So was this tge dust up of PGA and Trump Tournament?

Crossing the Rubicon – With Members of the PGA TourNow for Something a Little Different

Jun 4

One of us, (Shipwreckedcrew) is an attorney who, among other things, plays a role in professional sports athlete representation. The other (F.X. Regan), is a retired FBI agent and private investigator who at one time a security consultant to the PGA Tour. Together we look at some of the drama and legal aspects associated with a recently announced start-up professional golf league.

The PGA Tour is a somewhat unique entity in professional sports. It is classified by the IRS as a not-for-profit corporation so at the end of each year it carries little excess cash on its books. The Tour is an “association” – it is made up of member players who must meet qualifications set by the Tour to join and participate in PGA Tour events. These qualifications include winning a certain amount of money in golf’s “minor leagues”, or winning promotion through its regular qualification school events. But to remain a member of the Tour from year to year a player must win a certain amount of money during the year to keep their “Tour Cards” that allow them to enter Tour events.

Notably, Tour members are not employees of the PGA Tour – they are classified as independent contractors. Their Tour Card entitles them to tournament entries, and little more.

The PGA Tour collects revenue mostly from three streams of income; the television rights to broadcast events that it sells; tournament sponsorships such as the “AT&T” Pebble Beach Pro-Am; and other promotion and advertising opportunities sold to corporate America. In most PGA Tour-sponsored tournaments, a majority of the purse money is derived from the tournament sponsor. Sticking with the AT&T Pebble Beach tournament as an example, this year’s winner received $1.5M, while the final player to make the cut at number 65, received approximately $19,000.

Players who don’t make the “cut” after the first two rounds of a tournament receive nothing. Further, Tour players are responsible for all their travel and lodging expenses. Between its revenue streams, the PGA Tour brings in a significant amount of money. The TV rights alone are worth approximately $80 million per year, and Disney pays another $75 million for the digital rights. Players receive none of this revenue other than what they win in prize money. In a 2021 memo to Tour members, Commissioner Jay Monahan said that fifty-five percent of Tour revenue would be directed back to the players – meaning forty-five percent is spent by the PGA on itself and what it gives to outside charities. In part due to controversy over finances discussed below, the Tour created a “Player Impact Program” in 2021, paying out $40 million to ten players who “impacted” the game regardless of performance. Predictably, Tiger Woods, arguably the most famous golfer of all time, received the top monetary award despite the fact that he did not play due to injury.

The Tour recently opened its new Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL which cost $65 million to construct. Commissioner Monahan’s salary is reportedly $3.5 million, and his predecessor Tim Finchem’s earned as much as $9 million. The Tour reportedly owns at least one jet for Executive travel. No Tour event is allowed to turn a profit, and all revenue after expenses revert to charities.

The NFL is also a not-for-profit corporation. But unlike the PGA Tour, the NFL has a membership consisting of the 32 owners of team franchises who agree to be guided by its self-imposed rules that are administered by the Commissioner – the owners are the Commissioner’s boss.

The owners assume all financial risk with respect to their own team’s operations, and their players are among the salaried employees of each franchise. Owners pool and shared TV and ticket revenue, but there are many other revenue streams (parking and concessions for example) they individually control. Each player has an employment contract with their team, but those contracts must comply with all collectively bargained terms agreed upon between the Players’ Association and the League.

In exchange for being paid employees with contractual rights, players agree to forgo certain rights they might otherwise have like playing in a second league while they are under contract.

It’s not a perfect comparison, but the highest-paid NFL player in 2022 will be Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers who will receive $50 million in guaranteed salary. Last year’s top money winner on the PGA Tour was Jon Rham who won $7.7 million in prize money. Rodgers’s contract is for three years, the second and third years are guaranteed as well. Rham is not guaranteed anything in 2022 or any other year.

https://shipwreckedcrew.substack.com/p/crossing-the-rubicon-with-members?s=w

7 Jun, 2022 19:45

UN comments on grain stealing allegation

The organization doesn’t have proof that Russia has been illegally exporting Ukrainian grain

The UN is unable to verify accusations raised by Kiev against Moscow of “stealing” and exporting Ukrainian grain, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, has said.

Asked about the claims by a reporter during a news briefing on Tuesday, Dujarric said that neither the UN Secretary-General’s office nor the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had any credible information on the matter.

“We’ve seen recent media reports, we’re talking to our colleagues at WFP. They have no way of verifying these allegations. I think WFP, as we all have, has been advocating for a free movement of food from the Black Sea to ensure that the needs of people around the world are met,” the official stated.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Moscow of “stealing” its stockpiles of wheat amid the ongoing conflict that broke out in late February. Most recently, such accusations were flung at Russia by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar.

