Sports: Manchester United Player Ratings: Lukaku Nets Brace as United Hammer West Ham

Red Devil Armada, UK

Aug 13 2017


United thoroughly deserved the victory, and the feeling around the ground was that of great optimism. It was United largest Premier League opening win since 2006, and the sense is that this might be the season everything finally clicks.

Jose Mourinho had the team ready, and they put out a straight dominant performance against the Hammers.

Player Ratings

GK David de Gea, 6 — A relatively quiet afternoon for the Spaniard. Seldom called upon to make a save. Did well to stop Fernandes’ strike on the brink of halftime.

DF Antonio Valencia, 7  — Got forward well and supplied many an excellent ball. West Ham sat back for most of the game just inviting him to get forward.

DF Eric Bailly, 6.5 — Bailly did well to clear away the few crosses that West Ham managed to put forth. Bailly did well as an outlet to keep possession.

DF Phil Jones, 6.5 — Like Bailly, it wasn’t Jones most busy day at the office. Did well with the ball at his feet. Nearly took Valencia out of the match with a tackle in the first half, but otherwise a strong performance.

DF Daley Blind, 6.5 — Blind struggled this preseason, but you wouldn’t know after this match. Got forward well. Looked to shoot often. Played in a few dangerous crosses.

MF Juan Mata, 7 — Mata got the start over Ander Herrera and made the most of it. The little Spaniard was everywhere in the first half. Played a cutback for Lukaku who should have scored.

MF Nemanja Matic, 9 — Matic made an excellent start to his Old Trafford career. Cool, calm, and composed in midfield. Completely bossed the midfield with Pogba. What a signing for the club he will be.

MF Paul Pogba, 9  — A complete performance — one of the best he’s put forth in a United shirt. Dominated the midfield and scored with a superb strike from outside of the box.

FW Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 8 — Another positive display from the Armenian. Bagged two great assists — a great cross for Lukaku’s second and a perfectly timed through ball for Martial’s goal.

FW Romelu Lukaku— A dream debut for Lukaku. Scored in each half and could have easily netted a hat trick. His strength and speed make him nearly unstoppable. Should be proud of his performance.

FW Marcus Rashford, 7.5 — The 19-year old impressed once again. His speed was too much for Pablo Zabaleta. Should have scored at least once on the afternoon, however. Unlucky to hit the post with a fantastic strike.

MF Marouane Fellaini, NR — Fellaini was brough on in the 76′ to help see the game out. Didn’t have time to have an impact.

FW Anthony Martial, 8 — Fans were disappointed Martial started on the bench for this game. He made the most of his 11 minutes on the pitch. Grabbed a goal for himself before setting up Pogba.

Huddled Masses Through the Ages

The Weekly Standard

Aug 11 2017
The welcome mat wasn't always out.

On August 2, the White House press room was the scene of one of those dialogues of the deaf that so infuriate people outside Washington. Stephen Miller, one of President Trump’s senior policy advisers, stepped to the podium to endorse an immigration reform bill sponsored by two Republican senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia. Whether you approve or disapprove of the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act—and I generally approve—the next several minutes, by any measure, were disheartening.

On August 2, the White House press room was the scene of one of those dialogues of the deaf that so infuriate people outside Washington. Stephen Miller, one of President Trump’s senior policy advisers, stepped to the podium to endorse an immigration reform bill sponsored by two Republican senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia. Whether you approve or disapprove of the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act—and I generally approve—the next several minutes, by any measure, were disheartening.

First, Jim Acosta, the CNN senior White House correspondent whose function seems largely to engage Trump administration spokesmen in pitched arguments while the cameras are rolling, told Miller that “what you’re proposing here .  .  . does not sound like it’s in keeping with American tradition when it comes to immigration.” And then, to emphasize his debating point, he reminded Miller (and anyone listening) that “the Statue of Liberty says, ‘Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ It doesn’t say anything about speaking English or being able to be a computer programmer.”

At which point Miller, in keeping with Trump White House press policy, chose not to dismiss the reporter’s non sequitur with a wave of his hand or a pitying smile, and stay on message, but to angrily engage Acosta. The next several minutes were consumed with a loud and fractious verbal wrestling match about immigration policy that revealed Acosta’s ignorance of American history and Miller’s capacity for rising to baits. By the end, if CNN had enlightened its viewers on a complex subject or the White House advanced the prospects for passage of the RAISE Act, I managed to miss it.

