FIFA officials arrested in Switzerland on corruption charges

[alfred russel]

I'm suspecting that in the coming days it will come out that FIFA was actually the entity trying to purchase the yellowcake uranium from africa.

[Josephus]

It's gonna happen

Last Week Tonight ‏@LastWeekTonight 
On tonight's Last Week Tonight, @iamjohnoliver keeps a promise

[Admiral Yi]

He's actually going to eat a burger and drink a Bud?  The man has balls of steel. 

[celedhring]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXyWCQeLxrc

Man of his word.

[Valmy]

He's actually going to eat a burger and drink a Bud?  The man has balls of steel. 

Really?

[Syt]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2488201-just-2-people-turn-up-as-self-funded-fifa-movie-makes-hollywood-debut?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national

Just 2 People Turn Up as Self-Funded FIFA Movie Makes Hollywood Debut

The self-funded FIFA movie United Passions looks like it is going to be a huge flop in the United States.

The film tells the history of FIFA, with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction star Tim Roth taking the role of Sepp Blatter.

However, in the wake of the scandals that have rocked the association, it seems there is little appetite for this sanitised telling of the FIFA story.

The film was released in just one theatre in the whole of Los Angeles and even then, the first screening was virtually empty.

As Daina Beth Solomon of Reuters noted:

At the first screening of FIFA-funded film "United Passions" in Los Angeles the week after U.S. prosecutors charged several officials of world soccer's governing body, only two people attended - one out of curiosity, the other as a soccer fan.

The 2014 French film, starring British actor Tim Roth as FIFA president Sepp Blatter, had an estimated budget of 24 million euros ($27 million), of which FIFA officials have acknowledged providing about 20 million euros.

Solomon also noted some of the reviews of the film, with the New York Times calling it "one of the most unwatchable films in recent memory" and the Guardian describing it as "excrement."

It didn't get better. After a weekend release in which the film screened in 10 cinemas across the United States, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that it had taken just $607:

Writer-director Frederic Auburtin's film beyond bombed in its limited debut in 10 theaters, earning a measly $607 on Friday and Saturday, according to those with access to Rentrak figures. The FilmBar theater in downtown Phoenix reported a gross of just $9, meaning only one person bought a ticket to see United Passions, which details the history of the now-embattled FIFA.

We are not going to lie: We kind of want to see it now.

[Admiral Yi]

Why would any theater at all show it?  And is Tim Roth really that desperate for a pay check?

[Razgovory]

Why would any theater at all show it?  And is Tim Roth really that desperate for a pay check?

I think movie contracts often stipulate a theater release.

[crazy canuck]

I liked the fact that Oliver pointed out that technically he didn't have to drink the "beer" but he did it anyway.

[LaCroix]

i've bought and enjoyed bud light lime on more than one occasion 

[crazy canuck]

i've bought and enjoyed bud light lime on more than one occasion 

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like FIFA birbes indirectly determined the government of Trinadad

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150606/editorial/only-one-way-out

Only One Way Out
Published on Jun 6, 2015, 8:23 pm AST
By Sunity Maharaj

The tiger she rode proudly into office has now climbed onto the Prime Minister's back, its claws in deep, bent on dragging her off the high horse of prime ministerial power.

For a moment there, the rider had seemed set for a clean dismount from the tiger so suddenly tamed. But now, whipped by betrayal and wounded by rejection, the beast is back for revenge, spurred to new life by the US Justice system.

Now playing before global audiences, this Caribbean re-make of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring Jack Warner in the role of Wanted Man, is a reality TV box-office hit. Finally, T&T has achieved its ambition of being an international blockbuster location. And, once again, it is Jack Warner who is putting us on the map.

From Warner's own standpoint, the US Justice Department could not have chosen a better time to have him arrested. With Persad-Bissessar's Government dead centre in its re-election campaign, Warner's political ammunition is at its most potent. Far from being irrational grand-standing, his attacks and threats constitute a very public negotiation with the Government which smells a lot like blackmail. Designed to pressure the Government into doing whatever it might take to keep him out of the US justice system, Warner's demand seems clear and specific. He wants what Ish and Steve have, and he wants it now. Indeed, what the public is seeing might be just a fraction of what is at play. We are, after all, bit players in the drama between Warner and his former queen consort.

To perceive Warner's statement as blackmail is one thing, but the idea that senior Government officials could be blackmail-able is a far more scary contemplation.

Warner's indictment in the US has already put a serious spoke in the Government's re-election campaign. Whatever momentum had been built by the Partnership's lavish May 24 launch at Macoya evaporated from the moment of Warner's arrest.

Overnight, and moving at lightning speed since then, he has been catapulted to the status of global anti-hero. At the height of the political season, when rivals are fighting to claim every inch of available political air-space, it is Warner, not the main contenders for office, who is sucking the oxygen out of the political air-space. The situation will only intensify in the approach to Warner's next court appearance and might escalate if Warner's attorneys decide to challenge the extradition request even before the scheduled hearing takes place. The outlook, therefore, is for continuing melee with increasing likelihood of instability.

