The Lionesses fell short, but Mary Queen of Stops gave us one last cheer!

Marcus, Luke, Vish and Jim commiserate England’s defeat in the Women’s World Cup final, wonder whether Michael Keane put in one of the worst displays we’ve seen in literally years, and find out why Dan Gosling has been disrupting games in east London.

Plus, anyone up for a urinal on the outside of their house?

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Donald Trump now faces two indictments and 17 charges related to his role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in both cases, prosecutors are aiming to try the former president before the 2024 vote. But according to some conservative legal scholars, these criminal proceedings may be beside the point when considering whether Trump should be eligible to hold the presidency at all. 

In The Atlantic this weekend, former federal judge J. Michael Luttig and professor of constitutional law Laurence H. Tribe chimed in with their version of an argument continuing to gain traction among legal scholars that the Fourteenth Amendment excludes Trump from holding office again at any level. According to Luttig and Tribe, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Section 3 bars any person who has previously taken an oath to support the Constitution in an official capacity and who later “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding an official office again. 

So maybe, if you were to, say, take an inaugural oath to protect the Constitution, and then later take steps like demanding the Georgia Secretary of State “find” the votes to win you the election, or file bogus lawsuits to try and overturn the results, or attempt to obstruct Congress from certifying the results from said election, or lie repeatedly and knowingly to the American people about the results, you can’t be president again? Tribe and Luttig encourage all of us, “regardless of partisan leaning,” to consider these sentences from Section 3 ourselves:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

This argument isn’t just coming from the left. It’s notable that Luttig is considered a conservative legal scholar. He was a corporate attorney, and was later appointed to the federal bench by George Bush Sr. before returning to corporate law. The same argument he makes about Section 3 is supported by legal scholars William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen in a forthcoming article in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. As Tribe and Luttig point out in The Atlantic, “Baude and Paulsen are two of the most prominent conservative constitutional scholars in America, and both are affiliated with the Federalist Society, making it more difficult for them to be dismissed as political partisans.”

Is Ethan Nwaneri Ready to Join Arsenal’s First Team? by Jack

At just 16 years old, Ethan Nwaneri has already etched his name into Arsenal’s history books by becoming the youngest-ever player to don the Gunners’ jersey. His debut against Brentford in September 2022 was a significant moment, and his journey since has been nothing short of remarkable. With last night’s stellar performance catching the eye of manager Mikel Arteta, the question arises: Is Ethan Nwaneri ready to make the leap to Arsenal’s first team?

Nwaneri’s meteoric rise reached another peak when he put on a dazzling display in front of Arteta against Leicester U21s yesterday, against players much older and more experienced than him. Despite Arsenal’s abundance of options in both the midfield and the frontline, Nwaneri’s standout performance sent a resounding message to the first-team boss. The 16-year-old’s agility, skill, and tactical awareness make him a valuable asset that could inject new energy into the squad.

Arsenal’s U21 side showcased their prowess with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Leicester City, fueled by a hat-trick from the talented teenager and a goal from James Sweet. Nwaneri’s inclusion in the U21 lineup signifies his undeniable ability to thrive in high-pressure scenarios, even at such a tender age.

IT'S A HATTRICK FOR NWANERI!!

West Ham United are closing in on the signing of Konstantinos Mavropanos from VFB Stuttgart, a player only recently sold by Arsenal.

The Greek international initially moved to the Premier League from PAS Giannina at the age of 20 years-old, and after a number of injuries, he was thrust into the first-team to make his debut against Manchester United, where he was a surprise impressive performer on the big stage, and he was touted to have a bright future ahead. He continued to play up until the end of that campaign, but minutes were scarce after the summer, and any hopes of him breaking back into the fold were ended in October 2018 by injury, the first of many injury absences which blighted his hopes of earning the manager’s trust.

After some bright loan spells away from the club, with Nurnburg and Stuttgart respectively, there was some calls for the club to recall Dino for another chance to make a career in north London, but instead we allowed him to return to Stuttgart with an obligation to buy, which was triggered in 2022.

He now looks set to return to the Premier League where his he had previously endured such injury woes, and a return to the same city in which he suffered with West Ham set to give him his chance, although there is a positive in the fact that we are set to receive 10% of the fee.

