Pink - Never Gonna Not Dance Again

Looks Like a Disastrous Start to World Cup

People are starting to show up for the World Cup in Qatar, and it's already looking pretty grim.  First of all, the fan accommodations don't seem great. For $200 per night you get to stay in a shipping container. There were also tent villages that looked incredibly bare-bones in a video that went viral this week. 

 Pretty much everyone online made the same connection to Fyre Fest, the doomed music festival that made national headlines in 2017.  And, to be fair, the jokes do seem to have some validity to them. The pop-up villages, one of which is located by the main airport, were created because Qatar's hotels couldn't handle the number of fans, athletes, and other World Cup travelers. 

If you want alcohol — which, let's be real, this is the World Cup and lots of people do — then you'll probably have to do a bit of searching. And you'll have to pay up. Public alcohol consumption is banned in Qatar, with exceptions made for the World Cup. But it is super expensive and difficult to find because the government wanted it hidden away. In fact, just a few days before the tournament was set to start, high ranking Qatari officials reportedly demanded beer tents from major sponsor Budweiser be moved out of sight. If you do find a beer, it'll reportedly run you $14.

And last, but certainly not least, things have already grown contentious between Qatar and the foreign press. During a live news hit for TV2, Danish reporter Rasmus Tantholdt was interrupted by officials who attempted to stop the filming by blocking the camera lens and then threatening to smash the camera, despite Tantholdt showing his credentials as a member of the media.

“You invited the whole world to come here. Why can’t we film? It’s a public place,” Tantholdt told the security personnel. “You can break the camera. You want to break it? You are threatening us by smashing the camera?”  After video of the altercation went viral, Qatari officials confirmed that security had erred.

Musk and His Ego Continue Purge of Twitter Workforce

Following the mass layoffs that recently halved its workforce, a number of Twitter employees were fired after Elon Musk requested their tweets and work conversations to be scrutinized to detect criticism of him.  Musk unceremoniously fired one employee who contradicted him on the platform. As Twitter’s workforce has been slashed, its new owner is making personnel changes based on criticism directed at him, the New York Times reported.

According to the report, Musk asked confidantes to sift through the Twitter accounts and internal company messages of his employees to weed out those who do not share his vision for the company. Violators were terminated in the middle of the night:

Musk’s team was asked to comb through messages in Twitter’s internal chat platform and make a list of employees who were insubordinate, people briefed on the plan said. They also sorted through employees’ tweets, looking for criticism. Those deemed rule breakers received emails around 1:30 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, notifying them that they were fired, according to emails viewed by the Times.

Some were reportedly fired simply for publicly discussing the termination of the workers Musk let go. Musk officially took over at Twitter on Oct. 28, and the platform has seen some significant changes in the weeks since. Thousands of employees and contractors have been let go – most with little to no warning.  Last week, the platform was inundated with parody accounts for people, corporations, and historical figures after users took advantage of a Twitter Blue feature that would verify literally anyone willing to pay $7.99.

And now Twitter might lose even more employees over Musk instituted a bizarre new "loyalty oath."   According to The Washington Post, Elon Musk gave remaining staff members an ultimatum and asked them to commit to an "extremely hardcore" Twitter going forward. "If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below," he reportedly wrote in an email that links to an online form.

So what does an "extremely hardcore" Twitter mean? The report didn't quite delve into the specifics of Musk's expectations, but the executive apparently said that it means "working long hours at high intensity." He added: "Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade." It's not quite clear if the move is legal for workers in countries that have rigorous labor laws. Regardless, the email said that those who don't sign the form by 5PM Eastern on Thursday, November 17th, would be let go and would receive three months of severance pay.

 

Dua Lipa Forced to Deny She's Performing at the World Cup

Dua Lipa has denied reports she will perform at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony in Qatar.  The singer said she will "look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made" when it became host. Other acts including Black-Eyed Peas, J. Balvin  and BTS' Junk Kook are set to perform.

