Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bark louder, little dog.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

I really should read my own blog.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread: Hey, How ‘Bout Them Olympics?

Friday Evening Open Thread: Hey, How ‘Bout Them Olympics?

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I considered putting up a livestream for the Opening Ceremonies this morning, but then I remembered the last time I tried that it temporarily shorted out the whole blog. So I went to bed instead (I keep vampire hours, going to bed around dawn and getting up in the afternoon.)

If you also missed the ceremony, NBC will be rebroadcasting it at 8pm EST. SB Nation has some nice how-to-watch information here.

If you’re not avoiding “spoilers”, NYMag‘s Vulture sublog has gifs of “10 Moments You Missed at the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony”.

***********

Who’s planning on watching which events, tonight or over the next week?
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One public-relations save already…

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  3. 3.

    scav

    Ah, so to state the obvious, Pence took the ass at a sporting event opening ceremony? That’s our administration.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    I like the guy on the team who refused to meet with Pence. I hope many medalists refuse to go to the White House.

  5. 5.

    Yutsano

    I feel like I should be more excited, but I just keep thinking, wasn’t the Olympics just there?

  6. 6.

    NorthLeft12

    They are compulsive hypocrites. They just cannot pass an opportunity by to do almost exactly what they threw a shrill hissy fit about the day before.
    Sad.

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    @NorthLeft12: You guys SURE you don’t want to invade us now? It’s not like we have brilliant military leadership right now.

    Hell at least come take Washington and resolve that unpleasantness from a few years back.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: They lost me as an Olympics watcher when they became ghouls and gossips – “I understand your dad died yesterday, how does that make you feel about your event tomorrow” and someone stopped being able to figure out how to cover an event – you know, like an entire volleyball match, or whatever.

  10. 10.

    hueyplong

    Last year Pence traveled to an NFL game purely to walk out after the national anthem.

    It’s what they do.

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl: American coverage has always been terrible. I always try to follow through the CBC sports website, which also has really decent streams of events and none of the bullshit commentary we get down here.

  14. 14.

    NorthLeft12

    @Yutsano: No thanks, we have enough RWNJs to deal with already, we really don’t need to absorb another + fifty million or more.

  18. 18.

    Yutsano

    @NorthLeft12: That’s why I suggested Washington. About 3 million of us are already leftist hippies and the rest can all be deported to Saskatchewan where they’d be happier in their RWNJ stew.

  19. 19.

    J R in WV

    I used to enjoy watching the Olympics back when NBC didn’t have the rights. ABC treated all the athletes as successful striving competitors, not just the Americans.

    NBC is very Jingoistic about the Olympics, which goes against everything the Games are supposed to be about.

    We learn about any American athlete with an interesting back story who receives any medals, and never hear about events won by European or Asian competitors. The most interesting events go dark unless Americans are in the running for a medal.

    Sad !!!\\\

    Plus lately our NBC broadcast signal has dropped into the pits, breaking up picture, dropping out sound. I did manage to watch the Superb Owl game on streaming service, tho. Not the worst broadcast team for NFL games, that would be any team with former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman on it.

  20. 20.

    encephalopath

    ALL the Curling!

    I put the Olympics app on my Roku. You can view any of the ongoing events live. Or go back to previous days and view the recorded events and the FF==> works. It’s fantastic.

    You need to be an active cable or streaming teevee customer for it to work. I use PlayStation Vue so that works for me..

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    @charluckles:

    Childish assholes, the lot of them. Everything we teach our children not to be.

    Parents for the next decade are going to be slapped with “How can it be wrong if you can still be president after you do it?”

    I foresee a continuing decline in public morals and morale going forward.

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    Pence sitting near KJU’s sister was a sight to behold. Looked like rigor had set in as he stared into space in the opposite direction. Although maybe that’s his normal look…?

