"Dirty Wars" is an extremely important documentary. The book even more so.

Thanks to this work by Jeremy Scahill the USA now knows about JSOC. It is a disturbing arm of the military. It answers directly to the President and basically can carry out covert operations anywhere in the world. The questions arise in the film as to the appropriate nature of JSOC. 

Jeremy's restless conscience took him to explore the truth in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. His findings are disturbing. What is more disturbing than JSOC itself existing, is the fact those involved with these operations are willing to rationalize the deaths of innocent people and attempt to remove evidence of their deaths to hide the fact.

February 9, 2014
By Paul Steve
The Record 

...THREE OF the five Academy Award nominees (click here) for best feature-length documentary movie take viewers to distant places and troubled times....

THREE OF the five Academy Award nominees for best feature-length documentary movie take viewers to distant places and troubled times. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/244590771_Opinion__Documentaries_on_far_and_dangerous_places.html#sthash.Mk75Z5hi.dpuf

...The third, "Dirty Wars," speaks more directly to America's current foreign policy and its role in the world — and the picture is not pretty. Longtime war correspondent Jeremy Scahill first recounts a nighttime raid by American troops in a dangerous region of Afghanistan. In the village of Gardez, in 2010, a local police official (Mohammed Daoud Sharabuddin) and two pregnant women are among the fatalities, apparently shot in cold blood.

The more Scahill asks American authorities questions about what happened in Gardez and why, the more he's rebuffed. Over the next few years he connects the dots, which outline the off-the-grid activities of the Joint Special Operations Command. This is the mostly secret network of military units that conduct the war on terror by stealth and assassination and at the command of President Obama. JSOC produced the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and it launched a drone attack that killed an American citizen turned al-Qaida leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his teenage son in Yemen....

This isn't really a film about al-Awlaki, but, I am sure the military would like everyone to think about it that way. It is a film about the difference in war cultures and how the USA's military is completely disconnected from reality, except for it's own. It is scary to realize the disconnect exists and regardless of the 'tea drinking' with the villagers it never brought them any closer to understanding it.

The expressions of acceptance and regret by the USA military were based in the hope the people would appreciate the gesture and their presence. The villagers on the other hand wanted to relay their reality and how the USA presence actually was destroying their lives. The two never connected, because, the USA would have to admit it was completely wrong in their raids. 

Those "Kumbaya" or "Come to Jesus" moments were never productive because there were too many complaints to bring to a meeting and the USA military believed their night raids were necessary. The Taliban moved at night, but, the raids by the USA all too frequently didn't involve Taliban so much as innocent people. The raid on the home of Mr. Sharabuddin was most revealing. The filming of this home post deaths of civilians revealed home videos of household members while American soldiers' hands were removing their bullets of the then wounded Mr. Sharabuddin.

...“There was evidence (click here) of tampering at the scene, walls being washed, bullets dug out of holes in the wall,” the NATO official said, adding that investigators “couldn’t find bullets from the wounds in the body.”...

But, that is not what is most revealing. The fact Mr. Sharabuddin was trained by our military, was proud of his role in the village as police chief and was loyal to President Karzai and the USA military was a great accomplishment. He was grateful to be a part of an organized effort to bring peace to people. Mr. Sharabuddin was a good man and hero to his village. He garnered their support. But, most importantly, he never asked for a raid on his village by the USA military. Where is the support from the villagers now?

The USA military arrogantly carried out these night raids that killed innocent people without first seeking the input of the village officials. Our military did not trust the people they trained. They didn't trust their own skills in being peacemakers and providing real opportunity for the Afghan people to establish a strong presence against harmful elements like the Taliban. The USA military determined Afghanistan was too infiltrated with Taliban that 'the innocents' could not be trusted. Yet, Mr. Sharabuddin did just fine right up to the point where he was wrongly killed.

We need to leave Afghanistan so the people there can carry out their own government and law enforcement. We dearly are not needed there and the longer we stay the worse our reputation and the more danger is created for our country.

