Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

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

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Olympics Open Thread: Terrible News for the DNA Harvesters

Olympics Open Thread: Terrible News for the DNA Harvesters

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… Since the 1988 Seoul Games, hundreds of thousands of free condoms have been distributed at the Olympics, to encourage safe sex as the world’s elite athletes mingle at close quarters.

While organisers are still expected to hand out 160,000 at the pandemic-postponed Games, which start next month, virus rules should limit interaction in the Olympic Village.

The rulebook for athletes specifically warns them to “avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact”, leaving some wondering why condoms are being distributed at all….

While the distribution is going ahead, there’s a wrinkle for manufacturers: a ban on their prized model, condoms that are just 0.01mm thick.

As soon as Tokyo was named 2020 host, Japanese condom firms thrust ahead with their manufacturing to ensure maximum coverage in time for the Games.

Now it turns out the manufacturers can only distribute their latex-based condoms, while the ultra-thin models are made of polyurethane, according to the Japan Condoms Industrial Association…

… Dr. Shigeru Omi’s recommendation seems to put him at odds with organizers and the International Olympic Committee with the Olympics opening in just five weeks on July 23.

Fans from abroad were banned several months ago, and organizers are to announce early next week if some local fans should be allowed.

“We believe the risks of infections inside venues would be lowest by holding the event with no fans,” said the report, which was compiled by a group of 26 experts led by Omi, a former World Health Organization official. It was submitted to the government and Olympic officials

Widely circulated reports say the government wants to allow up to 10,000 people at some sports and cultural events. This policy is expected to be applied to the Olympics with smaller ceilings at smaller venues, and differences for indoor and outdoor venues…

Ticket sales were to account for $800 million in income for the organizing committee. Much of it will be lost and government entities will have to make up the shortfall.

Organizers say about 3.6 million-3.7 million tickets are still held by residents of Japan. About 800,000 tickets were returned locally.

The total number of tickets originally announced for the Olympics was about 7.8 million.

The official cost of the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion, although government audits suggest it is much higher. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

The IOC is pushing ahead with Tokyo, partly because it depends on broadcast rights sales for almost 75% of its income. Sponsors supply about 18%…

Japan has attributed just over 14,000 deaths to COVID-19 and has controlled the virus better than many countries, but not as well as many in Asia. Only 15% of Japanese have at least one COVID-19 vaccination, and much of the public has been opposed to holding the Olympics.

Poll answers have shifted depending on how the question is phrased, and the country’s second-most widely circulated newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, has said the games should be called off.

Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike said Saturday that all mass public viewings of this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics in the Japanese capital will be canceled as part of precautions against the coronavirus.

After holding talks with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for about an hour, the governor told reporters that some of the six venues planned to be used for the screenings will instead be offered as COVID-19 vaccination sites…

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  2. 2.

    Chetan Murthy

    the governor told reporters that some of the six venues planned to be used for the screenings will instead be offered as COVID-19 vaccination sites…

    Women, gettin’ the job done.  Good on her!

  4. 4.

    Ken

    SPACE ALIEN: Explain these “Olympics”…

    HUMAN: Well, every four years we get some of humanity’s finest physical specimens all in one place.

    SPACE ALIEN. Ah, of course, and you breed them there to improve your race.

    HUMAN. No, that’s not the point of the event.

    SPACE ALIEN. So they don’t have sex?

    HUMAN. Ah. Well. Yes, yes they do, quite a lot, we all giggle about it, but they take precautions so they don’t have children.

    SPACE ALIEN.  …

  8. 8.

    MomSense

    Also, too Covid ruined the best Olympic Flag – with the rings as the Os and 0s in Toyko 2020

  9. 9.

    MattF

    Just as a reminder— it was our favorite proto-fascist, Senator Tom Cotton, who promoted the idea that those devious Chinese would be on the lookout for elite DNA at the Olympics. I’ll spare everyone the dozen reasons why that’s sooo stupid.

  10. 10.

    Eadwacer

    If they can’t use them at the Olympics, they can always hire some young ladies to hand them out at streetcorners in Tokyo, the way they do with tissue packets.

  11. 11.

    Booger

    I did read that last graf as the “sex venues.” Which would make the events more interesting.

  17. 17.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @MattF: tom cotton gives off big ed helms at the sex club in the hangover pt 2 vibes.

    there’s semen in him.

  20. 20.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Suzanne: ​ 
    It’s the same with the European soccer championships, they keep the scheduled year for marketing and branding purposes.

  21. 21.

