The humans seemed relatively easy to infiltrate. Shave his fur, dye his skin, undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery... Some would have said that last requirement made infiltration far from easy, but Egil's great-uncle had needed extra vertebrae added to his neck and a prosthetic tail in order to infiltrate the Raquids before their assimilation by the Cultivators' Combine. Egil was shorter and stockier than the human norm, but there was enough variation in the species that he should be able to pass with only the occasional double-take. A species that had obviously never developed the germ theory of disease couldn't possibly have sufficient medical sophistication to detect the internal differences in his anatomy.

That assumption proved to be in error. Every career path that might lead to an inside look at the human military capabilities was barricaded by the need for a physical exam, either to make sure he wouldn't kill himself trying to do the job or else for their "health insurance". Egil escaped detection at the unexpectedly thorough initial exam by feigning a panic attack (apparently these humans regarded phobias as a disability to be worked around rather than a character flaw), but he found himself relegated to the less bureaucratized sections of the human economy.

Even the criminal element proved instructive--but in a way that Egil found most disheartening. The weapons available on the civilian black market were sufficiently advanced to make any ground assault a bloodbath. Presumably these were inferior to what the human militaries possessed. Worse, a non-negligible percentage of the humans he observed in hostile interactions with each other displayed sufficient spite to destroy resources they could not prevent a rival from seizing.

"We have limited time," Egil reported over the hyper-com he'd set up. "They are currently scrambling to preserve the remnants of their system's fourth planet's productivity. Once they realize that the effort is futile, they will almost certainly begin expanding their agricultural efforts on the third. From what i have seen, they will be unwilling to restrict themselves to starvation rations, and the population density is already much higher than we had thought possible based on their current land usage. Although they have not yet fully exploited their potential arable land, we can assume the clock to have started ticking.

"Unfortunately," Egil continued, "despite their minimal space based infrastructure, their suborbital weaponry is sufficient to render a ground assault useful only for population reduction. We also cannot count on orbital superiority to cow them into submission: too many of them score too high for spite. We could exterminate them if we were willing to glass a farm world to do it; we cannot assimilate them by force."

"You look unwell, Egil," the officer taking his report said. "Is it merely fretting over our collective future if we cannot obtain this world and its resources?"

Egil shook his head and answered, "I am unwell. This planet's fungi and bacteria are astonishingly prolific. I had a great deal of difficulty in finding quarters that could be adequately sanitized. I finally had to resort to removing all non-essential wall materials and furnishings, and i've been buying disinfectants in quantities that are getting me odd looks from the neighbors. Despite my best efforts, however, i've developed severe diarrhea, and the antibiotics i'm taking are becoming ever less effective. I'm already taking the maximum unsupervised dosage; i would appreciate an opportunity to consult with one of our medics about whether i should risk going higher.

"I would advise against medical evacuation," Egil continued. "This is not something to risk introducing to the home ships."

The recording officer bowed his head in acknowledgement. "That's an exemplary conduct medal, at a minimum, should the worst come to pass. Obviously the preferred reward would be a long life--but such is not within our power to grant or withhold. I will see about arranging a medical consultation window."

--------------------

Egil awakened in a human hospital bed with multiple IVs feeding him fluids. Three of the humans in the room had dark suits and postures that screamed 'security'; three wore white coats, gloves, and surgical masks; and one wore a business suit and gave the impression of being some kind of diplomat. There were also multiple cameras and microphones and screens apparently intended to allow two way communication.

"He's awake," someone noted.

"Well, Mr. Extra-terrestrial," one of the doctors said, "i don't know whether to thank you for giving us a new class of antibiotics or chew you out for giving us a strain of C. diff that's already resistant to it. Although i suppose the C. diff is doing a pretty good job of that for us."

" 'Already'?" Egil asked groggily. "This resistance to the antibiotics is something you expect to happen?"

"We usually get a year or two after introducing a new antibiotic before resistant strains start turning up in awkward places, but yes, it's inevitable. The resistant strains already exist in trace amounts--even in the one case of a completely synthetic class of antibiotic--they just suffer from sufficient metabolic penalties that they can only proliferate in the presence of the relevant antibiotics."

"I see," Egil said. "You haven't exterminated your microbes because you can't, not because you don't know they cause illness. This explains many of the seeming contradictions. I suppose that putting enough chlorine in your water to kill all the microbes rather than most would exceed your own threshold of toxicity?"

"Precisely," the doctor answered. "That isn't our only reason for not attempting to exterminate all microbes, however. Pathogenic strains are a minuscule minority among microbes; most are harmless or beneficial."

"Beneficial!" Egil said incredulously. "What possible benefit could a parasite be?"

"Some of our gut microbes break down complex sugars that we can't; others produce essential vitamins. Most help inhibit the growth of pathogenic strains; some help regulate our immune reactions. There's a skin bacteria whose whole job is to help calm the inflammatory response to minimize the risk of overreactions. I'd bet that when your people first exterminated their micro-flora, they saw a massive spike in allergy rates."

"I am not a historian," Egil said. "We lose maybe ten percent of our children to severe food allergies, however. Not because we don't know how to treat them but because supporting that many with chronic conditions would jeopardize our ability to support everyone else. We keep hoping it will be bred out of our population--but we've been hoping that for over a thousand years."

"Brutal," the diplomat said. "But based on your research notes, i can see why your people feel they don't have a choice in the matter."

"You know, then," Egil said. "Why go to all this trouble," he indicated the medical equipment, "for a spy?"

"Because we want a channel to open negotiations through before your people's warships arrive. Your comm gear is both bio-metrically coded and password protected, which means we need you alive," the diplomatic explained. "I won't deny that we're all indulging in a little schadenfreude at your diarrhea problem, but we'll be a lot happier if you can convince your people to hand over enough medical data for us to keep you alive." He looked to the doctors. "How hard is that going to be, anyway?"

"Hydration is straightforward enough," a different doctor than the one that had addressed Egil previously answered. "But we're guessing at the electrolyte balance. We can work out the normal nutritional requirements based on his supply of emergency rations and supplements--but what's needed for maintaining good health can be different than what's needed to replenish one's reserves after a major illness."

Egil nodded slowly. "The recommended solution for mild diarrhea is similar to what's in your sports drinks; it's assumed that there's no point in including severe cases in the basic emergency medical training because you can't do anything if you've passed out, anyway. Was that how i was found out?"

"No," the diplomat said. "You were buying household disinfectants in suspiciously large quantities. Large enough to get you on a terrorism watch list. It didn't take long to determine that you were using all that bleach for its intended purpose, and were only in danger of accidentally gassing yourself--but by then it was equally clear that you were spying for somebody, and that you weren't making your reports in any known language. At least that nasty little C. diff infection you've got exonerates you from suspicion of planning a chemical attack."

"Is it untreatable, then?" Egil asked. "If my antibiotics don't work, and yours don't work either..."

The first doctor answered, "The most effective treatment for recurring C. diff infections is a fecal transplant. Although C. diff has a frustrating ability to survive on surfaces and is immune to alcohol based sanitizers, it is fairly weak against competing micro-flora. Unfortunately, we don't know which microbes are harmful and which are benign in your species. Obviously, none are absolutely essential, since you haven't died off from the lack of gut bacteria. You said it's been a thousand years since you exterminated them--that may be long enough that your species has lost the ability to interface properly with mutualistic microbes. On the other hand, since you haven't been able to breed out the susceptibility to fatal allergic reactions, it's possible that your immune requirements haven't changed enough to matter. But trial and error testing on a sample size of one is problematic on both ethical and procedural counts."

Egil nodded slowly. "I fail to see how you could make things any worse than they are now. Even if you decided to send me home, i would refuse to go--i will not risk introducing this pathogen to our ships. But if my condition seems stable, it might be prudent to defer any such experiments until after we have opened channels for whatever negotiations you think are possible."

"Your people need food, correct?" the diplomat asked.

"Yes," Egil said. "All of our home ships and capital warships have extensive hydroponic sections, but that's only enough for starvation rations. A single farmworld can double our food supply to something comfortable."

"Uh-huh," the diplomat said slowly. "How many people do you think our planet currently supports."

"Based on how much of your arable land you're actually using, around five hundred million," Egil answered. "Double that if you're on starvation rations--which from my observations, most of you clearly aren't."

Everyone in the room, security men included, struggled to not burst out laughing. "We passed the one billion mark approximately two and a half centuries ago," the diplomat explained. "We're well past eight billion now; i can't remember if the estimate is flirting with nine billion yet. Figure eight and a half billion plus or minus a couple of hundred million."

Egil sat up so hard that one of the IVs threatened to pull out. "That's impossible!"

"Let me guess," the diplomat said. "Your people took the same kill everything approach to crop pathogens that you did to personal ones, didn't you?"

"Of course," Egil said. "Microbes are dangerous; every civilization exterminates them once they realize how disease is transmitted."

"Many diseases are caused by microbes," the first doctor said. "Not all of them. Some are genetic, some are idiopathic--and some are caused by not having enough of the right microbes."

"And when you wiped out the environmental microbiome," the diplomat said, "you also wiped out the nitrogen fixing bacteria and the fungal networks that share nutrients between plants and the microbes that break down dead organic matter so that the nutrients can be recycled. No wonder your people kill planets so fast."

"To keep a planet productive for a hundred years is a feat we have finally learned to duplicate reliably. It is the pinnacle of multiple civilizations' accomplishments."

"And for how many millennia were these planets fertile before your ignorance touched them?" the diplomat demanded. He practically snarled, "How much do your people need to live--per year, that is."

Egil named a figure, and everyone in the room stared at him in disbelief. Probably wondering how a single planet could supply that much. "That's all?" one of the doctors said, not quite under his breath.

"And how many planets have you used up?" the diplomat asked.

"I'm not sure," Egil said. "Based on the number of species in the combine, it must be over seven hundred. Probably higher, since some did not survive long enough to be absorbed. Sometimes because they refused to assimilate, sometimes dead before we discovered their world, sometimes reason they died off unknown."

"If i thought there was any chance we could make up the tech difference in time," the diplomat said, "i'd tell you all to go to hell. But since there's no way we can pull off space superiority before your fleets arrive, i'll have to settle for a small wager."

"What do you think you have to wager with?" Egil asked.

"Our planet, of course," the diplomat answered. "You advised your superiors against conquest by force just based on an incomplete knowledge of our conventional weapons. You missed the fact that we still have stockpiles of nuclear weapons large enough to go scorched earth in a way that only the microbes your people are so terrified of could hope to survive."

"Nuclear weapons?" Egil asked. "What, like weaponized fission reactors? As good as fission reactors are for power to fuel ratios, we wouldn't risk using them on any ship that might end up in the same system as a farmworld, just from the potential severity of the accidents."

"We deployed two of them in combat," the diplomat said. "Not sure how many got detonated in above-ground testing before we decided that was a bad idea. Doesn't seem to have done any but localized harm, and that for a shorter duration than many of us expected. Mad as it is, mutually assured destruction is the only true strategic defense there is--otherwise some idiot just has to think he has the upper hand to get a lot of people killed trying to take your stuff."

"We cannot risk the possibility that you are not bluffing about your willingness to use these weapons," Egil said. "But we equally cannot afford to leave empty handed. What do you propose?"

"Ten years," the diplomat said. "We give you the amount of food you have stated, and you give us cargo ships and the coordinates of these no longer fertile worlds. If we get these planets producing food again, we keep half of them. If not, we keep feeding you from ours."

"What is to stop you from taking these cargo ships and turning them into warships?" Egil demanded.

"What is to stop you from taking all the worlds we restore, if we do not?" the diplomat returned. "If you could somehow make us all disappear while leaving earth untouched, you would gain only a single planet that you would use up in only a single century. But if you take this wager, you get hundreds of planets to feed from, and the knowledge of how to keep them fertile."

Something had been nagging at Egil, and he finally identified it. "You lie. Your system's fourth planet. You have not been able to save it."

"Save it?" the diplomat asked puzzled. "What do you mean, save Mars?" Then he realized, "You think it started habitable?" The other humans echoed his incredulity. "We're terraforming it. Until we accidentally introduced a few microbes with our rovers, that place was dead as a doornail."

Egil fainted. The idea was just too preposterous.

----------------------

Terrance took a deep breath as he prepared to address the UN general assembly. Despite the alien Combine's bizarre ignorance of basic ecology, he had the feeling that they were the easier group to convince to accept his proposal.

"Fellow humans, for generations we have speculated on the whether might life might exist elsewhere in the universe. For generations we imagined what a first meeting might be like, whether they would find us or we would find them. Whether they would be better than us, or worse; whether they would be like us, or too alien to understand.

"One of the scenarios we imagined was that they might find us as an adult finds a wayward child carelessly destroying the things he needs in order to survive. That they would lecture us on how we have been destroying our environment and teach us how to live better.

"Instead, we have learned that at our worst we barely put our ecosystem into the scratch and dent section, while they have done--this!" The screen behind Terrance changed to display a selection of dramatic views of the aliens' former farmworlds. Some were dust bowls, some were deserts, some looked like the immediate aftermath of a forest fire or volcanic eruption. All were barren.

Terrance continued, "Every one of these worlds was, within living memory, as green as our earth. But these aliens believe that any organism that is not useful is a pathogen or a pest to be exterminated. They believe that any organism with no known use is useless. They don't even understand that grass-eating animals need their gut bacteria in order to digest cellulose! As a result, they destroyed every organism that contributed to the survival of their food crops and animals.

"Having exhausted the last of their worlds, and being able to produce only starvation rations from their ships' gardens, they have turned their attention to our world. Allowed to have their way, they will do to earth just as they have to each of these worlds.

"As you know, space superiority is a well nigh insurmountable advantage: this is why we have treaties prohibiting space weaponization. These aliens are not party to our treaties, nor will they see any reason why they should be. Our only advantage is that they need our world intact, and we can, if we choose, put up enough of a fight to go out with a blaze of glory instead of the slow century long withering away they intend for our world."

