Category: Washington
Alex Ovechkin and most of Washington Capitals players skip Pride Night ritual
Washington Capitals players from outside North America may not be as used to Pride Nights as other athletes.
On Saturday night, the Capitals celebrated alternative sexual lifestyles with their “All Caps All Love” night, posting rainbow and transgender flags ahead of their gay-memorabilia auction.
‘We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community.’
After the NHL banned themed jerseys in 2023, some fought for the right to use rainbow-colored stick tape, and won. That is how select Capitals players decided to show their gay pride on Saturday night against the reigning champion Florida Panthers, but as the teams took the ice, viewers noticed only eight of the Capitals’ 20 dressed players took part.
John Carlson, Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, Hendrix Lapierre, Connor McMichael, Dylan Strome, Logan Thompson, and Trevor van Riemsdyk were the eight players spotted on video and cited in an article by outlet Russian Machine Never Breaks.
However, missing from the group was captain, and the NHL’s all-time scoring leader, Alexander Ovechkin.
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Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Interestingly, all of the players that participated were from either the United States or Canada; none of the Capitals players born overseas participated in the stunt.
This included center Aliaksei Protas from Vitebsk, Belarus, left winger Ivan Miroshnichenko from Ussuriysk, Russia, defenseman Martin Fehérváry from Bratislava, Slovakia, and defenseman Rasmus Sandin from Uppsala, Sweden.
Despite their leader and biggest star not participating in their festivities, the Capitals went all out in their support for certain sexual preferences with promotional videos and statements.
“We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community, and celebrate the importance of inclusion every day,” Strome, from Mississauga, Canada, said in a team video.
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Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
“It was great,” Dowd of Huntsville, Alabama, said in a post-game interview. “Every year we’ve put this on, guys lean into it and support it, and I thought it was another good night. I thought the Caps did a great job of showcasing it.”
The team also hosted the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., on the ice that night, but that was not enough to push them ahead of the Panthers, and the Capitals lost 5-2.
Fans in Seattle were recently outraged and piled plenty of backlash onto their Seattle Kraken team for supporting transgenderism with a themed logo, which inexplicably featured a unicorn drawn by a tattoo artist who said “queerness” inspires her work.
“Being able to be in Seattle surrounded by the queer community and being exposed to the queerness I never got to experience growing up, it inspires my work a lot,” the artist said.
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Trump warns Israel about interference in Syria after deadly raid, airstrikes
The Trump administration has worked diligently to help stabilize Syria in the wake of its December 2024 conquest by Islamic terrorists.
The administration has, for instance, removed sanctions and dropped the $10 million bounty on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist who is also known as Muhammad al-Jawlani; terminated the Syria sanctions program; revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of al-Sharaa’s terrorist organizations al-Nusrah Front and HTS on July 8; and flooded parts of the war-torn country with humanitarian aid.
The recent Israeli attacks in the south of the country have prompted concerns among some in the administration, including the president, about the tenability of sustained peace in the region.
‘We are trying to tell Bibi he has to stop this.’
President Donald Trump reiterated his support for al-Sharaa on Monday and suggested that Israel should refrain from further interference.
“The United States is very satisfied with the results displayed, through hard work and determination, in the Country of Syria,” wrote the president. “We are doing everything within our power to make sure the Government of Syria continues to do what was intended, which is substantial, in order to build a true and prosperous Country.”
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President Donald Trump shaking hands with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Photo by Syrian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images
“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State,” continued Trump. “The new President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together.”
Two senior U.S. officials reportedly told Axios that the administration is concerned that repeated strikes inside Syria — including Israel’s bombing of Syrian forces in July — serve to undermine hopes of an Israel-Syria security agreement.
Israeli troops reportedly killed 13 people, injured dozens, and arrested several individuals during a raid in Southern Syria on Friday, some footage of which Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adrae shared online.
The Israel Defense Forces indicated that the purpose of the operation was “to apprehend suspects from the Jaama Islamiya terrorist organization operating in the Beit Jinn area of southern Syria” and claimed that “during the activity several armed terrorists opened fire at the troops. IDF soldiers responded with live fire, supported by aerial assistance.”
The Syrian foreign ministry characterized the attack as a “full-fledged war crime” and claimed that the raid and corresponding airstrikes left more than 10 civilians dead including women and children.
Walid Akasha, a local official in the area, told Reuters, “We’re a peaceful, civilian population, farmers. We have a legitimate right to defend ourselves. We didn’t attack them first — they came onto our land.”
One of the U.S. officials told Axios, “The Syrians were going nuts. Their own constituents demanded retaliation because Syrian civilians were killed.”
According to the officials, Israel neglected to notify the White House or Syria of the operation in advance.
“We are trying to tell Bibi he has to stop this because if it continues he will self-destruct — miss a huge diplomatic opportunity and turn the new Syrian government to an enemy,” said one official, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu praised the Israeli soldiers involved in the Friday raid and noted in a statement on Tuesday, “After October 7th, we are determined to defend our communities on our borders, including the northern border, and to prevent the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile actions against us, to protect our Druze allies, and to ensure that the State of Israel is safe from ground attack and other attacks from the border areas.”
“What we expect Syria to do, of course, is to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer zone area, including, of course, the approaches to Mount Hermon and the summit of Mount Hermon,” continued Netanyahu. “We hold these territories to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel, and that is what obligates us.”
The prime minister suggested further that in a “good spirit and understanding of these principles, it is also possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians.”
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NFL player apologizes over backlash for doing Trump dance: ‘I did not mean to offend anyone’
A Detroit Lions player says he is sorry if he hurt anyone’s feelings.
The Lions crushed the Washington Commanders 44-22 in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday, in a game that featured a flyover from President Trump in Air Force One.
‘It had nothing to do with who the president was.’
The event included the president in the commentary booth, and Trump swore in members of the military over a chorus of boos from Commanders fans.
Fans were likely equally as perturbed when Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown celebrated a touchdown with Trump’s signature dance, which was a massive trend among athletes in 2024.
Evidence of displeasure from fans was apparent on social media following the game. Detractors called Brown “a f**king disgrace” and a “hoe ass n***a,” while claiming he is “supporting an orange racist, sexist, felon currently stopping people from receiving food.”
On Wednesday, St. Brown took to his podcast to address the controversy. His brother, Equanimeous, brought up the “elephant in the room” less than six minutes into the episode.
“You had a touchdown celebration. Talk about it,” Equanimeous prompted his brother.
Amon-Ra then immediately apologized.
“First of all, if I offended anyone, I do apologize. I did not mean to offend anyone. It was just we’re having fun,” he said on the “St. Brown Podcast.”
The 26-year-old added, “If any president was at that game — if they had a dance, I would have done it. It had nothing to do with who the president was.”
While it seemed that St. Brown was deliberately fence-sitting, he commented on the historic nature of Trump’s appearance at the Commanders’ venue.
“Even after the game, I found out — someone told me that was the first game that a president has been to in over 40 years. So first regular-season game, which is crazy,” he said.
The receiver said the controversy was simply a case of him and his teammates “having fun doing the dance”; “nothing more, nothing less.”
Backing his brother, Equanimeous equally described the “quick shimmy” as “nothing serious, nothing political.”
Trump has become intertwined with the Commanders franchise during his second term, as the team hopes to move back to D.C. and a $2.7 billion stadium.
Trump, the NFL, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) praised the plans in May while announcing that the city would also host the 2027 NFL Draft.
The president subsequently threatened to suspend the whole deal if the Commanders refused to change their name back to the Washington Redskins. The team abandoned the moniker in 2020, going as the Washington Football Team until rebranding as the Washington Commanders in 2022.
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