VSTgolf

Certified Golf Teaching Professional. Prior life: Pro Football (CFL) & Clinical Scientist (Academic Medicine & Pharma:🇨🇦🇺🇸🇸🇪🇨🇭🇺🇳🇰🇷) Duke Alumnus ‘96

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

FIFA ha rechazado la camiseta de la Copa Mundial de Haití, argumentando que era demasiado "política".

En la camiseta, Haití conmemora la liberación de su pais del colonialismo, el establecimiento de la primera nación negra del mundo y la abolición de la esclavitud.

El imperio occidental nunca perdonará a Haití por ser la primera nación en liberarse del colonialismo y dar ejemplo revolucionario a todas sus demás colonias.

¡Viva el pueblo de Haiti, vivan los libertadores anticoloniales Toussaint Louverture y Jean-Jacques Dessalines!

[DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics]

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!!!

Yesterday, our colleague and DD Geopolitics correspondent Chris was told that the US government has placed him on the FBI's no-fly list while trying to board a flight in Beijing.

He is an American citizen. He received no warning, no charge, and no reason. He found out only when the airline refused to issue his boarding pass after eight hours of waiting, stranding him abroad. As an American, he is now barred from flying to, from, or even over his own country.

His "offense" is journalism.

Chris was traveling to cover Iran's national team at the World Cup. In recent months he reported on the ground from Minab in southern Iran and from the site of the Starobelsk strike in the Donbass, where a dormitory full of teenagers was killed. His work documents the human cost of the wars Washington funds and fights: the children who never make the press releases.

For that, an American citizen has been placed on a terrorism watchlist with no due process and no explanation.

This is not a small thing. The no-fly list operates with almost no transparency, Americans are routinely listed without ever being told why, and the redress process is a black box that a federal court has already found violates constitutional due process. It is one of the most powerful quiet censorship tools the government holds, and it is now pointed at a journalist for reporting things they would rather no one see.

DD Geopolitics will not be silenced. We are pursuing every legal avenue available to Chris, and we will not let this be buried.

If they can do this to him with no warrant, no charge, and not one word of explanation, they can do it to any American who shows the world something it isn't supposed to see.

[Sony Thăng @nxt888]

The problem was never Trump.

Trump is the readable version of a text that was always there, written in language most people couldn't access.

The problem is the system that produced him, that uses him, that will survive him, and that will next time find someone equally willing to do what he does but competent enough to do it quietly.

The competent version is more dangerous.

The competent version rebuilds the language. Restores the branding. Hires the speechwriters who know how to say "shared values" and "rules-based order" while executing identical policy.

And the people who spent four years appalled by Trump's vulgarity will feel the relief of good grammar and take it for moral improvement.

The empire doesn't need Trump specifically.

It needed what he provided: a stress test. A period of operation without the usual ideological cover, to see what held and what didn't.

What held: the sanctions. The bases. The vetoes. The dollar. The weapons sales. The regime change operations.

What didn't hold: the manners.

And when someone comes along who can restore the manners while keeping everything else, and they will, they always do, the people who thought the problem was the manners will call it a recovery.

The rest of us will know what it actually is.

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: NOT SO FAST! Federal judge reopens Trump’s IRS case and demands to know if her court was defrauded.

Judge Kathleen Williams has had enough.

In a brief but devastating order Friday, the federal judge in Miami reopened Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — a case Trump had voluntarily dismissed last week specifically to avoid her scrutiny — and ordered Trump's lawyers to explain by June 12th why she shouldn't find that the entire scheme was a fraud perpetrated against her court.

The judge's language was pointed and precise. She said she wanted to investigate "grievous allegations" that the deal to resolve the case was "premised on deception." She asserted that she was "empowered to investigate serious misconduct" and demanded answers to two devastating questions: was "the court the victim of a fraud," and did Trump collude with his own government to settle the case specifically "to avoid judicial scrutiny"?

The answer to both questions, based on everything that has already been reported, appears to be yes.

Judge Williams had been circling this case for weeks before Trump pulled it. She had openly questioned how Trump could sue an agency he controls, with government lawyers who answer to him, producing a settlement negotiated with officials he appointed. She ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually adversaries or secretly colluding. Trump dismissed the case the day before those briefs were due.

Then, after she closed it, the Justice Department released not one but two extraordinary agreements — a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump's allies, and a separate one-page document permanently barring the IRS from ever auditing Trump, his family, or his businesses. Agreements that had apparently been negotiated while the case was supposedly active before her court.

Judge Williams cited the New York Times report revealing that the IRS had prepared a 25-page memo outlining strong defenses against Trump's suit — defenses the Justice Department never raised in court, never filed, never mentioned.

