Josh

Who cares about these things

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

Gianni Infantino in 2017, talking about the bidding process for 2026 with particular reference to the travel bans the US had in place then:

“Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious.

“We are now in the process of defining the bid requirements. In the world there are many countries who have bans, travel bans, visa requirements and so on and so forth. It’s obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.

“The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements.”

[Antifa_Ultras @ultras_antifaa]

What has happened at the #2026WorldCup over the last 48 hours:

• Swiss footballer Embolo's visa was put under review and he was only able to join his team days later.

• Iraqi national team player Aymen Hussein was held for questioning for nearly 7 hours upon entering the United States.

• The Iranian national team spent days dealing with visa procedures at the U.S. Consulate in Türkiye. The U.S. only allowed them entry on match days. Fifteen members of the delegation were denied visas.

• Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named CAF's Best African Referee of 2025, was denied a visa. Despite travelling to the U.S. with a diplomatic passport, he was refused entry and sent back. FIFA announced that he will not be able to officiate at the tournament.

• The South African national team arrived in the United States much later than planned because part of the delegation was not granted visas.

• Members of the Senegal national team staff were forced to remove their shoes and subjected to lengthy searches, sparking accusations of racism.

• The Uzbekistan national team was searched with bomb-sniffing dogs and the footage went viral in international media.

• Some Scottish supporters, despite being eligible to enter the U.S. visa-free under the ESTA programme, had their travel authorisations revoked just days before departure.

• Many supporters who had already bought tickets and booked accommodation had their visa applications rejected, resulting in financial losses.

[Henry Bushnell @HenryBushnell]

Gianni Infantino, 2025: "It’s important to clarify this. There is a lot of misconception out there. Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year."

FIFA today: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 👉 🇺🇸

https://t.co/ee9AL6ZANG

[Thomas Fazi @battleforeurope]

Crazy that this is getting barely any coverage. This year’s European Press Prize was just awarded to an investigative report by the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. It is entitled “What the Wounds Tell” and in it the journalists Maud Effting and Willem Feenstra document the cases of 114 children in Gaza under the age of 15 who were struck by a single bullet to the head or chest. Almost all of them died or were left severely disabled. They chose to document only the cases of boys and girls under the age of 15 (though often much younger: aged 3, 4 or 7) because these are children who can be immediately identified as such. “A single bullet in these parts of the body is a clear indication that these children were deliberately targeted“, the two journalists write.

This is the article: https://t.co/YkZrpqBWBQ

[GOP Ls @GOP__Ls]

🚨 ICE announces it will no longer report deaths of recently released detainees.

This comes after the deaths of recently released detainees surge to a two-decade high.

[Nima Tavallaey Roodsari @NimaTavRood]

So far at the 2026 FIFA Epstein Cup before a ball kicked:
- Senegal & Uzbekistan squads treated like criminals upon arrival given full cavity searches;
- Africa’s best referee sent back to Somalia despite having a diplomatic passport;
- Iraq team photographer sent back despite valid visa;
- AIPS (international sport journalist association) calling on FIFA to sort out unacceptable visa issues of African & Iranian journalists;
- 90% of Moroccan fans with tickets denied entry
- 14 members of Iran backroom staff denied visas

Not a word from Gianni ”today I feel black/gay/disabled etc” Infantino.

[Paul Blest @pblest]

Unreal to me that they caught this guy taking a bribe with *the literal bag of money in his hand* and he's still a top White House advisor and no one talks or thinks about it anymore

[Ben Jacobs @JacobsBen]

FIFA confirm Omar Abdulkadir Artan can’t officiate at the World Cup after being denied entry into the United States.

The Somali referee is one of Africa’s most respected officials. Somalia's Ministry of Youth and Sports say Artan travelled with a valid US visa.

Yet Somalia is on a travel ban list introduced by President Trump’s administration.

🗣️ “FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan's status will not be changed at present.

“In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country.”

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

We’ve reached the point where Nazi Germany placed less restrictions on foreign participation in the 1936 Olympics than has the United States for the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Dirty rotten scoundrel Gianni Infantino must never be allowed to live down his obsequious sycophancy towards the US leadership.

[Esfandiar Baraheni @JustEsBaraheni]

Trump booed very loudly here at MSG

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Graham Platner: “The fact that Jeff Bezos exists and the fact that I know someone in Sullivan who works three jobs and pays 60% of her monthly income in rent, those two things are directly connected. There is no metric of hard work that justifies a billionaire when people in Eastern Maine work three jobs just to put food on the table”

[Muhammad Butt @muhammadbutt]

10/10. No notes.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

There's nothing "offensive" about comparing the actions and mentality of Israel to those of the Nazis. What is offensive is demanding that one country and only it -- Israel -- be exempt from those comparisons because it hurts people's feelings, or because it seems "bigoted" to compare them.

The whole point of the Nuremberg Trials was that the precedents set there would only have meaning -- i.e., be something beyond mere "victor's justice" -- if those principles applied to the actions of **all countries** in the future. Israel doesn't have some special, unique exemption from the imperative.

[Wild Geerters @steinkobbe]

@LBC @lewis_goodall This insistence that Israel has special protections from criticism because it's the "only Jewish state" connects all Jews to a genocidal apartheid state and is more offensive than comparing one genocide to another

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

Scalia died in February 2016. It took Obama a full month to nominate a replacement and then he used no leverage and barely lifted a finger for Garland; the party was more focused in the moment at making sure everyone understood how racist and sexist Bernie Sanders was.

Plenty of Obama aides were actually glad when Dems lost the senate in 2014 because they were sick of Harry Reid pushing Obama to be more assertive and fight more.

They lost the Senate in 2014 largely because of Obama’s capitulation to/obsession with austerity and reducing the deficit.

He constantly insisted he had no real power — Neera will probably respond by saying he had no power — which Trump has proved totally wrong.

And when RBG died in September 2020 Trump nominated ACB the next week. They play to win.

But sure, a 5 minute segment from @chrislhayes would’ve made the difference. (And I’m sure he did do a bunch actually.)

[Josh @JRessel24]

@HockeyNewsHub So, essentially, this pretty much means Zavragin will be full time in the KHL for 26-27?

[Josh @JRessel24]

THEY HAVE NO FUCKING CAP FUCK OFF

[NHL Rumour Report @NHLRumourReport]

David Pagnotta: Re Dylan Larkin future: He is good friends with Jack Eichel, and as Vegas battles for another Stanley Cup, they would be a spot he’d have interest in going to - Fourth Period (6/4)

[Josh @JRessel24]

@PHLY_Flyers @charlieo_conn I would love Larkin, my concern is that Stevie Y seems to be known for his stinginess, and I feel like for the package he’ll demand you could get someone else like a Matthews for example (maybe an exaggeration but still) and i’d rather have Matthews if the package is the same.

[The Athletic @TheAthletic]

For a second consecutive game in the Stanley Cup Final, fans at Lenovo Center directed “no means no” chants at Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart.

https://t.co/vhfcbW4ALo

[tatiana🏒 @tatituzzi]

shoutout to Sean Gentille for continuously explaining why Hart and Vegas are getting so much hate instead of glossing over it and trying to put it all in the past