British singer Robbie Williams faced backlash from fans after the news broke that he would perform during the tournament in Doha.  Willliams' social media pages were flooded with negative feedback. One fan penned: "Sorry but the Qatar World Cup is wrong on many levels and I am disappointed that Robbie feels it is acceptable to so blatantly support it."  Another said: "I love him but this is disappointing."  A third wrote: "Hope that's not true" with another adding: "That's sad, really sad."

Qatar has been criticized for its stance on same-sex relationships, its human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers. Last year, the Guardian reported that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died in Qatar since it won its World Cup bid.

Lipa posted an Instagram story on Sunday, which read: "There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar.  I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform.  I will be cheering England on from afar... One love, Dua."

Lipa is not the first major name to make a point of not playing in Qatar. Rod Stewart recently revealed he turned down the opportunity.  I was actually offered a lot of money, over $1m, to play there 15 months ago. I turned it down. It's not right to go," he told the Sunday Times.

 

Former FIFA Chief is Boycotting the Qatar World Cup

Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup hosting rights in 2010, told Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger “Qatar is a mistake,” adding that “the choice was bad.”

The Qatar decision has been marred by controversy, including allegations of corruption and human rights violations, since it was first announced.  “It is too small of a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for it,” Blatter said of Qatar, the first country in the Middle East to host the tournament.  

Qatar's population stands at roughly 2.9 million, including an influx of around 370,000 new residents who moved to the Gulf nation in past year in the lead-up to the World Cup. Qatar did not have the infrastructure in place to run the event and recruited migrant workers from foreign countries to build the necessary stadiums, hotels and roadways.

The employment of migrant workers is at the center of human rights concerns around the World Cup. Qatar has faced criticism for the working and living conditions provided to migrant workers, which Amnesty International has likened to forced labor. The conditions have been blamed for workers' injuries and deaths, with the death toll a subject of dispute.

Blatter said that FIFA amended the criteria it used to select host countries in light of concerns over the working conditions at tournament-related construction sites in Qatar.  “Since then, social considerations and human rights are taken into account,” he said.  Blatter said he will be watching the tournament, which kicks off in less than two weeks, from his home in Zurich. 

 

The World Cup of Death

 Next Sunday, Qatar will be hosting the World Cup-- an event that the much-reviled Arab country hopes will buy it respectability on the global stage.  In reality, the event was built with the blood of impoverished and mistreated workers.  More than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago, the Guardian revealed last year.

The findings, compiled from government sources, mean an average of 12 migrant workers from these five south Asian nations have died each week since the day the World Cup was awarded to Doha over ten years ago. Data from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka revealed there were 5,927 deaths of migrant workers in the period 2011–2020. Separately, data from Pakistan’s embassy in Qatar reported a further 824 deaths of Pakistani workers, between 2010 and 2020.

Since being awarded the World Cup, Qatar has embarked on an unprecedented building program, largely in preparation for the football tournament. In addition to seven new stadiums, dozens of major projects have been completed or are under way, including a new airport, roads, public transport systems, hotels and a new city, which will host the final match.

While death records are not categorized by occupation or place of work, it is likely many workers who have died were employed on these World Cup infrastructure projects, says Nick McGeehan, a director at FairSquare Projects, an advocacy group specializing in labor rights in the Gulf. “A very significant proportion of the migrant workers who have died since 2011 were only in the country because Qatar won the right to host the World Cup,” he said.

There have been 37 deaths among workers directly linked to construction of World Cup stadiums, of which 34 are classified as “non-work related” by the event’s organizing committee. Experts have questioned the use of the term because in some cases it has been used to describe deaths which have occurred on the job, including a number of workers who have collapsed and died on stadium construction sites. The findings expose Qatar’s failure to protect its 2 million-strong migrant workforce, or even investigate the causes of the apparently high rate of death among the largely young workers.

Behind the statistics lie countless stories of devastated families who have been left without their main breadwinner, struggling to gain compensation and confused about the circumstances of their loved one’s death.