    ETA: no ‘lympics. Shelby Lynne/Allison Moorer concert 2nite.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I hadn’t hard that Starbursts Kevin was a candidate for CoS. Apparently trump wants someone who isn’t a hard-ass control freak like that powerhouse Reince Priebus

    Josh Dorner @ JoshDorner
    Now that Trump is floating him as CoS, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and recall the time Kevin McCarthy admitted live on television that the entire Benghazi investigation was a years-long, multi-million dollar political hit job.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    @NorthLeft12:

    No thanks, we have enough RWNJs to deal with already, we really don’t need to absorb another + fifty million or more.

    At least burn down the White House while Trump is still in it for old time’s sake!

    We can always build a new White House.

  25. 25.

    mike in dc

    I hope every time the Olympic commentators point out that Russia will be getting zero medals, a sad trombone sound plays.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    @jl:

    Based on Pence’s recent talk and actions, he may not have understood what was going on.

    What do you mean recent?

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @J R in WV:

    Not the worst broadcast team for NFL games, that would be any team with former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman on it.

    Ain’t that the truth. Aikman broadcasting a game where the Cowboys are shitting the bed is especially instructive.

  28. 28.

    Chyron HR

    Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves why the teams from countries like Nambia, Normay and France are full of FOREIGNERS instead of much more talented AMERICANS? Why do we allow these blatant POLITICALLY CORRECT QUOTAS to deprive some of America’s best and whitest athletes of the chance to play at the Olympics?

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump today announced his intent to nominate Adm. Harry Harris, the head of U.S. Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith, to be the next ambassador to Australia.

    The White House announcement said Harris is a “highly decorated, combat-proven Naval officer with extensive knowledge, leadership and geo-political expertise in the Indo-Pacific region.”

    Harris is a hardliner against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea and has frequently faced the wrath of Beijing over his criticism of the rising Asian nation’s territorial claims and island-building in the disputed region.

    About $3 trillion in trade passes through the South China sea annually, and the United States is concerned about China’s attempts to control ship and air passage through the area.

    China will be unhappy about Trump’s decision to appoint Harris ambassador to Australia.

    Australia, meanwhile, has been frustrated that the United States has not had an ambassador to that country since September 2016.

    I am not happy about what this says about things when so many military personnel are being tapped for civilian jobs.

  33. 33.

    TenguPhule

    The CDC said the number of suspected flu cases at doctor’s offices and hospital emergency rooms last week matched that seen in 2009, when a new swine flu pandemic swept the world and panicked many people. Swine flu, also called pandemic H1N1, was a new strain that hadn’t been seen before. It first hit that spring, at the tail end of the winter season, but doctor visits hit their height in late October during a second wave.

    This flu season, hospitalization rates have surpassed the nasty season of the winter of 2014-2015, when the vaccine was a poor match to the main bug.

  35. 35.

    lgerard

    So this is Pence’s sole governmental function, registering childish disapproval at sporting events?

    Oh wait, I forgot, casting deciding Senate votes in favor of hilariously unqualified appointments.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    um….

    BERLIN — After months of secret negotiations, a shadowy Russian bilked American spies out of $100,000 last year, promising to deliver stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons in a deal that he insisted would also include compromising material on President Trump, according to American and European intelligence officials.
    The cash, delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September, was intended as the first installment of a $1 million payout, according to American officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by The New York Times. The theft of the secret hacking tools had been devastating to the N.S.A., and the agency was struggling to get a full inventory of what was missing.

    This story has migrated from the Intercept to the NYT, and yes, this is the trump admin trying to buy Russian compromat about trump

  40. 40.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    Parents for the next decade are going to be slapped with “How can it be wrong if you can still be president after you do it?”

    I foresee a continuing decline in public morals and morale going forward.

    Sigh. I miss those innocent days when children could look to President Clinton for guidance about oral sex.

    I was going to write something about not using public figures as role models… However, there is a complex question here about politics, and how citizens could elect a person who is publically dishonest and deficient in almost every possible way as president.