“Russia shamelessly steals Ukrainian grain and sends it overseas from Crimea, including to Turkey,” Bodnar said on Friday, adding that Kiev has asked Ankara to “help resolve the issue.”

Ukraine and Western states alike have repeatedly accused Moscow of impeding grain exports by blocking Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, namely the major trade hub of Odessa.Russia, however, has rejected such claims, maintaining it was ready to ensure safe passage for grain-carrying vessels from the ports. The disruption of grain flow stems from Kiev’s own actions and extensive mining of the shoreline by the Ukrainian military, Moscow insists.

(The inadequacy of the Ukraine forces make up lies, since Russia has no need to steal grain from a defeated government. The UN has always been comped, they only make money by yhe highest bidder, in this case the US. If I knew most wheat came from Ukraine, I’d stop consuming it.)

https://www.rt.com/news/556773-un-ukraine-grain-allegations/

7 Jun, 2022 18:11

Ukraine to ban ‘War and Peace’

(Ukraine cannot win an actual war, so they try to ban a pre-eminent novel on the real issues. Ukrainian are not well read)

Kiev claims Tolstoy’s masterpiece “glorifies” the Russian military

Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ and other works that supposedly glorify the Russian military will no longer be taught in Ukrainian schools, Kiev’s ministry of education announced on Tuesday.

Tolstoy’s internationally recognized masterpiece joins other classic Russian books banned in Ukraine long before the current conflict.

“All these will be completely excluded from foreign literature,” first deputy Minister of education Andrey Vitrenko said in an interview with the TV channel Ukraine 24. “So, for example, ‘War and Peace,’ this will not be studied in Ukraine anymore.”

The ministry is still working on the final list of works by Russian writers that will be excluded from the curriculum, Vitrenko added.

His comments follow last month’s announcement by Kiev’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy that works of literature “promoting Russian propaganda” would be removed from Ukrainian libraries and replaced by Ukrainian books.

“Propaganda is a dangerous weapon. Russian lies are poisons all around today,” deputy minister Larisa Petasyuk said on Facebook at the time. (Nina Janc wrote this I’m pretty sure about this)

Tolstoy’s sprawling account of the Russian Empire during the Napoleonic wars was originally published in serialized form between 1865 and 1867. In an 1880 article in a French magazine, Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev called it “one of the most remarkable books of our age” and “the great work of a great writer” depicting a “true, real Russia.”

It has since been translated into numerous world languages and adapted for TV and the silver screen on more than one occasion – most recently in 2016.

Kiev has banned Russian works of art – and language instruction – long before the current conflict, however. In March 2019, the Ukrainian government prohibited some 40 works of art due to their mention of Russian businesses, artists, social networks, internet portals, the USSR or Soviet political figures. Among the works banned on that occasion was Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel ‘The Master and Margarita,’ which had also been censored in the USSR.

(1984 is here and this is an example of why the world will be stupider for it)

https://www.rt.com/russia/556772-ukraine-ban-tolstoy-book/

7 Jun, 2022 15:59

NATO comments on nuclear guarantees for Russia

Hosting nuclear weapons is a “sovereign” matter to be decided by NATO members, the deputy head of the US-led bloc says

NATO is not inclined to give Russia any security guarantees on the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territories of its two newest prospective members, Finland and Sweden, the bloc's Deputy Secretary-General Camille Grand has said.

“Every country is free in the nuclear field to deploy or not to deploy such weapons. We are not talking about setting up some principle restrictions on the possible actions of the alliance,” the NATO official told Swiss broadcaster RTS in an interview published on Tuesday.

Every NATO member-country decides this issue sovereignly. And now there is no such question.But I do not think that in the current situation it is necessary to give Russia any guarantees regarding our military posture in the region.

Longtime neutral countries, Finland and Sweden have scrambled to join NATO amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Russia attacked its neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

Both Finland and Sweden, despite being de jure neutral, have maintained close ties and military cooperation with the US-led bloc for decades. “These are two very close partners who come with significant military capabilities. They also bring knowledge of the Baltic and Nordic Seas region,” Grand said.

_\The potential accession of the two nations to the bloc, however, has run into a deadlock as Turkey, a major NATO country, firmly opposes their membership bid__. (This is where Erdogan comes in conveniently).

Ankara accused the two countries of being “guesthouses for terrorist organizations” for hosting members of outlawed Kurdish groups. Turkey now wants Helsinki and Stockholm to clamp down on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other groups it deems terrorists, as well as to surrender some suspects to Ankara. Among other demands, Ankara also wants the two countries to lift restrictions on arms trade with Turkey.

Grand expressed hope that the differences between Turkey and the two prospective member states will be resolved ahead of the upcoming NATO summit scheduled for late June.