I was, however, intrigued by Acosta’s recurring invocation of the Statue of Liberty, which, he explained, “has always been a beacon of hope to the world for people to send their people to this country.” Which, strictly speaking, is not quite so. It is true, of course, that the Statue of Liberty has become a talisman of sorts for immigration to America. But that is because it is (accidentally) situated in New York Harbor adjacent to Ellis Island, which opened in 1892 to accommodate the last great wave of immigration to the United States. The 12 million people who passed through immigration control on Ellis Island until it closed in 1954 did so in the physical shadow of the Statue of Liberty. But the statue itself—a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of the American Revolution (1876)—was intended to honor not immigration but liberty, as its name would suggest. Indeed, Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus,” from which Acosta quoted its most famous line, is not so much about immigration per se as about America as symbol of freedom, whose “beacon hand / Glows world-wide welcome”—to Europeans, especially: “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp.”

In a sense, of course, the squabbling words repeated in the White House press room were nothing new, and may even be said to encompass the long, and no doubt eternal, debate about America as “a nation of immigrants.”

It is fair to say that since the first Eurasians crossed the Bering land bridge at the end of the last Ice Age, North America has welcomed newcomers with a certain ambivalence. When the Native American tribes weren’t slaughtering each other in prehistory, they turned their attention to the successive waves of Scandinavian, Dutch, Spanish, and English settlers who followed the European discovery of the continent. The dominant English and Scots of the colonial era looked askance at the Germans who, in the later decades of the early republic, disapproved of the Irish escaping famine—not to mention the Chinese who built the railroads, the free Africans who migrated northward from slavery, the Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, and on and on.

Still, even so sensitive an observer as Henry James was not immune to this natural instinct. When he revisited New York City in 1904, James was struck by the Russian/Yiddish-accented English he encountered on the Lower East Side, wondering what it augured not just for his native tongue but for what it meant to be American. Lost on a ramble in the New Hampshire countryside, he asked directions from a young hiker who emerged from the woods. Assuming, from his “dark-eyed ‘Latin’ look,” that he might be Italian, James was unable to make himself understood in that language, and so asked plaintively, “What are you, then?” He was Armenian, came the response—thereby prompting a worried reflection, in James’s mind, about the stranger’s capacity, even desire, to assimilate into the American “brotherhood.”

Which, in a nutshell, is the conundrum. Nation-states have always protected their borders and, in varying degrees, reserved the right to withhold or grant citizenship. An influx of immigrants may confer economic benefits, in the short term, and cultural enrichment, in the long run; but the benefits are never evenly distributed, and the enrichment assumes a blend, not subversion, of values. A nation such as our own, founded on ideas and governed by laws, is entitled to demand that its immigration statutes reflect a democratic consensus, and that the laws be observed. This is logical to most citizens, and fair to all immigrants, especially those who observe the rules. Does the RAISE Act reflect these principles? That’s the question.

For obvious reasons, Henry James’s awkward encounter with an Armenian immigrant has a certain resonance with me—and, to some degree, reflects my own conflicted views about immigration policy. My paternal grandparents arrived on Ellis Island a few years after Emma Lazarus’s poem was affixed to the Statue of Liberty. But why did they come? They were fleeing for their lives from the Ottoman Turks, who had been systematically massacring Christian subjects within the empire, and who would, a dozen years later, seek to finish the Armenians off in the 1915 genocide. As a practical matter, my grandfather had an elder brother who had already emigrated and settled in Philadelphia, which is why they sailed for America and not, say, Australia or Canada.

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Glendale Armenians Should Teach a Lesson to Americana at Brand Executives

Asbarez Armenian News

Aug 8 2017


Harut Sassounian

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Three years ago, on the eve of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Americana shopping mall officials in Glendale, illegally and in an arrogant manner, banned the sale of Armenian Genocide-related T-shirts by three young Armenians who had signed a contract, disclosed their merchandise in advance, and paid the rent for a cart on the property.

Afterwards, ominously, Doris Nesheiwat, Senior Director of Specialty Leasing at Americana, in an email, warned the young Armenians: “Anything genocide themed, sweat shirts, t-shirts, phone covers and anything that has a genocide theme needs to come off the cart completely please.”

