Carli Lloyd Obliterates US Woman’s Soccer

Carli Lloyd who we call a friend of the blog, went on Hope Solo’s (former US team goalkeeper) podcast and told it like it was about the end of her career as a professional soccer player.  Lloyd in her career, won 2 gold medals, and 2 World Cups, which is a hell of a career.  She played well into her late 30s which again, is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself, and played at a very high level!

So, while on the podcast she had this to say about her last year as a player on the national team.

Even within our squad, the culture has changed,” Lloyd said. “It was really tough and challenging to play these last several years. To be quite honest, I hated it. It wasn’t fun going in. It was only for love of the game, really, for me.

“I wanted to win, and I wanted to help the team, but the culture within the team was the worst I’d ever seen it. I’m hoping that the future is bright and some things change.”

If you are wondering, it’s pretty easy to deduce whom she is referring too.  Megan Rapinoe aka the pink haired, outspoken showboat, and Alex Morgan the star forward of the team.  Morgan is another piece of work as you will see later.  Rapinoe is so hated as a public figure due to her name calling and refusal to stand for the National Anthem; Subway dropped her from their TV ads after the franchisees revolted.

Solo agreed with Lloyd saying she “didn’t want to be around any of her teammates toward the end of her career.  (Full disclosure, Solo had her contract terminated in 2016 after several bouts with the law.)

The conversation went further, this time touching on the $24 million dollar lawsuit settlement regarding equal pay with the men’s team.

“When I saw the team actually signed it, I was in shock,” Solo said. “Everything we had been doing to fight and then for the team to sign a less than equal contract — and then use words like ‘it’s equitable.’ We were fighting for equal, not something close but not equal. That was really tough to see.”

My wish if I could help and do something — the culture needs to change,” Lloyd said. “You want people thriving. You want to empower people. You want people to be there because they love it.”

A day later, she went on further on Instagram saying this….

By culture, I am referring to mentality. Respect for coaches, teammates, support staff. I’m also talking about the drive, the desire, the hunger, the fight, the accepting a role and doing it to the best of your ability.

“Giving it your all every time you step on the field, giving it your all in training, and giving it your all whether it’s five minutes on the field, 10 minutes on the field, 60 minutes on the field or 90 minutes on the field. It doesn’t matter.

“You represent the crest and you represent your country with pride because there are millions of other people who would love to be in our shoes playing on the national team, and so you can never take it for granted.”

She even described these changes going back as far as 2016, after they won the World Cup, calling the situation “toxic”.

“In 2015, winning a World Cup obviously put us on a really big, big stage, and endorsements started coming, and the spotlight started coming, and I just saw a shift in people’s mindsets,” Lloyd said. “It became more about ‘what can I do to build my brand off the field? What can I do to get an endorsement deal’ and less about what we have to do when we step in between those lines.”

I can sympathize with what Lloyd is saying, after winning a championship in football (American) as a high school junior I saw the same things.  People were “playing for the name on the back of the jersey rather than the front, as a result we underachieved.

Lloyd is also taking a well-deserved shot at trash bag teammates Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.  They were more concerned with social justice and other divisive issues than the actual playing of soccer.  They are also the two highest paid players as both have lucrative sponsorship deals.  As such they took a very small settlement and “called it a day.”  No different from any other rich person looking down at the serfs.  Ah yes, all we have to eat is bread and watered down soup….until we venture back to our mansions filled with steak and lobster.  Rapinoe and Morgan are the worst kind of people.  They complain about wanting to be equal until they “get a bag” (money) then suddenly it’s about just taking a deal.  This is most likely why the team flamed out in the Olympics in 2020, something seemed off and it is now obvious.  This team is rotting and there doesn’t seem to be an answer right now.  One can only hope the rot doesn’t spread throughout the team too far.

I do not know much about soccer but if Megan Rapinoe is the answer, I have no clue what the question is. She just seems like an uptight human looking to settle a score with anyone who doesn’t share her alt-left beliefs on life.  Morgan on the other hand?  Well, she got paid, so why should she care anymore.  In the meantime, the world is catching up quickly to the US and they are not quite as dominant anymore.

Chief

BTW in a nod to Troll, Lloyd looks amazing as she is, but far better in a sports bra and shorts…..just sayin’

Why NATO Can’t Help Ukraine

As you may know, just over a week ago, Vladimir Putin decided to have a “peacekeeping mission” in Ukraine. Putin’s incursion has killed thousands and displacing millions.  He has bombed schools, television stations, orphanages, and residences.  Even his thugs have been caught killing civilians.  But this blog isn’t about the modern-day Hitler who is unhinged, it’s about those of us who fancy themselves foreign policy experts.

I have been asked by a plethora of people about why NATO will not help Ukraine at all.  I will lay it out.  NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization it contains 28 European countries and 2 North American ones.  NATO is based on mutual aid for an attacked country with attacked being the key word.  This is not an offensive alliance or an aggressive one, quite the opposite.  To join NATO you must apply, and first and foremost, you cannot have an active border dispute.  This is the key thing that Putin has exploited over the past decade plus.  Putin, by invading/annexing parts of Ukraine (Crimea, Luhansk, and Donesk regions) created a border conflict.  The World minus Putin’s cronies never acknowledged the separation of those areas from Ukraine.  Putin for his part didn’t either, essentially calling them separatist controlled regions.  Putin did similar in Georgia, and Moldova.  By doing this he made it so NATO could not accept them into the alliance.

As laid out earlier, they cannot join NATO because of a border conflict.  It doesn’t matter if Belarus joins Putin, because again, Ukraine is not a member, so they get no protection.  Ditto to the other named Baltic States.  NATO plays defense not offense, in fact a little-known piece of history, NATO has only invoked Article 5 once in its history. That was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the US, and most NATO countries removed themselves after securing the Afghanistan region assuring no additional attacks were coming.  Article 5 is the most cited one by today’s “foreign policy correspondents” saying NATO should defend Ukraine.  Article 5 clearly spells out, for lack of a better term; an attack on a member is an attack on us all, and all members will provide mutual defense for the member under attack.

A friend even went as far as telling me, why won’t NATO have a fighter jet take out a convoy of tanks or blow up a Russian airbase.  Again, Ukraine isn’t in NATO. Any member country that intervenes would in essence be declaring war.  If that were to occur, I’m not sure article 5 would even come into play if the member was counterattacked.  He went on to further point out that neighboring countries were monitoring the situation, and have sent troops to Poland, etc.  I explained again, Poland is NATO and right now the NATO countries are saying to Putin “do something stupid and attack Poland or another NATO member and it won’t be fun for you.” 

NATO getting involved as a whole can have major repercussions for Ukraine as well.  Right now quite a few countries (China especially) are sitting this one out seeing it as Russia v Ukraine.  An attack by additional countries, especially an alliance likely brings China into the war, in their home region.

Another friend pointed out NATO countries are giving supplies to Ukraine; again, that is ok, since it’s indirect.  It’s one thing to send bombs, missiles etc. it’s another thing entirely to send a fighter jet and a pilot.

So long story short, if Ukraine prevails and drives Russia out of its territory, it can try to join NATO, it’s a long process, and it could possibly be expedited.  However, a more likely scenario is Russia occupying Ukraine and making it a puppet state.  NATO is there only to defend their members, not help Ukraine directly.

Chief