M Kfivethousand
2022-09-29 22:27:55 UTC
See piece on Sochi....
National review
Dear International Olympic Committee: You Had ONE JOB!
When Charles Lane wrote this piece calling for an end to the Olympic tradition last month, it seemed hyperbolic: "Any benefits have to be weighed against the Olympics' costs, which are political, financial, moral and — for athletes ravaged by steroid abuse — human. . . . Supporters speak of the Olympics as a 'movement,' as if the Games were some sort of insurgent force for good, not the leviathan they are. What we really need is a movement to get rid of them."
Now, as we look at the worsening mess that is the Sochi Winter Olympics, we have to wonder whether the International Olympic Committee can be stopped before they run the games into the ground. Next stop, Brazil, where they're not sure they'll be ready in time, part of a stadium collapsed during construction, and the locals are protesting the billions going to stadium construction and other costs instead of helping the poor. Did I mention the drug traffickers shooting down police helicopters in Rio?
I know you're wondering how the IOC picked that city, but they had to; Mogadishu, Somalia, was already booked those weeks.
Russia was an astonishingly bad choice to host the games for so many different reasons: Putin's authoritarian tendencies, the country's ludicrous anti-gay law, and the massive threat of terrorism are three big reasons. But recent days have shown us so much more.
For starters, some of the basic structures and facilities aren't finished yet:
From the Black Sea resort of Sochi to the snow-draped peaks dwarfing the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Olympic fervor is mounting as thousands of workers scramble to finish grandiose projects. This isn't polishing the silver or closing out a punch list. This is full- blown construction, with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and the first full day of competition Saturday.
Backhoes and dump trucks weave between buses full of reporters. Hotels seem weeks away from opening. Tile saws send dust spewing from restaurant doors draped in "Coming Soon!" posters. Roadways are clogged with cranes erecting street lights alongside crews installing guard rails.
Wait, there's more! "The Olympic Village in Sochi still looks very much like a work-in-progress. Sidewalks are half built; wiring is still unfinished; and piles of trash are collecting within a short distance from the Olympic Park. Of the nine media hotels planned for the Games, only six have been built with a last minute sprint to get the others finished before the Olympics officially commence."
Or how about the brutal approach to stray dogs? "The city of Sochi has hired a pest-control company to kill homeless animals by the hundreds, all in an effort to clean up the streets in advance of the Winter Games."
And apparently "hacking" is now an Olympic sport this year:
According to an NBC News report, unprepared Olympics attendees are being hacked the second they fire up their electronic devices.
NBC reporter Richard Engel worked with a security expert to set up two test computers in order to see just how quickly he'd be attacked when logging onto Russian networks. But, he reported, when sitting down at a cafe with the expert, "before we even finished our coffee" the bad actors had hit, downloading malware and "stealing my information and giving hackers the option to tap or even record my phone calls."
Once the two test computers went online, the hacking happened just as fast, Engel said. It took "less than 1 minute [for hackers] to pounce, and in less than 24 hours, they had broken into both of my computers.
But the story of the Sochi Olympics is one that must be seen, not told. From various reporters' Twitter feeds, we can see what we're missing by not shelling out to go.
For starters, don't drink the water in the Sochi hotels! Or use it on your face!
Reporters are all abuzz about the all-natural honey:
Vladimir Putin bugged the breakfast table.
I thought Russians were supposed to be good engineers:
A New York Daily News correspondent laments that their hotel rooms have no chairs…
… I think I found them in the bathrooms.
Fred Thompson was right in The Hunt for Red October. Russians really do never take a dump without a plan, or it appears, a planning committee, present.
ADDENDA: Our Charlie Cooke noted that Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is touting her support for "open carry" of firearms and has "dropped from her website all mention of abortion, the very thing that made her famous; started to describe herself as 'pro-life' in the vain hope that voters might not notice; and, worried at how she might be portrayed, started walking around campaign events carrying a shotgun and talking likeYosemite Sam."
