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14 hours ago, Citius Altius Fortius said:

With the inauguration of the fascistoide Trump government the LA bid is lost - no chance anymore...

It is a tragedy that an open minded city will not be able to host a third time Olympic Games in the US, because of this xenophobic populistic government in Washington...

 

 

Remember how there was no chance for the Brexit and no chance -NONE- Trump would win? 

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14 hours ago, intoronto said:

Trump's Executive Order on immigration is totally contrary to Olympic ideals. For him, collective responsibility trumps individual justice

Just think of all the other IOC members who feel the same.

 

It seems like the "Olympic Ideals' is sort of just a joke, there has always been deep corruption in the IOC and Olympic host cities but it's been more impossible to hide with every passing games. Everyone involved with the Olympics seems to be involved with corruption, cheating, or self-aggrandizement; from Athletes, to IOC executives, to host cities, developers, construction companies, mayors, presidents (Jintao, Jinping, Lula, Putin, Erodgon).......is there ANY part of the Olympics that is NOT totally corrupt? So with ZERO moral authority, I find it laughable that people still confuse the IOC or Olympic Ideals with some sort of  moral compas that any person, city or government could take seriously. 

It's just a hugely extravagant party with lots of fun activities and intrigue to amuse. Whatever cities population can get tricked into holding a games will certainly have fun moments, lot's of colorful displays, and memories and pride. Probably also many bills to pay, but depending on your governments scheme....you may not even realize how much it cost you. 

Edited by paul
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6 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I bet LA 2024 is just having palpitations every day now.  I bet the morale is going on a downslide.  

Now, when is Marie La Pen being elected?  :D

This April. Albeit in a hopeful light (Still cautelous), there's a new potential threat for the independent center with Emmanuel Macron gaining popular support. And it seems the FN is in a potential fragmentation between the familiar feuds between Marine and her niece (And Brannon's pupil Marion).

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Sir Mo Farah:

On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien. 

I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years - working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four children in the place they now call home. Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome. It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home - to explain why the President has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.

I was welcomed into Britain from Somalia at eight years old and given the chance to succeed and realise my dreams. I have been proud to represent my country, win medals for the British people and receive the greatest honour of a knighthood. My story is an example of what can happen when you follow polices of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1369028299785195&id=120065621348142

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1 hour ago, paul said:

Remember how there was no chance for the Brexit and no chance -NONE- Trump would win? 

That wasn't exactly true. While dismissed in a dumb way, the latest serious polls (And I recall only the SERIOUS ones) related to Brexit were actually really close in both results and the change of the numbers required minimal movement. Brexit was actually a realistic result, but mostly people overestimated the valuable and rational thought of the average voter.

I agree with Trump, but then, Michael Moore predicted exactly that and recall the problem with the northern states in Michigan and Wisconsin.

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3 hours ago, paul said:

Remember how there was no chance for the Brexit and no chance -NONE- Trump would win? 

At least when the IOC has an election, though, it's the candidate that gets the MAJORITY of the votes that actually WINS! :P

3 hours ago, paul said:

It seems like the "Olympic Ideals' is sort of just a joke, there has always been deep corruption in the IOC and Olympic host cities but it's been more impossible to hide with every passing games. Everyone involved with the Olympics seems to be involved with corruption, cheating, or self-aggrandizement; from Athletes, to IOC executives, to host cities, developers, construction companies, mayors, presidents (Jintao, Jinping, Lula, Putin, Erodgon).......is there ANY part of the Olympics that is NOT totally corrupt? So with ZERO moral authority, I find it laughable that people still confuse the IOC or Olympic Ideals with some sort of  moral compas that any person, city or government could take seriously. 

And yet here you are, as in making some sort of argument "for" L.A.'24 with this. But don't worry, L.A. 2028 will also still fit in nicely with all that! :lol:

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6 hours ago, paul said:

It seems like the "Olympic Ideals' is sort of just a joke, there has always been deep corruption in the IOC and Olympic host cities but it's been more impossible to hide with every passing games. Everyone involved with the Olympics seems to be involved with corruption, cheating, or self-aggrandizement; from Athletes, to IOC executives, to host cities, developers, construction companies, mayors, presidents (Jintao, Jinping, Lula, Putin, Erodgon).......is there ANY part of the Olympics that is NOT totally corrupt? So with ZERO moral authority, I find it laughable that people still confuse the IOC or Olympic Ideals with some sort of  moral compas that any person, city or government could take seriously. 