Terrance waited for the delegates to absorb the implications and then added, "We do have one other advantage. The amount i was told they require per year to feed their population is only a tenth of our global production."

That got everyone's attention. "So i propose we make a wager with this Cultivators' Combine. We give them the food they need. In return, they give us ships so that we can travel to these worlds they have destroyed and begin restoring them. If we succeed, we keep half the planets. If we fail, better to have us doing the farming here on earth than them. And, of course, we can set aside a small fraction of those ships to reverse engineer to start building fleets of our own--just in case these aliens try to weasel out of their agreement when we win the bet."

Terrance signaled that he was finished, and ready to begin taking questions.

"How many planets are we talking about?"

"Twelve hundred and sixty-seven," Terrance answered. "I left the question of what should be done with the odd one to this assembly's more subtle diplomatic skills."

"How are the worlds to be divided?"

"I made it absolutely clear that their choosing their half first was unacceptable," Terrance said. "Whether it is better to draw a line on a starmap or to play 'i choose one, you choose one' with them is something i defer to your judgement, as well as being a question that may have a different answer after we've been working with them for a decade or so than it does at this time."

"I understand why you think these planets are salvageable--at worst, it can't be any harder than terraforming Mars; but why do you think it can be done so quickly?"

"Invasive species," Terrance said, getting a laugh. "Really, though, these are habitable planets. They still have breathable atmospheres and robust magnetic fields. They just need a planet-sized dose of probiotics. And there are enough of them that we don't have to waste time arguing over the best way to go about it, the way we are with Mars. We can try one plan on one planet, a different plan on another. As long as we aren't exporting seed-stock faster than earth can replenish it, we can't lose."

Betting is illegal in India?

Your Tendie Stimulus 2: Playing SPY, QQQ, VXX During MoreNegotiation

UPDATE: 9 AM PST 7/30 Sold out of PYPL for a nice profit. Would’ve been nicer if I didn’t sleep in lol. Pushed in bigly (for me) on SQ 132 8/7c
UPDATE: 12:48 PST 7/29; sold my MRNA after a snoozer. Hunch play after a boring day:** playing PYPL earnings with 8/14 187.50c**
Update on VXX/MRNA 12pm 7/29: got out on open for a little profit in MRNA. Didn’t have a move I was confident in, saw pharma dipping, and went back in I think around -3ish, gonna hold.
SPY didn’t go green enough yesterday so I didn’t buy the VXX. Glad I didn’t, but it’s looking super tempting for EOD
UPDATE IN AN IRONIC TWIST OF FATE (https://www.reddit.com/wallstreetbets/comments/hzgndu/mrna_becoming_theranos_at_warp_speed_an_unfai?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf ) IJUST BOUGHT MRNA 8/7 82c’s to ride the night pump 😂 🤡
UPDATE 10 am PST 7/28- FOMC news already took its shot. PFE has said new price regulations may lead to a slow of use expansion. Child COVID hospitalizations up 23%. Nationals canceling weekend games. Pelosi negotiation meeting at 4 PM. Tech hearing tomorrow. That’s: FED dump, Pharma dump, COVID dump, sports dump, Poli dump, Tech dump. if SPY goes green at all today again I’m buying VXX 29c 8/14
UPDATE- Just sold out of positions on CRWD. Probably gonna leave a little money on the table, but DISCIPLINE is key; at over 100% profit in 24 hours on that play. It’s time to cash in my chips.
UPDATE- 6:30 AM EST 7/28 moves on open- SPOT out, reinforcing position CRWD
UPDATE- 6:30 AM EST 7/27 Bounced out of my $QQQ and $SPY positions on the open I bought Friday (happy to get out with a quick 25% on the QQQ) Moved into CRWD 8/7 103c and SPOT 170 8/7c With mixed reports on their outage being over, I stayed away from $GRMN ——————————————————-
An update on what happened last week, what's coming this week, and my autist thoughts on how that may play out in the market.
Edit: forgot to mention FOMC thanks u/lethalposter for the reminder! I expect a decent fake pump off this into Thursday because although people are acting like it could be a surprise it really isn’t. Zero interest rates, continued easing seems to be the foregone conclusion but market loves suspense games.
Quick postmortum of Tendie Stimulus 1
Congrats to those of who you rode with me on that VXX play--the timing and accuracy worked out so well I'd be lying if I said even I wasn't shocked. If you went with the 32/34 plays you still saw some profit, but the 30c on 7/24 strike was where it was at. I updated in the comments on the first post about the switch to 30c on Wednesday and here on my Twitter --sorry if you didn't see it at the time, I'll try to put updates to call/strike on here too at the top this time, not just Twitter (i actually have a real job now, too, unfortunately, that requires me from time to time :()
We got a big assist from China on the volatility, and in my trading I am trying to remember that mean ol' Mr.China is not going anywhere this week. If I'm being honest, I think it was a bigger factor last week than even the floundering negotiations. So, to a certain extent, I can only take so much credit for that call. Please remember China retaliation is coming if you're still committed to trading both indexes and volatility, and be more conservative in your approach for a bit.
That said, this week is set up to be another bumpy ride. Things have been a little confusing, so
Here's an update on what's happening with negotiations:
Republicans, who have not done a thing about the HEROES act until this past week, were busy the past 7 days fighting among themselves for the first offer to make to Democrats. Them getting this starting point out on Monday is in no way a victory for the process; this was actually supposed to be done by last Tuesday. The noteworthy tidbits:

Donald Trump demanded a payroll tax cut, supported by Mnuchin, early last week (think of this as like a temporary easing measure which allows both individuals and employers to gain an extra 1-3% in their check). Senate Republicans pushed back, and the WH surprisingly capitulated on the demand.
Their next internal squabbles had to do with the Extended UI benefits (I'll get to that in a minute)
The big breakthrough this weekend was committing to another round $1,200 Stimulus checks, and an extension on the eviction moratorium (this is HUGE for the housing market)*

So, what's important here?

The payroll tax rebuff against the White House orders was important because the GOP knew the Dems wouldn't have it, so they wouldn't add it. Senate Republicans already ceding ground on an issue that was key to the President. As much as McConnell postures, this would indicate that Republicans understand how sensitive they're re-election chances are to the outcomes here and Momma Pelosi kinda has them by the short and curlys.
Repubs came out on Thursday saying two key things: 1) UI extension would fall from $600 to $100 a week in their proposal and 2) they were willing to apply a "temporary" extensin of UI benefits as a stopgap measure; with benefits enhancement set to expire this coming week. PELOSI SAID HELL NO TO THE TEMP EXTENSION. Again, Dems know they have them cornered. Republicans this weekend started throwing out raising the weekly to $200, up from $100, and since this is the starting point of negotiations I think the Republicans know they may have to bend over all the way to $350 or $400 weekly, even, and are trying their best to come in low enough to get out with $300.

\Side note: the eviction moratorium is a huge win for Dems, but it's also a win for staving off what was clearly a coming housing crisis. I believe there is another win wrapped inside this win; at some point down the road, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but sometime in the next year, a mortgage/rent relief program is going to be floated. They already introduced a city-wide lottery here in Los Angeles where you can have your missed COVID rent paid by the government if you can prove you lost employment due to COVID. There is just no way they can be expecting all the people who got a free ride to be saving and pay back lump sums of multiple thousands to landlords once this all clears up. I guarantee there is a nationwide rental credit or something in the future, it's economically unfeasible not to. The hard part will be figuring out how to not punish the people who scrimped and did things right and used their UI/COVID check to pay rent on time, while rewarding those that didn't*
So, what will happen in the coming week

People are dancing over the $1,200 stimulus check announcement--and yes, I think it will provide a healthy boost for the morning session tomorrow. I hope so, at least, given I'm holding a 7/27 323c on SPY and a QQQ 7/31 160c (which I'm actually not terribly happy with myself for buying). But please remember, that's only a part of what is the beginnings of the new package negotiations. One thing I will say is that the market actually cares way less about UI than the Stimulus checks--the $1,200 covers the midle class working folks if it's up to $75,000. Extended UI is also for survival with a cherry on top, the $1,200 affects retail, travel, tech, etc. That said, this week will still be volatile
- Pelosi is going to say, probably Monday afternoon/evening after Republicans send theri package that it's a no. Markets will get nervous because they will act like they're surprised by this, and freak out that a deal won't get done in time. Rhetoric around a no deal will get ratcheted up.
- There are still probably at least two full back and forth draft cycles between both sides before we see a deal
- China is still going to retaliate
- All the tech CEOs are being brought to the hill (moved from Monday to Wednesday). They are speaking in front of the Democratic house rather than the Republican Senate. I don't expect it to be kind, particularly in light of recent Bezos hate, Zuckerberg Civil Rights issues, and Papa Elon's recent shenanigans (though he won't be there).
- Non-partisan take: Republican or Democrat I think it's pretty clear Pelosi is going to win this one. a) COVID is getting worse, and the Republican platform largely centered around it being better b) Republicans frittering away off-session time not making any progress is bad optics c) they're already capitulating on key offers d) this is going to THE issue of the coming election--aside from COVID, which Donnie has botched

How I'm playing it
Honestly, I'm a fucking QQQ addict, and even I will be staying away until EOW if I can dump these 7/31 calls for a profit Monday morning/early afternoon. It's just not time yet. This week is a week to play invididual equities, not indexes. If you hit on an index you're not gonna hit THAT big, and if you lose you're going to lose big and be like yeah, I pretty much could see this coming. So, if things generally are unfolding as I think;
Monday
Dumping: my QQQ calls and my SPY 7/27 once/if I see a profit in the morning session. Moving into: GRMN* 90p 8/21, CRWD 105 8/21c**, SPOT*** 300c 8/7 or 8/21 depending on how it is PM
EDIT: u/hospitalchurn brought up ZS here too in the comments, which I didn’t know much about. At first glance looking like as strong as a play as CRWD if not even stronger.
Tuesday
If we haven't tanked and VXX has reset to sub 29 VXX: 7/31 29c (dumping likely Thursday)
Wednesday Sitting on my hands but that's a god damn lie because I'll probably have found some rididulous YOLO on the daily thread and will move my GRMN put money into it
Thursday
Dumping VXX, reassessing, and likely putting a bunch into 8/7 and 8/10c's anticipating a done deal and a bounce back from a beating this week. Will load up on QQQ as well as I think tech hearings will be a bottom of sorts
Friday
Updating this DD on why I did none of this and instead put my bank account and heart into the bank of Su Bae. But hopefully not lol. AMD has to come down. I'll most likely be staying in the SPY and QQQ call game for 8/7
Notes:
*GRMN is going to get WAY worse; similar situation have seen stocks drop by the 20% to 30% range in the immediate aftermath. The fact that they are doing TERRIBLY at communicating with their customers is a godsend because it means they have plenty more bad news to trickle out in pieces next week. They were cucked, yes, but as always happens in these situations, their lack of honesty, proactiveness, and trasnparency is going to cuck them way more. Forward guidance during their earnings call will be poopy, and there was already talk that they were honestly topped out at 100 a share.
**CRWD has kind of taken a beating this month, and cloud security is going to be a big winner as the GRMN story breaks more.
***Erbody that know whatsup knows SPOT is going to hit 300 sometime soon. Their roster is just too off the charts, I expect their forward guidance on the earnings call to set them over the top. I'm also reall scared of earnings this season though, so my thoughts may change on this.
TLDR: The $1,200 check is only a starting point, and not the bread and butter of coming, tense negotiations this week around UI benefits extension. With shuttle negotiations coming up and lots of doomsday rhetoric around them, China acting a fool, and the tech hearing coming on Wednesday, it may be best to play individual stocks based on your research and some discounts than dive back into indexes just yet. GRMN puts and CRWD calls should print at least Monday, VXX back in play later in the week, SPY and QQQ calls on Friday
__________________________________________________________
As always, updates will be a hodge podge of here and my Twitter of the same name. Also as always, I know politics as I am a fundraiser for political campaigns, non profits, and foundations, but I am NOT a financial expert or somebody who works in the field, so don't bet the farm on anything I write if something doesn't align with your own Crayola drawings. We're all just playing hunches and doing our best to justify them; I'm on a streak now, but all streaks end lol.
Edit: further reading on upcoming tech hearing https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/24/21335735/tech-antitrust-hearing-apple-amazon-facebook-google-preview
Monday Update 3:00 PM PST
Positions CRWD (B+) turned out to be a solid move, up 3.5% on the day. Not an A because GRMN didn't move down with it, lending less credence to the theory that GRMN's fall was the catalyst for CRWD's rise. Can't really ask for much more than a 3.5% day though SPOT (C+) pretty much stagnant at about 1.5%, but bought somewhere around there during PM. Such slow movement right before earnings is worrisome, but hoping for a big day tomorrow. If it's not moving PM, I may dump it. GRMN (DNC) didn't end up buying it because I saw they were back online before open. Would've been a big ol' F.
News This is a pretty good summary of what Republicans are proposing in the HEALS act, their answer to HEROES: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/27/politics/stimulus-negotiations-republican-plan/index.html -The key changes: the additional $500 for dependents from the first CARES act would now be for all dependents, not just those under the age of 17 -The $600 will be replaced with $200 for extended UI benefits, higher than the initial $100 Republicans floated on Friday. Look for this to end around $350. In October, it will be replaced with a 70% of current worker salary cap, up to $500.
How I'm moving Not doing much, for now. If SPOT doesn't move much in PM I'll ditch it most likely. Due to the recent Under Armour news I'm thinking of long puts. For right now I like where I'm at with cloud security and will be searching for new plays tonight. If you have any recommendations on what to look into hit me up, please. Obviously if I add it here I'll tag you.
If we're green tomorrow--depending on how green--I may (gasp) consider some QQQ puts. SPY puts were tempting, but then I remembered we have the FOMC announcing Wednesday that they will continue with zero interest rate and quantitative easing.