“We are hopeful that the differences will be settled in time for the summit. It is important to take Turkey’s concerns into account,” Grand stated.

https://www.rt.com/news/556753-nato-russia-nuclear-guarantees/

American weapons will ensure more deaths in Ukraine, but won’t change the conflict’s eventual outcomeScott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps

The US is doing everything possible to extend the suffering of the Ukrainian people by creating conditions that appear to mandate an expansion of Russia’s military effort, and the subsequent destruction of the Ukrainian nation. US President Joe Biden has approved the transfer of at least four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine…At least four of the HIMARS systems will be transferred to Kiev, part of a $700 million dollar military aid package sourced from the $8 billion authorized by Congress for direct drawdown from existing US military stocks. As configured for Ukraine, the M142 will be able to fire a pod of six 227mm artillery GPS-guided rockets, with a range of 43.5 miles (70 kilometers).What is known is that Biden will not be supplying Ukraine with the more advanced ATACMS short-range missile, with a range of 300 kilometers.. Prior to the decision regarding HIMARS being announced…The fact is, the HIMARS system, if deployed close to the Russian frontier, would give Ukraine the ability to strike nearby Russian cities…Biden’s apparent reversal was in large part due to guarantees from Kiev…

The Russian Presidential spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, decried the HIMARS decision as “deliberately and diligently pouring fuel on the fire,” while scoffing at the notion of Ukrainian assurances regarding the weapons systems’ future use. “In order to trust [someone], you need to have experience with situations when such promises were kept,” Peskov said. “Regretfully, there is no such experience whatsoever.”…

Biden was making specific reference to the fact that any potential agreement with Russia to stop the fighting would, at a minimum, need to recognize Crimea as Russian and the Donbass republics as independent, as well as understand the probability that Kherson and other Russian-majority territories currently under Moscow's control would probably undertake referenda regarding whether they would remain a part of Ukraine going forward.

Biden’s posture flies in the face of historical and practical reality. Russia will never give up Crimea, nor will it pressure the newly independent republics of Lugansk and Donetsk to rescind their hard-won liberation…

Biden’s words, like the American policy they ostensibly describe, are inherently contradictory and reek of hypocrisy. After declaring that “We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia… A quick history lesson: The special military operation is a direct result of America’s ongoing efforts to use NATO expansion, including the desired incorporation of Ukraine, as a means of weakening Russia while undermining the viability of the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin..

Despite the existence of a negotiated framework for peace – the 2015 Minsk Accords – brokered as part of the Normandy Format mechanism that included France, Germany, and Ukraine, with Russia observing, the US and its NATO allies not only failed to pressure successive Ukrainian presidential administrations to fulfil their obligations under the accords, but actively conspired against any process that would have led to the peaceful conclusion of the Donbass conflict…

The result was an eight-year conflict which killed over 14,000 people, most of them ethnic Russians.Russia’s military operation was initiated for the purpose of bringing the conflict in Donbass, and the suffering of the local population, Ukrainian and Russian alike, to an end. An important reality which cannot be overlooked in the ongoing military struggle is that theUkrainian military has been functioning as a de facto extension of NATOfor some time now.

In the years leading up to Russia’s special military operation, Ukraine was supplied with hundreds of millions of dollars of modern military equipment, and the Ukrainian military, failed to defeat the Russians…Some of these units will be equipped with HIMARS. The “HIMARS Effect” will not have any meaningful impact on the battlefield in Ukraine–Russia’s military superiority is assured across the board, however the goal of the US in Ukraine, according to President Biden,is to inflict a heavy price on Russia for its actions. HIMARS, when employed, will inevitably kill and wound Russian soldiers, and damage and destroy Russian military equipment…

Russia is, in fact, paying a heavy price in Ukraine, as a direct result of the policies undertaken by both NATO and Ukraine…It is a policy of death, pure and simple, and as such epitomizes the role played by America in the world today.

https://www.rt.com/russia/556716-russia-ukraine-himars-us/

>>16412030

Every time I see tge words fact checkers I get so mad. No one asked for fact checkers until HRC and media convinced them they needed them. Now the retarded world has lost all sense of comprehension and intuition.

I hate these people!

>>16412030

Every time I see tge words fact checkers I get so mad. No one asked for fact checkers until HRC and media convinced them they needed them. Now the retarded world has lost all sense of comprehension and intuition.

I hate these people!

>>16412241

If you dont believe me go back amd watch the debate of HRC and Trump

When she kept on saying “fact checker” tyat seemed like an mkultra command to get the gullible public to go out and fact check, then they introduced fact checkers shortly before or after the election

Mind control, thats what she did

>>16412241

I need to go back and watch the debates between Trump and HRC, now I can see what he did.

She brings up fact check constantly. They planned the fact check bullshit

>>16412253

Yes you are right and to doubt their own mind to go along with group think.

>>16412305

Yep her and Obama, mkultra on the public and many buy into it everytime