Latest news with #BattleofSeattle

Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
‘Battle of Seattle' as Inter Milan down nine-man River Plate to advance
Inter Milan's Francesco Pio Esposito celebrates scoring their first goal in the 2-0 Club World Cup win over River Plate. Imagn Images via REUTERS 'Battle of Seattle' as Inter Milan down nine-man River Plate to advance SEATTLE – Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu was glad to have overcome a 'tough' match, as his side advanced to the last 16 of the Club World Cup on June 25 following a stormy 2-0 victory over River Plate that sealed the Argentinian club's exit. Teenage striker Francesco Esposito and Alessandro Bastoni scored the goals to settle a physical contest which saw River finish with nine men. The final whistle was marred by an ugly melee which saw players from both sides clash as they sprinted off the pitch, with missiles being thrown by River's fans at Seattle's Lumen Field. 'We got the job done, that's the most important thing,' Chivu said afterwards. 'That game was very tough for us – in the first half they had a lot of aggression, a lot of intensity. But in the second half we controlled the game better and in the end won.' Earlier, the 19-year-old Esposito bagged his first goal for Serie A giants Inter with a lovely strike in the 72nd minute to put the Italians 1-0 up. The tall teenage striker collected a pass from Petar Sucic, elegantly lost his marker before drilling a shot into the bottom right-hand corner past River goalkeeper Franco Armani. Bastoni then bagged Inter's second deep into injury time to seal a win which sets up a last-16 meeting against Brazil's Fluminense on June 30. Mexico's Monterrey, 4-0 winners over already-eliminated Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds, finished as runners-up in Group E and will face Borussia Dortmund in the last 16 on July 2. Chiva also reserved special praise for Esposito. He said: 'He was up to the task in a serious match. It wasn't easy, either physically or in terms of nerves. 'But he, as with his teammates, played a great match. 'I look at the players I have available. And I try to find a solution by giving everyone a chance to feel important and a part of the project. To find the energy, ambition, and character despite some difficulties, to always be a part of the team and the group.' River's campaign ended in disarray, with defender Lucas Martinez Quarta sent off for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity in the 66th minute. Argentina international Gonzalo Montiel then followed his teammate off the field in injury time after picking up a second yellow card. Inter and River Plate had gone into the game with the Group E standings on a knife edge. But after Monterrey swept into an early 3-0 lead against Urawa in Pasadena, the stakes soon became clear in Seattle, where the winner would advance provided the result in California held. Over in Group F, a solitary first-half goal by Daniel Svensson gave Dortmund a 1-0 win against Ulsan HD as the Germans also secured a place in the last 16. It means they qualified as winners of the group, while Fluminense go through behind them in second after holding off Sundowns in a goalless stalemate played at the same time in Miami. 'We can be satisfied. I think our performance was better than in the first two matches,' said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac. He has spoken regularly at the tournament about the difficulties posed by the searing June heat in the United States, and this was another game played in sweltering mid-afternoon conditions. 'We keep saying the same thing. What the boys are doing is incredible. Thirty-six degrees Celsius and 43 degrees in the stadium. This is incredible,' Kovac added. 'Even if you just stand around it can get very taxing but I think they are doing a great job. Now we have a day off and I hope the players recover for the next match.' Dortmund will next face take on Monterrey. AFP, REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From Trump to Indiana, authoritarianism creeps toward us
I come from a long line of agitators, but to the likely chagrin of my ancestors, I've never been one for protest: I'm lazy and soft and have always viewed the whole concept as almost entirely performative. That's why I was surprised to find myself, on a blustery May Day, standing on the federal courthouse plaza in downtown Indianapolis alongside hundreds of other lawyers, reciting our oath together in a protest against the creeping authoritarianism of the second Trump term. Not exactly the Battle of Seattle (it wasn't even 'officially' a 'protest'), but the point is, I'm worried enough to show up. And that worry stems from a question I keep hearing from people like me: center-left, educated, reasonably engaged white-collar professionals. Why aren't more Americans alarmed? Governance by whim Yes, our polarized information ecosystem plays a major role. But I think there are other, less obvious reasons that help explain how we've become desensitized to the erosion of democratic norms. First, we've normalized unilateral executive action. The steady rise of executive orders — from Barack Obama onward — has shifted expectations. Many folks cheered when presidents acted unilaterally for causes they support: protecting DACA recipients or canceling student debt. But, in a democracy, form sometimes matters more than function. Briggs: Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine You can't cheer executive power when it helps you and then act shocked when it's used for something far worse. Rule by pen creates an inevitable slide towards governance by whim. Second, the anti-Trump movement became the resistance that cried fascism. I was horrified and embarrassed by much of Trump 1 and 2, but not every terrible policy is authoritarian. When every action is labeled fascist, people stop listening. To a regular person tuning in occasionally, the volume of alarm makes it easier to tune out entirely. Third, there's a bad-faith argument that still resonates emotionally, which goes something like