Brazilian Big12 series, Episode 9/12: Santos

Previous episodes: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Grêmio, Botafogo, Atlético Mineiro, Internacional, Corinthians
In this series I will present each of the 12 Brazilian teams that together compose the "Big 12". My point is to make them more knowledgeable to you, since each one of these teams have their share of the Brazil national team success and of Brazilian club football accomplishments as a whole. I'll try to be as smooth, efficient and non-boring as I can. If the feedback is positive, I'll keep bringing more to this series. So ok, let's do this!
Method: I'll present the teams in a chronological order, from the oldest foundation (Flamengo-1895) to the latest one (São Paulo-1930). The order will be: Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, Grêmio, Botafogo, Atlético Mineiro, Internacional, Corinthians, Santos, Palmeiras, Cruzeiro, São Paulo. How many of these have you heard of?
Extra clubs: Due to a high number of requests, I'll also present 3 teams who don't belong to the Big12, but are also considered big clubs in Brazil: Bahia, Athletico Paranaense and Coritiba. Welcome to the club!
Geographical reference: Before we start, I'd like to ask something very simple from you. I want you to keep in mind that these 12 teams are spread in 4 different States in Brazil. The club's State name is written below, next to the club's name. It has a direct link to Google Maps, so that you can check it out to make this experience more accurate.

Episode 9/12: Santos (State: São Paulo), founded in 1912

State rivals: São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians

Stadium: Vila Belmiro

Mascot: Whale

Major achievements: 2 Intercontinental Cup (1962, 1963), 3 Copa Libertadores (1962, 1963, 2011), 8 Brazilian Leagues (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 2002, 2004), 1 Copa do Brasil (2010)

State League titles: 22 (Against Corinthians' 30, Palmeiras' 23, São Paulo's 21)

PLAY AND LISTEN TO SANTOS ANTHEM WHILE READING - Click here
The Football Kingdom
There's an urban legend that says that a lightning never strikes the same place twice. But apparently this legend doesn't apply to the physics of Santos, a humble and small port city on the coast of São Paulo. There, a young kid named Pelé, would come up to become football's greatest legend, a man that could stop a war with his foot, a man that transcended all sports combined. In that same city of Santos - with a probable electromagnetic sequel caused by the lightning of Pelé - were raised the raw talents of the princes Robinho and Neymar. Curiously enough, Marta, the Queen of Football, and Falcão, the King of Futsal, also stepped foot and left a legacy at Santos, the football kingdom of the world. Let the story begin!
The early years and the 100-goal team at 1929 São Paulo State League
Santos was founded in 1912, but only on the late 1920s the team would become a threat to the State League teams from the state capital, São Paulo. Indeed, in 1927, the team led by Araken Patusca and Feitiço scored 100 goals in 16 matches, an average of 6,25 goals/match, a world record in official competitions until today. However, they lost the title in the last round to Palmeiras. These two players would make history in Santos: Feitiço scored 214 goals and is the Santos 5th top goalscorer of all time, while Araken Patusca scored 184, and is the 7th.
In 1935, Santos would win their first State League title, after beating Corinthians 2-0.
The Pelé Era: the greatest team in the world, the team that stopped a war in Africa, Os Santásticos
Before Pelé arrived, Santos had recently won the 1955 and 1956 State Leagues, with a great team led by Brazil NT forwards Del Vecchio, Pepe, Pagão, Jair, and the midfielder Zito.
After Pelé left, Santos had added 25 more trophies to their cabinet: 2 Intercontinental Cups, 2 Copa Libertadores, 6 Brazilian Leagues, 10 State Leagues, 3 Rio-São Paulo Tournament, 1 Supercopa Sudamericana and 1 Recopa Intercontinental.
During Pelé's time in the 1960s, Santos scored around 3000 goals, with more than 1000 scored by the king, in both official competitions (643 goals) and friendlies (448 goals) for Santos. Actually, counting only teams from Europe big6, Pelé scored 103 goals in those high-level friendlies, as you can see here. If we count all European clubs and National Teams, Pelé scored 163 goals. He also scored 87 goals against 1st division Brazilian teams, 116 goals against South American teams and National Teams, 44 goals against African/Asian/Central American National Teams, totalizing 410 goals in high-level friendlies - all data details here. At that time, friendlies were highly hyped, and there were more Europeans attending friendlies vs. Santos than attending their own national leagues matches - attendance data here.

League	1960s League att. average	Friendlies vs Santos att. average
England	29.180	34.800 (10 matches)
Spain	???	48.100 (9 matches)
Italy	21.056	39.620 (33 matches)
Germany	24.160	31.700 (15 matches)
Portugal	???	34.000 (3 matches)
France	8.400	32.300 (8 matches)
Overall	20.700	36.750 (78 matches)

Sources: England, Italy, Germany, France, Santos

Pelé arrived at Santos in 1956, at the age of 15. In that same year arrived the right-wing Dorval, aged 21. In 1958 arrived the centre-forward Coutinho, aged 14, and in 1960 the attacking midfielder, Mengálvio, aged 20. They all joined the left-wing Pepe, at Santos since 1954, to form the famous quintet that dominated the world: Dorval, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pelé and Pepe.

Player	Apps	Goals	Brazil NT Caps	Goals	World Cup titles
Dorval (1956-67)	612	198	7	-	-
Mengálvio (1960-68)	371	28	14	1	1 (1962)
Coutinho (1958-68)	457	368	15	6	1 (1962)
Pelé (1956-74)	1116	1091	92	77	3 (1958, 1962, 1970)
Pepe (1954-69)	750	405	40	22	2 (1958, 1962)

But everything started in the 1957 São Paulo State League, when Pelé was topscorer with 36 goals, at the age of 16. There wasn't a National League until 1959, due to Brazil's huge size and weak infrastructure, so the players would shine in the State Leagues, which lasted the entire year. Pelé, at 17, broke the São Paulo State League record (until today), scoring 58 goals in 38 matches, in 1958 - which brought him to the Brazil NT and to the 1958 World Cup. After winning it, him and Santos started travelling in exhibition tours to make cash and challenge the best teams around the world in "friendly" matches.
In 1959, Santos took part in the 1st Brazilian League edition, qualifying as São Paulo State League champions. However, they lost the final to Bahia (2-3, 2-0, 1-3).
As Santos lost the 1959 São Paulo State League finals to Palmeiras, they didn't qualify to the 1960 Brazilian League.
However, they won the 1960 São Paulo State League and qualified to the 1961 Brazilian League. From 1961 to 1965, Santos won 5 consecutive Brazilian Leagues, a record until today. However, Santos would always enter in the semi-finals and only play 4-5 matches to be crowned champions - this rule would only be modified from the 1967 Brazilian League.

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Results
1961 Brazilian League	Santos	Bahia	1-1, 5-1
1962 Brazilian League	Santos	Botafogo	4-3, 1-3, 5-0
1963 Brazilian League	Santos	Bahia	6-0, 2-0
1964 Brazilian League	Santos	Flamengo	4-1, 0-0
1965 Brazilian League	Santos	Vasco	5-1, 1-0

Highlights to the 1962 final between Santos and Botafogo, which had 11 players from the 1962 World Cup won by Brazil: Gylmar, Mauro, Zito, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pelé, Pepe (Santos), Nilton Santos, Garrincha, Amarildo, Zagallo (Botafogo). Santos won the decisive match 5-0 at the Maracanã, with this goal from Pelé.
In 1962, Santos also participated in their first Copa Libertadores, qualified as the 1961 Brazilian League champions. Santos topped their group stage against Cerro Porteño (Paraguay) (9-1, 1-1) and Municipal (Bolivia) (6-1, 4-3). In the semis against Universidad Católica (Chile), Santos tied 1-1 away, and won 1-0 at home. The final would be against Peñarol (Uruguay). Santos won the first leg 2-1 in Uruguay, with two goals from Coutinho, in a great comeback. In the 2nd leg in Brazil, a crazy story: after a big and violent confusion, the match was restarted and Peñarol scored the third goal at '51 (2-3). Santos only needed a tie and scored it at '67, the match ended 3-3 and Santos celebrated the title. However, the referee wrote down in the match report that the match was over at '51 - he was scared to really end it, so he kept the match going until the end, but it wasn't counting for him, so he (and CONMEBOL) declared Peñarol the winners. This forced a third match, in neutral Argentina, which Santos dominated and won 3-0, with two goals from Pelé and one own goal from Peñarol. Santos were for the first time, and the first Brazilian team, crowned South American champions.
This title qualified Santos to the 1962 Intercontinental Cup, against the European champions, Benfica. The 1st leg at the Maracanã ended 3-2 for Santos, with 2 goals from Pelé and one from Coutinho. Before the 2nd match in Lisbon, Benfica announced that they were selling tickets for the third match, certain that they would win at home. However, Pelé destroyed the match with a splendid hat-trick, an assist, nutmegs and dribbling past the entire Benfica defense to score one of his goals. The match ended 5-2 before a crowd of 73.000 portuguese fans, and Pelé proved once again he was still football's king, as he and Santos were crowned club world champions for the first time. Highlights of the match here (4mn56 video).
The next year, in 1963, Santos would once again win the Copa Libertadores. Being the current champions, they entered in the semi-final stage against the legendary Botafogo of Garrincha, Didi and Nilton Santos. The 1st leg ended 1-1, with Pelé scoring a tie at '90. The 2nd match at the Maracanã ended 4-0 to Santos, with Pelé scoring the first goal, also the second goal from a header, and the third from a penalty kick. Lima scored the fourth, with an assist from Pepe. Santos were once again qualified to the Copa Libertadores final.
They would meet Boca Juniors, from Argentina. In the 1st leg at the Maracanã, Santos opened 3-0 with two goals from Coutinho - notably this one - and one from Lima. Boca, however, scored twice with Sanfilippo and the match ended 3-2.
The atmosphere at La Bombonera for the 2nd leg was intense. 50.000 Argentine kept singing "Pelé hijo de puta, macaquitos del Brasil" (Pelé son of a b., little monkeys from Brazil). Then Boca opened the score at '46 with Sanfilippo. However, 4 minutes later, Pelé assisted Coutinho to score the tie. Later, Pelé mocked the Boca team by playing with the ball at Boca's GK hand. And at '82, Pelé scored the winning goal and celebrated with euphory and anger: Santos were back-to-back Copa Libertadores champions.
Santos were once again qualified to the Intercontinental Cup, and would face Milan. Santos lost the 1st leg 2-4, at San Siro, in Milan. In the 2nd leg at the Maracanã, Milan went to half-time winning 2-0. A heavy rain began and the pitch became a mud. Santos, without Pelé, counted on Pepe's free-kick to score their first goal. Almir and Lima scored Santos second and third goals, at '54 and '65. Pepe, again from a free-kick, scored the fourth at '68, forcing a third match.
In the third and final match, at the Maracanã again, Maldini committed a penalty and was sent off. Still without Pelé, Dalmo scored the 1-0 winning goal, crowning Santos once again club world champions.
Santos wouldn't win the Copa Libertadores again in the 1960s. They reached the semis in 1964 and 1965, and refused to play it in 1966, 1967 and 1969 - not only it was financially unattractive, but also too violent and with tendencious refereeing. So Santos prefered to travel around the globe and make cash to pay their expensive team.
The "Santos Globetrotters", would tour the world and smash whoever and wherever. 7-1 Internazionale, 5-0 Roma, 6-2 Napoli, 3-0 Lazio, 5-1 Lecce, 5-1 Barcelona, 6-0 Hamburg, 9-1 TSV München 1860, 6-3 Wolfsburg, 5-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, 4-2 Hertha Berlin, 6-4 Fortuna Düsseldorf, 5-0 Arminia Bielefield, 6-3 Benfica, 4-2 Sheffield Wednesday, 4-2 Newcastle, 5-3 Reims, 6-1 Racing, 6-2 Lyon, 3-0 Toulouse, 3-0 Feyenoord, 5-0 Enschede, 3-0 Peñarol, 8-3 Racing (Argentina), 4-0 Independiente, 4-1 Boca Juniors, 4-0 River Plate...
In official competitions, Pelé's Santos played 6 matches against Europeans, with 5W-1L:

Competition	Result	Goals
1962 Intercontinental Cup	Santos 3-2 Benfica	Pelé (2x), Santana (2x), Coutinho
1962 Intercontinental Cup	Santos 5-2 Benfica	Pelé (3x), Eusébio, Coutinho, Pepe, Santana
1963 Intercontinental Cup	Santos 2-4 Milan	Pelé (2x), Amarildo (2x), Trapattoni, Mora
1963 Intercontinental Cup	Santos 4-2 Milan	Pepe (2x), Mazzola, Almir, Lima, Mora
1963 Intercontinental Cup	Santos 1-0 Milan	Dalmo
1968 Recopa Intercontinental	Santos 1-0 Internazionale	Toninho Guerreiro

However, Santos wasn't invincible, and Palmeiras stopped them from winning 12 consecutive State Leagues (1958-69), by beating Santos in 1959, 1963 and 1966.
1969: the year that Santos stopped a war in Africa and that Pelé scored his 1000th goal
On the 4th February 1969, Pelé's Santos stopped an ongoing war in Nigeria. The civil war had been going on in the Biafra region since March 1967, and it lasted until January 1970, with the separatists' defeat. 2 million people died in the conflict.
There was a global effort trying to stop the violent repression of the Nigerian government against the Biafras. Artists like Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon, authorities like the Pope Paul VI and the United Nations tried do contain the conflict, without success.
But Santos did. As the team was touring in Africa, they were invited by the Nigerian government to play in Benin. A first and only cease-fire was declared so Santos could move from the hotel to the stadium and then back to the hotel. Santos won the match 2-1, and left the country the next day, as the war restarted as soon as they were gone, lasting 11 more months.
On the 19th November 1969, Pelé scored his 1000th goal, against Vasco, the team he supported as a child, at the Maracanã. Journalists from all over the world had been following Santos matches, waiting for the 1000th goal to happen, which he did on his 912th career match.
By the end of the decade, Santos team had changed, but was still strong, notably counting with the right-back Carlos Alberto Torres, the midfielder Clodoaldo and the forwards Edu and Toninho Guerreiro, all of them champions in the 1970 World Cup, except for the latter. They notably won the 1968 Brazilian League, the 1968 Supercopa Sudamericana and the 1968 Recopa Intercontinental.
My personal favorite goal of this era is this one by Toninho Guerreiro, after a rainbow flick assist by Kaneko, in 1968.
The Pelé Era last title was the São Paulo State League title of 1973. Pelé left in October 1974, having scored 1091 goals in 1116 matches for Santos.
1978-1984: the Meninos da Vila (Vila Boys) and the last title before the drought
In 1978, a new term was coined to the players produced by Santos youth system, or just young players that were bought: the Meninos da Vila (Vila Boys), that won the 1978 State League. The 1st generation counted with Juary, João Paulo, Pita, Nilton Batata and Ailton Lira.

