It's getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act. The latest blow to Democratic candidates, liberal activists, and naïve columnists like me came Monday from the White House, which announced yet another delay in the Obamacare implementation.Keep reading.
For the second time in a year, certain businesses were given more time before being forced to offer health insurance to most of their full-time workers. Employers with 50 to 99 workers were given until 2016 to comply, two years longer than required by law. During a yearlong grace period, larger companies will be required to insure fewer employees than spelled out in the law.
Not coincidentally, the delays punt implementation beyond congressional elections in November, which raises the first problem with defending Obamacare: The White House has politicized its signature policy.
The win-at-all-cost mentality helped create a culture in which a partisan-line vote was deemed sufficient for passing transcendent legislation. It spurred advisers to develop a dishonest talking point—"If you like your health plan, you'll be able to keep your health plan." And political expediency led Obama to repeat the line, over and over and over again, when he knew, or should have known, it was false.
Defending the ACA became painfully harder when online insurance markets were launched from a multi-million-dollar website that didn't work, when autopsies on the administration's actions revealed an epidemic of incompetence that began in the Oval Office and ended with no accountability.
Then officials started fudging numbers and massaging facts to promote implementation, nothing illegal or even extraordinary for this era of spin. But they did more damage to the credibility of ACA advocates.
Finally, there are the ACA rule changes—at least a dozen major adjustments, without congressional approval. J. Mark Iwry, deputy assistant Treasury secretary for health policy, said the administration has broad "authority to grant transition relief" under a section of the Internal Revenue Code that directs the Treasury secretary to "prescribe all needful rules and regulations for the enforcement" of tax obligations, according to The New York Times.
Yes, Obamacare is a tax.
Advocates for a strong executive branch, including me, have given the White House a pass on its rule-making authority, because implementing such a complicated law requires flexibility. But the law may be getting stretched to the point of breaking. Think of the ACA as a game of Jenga: Adjust one piece and the rest are affected; adjust too many and it falls...
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
It's Becoming Impossible to Defend #ObamaCare
From Ron Fournier, at National Journal, "Why I'm Getting Sick of Defending Obamacare":
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Obama Rewrites #ObamaCare
At WSJ, "Another Day, Another Lawless Exemption, Once Again for Business" (at Memeorandum)":
Meanwhile, erstwhile diehard ObamaCare defender Martin "BooMan" Longman isn't much defending the law anymore. Instead, he's taken to attacking Ron Fournier for slamming this idiot White House as indefensible. Hey, when the truth hurts, attack the messenger.
BooMan's a f-king dolt. I'm seriously jonesin' to beat November's election results over his head. Something to look forward to for sure, the damned-ass loser.
'ObamaCare" is useful shorthand for the Affordable Care Act not least because the law increasingly means whatever President Obama says it does on any given day. His latest lawless rewrite arrived on Monday as the White House decided to delay the law's employer mandate for another year and in some cases maybe forever.More.
ObamaCare requires businesses with 50 or more workers to offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, but last summer the Treasury offered a year-long delay until 2015 despite having no statutory authorization. Like the individual mandate, the employer decree is central to ObamaCare's claim of universal coverage, but employers said the new labor costs—and the onerous reporting and tax-enforcement rules—would damage job creation and the economy.
ObamaCare requires businesses with 50 or more workers to offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, but last summer the Treasury offered a year-long delay until 2015 despite having no statutory authorization. Like the individual mandate, the employer decree is central to ObamaCare's claim of universal coverage, but employers said the new labor costs—and the onerous reporting and tax-enforcement rules—would damage job creation and the economy.
Liberals insisted that such arguments were false if not beneath contempt, but then all of a sudden the White House implicitly endorsed the other side. Now the new delay arrives amid a furious debate about jobs after a damning Congressional Budget Office report last week, only this time with liberals celebrating ObamaCare's supposed benefits to the job market.
Well, which is it? Either ObamaCare is ushering in a worker's paradise, in which case by the White House's own logic exempting businesses from its ministrations is harming employees. Or else the mandate really is leading business to cut back on hiring, hours and shifting workers to part-time as the evidence in the real economy suggests.
Under the new Treasury rule, firms with 50 to 99 full-time workers are free from the mandate until 2016. And firms with 100 or more workers now also only need cover 70% of full-time workers in 2015 and 95% in 2016 and after, not the 100% specified in the law.
The new rule also relaxes the mandate for certain occupations and industries that were at particular risk for disruption, like volunteer firefighters, teachers, adjunct faculty members and seasonal employees. Oh, and the Treasury also notes that, "As these limited transition rules take effect, we will consider whether it is necessary to further extend any of them beyond 2015." So the law may be suspended indefinitely if the White House feels like it.
By now ObamaCare's proliferating delays, exemptions and administrative retrofits are too numerous to count, most of them of dubious legality. The text of the Affordable Care Act specifically says when the mandate must take effect—"after December 31, 2013"—and does not give the White House the authority to change the terms.
Changing an unambiguous statutory mandate requires the approval of Congress, but then this President has often decided the law is whatever he says it is...
Meanwhile, erstwhile diehard ObamaCare defender Martin "BooMan" Longman isn't much defending the law anymore. Instead, he's taken to attacking Ron Fournier for slamming this idiot White House as indefensible. Hey, when the truth hurts, attack the messenger.
BooMan's a f-king dolt. I'm seriously jonesin' to beat November's election results over his head. Something to look forward to for sure, the damned-ass loser.
How to Get Some on Valentine's Day
Yeah, that'd be nice, lol.
From Esquire.
From Esquire.
A word from Mary-Louise Parker: How to Get Some on Valentine's Day http://t.co/GfMURoMs5J pic.twitter.com/6Luaj6rZuM
— Esquire Magazine (@Esquiremag) February 11, 2014Monday, February 10, 2014
Glenn Greenwald Launches 'The Intercept' in Pathetic Diversion Against Impending Criminal Charges of Fencing Stolen Intelligence
I mentioned yesterday that Glenn Greenwald's a pathological liar. And what better way for a pathological liar to deflect the buring heat of justice bearing down than to accuse your accusers of being pathological liars?
And what better venue to denounce your accusers than the communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!, which is the most anti-American news outlet this side of MSNBC?
The occasion for Greenwald's cries and accusations is the launch of his much-touted, Pierre Omidyar-backed media venture, "The Intercept."
They've got three pieces up at the website, which launched today: "Welcome to The Intercept"; "New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed for First Time"; and "The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program." (At Memeorandum.)
Both Greenwald and partner Jeremy Scahill stress the intense urgency of getting their Omidyar-backed media project off the ground as soon as possibly, purportedly in order to mount an aggressive push-back against what Greenwald calls the "criminalization of journalism."
The problem, of course, is that their program's in fact cyberterrorism disguised under the cloak of journalism, and is thus arguably shielded by the First Amendment protections afforded to those who speak out against U.S. power.
The next problem, obviously, is that Greenwald's patent panoply of lies is pathetically enabled by a virtually unified left-wing partisan press that has continued its work of tearing down the United States since at least 2003 and the Bush administration's enforcement of the 1991 U.N.-backed armistice against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Recall that the entire mountain of lies surrounding Greenwald, his husband David Miranda, and the latter's intelligence-running to Berlin-based activist Laura Poitras, came crashing down under the withering and dogged reporting of blogger and columnist Louise Mensch. The facts are not in dispute. It's only Greenwald et al.'s disgusting and insipid spin that has worked to obscure the true scale of criminality here. Louise has the goods, at the Telegraph UK, "David Miranda detention: Why I believe the Guardian has smeared Britain's security services," and at Unfashionista, "David Miranda – Snowden’s Mule, and physical data," where she writes:
As Louise notes, "If Obama were Bush, the U.S. media would be all over" this --- from the failure to prevent Edward Snowden's treasonous pilfering of top-secret intelligence, to the criminal dissemination of vital data on all aspects of the U.S. national security regime, including most diabolically the release of confidential information identifying human assets in American and British governmental organizations, putting lives gravely at risk.
BONUS: There's some background on the launch from Lloyd Grove, at the Daily Beast, "Welcome to Glenn Greenwald, Inc.?"
And what better venue to denounce your accusers than the communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!, which is the most anti-American news outlet this side of MSNBC?
The occasion for Greenwald's cries and accusations is the launch of his much-touted, Pierre Omidyar-backed media venture, "The Intercept."
They've got three pieces up at the website, which launched today: "Welcome to The Intercept"; "New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed for First Time"; and "The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program." (At Memeorandum.)
Both Greenwald and partner Jeremy Scahill stress the intense urgency of getting their Omidyar-backed media project off the ground as soon as possibly, purportedly in order to mount an aggressive push-back against what Greenwald calls the "criminalization of journalism."
The problem, of course, is that their program's in fact cyberterrorism disguised under the cloak of journalism, and is thus arguably shielded by the First Amendment protections afforded to those who speak out against U.S. power.
