DBWI: It was 20 years ago this Saturday...

It would be nice if the Libertarian Party surge turned into something long term. But I suspect the Republican party has 'come to Jesus' and will succeed in tis efforts to hijack the label as the party of individual liberty. About the only thing thats held them back on this is their connects to the Corporations exploitating prison management contracts. The scandal over prison management campaign contributions to 'Law and Order' and 'Lockem Up' politicians hurt.
On the one hand, US politics, from an outsider's perspective, has Always been very much based on the existence of only the Democratic and the Republican PArty, with Indipendnets and otherm inor parties barely registering on anyone's radar.

On the other hand, there's a good enough momentum to ensure that the Libertarian Party will survive to the Republicans' attempts at incorporating them in their folds, especially if Libertarians manage to successfully argue that, while the Free Market and Free Enterprise is usually a good thing, for that particular issue of prisons there needs to be quite the serious governmental overseeing. Yes, I do know that not all Libertarians are "no government anywhere but in the Army, period" extremists, but those are the ones that are shouting the loudest, not the moderates.

Even though far less children are sucked into a life of crime than before, the 'ndrangheta has become very influential from a purely economic standpoint, they've been doing a lot of money smuggling things in the USA that are fully legal elsewhere; and some of that money has almost certainly went to weird places, I mean, when was the last time we had both Catanzaro and Reggina in Serie A?

At least they don't bomb shops and kill people anymore, I guess.
Yeah, where the Camorra withered in front of increased efforts by the State to combat them (to the point they barely even matter anymore), the Sicilian Mafia tried to kill everything governmental in sight before being suppressed into hiding or fleeing elsewhere in Europe, the 'Ndragheta and the Sacra Corona Unita managed to adapt fairly well to the new situation. Now their operations are harder to eliminate, even if (or maybe thansk to the fact that) they don't kill anyone publicily anymore.

And it probably has never happened in the history of Italian Football. Although I'm of the opinion that the Reggina got into Seria A legitimately, unlike, say, Catanzaro or Lecce. Either way, if any concrete proof comes up, the scandal will be epic… maybe it will be on par with Tangentopoli… I suggest calling this ticking time bomb of a scandal "Calciopoli".
 
That did manage to give pro wrestling a minute to pause and really take that shit into consideration and start toning things down, but then Vince McMahon tried to relaunch the CFL here as the XFL and that was such a PR nightmare it killed the WWF just before the pandas could get to them.

I like the British and lucha influence wrestling took after the attacks though- it's a much more entertaining product. WCW Champ Zack Sabre Jr. is great.
 
And it probably has never happened in the history of Italian Football. Although I'm of the opinion that the Reggina got into Seria A legitimately, unlike, say, Catanzaro or Lecce. Either way, if any concrete proof comes up, the scandal will be epic… maybe it will be on par with Tangentopoli… I suggest calling this ticking time bomb of a scandal "Calciopoli".

There's been quite a lot of grumbling already, I mean, do you think it was a coincidence how US Milanese was re-founded (along the lines of AFC Wimbledon) right after Berlusconi was re-elected as PM back in 2006? Sure, Milan is still in Serie A right now, but the support Milanese got right from the start by fans and professionals alike made it possible for them to skyrocket from the lower leagues to Serie B in a decade, regardless of their Athletic Bilbao-like signing policy. That's what you get when people are fed up with the status quo. The Serie A right now is more or less like the Premier League... regardless of its quality, the national team hasn't won shit in quite a while, we basically pissed 2006 away and won Euro 2012 only because we had a foreign coach (!) that didn't give a damn about the usual politicking.
 
I know baseball supplanted football in America, but for that matter, an interest among the younger generation in all things international has sparked interest in baseball and soccer. Football is even losing ground to rugby union, a fast-growing sport here in Japan as well (the Japanese haven’t forgotten the ass-kicking the All-Blacks laid on them in the ‘95 World Cup and have steadily gotten better - they beat the Americans in the last Cup in both union and Sevens.)

Yeah, what was once a joke, "Soccer is America's Sport of the Future," is quickly becoming a reality. We just came off a Cinderella run to the quarterfinals of last year's World Cup, and our national soccer league, MLS, is increasingly popular (now a 32-team league, with 40 million viewers for last year's championship game) and competitive on the world stage (last year, New York tied Real Madrid in an exhibition game) as it absorbs some of our country's best young athletic talent. Olympic sports like gymnastics and track and field have also seen considerable boosts in popularity. There are even talks of creating a "National Volleyball League."

It would be nice if the Libertarian Party surge turned into something long term. But I suspect the Republican party has 'come to Jesus' and will succeed in its efforts to hijack the label as the party of individual liberty. About the only thing that's held them back on this is their connects to the Corporations exploiting prison management contracts. The scandal over prison management campaign contributions to 'Law and Order' and 'Lockem Up' politicians hurt.

I don't think the Libertarians (or the Socialists, for that matter) are going anywhere anytime soon. Most people my age hate the two traditional parties for their joint role in wrecking American society and culture and want no part of either one of them. They want people thoroughly committed to winding down the psuedo-police state, which both the Libertarians and the Socialists have made key points of their platform. For most of us, it's just a matter of whether you prefer a more free market-based system (Libertarian) or one based on more direct government intervention (Socialist).
 
Columbine and 9/11 may be the worst "double whammy" in American history. It turned our country from "the land of the free" into a virtual nanny/police state.
North Korea has used this for its propaganda, claiming that they allow video games and Television.. Which in reality, are really propaganda for Kims.
 
Yeah, what was once a joke, "Soccer is America's Sport of the Future," is quickly becoming a reality. We just came off a Cinderella run to the quarterfinals of last year's World Cup, and our national soccer league, MLS, is increasingly popular (now a 32-team league, with 40 million viewers for last year's championship game) and competitive on the world stage (last year, New York tied Real Madrid in an exhibition game) as it absorbs some of our country's best young athletic talent. Olympic sports like gymnastics and track and field have also seen considerable boosts in popularity. There are even talks of creating a "National Volleyball League.”

I saw that match last year - I’m from Columbus so I was interested in the Crew, especially since that dickweed Precourt tried to move the team on those guys. I mean, shit, Columbus is lame but they don’t deserve that. That and the Crew playing against 1904 FC, the oddly named San Diego team, and I was enjoying it even though I wasn’t really rooting for either team. The Crew won in extra time and it was an awesome game; I watched it at a bar here in Nagoya with a bunch of American expats who were split about 50-50 as to which team they supported.

And then I saw a cricket match last weekend at the same bar. No goddamn clue what the fuck was going on there.
 
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