Dr. Gonzo

Lebanon's not seen the same scale of bombing that Gaza has. Iran's oil facilities weren't bombed, nor were their nuclear facilities. The West Bank annexation thing specifically came up in the context of "now Trump is going to be president again, this is the time for the annexation." So yeah, they weren't doing those things with Biden as president. The next ambassador to Israel doesn't believe that the West Bank settlements are illegal or that Palestinians have any legitimate claim to the territory.

Trump is creating a Department of Government Efficiency. He's announced Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy will head it. Personally, I think it's genuinely funny that the department for "efficiency" is going to have 2 bosses. I can't think of anything that screams efficiency like creating a new department... and then appointing two people to run it.

I think they'd have gone crazy on Lebanon and bombed Iran's oil facilities, if not nuclear facilities. You also don't see Israeli politicians talking about annexing the illegal settlements under the Biden administration - whereas Trump is now president elect and low and behold, that's now seemingly on the table and up for discussion.

The thing is they had a choice between: 1.) Harris doing the status quo, 2.) Trump doing the republican status quo, which is the same policy on Israel but giving Israel less restraint, or 3.) Voting third party in a swing state, which is essentially just voting for Trump to give Israel less restraint. You've got a choice between a lesser evil, a greater evil, or a protest vote which ultimately just helps the greater evil but I guess there's less guilt attached to it than outright voting Trump. But I think that's essentially them saying they care more about their feelings than whether or not Gaza exists in 4 years or if illegal West Bank settlements end up becoming annexed.

I think VAR shouldn't be done by premier league referees tbh. In the "good process, lads" video/audio... the replay operator had a better understanding of the laws of the game, how to interpret them, and how to use the VAR technology - the problem there was he was the only one without authority to make a judgment in the room. I think it was @RandoEFC who asked months ago "why does it have to be refs, why can't it be sweaty nerds who've studied the laws of the game intently reviewing the video footage?" I think that's a valid question. Being a referee in the most watched football league in the world is not an easy job - but the VAR officials really don't have the same kind of matchday pressures as these referees. They don't have to chase after players for 90 players for 90 minutes, they don't have to take abuse from a full stadium of fans, they don't have to deal with the massive egos of these famous players and managers. They just have to be able to spot the clear and obvious errors of the referees who are human and who are going to make errors. When it's not clear and obvious, they can do the same thing as VAR refs and send the official to review the footage and make the decision themselves. Separate the mates club from the VAR officials - and take a lot of pressure from refs/VAR by sticking to the "clear and obvious" shite. Can Man City fans genuinely say they've been aggrieved by the referees at the same rate as any other club in the league? I can't remember the last time a referee genuinely fucked them over, but I can remember when referees have done them favours in matches that they're not even playing in. If there ever was a genuine corruption investigation into our referees, I think the logical thing to do would be to look at the referees who are taking side gigs in the UAE and Saudi Arabia - then look at how they've officiated matches involving City and Newcastle, as well as the clubs that can be considered direct competitors to them. A logical place to start these sorts of investigations is looking into where there's an appearance of a conflict of interest first - these side gigs are a blatant conflict of interest honestly. And if they're just poorly managed by the people in charge, the people in charge need to go and people that can put in standards and policies that actually protect referees from these sorts of accusations should be put in charge. If there's no corruption, just general incompetence, they've done themselves - and more importantly their referees - no favours. It does nothing for the goal of creating an atmosphere where referees at all levels of the game, from the top flight to grassroots football, aren't surrounded by toxicity and abuse. It also begs the question: what the fuck has happened to Michael Oliver if he's not bent? He's gone from being a decent referee years ago, to "the best of a bad bunch"... to as inept as the rest of the bad bunch. I can't get my head around that Man Utd-West Ham VAR shit. Coote is already a bad enough referee without VAR pressuring him to get the call wrong lol.

Thank you for this explanation. I understand your perspective better. But this alone isn’t the reason I’m calling them bent - it’s the general way they’ve operated over the years. The biggest thing for me that indicates they’re corrupt is the moonlighting in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which is such a blatant conflict of interest I have no idea how the PGMOL cans stand by it. Everything else that brings criticism of corruption their way, I think is their own fault for the way they’ve conducted themselves. Sure, I agree with everything you’ve said except the last paragraph. I’ve got a long history of being off my face and saying stupid things. I’ve done it on here plenty of times in the 20 odd years I’ve been a member of this community FFS. I’ve never put myself in the position where I’m off my face saying stupid things next to someone who’s obviously recording and sending out the videos though. So I think even at my worst, I can’t relate to having such shockingly poor judgment. In any case we’ve got a new ref controversy with the audio of Michael Oliver on VAR for the West Ham penalty that got Ten Hairs sacked. It’s very bizarre with Oliver making his mind up and doing his all to get Coote to make the decision he wants.