The next problem, obviously, is that Greenwald's patent panoply of lies is pathetically enabled by a virtually unified left-wing partisan press that has continued its work of tearing down the United States since at least 2003 and the Bush administration's enforcement of the 1991 U.N.-backed armistice against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Recall that the entire mountain of lies surrounding Greenwald, his husband David Miranda, and the latter's intelligence-running to Berlin-based activist Laura Poitras, came crashing down under the withering and dogged reporting of blogger and columnist Louise Mensch. The facts are not in dispute. It's only Greenwald et al.'s disgusting and insipid spin that has worked to obscure the true scale of criminality here. Louise has the goods, at the Telegraph UK, "David Miranda detention: Why I believe the Guardian has smeared Britain's security services," and at Unfashionista, "David Miranda – Snowden’s Mule, and physical data," where she writes:
Look, boys and girls, you hold politicians to account, hold YOUR OWN to account too. No fear no favour – stop turning a blind eye and swallowing the spin so uncritically.Read it all at the link.
Ask yourselves this damned obvious question. If the data was copied everywhere and it didn’t matter, why is Rusbridger talking about “copies in New York and Rio”?
Why is David Miranda carrying it on encrypted thumb drives?
Why is David Miranda acting as a go-between at all?
Haven’t Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenberg and the Guardian heard of Dropbox? Or P2P filesharing sites? There are a million ways to store locked data in the cloud.
Let’s review:
He was returning to their home in Rio de Janeiro when he was stopped at Heathrow and officials confiscated electronics equipment, including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles.This Guardian quote does not say “rolls of film… written notebooks” etc. It describes only electronic storage devices for data. They could have saved David Miranda “He is my partner, he is not a journalist” ‘s ticket price and expenses by, you know, storing all that in the cloud or shipping it via FedEx.
Glenn Greenwald to the New York Times:
Ms. Poitras, in turn, gave Mr. Miranda different documents to pass to Mr. Greenwald. Those documents, which were stored on encrypted thumb drives, were confiscated by airport security, Mr. Greenwald said. All of the documents came from the trove of materials provided to the two journalists by Mr. Snowden.But Miranda and Poitras used a human mule (if indeed we believe him, I absolutely don’t, that he didn’t know what he was carrying).
Why?
Yes, I realise I’m asking journalists to ask hard questions about another journalist and they like to keep those for people outside their club. Thank goodness for blogging and Twitter – and the smashing of big media’s gatekeeping hold on information.
Ask yourselves if Glenn Greenwald, and Laura Poitras, are actively assisting Edward Snowden in his treacherous dissemination of classified, incredibly sensitive US and UK intelligence? From where I’m sitting, it looks like an attempt to fight charges in advance – by claiming that they are journalists and everything they do is covered by the First Amendment. Hence the New York Times putting Poitras on the cover of its magazine supplement this week and Greenwald’s repeated lies about the role of his husband and the events and aftermath of the detention to British journalists, unchallenged anywhere in the UK press, until I started tweeting about it & wrote my last blog on the topic.
They hope that claiming a journalistic role will protect them when they are stealing, storing and disseminating classified intel about not just NSA snooping but America’s intelligence programmes against China, Russia and so forth. They are, in doing so, risking countless lives. So are the Guardian newspaper. As Malcom Rifkind said countering BBC bias yesterday on the Today programme, the Guardian had no right to store that stolen intelligence or to report even on GCHQ data collection (legal, not illegal, data collection). As he said, the Guardian’s angle was the GCHQ could legally penetrate comms in a deeper way than was known – and of course the Guardian let Al Qaeda and others know that, meaning that terrorists will start protecting their communications. Some terrorists are sophisticated – others, like many extremist Islamist cells, are not. The latter have been warned off by the Guardian from ways that UK spooks were tracking them.
As Louise notes, "If Obama were Bush, the U.S. media would be all over" this --- from the failure to prevent Edward Snowden's treasonous pilfering of top-secret intelligence, to the criminal dissemination of vital data on all aspects of the U.S. national security regime, including most diabolically the release of confidential information identifying human assets in American and British governmental organizations, putting lives gravely at risk.
BONUS: There's some background on the launch from Lloyd Grove, at the Daily Beast, "Welcome to Glenn Greenwald, Inc.?"
#ObamaCare Employer Mandate Pushed Back for Second Time
For a second I thought this was the individual mandate, but we're talking small businesses. The delay's been in the works, and no doubt there'll be more rollbacks to come.
At Instapundit, "THE LAW IS WHAT WE SAY IT IS, NOT SOME DUMB PAPER THAT PASSED CONGRESS:
At this point it's a wonder the Democrats even passed this monstrosity in the first place. Lord knows a good chunk of the leftist congressional bastards would take it all back if they could, the damned fools.
Added: An entire thread at Memeorandum.
At Instapundit, "THE LAW IS WHAT WE SAY IT IS, NOT SOME DUMB PAPER THAT PASSED CONGRESS:
The Obama administration on Monday announced it is delaying the employer mandate in ObamaCare until 2016 for some businesses.RTWT.
This delay in the mandate — the second so far — would only apply to businesses with between 50 and 99 employees, who would have until January 2016 to decide whether to offer insurance to their employees or pay a penalty. Businesses would also be barred from cutting their workers in order to fall under the threshold.
The employer mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare reform law, was initially set to take effect in January, but the administration announced in July that companies would have until January of 2015 to comply.
A senior Treasury Department official stressed that the new language on the mandate was not meant to influence decisions about hiring or downsizing.
“We’re not trying to interfere with what the business necessities might be,” he said.
The new rules clarify the definition of a 30-hour-work week, the basis for how the law counts full-time employees. Treasury said the changes are meant to give companies more flexibility by them allowing to average employee hours over the course of an entire year as they tally their worker counts.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused Obama of "rewriting law on a whim."
"If the administration doesn’t believe employers can manage the burden of the [healthcare] law, how can struggling families be expected to?" Boehner said in a statement.
"This continued manipulation by the president breeds confusion and erodes Americans' confidence in him and his healthcare law. We need fairness for all, with relief from ObamaCare for every American."
At this point it's a wonder the Democrats even passed this monstrosity in the first place. Lord knows a good chunk of the leftist congressional bastards would take it all back if they could, the damned fools.
Added: An entire thread at Memeorandum.
The Radical Left Is Never Right About Israel
From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:
And in its burning hatred of Israel, today's left has settled on its shoulders the mantle of global anti-Semitic eliminationism. For that reason alone people of good will and decency should expose the left for what it is, a totalitarian movement based on racist hatred and ideological evil. But of course, there is so much that's evil among regressive leftists that it literally boggles the mind to witness its still not inconsiderable degree of popular support. Personally, I cannot relate to leftists and I will not spend time with them other than that which is cordial and professionally necessary. They need to be exposed at every turn for their moral bankruptcy and socialist perversity. Indeed, as I've said many times, leftists are not essentially Americans. But we can't just ship them off, so we must find a way to continue to marginalize them and to teach our young the values of right and goodness only through which our continued security and prosperity can be guaranteed.
RELATED: From David Gerstman, at Legal Insurrection, "NY Times plays Sympathy for the BDS."
EXTRA EVIL: "Hateful Anti-Semitic Ghoul Walter James Casper III Tweets Jew-Bashing Attack on Pamela Geller — and Israel!"
Because Repsac3 fully endorses the eliminationist agenda Professor Curtis has so thoroughly exposed.
On April 30, 2013, Julia Gillard, then Australian prime minister and leader of the Labor Party, denounced the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as "not serving the cause of peace and diplomacy for agreement on a two state solution" of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.Keep reading.
She was aware of a number of factors. One was that, despite pretenses, BDS in reality aimed at targeting a whole nation, not individuals or groups responsible for any particular activities. Secondly, she was experiencing BDS action at the University of New South Wales that had mutated from anti-Zionist rhetoric to expressions of anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial on campus. She was also aware of the absurd concentration of left radicals on the issue of Israel rather than on Iran, "whose regime has for decades been a patron of the darkest forces in the region."
Since June 2005, the Palestinian Authority, instead of following the road laid down in the Oslo Accords to discuss negotiations, has called for BDS against Israel.
With the aid of a collection of organizations and individuals, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has concentrated with ideological intensity and hatred on targeting individuals, businesses, and organizations that have some ties with Israel.
Some of the businesses, organizations, academic units, and entertainers who are complicit in this effort have accepted some version of the Palestinian narrative of victimhood and oppression by Israel, or they have been subjected to considerable pressure to take part in BDS. They constitute a motley group: official bodies such as the Norwegian government, trade unions in Ireland and Britain; academic organizations in a number of countries; businesses such as the Dutch pension fund PGGM, the Danish Danske Bank and the German Deutsche Bahn; and entertainers and writers such as Alice Walker, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Jean-Luc Goddard, and Emma Thompson.
