Ruben Neves has been on Arsenal’s radar for a long time as one of the Premier League’s top midfielders and the Portuguese star could finally leave Wolves in the summer.

Arsenal has continued to improve its squad and might add a new midfielder to it when the transfer window reopens.

Football Espana reveals the Gunners remain keen and will attempt to add him to their squad at the end of this season.

However, Mikel Arteta’s men face competition from Barcelona to achieve that, with Todofichajes revealing the Catalans are also keen to replace Sergio Busquets with the Premier League star.

It claims his agent Jorge Mendes also favours a move to Barca and is working on getting the Spaniards to add him to their squad.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, the New York Times reported on Saturday, is not what it used to be. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis skipped out on what has for years been the conservative movement’s premier cattle call. Mike Pence will be at a donor retreat instead. Fox News will not be streaming the event, nor will its popular hosts be speaking from the stage. Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the event, was recently accused by a Republican campaign aide of groping, and his star is, it’s fair to say, somewhat diminished.

But if CPAC has fallen from its pedestal, it remains a useful barometer for gauging where the conservative base is, and where it is headed. And the future, right now, looks grim as hell.

Here’s Michael Knowles, a commentator at Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, receiving a loud cheer for saying that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life.”

Michael Knowles tells CPAC that "there can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. … Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely." https://t.co/57hJF4frgq pic.twitter.com/szvnC1qWrP

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 4, 2023

Arsenal has been handed a major blow ahead of the summer transfer window as Moises Caicedo has extended his contract with Brighton.

The Gunners targeted the midfielder in the January window and he even penned an open letter to his current employers to let him leave.

However, the Seagulls turned down the offers and Arsenal gave up the chase and moved for Jorginho instead.

The league leaders are expected to target more players in the summer and some reports suggest they will return for the Ecuadorian.

Having almost lost the midfielder in January, Brighton has moved to secure his future, with The Sun reporting that he has signed a new deal until 2027 with the Seagulls.

Despite Arsenal’s form and their prominent contributions, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes haven’t been called up by Brazil in their latest squad.

The South American nation is now being managed on an interim basis by their U20 coach Ramon Menezes and he will oversee their next few games before a permanent coach is appointed.

Having missed out on a place in the World Cup squad, Gabriel has been a key member of the Arsenal defence that could win the Premier League this season.

However, the defender has been ignored alongside Martinelli, with the coach naming a youthful side that includes Chelsea’s new boy Andrey Santos, 18 and Arsenal target Vitor Roque, 18, as the Daily Mail reports.

Just Arsenal Opinion

Donald Trump has been running for president for more than three months, but it has sometimes been easy to forget. Fox News, which lent him an endless supply of on-air advertising during his last two campaigns, has all but blacklisted him, offering hours of free programming instead to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Although Elon Musk’s Twitter reinstated the former president’s account, Trump is still posting his half-baked thoughts on his preferred social-media site, Truth Social, instead. There is just a lot less of Trump in the news these days, which is good for most people—who frankly deserve a break—but is perhaps of a troubling sign for a man who has been powered by publicity for most of his adult life. 

What is the point of a third Trump campaign, beyond settling an (admittedly quite large and ever growing) number of scores? What is “The Wall,” now that he’s already built one? On Friday, Politico offered a glimpse at Trump’s new policy direction: He’s going to become an urbanist. 

Per Politico:

​​Trump’s plan…calls for holding a contest to design and create up to ten new “Freedom Cities,” built from the ground up on federal land. It proposes an investment in the development of vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles; the creation of “hives of industry” sparked by cutting off imports from China; and a population surge sparked by “baby bonuses” to encourage would-be-parents to get on with procreation. It is all, his team says, part of a larger nationwide beautification campaign meant to inspire forward-looking visions of America’s future.

Futuristic cities on federal land with flying cars. No notes!

Earlier this week, Florida State Sen. Jason Brodeur introduced a bill that would require bloggers to register with the state government when they are paid to write about the governor and other political figures. After registering, bloggers would be forced to file monthly reports listing every one of their posts, how much they were paid for them, and where the money came from. Those who fail to do so could be fined up to $2,500 for each missing report.