Additionally, JSOC needs oversight. Killing any innocent person that 'maybe an enemy' or is a 'sad casualty' can't be acceptable anymore. Those deaths become a chain reaction that we can't stop. That very real aspect to the actions of JSOC is never incorporated into the military's understanding of it's role in national security. We don't need to violate our national security at the same time we are suppose to be securing it.

A bomb can't go off until the fuse is lit. That fuse in the Mideast is very long and starts with the first death of an innocent person or child. I currently believe while JSOC performs valuable and important measures to our country, it also has lit many fuses.

Mr. Scahill's work was a vitally important work and deserves this award. It would be a small token of gratitude for putting his life on the line and not abandoning the truth. Jeremy moved outside of his comfort zone to find the truth and in that revealed the lack of it in the information the USA military was and is supplying this nation. Currently, the United States military believes their own faux images of war and their role, thus creating a very dangerous world.

"Dirty Wars" may actually be the strongest reason for peace yet. 

Look, the government simply protested, too. Not to make light of this, but, the Ukraine is a great country with great people. Find a way to make it all work.

Andrew Higgins
February  5, 2014

The men, Hennadiy Korban (click here) and his partner Borys Filatov, decided to remove advertising videos featuring glamorous models from a large outdoor screen at an upscale shopping mall called Passage and replace them with a live broadcast of raucous antigovernment protests at Independence Square in Kiev.

They also ordered their local properties to hoist the flags of the European Union and Ukraine, a gesture of open revolt in a Russian-speaking region where economic and political power have traditionally been united in looking more to Moscow than to Europe for guidance.

Retribution, or at least some extraordinarily bad luck, swiftly followed. Hours after the flags went up on Jan. 25, all three of their company’s shopping malls in Dnepropetrovsk lost their electricity, and panicked shoppers scrambled through the dark for the exits....

I know the Ukraine isn't Bahrain, but, they found an interesting design for their world trade towers. Those wind mills are real.

Why risk bad relations, build an energy generator on site. A back up. I hate confrontation. I prefer respect for the innovation.

“We are honoured (click here) that the Bahrain World Trade Center has been awarded this highly prestigious accolade for Innovation in the global construction industry. We hope this award will encourage others designers and developers to consider more innovative design solutions to reduce their building’s energy and water consumption, and ultimately reduce their carbon emissions.”

The USA needs their own garage band. Somehow heavy metal is an appropriate expenditure.

Sean Michaels
The Guardian
7 February 2014

A Canadian electro-industrial band (click here) is asking for thousands of dollars in royalties after learning that the US military used their music to torture prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Skinny Puppy claim they filed a $666,000 (£368,000) bill with America'd defence department. 

"We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody," keyboardist Cevin Key recently told CTV News. "I am not only against the fact they're using our music to inflict damage on somebody else but they are doing it without anybody's permission."

Skinny Puppy first learned about the alleged use of their music from a former Guantánamo Bay guard, who was "affected or offended" by the detention camp's practices....

I remember this trial. Her brother was involved, too. What a reality check as marijuana is legalized in the USA.

I think most of the coverage is on this blog. Twenty years for over nine pounds of marijuana smuggling.

Indonesia was more upset than I think Australia was because of allies in The West and their anti-drug campaigns. Indonesia didn't want the image of a drug haven. It also was interested in adding drug wars to the landscape. 

Jonathan Pearlman
Sydney
10 February 2014

An Australian beautician, (click here) bikini designer and convicted drug smuggler has been freed from jail in Bali following a nine-year saga whose every twist has been intensely followed across the nation.

Wearing a hat and scarf to cover her face, Schapelle Corby finally walked out of a Bali prison and the local correctional office and avoided a media scrum by entering the protection of security guards who work for an Australian television station which reportedly paid millions of dollars for a first interview.

Corby, 36, has served almost 10 years of her 20-year sentence after being convicted of smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana in her body-board bag.

She has been released on parole and must live in Indonesia until until her parole is fully served on July 25, 2017. 

