james choice

anyone who says that either side is going to "walk right through" the other in this match clearly doesn't understand football. i've watched every single match since the start of the world cup, and in this one the two teams' strengths are pretty evenly matched. it's hard for one team to walk right through the other or anything like that.

a match with no favorite. france is a favorite only by a hair, and even that's because of the individual talent of players like dembele, mbappe, and olise. spain has conceded only 1 goal throughout the tournament. spain's biggest weapon is the very successful zonal defense they play.

by the way, spain won 3 of the last 4 matches and 4 of the last 6 matches played between the two teams. on top of that, in the last 10 matches between them, spain came away with 7 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. spain is a team that matches up very badly for france.

s9e7 may look at first glance like it's tackling evolution, but it's actually a badass critique of god that takes evolution as its theme. rick's primary goal throughout the episode was simply to escape from this prison. that is, until he sees that even in morty's most innocent, most harmless form, the one who by his own will refuses to join the cycle of violence and chooses a different path for himself, only ever choosing to be of use to other living things, he still incurs the wrath of god. the moment he sees this, he changes his own cycle, shifting his goal from escaping to killing. and he pulls it off, too. in this episode rick actually killed god. as for no one in the prison being innocent, that's a critique aimed at human existence itself.

the leader i find most successful at calling a spade a spade. by telling donald trump, "me and italy will never beg, being your friend has absolutely done me no good." she gave a fantastic answer to the golden-boy bootlickers too. she also deliberately showed up late to the protocol and avoided shaking hands with erdoğan. a real queen.

lupita nyong'o, one of the actors in the film, is asked in an interview what she'd want to say to homer. and she says: i'd ask, homer, you gave women almost no place at all in your book, but look, now in this film a bunch of women have screen time, what do you think?

this one sentence drove the final nail into the film's coffin, so long and farewell. the woman is out here crying that "there aren't enough female characters heeere" about a book written 3000 years ago... is she an idiot or what.

an even bigger version of the disgrace we lived through when rachel zegler shoved the snow white she played up the dog's ass is on the way. come on, nolan, you weren't the guy to sink into these kinds of embarrassments, damn it.

i love messi and argentina in general for various reasons. but the sleaziness, dishonesty, and dirtiness that's in most south american teams is very much present in this argentina team too. constant complaining, physical play, malicious moves toward the opponent, tricks to fool the referee... basically every kind of dirty trick you can think of, they've got it. come on, at least don't play like this against a team weaker than you, you pricks. the penalty situation was won thanks to a total con job too, and thankfully it didn't result in a goal, which made me glad.

in all these years of world cup history, nothing as scandalous as the cancellation of balogun's red card through political channels has ever happened. belgium was very clearly robbed of what it deserved. belgium needs to win this match and teach politics a lesson.

donald trump said:

"i saw the play, and i'm a person that loves sports ... that wasn't a foul. that wasn't even an infraction ... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past. he made a call that nobody could believe ... he's our best player, or one of our best players. and he gave him a red card. i didn't know what that meant ... yes, i asked for a review by fifa."

infantino said:

"fifa's judicial bodies are independent. they operate autonomously, apply the fifa disciplinary code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them. their independence is essential to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected. yes, i regularly discuss matters related to the fifa world cup with the president of the united states, and on this matter, i did receive a call from president donald trump, just as i receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues ... whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of fifa at all times."

i read both a few times and honestly you do not need me, put them side by side and they answer each other.

trump made the call, and look how he talks. short, open, no fear. "yes i asked for a review." "he is our best player." the man who did the thing just tells you. infantino is the one who got saved from the mess, and look at him. long words, "independent", "autonomy", "rule of law". the man who benefits hides behind a dictionary. old lesson. the strong one speaks simple because he fears nothing, the one who depends on him hides because he must. so here the one who talks less is hiding more.

game theory has one rule i love, do not listen to what people say, watch what they do. words are cheap. and the action here is loud. for sixty years this rule did not bend for anybody, then the strongest man on earth makes one phone call and it bends. that is the answer, not the press release.

the reason is not even hidden. "he is our best player." not that the card was wrong, just that the guy is valuable to us. justice wears a blindfold on purpose, so she cannot see who you are or which team. trump took the blindfold off on live tv. he even called the referee "suspect". first you dirty the judge, then you delete his call. this is not modern law, this is old tribe law, the big man looks and the rule moves.

and my favorite line, "i did not know what that meant." he did not even understand the rule he broke, and it did not stop him. power does not need to understand, it only needs to want. hobbes said it centuries ago, it is authority that makes the law, not truth.

then infantino uses the words "rule of law" to defend the most lawless thing this cup has seen in sixty years. he is wearing the clothes of the thing he broke. small tip, when you must announce your independence in a statement, it is already dead.

and nothing here is free. anthropology has a simple rule, every gift is a debt. a shiny "peace prize", a good seat at the final, then the phone rings, then the favor comes. this is not friendship, it is an invoice, and infantino is paying it in public.

so, balogun can play, fine. the only thing that cannot play anymore is the idea that this was ever a fair game.