That sounded like something that might have originated elsewhere. Florida’s blogger registration bill is curiously similar to a section of a Hungarian law that requires media organizations to register with the government. The law, which was passed at the start of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s tenure in 2010, initially required news outlets to register before beginning to publish. (After blowback from the European Union and press freedom groups, it was amended in 2011 so that media organizations have to register within 60 days of starting up.) Could it be a basis for the proposed Florida law?

It wouldn’t be the first time Florida looked to Hungary. Orbán’s authoritarian government is in vogue on the American right and its illiberalism has already served as a template for Gov. Ron DeSantis and fellow Florida Republicans. The state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay Law” was reportedly modeled in part on similar Hungarian legislation. And Rod Dreher, a right-wing figure who lives in Budapest, explained during an interview last year that a reporter told him they had “talked to the press secretary of Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and she said, ‘Oh yeah, we were watching the Hungarians, so yay Hungary.’”

There are also parallels between Orbán and DeSantis’ efforts to push universities to the right. In 2018, for example, Orbán banned gender studies programs at universities. Last week, Florida Rep. Alex Andrade, a DeSantis ally, introduced a bill that would bar public universities from offering the major. Steve Bannon has called Orbán “one of the great moral leaders in this world.”

Still, Brodeur did not respond to a request for comment on where he had gotten the idea for his potential blogger registration law.

Arsenal have clinched the 3-2 win deep into injury time against Bournemouth, coming back from a 2-0 deficit.

It couldn’t have been a worse start for the Gunners, with Phillip Billing scoring within 10 seconds of the kick-off. The second quickest goal in Premier League history came three touches from kick-off, with the ball played wide before being played into the heart of the Arsenal goal, with our defenders failing to clear before if fell to Billing to place home.

The game quickly became one-way traffic, with our side having to overcome a Burnley-style low block, but we were unable to find the space in the box to make our possession pay in the opening half.

Leandro Trossard was an early casualty, with Emile Smith Rowe coming on to replace him which gave our fans mixed emotions, but the latter’s display wasn’t the dream return we had hoped for, and he was later replaced by Reiss Nelson.

After the break, the game came to life when we conceded our second of the game thanks to a Senesi header, but we hit back almost immediately through Thomas Partey, and another five minutes later and we were on level terms, with 20 minutes remaining on the clock to chase all three points.

Arsenal clinched all three points against Bournemouth after Reiss Nelson scored deep into injury time this afternoon.

We trailed 2-0 on the hourmark thanks to a goal in each half from the Cherries, but Thomas Partey and Ben White put us right back into the game.

Just as we looked to be settling for a draw however, with more than the six added minutes having been played, Nelson came up with the goods.

Reiss Nelson wins it for Arsenal with the last attack of the game.

Champions mentality from Mikel Arteta's side.pic.twitter.com/oXA726Yn0b

LIV Golf advertises itself as “Golf but louder.” Since its debut last year, LIV (which is not an acronym; it’s a Roman numeral) has sought to take over the market from the PGA Tour by playing music over the loudspeakers during tournaments, shooting t-shirts into the crowd, cozying up to Donald Trump, and—mostly—paying famous golfers disgusting sums of money to compete at their events.

But unless you’re really into the idea of rock-and-roll golf, the story of LIV is the money behind it— the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a nation that in recent years has used investments in international sporting events as a form of soft power. With nation-state backing, and a nation-state’s incentives, LIV can basically print money for as long as it wants, and the PGA views it as an existential threat. The PGA barred golfers who compete at LIV events from also competing at PGA events, and in response, 11 LIV golfers filed an antitrust lawsuit against the organization last August. In January, the PGA filed its own lawsuit against the PIF, seeking to depose the fund’s governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, who is also a minister in the Saudi government. The PIF claimed that it and al-Rumayyan were protected by “sovereign immunity.” A judge sided with the PGA. 