A prison official, Farid Junaedi, said Corby was "just fine, only a little bit nervous and asking why there's so many people and reporters"... 

Then there were issues with East Timor, too. So, Indonesia really didn't want the drug commerce as a way to finance civil wars.

January 28, 2014
Philip Dorling

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis (click here) has moved to block the release of secret archives that would reveal the Australian government's knowledge of Indonesian war crimes in East Timor.

Senator Brandis has issued a public interest certificate that will prevent University of NSW Associate Professor Clinton Fernandes from attending the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on Tuesday when the government argues that Justice Duncan Kerr should reject his application for access to Australian diplomatic papers and intelligence on Indonesian military operations in East Timor more than 32 years ago.

Consequently Dr Fernandes will be unable to read, hear or directly challenge the government's arguments for continuing secrecy.

In the latest round in a six-year bureaucratic and legal struggle to secure declassification of records about Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor, Dr Fernandes is seeking full access to two Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade files that contain reports about a major military offensive across the island in late 1981 and early 1982.

Known as the "fence of legs", the Indonesian military operation involved more than 60,000 conscripted East Timorese civilians being forced to form human chains that moved across large areas of land with the military behind them to flush out pro-independence guerillas. The operation ended with a massacre of several hundred East Timorese civilians....

For 60 thousand conscripts to cooperate with this one has to know they weren't armed, right? They were sitting ducks. Human shields. It is good to check in on old news once in awhile.

Amazing.

I don't know which is worse, drones or pure unadulterated human rights violations.

Excuse me?

Press Trust of India
Washington
February 9, 2014

US whistleblower Edward Snowden, (click here) who honed his hacking skills in India, used inexpensive and widely available software to “scrape” the National Security Agency’s networks, according to American intelligence officials probing his high-profile case. Using “web crawler” software designed to search, index and back up a website, 30-year-old Snowden “scraped data out of our systems” while he went about his day job, The New York Times quoted a senior intelligence official as saying. 

"We do not believe this was an individual sitting at a machine and downloading this much material in sequence,” the official said. The process by which Snowden gained access to a huge trove of the country’s most highly classified documents was “quite automated” and the former CIA contractor kept at it even after he was briefly challenged by agency officials.

The findings are striking because the NSA’s mission includes protecting America’s most sensitive military and intelligence computer systems from cyber attacks, especially the sophisticated attacks that emanate from Russia and China, the report said. In contrast, Snowden’s “insider attack” was hardly sophisticated and should have been easily detected, investigators found. Snowden had broad access to the NSA’s complete files because he was working as a technology contractor for the agency in Hawaii, helping to manage the agency’s computer systems in an outpost that focuses on China and North Korea....

Really.

By Amber Corrin
April 12, 2013

...DOD and DHS (click here) both receive substantial funding in the budget, including close to $5 billion in cyber funding for the Pentagon. At DHS, an overall budget of $39 billion for fiscal 2014 will go toward "core homeland security functions, such as transportation security, cybersecurity and border security," according to the President's proposal. 

The DHS figure includes nearly $500 million for cybersecurity research and development and almost $1 billion expressly for the protection of federal computers and networks against malicious cyber activity.... 

So, what was this all about?

Jun. 28, 2010
On February 16, 2010, (click here) a bipartisan group of former senior administration and national security officials participated in a simulated cyber attack on the United States—Cyber ShockWave. The simulation, which was moderated by Wolf Blitzer and broadcast as a special on CNN, provided an unprecedented look at how the government would respond to a large-scale cyber crisis affecting much of the nation....

The Unions have to maintain a public profile to counter the politics of Snyder.

Ashley Woods
02/08/2014
 
DETROIT -- The Michigan Legislature's hasty passage (click here) of a right-to-work law in December 2012 was likely the most polarizing week of Gov. Rick Snyder's (R) tenure. Given the choice, he said he'd do it again.
"Absolutely," he told The Huffington Post during an interview Friday when asked whether Michigan was better off with the new legislation.

