33 Comments
Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

The betrayal of the players that took a stand against MBS is stunning. Plus the lowlifes that are putting them down for taking a that stand. It’s no surprise that poison people like Trump or the characters in “Succession” are folk heroes to some. The cult of hate runs deep.

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author

What a strange choice of heroes...

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founding

It feels like the PGA has been highjacked by terrorists.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

How do you boycott an organization that you never really supported in the first place???

I don’t golf

I don’t buy golf equipment

I don’t watch golf on tv

I don’t read golf magazines

Even before this merger I had issues with the golfing world

In areas of the country that have been dealing with drought golf courses have been exempt from restrictions

Pee-uke

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author

Excellent point. I’m going to take the random opportunity to remind everyone just how pee-uke-y this is.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

And what does this merger say to the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks ? 15 of the 19 terrorists on that day were Saudis.

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author

It's a big raised middle finger?

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I have been a golfer since my youth, growing up in Wethersfield where the PGA made a foothold with the Insurance City Open that is now The Travelers. As a 15 y.o. I even caddied in the tournament back in the days when few of the touring players had professional caddies accompanying them. I still play BUT have lost interest since Norman, biting the hand that fed him, collaborated with the Wahib's of 9/11 "fame" to offer unlimited blood money to entice players like crazy eyed Phil to switch sides. Monahan showed his true colors as a hypocrite who caved in to the dark side! Sadly The Travelers may be in its final year which brought millions of dollars into our economy and to local charities!

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

This is infuriating on so many levels. How about their record on human rights, especially their record on the treatment of women. 9-11! This is such a slap to the families who lost loved ones. And, Jamal Khashoggi, freedom of the press. The list goes on and on. Write on, Susan -- PGA see ya!

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author

Even commentators who closely watch golf say this was out of the blue. Conn. Sen. Chris Murphy posted on Twitter that PGA officials had been in his office performatively bemoaning the human rights violations of Saudi Arabia. This is egregious.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

The bottom line is --- it's the money. It's always money. Wonder how this merger will benefit DT. He hosted a LIV event at one of his golf courses overseas. Ugh!

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author

I would assume it's all connected.

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founding
Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

One other point, the 9/11 terrorists fund many, many companies that some of us don't realize like COSTCO.....they are a savvy crowd....maybe it is time for the USA to take over the oil fields that fund their exploits?!?

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author

That's a good point. I try to shop where my dollars aren't being funneled back into turds like MBS, but I can't say I keep an exhaustive list nearby.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

There is a long list.

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How do the 9/11 terrorists fund Costco? I assume you mean Saudi Arabia. Since Costco is a publicly traded company, do they own a large block of Costco stock (I can't find a reference to this; they are not among the top shareholders in published lists). There are no Costco stores in Saudi Arabia* - are they reselling Costco goods? I'd be interested in some data or further information on this. Thanks!

*List of Costco warehouses worldwide: Number of warehouses: 853 (as of 5/25/23)

Areas of operation:

587 locations in 46 U.S. States & Puerto Rico;

107 locations in nine Canadian provinces;

29 locations in the United Kingdom;

14 locations in Taiwan;

18 locations in Korea;

32 locations in Japan;

14 locations in Australia;

40 locations in Mexico;

4 locations in Spain;

1 location in Iceland;

2 locations in France;

3 locations in China;

1 location in New Zealand;

1 location in Sweden

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founding

Brilliant assumption! Did you never read the 9/11 report? The Saudis were complicit yet we coddle them all because of oil! I am sorry I cannot cite the story I read on their connection to COSTCO (BTW I am a member and shopper there). I made my comment based on a story I read amidst the golf drama. I am certain you know the Saudis are deeply invested and involved in many U.S. corporations. Not sure why the list of COSTCO stores but I am sure when they read your post you will be getting some sweet discounts.

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What a delightful response. Thanks so much for all the factual references.

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founding

Check this out.......Costco Wholesale Corporation announced that it has received $497 million in funding from The Public Investment Fund of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

08/16/2022 EDT

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Costco Wholesale Corporation announced that it has received $497 million in a round of funding on August 16, 2022. The transaction included participation from new investor The Public Investment Fund of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company issued common shares in the transaction.

MBS uses the PIF to further his influence as he has on many other fronts, think PGA/LIV as just another example. Hope this helps and you understand I am NOT a FOX faux news person?

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I've always thought of golf as a "sport" for rich white men, Tiger Woods and my woman golfer friend notwithstanding to the contrary, and the golf course, like the men's room at a corporation, being the place where the real deals are made. This deal just reinforces my belief.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Some men like me play golf at public courses, are not apart of the country club elite, and find the game therapeutic as it keeps us active into our senior years. While I am all in on condemning the PGA and their collaboration with terrorists I won't give up on a game I enjoy and hate at the same time.

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That makes sense. I stopped watching baseball after one of the long-ago strikes but I never lost my love of the game.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Me, too. I play occasionally at public courses. My grandpa played up to 90 years old. It is something that will entice both of my parents who are in their mid-80's to get outside for some exercise- even if they only play 7-8 holes. It sure seems like the PGA sold out, for money. As if those in professional sports don't already make obscene amounts of money. And going from non-profit to for profit will change things, too. Saudi Arabia and US businesses are so entangled. It's too bad PGA has been added to the list! I haven't read about this deeply, but I so far fail to see why they chose to do this (aside from more money).

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It's just too damn bad this deal makes a lot of people rethink what could be, as you said, a life-long sport.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Speaking for myself, I won't let them take away the joy in playing recreationally. I wonder what it'll do to the PGA Pros who teach at shops around the country and don't compete in the big tournaments, too. And what will happen to the LPGA?

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author

All great questions.

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Jun 7, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I appreciate that. My woman friend plays at Richter, an excellent (so I'm told) public golf course in Danbury. I wouldn't expect anyone to give up playing because of this. This move just reinforces the fact that pro golf -- like pro football, tennis, basketball, hockey, etc. -- is all about the money.

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author

Pretty much, yeah.

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Black men were not allowed to play with those rich white men, so they played "night golf". Friends of mine tell me that they experience glacial conditions when they golf (even here in my minority-majority town's golf course. It has been a source of joy that one of those friends has been invited to play in the pro-am several times - and not the white males who treat him badly when he golfs during the year. (Women are also still not treated the same as males - no surprise there either.)

This merger is a travesty - but, given the chance all of us have had to observe the behavior in professional sports in America, how can we be surprised? Bret Favre? Aaron Rodgers? The endless list of male sports professionals who have abused/assaulted women without penalty being imposed by their teams or leagues?

One more reason, in an endless list, to watch women's sports. Only women's sports.

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author

It's pretty sickening that this kind of behavior continues on the golf course, what your friend has experienced. I'm going to turn my attention to activities that aren't funded by killers.

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Me thinks the PGA has fallen down the rabbit hole and is playing with the Middle East version of the Queen of Hearts.

❤️👑$$$$$🖤

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The merger seems to me a natural debacle of US sport and its national role-- certainly during my lifetime, and to go by Thorstein Veblen and L. Frank Baum, since about 1900. From being healthy recreational entertainment, not only professional sport (which barely existed before 1900), but all sorts of more-and-more organized sport got distorted into

- one of the most highly respectable interests to have, not frivolous at all

- an imprimatur of character, often the imprimatur of character

- a more and more dominant and expensive form of production which produces

: rankings

: the transfer of property

while producing some pleasure, but no food or drink or housing or clothing, though some of those cluster about it

- and of course the transfer of property heavy involves the burgeoning and increasingly legalized growth of the gambling industry

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author

Amen.

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