K. Armstrong

Your only competition is the mirror

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

The Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s top consulting firms, played a key role in designing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. How did BCG end up helping build an aid network Palestinians and leading NGOs describe as a ‘death trap’—and why does their involvement matter?

Drop Site contributor @RNatourious breaks it down. ⬇️

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

*I don’t know what to say anymore. As doctors, we can’t stop a genocide and we can’t end a famine.

We provided a diagnosis - genocide. *

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

Al Jazeera: At least 93 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza today, including 63 waiting for aid.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

American physician Dr. Mark Brunner from Oregon, currently volunteering in Gaza, spoke from the Nasser Medical Complex:

“Every time there’s a so-called food distribution, we know there’s going to be annihilation,” he said.

He described the horror of today’s aid massacre in Gaza:

“I don’t see any evidence of warriors. I see malnourished fathers and daughters. I see pregnant women with their babies ripped from their womb by shrapnel. I see small children, comfortable in their red sweater, having it ripped off and their arms completely annihilated.”

He said Israeli forces today not only opened fire on malnourished civilians waiting for food, but also launched tank shells into the crowd.

“The first couple days we were seeing isolated injuries — head, chest, abdomen. Today it’s reported tanks have been used at food distribution centers. Which makes sense… We’re seeing multi-trauma.”

“This is something that’s just got to stop,” Dr. Brunner pleaded.

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

@semitic_jew Zeb is really him

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

So is Serrano really boxing in Jordan 11s lol #Respect #PaulTyson

[Samuel Sinyangwe @samswey]

No bank executives arrested for laundering $670,000,000 in drug cartel money. But jump a turnstile and get arrested or shot for $2.90.

[UNRWA @UNRWA]

Another night of horror in the #Gaza Strip.

A strike hit a hospital courtyard, burning the tents where people were sleeping. Just before this, an @UNRWA school sheltering families was hit in Nuseirat.

That same school was going to be used as a #polio vaccination site today.

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

@DIOButFemale 😂😂😂

[SOLELINKS @SOLELINKS]

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[SOLELINKS @SOLELINKS]

ALMOST LIVE - good luck if you're in Vegas

[Overtime @overtime]

Me and the boys in 70 years 🫡

(via chiamarssiminors/IG)

[SSN Jay-O @Jay_3shifty]

Juju Watkins Was Unguardable As A Freshman! Next Face Of Womens Baskrtball, Breaking Records, Showing Off Pro Bag All Year!!

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

@eBoogz28 Show out E 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[Lewis Miles @Maga4liberty]

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Such a funny prank! 🤣🤣🤣

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

If you encounter a cougar on the trail, we strongly recommend the opposite of pspspsps.

[Stadium @Stadium]

The @LiveontheLine crew has their picks for tonight's Thunder-Mavs game!

@camronsmith | @jaredleesmith | @BrandonFunston | @HarrisonSanford

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

Caught the Northern Lights yesterday @x0kalise

[K. Armstrong @KCArmstrongNY]

@x0kalise Saved by the bell