Perhaps they were misinformed by the liberal news media obsessing
to have them as guests, but as great as the victory in France might be, the high-charged
egos might need a bit of humility before they get to the swamp in Washington, DC.
So, hold on Women’s World Cup Soccer champions, you were good but
not that good when it came to actual television ratings, which mean everything
in politics.You may be receiving the
VIP treatment from NYC which was well earned for your play, but your adoration
from the liberal television networks and Democrats is a bit over the cliff.
America may not be ready to hand over the keys to the White House
just yet, nor can Nancy Pelosi or AOC promise you any action on your causes
because they cannot deliver anything without the approval of a Republican
Senate and Republican President.
You are the pride of the pitch but do not let the progressive, liberal
news media or politicians hoodwink you, they are still far on the outside of
power looking in.I suspect you might be
caught up in the adoration which was well deserved for your play on the field
but your demands for change have little chance for success without the help of
the dastardly GOP.
Here are a few facts regarding the relative power of the performance
of the team.
The Netherlands saw record figures,
with 5.5 million people, or 88 percent of the viewing public, tuning in to
watch their side go down 2-0 to Team USA.
The United States' 2-0 victory over
the Netherlands, its second straight title and fourth overall, on Sunday
delivered an average of 13.98 million viewers on Fox.
Streaming added an average minute
audience of 289,000 (a 400 percent increase over 2015), bringing the total to
14.27 million on Fox Sports platforms. Telemundo added 1.6 million viewers —
the most ever for a Women's World Cup match on a Spanish-language network — for
a total of 15.87 million on all platforms.
Sunday's broadcast, which aired at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m.
PT, is down considerably (almost ten million) from that of the 2015 final. That
match is the most-watched in Women's World Cup history in the U.S. with 25.4
million viewers on all platforms.
The U.S. audience for this year's final is third
all-time for Women's World Cup games, behind the 2015 final and the final match
of 1999 (18 million).
What does it all mean?
The population of the Netherlands
is 17.08 million (2017), which means 32.2% of the nation’s entire
population was tuned in.
The population of the US is 327.2 million
(2018), which means just 4.2% of the entire US population was tuned in
on television.
For comparison purposes, the 2019 Super
Bowl drew a TV audience of 98.7 million viewers, which was the smallest
audience in eleven years.Still it was
seven times more than the World Cup finals.
As for the President you seem inclined
to reject, Donald Trump’s inauguration ratings were the second-highest in 36
years, according to Nielsen.The
swearing-in of the 45th president in 2017 was seen by 30.6 million viewers.
Even more ominous, the President’s State
of the Union address - TV Ratings: 46.8 million watched
Trump’s 2019 State of the Union, up slightly from
46.79 million in 2018.
Soccer team appearances on Rachel
Maddow (MSNBC) and CNN, the liberal bastions of cable news, might not help much.The June ratings tell the truth.
As for the Top 5 cable news shows, June was a lot like
last year, with the exception of Tucker Carlson moving up to the second slot
previously held by Dems debate co-moderator Rachel Maddow. Other than
Tucker’s uptick, everyone else in the Top 5 took a little hit, with the final
tally being Hannity - Fox (3.2
million), Tucker Carlson Tonight -
Fox (2.8 million), The Rachel
Maddow Show - MSNBC (2.5 million), The Ingraham
Angle - Fox (2.4 million) and The Five -
Fox (2.3 million).
Then there was lowly CNN.Down 18% in both total day and primetime
viewership from Q2 2018, not a single one of the Warner Media-owned net’s shows
made it into the cable news Top 20. Cuomo Prime
Time was the most watched CNN show, sitting at No. 25 among
cable news offerings.
Did I mention Trump got over 62 million votes for president and has 61 million followers on Twitter? That is reality.
That is the truth.
Throughout
the entire thirty-day length of the Women’s World Cup Championship over one
billion fans from around the world watched in awe, sometimes horror, shock, and
in the end respect for the US Women’s National Soccer Team.
In the final
round of eight teams there were seven European teams versus the United States,
the best competition the world had to offer.Seven to one against you is just the kind of challenge Americans are
born to thrive on.