And even going back to what he’s talking about… 2 Republican presidents shaped the modern Middle East - Bush & Trump. With the conflict he’s specifically obsessed about, Trump pulling out of the JCPOA & Soleimani’s assassination directly led to hardliners coming to power… and planning and arming Hamas to use as pawns, knowing full well what that would mean for the entire population of Gaza. And yes, there’s also the impact on the global economy of when you’ve got a protectionist idiot in power that’s starting trade wars with everyone. Which… just causes the whole world to get poorer as prices for everything go up. Democrats aren’t great, but this was an election between a boring regular politician or Donald Trump and all the idiocy that he brings. I understand progressives genuinely hating the political system of America… but just like Brexit, it wasn’t the right time for a fucking protest vote. That’s why I’ve got no issue mocking any American of middle eastern descent who voted for him. And I’m including the many Iranian-Americans who did the same thing, hoping that far cunt will do a fucking thing about human rights. Do these people have the memory of goldfish? He was president once before not that long ago

It certainly makes their current "investigation" look like bullshit. The time to have investigated this was when they found out about it, not 4 years after the fact. So once again, they come off as totally lacking in integrity. If this story is true, I don't see how it'd be any more of an unexpected statement than anyone would have expected to find that video floating around social media sites. PMGOL only made any sort of statement and suspended Coote because it went viral. The message they're sending to the other referees isn't "don't behave like Coote" it's "don't get exposed like Coote." I'm not sure I can understand the perspective where that doesn't make them look bent. It was a cover up. What were they covering up? Coote's video. So now they've effectively thrown Coote to the hyenas... the only difference is it's 4 years later and they'd already known about it. I want to understand the perspective that it doesn't make them bent, so can you explain it to me in a way that I can understand? How does silently trying to handle the situation with no transparency 4 years ago and them now suddenly publicly acting as though they'd just been made aware of it make them not look bent? Tbh I can't see how this further undermines PGMOL credibility going forward. The only positive thing we can say about PGMOL in 2024 regarding this alleged coverup is: Howard Webb did not have his current position in 2020. Which I suppose is a bit ironic considering his occupation prior to becoming a referee and that institution's own history with cover-ups. But maybe it's time people like me look beyond the Chief Refereeing Officer of PGMOL at who to blame for the piss poor standards set for officials. If the problem in institutions like this starts at the top and works their way down, Martin Glenn, as chair of PGMOL should be sat in front of some SkySports cameras and made to answer some questions if he's not going to resign.

Lol for his ambassador to Israel he's picked Mike Huckabee, a zealot who thinks it is absolutely necessary for a holy war to occur in the so called "holy lands" in the hopes that he might get to meet his good pal Jesus. Think we've got a pretty strong signal on what his Middle East policy will entail on day 1.

But if they weren't bent, they wouldn't have covered it up. So they're not bent enough to have known it would have been a problem... but bent enough to have an issue with openness and transparency. Think if these reports are true, it does once again call PMGOL's integrity and transparency into question. It also makes me think whatever PMGOL's current "investigation" is currently doing is more for show, because if the reports are true... they clearly didn't learn about it this week - and what they did in silence is probably what they were planning on doing after they concluded this "investigation." So I think the FA's investigation into the matter is probably more important than whatever Howard Webb's PMGOL are doing.

Lol if we're waiting for that we might as well be waiting for Godot.

FA investigating Coote now. @Bluewolf & @Cicero... now's the time to prepare some lines for Anthony Taylor and get your cameras ready

Do you think it will go much like the first time around or do you think he'll be a bit more focused now? Because the first time around would have been hilarious if I was living in another country - the amount of turnover in his cabinet and staff was absurd. Other than imposition of tariffs and low taxes for the wealthy, I'm not sure he's truly interested in any policy. And that's part of why his first term was so chaotic - it was a hodge-podge of policy ideas from various cabinet members and advisors, who he'd then fall out with and sack, then replace and the direction of his policy would change. His UN ambassador pick is a lunatic... but has a pretty traditional neo-con view of foreign policy. He's gone with Little Marco Rubio as his pick for Secretary of State and that's very much an establishment republican pick. I don't know much about his chief of staff, but it seems she is more of a regular republican than a diehard MAGA cultist - so while I think US foreign policy will continue to be terrible as it has been throughout my lifetime, I don't think it's going to be as extreme as what was proposed by his advisors for Project 2025/Agenda 47. However with his domestic policy, it looks like he's appointing some of the authors of Project 2025/Agenda 47 who wrote specific policy papers. So are we going to be looking at a Bush-era style foreign policy with a MAGA cultist domestic policy, at least for the early days of his presidency?

Can I do cocaine with Coote before/after he's done?

I’m not so much upset about it as I think you saying it looks like a hostage situation is fucking stupid

I’m just watching people reap what they’ve sown. I’ve not said anything about cheering for a genocide. I’m also middle eastern lol But I think it’s telling that’s your accusation. Because it’s projection and it’s clearly what you’d be doing if the conflict was going the other way around.