It's just a hugely extravagant party with lots of fun activities and intrigue to amuse. Whatever cities population can get tricked into holding a games will certainly have fun moments, lot's of colorful displays, and memories and pride. Probably also many bills to pay, but depending on your governments scheme....you may not even realize how much it cost you. 

And here's more on that! :lol:

 

As President, Donald Trump Could Launch Campaign Against Los Angeles Olympics Bid

7fe4f535df54da29291f61d2073e85d1?s=62&d=mm&r=gAlex Reimer , CONTRIBUTOR

In the closing weeks of his vicious presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump started waging a greater war against a group that he called the “global power structure.” He said the global elite, led by the Clinton family, was bankrupting the United States in order to line the pockets of corporate interests.

Some organizations, such as the Anti-Defemation League, said Trump’s rhetoric touched upon classic anti-semitic themes. But many of his supporters heard an impassioned disavowal of elitism. White working-class voters, many of whom voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, overwhelmingly went for Trump.

If Trump wants to hold true to his promises, he can try to impact a negotiation between international elites that’s already going on. For the last year, the city of Los Angeles has been lobbying to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the United States. Perhaps no group is more representative of a corrupt global power structure than the International Olympic Committee, which is currently deciding whether to award the Games to LA. The IOC is a perfect foil for Trump’s nationalistic message.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who’s championed the city’s Olympic push ever since Boston dropped its bid in July 2015, has already expressed concerns about how a Trump presidency could thwart his efforts. “For some of the IOC members, they would say, ‘Wait a second, can we go to a country like that, where we’ve heard things that we take offense to?”’ he said at the Rio Games in August, via Bloomberg.

This week, while LA made its pitch to IOC officials in Qatar, American sprinter Allyson Felix looked to assuage some of the concerns about a Trump presidency. During the campaign, Trump promised to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and expressed trepidation about whether he would automatically defend NATO allies in the event they’re attacked. Despite some of the harsh pushback against those proposals, Felix told IOC members the United States remains committed to valuing diversity.

“We just finished our presidential election, and some of you may question America’s commitment to its founding principles,” she said, via ESPN. “I have one message for you: Please don’t doubt us. America’s diversity is our greatest strength.”

While the Olympics represent international unity on the surface, they also carry a deep underbelly of corruption and destruction. This year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro cost the Brazilian government $4.56 billion, according to the Oxford Olympic Study. Though that figure says it was the cheapest Olympics since 1996, the toll it took on Brazil was still extraordinary. Since the country was in a budget crisis, funds were diverted from civic programs to stadium construction. Hospitals were left without beds and residents without clean water.

Throughout his time on the stump, Trump fixated on the pay-for-play accusations surrounding Clinton’s time in the State Department. But perhaps nothing represents the culture of patronage more than the Olympic bidding process. The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, for example, were ripe with scandal. Members of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee bribed certain IOC members, paying for luxuries such as family vacations, plastic surgery and Super Bowl tickets. Several IOC officials also walked away with cash bribes between $3 million and $7 million.

Earlier this year, French authorities announced they were expanding their corruption investigationinto the 2016 and 2020 bids. Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp” in Washington; he couldn’t possibly express support for LA’s continued efforts to acquiesce to the venal IOC.

Bribery aside, the special accommodations that host cities must make for IOC officials is the embodiment of elitism. Norway dropped out of the bidding for the 2022 Games, because it refused to fulfill IOC members’ absurd requests such as separate traffic lanes and airport exits.

During Trump’s victory speech last week, the first policy initiative he mentioned was a desire to improve America’s infrastructure. But there are other ways to accomplish that agenda without submitting to the IOC. Previous presidents have applauded the idea of the Olympics coming to the U.S. But if Trump is for real, he won’t. In fact, he could be the IOC’s most ardent critic.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2016/11/17/as-president-donald-trump-could-launch-campaign-against-los-angeles-olympics-bid/

 

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1 hour ago, RuFF said:

One of the weakest points I felt the LA bid had was why LA needed the Olympics. Much emphasis had been placed on why the Olympics need a city like LA and not so much the other way around. But, I think that question may have been solved. Allyson Felix hit the nail on the head in her speech in Qatar:

“We just finished our presidential election, and some of you may question America’s commitment to its founding principles,” Felix said. “I have one message for you: Please don’t doubt us. America’s diversity is our greatest strength.”