Meninos da Vila	Apps	Goals
Juary	229	101
João Paulo	412	103
Pita	408	55
Nilton Batata	249	36
Ailton Lira	182	37

In the 1980s, Santos built a good team that reached the final of the 1983 Brazilian League, and won the 1984 State League - Santos last title before the drought.
1984-2002: 18-year title drought
In this period, Santos reached the 1995 Brazilian League final - led by the idol Giovanni -, as well as the 2000 State League final. Santos won the 1997 Rio-São Paulo Tournament and the 1998 Copa Conmebol, but they were minor trophies and didn't count as the end of the drought, that would last until 2002.
Nevertheless, Santos became the first team in the world to score 10.000 goals - the record took place in January 1998, with a goal scored by Jorginho.
In December 2000, Santos was elected by FIFA the Club of the Century in South America, and placed 5th in the world, behind Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern and Barcelona.
2002: Diego & Robinho and the 2nd Meninos da Vila generation
In the last season of the Brazilian League with knock-out stages (round-robin were introduced in 2003), Santos were broken and bet once again on their own DNA: youth system and offensive football. Led by 17-year-old Diego and 18-year-old Robinho, and with great young players Maurinho (24), Alex (20), Renato (23) and Elano (21), as well as great experienced players like Fábio Costa (25), Léo (27) and Alberto (27), Santos qualified on the 8th and last spot to the quarter-finals - after an exciting 1st stage, even leading the league at some point, but dropping a lot in quality towards the end.
In the knock-out stage, Santos won 5 of the 6 matches before becoming champions. In the quarter-finals, against the scary São Paulo of Kaká and Luís Fabiano, Santos won both legs: 3-1 at home and then a 2-1 comeback away, with Diego scoring twice, one of them the winning goal on the 2nd leg.
In the semi-finals, Santos defeated Grêmio 3-0 at home, with a great show from Robinho, who got Grêmio's CB sent off and then scored this great goal. Alberto scored twice, notably this backheel one. In the 2nd leg, a 0-1 defeat was enough to put Santos in the league final.
The final would be against Parreira's Corinthians. In the first leg, Diego brilliantly assisted Alberto to open the score, and then Robinho at '88 also brilliantly assissted Renato to close the 2-0 score.
The final 2nd leg was monumental. Corinthians needed to win by a 2-goal difference to be the champions. It started badly for Santos, with Diego leaving injured with less than five minutes. But at '35, Robinho produced one of the most iconic moves of the football world in 2002, the 8 Pedaladas (8 Stepovers), after which he suffered a penalty, which he himself converted into a goal dedicated to Diego. Corinthians now needed 3 goals, and at '75 they scored the first, then at '84 they scored the second. Total fear in Santos supporters. But 4 minutes later at '88, the heir of the king, the prince Robinho carried the ball from the midfield until the right side of the box to assist Elano in Santos second goal. But it wasn't over yet, and at '92, him again, the prince Robinho left two Corinthians' CB completely lost in a quick body turnaround to assist Léo to score the 3rd and winning goal. The perfect match was over, Santos won 3-2, and were crowned Brazilian League champions. Highlights to Santos goalkeeper Fabio Costa who had this absurd performance (2mn33s video) and to Santos coach Emerson Leão, the man who chose to bet in these young players.
2003-2004: the show must go on
In 2003, Santos, Diego and Robinho were the Brazilian trend. They kept their high-level football with the addition of Ricardo Oliveira in the attack, and finished 2nd in the Copa Libertadores - losing to Boca Juniors - and 2nd in the Brazilian League - dominated by Cruzeiro.
In 2004, Santos won the Brazilian League again, their 8th and most recent Brazilian League title. With the departures of Renato, Diego and Ricardo Oliveira to Europe, Santos brought Ricardinho and Deivid from Middlesbrough and Bordeaux, and the international coach Luxemburgo from Cruzeiro.
It worked greatly, and led by Robinho and Elano, they won the league on the 46th and last round, after beating Vasco 2-1. It was a very dramatic league in all possible ways, and against everything and everyone, Santos were once again Brazilian Champions.

Meninos da Vila	Apps (Santos)	Goals (Santos)	Clubs in Europe
Diego	133	38	Porto, Werder Bremen, Atlético Madrid
Robinho	253	111	Real Madrid, Milan, Man. City
Elano	322	68	Shakhtar, Man. City
Renato	424	33	Sevilla
Alex	103	20	Chelsea, Milan, PSG

2009-2013: Neymar & Ganso, the 3rd Meninos da Vila generation
After the 2004 team was dismantled, Santos won two State League titles in 2006 and 2007, besides finishing 2nd in the 2007 Brazilian League and reaching the semi-finals in the 2007 Copa Libertadores, led by international star Zé Roberto.
In March 2009, Neymar made his debut at the age of 17. With midfielder Ganso (aged 19), they finished 2nd in the State League, losing to Ronaldo Nazário's Corinthians.
In 2010, the Cirque du Soleil Santos show began. With the addition of Robinho (on a 6-month loan from Man. City) to the front line, the team reached a historical mark of 111 goals in 34 matches on the title campaigns of the 2010 State League and 2010 Copa do Brasil. Overall in the year, Santos scored 176 goals, and Neymar 42 goals. The team played for fun and brilliant goals were a constant, notably: Robinho's backheel goal against Rogério Ceni's São Paulo, Ganso finesse assist to Robinho against Grêmio, Neymar's little-stop penalty goal against Ceni's São Paulo, Ganso's lob against Monte Azul, Robinho's lob against Bragantino, Ganso's backheel assist to Neymar's goal against Santo André, Alex Sandro's goal against Cruzeiro, Wesley's goal against Grêmio, Ganso long distance goal against Grêmio, Neymar dribbling past the whole Santo André defense goal, Neymar's assist to André against São Paulo, and obviously, Robinho air backheel assist to Neymar against Santo André.
However, the epic 2010 team only lasted 6 months: Wesley, André and Robinho left to Europe, and Ganso got severely injured. With the team dismantled, they ended on the 8th position in the league.
2011 Copa Libertadores: the third continental dream title
Santos started the season with the 2011 State League title, beating Corinthians in the final (0-0, 2-1).
Santos also counted with the return of Elano for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, but the team started badly: 2 draws and 1 loss, so Santos needed to win all the next 3 matches to advance. And they did, without much problems: 3-2 Colo-Colo (Chile), 2-1 Cerro Porteño (Paraguay) and 3-1 Táchira (Venezuela). Highlights to Neymar's dribbling-goal against Colo-Colo and Danilo's long-distance goal against Cerro Porteño.
In the round of 16, Santos met América (Mexico) and beat them 1-0 at home in the 1st leg. The 2nd leg, in Mexico, was a 0-0 tie, with goalkeeper Rafael Cabral having an exceptional match.
In the quarter-finals, against Once Caldas (Colombia), Santos had no problem beating them 1-0 in Colombia, and then tying 1-1 at home, with this great goal from Neymar.
In the semi-finals, Santos beat Cerro Porteño 1-0 at home, with this great assist from Neymar to Edu Dracena, and had a restful 2nd leg after opening 2-0 and leaving Paraguay with a 3-3 tie and qualified to the finals.
In the big final against Peñarol, Santos left the 1st leg with a 0-0 tie in Uruguay, with Peñarol having this goal bravely disallowed at '85. In the final 2nd leg, Santos pressured Peñarol at home, until Neymar opened the score at '46 with a brilliant shot, after a fine backheel-play by Ganso and ball-conducting by Arouca. At '68, Danilo scored one more, but Santos centre-back Durval scored an own goal at '79. On the last minute, Neymar almost scored the third, but the ball hit the post. At '93, the match ended, and after 48 years, Santos were the Copa Libertadores Champions, for the third time in their history.
Neymar was the MVP and second topscorer with 6 goals, at the age of 19. He was also elected the 2011 Brazilian League MVP, but Santos finished on the 10th place.
With this title, Santos qualified to the 2011 Club World Cup in Japan. They beat Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in the semi-final, with this splendid goal from Neymar. However, they were completely dominated by Messi's Barcelona in the final, losing it 0-4.
In 2012, Santos had another great year, led by Neymar, Ganso and Elano. They started the season with the 2012 State League title, beating Guarani in the final (3-0, 4-2). They also reached the 2012 Copa Libertadores semi-finals, but got eliminated by Corinthians.
They also won the 2012 Recopa Sudamericana and finished 8th on the league.

Meninos da Vila	Apps (Santos)	Goals (Santos)	Clubs in Europe
Neymar	230	138	Barcelona, PSG
Ganso	162	36	Sevilla, Amiens
André	94	41	Sporting
Rafael Cabral	190	-	Napoli, Reading
Danilo	80	10	Porto, Real Madrid, Man. City, Juventus
Wesley	63	10	Werder Bremen

2013-today
Since the Neymar & Ganso Era ended in 2013, Santos has won 2 State League titles (2015, 2016), finished 2nd in the Brazilian League twice (2016, 2019) and in the Copa do Brasil once (2015), as well as revealing Rodrygo in 2018.
Santos represents the essence of Brazilian football DNA, which is offensive and beautiful football, a philosophy which made their youth system one of the most respected in the world. You can watch here some rare Pelé highlights, here some 2002-2005 Robinho's and here some 2009-2013 Neymar's.
Santos is one of the 3 Brazilian teams that has never been relegated.
To this day, Santos has a fanbase of 6 million supporters, and a stadium attendance average of 10.300, as of 2019.
If you have any questions about Brazilian football, feel free to join us at futebol, where you'll be very welcomed!

