NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with investigative journalist, academic, and expert on match-fixing in international sports, Declan Hill.

There never is a shortage of topics to be discussed involving corruption, scandals, match-fixing, and doping in sports, but our discussion took place in the midst of revelations about an even worse series of allegations about kickbacks and coverups of doping.

Based on extensive research conducted by the French daily newspaper Le Monde and the German broadcaster ARD, an article was just published entitled "Criminal Practices in Athletics -- Doping and Cover-Ups on Shocking Scale", by Hajo Seppelt and Daniel Bouhs.

The article presents damning evidence that alleges "that extortion, dubious financial transactions and other mafia-style practices have been employed in international athletics over a period of many years. Leading representatives of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) are believed to have deliberately ignored highly suspicious blood test results for at least six top athletes since 2011 – each in return receiving payments of between €300,000 and €700,000. The organized cover-up of suspected doping in the world of track and field has as such assumed a previously unimagined scale. And once again it is primarily athletes from one nation under scrutiny: Russia."

We spoke with Declan Hill by phone Friday about this and many other ongoing scandals.

"This is taking doping in sports to a whole new level," he said. He noted that the sources for these allegations were Russian athletes themselves, who are the "true victims of these situations" because they were given no choice to dope, other than to leave sport or even flee Russia.

"So this is a criminal network now of sports doping," he said, well beyond anything done by people like Lance Armstrong.

"This is now the systemic criminalization of doping in sport."

On top of all this, the second and final part of the McLaren Report on state-sponsored doping in Russia is scheduled to be released December 9. This will be one day after the close of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Executive Board meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland, from December 6 to 8. We discussed the mechanics of this state-sponsored doping in Russia, how the leadership of the IOC and many of its sports affiliates are trying to weaken the efforts of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and how they lack the integrity and courage to confront these issues.

We also discussed the fixing of results in judged sports like figure skating, boxing, and wrestling, and even chess, especially when Russian competitors are involved.

In addition, we discussed the terrible treatment by the IOC of whistle-blowers like Russian runner Yulia Stepanova, who helped expose the system of state-sponsored doping in Russian sport; why these battles transcend sports and how they will not be over after the release of the rest of the McLaren Report; and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: boxing, criminal, Declan Hill, doping, Eddie Goldman, IOC, McLaren, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, sports, WADA, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Richard Schaefer, the chairman and CEO of the newly-formed Ringstar Sports.

The debut show for this new boxing promotion will take place Saturday, December 10. On that card, co-promoted with TGB Promotions, WBA featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) will face former bantamweight, super bantamweight, and featherweight champion Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), and IBF super welterweight champion Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) will face Julian "J-Rock" Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs). This will take place on a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) event at the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles, and will be shown live in the U.S. on Showtime.

Also, Ringstar Sports recently announced the signing of their first fighters to promotional contracts, 2016 U.S. Olympian Carlos Balderas and his brother, amateur standout Jose Balderas, with both expected to be making their professional debuts soon.

We spoke with Richard Schaefer by phone Tuesday.

While some boxing promotional companies only run events headlined by fighters with whom they have promotional contracts, Richard Schaefer said that Ringstar Sports will be doing things differently.

"I'm going to sign my own fighters. I'm going to do my own TV deals. I'm going to do my own venue deals, my own sponsor deals, my own whatever," he said.

"If any other manager, advisor, comes and asks me, 'Hey, could you put together an event for my fighter?' I'm going to say, 'Yes, no problem. Here's my fee.' And if they want to pay it, great. And if they don't want to pay it, then no problem. But I definitely see this as the way I'm going to run the business."

Schaefer also said that when he served for many years as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, they did the same thing in promoting events involving fighters who were not under promotional contract to them, most notably Floyd Mayweather.

We also discussed how he took time off after leaving Golden Boy to reflect on his life and his next moves; how his passion for boxing led him right back to it; false reports and rumors in some of the media about what his plans were; why he was in no rush to form a new boxing company; his business relationship with manager/advisor Al Haymon; the importance of the PBC series; the role of the boxing media and its often unnecessary "negativity"; the need to promote and highlight women's boxing; the importance of social media; and much, much more.

