 'Shield Laws' for Abortion and Trans Rights Panetta and Rummler, Vox

Left: Takeaways From Chris Christie's CNN Townhall Bradner & Krieg, CNN

Left: GOP Wanted Clinton Prosecuted But Now Defends Trump Jonah Goldberg, LA Times

QUICK CLICKS

Subway Death Charges, See No Biden Scheme, Starbucks Worker Secures Big Pay Day

US: Daniel Penny faces up to 15 years on 2nd-degree manslaughter charge in chokehold death of Jordan Neely (NY Post)

US: Southern Baptists uphold expulsion churches with women pastors (NPR)

US: Legacy Media Seemingly Has No Interest In Covering Alleged Biden Bribery Scheme (Daily Wire)

US: Biden officials declined to offer legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants amid border concerns (CBS News)

World: Russian soldiers' corpses line road into liberated Ukrainian village (Reuters)

US: Trump shores up Miami Latino vote amid historic arraignment (NBC News)

Business: Starbucks worker who argued she was fired for being White wins $25M after controversy over arrests (Fox News)

Business: Twitter Hit With $250M Lawsuit From Music Publishers Over “Massive Copyright Infringement” Claim (Hollywood Reporter)

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SPORTS

Hole in One or Foul Ball?

Earlier this month, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour announced they will merge, ending a bitter rivalry that started when the Saudi-backed LIV launched a year ago. The league’s connection to Saudi Arabia, and ongoing questions concerning the 9-11 attacks, made the league controversial.

Reporting from The Left: Senate launches probe into merger of Saudi-backed LIV Golf, PGA Tour Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News

Reporting from The Right: Rory McIlroy says he still hates LIV Golf but concedes unifying tours will be good for the game Ben Church, CNN

From The Flag: The introduction of LIV Golf also upset the sport’s “old guard” and drew top athletes away from the PGA Tour with big sums of money. Now, the new league will adopt some of LIV Gold’s innovations, such as team play. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Selective Saudi Arabia Outrage Starts Up Again

• With this merger, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wins again.

• This is a prime example of institutions ignoring Saudi Arabia’s shaky past when big money is on the line.

• The media feigns outrage at “doing business with Saudia Arabia,” when major corporations like PepsiCo, Raytheon, Hilton, and Boeing (among many others) already do.

The PGA and LIV Golf Merger Is the Revenge of the Saudi ‘Pariah’ Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: "The tours will drop their litigation. Golfers will no longer have to choose between the tours. LIV golfers who were suspended will be allowed to re-apply with the PGA at the end of this season. ... But the biggest winner may be the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman), who has been seeking to improve his reputation in the wake of the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by Saudi assassins. While campaigning in 2019, Mr. Biden promised to isolate and ostracize MBS, despite his value as an ally in the rough Middle East. MBS has been returning the disfavor ever since. MBS is using the Kingdom’s massive oil-funded sovereign wealth fund to buy businesses and influence in the West. In 2021 the PIF purchased the English Premier League soccer club Newcastle United. It has invested in Saudi luxury resorts to draw wealthy Western tourists, including golf courses where one LIV tournament is played."

Saudi Arabia Purchases the Sport of Golf Jim Geraghty, National Review: "The Saudi kingdom has an unsavory reputation in some circles. Besides the Khashoggi murder, the kingdom does not recognize freedom of expression or association, routinely imprisons critics, and has grossly unfair trials. Prisoners there endure abuses of every kind, and receive draconian sentences sometimes including hundreds of lashes, crucifixions, or public executions. Women have extremely limited rights, and guest workers are routinely abused. And, as noted last week, the kingdom flogs and executes gays for being gay. Happy Pride Month, everyone! The ruling family of Saudi Arabia also has gobs and gobs of money, and one of the ways that the kingdom improves its image around the world is by using that money to host and finance big international sports events — Formula One races, ownership of big-name European soccer clubs, tennis tournaments, golf tournaments."

One more opinion piece from the Right: 'Blockbuster' PGA Tour merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf reveals the media's bias outrage Greg Gutfield, Fox News

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

For Professional Golf, Greed Is Apparently Good

• Suddenly, and with dollars signs flashing in their eyes, the PGA Tour forgot Saudi Arabia’s documented history of human rights abuses.

• It’s certainly right to take issue with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, but the entire sport is a decadent, exclusive, environmental disaster.

• In this latest example of Saudi “sportwashing,” more money will end up going to the “suits” rather than into player’s bank accounts.

The PGA Tour’s Stunning Hypocrisy Jemele Hill, The Atlantic: "When PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was asked last year about his indefinite suspension of 17 players for joining the rival LIV Golf league, (he) chastised the golfers for choosing money over morality. Because LIV gets its money from Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy notorious for its human-rights abuses, Monahan implied that players who chose LIV over professional golf’s preeminent league would regret their association with the kingdom. 'I would ask any player that has left or any player that would consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?' ... But in one of the most stunningly hypocritical reversals in recent sports history, Monahan is now on Team LIV and, by extension, Team Saudi Arabia. ... proving that one of the Wu-Tang Clan’s most famous lyrics remains unerringly true: Cash rules everything."

The PGA-LIV merger isn’t the problem. Golf is Ray Brescia, Los Angeles Times Opinion: "Many associated LIV backers with 9/11 and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The overwhelming financial might of the billionaires backing LIV ultimately resulted in an offer the PGA leadership apparently couldn’t refuse. But while many are sickened by the effort to 'sportswash' Saudi bank accounts, this foreign incursion is hardly the beginning of the sport’s outrages. Golf courses have historically been places of exclusion. Segregated golf courses flourished in the South through the 1950s, and some private clubs continued to exclude women, people of color and religious minorities until much more recently. Golf courses are also an environmental blight across the country. They treat their grounds with tons of harmful pesticides and fertilizers to maintain lawns manicured by massive, pollution-spewing mowers. Vast quantities of water help carry the chemicals into aquifers and wetlands."

One more opinion piece from the Left: Who wins in the PGA-LIV tie-up? Hint: It's not the golfers Allison Morrow, CNN

FLAG THIS

Majority Say the Merger Deal Isn’t Up To Par

A recent survey shows 74.5% of respondents have a negative feeling toward the LIV Golf/PGA Tour merger, with over half (53.4%) saying the deal only benefits LIV.

Just over half (50.5%) said the deal benefits LIV “a lot” while just 3.4% said it does the same thing for the PGA Tour.

Among those who feel negative, many cited human rights violations by the Saudi Arabian government.

On the positive side, respondents cited reuniting players who had left for LIV, and “growing the game” (Tele-Town Hall/Aristotle).

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WATERCOOLER

First African American Graduate, Combatting Self-Criticism, Cereal’s Impact on America

Henry Ossian Flipper, born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on June 15, 1877.

TIME: 9 Ways to Combat Self-Criticism

Mental Floss: How Cereal Transformed American Culture

CNET: The New Age of Hiring: AI Is Changing the Game for Job Seekers

Today I learned that Henry Ossian Flipper (above) was accused of stealing over $3,000 in commissary funds and relieved of duty. Though a court-martial found him not guilty of embezzlement, he was dishonorably discharged for "unbecoming conduct" in 1882. In 1976, the Army upgraded his discharge to honorable. And in 1999, President Bill Clinton granted Flipper a posthumous pardon, saying, "Henry Flipper did all his country asked him to do."