The place I'm from suddenly doesn't exist

I don’t think I have a lot of time, but I need to get this message out to anyone willing to listen. It’s going to sound crazy I know, and I don’t even expect anyone to believe me. I just need this to be out there, maybe one day someone will know why.
About 18 hours ago, I got up at the crack of dawn to prepare myself for a routine international business trip. I’m a financial consultant for a sizable company, but it’s not really all that relevant… at least I don’t think it is. Point being, I regularly take flights to various destinations all over the world to meet with clients.
So, I got to the airport, went through security and got onto the plane without anything unusual happening. The flight was scheduled to be just short of twelve hours, so to prepare I took some Benadryl to hopefully help me get some sleep. A young couple sat down in the center and window seats in my row. They were kind enough, and the man was wearing a Chelsea jacket. We talked a bit about sports and exchanged small talk as we prepared for the flight.
The flight attendants conducted their rounds, and not long after the plane began to taxi onto the runway. My mind lingered on the brink of sleep as the plane ascended into the heavens. Maybe an hour or so later and I was awoken to the urge to relieve myself, so I got up and shimmied my way down the aisle to the lavatory.
I did my business, but before I left the bathroom a sudden headache struck me out of nowhere. It was beyond intense, by far the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life. It felt like someone was jabbing an icepick between my eyes. I fell to the ground in the cramped room, and felt like my head was about to implode.
My mind began to spin, and my heart was racing like crazy. I felt a sense of impending doom seep into the very cortex of my being, like I was on the verge of death. I’ve never really had any history of severe medical issues, but in the moment, I thought I was having an aneurysm or seizure of some kind.
An altogether inexplicable feeling then struck me. The only way I can really describe it was like a wave of chills rolling through my body. It just completely discombobulated my mind for a moment, and suddenly it felt like everything had just stopped being real.
I was seconds away from crying out for help, when it suddenly stopped. I felt my mind recompose itself, and the headache and other symptoms faded as suddenly as they had arrived. My legs were wobbly but I managed to regain my footing; still a bit confused and panicked, but relieved the symptoms had abated.
After a couple minutes I stepped out of the lavatory and shuffled back towards my seat. The guy I’d been speaking to before was no longer there, and only the girl remained, sleeping soundly with her head leaned against the window. She had a mask over her mouth; like one of those medical masks that doctors wear. I sat back down in my seat, wondering where the other guy went, but realizing he probably just went to the bathroom as well.
The rest of the flight I felt really odd, like something horrible was going to happen or was already happening. I sort of psyched myself up into a panic as I wondered whether the feeling was a premonition of some kind. It was like all the latches on my mind had suddenly been released, spewing forth a miasma of intrusive thoughts and anxious worries.
I drank a bunch of water, and popped several more Benadryl, hoping it would be enough to ward off the mindset and calm me down. It got moderately better as time went on, and things remained the same. I tried to sleep some more, but every time I closed my eyes it was like I was seeing something. These horrible invasive thoughts were just flooding in, and I didn’t know how to make them stop.
By some miracle I must’ve eventually managed to fall back asleep; I guess 6 or 7 Benadryl will do that to you. When I woke up, I was surprised and unbelievably relieved to hear the captain’s voice come over the intercom, announcing that we would be landing in about 20 minutes. I breathed a much-needed sigh of relief, but it was short-lived. The man in the seat beside me still wasn’t back. His wife then stirred from her sleep, and I decided to ask her.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” She cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Um… he’s supposed to pick me up when we land… why?” I froze in that moment, completely at a loss as to what was happening. The girl seemed uncomfortable with my stare so I just looked away, wracking my brain for a logical explanation.
“You know… you’re supposed to wear your mask for the entire flight. Not trying to be a Karen or anything, but the flight attendants might get mad at you.” I didn’t even know how to begin processing the words she told me. Who the hell is Karen?
“I have an extra one if you need it?” She began fumbling in the back underneath the seat, and soon pulled out a medical mask, holding it out toward me.
“It’s not been used, don’t worry. Fresh pack.” I just took it, saying thanks but nothing else. I then looked around the plane, and sure enough, every single passenger I could see was wearing a similar mask. Even the flight attendant collecting trash in the aisle was wearing one. I didn’t understand what was happening.
That last 20 minutes of the flight was the longest of my entire life. My mind was reeling to try and process what the hell was going on. I kept feeling like something was watching me. The shadows in the corner of the cabin seemed to twist and conspire against me, like there was something sinister hidden just outside my peripheries waiting to strike.
The plane finally touched down a little while later, and I had never been so relieved in all my life. My behavior was probably a bit rude as I cut past several other travelers to exit the plane quicker. I just wanted to be out of there as soon as possible. I stepped out of the tunnel and into the main concourse where that familiar sign was displayed once more for the new travelers.
“Welcome to Japan. We hope you enjoy your stay.” I didn’t recognize the second stanza being there from my memories of previous trips, but that was the least of my concerns. By that point I just wanted to get to the hotel and relax for a bit. I wanted to call my wife as well, but since they don’t allow that before customs I had to wait. Everyone I saw was wearing masks, so I decided it’d be in my best interest to just continue wearing mine as well.
I got to the customs agent, and begrudgingly waited a good twenty minutes before finally being called up to a window. The booth agent greeted me with friendly eyes and a masked smile as I handed her my passport and declaration form.
I watched her look them over, and her head tilted slightly to the side as if she were confused about something. She glanced between me and my passport several times before holding it out to face me.
“Can you remove your mask please?” I was more than happy to oblige, as those damn things really make your face hot. Her eyes shot between me and the passport several times, but her confusion didn’t diminish. If anything it only grew more pronounced.
“This is… where you are from?” She asked pointing to the name of my country on the document. I nodded, hoping to get through the ordeal as quick as possible.
It seems it really wasn’t my lucky day, as the next thing I know, I was surrounded by four men. They politely yet firmly suggested that I step away with them, and since I couldn’t really say no I agreed and followed them. The eyes of other travelers stared inquisitive daggers into my neck as I went. The men opened a small windowless room, and beckoned me inside. I thought then that maybe I should call my lawyer, but just hoped the situation would be sorted out without that hassle.
One of the customs agents asked where I was from, and I told them the truth. They eyed each other with confused glances. Another man then stepped forward, brandishing my passport and opening it to the page with my picture.
“This is you, yes?” I nodded. He flipped through the booklet, and I saw the stamps of dozens of other places I’d visited throughout the years. That seemed to confuse them even more.
“How did you get these?” He asked.
“Because I’ve been there before, how else?” My tone heightened in irritation, and I tried to swallow it back down, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation.
“With this?” I nodded. The men then looked at one another, before a third man stepped in. He appeared like the more senior agent. He snagged the passport from the other man, and looked it over for a moment. His stern eyes then wandered back to me.
“This document appears official. You have proper format, registry and even a collection of stamps proving you have used it before. The only problem is this.” He pointed to the name of my home country.
“This is not a registered sovereign state within our records; this country does not exist.” I couldn’t help but scoff, and stammer for a moment in confusion.
“What? What do you mean it doesn’t exist? I was just there this morning.” The man seemed unconvinced, and I offered to prove it by calling someone back home. They were hesitant, but eventually they agreed. I took my phone out and dialed my branch manager.
*The number you have dialed is not currently registered. Please try your call again.*
I nearly dropped my phone. I tried dialing others. My wife, a few coworkers, the front desk, my own mother… none of them worked; none of them went through. Well okay, one or two worked, but the people that answered were strangers and didn’t know what I was talking about.
“What the hell is going on?” I sat back down in my chair, mind beginning to spin similar to how it did on the plane. One of the agents began to say something. I looked to him and recoiled in my chair. His face was gone, replaced only by shadow.
I stumbled back, slamming into the wall behind me. The men jumped up from the table, eyeing me with odd, contorted faces while they raised their non-lethal stun guns in defense. I just pressed my hands to my face, and tried to make it stop.
“Sir… are you okay?” One of them asked, and I felt a hand touch my shoulder. Slowly I lowered my hands, and found that things had returned to normal. I apologized profusely to the men, and told them it had been a long flight and I was severely exhausted.
They asked me a few more questions, but none of us were able to make sense of the situation. Luckily for me, they were kind and patient, viewing me less like a threat and more like a curious anomaly. I’m guessing they’d never really come across someone with a situation like mine.
After all, if I was some terrorist or something and made myself a fake passport, then why the hell would I choose a country of origin that didn’t exist? I’d have to be the dumbest terrorist in the world to do that.
After about an hour of interrogation we weren’t any closer to figuring things out. The agents told me they could not yet grant me access into Japan, but they offered to put me up for the night in the airport’s hotel while they tried to sort things out. I was just happy to be leaving that room, and the prospect of finally getting some sleep was more alluring than anything by that point.
They escorted me all the way there - which would’ve been slightly intimidating, but they did not seem overtly hostile. If anything, they were every bit as confused and interested in my case as I was. We had just left the terminal, when something curbside caught my eye. I nearly jumped as I saw yet another shadowy silhouette looming in the distance. This time, it looked clearer than before, yet still there was next to no features. Just a blank, human-shaped hole in reality.
No one else seemed to notice or be concerned by it’s presence; but the longer I stared at it, the more consumed with panic I became. I desperately hoped it was just some strange side effect of me being exhausted, but I think part of me knew the truth.
The posse of agents finally got me checked in and led me to a hotel room. They told me they were going to continue to investigate and meet with me the following morning. I thanked them and apologized for the whole situation, and closed the door behind them. Two of them stood guard outside, and it was implied that I was not allowed to go anywhere.
I wanted to do nothing more than fall asleep then, but I knew I couldn’t. I dialed my wife for like the fiftieth time, but again the number was unlisted. I texted too, but got essentially the same response. Desperate for answers, I turned to the internet, and tried finding her or anyone I could possibly contact. There was nothing.
There was no official record of my home country ever existing, but there was something similar. I don’t know how I even stumbled across it, but apparently, back in the 1950’s a man landed in Tokyo with a story eerily similar to my own. He was from a different country than me; one that I have never heard of either. Other than that, he had a virtually identical experience with the customs’ agents; right up until the point where they put him up in a hotel for the night.
I tried verifying the story, but from what I was able to gather, no one really regarded it as more than fiction. There was no actual documentation of the event actually happening. Despite that, I found it incredibly odd and horrifying how similar to my case it was. The story ended with the man inexplicably disappearing from the hotel by the time the agents returned the next day.
I spent hours researching everything I could find about it. Somehow, I managed to get sidetracked when an unrelated article on a web search caught my eye. It was something about the “9/11 memorial parade”.
I had no idea what that was, and searched the term only to find literally hundreds of stories involving a terrorist attack almost twenty years ago. Almost three-thousand people were killed by hijacked passenger planes crashing into the twin towers of lower Manhattan.
I’m sure anyone reading this is thinking, ‘yeah duh, we know all about it’. After all it was a historic tragedy which altered the Unites States of America forever. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful when I say this, but I have absolutely no memory of this ever happening.
I’m 38 years old, and I would’ve been alive when it happened, but I don’t remember a thing. If someone would’ve asked me about this event, I’d have denied all knowledge of it, because to me it never happened.
Something clicked in my mind then, and on a hunch, I began to search for other historic events. There were more inconsistencies, and it didn’t take long to pinpoint them. The Soviet Union collapsing in 1991, the moon landing by the Americans in 1969, the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Lebron James signing with the Lakers, Wayne Gretzky passing Gordie Howe’s points record, France winning the world cup in 2018 and Nelson Mandela being released from prison in 1990. All things which did not happen, or happened differently than how I remember them.
Apparently, the reason everyone is wearing face masks now is because of a global pandemic that is currently going on. Once again, I’m sure anyone reading this is all too familiar with it, as it seems like it’s been going on for quite a while, but once again- where I come from, this event doesn’t exist.
I think I understand what happened now. All the inconsistencies and blurs of memory pointed to one thing. It sounds completely insane I know, but those events never happened. Not in my world anyways, but then again, I’m not in my world anymore. I’m in yours.
The men that stood guard outside the door are gone now, but I’m not alone. Those shadowy things that I’ve seen; demons, phantoms… whatever they are. They’re right outside the door now, waiting for me. They’re here to take me; just like they took the man in that other story. I can’t prove that’s what happened to him, but I’d be willing to bet everything I have on it.
Maybe I somehow broke the laws of reality and entered an alternate timeline or parallel universe. I don’t know about your world, but my world has yet to prove anything like that even exists, but I don’t know how else to explain this. Maybe those shadowy fiends are like some kind of police. Maybe they’re after me because I was never supposed to be here. I can hear them whispering outside the door, but I can’t understand what they’re saying. I know they’re waiting for me to fall asleep, and I am so very tired.
I see no other option than to give in. Either I will wake up from this horrible nightmare in the world I came from, or I won’t wake up at all. I know I won’t be able to outrun them, and any attempt I make to flee would only prolong the inevitable and torment my mind.
I don’t know how this happened, why I’m here or what it means in the grand scheme of things. I suppose this will be the last time anyone hears from me, and I truly hope that my presence is not in some way detrimental to your world. I didn’t mean to come here, I never wanted this.
If ever you discover a way; please tell my wife; Yenna and daughter Allisone that I love them both dearly. I don’t suppose I’ll get the chance myself. Please somebody, find out how this happened, and prevent it from ever happening again. It’s all I can ask now. My name is Anders Liam LeMarison and I just want to go back home to Agravea (uh-gray-vee-uh). The country I love, and the one that doesn’t exist.

The truth behind Puskás Akadémia FC - How Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán stole a legend, built a stadium in his backyard and guided his team to Europe

The 2019/2020 season of the Hungary’s National Football League (NB1) – being one of the first leagues to restart play - came to an end on 27 June. If a casual observer (for whatever reason) decides to check out the final standings, he would be not surprised at the first two positions: record-champion Ferencváros defended their title, while regional powerhouse Fehérvár (Videoton) came in second. However, the third place team, Puskás Akadémia FC might seem unusual and one could think that there is a story behind that. Is there a team named after Ferenc Puskás? Did some academy youths make an incredible run for the Europa League qualification? Well, the observer is right, there is a story behind all this, but it’s absolutely not a fun story. It’s a story about how one powerful man’s obsession with football stole a legend, misused state funds and killed the spirit of Hungarian football. (Warning: this is a long story, feel free to scroll down for a tl;dr. Also, I strongly advise checking out the links, those images are worth seeing).
Naturally, political influence in football has been present ever since the dawn of the sport and we know of numerous state leaders who felt confident enough to use their influence to ensure the successful development of their favored clubs – Caucescu’s FC Olt Scornicesti and Erdogan’s Basaksehir are well-known examples of such attempts. However, I fear that very few of the readers are aware of the fact that Puskás Akadémia FC is nothing but Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s grandiose project for establishing his hometown’s club as one of the country’s top teams. Considering that Orbán managed to achieve this goal using state funds in an EU member democracy in the 2000s, one might even say that it might be one of the most impressive attempts of cheating your way through Football Manager in real life. Now that Puskás Akadémia FC escaped the desolate football scene of Hungary and is getting ready for the European takeover, I feel that it’s high time to tell its true story.