What is the common thread tying them together? Abettors of the campaign give specious reasons for their participation. In general, involvement in boycott or disengagement from Israel is explained as a response to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and the existence of or continuing construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Except for what they have heard from the Palestinian propaganda that has been funded and disseminated by critics of Israel, almost all of the people involved in boycott know little of the history and politics of the Middle East, let alone anything about the alleged Israeli behavior that they attack with such venom.
The reality is that the hostility towards Israel is not directed at helping the Palestinian population. It is fundamentally based on a campaign to de-legitimize the State of Israel, to refuse to acknowledge the validity of the existence of a Jewish state...
And in its burning hatred of Israel, today's left has settled on its shoulders the mantle of global anti-Semitic eliminationism. For that reason alone people of good will and decency should expose the left for what it is, a totalitarian movement based on racist hatred and ideological evil. But of course, there is so much that's evil among regressive leftists that it literally boggles the mind to witness its still not inconsiderable degree of popular support. Personally, I cannot relate to leftists and I will not spend time with them other than that which is cordial and professionally necessary. They need to be exposed at every turn for their moral bankruptcy and socialist perversity. Indeed, as I've said many times, leftists are not essentially Americans. But we can't just ship them off, so we must find a way to continue to marginalize them and to teach our young the values of right and goodness only through which our continued security and prosperity can be guaranteed.
RELATED: From David Gerstman, at Legal Insurrection, "NY Times plays Sympathy for the BDS."
EXTRA EVIL: "Hateful Anti-Semitic Ghoul Walter James Casper III Tweets Jew-Bashing Attack on Pamela Geller — and Israel!"
Why Pamela Geller's Hate Speech Should Be Barred — But BDS Allowed http://t.co/ZZ3r0UDheE via @jdforward
— J. Casper (@repsac3) April 14, 2013Because Repsac3 fully endorses the eliminationist agenda Professor Curtis has so thoroughly exposed.
Glenn Greenwald Interview with CNN's Brian Stelter
At CNN, "Greenwald hints at new revelations."
Stelter's a pathetic cheerleader, and Greenwald's a pathological liar and treasonous bastard --- but you knew that already, heh.
Stelter's a pathetic cheerleader, and Greenwald's a pathological liar and treasonous bastard --- but you knew that already, heh.
Nigeria Tries to 'Sanitize' Itself of Homosexuals
Well, I wish we could be sanitized of some our depraved leftists, much less homosexuals.
At NYT, "Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays":
Seriously, though, that is f-ked up. What's even more f-ked up is how idiot progs refuse to denounce Islam's anti-gay genocide. But that's the left for you, the cancer on our world.
At NYT, "Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays":
Nigeria Wields Law and Whip to ‘Sanitize’ Gays http://t.co/xHhp7ibtlY
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) February 8, 2014BAUCHI, Nigeria — The young man cried out as he was being whipped on the courtroom bench. The bailiff’s leather whip struck him 20 times, and when it was over, the man’s side and back were covered with bruises.RTWT.
Still, the large crowd outside was disappointed, the judge recalled: The penalty for gay sex under local Islamic law is death by stoning.
“He is supposed to be killed,” the judge, Nuhu Idris Mohammed, said, praising his own leniency on judgment day last month at the Shariah court here. The bailiff demonstrated the technique he used: whip at shoulder level, then forcefully down.
The mood is unforgiving in this north Nigeria metropolis, where nine others accused of being gay by the Islamic police are behind the central prison’s high walls. Stones and bottles rained down on them outside the court two weeks ago, residents and officials said; some in the mob even wanted to set the courtroom ablaze, witnesses said.
Since Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, signed a harsh law criminalizing homosexuality throughout the country last month, arrests of gay people have multiplied, advocates have been forced to go underground, some people fearful of the law have sought asylum overseas and news media demands for a crackdown have flourished.
Seriously, though, that is f-ked up. What's even more f-ked up is how idiot progs refuse to denounce Islam's anti-gay genocide. But that's the left for you, the cancer on our world.
The Grammys' Tribute to the Beatles: Special Concert Held at Los Angeles Convention Center
This was a really enjoyable program. Check the website at CBS. Also, "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America - A GRAMMY® Salute: Artist Interviews."
Photos at the Los Angeles Times, "'The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles'Music special/concert held at the Los Angeles Convention Center."
I don't see a music review, but John Legend and Alicia Keys' rendition of "Let It Be" was to die for --- watch it and love it here, at the Heavy.
Photos at the Los Angeles Times, "'The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles'Music special/concert held at the Los Angeles Convention Center."
I don't see a music review, but John Legend and Alicia Keys' rendition of "Let It Be" was to die for --- watch it and love it here, at the Heavy.
John Legend and Alicia Keys are the freakin' best omg!
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 10, 2014
Damn John Legend and Alicia Keys Ima cry mofos!
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 10, 2014
'As I grow older, I think more and more about death and what comes next...'
Saberpoint ruminates on life's meaning as one gets long in the tooth: "A Rainy Day, a Good Cigar, God and the Near Death Experience."
No, I'm not a "materialist" either.
No, I'm not a "materialist" either.
American Jamie Anderson Wins Gold in Women's Snowboard Slopestyle
At LAT, "Jamie Anderson completes gold-medal sweep for U.S. in slopestyle":
Previous Sage Kotsenburg coverage here.
SOCHI, Russia — She is a new-age, yoga-loving, mantra-chanting snowboarder who came to the Olympics with a "medicine bundle" in her backpack and an 80-something "spirit grandma" originally from Bavaria along for the ride.Keep reading.
Jamie Anderson came to Russia armed with support and will leave with a precious object to put alongside her mantra beads and clear quartz power stone.
An Olympic gold medal.
Anderson completed a weekend sweep for the United States in the new slopestyle event, winning the women's competition Sunday with an all-out performance in the second run, scoring 95.25, a run marked by clean landings. Enni Rukajarvi from Finland took the silver (92.50) and Jenny Jones of Britain the bronze (87.25), the first Olympic medal for her country on snow.
Jones, at 33 the oldest competitor in the final, was once a maid at a ski chalet. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray even joked, via Twitter, after her second run: "Jenny Jones! Is it wrong to hope everyone left falls?"
With Anderson's victory coming a day after Sage Kotsenburg took gold on the men's side, clearly the United States has claimed ownership of the slopestyle podium.
It could not have been a better script for U.S. snowboarding.
"Am I dreaming? Are you people real?" said Bill Enos, the U.S. slopestyle coach.
He touched the arm of a reporter in the mixed zone, saying: "Yes, oh, everyone here is real."
Previous Sage Kotsenburg coverage here.
Should People Be Able to Tweet in the Name of Dead Celebrities?
It's a real question, and Twitter says yes (so far).
At ABC News.
I see celebrity knockoff accounts all the time. So Twitter, good luck holding back the flood of claims after this case heats up.
At ABC News.
I see celebrity knockoff accounts all the time. So Twitter, good luck holding back the flood of claims after this case heats up.
Laura Ingraham Slams George Will on Immigration (VIDEO)
Trending yesterday at Memeorandum, "Laura Ingraham battles George Will as conservative civil war over immigration intensifies [VIDEO]."
And from Linkmaster Smith, "Laura Ingraham Fights the Good Fight, George Will Looks a Tool."
And from Linkmaster Smith, "Laura Ingraham Fights the Good Fight, George Will Looks a Tool."
Sunday, February 9, 2014
What Critics Said About the Beatles in '64
At LAT, "What the critics wrote about the Beatles in 1964":
Progs got a kick out of Bill Buckley, apparently thinking that his error affirmed their deranged ideology: "But if you want money for people with minds that hate. All I can tell you is brother you have to wait..."
William F. Buckley Jr.Keep reading.
Boston Globe
Sept. 13, 1964
An estimable critic writing for National Review, after seeing Presley writhe his way through one of Ed Sullivan's shows … suggested that future entertainers would have to wrestle with live octopuses in order to entertain a mass American audience. The Beatles don't in fact do this, but how one wishes they did! And how this one wishes the octopus would win….
The Beatles are not merely awful; I would consider it sacrilegious to say anything less than that they are god awful. They are so unbelievably horribly, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art that they qualify as crowned heads of anti-music, even as the imposter popes went down in history as "anti-popes."
-
Newsweek
Feb. 24, 1964
Visually they are a nightmare, tight, dandified Edwardian-Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically they are a near disaster, guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of "yeah, yeah, yeah") are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments….
The big question in the music business at the moment is, will the Beatles last? The odds are that, in the words of another era, they're too hot not to cool down, and a cooled-down Beatle is hard to picture. It is also hard to imagine any other field in which they could apply their talents, and so the odds are that they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict. But the odds in show business have a way of being broken, and the Beatles have more showmanship than any group in years; they might just think up a new field for themselves. After all, they have done it already.
Progs got a kick out of Bill Buckley, apparently thinking that his error affirmed their deranged ideology: "But if you want money for people with minds that hate. All I can tell you is brother you have to wait..."
Sunday Cartoons
At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."
Also at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – O-verdosed," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."
CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.
Also at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – O-verdosed," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."
CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.