Her order came directly in response to the filing by 35 former federal judges — appointed by presidents of both parties — who called the scheme a fraud and urged her to reopen the case.

She listened.

"We stand ready to work with the court as it investigates this matter," said Norman Eisen, who represented the former judges.

Trump tried to flip the table before she could see the cards. She just put them back on the table.

If you can’t wait to see the Justice Department try to explain itself, please like and share this post everywhere.

[IT Unprofessional @it_unprofession]

I spent 4 hours yesterday updating my resume to apply for a mid-level PM role.

The listing said they wanted someone with 10 years of experience in a software that was invented 4 years ago.

I clicked apply and was immediately redirected to a third-party portal that asked me to upload my resume, which I did.

Then it asked me to manually type in every single detail of the resume I had just uploaded.

Why did I upload it if I have to type it again?

Is the uploaded PDF just a ceremonial offering to the HR gods?

I spent 40 minutes breaking down my career history into tiny mandatory text boxes.

The portal required me to list a start and end date for every job, but the calendar widget wouldn't let me type the year.

I had to click the back arrow month by month to get to 2002.

My wrist started cramping somewhere around 2018.

Then it asked for my high school GPA.

I'm 44 years old.

I don't even remember the name of my high school mascot, let alone my proficiency in AP European History.

After the history lesson, came the behavioral assessment.

It presented me with 75 statements and asked me to rate them from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree."

One statement was "I prefer to work alone but also thrive in team environments."

That is a paradox.

I'm being asked to evaluate a philosophical contradiction by a recruiting algorithm.

I just clicked "neutral" for everything out of spite.

The final step was a mandatory video cover letter.

I had to record a one-minute pitch explaining why my core values align with a B2B SaaS company that sells inventory management software.

My core value is being able to afford groceries and paying my internet bill on time.

I put on a dress shirt over my sweatpants, stared into my webcam, and lied for 60 seconds.

I said I've always been profoundly passionate about supply chain optimization.

Nobody is passionate about supply chain optimization.

I clicked submit and immediately received an automated rejection email.

The timestamp said it was sent zero seconds after I applied.

I was evaluated and deemed unworthy by a line of code at the speed of light.

Next time I'm just going to wrap my resume around a brick and throw it through their office window.

[VSTgolf @VsTgolf]

@josemorgado @danivallejo17 https://t.co/qbv6s6K1cP

[Michal Samulski @MichalSamulski]

Roland Garros statement on Adolfo Daniel Vallejo’s comments about the umpire following his match on 28 May.

[Muhammad Mazen @mhmd_s09]

One of the most horrific scenes in human history has been revealed.

A video shows people trying to rescue an injured person and carry him to the hospital; Israel bombed them all and killed them with a missile.

A video the world must never forget.

[VSTgolf @VsTgolf]

Agreed. I admit to worrying otherwise 18 months ago when European generals were beating the war drums for their populaces but that has now become inaudible.

I live a few km away on the shoreline from one (European) nation’s naval base. Their exercises have barely increased in frequency. /My son recently completed mandatory basic military training in another (European) nation (where his grandfather was a 1-star general equivalent) and there is zero indication of any special training or call-up for its mainly reserve forces. /My wife’s cousin & godson in Germany (who is just beginning his post-educational career) confirmed that they are not being required to report or register planned exit and absence from the country despite the announcement of intended coerced conscription.

[NUCLR GOLF @NUCLRGOLF]

🚨⛳️🏌️ #NEW — English Pro golfer Matt Travis has been accused of stealing someone’s trackman in a detailed reddit post with screenshots to back the allegations. Matt’s IG account looks to have been deleted / set to private.

(Via: francheggo/reddit)

[USGA @USGA]

Most golfers only know one or two of their options when they decide their ball is unplayable in a bunker.

There are actually four!

1. Stroke and Distance (+1 stroke)
2. Lateral Relief (+1 stroke)
3. Back-on-the-Line (+1 stroke)
4. Out of the Bunker (+2 strokes)

[SIMPLICIUS Ѱ @simpatico771]

The US already sanctions the very ships that are passing through those Straits, and has been for years. This is a de facto "tolling system".

US will tolerate anything Iran imposes, as US has no cards to play.

Stick to doing laundry, you're no big shot.

[Alternative News @AlternatNews]

Russia orders Euroclear to pay €200bn

A Moscow arbitration court has granted the Bank of Russia’s request for the immediate enforcement of a ruling ordering Euroclear to pay around €200bn ($233bn)

It is a relatively unknown fact that arbitration courts are stronger than EU governments.

