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November 3, 2021, 10:00 PM ET
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'PGA is gonna get what it deserves': Condemnation of Saudi LIV merger unites some House members
June 06, 2023
WASHINGTON — Members of both sides of the political aisle spoke out against the PGA merger with the Saudi Arabia-owned LIV Golf Tuesday. Just last year, the PGA said that the LIV tournaments were unacceptable and that they would refuse to allow "sports washing" of the Saudi royal family, which has been accused of aiding 9/11 hijackers and human rights violations over the years.
Then, on Tuesday, both groups announced they were merging into a "new, collectively owned, for-profit entity."
Speaking to Raw Story, some lawmakers expressed concern.
Rep Dan Kildee (D-MI), an avid golfer, confessed he was "irritated" at hearing the news.
"The PGA Tour has its own issues, obviously, but they can't just brush aside the source of the [LIV] tour's money and the business model is a problem, I think, too," Kildee explained. "Like you're just paid to show up. The advantage of PGA is that every week you show up, and if you do well, you do well, and if you don't, then you might be looking at some other tour at some point."
He agreed that a lot of frustration has to do with the assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. A Feb. 2021 FBI report confirmed that "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the assassination," The New York Times reported at the time.
"But it's also just the notion that after the Khashoggi killing, the idea, whether it was clearly intentional, it felt intentional, to sort of try and buy a reputation by creating this LIV tour and it's validated by these great tour pros," Kildee continued. "You put enough money on the table you can get some real talent. You know?"
When asked if he thought there should be a hearing into the merger, he said that he worries about the potential anti-trust implications and he does have concerns, but the idea of targeting a private business is something he's also worried about.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy (TX) gave Raw Story a frank comment on the merger. "It's s--t!" he shouted as he raced to the House floor.
Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who is taking on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2024, had a unique perspective as a former professional football player.
His face sinking when informed of the news, Allred told Raw Story that it's an example that sports-washing of golf, and previously soccer, is increasing. In 2022, the World Cup was hosted by Qatar, it took place in 2018 previously in Russia. Both nations were accused of attempting to use the event as a means to appear respectable on the world stage despite human rights issues, corruption, labor abuses and hostility to LGBTQ people, The Nation explained.
"It's not just that it's Saudi-backed that it's a problem," Allred explained. "But it's because it's about accountability. And professional sports already has enough negative impressions without adding in politics."
He went on to cite Khashoggi but also mentioned "women's rights, LGBT rights" and said, "There are a lot of concerns, which, in the geopolitical context, you could say still strategically very important to the United States, when we're talking about who you want to watch on Sunday when you're watching The Masters, you don't want to be thinking about that."
Donald Trump has expressed his excitement over it.
"I think they're going to get what they deserve, no question in my mind," said Bill Pascrell (D-NJ). "And I think that Saudi Arabia has thought, in dealing with the supply of oil, that they had suited themselves finely in the world's position. I think that not only have they made a huge mistake, but it makes us move toward independence, and a lot of other countries."
He went on to say that the Saudis were "striking out, as far as I'm concerned."
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'Nakedly partisan charade': Marjorie Taylor Greene’s impeachment push predicted to backfire on GOP
June 06, 2023
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's drive to impeach several members of the government if going to backfire on GOP, Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent predicted Tuesday.
Greene last month introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden and four executive branch appointees including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The far-right Republican from Georgia last week, while addressing the debt ceiling debate, suggested during an exchange with reporters that Mayorkas is the most vulnerable impeachment target.
Sargent argues that Greene’s efforts don’t serve her party well.
“This will blow back on the GOP,” Sargent writes. “Greene’s linking of Mayorkas to the unrelated debt limit vote has handed Democrats a weapon against the coming impeachment circus. For vulnerable House Republicans who want to tout their support for the bipartisan debt deal, the last thing they need is a nakedly partisan charade led by Greene.”
Sargent writes that Greene and some fellow Republicans developed a plan to impeach Mayorkas noting that they were “giddily anticipating a large spike in migrant arrivals at the southern border when a covid-era restriction on asylum-seeking, known as Title 42, was lifted last month. Greene even advised House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that this would be a good hook for impeachment.”
The large spike never materialized, Sargent notes, citing a Tuesday DHS announcement that border crossings had fallen compared to the period before Title 42 ended.
Sargent writes that “Amusingly, the failure of this border surge to materialize has apparently intensified the GOP drive to impeach Mayorkas,” noting that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday in which Mayorkas critic Seven Bradbury of the Heritage Foundation is expected to appear.
GOP pollster Whit Ayres told The Post that it’s unclear whether Republicans can deliver evidence of impeachable offenses, noting that in the absence of such evidence, this initiative is likely to backfire.
“If they’ve got no hard evidence,” Ayres said, “it will just drive an image of the Republican Party that is very much at odds with the kind of party that can win elections in swing states or win a majority of the electorate in a presidential campaign.”
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A shooting at the funeral of a 10-year-old girl left one person dead and another injured in Washington, DC, Tuesday, ABC 7 reported. The service had been for a 10-year-old girl that was shot and killed by a stray bullet on Mother's Day.
Officers arriving at Washington National Cemetery found a man and woman suffering from gunshot wounds. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital, ABC reported.
Police say the victims were in a dispute "not directly related to the funeral."
"We believe that this was a dispute totally unrelated to what was going on with the funeral, the circumstances leading up to the funeral, the circumstances into the investigation in Washington, D.C. This was totally independent of that," Prince George's County Police Department Major David Blazer said.
One person has been arrested, police said.
On May 14, 10-year-old Arianna Davis was shot while riding in a car with her family. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died days later.
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