Part 1: Part time striker, part time PM

Our story begins in 1999 when the 36-year-old striker Viktor Orbán (recently elected as the country’s Prime Minister) was signed by the sixth-tier side of Felcsút FC residing in rural Fejér County. It might sound surprising that an active politician would consider such a side job, but given that Orbán has been playing competitive low-level football throughout his whole life and has always been known as a keen football enthusiast, people seemed to be okay with his choice for a hobby. Orbán spent most of his childhood in the village of Felcsút (population: 1,800), so it seemed only natural that he would join the team after one of his old-time acquaintances became team president there.
Orbán’s arrival to the club seemed to work like a charm as Felcsút FC immediately earned a promotion to the fifth league. The Prime Minister’s busy program did not allow him to attend every training session and game but Orbán did make an effort to contribute as much as possible on the field – there is a report of a government meeting being postponed as Orbán was unavailable due to attending Felcsút FC’s spring training camp. The 2001/2002 season brought another breakthrough for the side as Felcsút was promoted to the national level of the football pyramid after being crowned the champion of Fejér County. Sadly enough for Orbán, he suffered a defeat on another pitch – his party lost the 2002 election and Orbán was forced to move to an opposition role.
No matter what happened on the political playing field, Orbán would not abandon his club. Just before the 2002 elections, Felcsút was surprisingly appointed as one of the regional youth development centers by the Hungarian FA. Orbán continued contributing on the field as well (he had more spare time after all) but his off-the-field efforts provided much more value for the team as he used his political influence to convince right-wing businessmen that they should definitely get sponsorship deals done with the fourth-division village team.
Club management was able to transform the influx of funds into on-field success: Felcsút FC was promoted to the third division in 2004 and achieved promotion to the second division in 2005. Although these new horizons required a skill level that an aging ex-PM is not likely to possess, Orbán regularly played as a late game sub and even appeared in cup games against actual professional opponents. The now-42-year old Orbán did not want to face the challenge of the second division, so he retired in 2005 – but this did not stop him from temping as an assistant coach when the head coach was sacked in the middle of the 2005-2006 season.
Success on the playing field did not translate to political success: Orbán lost the elections once again in 2006. However, this was only a temporary loss: the ruling party committed blunder after blunder and by early 2007 it became absolutely obvious that Orbán would be able return to power in 2010. Now confident in his political future, Orbán opted for the acceleration of football development in Felcsút – by late 2007 he took over the presidency of the club to take matters in his own hands. Sponsors seeking to gain favor with the soon-to-be PM were swarming Felcsút FC, so the club was able to stand very strong in an era where financial stability was a very rare sight in the Hungarian football scene, accumulating three medals (but no promotion) between 2007 and 2009.
On the other hand, Orbán realized the value of youth development as well, and started a local foundation for this purpose back in 2004 that gathered funds for the establishment a boarding school-like football academy. The academy opened its doors in September 2006 (only the second of such institutions in the country) and Orbán immediately took upon the challenge of finding an appropriate name for the academy.
He went on to visit the now very sick Ferenc Puskás in the hospital to discuss using his name, but as Puskás’ medical situation was deteriorating rapidly, communication attempts were futile. Luckily enough Puskás’ wife (and soon to be widow) was able to act on his incapable husband’s behalf and approved the naming deal in a contract. According to the statement, naming rights were granted without compensation, as “Puskás would have certainly loved what’s happening down in Felcsút”. However, there was much more to the contract: Puskás’ trademark was handed to a sports journalist friend of Orbán (György Szöllősi, also acting communications director of the academy) who promised a hefty annual return for the family (and also a 45% share of the revenue for himself). Ferenc Puskás eventually died on 17 November 2006 and on 26 November 2006 the football academy was named after him: Puskás Academy was born.
Orbán shared his vision of the whole organization after the opening ceremony: “It’s unreasonable to think that Felcsút should have a team in the top division. We should not flatter ourselves, our players and our supporters with this dream. Our long term ambition is the creation of a stable second division team that excels in youth development and provides opportunity for the talents of the future.” Let’s leave that there.

Part 2: No stadium left behind

Orbán became PM once again in April 2010 after a landslide victory that pretty much granted him unlimited power. He chased lots of political agendas but one of his policies was rock solid: he would revive sports (and especially football) that was left to bleed out by the previous governments. The football situation in 2010 was quite dire: while the national team has actually made some progress in the recent years and has reached the 42nd position in the world rankings, football infrastructure was in a catastrophic state. Teams were playing in rusty stadiums built in the communist era, club finances were a mess, youth teams couldn’t find training grounds and the league was plagued by violent fan groups and lackluster attendance figures (3100 average spectators per game in the 2009/2010 season).
Orbán – aided by the FA backed by business actors very interested in making him happy – saw the future in the total rebuild of the football infrastructure. Vast amounts of state development funds were invested into the football construction industry that warmly welcomed corruption, cost escalation and shady procurement deals. In the end, money triumphed: over the last decade, new stadiums sprung out from nothing all over the country, dozens of new academies opened and pitches for youth development appeared on practically every corner. The final piece of the stadium renovation program was the completion of the new national stadium, Puskás Aréna in 2019 (estimated cost: 575 million EUR). Orbán commemorated this historic moment with a celebratory video on his social media that features a majestic shot of Orbán modestly kicking a CGI ball from his office to the new stadium.
Obviously, Orbán understood that infrastructure alone won’t suffice. He believed in the idea that successful clubs are the cornerstone of a strong national side as these clubs would compete in a high quality national league (and in international tournaments) that would require a constant influx of youth players developed by the clubs themselves. However, Orbán was not really keen on sharing the state’s infinite wealth with private club owners who failed to invest in their clubs between 2002 and 2010. The club ownership takeover was not that challenging as previous owners were usually happy to cut their losses, and soon enough most clubs came under Orbán’s influence. Some clubs were integrated deep into Orbán’s reach (Ferencváros and MTK Budapest club presidents are high ranking officials of Orbán’s party) while in other cases, indirect control was deemed sufficient (Diósgyőri VTK was purchased by a businessman as an attempt to display loyalty to Orbán).
Pouring taxpayer money into infrastructure (stadium) projects is relatively easy: after all, we are basically talking about overpriced government construction projects, there’s nothing new there. On the other hand, allocating funds to clubs that should be operating on a competitive market is certainly a tougher nut to crack. The obvious solutions were implemented: the state media massively overpaid for broadcasting rights and the national sports betting agency also pays a hefty sum to the FA, allowing for a redistribution of considerable amounts. However, given that the income side of Hungarian clubs was basically non-existent (match day income is negligible, the failed youth development system does not sell players), an even more radical solution was desperately needed. Also, there was definite interest in the development of a tool that would allow for differentiation between clubs (as in the few remaining non-government affiliated clubs should not receive extra money).
The solution came in 2011: the so-called TAO (“társasági adó” = corporate tax) system was introduced, granting significant tax deductions for companies if they offered a portion of their profits to sports clubs – however, in theory, funds acquired through TAO can be only used for youth development and infrastructure purposes. Soon enough, it became apparent that state authorities were not exactly interested in the enforcement of these restrictions, so some very basic creative accounting measures enabled clubs to use this income for anything they wanted to. Companies were naturally keen on cutting their tax burdens and scoring goodwill with the government, so TAO money immediately skyrocketed. Opportunistic party strongmen used their influence to convince local business groups to invest in the local clubs, enabling for the meteoric rise of multiple unknown provincial teams (Mezőkövesd [pop: 16,000], Kisvárda [pop: 16,000], Balmazújváros [pop: 17,000]) into the first division.
Although it’s not the main subject of this piece, I feel inclined to show you the actual results of Orbán’s grandiose football reform. While we do have our beautiful stadiums, we don’t exactly get them filled – league attendance has stagnated around 3000 spectators per game throughout the whole decade. We couldn’t really move forward with our national team either: Hungary lost 10 positions in the FIFA World Rankings throughout Orbán’s ten years. On the other hand, the level of league has somewhat improved – Videoton and Ferencváros reached the Europa League group stage in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Too bad that the Instat-based top team of 2019/2020 Hungarian league consists of 10 foreigners and only 1 Hungarian: the goalkeeper.

Part 3: Small place, big game!

As seen in the previous chapter, Orbán did have a strong interest in the improvement of the football situation Hungary, but we shouldn’t forget that his deepest interest and true loyalty laid in the wellbeing of Felcsút and its academy. Now that Orbán had limitless means to see to the advancement of his beloved club, he got to work immediately. Orbán handed over formal club management duties to his friend / protégé / middleman / businessman Lőrinc Mészáros in 2010, but no questions would ever arise of who is actually calling the shots.
First of all, no club can exist without a proper stadium. Although in 2011 Orbán explicitly stated that “Felcsút does not need a stadium as stadiums belong to cities”, no one was really surprised in 2012 when the construction of the Felcsút stadium was announced. Orbán was generous enough to donate the lands just in front of his summer home in the village for the project, locating the entrance a mere ten meters away from his residence. Construction works for the stunningly aesthetic 3,800-seater arena (in a village of 1,800 people) started in April 2012 and were completed in April 2014, making Felcsút’s arena the second new stadium of Orbán’s gigantic stadium revival program.
The estimated budget of the construction was 120 million EUR (31,500 EUR / seat) was financed by the Puskás Academy who explicitly stated that they did not use government funds for the project. Technically, this statement is absolutely true as the construction was financed through the TAO money offered by the numerous companies looking for tax deduction and Orbán’s goodwill. However, technically, this means that the country’s budget was decreased by 120 million EUR unrealized tax revenue. Naturally, the gargantuan football stadium looks ridiculously out of place in the small village, but there’s really no other way to ensure that your favorite team’s stadium is within 20 seconds of walking distance from your home.
Obviously, a proper club should also have some glorious history. Felcsút was seriously lagging behind on this matter as though Felcsút FC was founded in 1931, it spent its pre-Orbán history in the uninspiring world of the 5th-7th leagues of the country. Luckily enough, Orbán had already secured Puskás’ naming rights and they were not afraid to use it, so Felcsút FC was renamed to Puskás Academy FC in 2009. The stadium name was a little bit problematic as the Hungarian national stadium in Budapest had sadly had the dibs on Puskás’ name, so they had to settle with Puskás’ Spanish nickname, resulting in the inauguration of the Pancho Arena. But why stop here? Orbán’s sports media strongman György Szöllősi acted upon the contract with Puskás’ widow and transferred all Puskás’ personal memorabilia (medals, jerseys, correspondence) to the most suitable place of all: a remote village in which Puskás never even set foot in.
While the off-field issues were getting resolved, Orbán’s attention shifted to another important area: the actual game of football. Although academy players started to graduate from 2008 on, it very soon became painfully obvious that the academy program couldn’t really maintain even a second division side for now. In 2009, Orbán reached an agreement with nearby Videoton’s owner that effectively transformed Felcsút FC into Videoton’s second team under the name of Videoton – Puskás Akadémia FC. The mutually beneficent agreement would allow Videoton to give valuable playing time to squad players while it could also serve as a skipping step for Puskás Academy’s fresh graduates to a first league team. The collaboration resulted in two mid-table finishes and a bronze medal in the second division in the following three seasons that wasn’t really impressive compared to Felcsút FC’s standalone seasons.
It seemed that the mixture of reserve Videoton players and academy youth was simply not enough for promotion, and although Orbán had assured the public multiple times that his Felcsút project was not aiming for the top flight, very telling changes arose after the 2011/2012 season. Felcsút terminated the Videoton cooperation deal and used the rapidly accumulating TAO funds to recruit experienced players for the now independently operating Puskás Academy FC (PAFC). The new directive worked almost too well: PAFC won its division with a 10 point lead in its first standalone year which meant that they would have to appear in the first league prior to the completion of their brand-new Pancho Arena. Too bad that this glorious result had almost nothing to do with the academy - only two players were academy graduates of the side’s regular starting XI.
Orbán did not let himself bothered with the ridiculousness of an academy team with virtually no academy players being promoted to the first division as he stated that “a marathon runner shouldn’t need to explain why the other runners were much slower than him”. Orbán also displayed a rare burst of modesty as he added that “his team’s right place is not in the first league, and they will soon be overtaken by other, better sides”.
The promotion of PAFC to the first division made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Supporter groups were united in hatred all along the league and not surprisingly, away fans almost always outnumbered the home side at PAFC’s temporary home at Videoton’s Sóstói Stadium (demolished and rebuilt in its full glory since then). One of the teams, however, possessed an extraordinary degree of anger against PAFC: supporters of Budapest Honvéd – the only Hungarian team in which Ferenc Puskás played – felt especially awkward about the transfer of their club legend’s heritage to Felcsút. Tensions spiked at the PAFC – Honvéd game when home security forced Honvéd supporters to remove the “Puskás” part of their traditional “Puskás – Kispest – Hungary” banner – the team answered the insult with style as they secured a 4-0 victory supported by fans chanting “you can’t buy legends”.
Despite Orbán’s prognosis, other better sides did not rush to overtake his team, so PAFC, now residing in their brand new Pancho Arena, came through with a 14th and a 10th place in their first two seasons. Naturally, conspiracy theories began to formulate, speculating that government-friendly owners would certainly not be motivated to give their best against PAFC. However, as the league size was reduced to 12 for the 2015/2016 season, PAFC found themselves in a dire situation just before the final round: they needed a win and needed rival Vasas to lose against MTK in order to avoid relegation. PAFC’s draw seemed to be unlucky as they faced their arch-enemy Honvéd at home, but Honvéd displayed an absolute lackluster effort – fueling conspiracy theories – and lost the fixture 2 to 1 against a home side featuring four academy players. Vasas, however, did not disappoint, their 2-0 victory resulted in PAFC’s elimination and a very relaxed sigh all over the football community.
PAFC’s relegation seemed to be in accordance with Orbán’s 2013 statement, so public opinion supposed for a while that Orbán’s project came to a halting point and the Academy would go on to actually field academy players in the second division (especially as rostering foreign players was prohibited in the lower leagues). However, if you have read through this point, you know better than to expect Orbán to retreat – obviously, PAFC came back with a bang. With a ballsy move, PAFC didn’t even sell their foreign players, they just loaned them across the league, promising them that they would be able to return next year to the newly promoted team. The promise was kept as PAFC went into another shopping spree of experienced players (easily convincing lots of them to choose the second division instead of the first) and easily won the second league.
Orbán – now aware of his negligence – opted for the doubling the team’s budget, making PAFC the third most well-founded club in the whole country (only coming short to his friend’s Videoton and his party minion’s Ferencváros). With an actual yearly influx from TAO money in the ballpark of 30-40 million EUR, PAFC management had to really work wonders in creative accounting in order to make their money look somewhat legitimate. The books were now full of ridiculous items like:

Construction of a new tea kitchen for youth players for 650,000 EUR
Construction of a new “sports and conference center” for 40 million EUR
Employment of a 45 person “cleaning and maintenance staff” for the academy.