As of 2024, 8 Greens have held state-level office. However, only 3 were elected or re-elected as Greens. As of 2024, no Greens currently hold state-level office. & one mayor. Truly a serious party.

They're not breaking any mould. They're voting for a party that has no presence on a national level. Or on a state level. Or at a regional level. Or even at a local level. Breaking a mould would be election reform that makes it so America isn't a two party system. Or backing a third party that actually has any sort of footing at any level in the US. A party that only has presidential candidates and nothing else is not a serious party.

I'm not blaming anyone for Harris's loss other than the democrats who didn't turn up to vote. And voting 3rd party in the US makes sense... if that party actually has any sort of local, regional, or statewide platform. Pretty sure Jill Stein's Green Party doesn't have any such thing though - they just exist to be a spoiler candidate. Voting Green for president is basically the same as not voting. But I am going to enjoy watching that Islamicist crowd weep for what they voted for.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/11/11/israel-iran-war-news-gaza-palestine-lebanon/ Gonna be a fun four years for the mental gymnasts in Dearborn, Michigan.

lol

Yeah tbf most hostage situations involve both the hostage and the hostage taker visibly high as fuck on cocaine & it's famous that many hostage takers regularly refer to their hostages as "legends"

If you’re stupid enough to share your hate for someone to others, especially on camera, you probably don’t have the ability to be impartial.

So if you were a ref would you pop round to your mate’s house and make a similar video?

Definitely and maybe he should have been cautioned more and sent off more. But like you say, it doesn't give Coote a pass at all. I think PMGOL is letting down every referee in England - not just those at the top flight. They contribute to the culture of ref hating just as much as the angry managers and fans. They have a hard job and VAR's made it harder - every important decision is under a microscope now. Referee mistakes have always happened and will continue to happen, they are human. PMGOL needs to actually put measures in place that protect referees. The time for micing up referees, like they are in rugby, is long passed. I think the "well done lads, good process" incident indicates there's a real need for PMGOL to have clear and consistent guidelines on how referees and VAR communicate with each other. Their job isn't as important as air traffic controllers, but they definitely need some sort of strict rules and guidelines on how they communicate... like air traffic controllers... if they want to be taken seriously as the people officiating matches in a league with billions at stake. There need to be clear and publicly available ethics guidelines for referees - and shit that falls under "the appearance of impropriety" needs to fall under an ethical violation, as it does in many other industries that don't even deal with billions in any currency changing hands. Imo there are lots of steps that PMGOL can take to improve their image, so the public doesn't feel that referees lack integrity. But I think what Coote's done goes beyond what PMGOL could do to protect referees and reduce hatred towards referees. Everyone who has a job has to work with people they think are unpleasant. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar, imo. But if you chat shit about these people after drinking and sniffing up some lines on video and that video becomes public... it's really only on you for making those statements. He's brought his own integrity and ethics into question. He's destroyed his credibility going forward. It should destroy his career as a referee in football. I'm not so sure it will because PMGOL's demonstrated an indifference to the appearance of impropriety when they let referees moonlight for leagues owned by the same people who own Man City/Newcastle. But it absolutely should destroy his career. I can't understand how a referee who's been caught on a video ending with "we hate the Scousers" can be expected to referee in a league with 2 clubs from Merseyside. Even if he can never referee Liverpool or Everton again, how do they guarantee he won't make decisions that impact these clubs? I think the way PMGOL's gone about protecting their referees has been misguided at best. To truly protect them and the image referees have, there need to be clear standards and transparency at the highest level. I think considering the speed of the top flight game, fans having access to audio that demonstrates their actual thought process will 100% help most (not all, because some people are just morons and there's nothing that will change that) football fans understand that: 1.) the referees have a difficult job; 2.) how easy it is for them to make genuine mistakes. I also think these billion pound clubs of this billion pound league should be forced to set aside a pretty large sum of money to PMGOL. We all want higher refereeing standards at the top flight, that comes from having higher refereeing standards at the grassroots level and above. That comes from spending money to properly train people. Giving them the funds and resources to want to do something that is: 1.) difficult, 2.) high pressure, 3.) comes with a significant amount of abuse - @Gunnersaurus has pointed out that grassroots refs are quitting due to this abuse. But regardless of what PMGOL, the league, the clubs, the fans can do to make it a bit easier for referees... what Coote's done goes beyond all of that & imo it's nobody's fault but his own. And honestly I think it's a joke he's claiming it's a fake. He'd get a lot more sympathy from me if he owned it - said his comments with his mates were clearly wrong and he was under the influence and was going to start addressing substance abuse issues. I'd genuinely be in favour of him getting a second chance if he said "yeah I should not have done that, it was clearly unprofessional and unethical, I have a drug problem and I'm going to rehab." That would honestly demonstrate remorse... and an attempt to restore the idea that as a ref he should have integrity. Just flatly denying it when anyone who's seen an AI fake knows it's definitely not an AI fake is almost just doubling down. And if he wants to double down on that kind of behavior, I think PMGOL would do best to throw the book at him.