(Photo of Richard Schaefer, Carlos Balderas, and Jose Balderas from Ringstar Sports.)

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, Richard Schaefer, Ringstar Sports

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Bellator MMA fighter King Mo Lawal.

His next fight will take place at Bellator 169 against Olympic gold medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii. Bellator 169 will take place Friday, December 16, as part of a joint card with BAMMA 27, at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.

We spoke with King Mo by phone Sunday.

Discussing this fight with Satoshi Ishii, he said, "This could be wrestling versus judo, boxing versus kickboxing," because Ishii trains in that in Holland and Japan. "Freestyle wrestling, that is.

"So it's going to be a clash of both styles, martial arts, all-around martial arts, grappling and standup."

Besides this fight, we also discussed numerous other topics, including: why many top judokas have had difficulty in MMA; his Bellator 154 fight with Phil Davis which he and many others felt he deserved to win; Saturday's Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev fight and why he thought Ward put on a great performance and deserved to win; his sparring with undefeated heavyweight boxer Luis Ortiz and Ortiz's disappointing fight with Malik Scott, who was fighting not to win but to survive; the importance of the PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) TV series to boxing; MMA and boxing TV announcers; the possibility of him returning to fight in Rizin in Japan next year; his desire to fight the winner of the February 21 Bellator 172 fight between newly-signed Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione; plans for Bellator's heavyweight division; and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: Andre Ward, Bellator, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Fedor Emelianenko, heavyweights, King Mo Lawal, Luis Ortiz, MMA, No Holds Barred, Satoshi Ishii, Sergey Kovalev

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, who fight Saturday, November 19, in Las Vegas. Also, this past weekend's major boxing events are reviewed.

The fight between Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) and Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be shown live on HBO pay-per-view in the U.S. and Sky Sports in the U.K.

We spoke with both Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward on a media conference call Tuesday.

"I must destroy him," vowed Kovalev.

Although he said he never makes predictions, Ward did say, "It's about a victory. It's about getting my hand raised. I'm not leaving Las Vegas without those belts."

This past Saturday, November 12, saw two major televised boxing cards.

In Monte Carlo, Monaco, and televised live in the U.K. on Sky Sports, Jamie McDonnell won a highly controversial unanimous decision over Liborio Solis to retain his WBA bantamweight belt. The crowd loudly booed the decision which was seen as a robbery. Nonetheless, this was an exciting fight as Solis pressured McDonnell throughout. In an awful heavyweight fight, which was also shown in the U.S. on HBO, the unbeaten Luis Ortiz faced Malik Scott, who chose to run for 12 rounds. Ortiz won a unanimous decision, but did himself no favors with an underwhelming performance himself. That was followed by another exciting matchup, as WBA super featherweight champ Jason Sosa dominated a game Stephen Smith to win by unanimous decision and retain his belt.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and shown live in the U.S. on Spike TV, the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) returned with three televised fights. In the first televised fight, lightweight Javier Fortuna survived a first-round knockdown to take a unanimous decision against previously unbeaten Omar Douglas in an entertaining and competitive fight. Next up was unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Jarrett Hurd stepping up to face veteran Jo Jo Dan. Hurd passed this test well, scoring a sixth-round TKO as the fight was stopped by Dan's corner.

The main event was clearly a showcase fight for unbeaten WBC welterweight champ Danny Garcia, who faced Samuel Vargas. As expected, Garcia dominated this bout, and the referee stopped the fight in round seven as Vargas's corner waved a white towel.

Garcia is next slated for a title unification fight on March 4, 2017, with unbeaten WBA champ Keith Thurman, who was a commentator for this card. Predictably, the two jawed at each other in the ring after Garcia's victory, ending this entertaining telecast on a high note.

(Photo of Kovalev and Ward by Khristopher Sandifer/Roc Nation Sports. Photos of Garcia and Vargas, and Garcia and Thurman, by Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions.)

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: Andre Ward, boxing, Danny Garcia, Eddie Goldman, Luis Ortiz, No Holds Barred, Sergey Kovalev

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Tom DeBlass about the 2016 ADCC North American Championships and World Trials.