Naturally, in the country of no consequences, absolutely nothing happened: PAFC went on with its spending and signed 35 foreigners between 2017 and 2020. They did so because they could not hope to field a winning team in the first league consisting of academy players, despite the fact that Puskás Academy has been literally drowning in money since 2007. This seems to somewhat contradict Orbán’s 2013 promise, stating that “Puskás Academy will graduate two or three players to major European leagues each year”. To be fair, there have been players who managed to emerge to Europe (well, exactly two of them: Roland Sallai plays at Freiburg, László Kleinheisler played at Werder Bremen) but most academy graduates don’t even have the slightest the chance to make their own academy’s pro team as it’s full of foreigners and more experienced players drawn for other teams’ programs.
Despite their unlimited funding, PAFC could not put up a top-tier performance in their first two years back in the first division, finishing 6th and 7th in the 12-team league. Many speculated that the lack of support, motivation and even a clear team mission did not allow for chemistry to develop within the multinational and multi-generational locker room. Consistency was also a rare sight on the coaching side: club management was absolutely impatient with coaches who were very easily released after a single bad spell and there were talks of on-field micromanagement request coming from as high as Orbán.
Even so, their breakthrough came dangerously close in 2018 as PAFC performed consistently well in the cup fixtures and managed to reach the final. Their opponent, Újpest played an incredibly fierce game and after a 2-2 draw, they managed to defeat PAFC in the shootout. Football fans sighed in relief throughout the country as ecstatic Újpest supporters verbally teased a visibly upset Orbán in his VIP lounge about his loss.
Obviously, we could only delay the inevitable. While this year’s PAFC side seemed to be more consistent than its predecessors, it seemed that they won’t be able to get close to the podium - they were far behind the obvious league winner duo of Ferencváros and Videoton and were trailing third-place Mezőkövesd 6 points just before the pandemic break. However, both Mezőkövesd and PAFC’s close rivals DVTK and Honvéd fall flat after the restart while PAFC was able to maintain its good form due to its quality roster depth. PAFC overtook Mezőkövesd after the second-to-last round as Mezőkövesd lost to the later relegated Debrecen side. (Mezőkövesd coach Attila Kuttor was fined harshly because of his post-game comments on how the FA wants PAFC to finish third.)
PAFC faced Honvéd in the last round once again, and as Honvéd came up with its usual lackluster effort, PAFC secured an effortless win, confidently claiming the third place. PAFC celebrated their success in a nearly empty stadium, however neither Orbán, nor Mészáros (club owner, Orbán’s protégé, now 4th richest man of Hungary) seemed to worry about that. While Orbán high-fived with his peers in the VIP lounge, Mészáros was given the opportunity to award the bronze medals (and for some reason, a trophy) to the players dressed up in the incredibly cringe worthy T-shirts that say “Small place, big game!”. Big game, indeed: in the 2019/2020 season, foreign players’ share of the teams playing time was 43.6% while academy graduates contributed only 17.9%.
On Sunday evening, less than 24 hours after PAFC’s glorious success, György Szöllősi, now editor-in-chief of Hungary’s only sports newspaper (purchased by Orbán’s affiliates a few years back) published an editorial on the site, stating that “the soccer rebuild in Felcsút became the motor and symbol of the revitalization of sport throughout the whole country”. Well, Szöllősi is exactly right: Felcsút did became a symbol, but a symbol of something entirely different. Felcsút became a symbol of corruption, inefficiency, lies and the colossal waste of money. But, hey, at least we know now: you only need to spend 200 million EUR (total budget of PAFC and its academy in the 2011-2020 period) if you want to have a Europa League team in your backyard. Good to know!

Epilogue: What's in the future?

As there is no foreseeable chance for political change to happen Hungary (Orbán effortlessly secured qualified majority in 2014 and 2018, and is projected to do so in 2022 as well), PAFC’s future seems to be as bright as it gets. Although consensus opinion now seems to assume that Orbán does not intend to interfere with the Ferencváros – Videoton hegemony, we can never be really sure about the exact limits of his greed. One could also argue that entering the European theater serves as a prime opportunity for making splashy transfers who could be the cornerstones of a side challenging the league title.
However, as all political systems are deemed to fall, eventually Orbán’s regime will come apart. Whoever will take upon the helm after Orbán, they will certainly begin with cutting back on the one item on Orbán’s agenda that never had popular support: limitless football spending. Puskás Academy, having next to zero market revenue, will not be able to survive without the state’s life support, so the club will fold very shortly. The abandoned, rotting stadium in Felcsút will serve as a memento of a powerful man who could not understand the true spirit of football.
But let’s get back to present day, as we have more pressing issues coming up soon: PAFC will play their first European match in the First qualifying round of the Europa League on 27 August. We don’t have a date for the draw yet, but soon enough, a team unaware of the whole situation will be selected to face the beast. I hope that maybe one of their players does some research and maybe reads this very article for inspiration. I hope that the supporters of this club get in touch with Honvéd fans who would be eager to provide them with some tips on appropriate chants. I hope that other teams gets drawn as the home team so Orbán wouldn’t get the pleasure of walking to his stadium for an international match. But most importantly, I very much hope that this team obliterates PAFC and wipes them off the face of the earth. 5-0 will suffice, thank you.
And if this team fails to do that, we don’t have to worry yet. Due to our shitty league coefficient, PAFC would need to win four fixtures in a row. And that – if there’s any justice in this world – is a thing that can’t, that won’t happen. Ball don’t lie – if I may say.
TL,DR
Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán redirected some 200 million EUR of taxpayer money over 10 years to fuel his ambition of raising a competitive football team in his hometown of 1,800 people. He built a 3,800-seater stadium in his backyard, expropriated football legend Ferenc Puskás’ trademarks and heritage and built up a football league where almost all clubs are owned by his trustees. His team, Puskás Akadémia FC was originally intended to be a development ground for youth players graduating from Orbán’s football academy, but eventually the team became more and more result-orianted. Finally, a roster full of foreign and non-academy players came through and finished third in the league, releasing this abomination of a team to the European football theatre. Please, knock them out asap!

GMHI DD

Gores Metropoulos – GMHI
IPO Date: 2/6/2019 | Deadline: 2/5/2021
Target Industry: Food & Consumer
https://www.gores.com/portfolio/gores-metropoulos-inc/
SEC Link
The Breakdown:

Good deal making leadership Gores/Metropoulus (see track record)
- The leaders are dealmakers and operational, they aren’t unique in their backgrounds except for Gore and Met. The directors seem okay, mostly all having some experience in food industry.
- Located in Beverly Hills – they like money
100% in trust
Forward purchasing by sponsor (they’re sponsoring themselves, standard):
- Gores Metropoulos: https://www.gores.com/portfolio/gores-metropoulos-inc/
  - Purchased 6.3mil warrants for $1.50
  - Purchased 10.78 mil shares
Underwriters: Deustche, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs
Terms:
- Units: 1 share + 1/3 W
- Warrants: 1:1 @ 11.50
- Base is $10, but I don’t see any crescent terms in the S1
IPO Proceeds (and trust value): 400mill
No defined enterprise value stated but likely ~1bil+ given the size of the trust

Institutional Holdings

82% holdings by institutions
Mostly Deustche and Glazer.
Units have big holdings from Apollo 1.3mil units
No other significant banks compared to other SPACs other than the main underwriter Deustche
https://money.cnn.com/quote/shareholders/shareholders.html?symb=GMHI&subView=institutional

Gores Track Record

TWNK: Hostess brand, they got this from Apollo actually (go $SPAQ fam)
- Sector: Consumer, Food & Beverage
- Completed 11/2016
- Current trading: $11.26
- Traded at ~13 upon completion, peaked $17
VRRM: Verra Mobility, technology devices typically for city infrastructure. Good earnings helped move the stock up after merger
- Sector: technology, government
- Completed 10/2018
- Current trading: $9.73
- Traded at ~10.5 completion of merger, no announcement bump, moved up to 17 in Feb 2020
PAE: Pacific Architects & Engineers, gov’t services contractor
- Sector: Services, government
- Completed 2/2020
- Currently trading $9.63
- Traded up to 11.7 (ATH) at completion of merger, then covid took a shit on it down to $6, is it now back up. No hype price movement at the time of announcements

Leadership team
Dean Metropoulos has been our Chairman since August 2018. Mr. Metropoulos has served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hostess since November 2016. Since 2013, Mr. Metropoulos has served as the Executive Chairman of certain subsidiaries of Hostess and a member of the Board of Directors of Hostess. Mr. Metropoulos also served on the Board of Directors of Pabst Brewing Company until 2014. Mr. Metropoulos has over 30 years of experience in acquiring and restructuring businesses in the U.S., Mexico and Europe, focusing on the food and consumer sectors. Mr. Metropoulos has been involved in approximately 80 transactions, including investments in Pabst Brewing Company, Utz Quality Foods LLC, Pinnacle Foods Group, Inc.(Swanson/Hungry-Man,Vlasic Pickles, Open Pit Barbeque Sauce, Duncan Hines, Log Cabin Syrup, Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup, Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast, Mrs. Paul’s Seafood, Van De Kamp’s Seafood, Celeste Pizza and Lender’s Bagels), Aurora Foods, Stella Foods, The Morningstar Group, International Home Foods (Chef Boyardee, Pam Cooking Spray, Gulden’s Mustard and Bumble Bee Tuna), Ghirardelli Chocolate, Mumm and Perrier Jouet Champagnes and Hillsdown Holdings, PLC (Premier International Foods, Burtons Biscuits and Christie Tyler Furniture), among others. Mr. Metropoulos holds a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Babson College. Mr. Metropoulos’ business expertise, financial acumen and business industry contacts make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Alec Gores has been our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors since August 2018. Mr. Gores is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Gores Group, a global investment firm focused on acquiring businesses that can benefit from the firm’s operating expertise. Mr. Gores implemented an operational approach to private equity investing when he founded The Gores Group in 1987 by operating businesses alongside management, or in some cases in lieu of management, to build value in those entities. Since then, the firm has acquired more than 100 businesses including a current portfolio of more than 20 active companies worldwide. Mr. Gores began his career as a self-madeentrepreneur and operating executive. In 1978, he self-funded and founded Executive Business Systems (EBS), a developer and distributor of vertical business software systems. Within seven years, EBS had become a leading value-added reseller in Michigan and employed over 200 people. In 1986, CONTEL purchased EBS, and Mr. Gores subsequently began acquiring and operating non-core businesses from major corporations and building value in those entities, a decision that ultimately led to the founding of what has evolved into The Gores Group today. Under his leadership, The Gores Group has continued to acquire businesses in need of operational and financial resources, while creating value and working with management teams to establish an entrepreneurial environment as a foundation for sustainable growth. This philosophy has served the firm well. Mr. Gores served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gores Holdings I from its inception in June 2015 until completion of the Hostess acquisition in November 2016. Additionally, Mr. Gores has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gores Holdings II (Nasdaq: GSHT) and Gores Holdings III (Nasdaq: GRSH) since their inception in August 2016 and October 2017, respectively. Mr. Gores holds a degree in Computer Science from Western Michigan University. Mr. Gores’ significant investment and financial expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Andrew McBride has been our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary since August 2018. Mr. McBride has served as Director, Finance and Tax at The Gores Group since February 2010, where he is responsible for tax due diligence and structuring of acquisitions, compliance, planning, financial management and portfolio company reporting. Mr. McBride served as the Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Gores Holdings I from January 2016 until completion of the Hostess acquisition in November 2016. Additionally, Mr. McBride served as the Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Gores Holdings II (Nasdaq: GSHT) from its inception in August 2016 until October 2018 and he has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Gores Holdings III (Nasdaq: GRSH ) since its inception in October 2017. Previously, from January 2008 to January 2010, Mr. McBride worked in the High Net Worth group at Ehrhardt, Keefe, Steiner, and Hottman, P.C.. From January 2004 to January 2008, Mr. McBride was with KPMG, LLP, assisting international corporations with tax planning, structuring and compliance issues. Mr. McBride holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Notre Dame and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Colorado.
Randall Bort will serve as a member of our board of directors upon completion of this offering. Mr. Bort is a Co-Founder of SandTree Holdings, LLC, a private commercial real estate investment firm since November 2012. Previously, Mr. Bort was an investment banker at Drexel Burnham Lambert, BT Securities, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse First Boston, The Mercanti Group and Imperial Capital. Mr. Bort has significant financial, transactional and capital markets experience across multiple industries and has worked both domestically and in Asia. Mr. Bort earned a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College and an M.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bort served as a member of the Board of Directors of Gores Holdings I from August 2015 until completion of the Hostess acquisition in November 2016. Additionally, Mr. Bort has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Verra Mobility Corp. (Nasdaq: VRRM) (formerly Gores Holdings II (Nasdaq: GSHT)) and Gores Holdings III (Nasdaq: GRSH ) since their inception in August 2016 and October 2017, respectively. Mr. Bort also is a member of the Board of Trustees of Children’s Bureau, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles focused on foster care and the prevention of child abuse. Mr. Bort’s significant investment and financial expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Michael Cramer will serve as a member of our board of directors upon completion of this offering. Mr. Cramer has been the Chief Administrative Officer & Executive VP at Hostess Brands, Inc. since 2013 and the Founding Director-Texas Program in Sports and Media at The University of Texas at Austin since 2010. Mr. Cramer was employed as a Director, SVP-Business Planning & Development by The Pabst Brewing Co. from 2010 to 2014, and was previously employed as an Associate Professor by New York University, a Chief Administrative Officer & Executive VP by Pinnacle Foods Corp., a President & Chief Operating Officer by Hicks Sports Group LLC and President of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club and Dallas Stars Hockey team, an Executive Vice President & General Counsel by Morningstar Group, Inc., an Executive VP-Administration & General Counsel by Stella Foods, Inc., a Vice President by CDM Hostess Class C LLC, a Vice President by Fairmont Aviation LLC, a Principal by Ghirardelli Chocolate Co., and a Director & Executive Vice President by International Home Foods, Inc. He also practiced law for approximately 10 years in Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate degree from State University of New York at Albany and a J.D. from Marquette University Law School.
Joseph Gatto will serve as a member of our board of directors upon the completion of this offering. Mr. Gatto has been a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, L.P., a leading independent global financial services firm providing corporate advisory and asset management services (“PWP”) since 2012. Prior to his employment at PWP, Mr. Gatto was an investment banker holding senior roles in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Lehman Brothers Inc. and Barclays plc. Mr. Gatto has significant financial, transactional and capital markets experience, particularly in the consumer products and retail industries, and has worked with clients in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Mr. Gatto has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Mr. Gatto holds an A.B. in economics and international affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mr. Gatto’s significant investment banking, financial and strategic expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Positions: None right now, there's some time before we may see action. Currently commons are trading at $11 and warrants are at $2.2, the warrants are pricey right now. I'm in HCAC and SPAQ at the moment but this seems to be the next short term play after, long term for me would be IPOC or PSTH. I'm betting on the leadership.
The bad: no real forward purchase or PIPE investors or any external funding, which is okay. could indicate that the team is confident in their strategy without the need for additional funding ($400 mil in their own investment)
My thought process: if TWNK came out in this current SPAC market, would we see a hype? 1000% I think they can choose slightly above average known consumer targets and we'll see strong price action.
EDIT: added some inst holdings

Jul/3/2020 News: (1) Anti-corruption reform (2) Polls (3) Stray dogs (4) Constitutional Court (5) Corruption trial (6) COVID news, Loan vacations, Grandma's phone (7) Real estate (8) Beeline ISP (9) This lake belongs to me (10) Soccer league LOL (11) Mayors busted (12) Yerevan's $10mln garden (13)..