this. Many elite institutions have moved aggressively left in an authoritarian way: academia, media, corporate human resources, etc. And so, some argue, muscular state action is needed to rebalance them. It's a compelling narrative. It's also nonsense. Indiana is choosing, punishing enemies Protesters march Thursday, May 1, 2025, in a May Day rally at the Indiana Statehouse in opposition of the Trump administration. Many important sectors have become reflexively censorious and illiberal in ways that are corrosive to civic life. But the state is categorically different, because it alone holds a monopoly on the sanctioned use of coercive violence. It was wrong when the Biden administration leaned on platforms to suppress COVID-19 'misinformation,' just as it's wrong when the Trump administration threatens to punish universities or law firms. You don't have to dismiss legitimate complaints about ideological capture to say what, until recently, was obvious and agreed upon in this country: Illiberalism is worse when the state does it. Whether out of information overload, polarization, or recent false alarms, the public's attention has dulled. But we need to snap out of it, because right now, we're facing two unmistakable warning signs of advancing authoritarianism. First is increased weaponization of state power: using the levers of government to punish your ideological opponents. What recently seemed unthinkable is now commonplace. More Jay Chaudhary: Mike Braun's property tax cut lost the plot Trump 2.0 is punishing law firms that represent the 'wrong' clients. Universities face funding cuts and forced structural overhauls for perceived ideological offenses. Even private companies are threatened if they adopt the wrong stance on the wrong social issue, or state true facts about the impact of policies. If Trump 1 was a horse in a hospital, then Trump 2 is more like a deranged health care executive demanding that all the hospital's doctors renounce the Hippocratic oath. This is not limited to Washington. Here in Indiana, this playbook is already in use. Attorney General Todd Rokita recently publicly posted the name and photo of a middle school teacher whose supposed offense was displaying a small rainbow sign that read 'All Are Welcome Here.' This was part of Rokita's campaign to promote his 'Parents' Bill of Rights,' which, apparently, includes state-sanctioned harassment of public school teachers. This is the state actively choosing enemies and then using its platform to attempt to punish them. Second, authoritarianism doesn't take root because of state action alone. It depends on public consent, or at least resignation, which often comes in the form of people trading freedom for a sense of safety. Benjamin Franklin's overquoted line feels relevant: 'They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.' Liberty is in danger Protesters march Thursday, May 1, 2025, in a May Day rally at the Indiana Statehouse in opposition of the Trump administration. In a sprawling, complicated democracy like ours, liberty flows from due process: the idea that those in power must always follow procedure and that even unpopular or marginalized people deserve the protection conferred by that process. Once that principle is tossed aside, liberty itself is in serious danger. And nowhere is this erosion more visible than in the public conversation around immigration and President Trump's promises of mass deportation. Democrats were far too late in acknowledging that the issue does have coherent internal logic and broad appeal: A nation must control its borders, and the rule of law must mean something. A lot, maybe most, of the blame lies with the Biden administration's complete neglect of the border issue. But whatever the situation, the mechanics of 'mass deportation' should terrify any American that cares about liberty or freedom, regardless of any temporary gains in border security. To deport millions, the government must first find them. That requires a vast new enforcement infrastructure: more surveillance, more detention centers and more federal agents in our neighborhoods. Employers and landlords become informants. Police become immigration officers. Traffic stops turn into document checks. Entire communities live in fear. Horror stories like the ones we've already seen will become routine. More Jay Chaudhary: Make Indiana Healthy Again is about cost-cutting, not wellness This is a complete transformation of the American way of life. You cannot build a 'show us your papers' society and expect it to remain contained to one group. This is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. People of good faith can disagree, vociferously, on political and social issues, but this is bigger than politics; this is nothing less than the bedrock of our democracy. And that's why I got out of my comfort zone and went to the courthouse to stand with strangers and repeat an oath that I've taken before, but has never quite resonated like it does today. Jay Chaudhary is the former director of the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction and chair of the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission. He writes the Substack, Favorable Thriving Conditions. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What is authoritarianism? It's Indiana punishing enemies. | Opinion

Indianapolis Star
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
From Trump to Indiana, authoritarianism creeps toward us