Thrive they
did by overcoming serious challenges on the pitch, along with wave after wave
of controversy, condemnation, and consternation off the field.In the end, the Americans let their actions
on the field match their words and only the Americans were left standing at the
end of the grueling battle.
You must
have the skills to be champions, but you also must have the character to breath
fire into your emotions to help you be the best in the world.No one has ever done it better.So now we know, you can love them or hate
them but you cannot beat them.For that
they deserve the admiration of all those who questioned their actions on and
off the field.
Can they help heal the Nation?
They defended
the nation’s honor, perhaps they can help heal the nation as well.As they return World Champions maybe they can
help demonstrate those qualities that have been missing in our divided nation.
Partisan politics
have dominated our landscape and driven millions into hatred, social chaos,
fear, a lack of respect for others, and an unwillingness to work together to
solve those problems.In short, we no
longer communicate.
If these
champions are truly concerned with women’s rights, pay equality, and ending
discrimination, they should know there is only one sure path to getting
anything done to help their causes.
They need to
be heard by the people who get things done in America, like the President.If I were them, I would use the stage they
earned as world champions to reach a greater stage like the President of the United
States.Rather than disrespecting the
Office of the President they should agree to visit the White House so they can
take their concerns to someone who can help them bring about change.
The Lesson of Speaker Pelosi
Maybe they
can learn from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.Last week she had her Democrat controlled
House pass a spending bill for immigration which differed from the bill supported
by the president.Trump’s bill crushed her
efforts and he had bi-partisan support which she did not.It was a masterpiece of power politics that
even the news media has tried to ignore.
If the US
team refuses to meet with the president as expected, they will eliminate their
only chance to convince him to be their ally on some pretty reasonable women’s causes.They might even find some unexpected support
from the First Lady and the President’s daughter, and it is nice to have
powerful allies in the White House.
The AOC Minefield
If they
spurn the president and refuse to meet and the outspoken critic of the
president on the women’s team, Megan Rapinoe, goes ahead with her announced
plan to meet with the radical Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC,
the rare opportunity to be a voice for women will be blown.
Why, because
AOC, while being the darling of the news media, has done absolutely nothing in
Congress and is on the verge of destroying the Democrat Party.Rapinoe should take heed of the words of
Speaker Pelosi about AOC this weekend.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi again dismissed freshman like Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
downplaying the amount of power they had amid a flurry of attention the media
gave them.
“All
these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said of Reps. Ocasio-Cortez,
Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts.
Her comments
came during a New York Times interview, published on
Saturday after those four voted against a Republican measure
funding humanitarian assistance at the border – which was eventually
backed by Pelosi.
Pelosi
followed her Twitter comments, saying "But they didn’t have any
following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
The soccer
team can be just another voice in the wilderness, or take their case to the
highest authority.Right now, they are
pawns in a very dangerous game of credibility.
With the Democratic presidential campaign heading into debates
the next two days the issue of slavery and reparations is bound to come up so I
thought I would report on the history of slavery in America in order to make
certain our many candidates have the truth. In this article I will
trace the roots and history of slavery in the U.S. including those responsible
for the slave trade in North America.
Long before Columbus ever discovered the Americas slavery was
a vital component of society and culture throughout the known
world. In historical Africa slavery was practiced in many different
forms.
There was indentured
servitude, Debt slavery, enslavement of captives, military slavery, slavery for
prostitution criminal slavery. African
slaves were shipped throughout the world well before America was even
discovered.
In truth, there were over
sixty million slaves taken from Africa.Of that number, ten to twelve million were sold to slave traders for
shipment to the Americas.Over one
million died in captivity in Africa or during the ten-week ship journey to the
New World.
Slightly less than ten
million made it to the Americas from the first Portuguese shipment of the
Atlantic African Slaves between 1503 and 1519, and the end of slavery in
America in 1865.
No slaves were sold to the
North American colonies until 1619.Of
the ten million arriving in the Americas over the years, the North American
colonies of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the Dutch received a total of
388,000 slaves, twenty-six percent children, as definitely established in the Trans-Atlantic
Slave Trade Database.
The same five European
empires were in vicious competition to colonize both the Americas and Africa, so
led by the Portuguese they established and owned the African Slave Trade in
partnership with the African kingdoms.With the discovery of the Americas in 1492 the Trans-Atlantic African
Slave Trade evolved rapidly with shipments to Central and South America where
Spain and Portugal had colonies.