    Tony Jay

    I’m now imagining, all across the world, the parents of Olympic athletes reading this article at the breakfast table and pausing, toast going cold, while they think back over all the early morning training sessions and long-distance qualifying events they shuttled their offspring to for all those years, then looking across the table at the tousled head bent over smartphone and high-energy breakfast and deciding.

    “I’ll buy them some Trojan Sensitives with the probiotic shakes. only the best for my girl.”

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    @Chetan Murthy: I’m…surprised (in a happy way!) that Tokyo has a female mayor. I hope she has higher ambitions. Japanese politics on the national level is heavily dominated by men.

  26. 26.

    There go two miscreants

    leaving some wondering why condoms are being distributed at all….

    Umm, because the organizers aren’t entirely dim?

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MattF:

    I’ll spare everyone the dozen reasons why that’s sooo stupid. 

    There are only a dozen reasons for a stupid, Tom Cotton idea?  You sure? :)

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    As soon as Tokyo was named 2020 host, Japanese condom firms thrust ahead with their manufacturing to ensure maximum coverage in time for the Games.

    “Thrust ahead…”

    Oh, my!

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @Tony Jay:

    “I’ll buy them some Trojan Sensitives with the probiotic shakes. only the best for my girl.”

    Actually makes for a good commercial.

    ETA: if you haven’t done so already, it would be fun to read your thoughts on that 21 day wonder, former DUP leader Poots.  I also doubt that a stern creationist like him would approve of condoms.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Brian Schatz @brianschatz Jun 18
    There is a fascist, authoritarian movement in this country and they tried to turn us into a dictatorship this year.

    So, sometimes, when I get asked stuff like “democrats seem to be defining infrastructure more broadly than before are you concerned that might make it difficult to have a successful cloture vote” you will understand if my head combusts.

    that rarest of animals: A US Senator who doesn’t like to be on TV

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    OT. Advertisement for Subway heard on the radio five minutes ago included this job title inflation:

    “We have openings for sandwich artists for all shifts.”

  38. 38.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl:

    Is Olympic Fucking a sport in the Summer olympics or the Winter one? 

    On a related note:

    Me to Mr. Suzanne: “Do you think the Apple Watch records thrusts as steps?”
    ***ten minutes later***
    Mr. Suzanne: “Yes.”

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @Brachiator: that 21 day wonder, former DUP leader Poots

    I think we must entertain the theory that Brexit came about as a result of a literal deal with the devil — or perhaps something more Lovecraftian — and the terms require the destruction of some British politician’s career every month.

  44. 44.

    Tony Jay

    @Brachiator:

    Sometimes, it’s just so hard to mock when the target does all of the work for you. I’m supposed to make them look even more ridiculous? How?

    It’ss be nice to see the DUP go the way of the non-existent dinosaurs, though.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    Did y’all see that a giant lump of manflesh named Ryan Crouser broke the 30YO world shotput record at the US Olympics Track and Field championships? In front of a hometown crowd, no less. Fun meet so far, and the new track-only stadium build entirely from stacks Nike money at UO is something else. Just wow.​

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    Relatively thrilled to report that while at this time yesterday and Thursday it was 110 degrees ATM it’s a chilly 100.

    Progress.

  50. 50.

    Tony Jay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

     Any Bruin will tell you Trojans burst under pressure.

    Boyfriend turns to his pal and smirks, the “Whayagonnado?” shrug says it all.

    Girlfriend mutters under her breath. “Yeah, ‘cos of all the air trapped in it.”

    Boyfriend looks mortified, the Pal laughs out loud.

    The Pal’s girlfriend makes a “Pop!” noise with her lips.

    The Pal stops laughing.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    @Roger Moore: @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I’m not sure I have ever seen this much consensus on the blog!

    edit: with the possible exception of one of the best threads of all times when someone’s husband cut down the wrong tree, and all the guys said “of course he did it on purpose”.  If anyone can find the link to that one, I definitely think it needs to be included in the set for the 20th anniversary of Balloon Juice collection.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    Is Olympic Fucking a sport in the Summer olympics or the Winter one?

    Yes to both.  It’s the last bastion of true amateurism in the Olympics.

    Three time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton later turned pro, but her story was somewhat sad.

    It’s kinda interesting that for the most part, the participating athletes don’t tattle about one another. And until relatively recently, I guess, the media were also discreet about these matters.

    I also note that we always get prudes who rail about viewers and others who sexualize athletes and their hot bodies. This is clearly not a problem for the athletes themselves. Matters of consent vs coercion, etc., noted.

  60. 60.