    I am not a Republican, could never be, but if I magically was turned into one, I could not support this president or be quiet about his manifest failings.

  42. 42.

    jl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: From the Intercept story I read, so many people and organizations involved, if that is what it is, might be like trying to ‘delete’ stuff from the internet. That is, rarely works.

    Also, as mentioned in Intercept story, there is a problem since purchasers might have to report incriminating evidence against Trump that arrives in the crumpled brown paper bag.

    So, wonder whether announcement that number 3 at DOJ is leaving in order to get that ‘job offer of a lifetime’, apparently at Walmart (?? I’m not sure whether that is a joke or not)
    https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/962117678218596358

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: and the guy who admitted that the Benghazi (!) hearings were about driving down HRC’s numbers.

    @WaterGirl: Dumber than a bag of trump hair. But maybe smart enough to think that an ex-COS, even for trump, is a hotter commodity than an ex- deputy leader, or whatever he is. And arrogant enough to think that he can keep his hands clean

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    I am not happy about what this says about things when so many military personnel are being tapped for civilian jobs.

    Yep. This is obviously Trump’s fall back position, his comfort zone. It’s incredibly lazy and again betrays his incompetence and inability to learn how to do his freaking job.

    Harris is a hardliner against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea and has frequently faced the wrath of Beijing over his criticism of the rising Asian nation’s territorial claims and island-building in the disputed region.

    What a stupid, futile gesture. I wonder what the Australians will think about this attempt to reduce foreign policy to gunboat diplomacy.

  48. 48.

    RSA

    It appears the U.S. Olympic Committee would like to change that to ‘Darker, Gayer, Different.’ If your goal is to win medals, that won’t work.

    Moody doesn’t seem to know what the goal of the Olympics actually is.

    The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

  49. 49.

    jl

    @WaterGirl: McCarthy also represents CA’s fighin’ 23rd, right next to fightin’ 22nd, Nunes’ district. They represent the remaining bastions of GOP politics in CA’s San Joaquin Valley and Kern Basin.

    The rest is now blue or purple. I think we can get a lot more blue in the 22nd, but I am more hopeful about that than others.

  50. 50.

    Josie

    @Brachiator: Charles Barkley famously said that professional sports figures should not be role models. Maybe he should have added Republican politicians to that quote.

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    That picture of John Moody looks odd. Is his wig too small, or was his dye job supposed to leave some “distinguished-looking” grey at the temples?

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    @jl: The more idiots who leave congress to join Trump’s sinking ship, the more opportunities we have to get more seats. But it’s getting hard to remain patient. I need Mueller to indict someone new to help shore up my faith.

    It’s like spring. Do I know spring will actually come each year? Yes. But until we get that first 60 degree day at some point in February, I don’t truly KNOW spring will come. After that one day, we can have as many cold days and as much snow as it takes; I’m good because i know spring will come.

  54. 54.

    Cacti

    Did you also notice:

    First, right wingers were angry that black NFL players were “disrespecting the flag” by kneeling

    Then, right wingers were angry at a black Olympian who wanted to carry the flag.

    It’s almost like, what makes them angry actually has nothing to do with the flag, and that the flag is just a fig leaf for something else.

    Probably economic anxiety. ;-)

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    So it’s been 5 days and I haven’t seen Trump release the Schiff rebuttal memo or say he will not be releasing it. Does Trump just get to ignore the 5-day deadline?

  57. 57.

    jl

    @encephalopath: Bakersfiled has a few good points. And I don’t even come from there or Kern Basin. I got no dog in that fight.

    There, I said it. The vast majority of people I know from around there are wingnuts, It is headquarters for the Trumpist wing of my extended family.

  58. 58.

    Redshift

    Pence’s (and the whole Trump administration’s) determination to torpedo any diplomatic openings, because of their black and white view that North Korea is evil and the only way forward is punishment, is… something. It looks like the best opening for diplomacy, but they want either capitulation or a war, so that’s a bad thing.