Felix said America “needs the games to help make our nation better, now more than ever.”

 

While at first this whole Trump fiasco is sending LA down in fumes, I wonder if LA2024 will continue this message and weather or not it would gain any traction if they did.

It wouldn't for any other nation going through political instability. Imagine, for example, Istanbul trying this argument to win a bid to see how futile that sounds as a strategy. All it does is reinforce the problem. 

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19 minutes ago, FYI said:

^So Frumpy, start critiquing & draining the Lausaunne "swamp"! It's what your campaign was platformed on. ^_^

That article you referenced was from mid November. It was written before Trump pledged his support for LA's bid. So the least of LA's concerns should be that he might be overly critical of the IOC. Doesn't seem like that's going to be the case

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I was being facetious, Quaker. Considering paulette's diatribe on what the IOC is "really" all about, yet at the same time trying to ironically defend L.A.'s bid chances. If that's what one really believes on what the IOC is all about, then fine. But then don't be hypocritical as if somehow L.A. "could" still win based on an organization that you think so low of. It's akin to you-know-who's "bunch of corrupt weasels" view, but at the same time argues that those bunch of corrupt weasels should still "beg" Frump & Washington to get the "permission" to have the Games in the U.S.

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1 hour ago, Quaker2001 said:

That article you referenced was from mid November. It was written before Trump pledged his support for LA's bid. So the least of LA's concerns should be that he might be overly critical of the IOC. Doesn't seem like that's going to be the case

Have you been paying any attention to Trump? One comment about supporting something means nothing. He can easily change his stance, have his staff say he didn't mean what he said, etc. 

Regardless of what he may have said, he just banned Mo Farah from the US. He seems very happy pissing off the entire world. Baring something YUGE happening before the vote, LA2024 is dead. 

 

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3 hours ago, zekekelso said:

Have you been paying any attention to Trump? One comment about supporting something means nothing. He can easily change his stance, have his staff say he didn't mean what he said, etc. 

Regardless of what he may have said, he just banned Mo Farah from the US. He seems very happy pissing off the entire world. Baring something YUGE happening before the vote, LA2024 is dead. 

 

It's actually been clarified that dual citizens will not be stopped at the border unless their flight originates from one of the banned countries, but yeah, this whole thing is ridiculous. One minute Trump is totally behind showing the world the might of American through the Olympic games, the next minute he pisses off the international community that is suppose to vote on the Olympic host. It honestly seems like he's shoving food into his mouth he can't swallow in regards to the Olympics.

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4 hours ago, zekekelso said:

Have you been paying any attention to Trump? One comment about supporting something means nothing. He can easily change his stance, have his staff say he didn't mean what he said, etc. 

Regardless of what he may have said, he just banned Mo Farah from the US. He seems very happy pissing off the entire world. Baring something YUGE happening before the vote, LA2024 is dead.

Or, here's a thought, just throwing this out there.. he can just as easily not change his stance.  Yes, I've been paying attention to Trump.  Apparently you haven't.  He didn't just make a comment about support for LA2024.  He talked directly to Eric Garcetti and then he talked directly to Thomas Bach to "express his strong support."  That means a lot more than nothing.  Does Trump strike you as someone who is likely to say something he doesn't mean?  He took a position and you can be darn sure he meant it.  You can't pretend like that didn't happen.

Cool story about Mo Farah, except for the part it's not actually accurate.. VICTORY FOR MO! Sir Mo Farah ‘relieved’ he can CAN return to US as UK wins Muslim ban assurances – but blasts Trump’s ‘divisive’ policy

I agree completely that Trump's policies (and we're just a week into his presidency, so who knows what he's got coming) are likely to sink LA's bid, as if they weren't already facing long odds.  And yea, he's more than happy to piss off the rest of the world.  But he's also a giant egomaniac.  If somehow LA were to pull off a miracle and win the bid, we all know what's going to happen with Trump.  I'll bet he's going to try and claim that victory as his own and boast that he was the president that got the Olympics back to the United States because he supported them the whole way, even though he didn't actually do anything for them.  And if they lose, then he'll probably blast the IOC because how dare they not recognize how great America is!