All of which is interesting even if you don’t really care about golf; the lawsuit over the Saudi state investment fund’s attempt to blow up an American sports monopoly could yield some pretty interesting stuff, and the LIV–PGA war has already taken on a pronounced political vibe. (Do you know who’s running comms for LIV? It’s Ari Fleischer!) But what’s really noteworthy about the “sovereign immunity” claim on behalf of the PIF and al-Rumayyan is that it’s seemingly the opposite of what the Saudis argued in 2021, when the PIF acquired a majority stake in the English soccer club Newcastle United. 

Back then, the Premier League went to great lengths to assure critics that Newcastle would be wholly independent of any national entity. At the time the PIF made its first bid, as leaders of a consortium that also included the British investor Amanda Stavely, the Saudis were engaged in an economic blockade of Qatar, and the rival Gulf state lodged a formal complaint seeking to block the takeover. It accused Saudi Arabia of pirating Premier League broadcasts—for which the Qatari-owned network, beIN Sports, had spent half a billion dollars for the regional broadcast rights. The bid fell through. The Guardian reported at the time that the Premier League considered the PIF a part of the Saudi state, and it believed that the Saudi piracy of Premier League games therefore violated the league’s rules that prospective owners can’t participate in activities that would be illegal in the UK.

Saudi Arabia eventually got out of beIN’s way, and the consortium moved to buy the club again, but there was still the elephant in the room: The PIF is a sovereign wealth fund, and its chairman, Muhammed bin Salman is, well, the sovereign. And MBS is not just any head of state; according to the US government, he personally ordered the murder of a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey in 2018. His role, and his government’s horrific human rights record, was a major issue at the time.

Ben White has opened his account for Arsenal midway through the second half of their clash with Bournemouth, and we now have our eyes set on the three points.

We were 2-0 down just 10 minutes ago, but now find ourselves at 2-2 with 20 minutes of action still to play, and White’s first Gunners goal could well be huge in regards to our season.

Ben White equalises for Arsenal against Bournemouthpic.twitter.com/7ktEtNniSn

— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) March 4, 2023

Pictures courtesy of BeinSport

Arsenal and Bournemouth have both scored in quick succession to leave Arsenal trailing 2-1 at the Emirates this afternoon.

The Gunners were hit almost immediately by the opening goal, with the Cherries opening the scoring inside the opening 10 seconds, and they held onto that lead until the break.

They then doubled their lead just before the hourmark, but Thomas Partey has brought us back to the initial one-goal deficit.

SENESI MAKES IT TWO FOR BOURNEMOUTH ASSNA MUDDED COME ONNNNpic.twitter.com/2FPqfioRpV

— 17 (@DxBruyneSZN) March 4, 2023

Tina Peters, the former Colorado election official who has been charged with election fraud, could be going to jail for obstructing a government operation.

Peters made national headlines last year when she pleaded not guilty to numerous felonies related to her alleged participation in a scheme to prove that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. In her position as Mesa County clerk, Peters allegedly attempted to copy software from voting machines in a ploy that allowed sensitive voter information to wind up online.

While under indictment, she launched an unsuccessful run for Colorado Secretary of State. Peters finished third, but is hoping for better luck in her ongoing bid for chair of the state Republican Party. In the unlikely event that Peters were to win the March 11 election, she could spend a some of the two-year term behind bars.

On Friday, Peters was found guilty of obstructing government operations, a charge that stemmed from her February 2022 refusal to hand over an iPad that prosecutors say she had used to videotape a court hearing. Officers had a warrant to seize the iPad. Peters was acquitted of another charge of obstructing a peace officer. Body cam footage of Peters’ arrest at a Grand Junction, Colorado, bagel shop shows Peters repeatedly yelling, “Let go of me!” as officers attempt to handcuff her.

Tina Peters Arrest 2-8-22
Synched with Police Bodycam pic.twitter.com/hiWePelBKl

Marcus, Luke, Jim and Pete turn the spotlight back on Newcastle’s owners, as news emerges that they *might* have some association with Saudi Arabia. Who’d have thought?

We also wonder if Brother Brendy can lead Leicester to salvation (14th) and shrug off Gary Neville’s spooky premonitions hanging over Liverpool. Plus, José Mourinho reaches peak José Mourinho at an Under-14s game.

Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sign up for our Patreon for exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***

In early February, days after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate and isobutylene derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, authorities opted to burn off the materials to avoid an explosion. This prompted an evacuation of residents close to the site and images seen around the world of thick black smoke rising over homes and farmland.

When residents in the town of 4,700 returned, many complained of headaches, skin irritation, and respiratory issues. More than 43,000 aquatic animals were found dead in creeks within five miles of the derailment. While officials maintain that the air, water, and soil is safe, residents fear what longterm effects might lay ahead.

One concern is that the burning vinyl chloride may have produced dioxins that could linger in and around local homes and farmland. The compounds, which can take decades to fully break down, can cause cancer, interfere with hormones, and cause damage to reproductive and immune systems. The EPA on Thursday ordered Norfolk Southern to test the area for dioxins.

Michelle Graef, who lives three miles from the derailment, saw her livelihood dry up overnight. Now, she fears, no one will want to stay at any of the five Airbnb listings on her property, where guests get to ride horses and eat fresh eggs and blueberries she grows. She dreads the delivery of a cabin she recently purchased for upwards of $80,000 to expand her short-term rental income—she can no longer afford the price.

Audrey DeSanzo lives paycheck-to-paycheck within one mile of the derailment with her 9- and 10-year-old daughters. She says she wants to leave as soon as possible, but with her $14-a-hour job, lacks sufficient resources to relocate. On a recent school night, she debated whether to send her 10-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, back to school after keeping her home for the day. Nevaeh has been suffering from headaches, stomachaches, and congestion, since they returned to East Palestine. Was the air safer at home—or at school?

In a scathing letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Norfolk Southern worker and Teamsters union rep denounced the rail company’s cost-cutting business model, alleging that workers who were deployed to clean up February’s vinyl chloride spill have experienced adverse health effects.

“I am writing to share with you the level of disregard that Norfolk Southern has for the safety of the railroad’s Workers, its track structure, and East Palestine and other American communities where NS operates,” Jonathon Long, who said he had been employed with Norfolk Southern for 28 years, wrote. “I am also imploring you as the Governor of the State of Ohio to use your influence and power to stop NS’s reckless business practices that endanger the public and their Workers.”

Concerns about Norfolk Southern’s cost-cutting, anti-labor policies have been spreading for weeks, but Long’s letter paints the most vivid picture yet of the company’s apparent disregard for its workers’ safety. In the letter, Long identified the implementation of “precision scheduled railroading,” or PSR, a system that he says involves increasing the lengths of trains while slashing the number of employees, as one of the primary ways that the company has prioritized profit over the safety and well-being of its workers. “The new business model of PSR is implemented by freight rail carriers not to benefit America’s supply chain through the timely delivery of good,” he wrote, “but solely for the advancement of railroad executives, shareholders, and Wall Street hedge fund investors in the form of record profits, dividends, and stock buybacks.”

In addition to systemic issues, Long criticized Norfolk Southern’s immediate response to the spill of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. Long wrote that workers assigned to clean up the spill were not provided personal protective equipment and that many “continue to experience migraines and nausea, days after the derailment, and they all suspect that they were willingly exposed to these chemicals at the direction of NS.” (Norfolk Southern insisted in a statement to CNBC that “hazardous material professionals…were on site continuously to ensure the work area was safe to enter and the required PPE was utilized.”)

Following the letter, leaders of 12 rail unions met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Railroad Administration administrator Amit Bose in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. In addition to paid sick leave, the unions are fighting for regulatory changes to ensure railroad safety.

After 315 days on the sidelines, Paul Pogba is back on the pitch for Juventus. And from the reception he got last night, he’s back in his spiritual home.

Can he change the mood in Turin? Dotun, Andy and David discuss that after putting Barcelona under the microscope. How have they struggled so much in Europe while dominating in La Liga? And why are some Barcelona fans calling for Xavi’s dismissal?

Plus, Milan’s secret weapon against Spurs and celebrating 40 years of Pepe.

Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sign up for our Patreon for exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.

WARNING: Southampton fans, look away now. Luke’s rolling his sleeves up for this one.

Marcus and Luke convene for a full Prem and FA Cup round-up after a packed night of football, where Roy Keane chose violence, Ally McCoist had the best time of his life, and Marcus exposes himself as a fickle b*****d. 

Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sign up for our Patreon for exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***

A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill that, if passed, would, apparently, eliminate Florida’s Democratic Party.

On Tuesday, Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia filed the “Ultimate Cancel Act“—a bill that doesn’t mention the Democrats by name but would require the state’s Division of Elections to “immediately cancel” the filings and official status of any political party whose platform had “previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.”

Democrats, especially in the South, supported slavery up to and then during the Civil War. The Democrat party backed Jim Crow laws for decades following emancipation. Famously, the so-called “Southern strategy” saw whites in the South, aggrieved by the Civil Rights Movement, courted by the Republican party.

Hey @NikkiFried…Florida Dems should be thankful I’m not asking them to return all the money they’ve raised previously from their Jefferson/Jackson Dinners. @BrendonLeslie @PeterSchorschFL @Mdixon55 @fineout @NEWSMAX @FoxNews

— Blaise Ingoglia (@GovGoneWild) February 28, 2023

Editor’s note: The below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter is written by David twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories about politics and media; his unvarnished take on the events of the day; film, book, television, podcast, and music recommendations; interactive audience features; and more. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Our Land here. Please check it out. And please also check out David’s new New York Times bestseller, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy.

Freedom—it’s what Republicans and conservatives have long insisted they care most about. At campaign rallies and conservative shindigs, they get all weepy when Lee Greenwood sings, “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.” For decades, they have accused their political foes of seeking to destroy freedom by imposing socialism, communism, Bolshevism, collectivism, or whatever upon the US of A. This has been a ruse. The right has often been an enemy of freedom. For instance, conservatives have sought to limit the reproductive choices of women and prevent Americans from marrying the people they love. In recent weeks, we have seen a very specific assault on freedom in Florida waged by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not yet a 2024 presidential candidate but who already seems to be competing with Donald Trump for the GOP leader most committed to authoritarianism—and who yesterday released a book with a highly ironic title: The Courage to Be Free.

Last week, two bills were introduced in the Florida legislature that would advance DeSantis’ crusade and limit important freedoms for Floridians. The first continues DeSantis’ long-running attack on the Sunshine State’s education system, which has included banning math textbooks that he claimed included “woke” ideology, prohibiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, thwarting the introduction of an AP African American studies course (and threatening to kill all AP courses), and deriding “liberal indoctrination” in the school system. The laws he has already passed have led to book banning in some school districts.

This new measure would block public colleges and universities from offering major or minor degrees in gender studies, intersectionality, or critical race studies. (Several Florida schools offer gender studies majors; it’s unclear whether any does so for critical race theory.) The measure also would compel colleges to offer general education classes that do not “suppress or distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.” These courses must “promote the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization.”

This legislation, filed by GOP state Rep. Alex Andrade, a DeSantis ally, establishes the state government as an education censor, preventing schools, faculty, and students from determining the contours of college education. Andrew Gothard, president of United Faculty of Florida, the union representing instructors at Florida schools, described the bill to Higher Ed Dive as a state-sponsored form of indoctrination. He called it “fascism in its purest form.”

Jules and Andy are joined by Jim Campbell! Freshly back from Brazil and freshly stung by a jellyfish. Because it’s Jim.

We discuss Leicester’s FA Cup exit last night as Brother Brendy’s house of cards continues to topple, while there’s love for Fulham’s tackling machine and Emi Martinez for once doesn’t do something obscene to an award. Plus, can Arsenal and Liverpool overcome their demons tonight? And will anything more Italian ever happen than Atalanta’s manager chucking a ciabatta at some Milan fans?

Tweet us @FootballRamble and email us here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sign up for our Patreon for exclusive live events, ad-free Rambles, full video episodes and loads more: patreon.com/footballramble.

***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!***