'Revolution' Not Among the Sound L.A.'s Top 50 Beatles Songs
It'd be among my top ten. Perhaps I'll work on a list.
In any case, if you missed it: "The Top 50 Beatles Songs."
In any case, if you missed it: "The Top 50 Beatles Songs."
Wrong-Way Drunk Driver Kills Six on 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar
My wife and I keep telling our son we don't like him out driving late at night, especially on the weekend. There are lots of crazy drivers, drunk drivers, and criminals. My son always shrugs off the warnings, saying he's careful, etc. The problem is the drunks can kill you no matter how careful you are.
At LAT, "Wrong-way driver was going more than 100 mph, witnesses say":
At LAT, "Wrong-way driver was going more than 100 mph, witnesses say":
A suspected drunk driver going in the wrong direction on the 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar was traveling faster than 100 mph when she caused an accident early Sunday that killed six people, witnesses told the California Highway Patrol.
Olivia Carolee Culbreath, 21, of Fontana, has been arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and felony manslaughter, said Rodrigo Jimenez, a CHP spokesman.
Culbreath is in serious but stable condition at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center with a broken femur and a ruptured bladder, Jimenez said. She was conscious and was questioned by authorities, Jimenez added.
She was heading east on the westbound 60 Freeway about 4:40 a.m. when her red Chevrolet Camaro collided head-on with a red Ford Explorer, authorities said. Another vehicle was also involved in the accident, Jimenez said. At least two people were ejected from their vehicles, he said.
6 ppl killed in wrong way DUI driver wreck,CHP looking for witness who saw red Camaro on 60 in Diamond Bar this AM pic.twitter.com/BVpZeJ5Knr
— Kate Larsen (@KateNBCLA) February 10, 2014The Top 50 Beatles Songs
As voted by the listeners at the Sound L.A.
The station was having a countdown all day today, and I picked up a little of it when I ran out to CVS.
1 HEY JUDE
2 WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
3 SGT PEPPERS/DAY IN THE LIFE, A
4 IN MY LIFE
5 GOLDEN SLUMBERS MEDLEY
6 HERE COMES THE SUN
7 COME TOGETHER
8 YESTERDAY
9 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.
10 LET IT BE
11 ELEANOR RIGBY
12 SOMETHING
13 I SAW HER STANDING THERE
14 NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)
15 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
16 ALL MY LOVING
17 STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
18 BLACKBIRD
19 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
20 AND I LOVE HER
21 CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
22 DEAR PRUDENCE
23 IF I FELL
24 BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.
25 HELP!
26 YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
27 GET BACK
28 LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
29 DON’T LET ME DOWN
30 DAY TRIPPER
31 LONG AND WINDING ROAD
32 TWIST AND SHOUT
33 DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET
34 FOOL ON THE HILL
35 SGT PEPPERS/WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
36 I AM THE WALRUS
37 NOWHERE MAN
38 EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
39 I WANT YOU (SHE’S SO HEAVY)
40 BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
41 HELTER SKELTER
42 HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE
43 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
44 OH DARLING
45 WHEN I’M SIXTY-FOUR
46 DRIVE MY CAR
47 PENNY LANE
48 GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
49 PAPERBACK WRITER
50 TICKET TO RIDE
The station was having a countdown all day today, and I picked up a little of it when I ran out to CVS.
1 HEY JUDE
2 WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
3 SGT PEPPERS/DAY IN THE LIFE, A
4 IN MY LIFE
5 GOLDEN SLUMBERS MEDLEY
6 HERE COMES THE SUN
7 COME TOGETHER
8 YESTERDAY
9 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.
10 LET IT BE
11 ELEANOR RIGBY
12 SOMETHING
13 I SAW HER STANDING THERE
14 NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)
15 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
16 ALL MY LOVING
17 STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
18 BLACKBIRD
19 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
20 AND I LOVE HER
21 CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
22 DEAR PRUDENCE
23 IF I FELL
24 BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.
25 HELP!
26 YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
27 GET BACK
28 LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
29 DON’T LET ME DOWN
30 DAY TRIPPER
31 LONG AND WINDING ROAD
32 TWIST AND SHOUT
33 DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET
34 FOOL ON THE HILL
35 SGT PEPPERS/WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
36 I AM THE WALRUS
37 NOWHERE MAN
38 EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
39 I WANT YOU (SHE’S SO HEAVY)
40 BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
41 HELTER SKELTER
42 HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE
43 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
44 OH DARLING
45 WHEN I’M SIXTY-FOUR
46 DRIVE MY CAR
47 PENNY LANE
48 GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
49 PAPERBACK WRITER
50 TICKET TO RIDE
Copenhagen Zoo Puts Down 'Surplus' Giraffe to Prevent 'Inbreeding'
And they fed him to the lions, the ghouls.
Someone, somewhere, would have taken that giraffe. And zoos are supposed to be where we protect the world's wildlife. And screw PETA and all the leftists who think they own these issues. Sometimes common sense tells you simple right and wrong, a fact of life the left ignores in their schemes for global communism.
In any case, I first saw this at Telegraph UK, "Danish zoo shoots giraffe and feeds carcass to carnivores."
And see London's Daily Mail, "How could they? Zookeepers killed baby giraffe with a bolt gun because he was 'surplus'... and then fed him to the lions."
An interview with the director at CNN, "Giraffe Controversy in Copenhagen."
So much for the more compassionate European social model. These zoo people are cold blooded killers.
Someone, somewhere, would have taken that giraffe. And zoos are supposed to be where we protect the world's wildlife. And screw PETA and all the leftists who think they own these issues. Sometimes common sense tells you simple right and wrong, a fact of life the left ignores in their schemes for global communism.
In any case, I first saw this at Telegraph UK, "Danish zoo shoots giraffe and feeds carcass to carnivores."
And see London's Daily Mail, "How could they? Zookeepers killed baby giraffe with a bolt gun because he was 'surplus'... and then fed him to the lions."
An interview with the director at CNN, "Giraffe Controversy in Copenhagen."
So much for the more compassionate European social model. These zoo people are cold blooded killers.
'The general consensus is you are absolutely smoking hot...'
That's the pitch from adult film concern Monarchy Distribution. Making a porn flick could defray legal expenses, and could no doubt help amanda get on with her life. You know. That kind of thing, wink, wink.
At London's Daily Mail, "'The general consensus is you are absolutely smoking hot': Adult entertainment company asks Amanda Knox to star in a PORN movie for $20,000 'to help cover her legal costs'."
I don't find "Foxy Knoxy" all that hot, actually. Of course, standards for celebrity smut aren't that high to begin with.
At London's Daily Mail, "'The general consensus is you are absolutely smoking hot': Adult entertainment company asks Amanda Knox to star in a PORN movie for $20,000 'to help cover her legal costs'."
I don't find "Foxy Knoxy" all that hot, actually. Of course, standards for celebrity smut aren't that high to begin with.
After Initial Headaches, #Sochi Games Coming Together
Well, crowds are sparse, so hopefully more of the venues will fill up.
Other than that, perhaps it's getting better over there.
At LAT, "After a rocky few days, Sochi lurches toward functionality":
Other than that, perhaps it's getting better over there.
At LAT, "After a rocky few days, Sochi lurches toward functionality":
SOCHI, Russia — It was 2:30 a.m. and the stranger on the other side of the door wanted into my hotel room. "How many cards do you have?" he kept asking in broken English.More.
The lock rattled and eventfully broke. Still hazy from sleep, I did all I could to keep him from forcing the door open. Finally, he backed away as more footsteps hurried down the hall.
A new speaker identified himself as the hotel manager. He said the late-night intruder was a locksmith mistakenly sent to change the lock.
"I am sorry," the manager said.
Empty Seats Plague #Sochi Olympics
Check out the picture for the men's slopestyle final. The bleachers are half-full, wtf? That was a cool event. Something else must be going on.
At WSJ, "2014 Sochi Olympics: So Far, Empty Seats Abound: It's Early, But Attendance Suggests Modest Ticket Demand":
More here.
At WSJ, "2014 Sochi Olympics: So Far, Empty Seats Abound: It's Early, But Attendance Suggests Modest Ticket Demand":
SOCHI, Russia—Inhospitable hotels were the big headache of the 2014 Sochi Olympics preshow. After the first day of full competition, it looks like empty seats could become the problem child of the Games themselves.Well, maybe the terrorists are keeping people away.
A few events played to virtual sellout crowds and enthusiastic spectators: notably biathlon, the ski-and-shoot Russian favorite, and team figure skating, in which the home squad held a commanding lead.
But other venues in both the Olympic Park and the so-called "mountain cluster" high above Sochi were plagued by sometimes large swaths of empty seats. And there were a lot of echoes in the empty corners of the arenas for events such as women's hockey and speedskating. Even one of the Games' hippest events, the action-sports event known as slopestyle snowboarding, appeared to have hundreds of empty seats, even though organizers declared it a sellout in the 6,250-seat Rosa Khutor Exreme Park.