This event will feature two days of competition, both at the Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey. The Pro Trials will take place Saturday, November 19, followed by an amateur event on Sunday, November 20. The Pro Trials will be webcast on FloGrappling.

The Pro Trials is a qualifying event for the 2017 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, which will take place September 22-24, 2017, in the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland.

At the Pro Trials, there will be grappling competition under ADCC rules in five men's weight classes: -65.9kg, -76.9kg, -87.9kg, -98.9kg, and +99kg.

We spoke with Tom DeBlass, who is the owner of Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the organizer of this event, by phone Thursday.

The ADCC World Championship "100 percent, hands down has the highest level of competition," he said.

"It is the most prestigious no-gi grappling tournament in the world. And there are qualifiers: there are eight qualifiers from around the world, and there are eight invitees. The one way to secure your spot is to compete in one of the qualifiers and win the qualifier. When you win the qualifier, you get a fully-expense paid trip to the finals in Finland, which will be 2017, which is a pretty incredible trip."

We discussed how this event has open registration which closes November 12, how this shapes up to be the biggest ADCC North American Trials ever, some of the well-known competitors and former ADCC Trials champions who have already registered, the ADCC rules and how they encourage action, how he will also be competing in the Pro Trials, the potential for professional grappling as a spectator sport, the likelihood of a second North American Trials in the spring of 2017, the important differences between competing in MMA and grappling, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

Labels: ADCC, BJJ, Eddie Goldman, grappling, jiu-jitsu, No Holds Barred, North American, submission fighting, Tom DeBlass, Trials, World Championships, wrestling

It was just sitting there in its oversized envelope, this absentee ballot I get sent since I decided that my various health problems had made it too difficult for me to navigate these poorly run polling places. And it is quite easy to fill out: Just fill in the circle next to the name of your choice for each office. You can even quite easily write a candidate in, much more easily than at a voting booth, with the last column left blank just for that purpose. It's all a bit like writing a check and paying a bill by mail, without having to include a check in the return letter, but still having to affix one of those "Forever" stamps.

But of course it is much more than that, supposedly a matter of principle, some would say. Or is it? For me, the vote simply indicates whom you would least likely want to lose the election. And contrary to what others have argued, a vote for someone does not indicate support, or require you not to fight all the crap they will do once in office. As the Marxist Andrew Kliman wrote, "voting isn’t supporting.... This distinction may be a difficult one for the dialectically challenged. But to me, it is straightforward, even obvious." (Although I am not sure he is right about the actual situation in Utah.) (http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/news/can-a-mcmullin-vote-in-utah-help-stop-trump.html)

So why did I choose to vote for Clinton, i.e., fill in that little circle next to her name?

She is obviously the favorite of the U.S. ruling class, getting enormous support from her bosses on Wall Street and almost all the mainstream capitalist media. She told the Council of Foreign Relations last year that she wants a more aggressive international stance than Obama's, which they seemed to approve. This will mean more reckless, and likely losing, imperialist wars under her regime.

She is wedded to an issue all these candidates have tried not to discuss: plans to privatize social security and institute massive cuts, packaged as a "grand bargain", instead of increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations, at least to the levels they used to be taxed.

Like virtually all Democratic politicians, she makes lots of promises to end or ease mass incarceration, but will not implement plans for jobs, education, training, etc., for those who have been enslaved as prison laborers. Where will she put them? See above about more wars.

Even the issue of her e-mail server, which the official right thinks is the central issue facing people around the world, demonstrates her proclivity for lying and her near-absolute fear of transparency.

One could list a thousand more things she will do which are against the interests of the working class and oppressed people. And they all are true.

But the one thing that also is true is that she is not Donald Trump. If elected and in office, Trump will try to roll back virtually every gain made in workers' rights, civil and human rights, women's rights, and LGBT rights in the last 100 years. He has already shown contempt for the First Amendment and the rights of free speech and freedom of assembly. He will go as far in an authoritarian direction as he can, and will have a vassal Supreme Court to back him up. His mass deportation plan alone will require massive police state measures -- Show me your papers!