Kostantinos Mavropanos, not called up for Stuttgart game as he’s on the verge of joining West Ham #WHUFC

Mikel Arteta has been the Arsenal boss for a while now; he’s been calling the shots at the Emirates for about 4 years now. Interestingly, he has revealed that things keep getting better season after season.

Bukayo Saka, according to the Spaniard, has been getting better year after year as well. In his press conference for the Villa game, Arteta admitted about Saka: “I think it keeps growing year by year, and you set him new targets, and he sets himself new targets and new demands, and he seems to complete those.”

The 21-year-old is undoubtedly one of Arsenal’s game-changers, and this must stem from the fact that he’s willing to learn and hungry to impress. Despite his young age, he has shown great composure and decision-making abilities, making him a valuable asset for Arsenal’s impressive performances against top teams.

“He’s extremely hungry and willing to learn and improve,” Arteta stated. “He wants to become the player that decides the game every three days.”

Under Arteta’s guidance, there’s no doubt he will continue to grow stronger in the game if he continues doing what he’s been doing. Arteta adds, “I’m very happy, so he needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”

Fulham will be without key defender Tim Ream against Arsenal next weekend after he was sent off during their dismal defeat at the hands of Brentford today.

The Cottagers had little to celebrate about their performance against their west London rivals today, eventually succumbing by a disappointing 3-0 score line, and they will now have to try and pick themselves up for their next outing on Saturday.

Fulham will make the short trip north to take on the Gunners at the Emirates for the 3PM kick-off next weekend, and not only will they have to pick themselves up from their defeat before taking on superior opposition, but they will have to try and do so without one of their key men in Ream, Football London confirms.

The American was personally praised by Pep Guardiola for his performance against the Premier League champions last term, as confirmed by the player himself in an interview with CBS, and he will be a huge loss to Marco Silva’s side when they attempt to deal with the firepower of our young and flourishing squad.

Ream helped to keep the exceptional Erling Haaland fairly quiet back in November, and Eddie Nketiah could well have had his hands full, but our young striker may well have a easier task than anticipated.

As per Ian Wright, Kai Havert has everything in him to be a hit at the Emirates.

In the summer, Mikel Arteta sanctioned a £65 million move for the 24-year-old. The Arsenal boss must have done that, believing that he would get the best out of the German international and thus have his team better off in the title charge.

So far, Havertz hasn’t been as remarkable as many hoped he would be. His performances versus Man City (in the community shield) and then Forest (in the PL opener) have been criticised.

Even so, Ian Wright is banking on the ex-Blue to shine and make Arsenal dangerous this season, as he feels he could have trouble drifting from midfield to the opposition’s box. On the Kelly and Wrighty show he said, “Obviously, we don’t need him as a number nine, but I know that he’s somebody that if he can crash the box, I believe that he’s going to cause a lot of problems for teams and for us.”

Other than Wright Merson, who in his Sportskeeda column said about the £65 million man, “I also don’t see Kai Havertz as a midfielder; however, I have faith in him, and he is the kind of player you want when games open up. It will be interesting to see how Mikel Arteta goes about using these players over the course of the new campaign.”

Lionesses “We know how to win finals” as they face Spain in Women’s World Cup Final by Michelle

What a time to be a gunner! Arsenal Women’s Lotte Wubben-Moy and Alessia Russo are alongside their Lionesses teammates, set to play in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Final this coming Sunday.

After a brilliant run of results these past few weeks, England will play Spain in this year’s World Cup Final. There’s a belief that under Sarina Wiegman’s guidance, England could leave “down under” as World Champions.

Right-back Lucy Bronze believes the experience they gained after winning the Euros last year will come into play this Sunday. After the 3-1 win over Australia in the semi-final, she admitted, “We’re going up against a team I personally know very well.

“We know how to win finals. That’s something Spain doesn’t have that we have. That’s an experience not only I have but many of these England players have.

Mikel Arteta feels he has a solid defensive midfield at Arsenal, with Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, and Jorginho fighting for the holding midfielder role, and he believes that increased competition for starting places can only makes the Gunners even better.

There’s been a revolution in Arsenal’s midfield. A few weeks ago, Arsenal convinced West Ham to sell them their midfielder Declan Rice, submitting a £105 million offer that the Hammers found too hard to reject.