The women's hockey crowd of 4,136 for the U.S.-Finland game on Saturday was roughly 60% capacity, and 4,386 watched Canada beat Switzerland. Shayba Arena, the smaller of Sochi's two hockey venues, has a capacity of 7,000.
Some of the lackluster attendance has come during preliminary competitions, which many fans, sponsors and even members of national sporting federations prefer to skip. On the opening day of the 2012 London Olympics, televised images of empty seats at popular events such as gymnastics led thousands of ravenous British sports fans—frustrated for more than a year in their quest for tickets—to complain bitterly to London's Olympic organizers. Those officials later reclaimed some tickets that were going unused by sporting federations and sponsors and sold them to the public.
Sochi organizers said this week that about 80% of their ticket inventory had been sold by the end of January. The organizers wouldn't say how many total tickets they have on offer. But plenty are available.
Based on visits to all the major venues and dozens of interviews on Saturday, the problem in Sochi seems to be more a function of soft demand. The long-track speedskating venue, Adler Arena, offered one of Saturday's marquee events: the men's 5,000-meter race. Yet even at its peak, the crowd never seemed to fill more than three-quarters of the 8,000 seats. Organizers didn't release an attendance figure. In the past, speedskating has been one of the Games' toughest tickets because the venues tend to be small.
At the moguls venue in the mountains on Saturday night, officials put the crowd at about 3,000—well short of the listed capacity of 4,500. Russian fans who are attending are both enthusiastic and opportunistic.
Vartan Oksuzyan, an engineer at a primatology institute in nearby Adler, was at figure skating Saturday night with tickets he purchased in November. He was accompanied by his 18-year-old daughter, Susana, who had her cheeks painted with a Russian flag on the left and a white figure skate on the right. "We're cheering for everyone," he said—the Canadians because a cousin who lives there asked them to, and the Americans at the request of a former teacher of his who now lives in Minneapolis.
More here.
American Figure Skater Ashley Wagner Facial Expression After Scores Revealed in Women's Short Program
I read her lips as well. She said: "That's bullshit."
At USA Today, "Ashley Wagner was thrilled after her Olympic debut ... until she got her score."
And London's Daily Mail, "Now Ashley is not impressed! Moment figure skater's smile turned to disgust as she got a disappointing score at the Sochi Olympics."
At USA Today, "Ashley Wagner was thrilled after her Olympic debut ... until she got her score."
And London's Daily Mail, "Now Ashley is not impressed! Moment figure skater's smile turned to disgust as she got a disappointing score at the Sochi Olympics."
Here's a shot of @AshWagner2010 from her short program at the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/20tHRd1M7v
— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) February 8, 2014Let's please give every gold medal to Ashley Wagner's reaction face. http://t.co/gpavI2Zz5H pic.twitter.com/QjDGcsClM5
— Bill Hanstock (@sundownmotel) February 9, 2014#ObamaCare Limiting Doctor and Hospital Choices
Public shock has tapered off following the massive ObamaCare rollout debacle last fall, which is probably good for Democrats, since by all accounts we're heading into the next phase of catastrophic failures in the law's implementation.
Recall from the other day, "Doctors are Scare Under #ObamaCare."
More below at CBS News.
As always, I'll be covering all aspects of this monstrous policy failure and political lie. The Democrats are screwed this fall, largely the result of the president's deceit, although things may turn out much worse than anyone's so far predicted. Indeed, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was quoted last week, "I'm not going to confidently predict that Democrats will take the House back." See Politico, "DNC chief: Not 'confidently' predicting House takeback."
Recall from the other day, "Doctors are Scare Under #ObamaCare."
More below at CBS News.
As always, I'll be covering all aspects of this monstrous policy failure and political lie. The Democrats are screwed this fall, largely the result of the president's deceit, although things may turn out much worse than anyone's so far predicted. Indeed, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was quoted last week, "I'm not going to confidently predict that Democrats will take the House back." See Politico, "DNC chief: Not 'confidently' predicting House takeback."
Smokin' Conservative Michelle Malkin Girds for 2014 #GOP Civil War
Readers may recall seeing some of Michelle's recent campaign activism, for example, at Twitchy, "‘On fire’: Michelle Malkin helps Katrina Pierson target Texas House seat."
And now here's this at Politico:
Anyway, the piece goes on like that in the "according to her critics" mode, regurgitating obviously envious bilge from people who've no doubt felt the sting of Michelle's zingers. (Media Matters stooge Eric Boehlert, quoted at the piece, is a prime example, and certainly just one.)
My advice: Don't bet against her.
And conservatives, be sure to follow Michelle on Twitter and join the "battle space" where media dinosaurs and hate-addled leftists get their just deserts.
And now here's this at Politico:
Michelle Malkin doesn’t run away from fights, she runs toward them. And she’s running faster than ever headlong into the 2014 Republican primary battles on behalf of upstart conservative candidates who are mounting insurgent challenges to the GOP old guard.If you keep reading at the link, Politico's Mackenzie Weinger brings out the best in "objective" journalism to bash Michelle as a self-promoting shill stoking "fake controversies" to rile her fan base of "more than 660,000 followers" on Twitter. Notice how Ms. Weinger's so-called "professional" journalism paints Michelle as the bad lady, downplaying the truly destructive, mercilous left-wing evil that conservatives endure every single day:
Twitter is Malkin’s weapon of choice. Battles with her almost always devolve into wars, and those who follow the conservative social media scene know she has a proven formula online: Taunting quips from foes bring out the full force of her Twitter arsenal, with snappy replies, catchy hashtags and the mobilization of a legion of energized followers.
Malkin, 43, says she’s using her influence — and her confrontational approach — on behalf of candidates she deems worthy of it in this year’s midterm.
“I see the practically unlimited power that social media has to help push the issues and causes and people I care about,” Malkin told POLITICO in a recent interview. “I know what I’m good at.”
She’s focusing on backing politicians challenging establishment Republicans — for instance, she’s thrown her support behind Katrina Pierson, who is campaigning to unseat longtime incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions in Texas.
“Her race is just one of many that I have my eye on where this is the narrative, where you’ve got these tea party candidates challenging old incumbents,” Malkin said. “And you’re going to have [Karl] Rove throwing all of his money and American Crossroads throwing all of that money, plus the Chamber of Commerce, plus these ‘Main Street Republican’ partnership types who are funded by who? Big labor. And the tea party candidates, I think, are going to follow in the path of Ted Cruz and somehow be able to triumph over all of that money.”
Malkin added, “This to me is much more fascinating than the usual left-right battles, because this is a battle between fresh, young conservative blood and old, entrenched incumbent establishment.”
... her critics say that outside of the conservative media world, Malkin’s particular brand of outrage just doesn’t have the same impact as it once did. They say her style is to drum up fake controversies and outrage to promote her own brand, and experts question whether she has the clout to impact high-profile races, arguing that her influence might be felt more in less visible contests.Huh? What? I guess Ms. Weinger, much less her Politico editors, missed Michelle's epic beatdown against MSNBC's racist tweet attacking the right's alleged hostility to biracial families: "‘We love all families’: MSNBC could learn a lot from Cheerios’ reply to Michelle Malkin." But what do I know? I'm just a blogger.
Anyway, the piece goes on like that in the "according to her critics" mode, regurgitating obviously envious bilge from people who've no doubt felt the sting of Michelle's zingers. (Media Matters stooge Eric Boehlert, quoted at the piece, is a prime example, and certainly just one.)
My advice: Don't bet against her.
And conservatives, be sure to follow Michelle on Twitter and join the "battle space" where media dinosaurs and hate-addled leftists get their just deserts.
Sage Kotsenburg Stuck 'Holy Crail' in Olympic Gold Medal Victory
Obviously, I can't get enough of this guy. He's on top of the world.
More at CSM, "Sage Kotsenburg gold medal run: What's a 'Holy Crail'?":
More at CSM, "Sage Kotsenburg gold medal run: What's a 'Holy Crail'?":
In a triumph of creativity over gymnastics, American Sage Kotsenburg took the gold medal in a new Winter Olympics event: slopestyle snowboarding.More.
Kotsenburg was, for many, an underdog.
How did he do it?
Kotsenburg brought home the gold, in part, by using one of his newly patented tricks, something he dubs the "Holy Crail."
The Holy Crail is a two-handed grab done during three or four mid-air spins. Kotsenburg reaches behind his back and pulls on his board, while the other hand grabs the nose of the snowboard. The Denver Post's Jason Blevins writes that Kotsenburg unveiled the "Holy Crail" two weeks ago at Aspen's X Games.
Holy Crail is also the name of a sponsored TransWorld Snowboarding video series that features Sage Kotsenburg's journey to the Olympics. The first video aired in December 2013. Coincidence?