Ghal Singh Rai from Nepal paid nearly £1,000 in recruitment fees for his job as a cleaner in a camp for workers building the Education City World Cup stadium. Within a week of arriving, he killed himself.

Another worker, Mohammad Shahid Miah, from Bangladesh, was electrocuted in his worker accommodation after water came into contact with exposed electricity cables.

In India, the family of Madhu Bollapally have never understood how the healthy 43-year old died of “natural causes” while working in Qatar. His body was found lying on his dorm room floor.

Qatar’s grim death toll is revealed in long spreadsheets of official data listing the causes of death: multiple blunt injuries due to a fall from height; asphyxia due to hanging; undetermined cause of death due to decomposition.  But among the causes, the most common by far is so-called “natural deaths”, often attributed to acute heart or respiratory failure.

The Guardian previously reported that such classifications, which are usually made without an autopsy, often fail to provide a legitimate medical explanation for the underlying cause of these deaths.

In 2019 it found that Qatar’s intense summer heat is likely to be a significant factor in many worker deaths. The Guardian’s findings were supported by research commissioned by the UN’s International Labour Organization which revealed that for at least four months of the year workers faced significant heat stress when working outside.

Qatar continues to “drag its feet on this critical and urgent issue in apparent disregard for workers’ lives”, said Hiba Zayadin, Gulf researcher for Human Rights Watch. “We have called on Qatar to amend its law on autopsies to require forensic investigations into all sudden or unexplained deaths, and pass legislation to require that all death certificates include reference to a medically meaningful cause of death,” she said.  Other significant causes of deaths among Indians, Nepalis and Bangladeshis are road accidents (12%), workplace accidents (7%) and suicide (7%).

“There is a real lack of clarity and transparency surrounding these deaths,” said May Romanos, Gulf researcher for Amnesty International. “There is a need for Qatar to strengthen its occupational health and safety standards.”

 

Midterm Election Highlights

Neither Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock nor knucklehead Herschel Walker got 50% of the vote, so they are facing off again on Dec. 6. 

Arizona's Democratic Senator Mark Kelly defeated Republican Blake Masters.  Kelly was elected just two years ago in a special election following the 2018 death of John McCain. Now he will have a full six-year term.  Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs is still clinging to a narrow lead over right-wing extremist and election-denier Kari Lake.

Pennsylvania lieutenant governor John Fetterman fought his way back from a stroke, doing interviews with the help of closed captioning device to help him adapt to a temporary auditory processing disorder.  The media worked overtime on painting him as unqualified while giving his opponent Dr. Oz a pass on things like having hundreds of dogs killed for medical research and promoting quack medicines.  Yet Fetterman defeated Oz in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Pat Toomey.

Incumbent Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has won reelection, defeating Republican nominee and prolific conspiracy theorist Tudor Dixon.  Dixon was one of the Republican Party's most, uh, colorful nominees this cycle, known for her rambling theories connecting COVID-19 to the Black Lives Matter movement, claiming Democrats were looking to topple the government as revenge for losing the Civil War, and blaming a Michigan school shooting on "critical race theory." 

Incumbent Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has fended off a challenge from Republican nominee Scott Jensen, winning reelection.  Jensen was banned from TikTok last year for spreading hoaxes about the COVID-19 pandemic. During the campaign, he pandered to Republican election conspiracies with claims that dead people voted, calling for the imprisonment of Democratic state Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Incumbent Maine Gov. Janet Mills has fended off a challenge by former Republican governor Paul LePage, keeping the governorship in Democratic hands and denying the scenery-chewing LePage his attempted comeback.  LePage's stint as governor was contentious and erratic—but he attempted to rewrite that recent history during a campaign that saw him brazenly lie about his own past public statements. Maine voters didn't buy it.