Just make sure all of her Manhattan, San Francisco, and D.C. donors know this!
National review
Dear International Olympic Committee: You Had ONE JOB!
When Charles Lane wrote this piece calling for an end to the Olympic tradition last month, it seemed hyperbolic: "Any benefits have to be weighed against the Olympics' costs, which are political, financial, moral and — for athletes ravaged by steroid abuse — human. . . . Supporters speak of the Olympics as a 'movement,' as if the Games were some sort of insurgent force for good, not the leviathan they are. What we really need is a movement to get rid of them."
Now, as we look at the worsening mess that is the Sochi Winter Olympics, we have to wonder whether the International Olympic Committee can be stopped before they run the games into the ground. Next stop, Brazil, where they're not sure they'll be ready in time, part of a stadium collapsed during construction, and the locals are protesting the billions going to stadium construction and other costs instead of helping the poor. Did I mention the drug traffickers shooting down police helicopters in Rio?
I know you're wondering how the IOC picked that city, but they had to; Mogadishu, Somalia, was already booked those weeks.
Russia was an astonishingly bad choice to host the games for so many different reasons: Putin's authoritarian tendencies, the country's ludicrous anti-gay law, and the massive threat of terrorism are three big reasons. But recent days have shown us so much more.
For starters, some of the basic structures and facilities aren't finished yet:
From the Black Sea resort of Sochi to the snow-draped peaks dwarfing the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Olympic fervor is mounting as thousands of workers scramble to finish grandiose projects. This isn't polishing the silver or closing out a punch list. This is full- blown construction, with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and the first full day of competition Saturday.
Backhoes and dump trucks weave between buses full of reporters. Hotels seem weeks away from opening. Tile saws send dust spewing from restaurant doors draped in "Coming Soon!" posters. Roadways are clogged with cranes erecting street lights alongside crews installing guard rails.
Wait, there's more! "The Olympic Village in Sochi still looks very much like a work-in-progress. Sidewalks are half built; wiring is still unfinished; and piles of trash are collecting within a short distance from the Olympic Park. Of the nine media hotels planned for the Games, only six have been built with a last minute sprint to get the others finished before the Olympics officially commence."
Or how about the brutal approach to stray dogs? "The city of Sochi has hired a pest-control company to kill homeless animals by the hundreds, all in an effort to clean up the streets in advance of the Winter Games."
And apparently "hacking" is now an Olympic sport this year:
According to an NBC News report, unprepared Olympics attendees are being hacked the second they fire up their electronic devices.
NBC reporter Richard Engel worked with a security expert to set up two test computers in order to see just how quickly he'd be attacked when logging onto Russian networks. But, he reported, when sitting down at a cafe with the expert, "before we even finished our coffee" the bad actors had hit, downloading malware and "stealing my information and giving hackers the option to tap or even record my phone calls."
Once the two test computers went online, the hacking happened just as fast, Engel said. It took "less than 1 minute [for hackers] to pounce, and in less than 24 hours, they had broken into both of my computers.
But the story of the Sochi Olympics is one that must be seen, not told. From various reporters' Twitter feeds, we can see what we're missing by not shelling out to go.
For starters, don't drink the water in the Sochi hotels! Or use it on your face!
Reporters are all abuzz about the all-natural honey:
Vladimir Putin bugged the breakfast table.
I thought Russians were supposed to be good engineers:
A New York Daily News correspondent laments that their hotel rooms have no chairs…
… I think I found them in the bathrooms.
Fred Thompson was right in The Hunt for Red October. Russians really do never take a dump without a plan, or it appears, a planning committee, present.
ADDENDA: Our Charlie Cooke noted that Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is touting her support for "open carry" of firearms and has "dropped from her website all mention of abortion, the very thing that made her famous; started to describe herself as 'pro-life' in the vain hope that voters might not notice; and, worried at how she might be portrayed, started walking around campaign events carrying a shotgun and talking likeYosemite Sam."
Just make sure all of her Manhattan, San Francisco, and D.C. donors know this!