Greg welcomes guests Tom Shillue and Will Rahn.
27 Million U.S. Viewers Watch World Cup Final
Even without the home team involved, the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina set a television viewership record in the United States, capping a tournament that exceeded expectations for interest on both ESPN and Univision.
The month-long World Cup also was responsible for more than 3 billion interactions on Facebook and 672 million messages on Twitter, the social media companies said on Monday.
An estimated 26.5 million people in the U.S. watched Germany's extra-time win on Sunday afternoon, the Nielsen company said. The game had 17.3 million viewers on ABC and another 9.2 million on the Spanish-language Univision. In addition, just over 750,000 people were watching the game during a typical minute online through services provided by each network.
World Cup organizers FIFA said that more than a billion fans worldwide accessed information about the tournament through its digital platforms. "This has been the first truly mobile and social World Cup," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Facebook said 88 million people made a total of 280 million posts or "likes" about the final game. The most social "moment" of the tournament on Facebook, however, was right after Germany scored four goals in seven minutes during its semifinal victory against Brazil.
On Twitter, the Brazil-Germany match exceeded the final game for most tweets.
Also read: Socialistic Offside Rule Ensures Americans Will Never Catch Soccer Fever
Jim and Greg discuss Jake Tapper shredding a lying Palestinian spokeswoman, Obama's clownish, unserious presidency, and how the World Cup final turns two popes into "rivals."
Dear Leader aims to keep Democrats happy while he coasts to 2016
President Barack Obama is telegraphing rather clearly that he has given up on the presidency. It is a phenomenon that has been observable for some time. The Free Beacon's Matthew Continetti made the compelling case that Obama embraced his post-presidency as early as June. For Obama, there remains one final headache: the midterm elections. After that, he can abandon the final flimsy pretenses designed to project the impression that he is at all interested in governing the country.
But the road to the post-presidency is peppered with speed bumps and potholes — inconveniences that Obama would much rather avoid. Nuisances arise like the first unilateral annexation of territory in one sovereign European state by another for the first time since World War II. Frustrations like the systematic effort to cover up fatal incompetency at the VA. Or bothers like a humanitarian disaster involving children on America’s southern border.
Events are such inconsiderate things.
So the president does what he can to avoid being too closely associated with these crises by only addressing them when he must and in brief, and by not taking any definitive measures to address them so as to avoid taking blame should those measures fail. The president's true focus, the object which has kept his attention for most of his political career, is maintaining the adoration of his devotees.
Even at this delicate moment, Obama campaigns. Speaking before an audience of supporters in Texas this week, after spurning lawmakers in his own party and surely those advisers close to him concerned about the inevitable hit in the polls he would take by not seeing the border crisis for himself, the president indulged in a bit of self-pity...
Also read:
Obama Goes Rogue: Is He Having His Katrina Moment?
Obama's pathetic border crisis blame shifting
Gavin McInnes hosts and welcomes guests Lou Dobbs, Sonnie Johnson and Michael Moynihan.
FIFA Will Investigate Offensive Chant by Mexican Fans
FIFA has opened an investigation into the use of a chant by Mexican soccer fans that is apparently derogatory towards gay people.
During their country's matches in the World Cup, fans have been chanting the word "Puto" at opposing players, a word that has multiple meanings including "male prostitute" and "homosexual." During Mexico's game against Brazil last Monday, fans shouted the term every time Brazil's goalkeeper took a goal kick.
Mexico is now facing possible sanctions for "improper conduct of spectators." FIFA has a "zero-tolerance stance on any form of discrimination, including on account of sexual orientation," a spokesperson of the organization said Friday.
Conapred, Mexico's anti-discrimination agency, said that the chant poorly represents the country. "The cry of 'puto' is an expression of disdain and rejection," the agency said. "The way in which this collective yell is given in stadiums isn't innocent; it reflects the homophobia, machismo and misogyny that our society still suffers."
Many fans, players, and coaches, however, insist that the chant is harmless. "We're with our fans," the team's manager Miguel Herrera told the Associated Press. "It's something they do to pressure the opposing goalkeeper."
Also read: Croatia vs. Mexico: Final score 1-3, El Tri into the knockouts
Greg welcomes guests Gavin McInnes and Ambassador John Bolton.
Superstitions Collide: Full Moon Rises on Friday the 13th
The June full moon is nicknamed the "Strawberry Moon," a moniker that goes back to the Algonquin Native American tribe, according to the Farmer's Almanac. June is strawberry season, and the full moon would have traditionally coincided with the harvest.
The June full moon is frequently the one nearest to the summer solstice, which falls on June 21 this year. Because of a neat bit of galactic geometry, this means the full moon on Friday will be the lowest in the sky of any in 2014.
Here's how it works: The Earth rotates on a tilted axis; in June — summer in the Northern Hemisphere — the North Pole is tilted about 23.5 degrees toward the sun, while the South Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. On the solstice, the sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator.
Full moons happen when Earth's satellite is opposite the sun; that's why viewers on Earth see the entire face of the moon illuminated. Thus, when the full moon is directly opposite the sun when our host star appears at its highest point, the moon is at its lowest point with respect to the equator. That's why winter full moons rise higher above the horizon than summer full moons.
Also read: The Dutch Destroy Spain 5-1 In Grudge Match
In their first World Cup finals the Irish had fought their way through Group F and into the knockout stages at Italia 1990 without winning a game, having secured draws with England, Egypt, and Holland. Ireland then lined up to play Romania in the round of 16. The date was June 25, 1990 in Genoa's Stadio Luigi Farraris. Ireland's fans, the most popular in the world, were there in force.
Ireland's starting line-up were as follows: Packie Bonner, Chris Morris, Mick McCarthy (capt), Kevin Moran, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton, Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend, Kevin Sheedy, John Aldridge and Niall Quinn. Tony Cascarino would come on for Aldridge in the 22nd minute while David O'Leary would replace Staunton early in the overtime period.
While Ireland had avoided the mighty West Germans the match against the technically gifted Romanians, including the legendary Gheorghe Hagi, would prove to be anything but easy. The Irish team employed the tried and trusted Jack Charlton style of football throughout the game by bombarding the Romanian defense with long balls.
During normal playing time the Irish could not make the breakthrough and in reality the Romanians came closest to breaking the deadlock through the dangerous Hagi.
The 90 minutes ended in a 0-0 draw. In a further half hour of extended play neither side could find the golden goal and the Irish players faced their first-ever penalty shoot-out at a major soccer championship. This video covers the drama of the shoot-out with Donegal and Celtic's own Packie Bonner in the line of fire for the Bhoys in Green.