  60. 60.

    jl

    @WaterGirl: He’ll say that the 5 day deadline is unfair and it tricked him. Deep State coup plotting!

    @Redshift: Somewhat the same as GW Bush, except they were smart enough to not do and say really offensive dangerous and counterproductive stuff about it on a regular basis. The ‘do…. … … something..’ part is exactly the same.

  62. 62.

    magurakurin

    @J R in WV: It’s not only the US. While not actually jingoistic, the coverage in Japan focuses almost entirely on events in which there is a Japanese athlete. This means there is a shitload of curling on tv during the Olympics here. Skiing events tend to get truncated to a few skiers before the Japanese athlete and a couple after. The cross country ski races are camera shots of the leader and the Japanese skiers. Etc, etc. Not unlike the States.

    I’d reckon there are two main types of Olympic viewers. The first being people who just love sports, will watch anything and relish the chance to see sporting events they rarely get to see otherwise. The second are people who like to rally around the flag and will watch anything if the players have the Stars and Stripes or Union Jack or Hinomaru, etc. on their uniform. TV coverage of the Olympics tends to leave the former group woefully unsatisfied.

  64. 64.

    magurakurin

    @Waldo: and what’s bad is, that the two Koreas making gestures like this, however hollow, is important. The problem on the Korean Peninsula is, first and foremost, a Korean problem. They hate each other. Yes, meddling by the US, China and Russia doesn’t help, but until the two Koreas decide to stop hating each other no solution is possible. But this administration doesn’t want any solution that doesn’t include a nuclear strike, I fear.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @J R in WV:

    NBC is very Jingoistic about the Olympics, which goes against everything the Games are supposed to be about.

    We learn about any American athlete with an interesting back story who receives any medals, and never hear about events won by European or Asian competitors. The most interesting events go dark unless Americans are in the running for a medal.

    NBC learned that concentrating on American athletes and warm “narrative stories” were ratings gold. And they have stuck with this even though it ruins the Olympics.

    One summer games they followed an American who ended up in 5th or 6th place and didn’t even mention the foreign athlete who won the Bronze medal in this particular sport. Later, some mindless patter revealed that the American had never performed at a level that gave even a chance at winning a medal. But, hey, “America Fuck Yeah!!”

    ABC did something simple, but essential. Let you know what the sport was about (for casual viewers), what a good performance might be, and who were the leading competitors, no matter where they were from. And they still had room for human interest stories. But this pro-America with soap opera BS is infuriating.

  68. 68.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @lgerard:

    Oh wait, I forgot, casting deciding Senate votes in favor of hilariously unqualified appointments.

    He’s already cast six tie-breaking votes this past year.

    Biden never cast any in 8 years and Cheney cast 8 in 8 years.

  72. 72.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl:

    someone stopped being able to figure out how to cover an event – you know, like an entire volleyball match, or whatever.

    What’s so difficult? You set the camera at waist level or a little below, just like covering swimming events.

  74. 74.

    raven

    So the awful, horrible, jingoistic American network took exactly three minutes to move from talking about Americans to other nations. Ya’ll are the whiniest motherfuckers on earth.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @chris:

    Holy fuck.

    WH speech writer David Sorensen’s ex-wife said he drove over her foot with a car, put out a cigarette on her hand, threw her into a wall and grasped her menacingly by her hair.

  81. 81.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @chris:
    Oh but the Nunes Memo is a-ok to declassify. What a nakedly self-serving move.

  86. 86.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Only the best people!

    “I stand by Dave. He’s a very fine person. He did nothing I wouldn’t do myself. Melania has needed to be punished from time to time.”

  88. 88.

    eemom

    Scene:

    1. Vice “President” Pence is ordered by his boss to cross the border into North Korea, so as to deliver to Kim Jong-un the promised “bloody nose” in person.

    2. Vice “President” Pence is arrested and charged with multiple offenses against the Kim regime, and sentenced to multiple life sentences in one of the Nazi-esque North Korean death camps.

