+
upworthy
More

FIFA World Cup gets red-carded by John Oliver for the death, slavery, and bribery things.

All the deep, deep trouble FIFA has been getting into — explained.

UPDATE 6/2/2015:

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced June 2, 2015, that he will resign, just days after being reelected. In his resignation speech, Blatter called for a new election, which may not take place for several months.

Let's be honest, though, the real question is whether or not John Oliver will actually make good on his promises (see below) to FIFA's sponsors on next Sunday's "Last Week Tonight."


UPDATE 6/1/2015: John Oliver offers to help FIFA's sponsors if they help get rid of FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Scroll down below the first video to see the original story.

The highlights:

A FIFA representative used an article from the satirical newspaper The Onion to defend himself from corruption charges. For reals. (You can see at 4:41.)

John Oliver explains how FIFA is hurting women players by making them play on artificial turf, causing horrific bruising and scars from sliding around on plastic. (6:41)

And, most importantly, you should see what John is offering to do for FIFA's sponsors if they help get rid of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the man at the top, who has yet to be charged with anything. (11:40)

Here's the video update:

Now back to our original story.

Everyone has a thing they are too obsessed with.

For John Oliver and a lot of other people, it's soccer.

Some bad news just hit FIFA, the international governing body of the World Cup. The U.S. Justice Department has just announced that nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives have been indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption.

Want to know what makes FIFA so awful? I'll let John explain.

Here's his rant from before the World Cup in 2014 about how truly corrupt they are.

Why is it a bad idea to let FIFA come to your country?

They use slave labor, they take all the money from the host country, they are shielded from taxes and laws, and they are basically horrible. Here are reasons why you shouldn't let them come to your country.

1. FIFA doesn't pay taxes.

You'd think bringing a major sporting event to your city would bring in lots of money. But that's not the case when FIFA is involved. FIFA strong-arms cities into exempting them from all taxes. All of them. In 2014, Brazil missed out on $250 million in tax revenue.

2. FIFA can force law changes in countries to appease sponsors — laws that save lives.

Brazil passed a law 13 years ago banning alcohol sales at soccer games. Why? Because they lead the world in deaths at soccer games. Between 1988 and 2013, there were 234 soccer fan-related deaths. 30 in 2013 alone. Seriously. That's without alcohol in the stadiums.

FIFA has a sponsor you may have heard of: Budweiser. When the World Cup came to Brazil, Budweiser wanted to make money. They forced Brazil to repeal the law during the World Cup. So...

3. FIFA forces countries to let it create its own court system.

When South Africa hosted the World Cup, they had to cede jurisdiction to FIFA.

That court system then did this:


"Unsettlingly fast" is an unsettling understatement.

4. FIFA chose Qatar for the 2022 World Cup — where temperatures can reach 122° F.

Not only does FIFA not particularly care about the fans or the people working to build the stadium (more on that in a second), but FIFA apparently doesn't care about the players either. Playing soccer in 122° temperatures is basically asking the teams to be cooked alive in front of an international audience of millions.

To give you perspective on how hot that is, here's what it's doing in India's heat wave right now.


After months of unsurprising horribly negative reaction to that idea, FIFA agreed to move the World Cup to wintertime in Qatar, when temperatures only reach 84° F. So classy of them.

5. Qatar's human rights record is atrocious. Workers are basically enslaved, and many die.

The Washington Post's WonkBlog reports that the slave labor conditions in Qatar's migrant workforce are appalling, pointing to a report by the Qatari government of 964 deaths of migrant workers from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh in 2012 and 2013. This figure is not the number of deaths directly related to World Cup construction — and the Post notes that "there could be hundreds of deaths even without a World Cup." But the International Trade Union Confederation still estimates that if the number of migrant worker deaths continue there at current trends, an estimated 4,000 migrant workers will have died by time the match is held in 2022 — surely a fair number of which were drawn there for the World Cup construction opportunities.

6. BONUS: FIFA has a cartoonishly evil headquarters conference room.

You can't make this up. They really did this. This is an actual thing. It's TOTALLY REAL.

It's too ridiculous to be true. But it is. Which is why, obviously, the head of FIFA is refusing to step down as more and more corruption and bribery comes to light.

Yet millions of soccer fans around the world still can't quit FIFA. Which is why we need to hold them accountable.

Correction 8/31/2015: A previous version relayed an incorrect figure from The Washington Post that had said over 1,200 people had already died working to build the World Cup venues in Qatar. As noted in the revised text and Washington Post correction linked above, that figure had misleadingly included all causes of death for migrant workers in Qatar. Conflicting reports have made it unverifiable how many migrant deaths, if any, are related directly to World Cup construction.

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

A school assignment asked for 3 benefits of slavery. This kid gave the only good answer.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

A school assignment asked for 3 "good" reasons for slavery.



It's not uncommon for parents to puzzle over their kids' homework.

Sometimes, it's just been too long since they've done long division for them to be of any help. Or teaching methods have just changed too dramatically since they were in school.

And other times, kids bring home something truly inexplicable.
Keep ReadingShow less
Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

Keep ReadingShow less

Taylor Swift at 2022 Toronto International Film Festival Red Carpet Day 2.

The wordsmiths over at Merriam-Webster have announced their official “Word of the Year for 2023,” they say it’s something we are “thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more” than ever.

The word is authentic.

According to the dictionary, the most common definitions of authentic are “not false or imitation,” “being true to one's own personality, spirit, or character,” and “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.”

Merriam-Webster says the word saw a “substantial increase” in lookups this year. That’s probably because we now live in a world where artificial intelligence, deepfake technology and questionable memes challenge our basic notions of reality.

Keep ReadingShow less
Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?



92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

7 things Black people want their well-meaning white friends to know

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

Growing up black in a white neighborhood.

I grew up black in a very white neighborhood in a very white city in a very white state.

As such, I am a lot of people's only black friend.

Keep ReadingShow less

Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s closest business partner, passed away on Tuesday, November 28, at 99. Buffett and Munger's partnership lasted over 50 years, producing Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in history.

When Munger passed, his estimated worth was $2.6 billion. Buffet, 93, is believed to be worth $119 billion.

But Munger was far more than just a wealthy man. Apple CEO Tim Cook called Munger a “keen observer of the world around him,” and he was known for his pithy bits of common-sense wisdom known as “Mungerisms.”

Keep ReadingShow less