Kotsenburg was a surprise gold medal winner, especially to medal favorites Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris. Until now, snowboarding judges have tended to give the highest scores to those who performed the most difficult tricks. Parrot, for example, is a master of the triple cork and won the X-Games Big Air and Slopestyle contests with triples. (A cork or corkscrew spin is when the axis of the spin allows for the snowboarder to be oriented sideways or upside-down in the air, typically without becoming completely inverted.)
But the Sochi judges apparently chose creativity and style over gymnastic prowess. Kotsenberg, who didn't perform any triple corks, unexpectedly threw in a 1620 (4.5 rotations) Japan Air (the front hand grabs the toe edge just behind the front foot. The board is then pulled behind the rider) in his last run, and took home the gold.
TransWorld Snowboarding offers a trick by trick look at Katsenburg's gold medal run.
Desperate New #ObamaCare Push Features 'Mom Jeans'
At Red Alert Politics, "Administration now using mom jeans to promote Obamacare."
And from the Looking Spoon, "Wait til you see the body attached to the Obamacare 'mom jeans' ad..."
And from the Looking Spoon, "Wait til you see the body attached to the Obamacare 'mom jeans' ad..."
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Sage Kotsenburg Olympic Spirit!
I didn't think to check Twitter earlier, doh.
This guy's so cool.
And see Bill Plaschke's column, "American's slopestyle gold is totally random."
This guy's so cool.
This is #OlympicSpirit: pic.twitter.com/HGBzLGqcql
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 9, 2014And see Bill Plaschke's column, "American's slopestyle gold is totally random."
Fifty Years Later, Audience Members Recall the Beatles on 'Ed Sullivan Show'
At NYT, "Historic Hysterics: Witnesses to a Really Big Show: The Beatles’ Debut on ‘Ed Sullivan’":
More at the link.
And video of the show is here. And the history of it all's at Wikipedia.
Debbie Gendler, a teenager from Oakland, N.J., had gone to television shows before, taking a seat in the studio audience and clapping dutifully when the “applause” light flashed. But this one was different. There were crowds outside the studio that chilly afternoon in February 1964, hysterical crowds, and a phalanx of police officers blocking the way.What a fabulous experience.
“I kept showing the ticket,” said Ms. Gendler, now Debbie Supnik, “and my mother had to fight to say to this one police officer, ‘She has a legitimate ticket. Let her through and get her in there.’ They walked me, finally, in through the front of the building, past a couple of barricades and girls who were upset that I was being ushered in and who started to pull on me, pull on my jacket.”
Someone inside directed her to a seat in the balcony. It was still early — airtime was more than an hour away. The stage crew was checking the lights and the cameras. “I sat and sat,” she said, “and waited.”
From left, George Harrison, John Lennon, Vincent Precht, Ed Sullivan, Rob Precht, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.Loose Ends: John, Paul, George, Ringo and MeFEB. 8, 2014
She did not realize it, but she and the rest of that audience were waiting to become witnesses to history: the Beatles’ first live appearance on American television, on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” a variety hour that ranked as one of the top 10 programs in the country for most of its long run...
More at the link.
And video of the show is here. And the history of it all's at Wikipedia.
U.S. Bobsledder Johnny Quinns Brings the Laugh Riot to #Sochi — #SochiJailBreak
I couldn't stop laughing.
At Twitchy, "#SochiJailBreak: US bobsledder’s ‘Kool-Aid Man’ bathroom pic goes viral [photo]."
At Twitchy, "#SochiJailBreak: US bobsledder’s ‘Kool-Aid Man’ bathroom pic goes viral [photo]."
Best. Tweet. Ever. @washingtonpost: U.S. bobsledder after getting stuck in Sochi bathroom http://t.co/3WHVEH7CJW pic.twitter.com/PR2Kypz5Kz
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 8, 2014"LOL" doesn't even get close to how funny this is. I'm wiping tears off right now: http://t.co/O9sydKoHzc
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 8, 201430 Hottest Babes of the #Sochi Olympics
Well, time to spice things up around here with all this talk of the "grandeurs" of Soviet Communism. Sheesh.
At Busted Coverage, "30 SEXIEST WOMEN OF THE 2014 SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS [PHOTOS]."
BONUS: Russia's Anna Sidorova tops the list above, so what the heck? How about 30 shots of Anna?!! At Next Impulse Sports, "The 30 Hottest Photos of Sexy Russian Olympic Curler Anna Sidorova." (Looking through that slideshow, not sure if all 30 of those shots are of Anna. But still. She's heating up Sochi!)
At Busted Coverage, "30 SEXIEST WOMEN OF THE 2014 SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS [PHOTOS]."
BONUS: Russia's Anna Sidorova tops the list above, so what the heck? How about 30 shots of Anna?!! At Next Impulse Sports, "The 30 Hottest Photos of Sexy Russian Olympic Curler Anna Sidorova." (Looking through that slideshow, not sure if all 30 of those shots are of Anna. But still. She's heating up Sochi!)
Dude! American Sage Kotsenburg Wins Sochi Slopestyle Gold
That's so rad!
At NYT, "American Snowboarder Wins First Gold of Games":
Still more at the link.
And at London's Daily Mail, "'Wow I just won the Olympics': American Sage Kotsenburg wins first Sochi gold medal in Men's Slopestyle."
At NYT, "American Snowboarder Wins First Gold of Games":
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — The snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg is not someone to hold big ambitions or make grand plans. Before winning a qualifying event last month that helped send him to the Winter Olympics in slopestyle, he had not won a snowboarding competition since he was 11.I love this guy, heh.
“A megadrought,” he called it.
And when he stood at the top of the course at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Saturday, he was not sure which tricks he would attempt. The one that mattered was one he had never attempted.
“I just kind of make things up,” he explained.
It was just another way that Kotsenburg, 20, is playfully different than most of his competitors, who have spent all winter perfecting runs that they imagined for months. And now Kotsenburg, from Park City, Utah, stands apart from the rest for the most unexpected of reasons. He has a gold medal, the first of these Games and the first in the debut of snowboard slopestyle in the Olympics.
His victory was not just an underdog tale. It sparked discussions, both among aggrieved competitors and in the wide world of snowboarding, about how such competitions should be judged.
Several athletes landed triple corks, a gyroscopic series of twists and flips, considered the must-do trick to elevate above the field. The favorite, Mark McMorris of Canada, landed two in his run. They were the types of runs that most predicted would win the event, but McMorris settled for a bronze medal. Staale Sandbech of Norway won silver.
Kotsenburg, a throwback in both style and vocabulary — rarely does a sentence go by without a “rad,” a “stoked” or a “sick,” and sometimes there is more than one — performed no such feats of conformity.
Slopestyle, long considered the purer, mellower cousin of the more -famous halfpipe, features a mix of rails to slide down and three large jumps to launch upward. Athletes are judged by the “overall impression” they make to the six judges, looking for an undefined combination of revolutions and style.
The vagueness is intended to spur creativity. And Kotsenburg, more than anyone, toted a unique style, combining old-school spins with newly invented contortions and grabs, sometimes with two hands.
Among his tricks was one performed while sliding down a steep rail near the top of the course, leaning back on two hands. Most call it a full layback. Kotsenburg calls it a stony surfer. A jump featured a two-handed grab nicknamed Holy Crail.
But the gold-winning stunt came at the end, on the last of three large jumps. Kotsenburg performed a 1620 Japan, four-and-a-half revolutions while grabbing the board in front of his front foot and arching his back like someone playing Twister on a flying saucer.
No one else did it. It is rarely seen. But Kotsenburg decided to try it, he said, about three minutes before his run.
“I had never, ever tried that trick before in my life,” he said.
Still more at the link.
And at London's Daily Mail, "'Wow I just won the Olympics': American Sage Kotsenburg wins first Sochi gold medal in Men's Slopestyle."
Smith & Wesson Won't Sell New Semiautomatic Handguns in California
This kinda thing is becoming more common as firearms manufacturers vote with the feet.
At Big Government, "SMITH & WESSON TO END MOST CA SALES DUE TO MICROSTAMPING REGULATION."
And at CBS Los Angeles, "Smith & Wesson Says They’ll No Longer Sell Their Newest Gun In Calif."
Ruger's pulling out too.
At Big Government, "SMITH & WESSON TO END MOST CA SALES DUE TO MICROSTAMPING REGULATION."
And at CBS Los Angeles, "Smith & Wesson Says They’ll No Longer Sell Their Newest Gun In Calif."
Ruger's pulling out too.
The Snowden Era of Journalism
Interesting, if not a bit overblown.
At Politico:
At Politico:
I'm looking forward to @ggreenwald's next U.S. visit http://t.co/ZA0zmOGRuk And I bet the FBI is, too. #CuffHim @AmPowerBlog @LouiseMensch
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) February 6, 2014Welcome to the Edward Snowden-era of national security journalism — a time when no scoop is too small, no detail too minor, and revelations about government surveillance pour forth on an almost daily basis.
It’s a significant departure from the way things used to be.
After Sept. 11, reporters and editors often heeded tremendous pressure from government officials, including the president and/or national security adviser, to hold blockbuster articles concerning classified U.S. spy operations — accepting the warnings that publishing the information could put national security in danger or even lead to another catastrophe.