After I exposed Americana’s scandalous and unwarranted behavior in a column, and complaints from the local Armenian community, Americana issued a half-hearted apology by describing the ugly incident as a “misunderstanding,” and allowed the young Armenians to sell their T-shirts.

The Armenian community which numbers close to 100,000 — half of Glendale’s population — and a big portion of Americana’s shoppers, needs to know in a definitive way what is causing Americana executives to repeatedly take positions against publicizing the Armenian Genocide. Being smart businessmen, they must realize that it is counter-productive to antagonize the majority of their customers by taking offensive positions on the Armenian Genocide.

In recent weeks, Americana executives once again took a hostile position by refusing to provide advertising space on their billboard for an Armenian Genocide documentary, “Architects of Denial,” produced by Hollywood celebrities Dean Cain and Montel Williams.

Americana at Brand has rejected an ad for an Armenian Genocide -themed documentary

This time again, Americana officials came up with a nonsensical and offensive reason for rejecting the paid ad. Americana’s outdoor media agency, Outfront Media, told the documentary producers that Americana executives feel, without having seen the documentary, it is “too political.” This is outrageous! A documentary on the Armenian Genocide cannot be labelled as “too political.” This is a human rights issue which has nothing to do with politics!

When I learned that Julie Jauregui, Americana’s General Manager, was the one who used the term “too political” in rejecting the ad, I called her asking for an explanation. In response, I received an e-mail from Emily Davis, responsible for Americana’s Public Relations and Communications, stating: “We have strict standards for our advertisements and we carefully review all content. This did not comply with the advertising guidelines for our portfolio properties throughout Southern California.”

This carefully crafted statement is completely meaningless! Thus, I wrote back to Emily Davis, wondering how could the advertising for this documentary “not comply” with Americana’s “strict standards for advertisements,” when in fact, Americana’s executives had neither seen the documentary nor the text of the billboard ad before rejecting it. The only information Americana officials knew was that this ad was for an Armenian Genocide documentary. I asked Davis if she implied that the topic of the Armenian Genocide itself violates Americana’s “strict standards for advertisement.” After mulling over her reply for three days and consulting her senior colleagues, Davis responded that they are sticking to their previous answer!

Reaching a dead-end with Americana, I had no choice but to take the matter to the Glendale City Council last week, where four of the five Council members are Armenians. This fact alone, well-known to Americana executives, was another serious miscalculation by them, since they are legally obligated to adhere to scores of agreements they have signed with the City in return for generous subsidies and lavishly advantageous lease considerations. Any deviation from these legal obligations could force the City to take decisive action against Americana to enforce the signed agreements.

In my public remarks to the City Council, I urged the City to arrange a meeting with Americana executives and local Armenian community leaders to resolve this issue. Otherwise, the community would have no choice but to resort to protests and boycotts. Joining me in addressing the City Council was Margarita Baghdasaryan, Community Outreach Director, the Armenian National Committee of America, Glendale Chapter.

The City Council members were naturally sympathetic to our presentations and promised to intervene by arranging a meeting with Americana executives. The purpose of the meeting is not only to straighten out this latest wrong-headed decision, but get to the bottom of what is behind the repeated rejections of Armenian Genocide materials by Americana officials. We need to settle this issue once and for all! We cannot continue to deal with genocide-related objections raised by Americana periodically. We need to know what is the root cause of this repeated insensitive and insulting behavior of Americana officials. If they continue to take a hostile position on the Armenian Genocide issue, maybe hitting them in the pocket book through protests and boycotts, as well as City Council enforcement, would bring Americana executives to their senses!

Sports: Armenia to send reduced wrestling squad to Junior World Championship

MediaMax, Armenia

Photo: unitedworldwrestling.org

Head coach of the team Armen Babalaryan told Mediamax Sport that Armenia won’t have representatives in 84 kg and 96 kg weight categories, as respective athletes didn’t perform well in the European Championship and other international tournaments.

The wrestlers that earned place in the upcoming competition are Ashot Mkhitaryan (50kg), Tigran Minasyan (55kg), Malkhas Amoyan (66kg), Arman Baghdasaryan (74kg), and heavyweight Davit Ovasapyan.

They will travel to Finland on August 3.