What Trump would mean for Black and Latino people is a reign of terror not seen since the heyday of lynching. There will be the "legal" lynchings of racist police murders with no punishment, even less than there is now, for these pigs. His "law and order" demagogy means massive repression and massacres.

For Muslims, and even presumed Muslims whether they are or not, repression and discrimination will escalate. What better argument against the American people can terrorists like Daesh/ISIS have if the American people elect such an open bigot?

Trump's utter contempt for women has been well publicized, with more and more women lining up to accuse him publicly of rape and sexual assault. Women hold up half the sky, but they may yet crash it down upon his tangerine head.

Clinton may be stoking up the war machine even more than Obama did, but what wars Trump will launch are less predictable. He is fond of toying with the idea of using nuclear weapons, somewhere, anywhere. He cares naught for the complex calculations of the imperialist think tanks. He would make the hapless Bush and his "weapons of mass destruction" charade look like brilliant military strategists. There are few historical parallels with his impetuous idiocy, with the most recent one perhaps being Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.

Trump's uber-lassiez faire economic policies will only accelerate and deepen the many layers of the economic crisis which is inherent in the capitalist mode of production. It will be like a coked-up version of the economic disaster under Reagan, only much worse since the world and American economies are in far weaker shape than they were in the 1980s. And he will attempt to strip away the weak environmental regulations already in place, as the world regularly breaks records for the highest temperatures ever.

In short, Trump will take America, and thus much of the world, in the direction of fascism, with his bands of white nationalists, KKKers, cops, FBI and border patrol agents, and "Second Amendment" people unleashed. Many people will needlessly die and have their lives ruined under Trump, and it will take decades at the least to regain what would be lost under his rule.

Of course, a Clinton presidency is absolutely no barrier to such developments. We have seen time and time again how liberals compromise with fascists and try to appease them. But it will provide some time and opportunities to organize a bit more freely on all fronts.

Trump's legions will go nuts for a while if he loses, but a big loss will demoralize many of them. Many of the fanatics who support him are just bullies, and we know what happens in most cases when you land a solid left hook to the jaw of a bully.

I will also add that Clinton, unlike Trump, said she favors a no-fly zone in Syria. Assuming she keeps her word, we would have to see what this would mean. But one real possibility is that it will give some respite to the Russian air strikes, and provide a bit of breathing room for the Syrian revolution. There is nothing wrong in exploiting inter-imperialist contradictions for the benefit of revolution.

Now, what about the "left"? Why not support them, at least in safe states?

Here is the biggest rub. In reality, there is no American organized left. The tiny Trotskyite parties on the ballot are sectarian authoritarians of the first degree. All they want anyway, as impossible as it may be, is to become the ruling party in an authoritarian one-party state with state capitalism and almost no rights for the masses, a la the Soviet Union, etc. The smashing of the Kronstadt rebellion is their model and their holy grail, as they try to revive the stinking corpses of long-dead dogmas like Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, and Maoism, in whatever mixture they choose.

The small Socialist Party showed some promise at first and seems to have some good people, but did not have leadership and candidates who could engage in debate on the issues. The SP doesn't even have a position on the Syrian revolution, which is a disgrace for a party which claims to be revolutionary.

Ah, the Greens. I like my green tea and broccoli, but not these Greens. They are mainly a bunch of petit bourgeois conspiracy theory kooks. Stein wants to re-open the 9/11 investigation, as do her idiotic "truther" supporters. She casts doubt on vaccines, which endangers hundreds of millions lives.

Worse, Stein is aligned with the kleptocratic Putin Mafia regime. Her running mate Baraka openly supports the slaughter going on in Syria by the butcher Assad and his Russian and Iranian bosses.

We have right-wing fascists like many of the Trump supporters, and now we also have these left-wing fascists. So even in safe states for Clinton, we should not support this outfit and its growth. Yes, there is a need for a popular mass third party in America, but not with this bunch.

What this very sadly and dangerously means is that we are left with no line of defense from this "left". In this election, the only very weak and unreliable barrier to Trump is Clinton. The only way to beat Trump is to vote for Clinton. That is a fact, however painful it is to admit, and as horrendous a candidate as Clinton surely is.