In December 2012, the Republican-controlled House and Senate approved legislation making it unlawful to require employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment. The lightning-fast passage during a lame-duck session shocked national observers. The GOP governor, elected in 2010, previously had indicated that passing right-to-work legislation wasn't on his agenda, but in December he said he would sign any right-to-work bills that made their way to his desk....

Right to Work erodes the rights of the Middle Class. This is the day of the Super Rich and now due to politicians such as Snyder, the added corruption stuffs their pockets all the more.

Americans can't give up their rights. They also need a pay raise. 

March 25, 2013
Jayne Bower

DETROIT (WWJ) - Geraldine  Blankinship, (click here) now 93, was 17 years old when her father and hundreds of others at the General Motors Fisher One Plant decided they had had enough.

“Well, I remember my dad coming home from work so tired that he couldn’t eat,” said Blankinship. “They would work them sometimes overtime for no pay.”
 
“My dad called home on the thirtieth of December and said to my mother, ‘Ida we’re on strike. It’s a sitdown and I’ll be home when it’s over.’”

It wasn’t over until February 11, 1937....

It would seem there are hardline Neocons in more than just the USA and Israel. I hate muscle flexing.

Mission: (click here) The Iranian navy fleet, consisting of a destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship, began its voyage last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas

It would seem as though The USA needs more than diplomatic talks with Iran, it might require a visit from retired Admiral on a diplomatic mission to dispel confrontation for the sake of confrontation.

Mission: The Iranian navy fleet, consisting of a destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship, began its voyage last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas - See more at: http://www.ablxboston.com/national/39633-iranian-warships-sailing-to-us-borders-for-first-time-to-send-a-message.html#sthash.Me5AWbsR.dpuf

Mission: The Iranian navy fleet, consisting of a destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship, began its voyage last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas - See more at: http://www.ablxboston.com/national/39633-iranian-warships-sailing-to-us-borders-for-first-time-to-send-a-message.html#sthash.Me5AWbsR.dpuf

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian warships dispatched to the Atlantic Ocean will travel close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time, a senior Iranian naval commander said Saturday.

The commander of Iran’s Northern Navy Fleet, Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, said the vessels have already entered the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The fleet, consisting of a destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship, began its voyage last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The ships, carrying some 30 navy academy cadets for training along with their regular crews, are on a three-month mission.

The voyage comes amid an ongoing push by Iran to demonstrate its ability to project power across the Middle East and beyond.

IRNA quoted Haddad as saying the fleet is approaching U.S. maritime borders for the first time. The Islamic Republic considers the move as a response to U.S. naval deployments near its own coastlines. The U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet is based in Bahrain, just across the Persian Gulf....

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral  Habibollah Sayyari

This move (click here) has a message’: Iranian warships dispatched to the Atlantic Ocean last month will travel close to U.S. maritime borders for the first time in response to U.S. fleets near Iran Haddad said the vessels have already  entered the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa, carrying about 30 navy academy cadets for training along with their regular crews.

Iran had first warned America of its  plans to deploy its naval forces along U.S. marine borders ‘in the next  few years’ in September 2012.

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral  Habibollah Sayyari at the time said that the move would be a response to U.S. naval deployments near its own coastlines....

Oklahoma Geological Survey (click here)

Posted: Saturday, February 8, 2014 8:47 pm 
Updated: 10:27 pm, Sat Feb 8, 2014.

FROM STAFF REPORTS
 

A 4.1-magnitude earthquake shook central Oklahoma (click here) about 8:15 p.m. Saturday., the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter of the quake was four miles south-southwest of Langston and eight miles east of Guthrie. It was 2.7 miles deep, the survey reported.

People on social media reported feeling the quake rumble in Stillwater and Edmond.

Initially, the survey reported the quake at 4.4-magnitude, but it revised its report about 10 p.m.

No reports of damage or injuries were immediately reported....

09/02/2014
© RIA Novosti. 
Alexei Malgavko

...“I don't think it's a good idea (click here) to make protests here, no one cares,” said Austria’s Iraschko-Stolz, who married her wife Isabel Stolz last year.

