The Sochi Winter Olympics - a Shameful Catastrophe for Amateur Athletics

Welcome to Sochi, Russua, home of the most expensive (est. $51 billion) Winter Olympics in history. For the 17 days of the Games, that is $3 billion per day. And what does $3 billion a day buy? A horror story. (1). Workers are scrambling to make adjustments to Sochi’s slopestyle snowboard course after Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone in a crash in a practice run while attempting to do a difficult trick on a rail. Horgmo was forced to withdraw from the Olympic Games. But the “real issue” with the slopestyle course - which is filled with various types of jumps and rails - is the height of the course’s jumps, according to venue safety expert Steve Adelman. “Athletes become airborne so high and so long, that landing safely becomes an issue,” Adelman told CTV’s Canada AM on Tuesday. Adelman said the course’s jumps are being adjusted to create the fine balance between being high enough so that people can do their jumps, but not so high that someone gets seriously injured.” Olympic officials plan to reduce the combined height of the three jumps on the course by a total of 1.82 metres. When asked about the course, Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant told the Olympic News Service : “It’s like jumping out of a building.” Organizers are also adjusting the proximity of the ramps and rails at the top of course, following Horgmo’s crash. While athletes had been complaining about the rails being “sticky,” which led to Horgmo’s crash, Adelman said the rails were “less of a long-standing concern” than the height of the jumps. Adelman said a lack of snow last February prevented athletes from testing the new course which is why plans to adjust the rails and jumps are only being made now. Snowboard slopestyle qualifications only begin on Thursday ahead of Friday's opening ceremony. (2). Reporters from around the world have begun cataloguing a litany of accommodation-related woes in Sochi, Russia, as organizers scramble to finish the construction of some hotels three days before the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Organizers admitted earlier last week that three of the nine media hotels were not completed. The Guardian's Moscow bureau chief Shaun Walker reported that when he tried to check into his room at midday Tuesday, he was told by a receptionist, "Your room is still under construction. They are literally finishing, the keys are literally coming now." Three hours later, Walker reported the same receptionist offered him a different room "with no heating, a single bed, and permeated with the odour of industrial glue." Those who have managed to get rooms have found the amenities less than ideal, as Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St Clair tweeted : "My hotel has no water. If restored," the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous." Later, St. Clair tweeted "Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like." Canadian sports columnist Bruce Arthur wrote, "Almost every room is missing something: lightbulbs, TVs, lamps, chairs curtains, wifi, heat, hot water. Shower curtains are a valuable piece of the future black market here. (One American photographer was simply told, 'You will not get a shower curtain.')" At a news conference Monday, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach insisted that Sochi was ready to stage the Winter Olympics despite concerns over terrorism carried out by Islamic militants from the restive North Caucuses region neighboring the city, unfinished construction, and human rights concerns caused by Russia's now-infamous law against "homosexual propaganda." However, as Arthur noted "[W]hat we have is a sea of little failures that give rise to the spectre of bigger ones. The Boston Globe drove a local car within a couple hundred feet of the Main Press Centre Tuesday, which is a proximity unthinkable in previous Olympics." For now, however, most will settle for the creature comforts. Yahoo Sports hockey writer Nick Cotsonika tweeted that when he visited the Soviet Union in 1991, he could take a shower but in Sochi he can't. (3). Speaking of security at Sochi, it is an area that has received more attention than the reason for the Olympic Games - amateur athletic competition. Driving towards Sochi along the only access road, you have to go through a huge concrete checkpoint in the tiny hamlet of Magri 60 miles (100 km) short of the Sochi city center. During the Winter Olympics, only vehicles registered in Sochi - and those with special permission - are being allowed through the checkpoint. On-site reporters say they have witnessed every bus, truck and car being searched by police officers with sniffer dogs. The checkpoint is overseen by Russia's internal security service, the FSB. Apart from the road, and the single railway line, Sochi is effectively cut off from the outside world. The long coastal strip bordered by the Caucasus Mountains to the north-east and the Black Sea to the south-west has become what seems to be one large security checkpoint. And along the internal road leading from Sochi proper where arena events will occur up to the mountain sites where outdoor events are scheduled, there are white tents and winter-white dressed military security forces "hidden" in the woods along the road, some as close as ten meters apart. Nevertheless, Alexei Navalny - the opposition leader who is one of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics - thinks it is unlikely that Sochi itself will be attacked. "I think that the security measures which are in place will guarantee security in Sochi," he said. "Of course this region isn't very stable, but in the end I'm sure that the Russian state is capable of ensuring security in the Olympic zone." ~~~~~ Dear readers, in the Soviet era, western delegations had their hotel rooms bugged and the security eavesdroppers left the door to their equipment rooms open - you could say hello to them as you passed on the way to your room. In the oligarch period in the 1990s, the water coming out of shower heads in Siberian industrial city hotels was charcoal-colored. Anyone who has been outside Moscow and St. Petersburg knows what the reality of Russia was and, most probably, still is. BUT, we need to remember that Putin's summer residence is in Sochi. And Vladimir Putin has put his international reputation on the line. He will in all likelihood produce a safe Winter Olympics. Safe - guarded by 40,000 police officers and troops, at least one anti-aircraft battery and a flotilla of naval craft. But in terms of the spirit of amateur athletics, it is a shameful catastrophe.

