From: tsm@fastmail.ca   
      
   On Feb 9, 2026 at 1:24:45 PM EST, "Tara"  wrote:   
      
   > On Feb 9, 2026 at 12:53:13 PM EST, "Dude"  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 2/9/2026 9:40 AM, Tara wrote:   
   >>> On Feb 9, 2026 at 9:13:39 AM EST, "Julian"  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On 09/02/2026 00:19, Tara wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Fragile U.S. psyche faces trial by sport in Milan   
   >>>   
   >>>   CATHAL   
   >>>>> KELLY   
   >>> Milan   
   >>> Published 8 hours ago   
   >>> Updated 8 hours ago   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> In the   
   >>>>> continuum of human stupidity, there are few more extreme contemporary   
   >>>>> examples than boxer/influencer Jake Paul. Stupid is his business, and   
   >>>>> business is good.   
   >>>>>   
   >>> Paul is here at the Olympics following around his crush, American   
   >>>>> vice-president J.D. Vance. The pair attended Saturday’s U.S. women’s   
   hockey   
   >>>>> game together.   
   >>> Paul is also acting as volunteer komissar, policing the   
   >>>>> political affiliations of his countrymen.   
   >>> During a presser, American   
   >>>>> freestyle skier Hunter Hess talked about the vibe back home.   
   >>> “It brings up   
   >>>>> mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now,” Hess said. “Just   
   because I   
   >>>>> wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in   
   the   
   >>>>> country.”   
   >>> When said in Hess’s Jeff Spicoli drawl, you’d have to be trying   
   >>>>> to be very offended by that. Paul was very offended.   
   >>> “From all true   
   >>>>> Americans,” he tweeted at Hess. “If you don’t want to represent   
   this   
   >>>>> country go live somewhere else.”   
   >>> Cathal Kelly: Something funny happened   
   >>>>> when Canada played Switzerland: it was an actual competition   
   >>> Obviously,   
   >>>>> someone who gets hit in the head for a living shouldn’t be taken too   
   >>>>> seriously. Then Paul went on a date with the second-most powerful person   
   in   
   >>>>> America. So maybe that’s not obvious anymore.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> America’s been coming   
   >>>>> apart in a broken-family sort of way for a while. The rest of us are   
   their   
   >>>>> unlucky neighbours, lying awake at night listening to them fight.   
   >>> This is   
   >>>>> different though. Shorn of home-field advantage in Milan, forced together   
   >>>>> with all the friends they just ghosted, you can really see the cracks.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>  From Vance being booed at the opening ceremony, to NBC playing state TV   
   >>>>> and erasing it, to American athletes being pressed hard on how it feels   
   to   
   >>>>> play for a country no one likes any more, what strikes you isn’t that   
   it’s   
   >>>>> happening. Chinese and Russian athletes are used to provocative political   
   >>>>> questions at big international events.   
   >>> The difference is that the Chinese   
   >>>>> and the Russians have muscular responses at hand. Like them or not, they   
   >>>>> know where they stand. The Americans have no clue how to talk to   
   strangers,   
   >>>>> because they only discuss serious matters with like-minded Americans and   
   >>>>> about America, if at all. That there is a world out there with its own   
   take   
   >>>>> on things befuddles them (i.e. “go live somewhere else”).   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> When skiing   
   >>>>> star Mikaela Shiffrin was asked about the America problem, she started,   
   >>>>> stopped and said, “I can read something I had written, if you guys   
   don’t   
   >>>>> mind.” Then she rattled through what sounded a lot like a poem she   
   found on   
   >>>>> Instagram about ‘peace’.   
   >>> This is America’s new crisis of confidence, and   
   >>>>> it has nothing to do with being beset by the world’s problems, as   
   happened   
   >>>>> in the 70s. It’s realizing in real time at the Olympics that everyone   
   else   
   >>>>> thinks they are the world’s problem. You won’t find that on NBC   
   either.   
   >>>>>   
   >>> There’s only so many patriotic montages you can hide that behind. The   
   >>>>> Olympics aren’t a sports tournament. They are a biannual reminder of   
   how   
   >>>>> much you matter in the world. America’s always been the coolest kid in   
   the   
   >>>>> cafeteria, win or lose. You know that because they are the constant topic   
   >>>>> of village gossip. They still are, but no longer in a good way.   
   >>> Cathal   
   >>>>> Kelly: Canadian to the core, Sidney Crosby’s legacy is already   
   >>>>> untouchable   
   >>> Because of that, the sports end of the Olympics suddenly   
   >>>>> matters a lot. That the American team will win a bunch of medals is a   
   >>>>> given, but will they produce great moments? Will they come out of the   
   Games   
   >>>>> projecting strength, rather than the confusion they’re giving off right   
   >>>>> now?   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> So far, so not good. Their great story of resilience was meant to be   
   >>>>> 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn proving that no one can keep American   
   can-do’ism   
   >>>>> down. That lasted one turn into Sunday’s downhill final.   
   >>> After Vonn’s   
   >>>>> horror crash, cameras panned through the audience to catch all the   
   >>>>> Americans – who still insist on dressing for international travel like   
   >>>>> George Washington holding a sign out in front of the Valu-Mart –   
   looking   
   >>>>> stunned.   
   >>> Then they focused in on the eventual winner, Breezy Johnson, who   
   >>>>> is also American, sitting on the throne reserved for the person in top   
   >>>>> spot.   
   >>> Johnson had an excruciated look on her face – am I allowed to be   
   >>>>> happy right now? Should I be sad? – that captured the current   
   >>>>> American-in-the-world vibe.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> This pastiche went on forever. Vonn on a   
   >>>>> stretcher – cut to Johnson squirming – cut to Vonn being strapped   
   >>>>> underneath a helicopter – cut to Johnson glazing over.   
   >>> The person   
   >>>>> directing the international broadcast was doing their best Sergei   
   >>>>> Eisenstein – saying with images what cannot be said with words.   
   >>> Everywhere   
   >>>>> else in the world, America is always on top. You could stand any foreign   
   >>>>> leader beside any deputy underwhatever of the U.S. State Department, and   
   >>>>> you know who’s actually to the fore. Not here.   
   >>> At the Olympics, America is   
   >>>>> one among equals. When the bad guys were the other guys, that was a buddy   
   >>>>> story. Now it’s turning into a karmic beatdown. Everyone else wants to   
   see   
   >>>>> them fail, and they know it.   
   >>> If that means their nice, young athletes have   
   >>>>> to lose, well, too bad. They’ve never been worried about our nice,   
   young   
   >>>>> athletes, or anyone else.   
   >>> Milan is the beginning of America’s trial by   
   >>>>> sport. Five months from now, they host the World Cup. Their president   
   will   
   >>>>> actually be “at” that tournament, every day for 56 days. I’m sure   
   it’s   
   >>>>> going to go great.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Two and a half years from now, America hosts the next   
   >>>>> Olympics, in L.A., just as the Donald Trump era is ending.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)