“I am here as a sportswoman,” she added. “To jump pretty good is also a statement …I know Russia will go and make the right steps in the future and we should give them time."

Iraschko-Stolz, 30, has been a pioneer both as an openly gay athlete in majority-Catholic Austria and in the sport of women’s ski jumping, which only joins the Olympic program in Sochi, 90 years after the first men’s competition at the Chamonix 1924 Games.

During her career, Iraschko-Stolz said she had seen first-hand how attitudes have moved one.

"I always say I'm together with my woman now and don't have any problems, not in Russia or with the Austrian [ski] federation. Ten years ago it was different,” she said.

Iraschko-Stolz finished first in two of three official individual training sessions Sunday, with 17-year-old Japanese prodigy Sara Takanashi taking first place in the final session.

As the first Olympic women’s final on Monday draws closer, there remain doubts about the fitness of US world champion Sarah Hendrickson, who has decided not to attempt any competition standard jumps in training to avoid aggravating a knee ligament injury she suffered in August....                                           Iraschko floats on air.

It may be the fuss about elderly poverty is more politics and an attack on SSI and Medicare than real.

As recent as May 2013 the news agencies were reporting a high level of elderly poverty. When examining Kaiser's elderly in poverty the rates are much lower than the rest of the country. Depending on the state, the rate is as low as 7% in Indiana and the highest state, Mississippi is 18% with the higher rate in the nation in DC with 20%.

I didn't do the math, but, I'll believe the Beacon Journal in that even if Kaiser was averaged it would be far lower than expected. When this generation entered into the idea of saving for their retirement, SSI and Medicare was always figured into that picture. It may be that Baby Boomers took themselves seriously and aren't going to be as much as a burden as predicted. For every dollar of SSI and Medicare they absorb, they may very well be putting some back in the way of their retirement savings and 401Ks.

Kaiser (click here) 

February 8, 2014
By Rick Armon
Akron Beacon Journal

AKRON, Ohio — Fifty years (click here) after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, at least one group of Americans is much better off today: senior citizens
.

The percentage of seniors nationwide living below the poverty line has plummeted from 27 percent to 9 percent today, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of census data.

“That is a success story,” said Harvey Sterns, director of the Institute for Life-Span Development and Gerontology at the University of Akron.

The sharp decline has occurred at the same time that the elderly population — defined as age 65 or older — has more than doubled in the country to 40.6 million people.

Today, there are 3.7 million seniors living in poverty, compared with 5.2 million in 1969, when the 1970 census was conducted.

The reasons are pretty simple, experts say: It’s a combination of Social Security, pensions, 401(k) programs and Medicare that has kept more elderly people from slipping into poverty.

Seniors also can continue working if they want today, as there are more nonlabor-intensive jobs available than decades ago.

However, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report last year saying the 9 percent poverty figure is too rosy....

AKRON, Ohio — Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, at least one group of Americans is much better off today: senior citizens.
The percentage of seniors nationwide living below the poverty line has plummeted from 27 percent to 9 percent today, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of census data.
“That is a success story,” said Harvey Sterns, director of the Institute for Life-Span Development and Gerontology at the University of Akron.
The sharp decline has occurred at the same time that the elderly population — defined as age 65 or older — has more than doubled in the country to 40.6 million people.
Today, there are 3.7 million seniors living in poverty, compared with 5.2 million in 1969, when the 1970 census was conducted.
The reasons are pretty simple, experts say: It’s a combination of Social Security, pensions, 401(k) programs and Medicare that has kept more elderly people from slipping into poverty.
Seniors also can continue working if they want today, as there are more nonlabor-intensive jobs available than decades ago.
However, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report last year saying the 9 percent poverty figure is too rosy.
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/fewer-seniors-living-poverty-now-study-says#sthash.BmiC3oJ4.dpuf

By Rick Armon
Akron Beacon JourAKRON, Ohio — Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, at least one group of Americans is much better off today: senior citizens.The percentage of seniors nationwide living below the poverty line has plummeted from 27 percent to 9 percent today, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of census

I have to add, the death of Marius wasn't necessary. If his genetics would cause problems within the a breeding program he could have been castrated. Horses are castrated all the time.