Mitt Romney - America's Candidate for 2016

Life can be a funny thing. Take Mitt Romney. He was set to win the 2012 presidential election, but got sidetracked by Superstorm Sandy and a certain New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose sudden affection for President Obama had a lot to do with Obama winning in 2012. That Christie was not chosen by Romney to be his Vice President running mate may have given a push to the Obama campaign to use Christie as a wedge into the Romney lead. It's one of those political what-ifs that will be debated for decades, just as the vote count irregularities in Cook County (Chicago) made the difference in JFK winning in 1960 instead of Richard Nixon. Well, what goes around comes around. The Democrat Party in New Jersey and nationally have concluded that Chris Christie is the biggest GOP threat in 2016 - so they are trying to push him out of contention with the bridge traffic scandal that his staff created. Christie is being manhandled by the media and New Jersey Democrats while Republicans reconsider his electability. And, wouldn't you guess that with the large field of lukewarm GOP 2016 wannabes, the latest GOP 2016 presidential preference poll puts Mitt Romney far out in front -- 25% to his closest rival, Paul Ryan, at 18%, followed by Christie at 17%, Jeb Bush at 16% and Ted Cruz at 8%. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Ann Romney is telling everyone that her husband will not run again. But Romney has a successful track record in business and government leadership positions that America badly needs. And he is a genuinely honest and nice man. Even Jimmy Fallon likes to do skits with him. My guess is that Ann Romney knows better than most that once a person is bitten by the presidential bug it is impossible to cure it. And the country desperately needs a president capable of saving her from the current downward spiral to collapse. Ann Romney understands this and so does her husband. And the Romneys will heed the inevitable call to serve America one more very important time. My only suggestion would be to send Mitt to marine bootcamp for a few weeks to toughen him up a bit before the 2016 presidential campaign swings into action. The GOP should think long and hard before closing the book on Mitt Romney. He was the best candidate in 2012 and he will be the best candidate in 2016.