    Doug R

    @WaterGirl:

     

    I haven’t watched the olympics in years… Is Olympic Fucking a sport in the Summer olympics or the Winter one?

    I was in Calgary during the 1988 winter games and visited the University-LOTS of hooking up going on-so the answer is BOTH.

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl: ​
     
    Probably not. I was in Phoenix for business this past week- the main reason I haven’t commented much- and it was over 110°F every day while I was there. I don’t understand how anyone could live there before air conditioning.

  65. 65.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Brachiator: something special from wisconsin.

    suzy favor-hamilton is the softer side of wisconsin sexcrimes. that said, rip jeffrey dahmer.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t understand how anyone could live there before air conditioning. 

    Very few people did.

    Seeing my AZ friends’ social media this week has been making me much less homesick. Hah.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    That was Litlebritdifrnt from 2014.

    He called me at the office in the middle of a meeting with a client and asked me if he should cut down any of the trees. I told him no under no circumstances cut down any of the trees. I drove into the driveway this evening and discovered that he had cut down to the ground my 20 year old Japanese Maple.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    Also from the Balloon Juice files: I believe today is valued commenter Kay’s birthday.

    And Cole’s birthday is Tuesday.

  75. 75.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    Did you ever see it with decent sound?

    A fellow techie suggested that sometimes HBO Max has audio problems with “premieres,” i.e., live streams, but not “archived” stuff,  but I don’t know if I buy that. I think you said you also had sound problems with something else—Dreamgirls?

  77. 77.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    No, the sound continued to be terrible all through. It seemed about as bad on Dreamgirls, but last night after finishing In the Heights, we started Clueless and the sound was fine. It’s really annoying. I didn’t really like the movie, but I don’t want to judge it too harshly since I couldn’t hear most of the music and we had to have the subtitles in order to hear any of the dialogue. I feel as if Miranda just handed it over to Hudes, and she demolished the original musical and turned it into agit-prop. But it’s hard for me to tell if someone who didn’t know the musical might like the movie, I don’t know.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    And I tried calling HBO Max, got somebody who clearly was on another continent and didn’t have a clue. She told me she would “escalate” it and they would contact me by e-mail. A strange, cryptic e-mail came from HBO Max, but it had no effect on the sound of the movie.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    HBO streaming audio problems are legendary. IIRC they’re geared for Dolby 5.1 but have been historically problematic with seamlessly meshing with that setting on some systems/devices.

    What device do you have the app installed on?
    What operating system are you using?
    Are you using built-in speakers, external audio (speakers or soundbar) or headphones?
    Have you tried uninstalling the app, restarting your device and then installing the app afresh?

    Cycling through the audio settings of your device might provide a configuration which gives relief.

  81. 81.

    TheflipPsyd

    Hi all

    Haven’t  read all the comments, but just heard on news that some idiot ran a car into a pride parade in Florida and may have killed one person (unconfirmed). Just so sad and people seem to be getting angrier.

    I feel like all this pent up emotion from the pandemic is coming out. I truly believe we are about to have a major mental crisis in the next year. Those people who already filled with hate will continue to act out, but I also think people who are on the edge are being pushed over the edge.

  83. 83.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax: Oh, I’ve finished the movie and I’ll probably just drop the subscription. Thanks! All this looks too tiring.

  84. 84.

    CaseyL

    @zhena gogolia: The “strange, cryptic” email you got from HBO Max – it wasn’t one that said “Test” and nothing else, was it?  Because that was a little mistake by a CSR that was all over Twitter a couple of days ago.

    OT: I read an article in WaPo about “Italygate,” which has to be the nuttiest (so far) 2020 election conspiracy.

    A RW nutjob, imposter, and all-round grifter posed as the Director of a RW investigative organization, and did an interview at a $30 million house she does not own (?!?!) – claiming it’s the HQ for the organization – to talk about Italian hackers switching Trump votes to Biden.  It’s quite a story, with about a dozen people claiming to be experts, intel agents, etc., that they were not.  The woman was revealed to be a realtor, which explains how she got access to the house (it was listed for sale).

    The whole story is completely bonkers.

    The people who believe this crap… the sheer stupidity, the people who believe anything they hear, no matter how insane it is… how on Gaea’s green earth do they manage to breathe without professional assistance?

    ETA: I heard some rumblings about something called “Italygate” but didn’t pay any attention to it as just another Trumpist hallucinatory alt.history thing.  Which it is.  But, lordy, it’s really, really dumb.