With the deadline for election approaching by the day, the Prime Minister might be knocking herself for having waited so long—not that she had much choice, given the evolution of the politics since Carnival. Over the past six months, no moment had seemed like the best moment for the best electoral outcome for the Partnership. And now, her best options are down to two: calling the election immediately for mid-July, or waiting until September. For now, let's rule out the current wild speculation about delayed elections amid a state of emergency.

If called now, the sheer volume of Partnership and PNM campaigning could drown out Warner's platform, although, when it comes to news, good political ammunition will cut through any amount of noise. Elections now would be the most plausible strategy for the Partnership given the Warner factor, but it will require the PM, above all, to regain her footing and keep her balance. Judging from her abrupt walk-out of Parliament on Friday, she might be too rattled right now for clinical strategising.

How ironic that the Government that has most fed the public's addiction to distractions should itself fall victim to the biggest distraction of all—Jack Warner. Despite the millions spent on public relations, and the army of highly-paid political strategists under its command, the Partnership seems to have been as blind-sided as Warner by the US Justice Department's move and the dramatic consequences that have flowed from it.

To date, the party's only response has been to deny Warner's claim of having financed it into office. However, for the many who received payment directly from Warner's hands, and the many, many more of Partnership supporters who celebrated Warner's legendary generosity in buying the government of his and their choice, the PP's denial must be a real hard-sell. These supporters remember 2007 when the UNC was a broken vehicle threatened by Winston Dookeran's COP. They remember the razmatazz that Warner put on at Mid Centre Mall that sent UNC refugees scampering back, in time to help the UNC retain its position as parliamentary opposition while annihilating the COP at the polls. And again, in 2009-2010, they remember the internecine battles within the UNC and how, under his chosen queen. Warner put Humpty-Dumpty back together again, just in time to defeat Patrick Manning's PNM. To these people, asking for evidence of Warner's financing must be like asking them to prove that the sun is warm on their shoulders. They just know it.

As a man fighting for his life, Jack Warner has nothing to lose in dragging all T&T into a damaging battle. But the Prime Minister has the option of doing nothing or taking him head-on, at whatever price to self or party. For T&T's sake, she needs to call the election now and give the country a chance to hand a mandate to a new government of its choice, whether led by her or not.

This is the only way to end the political blood-letting now.

[Maladict]

Stay classy, Jack.

Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice-president investigated over missing Haiti earthquake funds, BBC reports


Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is being investigated over the disappearance of money intended for victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the BBC has reported.

Mr Warner visited the country in the months after the disaster and pledged $974,550 from football's world governing body and the South Korean Football Association to help rebuild the country.

But US investigators said it was transferred to accounts controlled by Mr Warner for his personal use, and that four years on, the money was still unaccounted for.

A source close to the investigation told the BBC that they were working through 75 bank accounts connected to Mr Warner, but admitted some of the missing millions may never be found.

Another anonymous source said "was the most powerful man in the Caribbean".

"Given Warner's power in Trinidad, he could get transactions done that a regular person would not," he said.

The attorney-general in Mr Warner's native Trinidad and Tobago, Garvin Nicholas, has also promised to investigate.

"I think if Jack Warner actually stole money that was meant for Haiti, that is a most despicable crime, and I would expect the authorities to do all that they can to ensure the recovery of that money," he said.

Mr Warner is wanted in the US on charges of corruption and money laundering, but denies all allegations.

He has emerged as a key figure in the scandal that erupted last month as one of 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years involving a total of $197 million in bribes.

The scandal, which also involves a Swiss probe into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, led to the announcement of the resignation of veteran FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, just four days after his re-election for a fifth successive term.

Warner has also been accused of asking Egypt for a $US7 million bribe for votes to host the 2010 World Cup, and the BBC claimed he pocketed a $13 million payment made by South Africa through FIFA which was intended to pay for football development for the African diaspora in the Caribbean.

[celedhring]

That's mustache-twirling villainy, I'm awaiting for the FBI to uncover their secret island base and missile silos any day now.

[jimmy olsen]

 

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/watch-john-olivers-message-to-jack-warner-that-aired-on-1710240005

Watch John Oliver's Message To Jack Warner That Aired On Trinidad TV

fifa scandal

6/09/15 9:11pm

Comedian and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver responded to ex-FIFA official and wanted man Jack Warner's wild "The Gloves Are Off" paid political program by buying his own airtime on Trinidad television and airing a parody titled "The Mittens Of Disapproval Are On." We recorded it, and you can watch it above.

Oliver's program was recorded from his Last Week Tonight studio, with the usual studio audience. He used the airtime to beg Jack Warner to "release everything" because "I've been looking through the indictment and... good luck with that."

The four-minute segment aired directly after an episode of 24 and pre-empted the first few minutes of Mike & Molly. TV6 is Trinidad's largest private television broadcaster.