Some folks may think that they have the luxury of taking a chance on a Trump presidency and tossing away their vote for the futile efforts of one of these microscopic or dead-end groups, or just not voting at all. Most of us, however, do not have that privilege and have too much at stake to take that gamble.

All of this, of course, is conditional on what the polls forecast. If Clinton were clearly headed to a landslide victory, as appeared likely only a few weeks ago, I would not be advocating voting for her. But as of the weekend before the election, there is no clear winner, and Trump appears to be gaining some momentum.

A lot of people are skeptical about all these polls, but I can share some insights from having worked at one of these outfits for over a decade. These places are businesses, and if their forecasts are horribly inaccurate, they lose credibility, hence clients, hence profits. There have been cases of intentional bias, but that is very dangerous for a polling company, and all the major polls have shown the same basic trajectory of ups and downs of support for Clinton and Trump.

Even so, when their margins of error are mentioned, it is not always pointed out that the standard polling statement (as I recall it) is that the margin of error is accurate 95% of the time. And it is hardly news that this election campaign has been unique. Plus, since they are businesses, they often underpay their workers, are understaffed, and cut corners, all of which add to the inaccuracy of the polls.

If we compare this to a 12-round championship boxing match, we have thus far completed 11 rounds. Clinton is presumed to be ahead six rounds to five, although the scores are not usually announced in boxing until after the fight, just as the official Electoral College tally will be the only one that counts. We are thus in round 12, and this fight could still go either way.

Of course, once again, key to all this is mobilizing the masses. That also means a steadfast struggle to preserve and expand democratic rights, including the use of the Internet, social media, and mobile devices.

I repeat, none of these struggles should stop or pause for this election or for what Clinton wants. But pursuing them is not at all in contradiction with casting a vote against Trump, which in almost all cases means voting for Clinton.

Such a situation may not always be the case, when voting for a left or popular candidate is a reality. But that is the stuff of fiction, history, and maybe the future, and not how it is in November 2016. Sometimes the only immediate choice is between bourgeois democracy and fascism, or something which will directly lead to it.

On the evening of November 8, I will not be attending Clinton's rally at the Javits Center here in New York. Even if she wins, it will not exactly be something to go out celebrating and drinking beer.

All this is due mostly to the complete failure, for almost a century now, of the so-called "left" to understand that the emancipation of the working class and oppressed people must be the work of the working class and oppressed people themselves, and not the product of scheming by some "vanguard" looking to become a new ruling class.

So I already filled in that little circle and mailed in the ballot. I hope you understand, but also prepare for a very rough ride in the years and decades to come.

Labels: Donald Trump, Eddie Goldman, election, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, president

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Kevin Jackson, the Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion freestyle wrestler, who is the head wrestling coach for the legendary Iowa State Cyclones.

The 2016-17 wrestling season kicks off for Iowa State this Friday, November 4, when they go on the road to face Big 12 rival South Dakota State, followed by another road meet with another Big 12 rival, North Dakota State, on Sunday, November 6.

The lineup this year will include all three All-Americans from last season: 133-pound wrestler Earl Hall, 174-pound wrestler Lelund Weatherspoon, and 184-pound wrestler Pat Downey, who actually achieved All-American status last year at 197.

We spoke with Coach Kevin Jackson by phone Wednesday.

"We're excited about the year," said Coach Jackson. 'It's my first time being able to return three All-Americans to our starting lineup. We have seven guys who have qualified for the NCAA championship, so they have seen that level of competition."

As for the preseason rankings, which have Iowa State in the middle of the top 25, he said, "We don't pay too much attention to the rankings. I can't remember when the last time the rankings held true," also noting that with three returning All-Americans, "very few teams can match that."

He added, "If our young guys can connect to what our seniors and juniors have done, I think we're going to feel pretty good about our results."

We discussed more on the projected starting lineup for Iowa State, how they have one of the top recruiting classes in the U.S., highlights of this season's schedule, proposals to move the college wrestling season to one semester and have the national tournament in April, why for college wrestling "to grow, change is necessary", and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: college, Earl Hall, Eddie Goldman, Iowa State Cyclones, Kevin Jackson, Lelund Weatherspoon, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Pat Downey, wrestling