Democratic New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan defeated Republican Don Bolduc.  Bolduc is a retired brigadier general in the Army who embraced Donald Trump's Big Lie before wavering once in the general election; said decisions about abortion belong “to these gentlemen right here, who are state legislators representing you”; said that privatizing Medicare is “hugely important”; and spread the conspiracy theory that students are using litter boxes in schools.

Josh Shapiro won the governorship of Pennsylvania, defeating extremist whack-job Doug Mastriano, who was arguably the most extreme of the election deniers on the 2022 ballot. Mastriano, a Christian nationalist, prayed for Congress to “rise up” on Jan. 6 and overturn the election, chartered buses to attend the insurrection, vowed to ban abortions in all cases, and campaigned at QAnon events. 

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers defeated Republican Tim Michels in Wisconsin’s governor’s race, earning a second term of competent, progressive leadership. Evers’ tenure has mostly consisted of using his veto pen to hold off an extremist right-wing and corporate takeover of the state, including ensuring free and fair elections for the future.  Michels is another one of the GOP multimillionaires who self-funded his way through a crowded primary and earned the endorsement of Trump through his election denial. Michels promised that “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after [he’s] elected governor.”  He  also endorsed a total ban on abortions (even in the case of rape and incest) and promised an end to marriage equality. He endorsed defunding public education, and is opposed to even the most modest gun safety proposals.  Michels also lives in Connecticut a good part of the year.

Noted white supremacist Stephen Miller was always a loser-- after his barrage of despicable, racist political ads proved to be a $40 million flop.  Miller had been assuring his racist base that a “red wave” was in store for Republicans, doing his part by launching massively offensive ads in more than a dozen states that sobbed about supposed “anti-white bigotry” and pushed violent anti-immigrant imagery. He funded these ad though his America Legal First organization, while others were pushed by his associates. He tried to make anti-immigrant hate and anti-trans hostility, the biggest issues.  But voters largely rejected Miller's bigoted agenda. While certainly some GOP candidates emerged victorious, there was no red wave.  Pro-immigrant measures all across the country won. Democratic candidates who leaned into immigration, like John Fetterman, will be in office next year.

Voters in Vermont, Michigan, and California put abortion rights in their state constitutions. Kentucky voters rejected an effort by Republicans to pass an amendment saying there was no right to abortion, following in the footsteps of Kansas voters over the summer. Montana voters also rejected an anti-abortion measure.

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson won reelection to his seat six years after promising the state that he would term-limit himself and not run again.  After months of trying to follow his constantly evolving story about his involvement in Donald Trump’s coup attempt, one has to wonder what won't this man lie about?

Back in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto was trailing trailing her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt by about 9,000 votes on Friday morning.  But Friday evening a new batch of mail ballots from Clark County (Las Vegas-area) and Washoe County (Reno-area) cut Laxalt’s lead to 821 votes.  With thousands of votes still outstanding in Clark and Washoe counties, Cortez Masto is positioned to overtake Laxalt and take the lead when more vote tallies are released.

Tennessee, Vermont and Oregon voted to ban slavery as a form of punishment-- Louisiana decided it was A-OK.  Missouri and Maryland legalized the use of marijuana; Similar measures failed in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.  Colorado voters authorized the medical use of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

While we're in Colorado, dingbat Lauren Boebert  is neck-and-neck with her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch for the state's House seat in the conservative third district.  Leading up to election day, even the Denver Post begged its readers not to vote for the Q-anon queen.

Democrat Tina Kotek,defeated two white-supremacist- and QANON-friendly opponents to keep the Oregon governor’s seat in Democratic hands.  Republican Christine Drazan was the leader of multiple walk-outs of Republican legislators, shutting down the House by denying a quorum, and who routinely forced delays of legislative business with tactics like forcing bills to be read out loud.  Republican Betsy Johnson was an NRA-endorsed crank whose campaign was financed in large part by fellow crank Phil Knight, founder of Nike. Both Drazan and Johnson are cozy with Timber Unity, a group with extensive and well-documented ties to white nationalist and other extremist groups like the Proud Boys, QAnon, and the Three Percenter movement.