By the time North America was
first being settled in 1608 the five European empires began diverting some African
slaves to North America to service their new colonies.When the citizens of the thirteen British
colonies in North America revolted and defeated the mighty British empire, then
adopted a new Constitution in 1789, the new Republic signaled that the African
Slave Trade must end.
In 1808 both the US and
Britain banned African slave trade.Individual states banned slavery leading up to the American Civil War in
1860.By that time America had grown
from thirteen states to thirty-three states, and eleven seceded from the Union
and formed the Confederacy.
Though
President Abraham Lincoln ended slavery with the signing of the Emancipation
Proclamation in 1863, it was not until the defeat of the Confederates in 1865 and
notification given in the state of Texas, that slavery officially came to an end.
During the period of 1619
when slaves first arrived in North America until the end of slavery and freeing
of all slaves in 1865, there were about five million slaves in North America,
of which 388,000 came from Africa.Half
of the slaves were men, one third were children, and one eighth were elderly or
crippled.
The vast majority of the
growth in the number of slaves in North America was primarily natural increase,
in which the population of slaves grew an average of 28.7 percent a year from
1790 until 1860.
In the U.S., on average, a
slave mother gave birth to between nine and ten children, more than twice the
birth rate of the West Indies in Central America.Throughout most of the New World the European
practice of children born to slaves became slaves.
Driven by a huge demand for
sugar, cotton and tobacco in Europe, the Southern states became plantation
states.After the US banned African
slaves in 1808 the demand for workers on the plantations became so severe that
over a million slaves were moved from Northern states to the Southern plantation
states.
When Abraham Lincoln was
elected president in 1860 there were thirty-three American states.Eleven seceded from the Union and started
their own nation, the Confederacy.At
the time there were about 3.9 million slaves in the US, both the North and the
South.During the Civil War over 500,000
Southern slaves were freed by the Union troops, and all the slaves in America
were freed by 1865.
In 1860, the population of
the entire Republic was 31.5 million, including 3.9 million Black slaves.Most were located in fifteen Southern states,
of which eleven did secede from the Union.
Ironically, more than
seventy-five percent of the Southern population did not own slaves in 1860.
Summary
African
slave trade began almost 200 years before America was discovered.
From
1519 until 1860 ninety-seven percent of the African slaves brought to America
and sold went to Central and South America, the Spanish and Portuguese
colonies, just three percent went to North America. The
African Slave Trade was established by the European empires of Portugal, Britain,
France, Spain and the Dutch.
African
Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a European undertaking to supply manpower
for development of the European colonies in America.
When
Americans revolted and defeated the British empire and adopted the US
Constitution in 1789, the young nation was surrounded by the British, French
and Spanish colonies still in America.
In
1808 the new Republic banned the African Slave Trade to the US.
It
took further wars with Britain, 1812, Mexico in 1846-48, and Spain in 1898
to finally free the US from the stranglehold of the remaining European
colonies surrounding the Republic.
By
1865 the Confederacy was defeated and the Southern states were reunified
into the United States.
From
the birth of the nation in 1789 until the 1865 defeat of the Confederacy
and freeing of all slaves was a total of seventy-six years.
In other
words, it took 400 years to build the system of slavery in the United States
and within seventy-six years after becoming a Republic, slavery was
abolished and all slaves freed. Now, there is still much work left to do to bring about the racial equality guaranteed by our Constitution. Bias and discrimination are among the most difficult of all deadly sins to overcome. Yet we still faced the power
of evil in our history of imposed slavery and were able to stop it, then
destroy it, for all time.At great cost
America resisted the dark forces of slavery, the greatest abomination of sin
against the Creator, our God.Of that we
should be proud.
The two sides were
the pre-tournament favourites and both topped their groups, with a semi-final
against England or Norway awaiting the winners.
"This is the
game everyone had circled," said Rapinoe.
"This is
incredible for the women's game. You have two heavy-hitters meeting.
"I hope it's
wild and crazy. I hope the fans are crazy, there is tons of media around it and
it is just a big spectacle."
The USA are top of
the world rankings and their only defeat since 2017 came against France in
January.