But just as Watergate changed the ethos of political journalism, the Snowden leaks appear to have upended the way many journalists approach national security reporting. While substantial portions of Snowden’s massive cache of information has been withheld, Americans have been treated to a seemingly endless wave of articles since the first stories landed in June — leaving Obama administration officials and members of Congress fuming and even some veteran journalists concerned that the bar to publish has fallen too low.
Snowden has prompted a free-for-all among journalists itching to tell America’s surveillance secrets, an important generational shift as the nation faces years of growing debate about privacy in an increasingly wired world. The litany of stories come not just from the handful of reporters with access to the former NSA contractor’s treasure-trove of documents but also from competitors eagerly searching for scoops to move the dial on what has become one of the biggest stories of the decade.
“For years … it was like the number of articles to come out on NSA you could count on the fingers on one hand,” said James Bamford, who has written four books on government surveillance. “Now it’s almost impossible to keep up.” ...
That there is now a vast library of NSA stories is also due, in no small part, to the nature of digital journalism. Glenn Greenwald, the Rio-based journalist who has worked most closely with Snowden, has been an aggressive presence online and on social media.
His approach to the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers marks a radical departure from past coverage where reporters from the major dailies would sometimes go all the way to the president with their findings — and sometimes accept delays even if it meant getting scooped.
“There’ll be blood on your hands,” President George W. Bush reportedly warned The New York Times’ publisher in a 2005 Oval Office meeting before the newspaper published a Pulitzer Prize-winning story about warrantless NSA eavesdropping in the U.S. — a story it had held for more than a year.
It’s not just Washington that is struggling with the new journalistic calculus on surveillance coverage. In the Snowden story, Guardian reporters working with Greenwald have checked with British government sources before publication.
Jay Leno Exits 'Tonight Show' After 22 Years (VIDEO)
I like Leno, although I didn't watch much in recent years.
At LAT, "Finally, a wistful Jay Leno does go gently out of that late night."
BONUS: At the Hollywood Reporter, "Conan O'Brien Zings Jay Leno Night of Host's Final 'Tonight Show' (Video)."
At LAT, "Finally, a wistful Jay Leno does go gently out of that late night."
BONUS: At the Hollywood Reporter, "Conan O'Brien Zings Jay Leno Night of Host's Final 'Tonight Show' (Video)."
Woody Allen Responds to Dylan Farrow Sex Abuse Allegations
At the New York Times, "Woody Allen Speaks Out":
Here's my previous entry in this saga, "An Open Letter From Woody Allen's Adoptive Daughter Dylan Farrow."
I think Woody Allen's a weirdo, as do many others, especially given his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, Mia Farrow's adopted daughter with composer André Previn.
Still, I don't know what to believe. See the Daily Beast, "The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast."
But then, check Maureen Orth, at Vanity Fair, "10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation."
Is that all clear now?
TWENTY-ONE years ago, when I first heard Mia Farrow had accused me of child molestation, I found the idea so ludicrous I didn’t give it a second thought. We were involved in a terribly acrimonious breakup, with great enmity between us and a custody battle slowly gathering energy. The self-serving transparency of her malevolence seemed so obvious I didn’t even hire a lawyer to defend myself. It was my show business attorney who told me she was bringing the accusation to the police and I would need a criminal lawyer.Keep reading.
I naïvely thought the accusation would be dismissed out of hand because of course, I hadn’t molested Dylan and any rational person would see the ploy for what it was. Common sense would prevail. After all, I was a 56-year-old man who had never before (or after) been accused of child molestation. I had been going out with Mia for 12 years and never in that time did she ever suggest to me anything resembling misconduct. Now, suddenly, when I had driven up to her house in Connecticut one afternoon to visit the kids for a few hours, when I would be on my raging adversary’s home turf, with half a dozen people present, when I was in the blissful early stages of a happy new relationship with the woman I’d go on to marry — that I would pick this moment in time to embark on a career as a child molester should seem to the most skeptical mind highly unlikely. The sheer illogic of such a crazy scenario seemed to me dispositive.
Notwithstanding, Mia insisted that I had abused Dylan and took her immediately to a doctor to be examined. Dylan told the doctor she had not been molested. Mia then took Dylan out for ice cream, and when she came back with her the child had changed her story. The police began their investigation; a possible indictment hung in the balance. I very willingly took a lie-detector test and of course passed because I had nothing to hide. I asked Mia to take one and she wouldn’t. Last week a woman named Stacey Nelkin, whom I had dated many years ago, came forward to the press to tell them that when Mia and I first had our custody battle 21 years ago, Mia had wanted her to testify that she had been underage when I was dating her, despite the fact this was untrue. Stacey refused. I include this anecdote so we all know what kind of character we are dealing with here. One can imagine in learning this why she wouldn’t take a lie-detector test...
Here's my previous entry in this saga, "An Open Letter From Woody Allen's Adoptive Daughter Dylan Farrow."
I think Woody Allen's a weirdo, as do many others, especially given his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, Mia Farrow's adopted daughter with composer André Previn.
Still, I don't know what to believe. See the Daily Beast, "The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast."
But then, check Maureen Orth, at Vanity Fair, "10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation."
Is that all clear now?
NSA Reportedly Spied on Former German Chancellor Schroeder
At Der Spiegel, "Iraq War Critic: NSA Targeted Gerhard Schröder's Mobile Phone":
Edward Snowden appeared to come very close to announcing the news himself. During his recent interview with German public broadcaster NDR, he said: "I would suggest it seems unreasonable that if anyone was concerned about the intentions of German leadership that they would only watch Merkel and not her aides, not other prominent officials, not heads of ministries or even local government officials."More.
Now it appears that, in addition to eavesdropping German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile communications, the National Security Agency was also eavesdropping on Gerhard Schröder's phone while he was still chancellor. On Tuesday night, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and NDR reported that Schröder had appeared on the so-called National Sigint Requirement List, a list of people and institutions named for targetting by the intelligence agency whose telephone communications should be monitored. Schröder was reportedly assigned the number "388" in 2002, if not sooner.
The reports cite unnamed US government and NSA insider sources claiming that Schröder was declared a target for monitoring because of his critical position on US preparations for a war in Iraq. A person with knowledge of the action is quoted as saying that the US had reason to believe that Schröder would not help lead the alliance toward success.
Criticism from German Government
In Germany, the revelations appeared to create new tensions in German-American relations. Speaking to SPIEGEL ONLINE, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, of Schröder's center-left Social Democratic Party, accused the NSA of conducting indiscriminate mass surveillance. "Protecting safety appears to be a guise for the NSA to collect unlimited data," he said. "Eavesdropping on a chancellor's mobile phone in no way contributes to protecting against terrorist attacks."
Maas called for Germany to continue to push for a no-spy agreement with the US, despite resistance from Washington. "Even if it won't be easy for the Americans, we still need to continue pushing for an international agreement, because we cannot spare any effort to ensure the the data of people in Germany is better protected."
Responding to questions about the allegation that the NSA spied on Schröder, agency spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told SPIEGEL ONLINE the intelligence agency would not publicly comment on every alleged intelligence service activity...
Scarlett, Soda and Samaria
From Melanie Phillips, at the Jewish Chronicle:
Well, Scarlett's certainly not hesitating to get out there on the "front foot," unlike Ms. Phillips, who's been caving to the British Islamo-fascists, if you recall.
Rarely can the off-screen performance of a Hollywood star have had such a galvanic effect upon the morale of a besieged group of people.More.
When Oxfam attacked Scarlett Johannson for advertising SodaStream, the gaseous gizmo whose bubbles are apparently toxic for being manufactured in Mishor Adumim just over Israel’s Green Line, the charity was expected to sack the actress as its public face.
But, as the attacks on her by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions crowd reached fever pitch, Ms Johansson stunned everyone by sacking Oxfam, on the grounds that she was a supporter of “economic co-operation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine”. Which, by implication, Oxfam was not.
With this put-down, she achieved more than all the anti-BDS activists put together (not to devalue their heroic efforts). For the first time that I can remember, a glamorous personality went on to the front foot against the peddlers of anti-Israel bigotry.
She did not adopt a cringing, defensive posture. She strode on to the moral high ground and, at long last, delegitimised the delegitimisers.
For Oxfam’s part, it dug itself further and further into its ridiculous hole. Its mantra that Israeli “settlements” such as Ma’ale Adumim – the city to which Mishor Adumim belongs — are illegal under international law is simply false.
Well, Scarlett's certainly not hesitating to get out there on the "front foot," unlike Ms. Phillips, who's been caving to the British Islamo-fascists, if you recall.
Friday, February 7, 2014
'Close your eyes and I'll kiss you ... Tomorrow I'll miss you...'
It's going to be a Beatles weekend leading up to Sunday's 50th anniversary of the band's "Ed Sullivan Show" debut.