I find this committed in poor insight for more than simply the death of Marius. The zoo immediately fed their wildcats with the meat of this giraffe. Why would anyone feed large cats in a zoo environment freshly killed giraffe meat?

In practice, when wild animals are exposed to killing humans they are hunted down and euthanized because one they get the taste of the hunt and the prey they will repeat their actions. In feeding a freshly killed giraffe to the zoo's lions and tigers and otherwise, won't that cause problems? I would expect those cats will seek more of the same. I think this is the worst idea this zoo and it's association has ever had. I expect more civilized answers for zoo animals than this.

I would expect the Copenhagen Zoo to close it to the public for a few days until the behavior of the Big Cats were better understood. 

Ian Johnston 

09 February 2014

...The reaction to the death of Marius was swift. (click here)

Stine Jensen, of Denmark’s Organisation Against the Suffering of Animals, said the giraffe had been treated like a “waste product”, while Animal Rights Sweden said: “The only way to stop this is to not visit zoos.”

Yorkshire Wildlife Park said it was “saddened” to hear of his death, expressing disappointment that its last minute offer to house Marius in its “state-of-the-art giraffe house” alongside four other males, including one from Copenhagen Zoo, had been ignored. A Dutch wildlife park had also offered to re-home him....

Giraffes are cows to be raised for slaughter.

President Putin was at the skating venue today to witness Russia's first Gold Metal.

Julia Lipnitskaia performed a new personal best and won that first Gold. I can't imagine the Russian President taking a seat at any venue if there was a hint of danger.

4:25 PM, February 9, 2014
Detroit Free Press Staff

The first Made-in-Michigan (click here) medals have been won at the Sochi Olympics.

When the inaugural team figure skating event ended today, six skaters who train in the Detroit area had earned their way onto the podium — three from the U.S. and three from Canada.

Russia easily skated off with the gold medal, their first of the Winter Olympics. The silver went to Canada. And the bronze went to the U.S.

The honor roll of medalists:

 For the U.S.: Meryl Davis and Charlie White, the ice dancers who train at the Arctic Edge in Canton, and Jeremy Abbott, who trains at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills....

It's Sunday Night

"A White Shade of Pale" by Procol-Harum (click here - no official website)

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
But the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
And the waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, "There is no reason
And the truth is plain to see."
But I wandered through my playing cards
And they would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open wide
They might have just as well been closed

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, "I'm here on a shore leave,"
Though we were miles at sea.
I pointed out this detail
And forced her to agree,
Saying, "You must be the mermaid
Who took King Neptune for a ride."
And she smiled at me so sweetly
That my anger straightway died.

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

If music be the food of love
Then laughter is it's queen
And likewise if behind is in front
Then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
Seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
And attacked the ocean bed

And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale

The Greatest in Human Achievement.

Being an Olympic athlete is a great honor. In many instances the difference between The Gold and last place are split seconds or factions of style points. The athletes at Sochi today are among the greatest athletes in the world. It only happens every four years. The toughest competition on the planet is in Sochi right now.

Winter sports are mostly about sliding on icr or snow.

The imagination of human activity in the world's colder temperatures can be beautiful or artistic or fast, but, add a puck and some sticks and enjoy some of the most protective equipment at the games.

By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
February 8, 2014 

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A new format (click here) was supposed to make the Olympic women’s hockey tournament more competitive after Vancouver, when then-IOC president Jacques Rogge hinted that the sport could be kicked out of the Winter Games.

One day into the Sochi Games and the winners look the same.

The United States and Canada won their openers at the Shayba Arena on Saturday despite changes that were supposed to bring some of the marquee matchups into the round-robin. The Americans beat Finland 3-1 and Canada beat Switzerland 5-0, showing that the North American dominance of the sport is still supreme.