Their Britain-born
head coach Jill Ellis, who was in charge when they won the World Cup in 2015,
added: "It's going to be an amazing game. I'm sure a lot of people would
want it later in the tournament.
"It's probably
going to be crazy with a lot of intensity, but that's as it should be because I
truly think this is the world game for women, so what a showcase piece."
France are bidding
to win their first major tournament, while the USA are attempting to lift a
record fourth Women's World Cup.
Despite the two
teams being the favourites from the outset, neither has appeared invincible so
far in the knockout stages.
Less than 24 hours
after France needed extra time to overcome Brazil in their last-16 tie, the
defending champions were thoroughly tested by Spain in Reims.
Against Spain,
Ellis' team conceded a goal for the first time at these finals, and
occasionally appeared sloppy at the back, in a game some bookmakers had them
down as 1-10 odds-on favourites to win.
Former USA
goalkeeper Hope Solo said there were many things to question about her former
side's display, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "When you have that much
attacking prowess, to not get a goal in normal play is concerning.
"People don't
bow down to the United States like they used to. They don't come in and put
everyone on edge like they used to.
"Many teams
have proved they can beat the USA. If you want to beat the USA you have to
press the backline.
"That's where
they are truly vulnerable. It's the decision-making, it's the quality of
passing - and I think there are nerves back there."
France Heat Wave Warning
Women's World Cup: In search of a
major tournament in Paris
By Tom Garry
BBC Sport in Paris
Fans at Euro 2016
(left) could watch matches on a big screen at the Eiffel Tower but these Chile
supporters (right) could not do the same at the Women's World Cup
On a warm Saturday evening in the summer, whether gazing towards
the Eiffel Tower from the crowded Place du Trocadero, strolling alongside the
River Seine or approaching the Jardin des Tuileries from the Place de la
Concorde, you can enjoy some of the finest views in Paris.
What you cannot see are any obvious indications that the Women's
World Cup is in town, despite there being no city hosting more games at the
2019 tournament than the French capital.
As the sun sets, Canada's Jessie Fleming opens the scoring against New Zealand in
Group E in Grenoble, but there is no reaction from the thousands of people
enjoying picnics on the Champ de Mars - an iconic spot where big screens had
shown matches to packed fan zones during both the 2016 men's European Championship
- hosted in France - and the 2018 men's World Cup in Russia.
Women's football is now as popular globally as the sport of
golf, according to a report released on 4 June by the data analytics company
Nielsen, while Paris is among the world's busiest tourist destinations.
And therefore, while there is a smaller fan zone - albeit one
that does not fully open until 14:00 local time - opposite the Forum des Halles
shopping centre across town, is the so-called 'City of Light' illuminating the
Women's World Cup to as many people as it could be?
But - aside from the areas immediately around the stadium, south
west of the city - banners boosting the event's visibility are hard to come by
in the capital.
On the day of world champions USA's match here, free maps of
Paris's Metro routes display information on a rugby sevens tournament that
finished two weeks previously, while most central station platforms are devoid
of any posters of Women's World Cup stars.
The Paris Metro maps
available on the network on 16 June were still promoting the Paris Sevens Rugby
tournament, which finished a week before the Women's World Cup started.
Adverts for June's Champs-Elysees Film Festival - not the World
Cup - are draped along the city's most famous avenue.
At other host cities, promotion for the tournament varies, but
is far more visible at some, with the eye-catching roadside electronic adverts
for the matches in Reims tough to miss in the champagne region, while almost
every shop in the centre of the north-eastern city of Valenciennes has been
decorated with flags, scarves or World Cup banners.
Yet, at the spectacular vantage point that can be enjoyed from
Place du Trocadero, where large crowds of people hold their smartphones aloft
for a picture of the Eiffel Tower, low-cost, unofficial merchandise is
displayed for sale on sheets lying on the floor - but there are no football
shirts among the miniature towers, the glow sticks and the handbags with
semi-recognisable branding.
Even where there are sports tops for sale, at a string of shops
near the Louvre, only those displaying the names Mbappe and Neymar can be found
among Tour de France jerseys.
"Avez-vous quelque chose des equipes feminines de Coupe du
Monde?" I asked hopefully.
"Non, monsieur."