Beware of Journalists Who Mistake Their Personal Opinions for Fact

Recently at Davos, Iranian President Rouhani was interviewed by Fareed Zakaria, a journalist who is a CNN international editor and hosts the GPS news program, and who has an opinion on almost everything going on in the world. After he interviewed Rouhani, Zakaria continued his look at the Iranian nuclear issue this weekend. He explained when he, himself, was interviewed by CNN, how Iran is willing to do what is required to provide proof of its peaceful nuclear intentions, if the West will only have a little more trust : "You know, I’m struck by the fact that there is a commitment to negotiation. He [Rouhani] reiterated...made it clear it [nuclear weapons] is un-Islamic, it is forbidden, you can have as many inspections as you want. So there were some positive elements. But the bridge between the two positions, as I say, is so great that you would need a lot of trust. And we have very little. Remember, we’ve not talked to this country in 34 years. We’re just beginning this process. We’re not doing it one-on-one. And as a result, you know, these negotiations - and I’ve talked to people who have been in them - you don’t build a lot of trust when you have so many people in the room. You’ve got six countries on one side, Iran on the other. It’s difficult to imagine this one ending very happily." And concerning his interview wuth Rouhani, Zakaria explained : "Iranian officials are determined not to accept any constraints on their program. They speak often about the importance of being treated like any other country that has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which to them means produce electricity. In fact, the treaty says nothing about enrichment activities specifically. Many countries with nuclear power plants do claim, reasonably, that enrichment has so far been a permitted activity. The only criterion the treaty lays out is that all nuclear production must be 'for peaceful purposes.' The American vision of the final deal is quite different and stems from the notion that Iran must take special steps to provide confidence that its program is peaceful. It would allow Iran to enrich some small, symbolic amount of uranium, up to 5 percent....Washington wants to lengthen the lead time between a civilian and military program. Both sides will have to think hard about their core concerns." Thus we should not be surprised that, based on his expanding interest in Rouhani and the Iranian nuclear program, Zakaria then branched out into analyzing internal Iranian politics. His analysis yielded this gem of the art of arriving at important conclusions by simply searching inside oneself for "conviction" : "I have come away from meetings with Rouhani and Zarif convinced that they are moderates who seek greater integration of Iran with the world. (Rouhani hinted to me, for example, that in the next few months, the leaders of the Green Movement would be released.) But I am also sure that they are operating under constraints, with many domestic opponents. The same could be said of the Obama administration. It is better that both sides start preparing the ground domestically for a final deal - and the compromises it would involve - rather than hoping that somehow if it works out in Geneva, it will work out at home as well." Here is what Rouhani actually said about Green Movement political prisoners : "Well, nobody will remain in prison forever. And nobody stays under house arrest indefinitely. I believe that the conditions which prevail inside Iran calls for peace, calls for reconciliation, more convergence, less divergence. My feeling tells me that the conditions in the future will be comparatively better than what used to exist, that peaceful coexistence will be much more tangible inside Iran in comparison to years past. And I have every confidence that that day will come." ~~~~~ Dear readers, unless Rouhani whispered state secrets into the eager ear of Zakaria during breaks in filming, one would be hard pressed to celebrate any news of impending releases of dissident political leaders in Iran. Other news outlets in the world did not pick up the Zakaria pronouncement as news. In fact, Zakaria's "hint" of prisoner releases came from Rouhani's "feeling" that conditions will improve in the future. Put this fantasy of imaginary facts derived from vague conversation in the larger context of Zakaria's "conviction" that Rouhani is a genuine moderate, whom Zakaria sees as "operating under constraints, with many domestic opponents. The same could be said of the Obama administration." So, Zakaria leaps from hints and feelings to conviction and expressing the opinion that Rouhani and Obama are similarly moderate leaders constrained by bad guys at home who don't want a nuclear deal. ~~~~~ It's easy to document Fareed Zakaria's leaps into docu-drama because he is so enamoured with his own voice and clever ideas that he saves and posts all of them. But, Zakaria is not the only journalist creating fantastical conclusions out of sound bites given by politicians who have an agenda hidden from the world -- whether it is aimed at being elected US president or bombing Israel out of existence. Beware of all of them. Wait for Henry Kissinger to tell us what it means and in the meantime, skepticism is the only policy to follow when a journalist makes a pronouncement that goes beyond verifiable facts. ~~~~~ Badr Jamous, secretary-general of the Syrian National Coalition, got it right about Iran and Rouhani when he commented in Davos about Rouhani calling for a new election in Syria and saying his nation would respect the results if there is a fair election where free ballots are cast : "we should all accept" the outcome, Rouhani said. Badr Jamous derided the speech : "Should we look for the Syrian voters in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey?" he asked. "Or shall we look after the Syrian refugees in the boats sinking in the Mediterranean or in Europe or under the wreckage in Syria or in the cemeteries or in his prisons?" ~~~~~ That statement is realpolitik, and it doesn't often get air time with journalists, unless they are standing on the ground in one of the world's hellholes. But seeking out and understanding realpolitik is the only thing that keeps us out of the mouth of the wolf - wherever he may be lurking.

Chris Christie, Most Likely not Lying, Continues to Be 'Convicted' by Democrats Who Want Him Out of 2016 White House Race