With Rice joining, there were speculations of Thomas Partey leaving, moving to Saudi Arabia, or joining Juventus; however, nothing came out of those rumours, and he is almost certain to stay. Jorginho was also not long ago linked with an exit from the Emirates; months after joining, Turkish giants Fenerbahce linked with his signature; however, he is also set to stay.

Arteta now has three options for his defensive midfield, which he is satisfied with. Hinting that signing another central midfielder isn’t in his plans, he said (in his press conference for the Crystal Palace game): “To have two excellent goalkeepers is great. Nothing is wrong. We have two great left-wingers, two great strikers, and three great holding midfielders with Jorginho, Thomas, and Declan. That is not a problem, and it should not be a problem.

“We want to be better, and to be better the environment has to change. We tend to always be at a certain level because it is in our nature. When you change the environment to one that you have to be 100% percent every day, the level is going to increase. I have seen that up close with my own eyes, with the players we have now and what we had two years ago. But we have to create that environment.”

Arsenal’s 2022–23 Premier League campaign was off to a bright start. Although there were questions about their performance on match day 1, they beat Nottingham Forest 2-1, but didn’t win convincingly.

Next for Arteta and the boys is a clash against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday, August 21st. In the last eight encounters between the two sides, Arsenal have won three times, lost once, and drawn four. Last season, Arsenal had a perfect record over them; they beat them 2-0 at Selhurst Park and 4-1 at the Emirates.

Paul Merson predicts Arsenal will beat Palace 2-0; he claims Arteta and the boys will be pressured to fulfil their fans’ expectations after raising their bar last season. Even so, he says that the game won’t be easy. Roy Hodgson will try to make it hard for the Gunners, which could cause problems for them, but he says his former club have it in them to deal with the Eagles.

In defence of his prediction, Merson claimed on Sportskeeda, “Arsenal started the game against Nottingham Forest looking nervy. That’s the problem that the Gunners are going to encounter this season. They have to play with the weight of expectations this term.

“The Gunners have earned the respect of teams thanks to their performances last season. So they’re going to come up against teams that sit back and defend deep against them.

A Gooners view on why football deterrents work when used and a reason why they are fooishly not used nearly enough

Part One, about cheating players. by Jon Fox

My fellow Gooners, I have been following top level football and especially our club, way back since 1958 and in that long time have seen a moral sea change in football, losing respect for   honesty and encouraging win-at-all-costs attitudes and general CHEATING.

Cheating by almost everyone involved within the game, from players, coaches and managers, owners, football bodies such as FIFA and UEFA.

I will exclude, for now, refs and VAR officials, as my views on both are well known on here and I intend to write separate articles on both, shortly.

Alessia Russo “This is the last one to go, and we’re really locked in” ahead of Women’s World Cup Final by Michelle

The FIFA Women’s World Cup Final is one thing everyone is eager to watch this weekend. England and Spain battled through every obstacle to book a World Cup final. For the girls playing in that game this Sunday, it is the epitome of their careers, and Arsenal forward Alessia Russo has said as much, as per The Independent.

“Obviously, this is the biggest game, the one you dream about and means the most,” said Russo, reacting to her and her teammates managing to make it to the World Cup Final, where she hopes they will do everything to pick up a big win over Spain, who it troubled them to beat in the Euros 2022 Semi-Final last summer.

“I think it will hit when we’re in the tunnel and ready to walk out It’s an incredible occasion; it’s been an unbelievable tournament, and this is it. This is the moment we want to be in. We can’t wait.

“Right now, all I want to do is go out, put on a performance to be proud of, and obviously to win We started this tournament wanting to win seven games, and this is the message.

Until last week, no study had ever been published that tested period products—tampons, pads, discs, cups, and underwear—using human blood. A team of four women just changed that. 

On August 7, Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow and a group at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland released a study to test saturation and capacity levels in menstrual products in hopes of better understanding how to diagnose heavy menstrual bleeding, or HMB, which impacts millions of Americans.

Why had it taken so long to test a product made to contain human blood with human blood? “I think with women’s health, including menstrual health, we’ve been a little bit behind the eight ball,” Dr. Bannow told me. “They didn’t even require women to be included in NIH studies until 1993. I think that that’s telling of what we prioritize as a society.”

