Mike Toole posted:

TheBigAristotle posted:

I'm going to watch it tomorrow to celebrate another rear end in a top hat, Christopher Columbus

TheBigAristotle posted:

The final shot of the film, if anyone's interested

https://vine.co/v/OA0TnbDqaHb

Hamas Rodriguez posted:

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

excuse me lady posted:

"There are known knowns, and known unknowns"

The Guardian posted:

The German judge overseeing Fifa’s investigation into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has insisted that the report cannot be published in full for legal reasons, but promised an overview of the main findings by the middle of next month.

Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chair of the adjudicatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee, received the potentially explosive 360-page report and 200,000 pages of supporting documents from Michael Garcia, the former US attorney for the southern district of New York who is head of the investigatory arm, last month.

Ever since, a battle has raged over whether and when it will be published. Garcia and several members of the Fifa executive committee have called for it to be published in full, with names redacted to protect whistleblowers, in order to help restore Fifa’s battered credibility.

Eckert has now moved to clarify the situation in an interview posted on Fifa’s website, promising to deliver a statement by mid-November at the latest but again ruling out full publication of Garcia’s report.

“The statement will contain an overview of the investigation report, a summary of the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report, as well as a brief evaluation of the same,” he said.

The German judge, appointed as part of Fifa’s reform process as it tried to come to terms with the fallout from a string of corruption allegations, said that because those interviewed had been promised confidentiality it would be all but impossible to publish the report in full.

“Publishing the report in full would actually put the Fifa ethics committee and Fifa itself in a very difficult situation legally,” he said. “What is more, we have to respect the personal rights of the people mentioned in the report, which in the case of full publication of the report would in all likelihood not be possible.”

Garcia reiterated his call for more transparency in a speech to US lawyers in London earlier this week but Eckert insisted there was no rift between them. He said: “Michael Garcia has never said that the report should be 100% published. He merely said that the ‘appropriate’ publication of his report should be authorised. The deputy chairman of the adjudicatory chamber and I now have the task of drawing up this appropriate form for publication.

“Part of my current examination involves deciding what form this appropriate publication should take, whether this means issuing a statement regarding the investigation report or whether certain parts of the investigation report will be published while maintaining anonymity, or indeed a combination of these possibilities. This decision is exclusively a matter for the adjudicatory chamber – neither the investigatory chamber nor the Fifa executive committee can decide. The main requirement is that personal rights must not be damaged.”

Eckert, who has been under pressure to clarify his position, said in September that his own judgment based on Garcia’s investigation, likely to be delivered early next year, would not go down well with many at Fifa. “Many won’t like what I am going to tell them,” he warned.

He also attempted to deal with claims that Garcia was compromised because he was an American citizen investigating a bidding race in which the US played an integral part. The US would be in pole position to host the 2022 tournament if it was stripped from Qatar.

“It must be pointed out that the main report has been produced not by Michael Garcia alone, but also by the deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Fifa ethics committee, Cornel Borbély. In fact, the report into Russia and the USA was produced solely by Cornel Borbély,” said Eckert.

“This is because Michael Garcia was unable to take part in some parts of the investigation due to the possibility of conflicts of interest, for example in the case of the American bid [as he is a US citizen].”

Controversy has surrounded the controversial and chaotic decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar ever since the vote in December 2010. Mohamed Bin Hammam, the disgraced former president of the Asian Football Confederation, has been linked to paying a string of bribes during the Qatari’s failed bid to become Fifa president, with some linking his activities to the concurrent Qatar 2022 bid. The failed bidders, including the US, Australian and England, also come under scrutiny.

Eckert has said that only four people have access to Garcia’s report, but other sources claim to have seen parts of it. It is said to focus on breaches of the ethics code by several individuals but Eckert and the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, have said that only Fifa’s executive committee would have the power to strip either Russia or Qatar of the World Cup. Garcia travelled to all the bidding countries, except for Russia where he is barred from entry due to the country’s continuing dispute with the US over sanctions, to gather evidence over an 18-month period.

In his speech in London, Garcia called for a culture change among Fifa’s leadership and called for an end to the prevailing veil of secrecy at the Zurich-based governing body. “The investigation and adjudication process operates in most parts unseen and unheard,” he said. “That’s a kind of system which might be appropriate for an intelligence agency but not for an ethics compliance process in an international sports institution that serves the public and is the subject of intense public scrutiny.”

serious gaylord posted:

So they're admitting to massive fraud then. Cool.

Blue Star Error posted:

Someone leak it ffs, I refuse to believe a FIFA report is more locked down than confidential US diplomatic cables and celebrity titty pics.

Blue Star Error posted:

Someone leak it ffs, I refuse to believe a FIFA report is more locked down than confidential US diplomatic cables and celebrity titty pics.

Sepp Satan Fucker posted:

We can't play in summer. We must find a solution. The best possible date is by the end of the year. That's the best solution for me. We've worked with the international calendar. At first it was possible, but now it's become a bit harder. However, the World Cup is really important!

jyrka posted:

Just get the slaves to build indoor stadiums and play it in the summer. What's the problem here?

BBC Sport posted:

"You could play the first games at 7pm, the second games at 10pm and the third matches at 1am," he [FIFA official Harold Mayne-Nicholls] told BBC Sport.

"You'd change everything. It would be a couple of hours behind in Europe, and that would help TV," he added.

"The weather would still be very warm at night, but the sun is not there and that could help.

"I know it's not easy. We'd sleep during the day and work during the night.

"It's only an idea. You'd have to investigate a little bit more."

Peanut President posted:

FIFA has spent more time thinking out how to play in Qatar than during the actual bid process.

Byolante posted:

You know even if you played it in the height of the Australian summer it still wouldn't reach the temperatures in Qatar. And if you played in july it would be the middle of winter.

Pook Good Mook posted:

I hope Australia sues for the money they spent on the bid back. I'm sure their bid would have been 100% stronger if they had billions in oil money to "gift" to Sepp Blatter's bank account.

Pook Good Mook posted:

Looking at the bid again, as best I can tell only 2 stadiums the USA presented would be even comparable to Qatar and that would only be due to daytime humidity: Miami and Tampa. The other stadiums the summer heat might affect are indoors (which Qatar assures us is impossible). They could have easily played the games at those outdoor stadiums in the evening. And poo poo, no would care in the first place because Europeans loving love Florida.

I hope Australia sues for the money they spent on the bid back. I'm sure their bid would have been 100% stronger if they knew it could be placed in a different season so it didn't need to conflict with Australian football.

corpuscollossus posted:

Playing at night in the middle of summer would make little difference unless the stadiums were fully air-conditioned. The only time you spend outdoors between the beginning of May and end of September is between the car door and front door. Even if the games can be moved to the evenings, you'll have millions of fans stuck round-the-clock in hotels. Winter at least will give people the option of the beach or outdoor fan venues.