The Chris Christie affair is heating up into a fullblown take-sides political rehearsal for the 2016 presidential race. Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard law professor who has been identified with liberal causes but who has become more 'scholarly' in his positions recently, told Newsmax on Friday "the dominoes are beginning to fall" in the spiraling bridgegate scandal that threatens New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. "I think he hasn't told the whole truth and is in trouble...The US attorney should now subpoena the documents that were referred to in the letter and should sit down and talk to the governor,....The governor so far has not spoken to law enforcement nor has he spoken under oath, so legally, he can lie all he wants," Dershowitz said. "He's not obliged to tell the truth. Politically, he may be obliged to tell the truth, but legally he's not. But once he sits down and talks to law enforcement, he has to tell the truth, otherwise he can be prosecuted for a crime. They have to lock in his testimony as soon as possible, before he knows what all the dominoes are, and he has to give those answers," Dershowitz added. "That what the US attorney's office should do now. The sooner the better." Dershowitz's comments came after the lawyer for David Wildstein, a former Christie appointee for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, disclosed that his client had evidence that proves the Republican governor knew early on about the lane closures that snarled traffic on the George Washington Bridge for four days last September. Alan Zegas, who represents Wildstein, said in a letter published by the New York Times and the Star-Ledger that it was "the Christie administration's order" to close the lanes at the town of Fort Lee. The letter added that "evidence exists tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a press conference." But, Zegas was asking the Port Authority to reconsider its decision not to pay Wildstein's legal bills, according to The Star-Ledger. Wildstein, who resigned in December when the scandal broke, ordered the abrupt and unannounced closure of commuter lanes leading to the bridge, causing massive gridlock. In a Friday statement, Christie's office said he told the truth about what he knew about the politically motivated lane closings : "Mr. Wildstein's lawyer confirms what the governor has said all along: He had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with,....As the governor said in a December 13 press conference, he only first learned lanes were closed when it was reported by the press and, as he said in his January 9 press conference, had no indication that this was anything other than a traffic study until he read otherwise the morning of January 8. The governor denies Mr. Wildstein's lawyer's other assertions." The US attorney in New Jersey, Paul Fishman, said in January that he would open an investigation into the bridge lane closings. Dershowitz said : "Fishman must give immunity to Wildstein - and he's going to have to testify and tell the whole truth and be asked hard questions,....But regardless, Christie is in trouble,....if he is smart, and he is smart, he's talking to somebody behind the scenes - a very good criminal lawyer." Dershowitz also said that Friday's disclosures illustrated a personal rift between Wildstein and the governor over the bridge scandal. The men have known each other since high school, according to news reports, but Christie made negative comments about Wildstein at the December 13 press conference. "Governor Christie really made this stupid mistake by treating Wildstein the way he did. He provoked him. Christie showed his total ineptness when he said what he said about Wildstein at the press conference." And Obama advisor John Podesta gave his first public interview after joining the Obama White House team to Bloomberg, saying allegations that Governor Christie knew about lane closures on the George Washington Bridge may be “a killer” to the New Jersey Republican’s presidential ambitions. “I don’t think there’s any coming back,” Podesta told Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend. "If it’s true Christie knew about the lane closures, I don’t think there’s any coming back.” Meanwhile, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, the only Republican who consistently supports Christie publicly, on Friday questioned the strength of the disclosure by Wildstein's lawyer : “I'm not sure it is a bombshell,” Giuliani told CNN. “It is a statement with a lot of ambiguity - some good for the governor, some that creates questions. The part that is good - it’s clear the governor didn't know about it beforehand, right?....The question is when did he find out about it." The letter from Zegas said that his client "contests the accuracy of various statements that the Republican governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some." But, Giuliani noted that the letter gives no indication what the evidence is. In a statement released late Friday, Christie's office said that the key allegation in the Zegas letter - that Christie knew about the closures when they happened - does not contradict what the governor had said at his news conferences in December and on January 9. Giuliani, a former US attorney and GOP presidential candidate, expressed support for Christie in an exclusive Newsmax interview when news of the scandal broke earlier this month. He told CNN on Friday that the Zegas letter might be a ploy for immunity for Wildstein : "Mr. Wildstein is very much wanting to get immunity from the government,....He is negotiating for immunity. Who knows, he may even ratchet up his allegations in order to get immunity." Still, Giuliani said that he would advise against Christie holding another news conference similar to the January session, which lasted two hours and during which he accepted responsibility for the closures on the world's busiest bridge. "I would let all these facts play themselves out before he makes a final complete statement about this," he told CNN. "Who knows how people are going to change their statements? Who knows how much they're going to be motivated to exaggerate? There are so many perils here. "He's answered everything he can answer," Giuliani added. "The governor should wait until this thing is over and get all the fact on the table." In another interview, Giuliani told POLITICO Thursday he’s “offended” by how the media characterized an earlier remark he made about the bridge scandal. Giuliani had seemed to suggest in a radio nterview that there was a “50-50” chance that Christie knew ahead of time about the bridge ane closures that one of his aides helped orchestrate in an apparent act of political retribution. Christie has adamantly denied advance knowledge of the traffic scheme. Giuliani was asked on Geraldo Rivera’s 77 WABC radio program whether an email in August from Christie’s then-deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, about “traffic problems in Fort Lee” implied that earlier discussions with the governor had taken place about the lane closures in the northern New Jersey town. The question came during a discussion on the radio program, aired Thursday, about a recent New York Times story detailing Christie’s political operation. “With the governor?” Giuliani said on the radio. “No, it doesn’t. I mean, no, it’s 50-50. I mean, it leaves you with no possible way of knowing: Did she discuss it with him or didn’t she discuss it with him?” In an interview later Thursday, Giuliani said his “50-50” comment was taken out of context. The “it” he was referring to in his 50-50 remark, Giuliani said, was the Times piece. Giuliani said he was “offended” that his remark was being held up as evidence he had doubts about Christie’s veracity. The former New York mayor noted that he went on to praise and defend Christie on the show, making clear that in any government, there is some small percentage of things that go on that the chief executive is simply unaware of. ~~~~~ Dear readers, there's a lot of road left to travel before we know enough to make an informed evaluation of what really happened vis-à-vis that now-famous bridge in New Jersey. I continue to think that Chris Christie, a former US attorney, would not step into the trap of lying if he knew he would be found out. We all also know that Christie is the GOP presidential candidate most feared by Democrats. Is Christie being set up? Maybe. Did Christie know what was going on or participate in it. Not likely. Will the Democrat political machine continue to use the media to 'convict' him without a fair trial? Absolutely.