I have my eyes on the Saudi/PGA deal, and don't like what I see.

The stench from MBS's golf league plaything is as thick as the haze engulfing New York from Canada's raging fires.

Ed. note. The Resistant Grandmother has been busy having eye surgery and doing all things medical to recover. Good news: things are on the mend. But I know I haven’t been posting for the last two weeks, and no one is sorrier than I, as that’s the thing I like most to do. As promised, I’ve been working on a piece on “woke,” which is nearing completion. In the meantime, this whole thing with the PGA joining forces with the Saudis has got my blood boiling. So, below are two mini-editorials to let off some steam. Mind you, I’m not a golfer, but my 30-something son is, and has enjoyed the sport immensely with my encouragement. He discovered the romance of the sport with Tiger Woods first Master’s win in 1997. So I’m disappointed the game has now gotten beaten up, thanks to the PGA’s shaking hands with the devil in the LIV deal. Personally, I can’t see it attracting young boys in quite the same way as Tiger did. (I doubt whether the Saudis will be interested in taking over the LPGA, so young girl golfers may be safe for now.)

mini-editorial #1: a mother’s reaction to the deal with the Saudis

Deservedly or not, golf has had the reputation of being a sport for rich men, what with club costs, expensive equipment, and greens fees. Then Tiger Woods came along and made golf cool. I remember my son, now in his 30s, and his friends going to the neighborhood park and hitting balls into the night the day Woods won the Master's. That was golf at its best.

Now, golf isn't cool anymore. The soul of the sport has been auctioned off and sold to the highest bidder -- a Saudi Sheik who murders and dismembers a journalist and bankrolls terrorists who killed Americans who were carrying out a plan to kill America itself.

That an American golf executive would sign on with this man, airbrush all that's gone before, and con his players and families of 911 victims in the process is nothing less than appalling and sickening. It proves that Saudi money can buy pretty much anything for the purpose of propping up a corrupt regime and supporting its criminality. We should all weep with the 911 families, and for ourselves.

mini-editorial #2: Who’s to blame? (hint: Everything Trump touches, dies.)

There's plenty of guilt to go around. But the relationship with the Saudis became especially insidious with Donald Trump's choosing SA as his first foreign visit as president. The bonds grew from there, even after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, with Jared Kushner ultimately making off with a $2B business "deal" (one with apparently no work involved) before the Trumps had to vacate the WH, courtesy of the voters. From that point on, a foreign relationship based on the country's strategic importance before Trump, grew to one that was unconditional and personal according to the new Trump standard. The Trumps told the world it's OK to look the other way and be chummy with a murderous sheik as long as there was money involved. And now the PGA has followed suit.