    3. Vice “President” Pence either (a) serves his sentence, or (b) like that poor boy from UVA, falls into a coma from which he never awakens, and is eventually returned to the Oval Office in an oversized fedex box.

    #agirlcandream

  89. 89.

    dmsilev

    @Ken:

    It’s information. Surely they’re not so naive as to think buying it means the Russians won’t still have it?

    Just like Peak Wingnut is a lie, Peak Trump Stupidity is likewise unpossible.

  90. 90.

    cynthia ackerman

    @Josie:

    Barkley said those words on a sound stage in Hollywood.

    I was part of the crew, have a picture from my Minox spy camera looking over the shoulder of the commercial’s director, Joe Pytka, in a horned devil cap goading Sir Charles saying that iconic phrase.

  91. 91.

    dmsilev

    @eemom: If Mike Pence was captured by the North Koreans and brainwashed to become a mindless zombie ready to do their bidding, could we tell the difference?

  92. 92.

    sukabi

    @WaterGirl: just saw a thing on local news that Drumpf is NOT going to reclassify the dem. counter memo. They might release a edited, cherry-picked version of it though.

    It’s really no surprise.

  95. 95.

    japa21

    Refusing to declassify does not mean the memo cannot be released. It can be released with redactions. My guess would be that even with redactions it would show just how wrong the Nunes memo was.

  97. 97.

    mai naem mobile

    @chris: I am so not shocked. These fucking assholes have put party over country in everything and I don’t even know if you can put back this Humpty Dumpty back together again.

  103. 103.

    Mike J

    @JPL: Just announced, Trump won’t release the memo.

    Democrats can read it on the floor of the house and under the speech and debate clause can’t be tried for releasing classified info.

  109. 109.

    RedDirtGirl

    Open thread? I’m new to the twitterverse and am still finding my way around. Can anyone tell me how to just pull up my own tweets, without things I retweeted?

  110. 110.

    Fair Economist

    I’ve been really down on NBC coverage from back when they would skip the winning competitors in an event to show the Americans losing, backed up by melodramatic narrative. Ridiculous. They’ve gotten somewhat better, but still…

    It was almost poetic justice that they spent about 20 minutes fluffing Nathan Chen and then he bombed in the team event short program. Not right for Mr. Chen, of course, since he’s not responsible for NBC’s melodramatics.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I hadn’t seen that and I searched for Bannon in this thread and yours was the first reference. Not that it’s a shocker that Bannon would do something like that…

  112. 112.

    chris

    @dmsilev: From the letters I doubt that it got as far as Trump, his people are covering for him. Let’s see if they can revise and redact enough to publish.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Aah. I had to give that up years ago. I loved his Saturday morning show, but I thought he turned to shit when he got the evening show. Thanks for watching and sharing.

  118. 118.

    Josie

    @cynthia ackerman: That is so cool. I remember thinking at the time that Charles was so right in what he said, that parents should be the role models for their children. I have liked him ever since.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    @dmsilev:

    If Mike Pence was captured by the North Koreans and brainwashed to become a mindless zombie ready to do their bidding, could we tell the difference?

    Yes, he’ll have more charisma.

  129. 129.

    encephalopath

    @Fair Economist:

    That’s what the app is good for on Firestick or Roku. You can choose to watch any currently running event from end to end with commentary with no cut aways to anything else and no athlete profiles.

    The practices are on there to watch if you want to. I just watched all 8 ends of the US losing to China in mixed doubles curling. And now I go watch the other matches that were running concurrently. The live teevee broadcast is garbage by comparison.

    You can also login with your cable provider credentials and watch on a computer.

  131. 131.

    raven

    @Baud: It’s cool as shit. My fort looked over rice paddys toward the Imjin. On Sunday the people would come into Munsani church and they would walk on the paddy dike. The women in the traditional dresses looked like they were floating on water.

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