‘‘It’s the best result we've ever had against Canada,’’ Swiss goalie Florence Schelling said after making 64 saves in a 5-0 loss to the three-time defending champions. ‘‘It shows we have improved.’’

A spate of blowouts in 2010 led hockey’s international governing body to place the four top teams in their own group, with the next four in a group of their own. The teams in Group A will compete for two spots in the semifinals and two in the quarterfinals; two other spots in the quarterfinals will go to the top two teams in Group B.

That means the United States faced Finland, the 2010 bronze medalist, in the Sochi opener instead of China, which it beat 12-1 to start the Vancouver Games. Finnish goalie Noora Raty, a two-time NCAA champion, gave up Hilary Knight’s goal 53 seconds into the game but stopped 40 shots to keep it close from there.

‘‘I always know that when you face the U.S. or Canada, it’s going to be 40 or 50 shots,’’ she said. ‘‘They are the huge favorites and we are the underdog.’’...

Underdog has always been a hero to me.
 

The Luge has actually changed this year

The world lost Nodar Kumaritashviliin in 2010. He was nearly invisible on the track. These athletes had reached speed of up to 90 mph with absolutely no protection. There is a very good chance we may never see those speeds again and that is a good thing.

New records for the course begin this year. If they start the course, they need to finish the course.

While the speed is always the focus, driving The Luge is not an easy vehicle to drive. It literally is a flexible vehicle that allows the body the luxury of sliding fast. It bends with every body movement, so the steering is vital. The Luge is not sincerely a sled. It is more like a vehicle that allows the body to wear blades for sliding.

It is a sport of complete confidence in the driver's ability. It is among the most dangerous, although they never think about it.

Officials blamed a luger's death in the 2010 games entirely on driver error. But some fear a design flaw in the course played a role—and that another accident could happen this year. 

Tom McNichol  
Feb 8 2014, 3:15 PM ET

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi (click here) could see a world record or two broken, as the planet’s top athletes push each other to greater heights and faster speeds. However, one sport almost certainly won’t see any records fall this year at the Games: the luge. While many winter sports—like downhill skiiing, snowboarding, and speed skating—are getting faster, luge is the rare Olympic sport that’s getting slower. And that’s by design.

The luge track at Sochi, officially known as the Sanki Sliding Center, features an unusual design element for a sliding-sport venue: uphill sections. Most luge tracks don't have any rise in elevation along their courses, but Sochi has three uphill stretches....

 

Before the controversy about judging gets all the attention Julia Lipnitskaia gave a magnificent performance.

SOCHI, Russia — That rumble (click here) that swept through the Iceberg Skating Palace after Julia Lipnitskaia skated could be felt all the way to South Korea.
The Russian phenom's dazzling performance that won the short program in the figure skating team competition Saturday showed Yuna Kim isn't the only woman with the goods to win gold in Sochi. Lipnitskaia has the jumps, she's got the artistry and, despite being just 15, she's got the nerves.

"I've never seen anything out there like the atmosphere out there today," Lipnitskaia said. "There wasn't silence for a single second."...

This was her performance in 2014 in Europe.
 

US wins two golds in what Bob Costas called a 'jackass' sport.

It took Jamie Anderson and Sage Kotsenburg (click here) two days to make slopestyle everyone’s new favorite sport. Kotsenburg and Anderson brought home gold medals in men’s and women’s slopestyle in the sport’s Olympic debut. Not too shabby for an event Bob Costas likened to an episode of Jackass a month earlier.

“I’m so happy,” Anderson shouted after winning the U.S.’s second gold in the event. “It was fricken’ mind blowing. What a day.”
It was mind blowing for everyone watching as well. Anderson landed two 720s in her winning run, and Kotsenburg pulled out a backside 1620 Japan Air.
Did you know what a Japan Air was on Friday?

What I can tell you is that by Saturday afternoon, everyone in the United States knew what it was, knew Sage Kotsenburg landed it, and knew slopestyle was the most insane sport they had ever seen.