This is no laughing matter. The EU has been outmanoeuvred. Euroclear will repay the money and in turn, will claim the money from the Belgian government.

Belgium will claim parts of the money from the EU countries and EU taxpayers are screwed.

The EU (the guilty party) will just smile and say “hey, we warned you in the small print”.

Europe and Belgium are cooked. Russia accelerated the court ruling to allow Europe to stop transferring the rest of the recent $90bn support money.

[Zachary Foster @_ZachFoster]

Over the past 50 years, Israel has armed, trained & supported many of the most racist, violent & genocidal states in the world, including:

(1) the antisemitic Argentinian military junta, (2) Pinochet's Chile, (3) the genocide of Guatemala's Mayans, (4) Apartheid South Africa, (5) the Serb genocide of Bosnians, (4) the Hutu genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, (5) death squads in the Philippines, (6) the Myanmar genocide of the Rohingya Muslims, (7) the Azerbaijani ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, and many others (full piece below).
https://t.co/3BwVlO0BxF

[Aallyah Wright @aallyahpatrice]

Monica and Shawn Williams say their white neighbor harassed them & burned a cross to intimidate them.
He's been indicted on two federal charges.

Still, South Carolina does not have a hate crime law, and the Williamses are pushing to make it a reality.

https://t.co/ly3tEYZeL5

[Amal Saad @amalsaad_lb]

I have been a scholar of Hizbullah for over three decades, and throughout that time I have been repeatedly asked when, whether, or how, it will disarm. Yet in the context of Israel's daily terrorism in the south and the Bekaa, and beyond, the question today has become even more absurd, because those who pose it somehow still fail to grasp that they aren't simply asking about an organisation, but about whether an entire people — the people of the south, the Bekaa, and Dahyeh, Lebanon’s Shia community, and a constitutive part of the Lebanese state — should willingly surrender the only means through which they have resisted their own genocide. And the answer to that is something that rings even more true today than it has in the past--there will be no disarmament of Hizbullah's Resistance, with a capital R, or of any other popular resistance that may emerge with a lower case r, so long as the genocidal Israeli entity exists.

[Alonso Gurmendi @Alonso_GD]

If the 1st one gets credit:

The slaves of Antigua banned slavery in 1736. The British empire reinstated it

Tacky banned it in 1760. The BE reinstated it

Fedon of Granada banned it in 1796. The BE reinstated it

The slaves of Barbados banned it in 1816. The BE reinstated it

[Alternative News @AlternatNews]

Iran Just Smashed a Key US Air Base in Kuwait - New Images Reveal the Damage

The strike’s implications go beyond damaged buildings and equipment. The attack also degraded the base’s ability to function as a command node for coordinating US and NATO activity in the region.

That makes the strike strategically more serious than a simple infrastructure hit.

It suggests Iran was not just trying to cause physical damage, but to disrupt operational coherence and complicate command and control.

Iran was tired of waiting for Trump to make concessions. If Trump does not agree with the Iranian demands, more US bases will be destroyed.

[DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics]

Peter Thiel is quietly relocating to Argentina.

The billionaire tech investor has decamped from Los Angeles and Miami to Buenos Aires, where he's purchased a mansion in one of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods, enrolled his children in local schools, and is meeting regularly with President Javier Milei.

This is Thiel's third "backup country," he received New Zealand citizenship in 2011 and applied for a Malta passport in 2022. Now Argentina is becoming his primary hedge against the United States.

His stated motivations: concerns about California's proposed 5% billionaire wealth tax, worries about the direction of the U.S., and the risk of nuclear war or runaway AI. Argentina, geographically insulated from Northern Hemisphere conflicts, fits the profile.

But Thiel has also found ideological alignment with Milei's libertarian slash-and-burn governance including deregulation, government spending cuts, aversion to taxes and "wokeness." The two met in person in 2024 (brokered by the tech entrepreneur who founded OLX, which Thiel's VC firm funded). Since arriving in April, Thiel has dined with Milei's deregulation minister, met with the economy minister, and spent time at the presidential house discussing how to ensure libertarianism survives beyond Milei's term.

Milei's cabinet chief said last month: "All billionaires of the world who want to flee countries increasingly regulated, with higher taxes and governments that persecute their citizens, are welcome in the Argentine republic, the new land of freedom."

The Argentine government is exploring offering Thiel permanent residence or citizenship through a new "golden passport" program for large investors.

Thiel has also purchased land in neighboring Uruguay near Punta del Este. Some observers speculate it could include a nuclear bunker.