Around Pont Neuf, the
oldest bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine, France kits with players'
names on are readily available - but only for the men's team.
However, look closely to one side of the Place du Trocadero and
there you will see it, directly overlooking the Eiffel Tower - at last, some
Women's World Cup branding. It's US broadcaster Fox Sports' studio for the
duration of the tournament.
Then there are other moments to lift your spirits, like the
small band of Chile fans enjoying a drink on the grass of the Champ de Mars 24
hours before their goalkeeper Christiane Endler's stunning performances against the United States.
Like the enthusiastic, Marseille-supporting taxi driver who
declared France's midfield star Amandine Henry to be "magnifique" and
warned that Les Bleues were much better than "Monsieur Neville's"
England.
Like the hordes of USA fans who swamped the Parc des Princes
with their stars and stripes on Sunday, as over 45,000 saw the holders - and
the Chile keeper - put on an exhibition.
And like the sea of orange that flooded into the northern cities
of Le Havre and Valenciennes from the Netherlands - dancing left, dancing right
- to support the European champions.
This is a truly global festival.
So why have the local authorities not adorned Paris' central
areas with more visible promotion of the event?
A Fifa spokesperson told BBC Sport: "One of the main
promotional objectives is to maximise the audiences, both in front of their
screens and in the stadiums. Even though outdoor advertising is a part of that
campaign, it is only one of several platforms deployed in this phase.
"In Paris, the outdoor advertising is centralised around
the stadium and around the Fifa fan experience."
When questioned about the subject, a spokesman for the Local
Organising Committee pointed out that because Paris is the biggest host city
and does not possess a clear city centre, efforts were focused on the areas
linked to the World Cup like the stadium and the Fifa Fan Experience.
They also pointed out that Paris City Hall had been adorned with
World Cup colours.
The Champs-Elysees is
full of huge banners promoting a film festival - but not the Women's World Cup.
The Chatelet district houses the temporary Women's World Cup
museum - a free and relatively well-produced, educational cuboid of historical
information, complete with a shop - as well as the adjacent fan zone, which is
closed until midday and only partially open until 14:00.
Fifa says it has also been marketing on radio and TV, as well as
hosting a women's football convention in Paris earlier in June, and a
spokesperson added: "For the first time in Women's World Cup history,
there is a Fifa fan experience in each host city.
"The choice of the location of the fan experience and
whether to include a big screen was determined by each host city."
As for the TV audiences, French channel TF1 has had record
viewing figures of about 10 million in France for the host nation's first two
group matches, and - although the games not involving Les Bleues are not on
free-to-air channels here - the home supporters do seem to be gripped by their
side's bid for a first title.
UK viewers have similarly set new records for women's football, while
Fox Sports in the US has reportedly seen an 11% rise in their audience compared
to four years ago.
Indeed, the world is
watching the beautiful game in France this summer - you just have to be in the
right place to notice it in the nation's most beautiful city.
Media Headlines on World Cup
Europe heatwave: record high of 45C
expected in France
Temperature records
expected to be broken as minister warns heatwaves could become norm
'Hell is coming':
week-long heatwave begins across Europe
Temperatures could hit
40C from Spain to Switzerland, with authorities urging children and older
people to stay indoors
Women's World Cup: Record-breaking peak
of 6.9m watch England beat Cameroon
WWCup: Nearly 11
million TV viewers watch France’s opener
June 8, 2019
LOS ANGELES — The Americans’ 3-0 win over Chile set a record for
the most-watched group-stage Women’s World Cup match on U.S. English-language
television.
Fox drew 5,324,000 viewers for Sunday’s game, topping 4,492,000
for the Americans’ 0-0 group-stage draw against Sweden in 2015. The game was
the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the country since last
year’s men’s World Cup final.
The 2019
Women's World Cup has become the UK's most viewed women's football tournament
on television.
The event has
achieved a combined TV reach of 17.2 million people, beating the 12.4 million
total set for the whole of the 2015 tournament in Canada.
England's win
over Scotland set an audience record for a women's football game on UK TV of
6.1 million.
Women’s World Cup TV Viewership Is on a
Record Pace
750 million people watched the tournament
in 2015; FIFA estimates that nearly 1 billion could tune in this summer