Here's "All My Loving," from this afternoon's drivetime on the Sound L.A.
Here's "All My Loving," from this afternoon's drivetime on the Sound L.A.
LET IT RIDE
B.T.O.
5:10 PM
The Wanton Song
Led Zeppelin
5:06 PM
She Loves You
The Beatles
5:03 PM
ALL MY LOVING (LIVE)
BEATLES
5:01 PM
Let's Go
The Cars
4:57 PM
The Letter
The Box Tops
4:55 PM
Back On the Chain Gang
Pretenders
4:51 PM
Hold Your Head Up
Argent
4:39 PM
Black Water
The Doobie Brothers
4:35 PM
CNN's Transformation Says a Lot About What's Working in Television Today
The network's got major problems, and (chief of world operations) Jeff Zucker's looking to (starting to, actually) shake things up.
At the Economist, "Cable television: News you can lose":
Expect to see more original programming on the network. Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" is doing very well in the ratings, for example.
At the Economist, "Cable television: News you can lose":
Part of problem: who knew he had a late show? RT @AmPowerBlog: CNN Cancels Anderson Cooper's "AC360 Later." http://t.co/CXqiQxaOYJ #CNN
— Em (@lamblock) February 8, 2014JEFF ZUCKER, boss of CNN Worldwide, a cable-news firm, likes to start his morning with a shot of numbers. Every weekday at 9am he confers with his teams in New York, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and other bureaus to discuss ratings and web traffic, and to decide what news to cover. On February 4th a story reconstructing the final day of Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor who died of a heroin overdose (see obituary), boosted CNN’s website. Mr Zucker wanted to “push it” on TV too. As producers pitch the stories they plan to cover, Mr Zucker pitches them his own, including more on Hillary Clinton’s election prospects, how bad weather affects America’s economy and whether drinking two fizzy drinks a day will actually kill you.Keep reading.
Previous bosses at the channel rarely attended morning news meetings, but Mr Zucker has been hands-on since January 2013, when he took over the role. However, he also believes that CNN cannot live by news alone. The cable channel, owned by Time Warner, a media conglomerate, has often performed poorly in the ratings compared with its politically partisan rivals in America—left-leaning MSNBC and conservative Fox News—unless big news is breaking. There is no glory in the role of unbiased “referee” between two partisan networks, Mr Zucker tells his staff. “Nobody goes to the game to see the ref.”
Instead CNN is trying to lure viewers by airing original films and television series that are either licensed or produced in-house. In October it showed “Blackfish”, a splashy documentary about a trainer at a marine park who was killed by a whale. Last month Mr Zucker attended the Sundance film festival to show three films produced by CNN, and to buy the rights to air another, called “Dinosaur 13”, about palaeontologists discovering a Tyrannosaurus skeleton. Next month “Chicagoland”, a reality-TV show for political junkies, set in the windy city, will begin. A travel series in which Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef, travels to exotic places, called “Parts Unknown”, has become one of CNN’s most popular shows, and may have helped the channel to attract around 8m new viewers.
Let them entertain you
Unfortunately, CNN and other American cable-news channels continue to travel to unfamiliar and dark ratings terrain themselves. Last year median prime-time ratings for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC declined by between 6% and 24% (see chart). The picture is not much brighter for business-news networks, such as CNBC. There is a “ceiling” to how many people are getting their news from television today, says Amy Mitchell of the Pew Research Centre’s Journalism Project. More people are turning to the internet.
CNN’s transformation under Mr Zucker is an attempt to boost ratings that are well below their peak five years ago...
Expect to see more original programming on the network. Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" is doing very well in the ratings, for example.
Boehner Shelves Immigration Reform as Tea Party Conservatives Decry Amnesty
An excellent synopsis at the New York Times, "Boehner Doubts Immigration Bill Will Pass in 2014":
WASHINGTON — The yearlong effort to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, which had the support of President Obama, Republican leaders and much of American business and labor, was seriously imperiled on Thursday when Speaker John A. Boehner conceded that it was unlikely he could pass a bill.Keep reading.
His pronouncement, amid mounting resistance from conservatives, significantly narrowed the window for success this year and left it to Mr. Obama to win the trust of balking Republicans.
Mr. Boehner’s remarks came a week after he and other House Republican leaders offered a statement of principles intended to win support for the measure. But, he said, House Republicans are not prepared to move forward in partnership with a Democratic administration that they believe will not fairly and impartially carry out the laws they pass.
“The American people, including many of my members, don’t trust that the reform that we’re talking about will be implemented as it was intended to be,” said Mr. Boehner of Ohio, citing executive actions by the Obama administration that have changed or delayed the carrying out of the president’s health care law.
At their most optimistic, the speaker’s words put the drive for immigration legislation in abeyance until tempers cool, some advocates in Congress said. But lawmakers on both sides of the issue conceded that the politics had turned sharply negative in recent days.
Tea Party activists have shifted their focus from cutting the federal budget deficit to thwarting what they call amnesty for those in the country illegally. Conservative groups have called for a clean sweep of the Republican leadership. One House member openly suggested that a drive now for comprehensive immigration legislation should cost Mr. Boehner his job.
While reiterating his personal support for addressing the nation’s faltering laws to control the border, admit immigrants and workers, and handle the 11 million people in the country illegally, Mr. Boehner lamented, “I’ve never underestimated the difficulty in moving forward this year.”
Russia Shows Culture and Strength, but Unease Remains — #OpeningCeremony
From Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "Sochi 2014: Opening ceremony lights a fire for Winter Olympics":
Cold air being pumped into covered Oly stadium as part of show, temperature dropping fast...why can't there be an Autumn Olympics?
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
Ceremonies begin with little girl reciting Russian points of pride, then lifted into air by kite...hangs while different terrains float past
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
Now it's snowing...indoors..on hundreds of folks dressed in traditional Russian garb...girl still floating..very cool...
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
First snafu...Snowflakes become Olympic rings, but only four of them....Putin just showed up, maybe he arrested it..
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
Good applause for USA..but man, we have the loudest, most cluttered outfits here..Not Ralph Lauren's finest hour
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
Finally, Russia, deafening cheers, standing ovation, music turns to thumping hip hop, awesome knee length fur-lined coats and fur caps..
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
With red, white and blue lights flashing in stands while music booms and fans cheer, Russia entrance surely one of most memorable ever
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
According the script, ceremony is going to do a reenactment of War and Peace...there goes my deadline...
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
They are actually doing a War and Peace ballet...dozens of dancers..pretty bold, and pretty cold to be running around in leotard, but works
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
So sadly typical..amid all this Opening Ceremonies beauty, potential horror was in the making....http://t.co/rpRU41UkHO
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
Well, old-school Russia just showed up, flying hammer and sicle, worker pounding away while generals repress..very unsettling..
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 7, 2014
SOCHI, Russia — There were human doves twirling to Tchaikovsky, ballerinas waltzing with Tolstoy, and a prolonged roar for a Russian team wearing the coolest of fur-lined coats.More.
On a chilly night along the shores of the Black Sea, Russia welcomed the world to the Sochi Olympics on Friday with a giant embrace that was equal parts elegant, awkward and Putin.
The three-hour opening ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium highlighted the beauty of the Russian culture and strength of the Russian spirit. But it did little to lift the cloud of uneasiness hanging over a Games that began amid protests over Russian anti-gay laws and fear over terrorism. Somehow it seemed fitting when a set of floating snowflakes suddenly transformed themselves into Olympic rings — but only four of them. The fifth snowflake never changed.
Russian television viewers, however, saw all five rings, as the show's producer Konstantin Ernst recognized the malfunction shortly before it occurred and immediately ordered an image from rehearsals to be transmitted in its place.
"It would be ridiculous to focus on the ring that would not open," said Ernst later. "It would be silly."
During a ceremony that officially began the competition for 3,000 athletes competing in 15 sports, there were many other unvarnished moments of richness and regret. Both were experienced by a U.S.A. contingent that marched into the stadium wearing loud sweaters composed of so many different bits of stars, stripes and rings, they looked like a patriotic stock car.
The Russians stole that show, as their athletes marched into the arena wearing colorful blue and red coats and fur caps while music thumped and 40,000 fans rose to their feet to cheer and flash blinking blue lights. The ovation, march and music lasted for several long minutes. It felt like Staples Center when the Lakers take the court.
There were also loud cheers for the cool and dancing bobsledders from Jamaica, the Bermuda-shorts wearing contingent from — where else? — Bermuda, and the heavily bundled and extremely honest group from Iceland.
"Many think that because our country's name is Iceland, it is a country of snow and ice, but it isn't," said flag bearer Saevar Birgisson, a cross-country skier. "Iceland has never won a medal in the Winter Olympics and we will not win in Sochi either."
All were welcomed by a largely Russian crowd that seemed genuinely delighted by the experience. Unlike crowds in other Olympics, they clapped for everyone, booed nothing, and remained in their seats through the post-show fireworks.
"We are proud to have the privilege to host the entire world," said Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee.
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