This reflects a larger strategy. Thiel co-funded Próspera, a $120 million "charter city" in Honduras with its own laws, courts, and tax system. When Honduras's government tried to shut it down as a sovereignty violation, Próspera sued for $10 billion. Trump then pardoned the former Honduran president who created the ZEDE framework, forced Honduras to elect a puppet leader, and Próspera is now expanding with a new U.S. military base on the island.

Thiel isn't just seeking personal refuge, he's building an archipelago of private governance zones across the hemisphere in places where billionaires can operate outside state jurisdiction. Argentina is the latest addition.

[Kateri Seraphina @KateriSeraphina]

À 23 ans, elle guérit la lèpre. À 24 ans, elle disparaît.
Et pendant 90 ans, un homme blanc s'attribua le mérite de ses travaux.
Voici l'histoire d'Alice Augusta Ball, le génie qu'on a tenté d'effacer.
Elle grandit à Seattle au début du XXe siècle, dans une famille qui croyait au potentiel des Noirs.
Son grand-père fut l'un des premiers photographes noirs d'Amérique.
Sa mère lavait les sols pour pouvoir offrir un microscope à Alice.
Ce cadeau changea le monde.
Alice dévorait la chimie comme l'oxygène.
Elle obtint deux licences.
Elle publia des recherches alors qu'elle était encore étudiante.
Puis elle s'installa à Hawaï et devint :
📷 La première femme à obtenir une maîtrise en chimie à l'Université d'Hawaï
📷 La première femme noire à obtenir ce diplôme
📷 La première femme professeure de chimie de l'histoire de l'université
Elle avait 23 ans.
Mais pendant qu'elle enseignait, elle fut confrontée à une urgence bien plus grande que le monde universitaire :
La maladie de Hansen, la lèpre.
Un diagnostic signifiait l'exil.
Arraché à sa famille, on était déporté sur une île pour y mourir seul.
Il existait un traitement :
une huile amère et collante, peu efficace et extrêmement douloureuse.
Nombreux furent ceux qui le refusèrent. Nombreux furent ceux qui moururent.
Alice refusa de baisser les bras.
Dans son laboratoire, elle trouva la solution que personne d'autre n'avait trouvée :
Elle transforma cette huile épaisse en une forme assimilable par le corps.
Une injection révolutionnaire qui sauva enfin des vies.
Les patients commencèrent à guérir.
Des familles furent réunies.
Des personnes condamnées guérirent subitement.
Sa découverte devint la méthode Ball.
Elle changea l'histoire de la médecine avant même que la plupart des gens n'aient terminé leurs études.
Et puis… elle disparut.
À seulement 24 ans, un mystérieux accident de laboratoire lui coûta la vie.
Elle ne vit jamais le miracle qu'elle avait accompli.
Puis vint le vol.
Le président de l'université, un chimiste blanc nommé Arthur Dean, s'appropria ses recherches, en retira son nom et les rebaptisa :
« La Méthode Dean ».
Pendant des décennies…
📷 Son nom figurait dans les manuels scolaires.
📷 Son nom était encensé par les médecins.
📷 Son nom était attribué à la seule reconnaissance de ses mérites.
Son nom a failli disparaître complètement de l'histoire.
Un vol si discret que la plupart des gens ignoraient même qu'un crime avait été commis.
Il fallut 90 ans pour que la vérité éclate enfin.
Des chercheurs ont mis au jour les documents originaux d'Alice.
Son travail.
Son génie.
Ses découvertes majeures.
Les projecteurs se sont braqués sur elle. Le mensonge s'est effondré.
Et aujourd'hui, le monde le sait :
C'était la Méthode Ball – TOUJOURS.
Alice Ball a guéri une maladie qui avait ravagé des vies pendant des siècles.
Elle a libéré des familles.
Elle a sauvé des milliers de personnes de l'isolement et de la mort. Et elle a accompli tout cela en une seule année.
Imaginez ce qu'elle aurait pu faire en une vie entière.
Alice Ball méritait un prix Nobel.
Elle méritait des statues.
Elle méritait que son nom soit sur toutes les lèvres des étudiants en sciences.
Au lieu de cela, elle a été étouffée par le silence…
Jusqu'à aujourd'hui.
Nous prononçons son nom parce que l'histoire a refusé de le faire.
Nous l'honorons parce que d'autres ne l'ont pas fait.
Nous nous souvenons d'elle parce qu'elle l'a mérité.
Alice Augusta Ball (1892-1916)
La chimiste qui a changé le monde avant même d'avoir eu le temps d'y vivre.

[Rusty 🇮🇪 @Rusty462286]

@LETgolf @SolheimCupEuro @georgiahall96 @SkySportsGolf @EnglandGolf @BBCSport @TheSolheimCup A mum??? I thought she's dating another LPGA player??!! Can't keep up with Georgia's love life lol