Providers trying to diagnose HMB depend on self-reporting, which can be subjective with people falling prey to myths and miseducation. A patient experiencing pain, fatigue, or other related symptoms will come in and ask: Is this normal? To tell if the bleeding is excessive, doctors try to ascertain how many period products are used per hour. But measurement is imperfect. Menstruators change out products for tons of reasons; and products may claim they can sustain a certain amount of “flow,” but their actual capacity is different. That is what Dr. Bannow hoped to make clear in her testing.

The team took 21 different products and saturated or filled them with expired human-packed red blood cells. This isn’t an exact match to menstrual blood—which has clots and secretions—but it’s a lot closer than salty water. In their research, they found that how the companies were labeling the boxes did not match up with their results. The majority of menstrual products reported that they had greater capacity than the testing found.

Marcus is here to officially open the weekend, which is great news for the nation as the Lionesses can now play their World Cup final on Sunday. He’s joined by Luke, Andy and Jim to revel in the excitement and look ahead to The PIF Posse’s big clash with Man City at the weekend.

We also congratulate Micheal Olise for being persuaded to stay at Crystal Palace (thanks to hard man Roy Hodgson obviously) and we review the biggest event at the London Stadium this year… Wingfest 2023, baby!!!

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Editor’s note: The below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. 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.

In yet another historic indictment, Donald Trump was charged by an Atlanta prosecutor with essentially being a mob boss.

With this expansive set of charges that accuses Trump and 18 others of mounting a wide-ranging and illegal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election—emphasizing actions taken to fraudulently reverse the results in Georgia—Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declared Trump the head of a “criminal enterprise.” The first of 41 counts in the indictment alleges Trump and his co-conspirators violated the state’s version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law that has been used by local and federal prosecutors—including defendant Rudy Giuliani, when he was a US attorney in the 1980s—to pursue Mafia chieftains who were often able to insulate themselves from the criminal deeds of their henchmen. Given Trump’s past ties with mobsters—a significant piece of his biography that has often been overlooked—the use of RICO has an especially sharp resonance.

When Trump ran for president in 2016, I was one of the few reporters who examined his shady record of organized crime connections—particularly his history of making false or contradictory statements about these relations. As I noted then, “when asked about his links to the mob, Trump has repeatedly made false comments and has contradicted himself—to such a degree it seems he has flat-out lied about these relationships, even when he was under oath.” I detailed several of these instances—which have even greater relevance now that Trump is the lead defendant in a RICO case. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

* In 2007, Trump sued journalist Tim O’Brien for libel—asking for $5 billion in damages—after O’Brien in his book TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald reported that Trump was no billionaire and only worth between $100 million and $250 million. That book referenced an already established fact: that in the early 1980s Trump began his casino empire in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by leasing property owned by Kenneth Shapiro and Daniel Sullivan. Shapiro, O’Brien wrote, was a “street-level gangster with close ties to the Philadelphia mob,” and Sullivan was a “Mafia associate, FBI informant and labor negotiator.” (Trump also had obtained Sullivan’s assistance when he had trouble with undocumented Polish workers who were demolishing the Bonwit Teller building in Manhattan to make way for Trump Tower.)

This story was originally published by the  Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation has been “disappointing” and failed to deliver protections to car industry workers confronted by the transition to electric vehicles, according to the head of the US’s leading autoworkers union, which has pointedly withheld is endorsement of the president for next year’s election.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by Biden a year ago this week, has bestowed huge incentives to car companies to manufacture electric vehicles without any accompanying guarantees over worker pay and conditions, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), told the Guardian.

“So far it’s been disappointing. If the IRA continues to bring sweatshops and a continued race to the bottom it will be a tragedy,” Fain said.

“This is our generation’s defining moment with electric vehicles. The government should invest in US manufacturing but money can’t go to companies with no strings attached. Labor needs a seat at the table. There should be labor standards built in, this is the future of the car industry at stake.”

Earlier this spring, the Supreme Court hit pause on a controversial ruling in a massive anti-abortion lawsuit with the potential to eliminate nationwide access to the most common method of abortion. The case, brought by anti-abortion organizations and doctors, challenged the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortion.

In April, a far-right federal district court judge in Texas had sided with the anti-abortion doctors, issuing an unprecedented order to suspend mifepristone’s approval. But before his decision could take effect, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to step in and pause the order while it went through appeals. The Court agreed.