Anti-corruption background checks begin for public officials

The govt passed a law to require judges and officials to undergo "background checks" before being hired.

Additionally, asset forfeiture law was passed to confiscate embezzled property. A new prosecutors' department was created to handle asset forfeiture.
These new prosecutors are also going through background checks before being hired.

The new anti-corruption institute tasked with doing these new background checks has audited 26 potential prosecutors: 2 failed, 11 barely passed, 13 passed.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191736

U.S. sends $1mln anti-corruption aid

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191739

New stray dog shelter and strategy to reduce numbers

In 2018, newly-elect Yerevan Mayor Marutyan vowed to end the practice of killing stray dogs. It wasn't just to be humane. City says mass-killings make the other dogs more aggressive, and research shows they breed faster. Not killing is a long-term strategy.

City took over the task of catching dogs from the private industry, which was mired in corruption.
They began neutering, tagging, and releasing the non-dangerous ones.

City's dog-department has just launched its new facility. It has a clinic, surgery, post-surgery rooms, more cages, and soon a disease lab.
They neuter 25 dogs per day. 1300 in 2020H1, twice more than last year. 4300 since 2019.

City says equally important is dog owners' behavior. They shouldn't dump pets on the streets.
The law requires pet owners to register their pets, but only 400 out of 20,000 have done so.

If they were registered, the owners would less likely dump them, and if they did, the pets' micro-chip would allow City to find and punish the owner.

To encourage more owners to register, City wants to eliminate the $10/year ownership fee.
https://hetq.am/hy/article/118973
Tags: #StrayDog

La casa de papel

It's a TV show that blew up in Armenia during the pandemic. One of the main actors is Lebanese-Spanish-Armenian Hovik Keuchkeryan. Today he visited Armenia.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191744

Parliament asks Constitutional Court to delay Kocharyan hearing...

... because Parliament wants time to discuss the opinions recently received from Venice Commission and ECHR on whether Kocharyan can be charged with the law he's charged with as part of March 1st case.
Parliament asked CC to translate and send them the documents.

Kocharyan earlier withdrew his case from CC but that doesn't mean CC won't discuss the topic, especially since another entity had also asked CC to discuss the topic.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191689

ex-CC judge's entrance is blocked

Hrant Nazaryan is one of the three CC judges who was recently fired. Today he tried to return to his office but the security blocked his entrance to the building, citing the law that fired him.

Another fired judged Gyulumyan hasn't visited CC for several days now because "she doesn't want to confront the police".
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191697 , https://web.archive.org/save/https://news.am/arm/news/589219.html

Polls: Pashinyan's rating refuses to drop

85% approve Pashinyan's job, 79% President, 68% Ministries, 55% Parliament, 23% opposition.

What is Pashinyan's weakest point?
16% not tough enough, 10% hires bad officials, 4% not drastic enough.
Gallup International. June 10-27. https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191701 , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020520.html

Poll: is Armenia on the right track? / Were your expectations met?

Did the revolution outcome satisfy your expectations? 79% fully/partially yes, 6% no.

69% says Armenia is on right/definitely-right direction. 2% definitely-wrong direction (15% in Georgia)

Will things improve in Armenia? 80% yes (69% in Georgia)

Is democracy better than other forms of govt? 63% yes (49% in Georgia)

"Most people are aware of CC crisis and support Constitutional reforms," said CRRC pollster.
CRRC pollster: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020509.html , https://factor.am/265768.html , https://factor.am/265779.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020508.html

Chamber of Lawyers files complaint against NSS

Lawyers complain that NSS violated the attorney-client privilege by wiretapping the suspect when he made a call to the attorney. "The content of the call was later used as evidence," said lawyers.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191750

Healthcare Minister testifies as a witness in bribery case

Months ago the deputy Healthcare Minister Armen Davtyan was charged with accepting bribes. He denies wrongdoing.
The person who gave bribes is Razmik Abrahamyan. He confessed.

A trial was held today. Minister Torosyan was called to testify as a witness.
He spoke about the anti-corruption fight within the system and how he routinely spoke with directors of various institutes to make sure they don't even try to offer bribes to Ministry officials "because the old way of doing things is gone".

P.S. The bribe giver is the same guy who is also a defendant in a separate case about the extortion and trafficking of dozens of newborn children. He's the director of the Republican Childbirth Clinic.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191691

COVID stats

+662 infected. +448 healed. +13 deaths.
118,102 tested. 11,211 active. 15,484 healed. 469 deaths.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191683

COVID donations

Kalashnikov began producing AM-103 rifles (up to 50k/year). Their Armenia-based partner donated $170,000 towards COVID.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191713

11 Lithuanian doctors have finished their 2-week campaign to help Armenia.
https://hetq.am/hy/article/119002

Banks and loan vacations during pandemic

As of June 1st, banks gave loan vacations to 550k people and 17.4k businesses to ease their COVID burden.
They reviewed $2.7 billion in loans.

Bank deposits shrank 1.1% but went back to pre-pandemic levels recently.
Interest rates are unlikely to increase, says the president of banks union.

"Unlike the financial crisis of 2008 and 2014, today's situation isn't due to changes in economic fundamentals. This makes managing the problem harder. The parts of the economy that serve as engines are heavily damaged. We hope the govt, businesses, and citizens will succeed in overcoming it."
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191536

Grandma's cellphone / Medical worker disciplined

Context: a grandma's body was lost because of bad handwriting that led to confusion. Then her body was picked up by the wrong people who misidentified her. Her body will be exhumed and returned to the correct family.

St. Gregory Illuminator hospital says they've identified a junior nurse who allegedly took the dead grandma's phone and stole cash from her account, before grandma's family came to pick up her stuff.
There is an investigation. He could be fired if confirmed.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191663

Oncology institute workers...

... are getting that sweet VIP deal. The institute will use "modern high-quality buses to transport employees for free". Two routes for now.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191687

Real estate prices & transactions

Earlier we learned how COVID affected housing purchase/rent market. All realtors recorded a drop in transactions.

One realtor saw a 3x decline in transaction numbers. While the prices remained stable at the beginning of the pandemic, in June it dropped by -5%.

Another realtor recorded a sharp drop in second-hand housing transactions, but no drop in the newly-built housing market.
A noticeable drop was recorded in non-residential property lease prices. "Many landlords gave discounts."

Across Yerevan, sales transactions +84% in May vs April, but -61% YoY.
New rent transactions +7.8x in May vs April.
More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020466.html

Beeline workers are against TEAM merger

Context: UCOM's co-founder was fired. He formed a new TEAM ISP. TEAM wants to purchase the financially troubled Beeline.

300 Beeline workers asked Pashinyan to suspend any merger because they're afraid that TEAM will replace them with TEAM's own workers.
TEAM says they won't lay off anyone because they need the existing Beeline workers' experience. "It's a big company. We can't replace the workforce."
https://factor.am/265961.html

SU-30SM jets conduct first target practice

"All targets were hit struck accurately," bragged Pashinyan, who will brag about the jets for another 50 years.
https://youtu.be/bmfsO7PH0jo
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191733

A dude claims Akna Lake belongs to him

A local "heavy guy" claimed the iconic Akna Lake is his property, and he'll do fish-breeding in it.
The Nature Ministry had to respond with "now it's not yours" after environmentalists raised an alarm.
http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/282613/ , https://newarmenia.am/ակնա-լճում-ձկնաբուծարան-լինելը-կուսո/

Azerbaijan's chief epidemiologist goes 404

"I'm not in Baku. I'm in rayon. Sitting in a village without internet or news. I don't know anything. Call the Ministry," said Abdullah Agaev when someone tried to contact him.

Meanwhile, Aliyev brought the military to help with the pandemic.
http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/282603/ , https://www.lragir.am/2020/07/03/561165/

update: Soccer tournament suspended over match-fixing

Last week we learned how Soccer Federation cooperated with INTERPOL, NSS, UEFA, sports betting agencies, and found that 5 teams were fixing the match results in the secondary league (not the main Premier League).

The entire secondary league is now suspended indefinitely. 45 people associated with those 5 teams are permanently banned. Another 13 are suspended.

Meanwhile, the Premier League continues its matches. Only 2 rounds left. 3 teams have a chance to win.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191706 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191716 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191724
Tag: #MatchFixing #Soccer

Former soccer federation chief's restaurant raided

ex-HHK MP and soccer boss Nemets Rubo is hiding in Russia. He's wanted for alleged kidnapping and torture, and financial crimes.
His restaurant Harsnaqar, where the alleged kidnapping victim was held, was raided today.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191723 , https://www.reddit.com/armenia/comments/go26nw/may212020_news_1_hhk_mp_charged_with_abduction/?

Journalists find "fishy" corruption / 2 mayors busted

In January, Hetq outlet published a report about fishy things going on around a fish business in Ararat province.

Prosecutors say: in 2004 a lease was signed for an 11ha land in Sis. In 2007 the company illegally built fish-breeding pools on 5ha.
Sis's former and current leaders knew about this but ignored it.
The former mayor cannot be charged due to statute of limitations, while the current mayor qualifies for Pashinyan's 2018's mass amnesty.

Sis was told to either destroy the facility or take it under public control. They chose the latter. The facility was recently sold for $230,000.
Free money: https://hetq.am/hy/article/118996

infrastructure and road upgrades

Norakert has a 7km water delivery network. A govt subsidy will repair 2.5km this year, with the rest being repaired last year. It'll also help 60 businesses to get regular water delivery.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191666

Sevan is having 5 of its roads leading to residential complexes repaired. A $316,000 infrastructure project. It'll also renovate the curbs and water drainage.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/191665

Syunik province has 3.4x more infrastructure upgrades this year, worth $17.7mln. Apartment energy insulation, roads, etc.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191734

Top-5 documentary/biography books Yerevan residents read in May

5) Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. (about how other people will get rich but you won't)
4) D'une porte l'autre, by Charles Aznavour. (about why Marvel movies are nothing more than a theme park)
3) A subtle Art of Not Giving F, by Mark Manson. (about helping mark Manson to get richer)
2) Becoming, by Michael Obama. (about being black)
1) The monk who sold his Ferrari, by Robin Sharma. (about helping Robin Shirama to get richer)
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020395.html

this guy plants

Stepan Taroyan takes the dried out branches and wood and turns them into natural art. He works at Yerevan's Green Department.
Photos: https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/191160

$10mln Yerevan project for a new leisure center and park

Arabkir district's Komitas St. has a neglected park. It'll be renovated and a multi-functional center will be built.
The works have already begun, with 30 budkas being removed from the area to clear the way. The main construction begins in 2021.

5,000 plants will be installed to close the large gaps. They'll be joined by an amphitheater and a fountain. This will allow concerts and theatrical performances to be held.

The nearby 'Arabkir' shopping area will be brought under a roof and turned into a modern center with food, Armenian wine-tasting, international cuisine, an area for kid's entertainment, and handmade product sales.
The center's backside will be made out of glass and face the renovated garden.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1020467.html

You've read 1894 words.

Disclaimer & Terminology

1) The accused are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, even if they sound guilty.
2) Currency in Armenian ֏ unless specified otherwise.
3) NSS/SIS/SOC = law enforcement agencies. QP = Civil Contract Party. LHK = Bright Armenia Party. BHK = Prosperous Armenia Party. HHK = Republican Party.
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Idontknowmuch: PART 1 ; PART 2 ; PART 3 ; PART 4 ; PART 5.
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Armeniapedia.

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Sports Betting in Europe Made in Germany

The Gambling Mafia and International Sports Betting Documentary - Soccer and Mob Game Fixing Dont forget to LIKE & SHARE this video if you enjoy it! Ill be uploading more videos for you! #Crime # ... Andrew Nixon, a Partner in the Sport Group at Sheridans, tells LawInSport why Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is important in sporting context. Andrew's practice focuses principally on ... 380 postponed matches in 15 countries, all believed to be the work of the international mafia. The biggest betting scandal in soccer history is shaking the sporting world and the betting market ... Sports Betting has exploded across Africa. But are the betting companies playing it straight? Do the punters really understand the odds they’re up against? A... Si14Bet.io is the international sports betting exchange Peer-to-peer (P2P). Unique service with instant withdrawal of funds and high liquidity. The ecosystem and infrastructure of the Si14.Bet ...

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NPB - Japanese Professional Baseball

Gaming Partners International Review The Gaming Partners International is a non-profit organization that is focused on sports betting software. This company has set out to change the world of sports betting Fun88 by creating software that is all-inclusive, and all-natural.

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