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5 hours ago, FYI said:

I was being facetious, Quaker. Considering paulette's diatribe on what the IOC is "really" all about, yet at the same time trying to ironically defend L.A.'s bid chances. If that's what one really believes on what the IOC is all about, then fine. But then don't be hypocritical as if somehow L.A. "could" still win based on an organization that you think so low of. It's akin to you-know-who's "bunch of corrupt weasels" view, but at the same time argues that those bunch of corrupt weasels should still "beg" Frump & Washington to get the "permission" to have the Games in the U.S.

LA's chances of winning are not zero.  They're a lot closer to zero than 3 days ago, but

 

7 hours ago, RuFF said:

One of the weakest points I felt the LA bid had was why LA needed the Olympics. Much emphasis had been placed on why the Olympics need a city like LA and not so much the other way around. But, I think that question may have been solved. Allyson Felix hit the nail on the head in her speech in Qatar:

“We just finished our presidential election, and some of you may question America’s commitment to its founding principles,” Felix said. “I have one message for you: Please don’t doubt us. America’s diversity is our greatest strength.”

Felix said America “needs the games to help make our nation better, now more than ever.”

 

While at first this whole Trump fiasco is sending LA down in fumes, I wonder if LA2024 will continue this message and weather or not it would gain any traction if they did.

I agree with Rob.. it's certainly not a bad message to continue to push America's diversity in the face of Trump's policies, but I don't think they should be going in the direction where they're reacting to it.  A lot of people are upset with the United States over all this and hopefully for LA2024's sake, it dies down a little over the next few months.  Not sure how much it's going to resonate to tell the IOC that the United States needs to Olympics because like Rob said, it's just going to be a reminder of the problems that are being created and I'm not sure they can sell how LA 2024 would be the solution.

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1 hour ago, Quaker2001 said:

  Does Trump strike you as someone who is likely to say something he doesn't mean?  He took a position and you can be darn sure he meant it. 

Trump has promised many, many times to ban all Muslims from entering the US. Do you think he meant that? Any chance in hell the US gets the Olympics if we ban Muslims from entering the country?

Trump has also said Mexico is going to pay for his moronic wall. The main doesn't know what the hell he's talking about much of the time. 

If you take him at his work, his policies are diametrically opposed to everything the IOC voters claim to believe in. 

Your other choice is he's an unstable nutcase likely to fire off a president directive on a whim that screws up international relationships. 

Either way, there's (something darn close to zero) chance the IOC voters pick his country for their games. 

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27 minutes ago, zekekelso said:

Trump has promised many, many times to ban all Muslims from entering the US. Do you think he meant that? Any chance in hell the US gets the Olympics if we ban Muslims from entering the country?

Trump has also said Mexico is going to pay for his moronic wall. The main doesn't know what the hell he's talking about much of the time. 

If you take him at his work, his policies are diametrically opposed to everything the IOC voters claim to believe in. 

Your other choice is he's an unstable nutcase likely to fire off a president directive on a whim that screws up international relationships. 

Either way, there's (something darn close to zero) chance the IOC voters pick his country for their games. 

Gotcha.. so 1 comment (which again, wasn't a comment, but rather a personal conversation with the most important person at the IOC) means nothing.  But once it's said many many times, then it means something. 

What does any of this have to do with the IOC needing to beg Trump to let them have the Olympics here?  You really think the IOC wants to go anywhere near Trump at this point knowing the answers they're going to get to questions they shouldn't have to ask?  The situation is already FUBAR, so what good comes from the IOC engaging directly with Trump?  That's going to make things worse, not better.  Trump scuppering the bid with his foreign policy (again, we don't disagree on that) is a completely separate issue from "he's Donald Effing Trump" and not a pussy like the past 2 presidents and therefore the IOC needs his personal permission to allow for LA2024 to even exist.  Which he already did, even though you want to pretend like that phone call never happened.  I continue to call bullshit on that.  And oh yea,

Psst.. Trump's inauguration was not the most watched ever.

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23 hours ago, FYI said:

And yet here you are, as in making some sort of argument "for" L.A.'24 with this. But don't worry, L.A. 2028 will also still fit in nicely with all that!

Toronto might be in the race for 2028. I know for a fact that they are waiting to see who wins 2024. If LA wins, no bid. If LA lose, expect Toronto in the race as North America will be the most overdue continent

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