On Wednesday afternoon, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision on the appeal, meaning the case is one step closer to reaching the Supreme Court. The Fifth Circuit ruled that the anti-abortion doctors had waited too long to challenge mifepristone’s FDA 2000 approval—and it also found that the FDA had acted improperly in 2016 and 2021, when it relaxed some rules around how mifepristone can be prescribed. 

The Fifth Circuit’s decision contains bad news for parties on both sides of the case. But because of the Supreme Court’s prior order, the ruling doesn’t have much practical effect—at least for now. “This opinion changes nothing on the ground whatsoever,” says Drexel University law professor David Cohen. “Mifepristone is available the same way today as it was yesterday.”

The next stop for the lawsuit is still the Supreme Court. If SCOTUS takes the case, the justices would have the final word on mifepristone—upholding or invalidating the FDA’s approval, or throwing out the challenge altogether for procedural reasons. “They could do whatever they want,” says Mary Ziegler, a reproductive law expert at the University of California, Davis. According to Ziegler, the court could use the case as an opportunity to weigh in on the Comstock Act, a 19th century anti-obscenity law that abortion-rights opponents are trying to use to ban abortion nationwide. Their claim is that the old law, which makes it a crime to mail any “article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,” can be enforced. 

Sam Miele, a fundraiser for Rep. George Santos’ (R-N.Y.) 2020 and 2022 campaigns, has been indicted in federal court for impersonating then–Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s former chief of staff while soliciting donations for Santos.

The indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday, charges Miele with four counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. It states that in 2021 Miele falsely impersonated a high-ranking aide to a member of Congress as part of a scheme to raise money for Santos, who is referred to as “Candidate #1.” As CNBC reported earlier this year, that person was Dan Meyer, who worked at the time as chief of staff for the current House Speaker.

Miele pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was released on $150,000 bond. Miele’s attorney, Kevin Marino, said in a statement that his client “looks forward to complete vindication at trial as soon as possible.”

Miele, who is 27, was a novice in the world of political fundraising. He is a relatively insignificant target on his own, but the indictment signals that the investigation into Santos, who was indicted in May for other alleged schemes, is likely not over. 

The May indictment largely sidestepped Santos’ campaign finance practices. As Mother Jones has reported, many of the top donors to Santos’ 2020 campaign do not appear to exist. A relative told me they did not make the contribution attributed to them during the most recent campaign. Both are potential violations of federal campaign finance law.

Who should be the head of the goalkeeper's union? That’s the question Marcus, Pete, Jim and Vish ask today after Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya protest the goalkeeper's union will be stronger than any potential rivalry for the Arsenal no.1 shirt.

Elsewhere, we ask why the Saudi Pro League is feeling like a big vat of soup made up of ageing players. Neymar - aka the Zayn Malik of football - is of course the main ingredient. Plus, we review the first episode of P̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶ I̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ F̶u̶n̶d̶ P̶o̶w̶e̶r̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶ We Are Newcastle United, with fairly predictable results...

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Matthew Herrick’s dating profiles depicted a muscular man with olive-green eyes and red-hot bedroom interests. The aspiring actor liked orgies and bondage. He was HIV-positive but preferred unprotected sex. He had a “rape fantasy,” and if he seemed resistant to the advances of would-be partners, it was simply part of what got him off.

Between October 2016 and March 2017, more than 1,100 men accepted invitations to meet Herrick in person. They showed up at his West Harlem apartment in droves, and on several occasions broke into the building. They followed Herrick into public restrooms and approached him at the midtown Manhattan restaurant where he worked as a server, because that’s what they had been instructed to do.

But Herrick had not matched with any of these men online. His dating profiles—and practically everything in them—were bogus. His vengeful ex-boyfriend, Oscar Juan Carlos Gutierrez (whom Herrick had met on a dating app), had created the accounts. He was able to impersonate Herrick because, court documents show, the apps didn’t require him to take any steps to verify his identity.

Herrick eventually got an order of protection against Gutierrez, but the torrent of uninvited houseguests continued. It took almost a year for Gutierrez to be arrested on criminal charges. He was sentenced to prison for criminal contempt, identity theft, and stalking in November 2019.

By that time, the nightmarish experience had taken a severe toll on Herrick’s mental health. “I had extreme insomnia. I was scared to leave my apartment,” Herrick, now 38, recalls. “I was drinking heavily to try to get some sleep,” he adds. “There was a moment where I thought, ‘Do I take my own life, or do I continue fighting? Because I can’t do this anymore.’”