I come from a long line of agitators, but to the likely chagrin of my ancestors, I've never been one for protest: I'm lazy and soft and have always viewed the whole concept as almost entirely performative. That's why I was surprised to find myself, on a blustery May Day, standing on the federal courthouse plaza in downtown Indianapolis alongside hundreds of other lawyers, reciting our oath together in a protest against the creeping authoritarianism of the second Trump term. Not exactly the Battle of Seattle (it wasn't even 'officially' a 'protest'), but the point is, I'm worried enough to show up. And that worry stems from a question I keep hearing from people like me: center-left, educated, reasonably engaged white-collar professionals. Why aren't more Americans alarmed? Governance by whim Yes, our polarized information ecosystem plays a major role. But I think there are other, less obvious reasons that help explain how we've become desensitized to the erosion of democratic norms. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. First, we've normalized unilateral executive action. The steady rise of executive orders — from Barack Obama onward — has shifted expectations. Many folks cheered when presidents acted unilaterally for causes they support: protecting DACA recipients or canceling student debt. But, in a democracy, form sometimes matters more than function. Briggs: Jim Banks would let Trump commit any crime you can imagine You can't cheer executive power when it helps you and then act shocked when it's used for something far worse. Rule by pen creates an inevitable slide towards governance by whim. Second, the anti-Trump movement became the resistance that cried fascism. I was horrified and embarrassed by much of Trump 1 and 2, but not every terrible policy is authoritarian. When every action is labeled fascist, people stop listening. To a regular person tuning in occasionally, the volume of alarm makes it easier to tune out entirely. Third, there's a bad-faith argument that still resonates emotionally, which goes something like this. Many elite institutions have moved aggressively left in an authoritarian way: academia, media, corporate human resources, etc. And so, some argue, muscular state action is needed to rebalance them. It's a compelling narrative. It's also nonsense. Indiana is choosing, punishing enemies Many important sectors have become reflexively censorious and illiberal in ways that are corrosive to civic life. But the state is categorically different, because it alone holds a monopoly on the sanctioned use of coercive violence. It was wrong when the Biden administration leaned on platforms to suppress COVID-19 'misinformation,' just as it's wrong when the Trump administration threatens to punish universities or law firms. You don't have to dismiss legitimate complaints about ideological capture to say what, until recently, was obvious and agreed upon in this country: Illiberalism is worse when the state does it. Whether out of information overload, polarization, or recent false alarms, the public's attention has dulled. But we need to snap out of it, because right now, we're facing two unmistakable warning signs of advancing authoritarianism. First is increased weaponization of state power: using the levers of government to punish your ideological opponents. What recently seemed unthinkable is now commonplace. More Jay Chaudhary: Mike Braun's property tax cut lost the plot Trump 2.0 is punishing law firms that represent the 'wrong' clients. Universities face funding cuts and forced structural overhauls for perceived ideological offenses. Even private companies are threatened if they adopt the wrong stance on the wrong social issue, or state true facts about the impact of policies. If Trump 1 was a horse in a hospita l, then Trump 2 is more like a deranged health care executive demanding that all the hospital's doctors renounce the Hippocratic oath. This is not limited to Washington. Here in Indiana, this playbook is already in use. Attorney General Todd Rokita recently publicly posted the name and photo of a middle school teacher whose supposed offense was displaying a small rainbow sign that read 'All Are Welcome Here.' This was part of Rokita's campaign to promote his 'Parents' Bill of Rights,' which, apparently, includes state-sanctioned harassment of public school teachers. This is the state actively choosing enemies and then using its platform to attempt to punish them. Second, authoritarianism doesn't take root because of state action alone. It depends on public consent, or at least resignation, which often comes in the form of people trading freedom for a sense of safety. Benjamin Franklin's overquoted line feels relevant: 'They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.' Liberty is in danger In a sprawling, complicated democracy like ours, liberty flows from due process: the idea that those in power must always follow procedure and that even unpopular or marginalized people deserve the protection conferred by that process. Once that principle is tossed aside, liberty itself is in serious danger. And nowhere is this erosion more visible than in the public conversation around immigration and President Trump's promises of mass deportation. Democrats were far too late in acknowledging that the issue does have coherent internal logic and broad appeal: A nation must control its borders, and the rule of law must mean something. A lot, maybe most, of the blame lies with the Biden administration's complete neglect of the border issue. But whatever the situation, the mechanics of 'mass deportation' should terrify any American that cares about liberty or freedom, regardless of any temporary gains in border security. To deport millions, the government must first find them. That requires a vast new enforcement infrastructure: more surveillance, more detention centers and more federal agents in our neighborhoods. Employers and landlords become informants. Police become immigration officers. Traffic stops turn into document checks. Entire communities live in fear. Horror stories like the ones we've already seen will become routine. This is a complete transformation of the American way of life. You cannot build a 'show us your papers' society and expect it to remain contained to one group. This is a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. People of good faith can disagree, vociferously, on political and social issues, but this is bigger than politics; this is nothing less than the bedrock of our democracy. And that's why I got out of my comfort zone and went to the courthouse to stand with strangers and repeat an oath that I've taken before, but has never quite resonated like it does today. Favorable Thriving Conditions.