  85. 85.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    From previous discussion, it doesn’t appear to be a general sound problem or a device problem. It’s a specific problem with some individual titles, common denominator unknown.

  88. 88.

    joel hanes

    @Roger Moore:

    Phoenix was on average ten degrees cooler in the years before widespread air conditioning.

    See the Phoenix articles by “Rogue Columnist” Jon Ralston for a sad and angry recounting of the ways that feckless development destroyed a formerly-lovely urban center in the desert.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: I don’t know how that could be considered accurate. I mean, how much actual motion can occur in a MRI?! I have had multiple MRIs and designed more MRI suites, and they, ummmmm, would not accommodate the typical range of motion.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    watching The Godfather II for the nth time and I just noticed Danny Aiello played one of the Rosato brothers. I love catching well-known actors in smaller, early roles like that.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @CaseyL: It seems like there’s an epidemic of Delusional Disorders in the USA – or they have easy access to the media now.

    Repost – This American Life #506 – Secret Identity (transcript):

    Jon Ronson Theo had emailed Herson a letter on Defense Intelligence Agency letterhead, describing the bank operation, titled “Operation Down Strike,” an operation involving civilian volunteers who would be immune from civil and criminal action. It asks police that, upon receipt of the letter, to assist in the operation.

    The officer in charge, a veteran detective named John Vickery, was skeptical. But the letter was perplexing. And then, six hours after Herson was arrested, Detective Vickery got a call from a number he didn’t recognize.

    It was Theo. He demanded to know what the police had done with Herson. He sounded authoritative and exasperated and explained that he was with the CIA.

    Delusional Disorder:

    Delusional disorder, previously called paranoid disorder, is a type of serious mental illness — called a “psychosis”— in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined. The main feature of this disorder is the presence of delusions, which are unshakable beliefs in something untrue. People with delusional disorder experience non-bizarre delusions, which involve situations that could occur in real life, such as being followed, poisoned, deceived, conspired against, or loved from a distance. These delusions usually involve the misinterpretation of perceptions or experiences. In reality, however, the situations are either not true at all or highly exaggerated.

    People with delusional disorder often can continue to socialize and function quite normally, apart from the subject of their delusion, and generally do not behave in an obviously odd or bizarre manner. This is unlike people with other psychotic disorders, who also might have delusions as a symptom of their disorder. In some cases, however, people with delusional disorder might become so preoccupied with their delusions that their lives are disrupted.

    It explains so much about Q and TFG and the GQP and all the rest…

    As one suspects, arguing that they’re talking nonsense doesn’t help. But saying things like, “well since they haven’t actually paid you for your help yet, maybe don’t act on what they tell you to do just yet…” at least has a chance.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @joel hanes:  There used to be more rain, the rivers used to flow, there used to be more orange groves, and there used to be less pavement and fewer people.

    In the 32 years I lived there, the urban center expanded by miles. Up to 20 miles in certain directions. It isn’t sustainable.

  95. 95.

    joel hanes

    @Suzanne:

    In another 20 years, when there are multiple weeks in a summer with daytime temps above 125 F, Phoenix will start to be uninhabitable.

    Sooner if the drought in the west deepens.

  99. 99.

    CaseyL

    @Another Scott: ​
     

    I agree madness is pandemic; and there are more reasons why that is than there are grains of sand :)

    It’s the stupidity that gets to me. We have an epidemic of crazy AND stupid, which cannot possibly end well.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The Legislature has spoken.  It reminds me of Theodore Thomas’ classic short story “The Weather Man”, where the Weather Congress legislates the weather, the Weather Advisors work out how to produce what they want, and the Weather Bureau implements it.  Except the Arizona Legislature is missing the other two components.

  102. 102.

    Barry

    @Roger Moore: “Probably not. I was in Phoenix for business this past week- the main reason I haven’t commented much- and it was over 110°F every day while I was there. I don’t understand how anyone could live there before air conditioning.”

    The story of the Sunbelt is the story of air conditioning.

  103. 103.

    Barry

    @Suzanne: “In the 32 years I lived there, the urban center expanded by miles. Up to 20 miles in certain directions. It isn’t sustainable.”

     

    some magazine recently had an article on Phoenix.  The short story is that the concrete and asphalt urban heat island effect has vastly expanded over the past few decades, raising the typical dawn temp by 10 degrees.

  105. 105.

    zhena gogolia

    @gwangung: 
    Yes, I know. I was imprecise. She wrote the book of the musical. But she wrote the screenplay for the film, and it seems (although I do not know) that Miranda let her do what she liked with it. In the process, the musical got lost, in my humble opinion.

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