So who is paying for the covid testing if federal workers refuse to get vaccinated? It better be out of their own pocket. Dont waste money on these assholes. Fire them if they dont want to comply. Being a selfish idiot is not a protected class, despite the GOPs incessant desires to make it so.

Voting for a Reagan Republican versus a Drumph Republican is like being offered a choice between a shit sandwich or a shit sandwich with extra shit...

Ouch @7.

Very true, though.

Remember, if you demand vaccinations to go into bars, you'll keep out the anti-vaxxers and the Former Guy adherents, but also some enthusiastic yoga practitioners ... ok, that sounds like heaven, let's do it!

Like most of the Slog faithful, I'm a little old to have grown up with Arthur and so am just now learning he's....... An aardvark!?!

I love me some damn aardvarks, but it seems as if they've got a single defining anatomical characteristic that this guy lacks. Though I suppose that's for the best, as the large snout could prove rather inconvenient when he's hunkered over the desk writing letters and whatnot.

@10,

Totally agree.

Youthful athletes in fragile mental states who perform incredibly dangerous and incomprehensibly daring feats of agility in which a single minor miscue could easily result in permanent paralysis should just suck it up and risk their lives so that fat-assed American fuckwads can sit on their couches cramming cheeseburgers and Coors party balls down their McOrifices while watching television in an effort to feel "patriotic."

Choker, indeed.

@11:

You ever notice how most of the "fat-assed American fuckwads" - as you so cogently characterize them - who complain about athletes, entertainers, or other high-profile professionals who regularly engage in physically, emotionally, and/or mentally demanding endeavors, "choking" are people who could never, ever, not-in-a-million-billion-gazillion-years, come even remotely close to approaching the skill levels of the people they're disparaging?

@7: Actually more like a choice between bœuf bourguignon and a bag of Doritos.

Screw the Science Fiction category on Jeopardy; I want to see a Levar Burton category on the show while Burton is hosting. And both daily doubles in that column!

Please, there are plenty of elite athletes that could risk life and limb over a minor miscue, Football players, even baseball with line drives, downhill skiers, divers, surfers, white-water kayakers, cyclists, etc., etc. There's nothing wrong with expecting elite athletes to push through their stress and compete...that's why they're elite athletes. I'm sure there are countless elite athletes out there right now who are doing just that.

I get the sense that Biles had a poor outing, lost her temper (figuratively speaking) took her toys from the sandbox and went home in a huff. She's not afraid of getting hurt; she's afraid of getting beat. Only in America is this extolled as heroic, strong and brave. If that's so, what is the athlete that powers through life's challenges and stress, gets it together and competes? Stupid? Cowardly? Weak?

My eyeballs were last seen rolling down the street.

re: Simone
her Greatness
depends not a whit on her
showing up to these Olympics
although her Life and Limbs
DO. the teensiest of Mis-
takes -- in Acrobatics
that her 'peers' can
Not do are not
Worth an IOC
immune to
the wishes
of even the
Japanese people.

nor your lust
for Drama.

“Mask are again required for all members of the House of Representatives and the White House, regardless of vaccination status.”

you mean, ‘less
they’re “repubicans.”

they don’t happen
to Believe in “science”
much less your stupid ‘rules’
Mister (oops!) Collaterally Damaged.

free-dom!

1) Simone did not elaborate on what precise elements of her mental health she is most concerned about. Nor need she. It's her business, and given her magnificently successful career and thus far fanatical commitment to her craft, we can assume she needs to address serious issues. Fans' disappointment is understandable--but criticism of her seems presumptuous and unfair.

2) Susan Wright's loss in Texas suggests Trump's power in and over the Republican Party base is diminishing. Good. Let's see how things play out in Ohio, where Trump endorsed Mr. Carey. Another loss there would make clear even conservative voters have had their fill of him, and that would help the few decent human beings left in the Republican Party (Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski, Larry Hogan) survive and steer it away from fascism, which is where wannabe-dictator Trump would take it. Trump's mounting legal issues, combined with the power of testimony at the 1/6 Commission, will keep him on the defensive for a while and continue to weaken support. Trump is essentially a fascist, a wannabe Ancient Roman emperor (think Commodus or Caracalla, not Marcus Aurelius). I'll celebrate with a hundred hurrahs every defeat and embarrassment that gangster suffers.

@18: At the risk of blemishing your reputation with my kudos, that was awesome.

If the response to Osaka — who withdrew from Wimbledon — is any indication, Biles will largely be greeted to a strong wave of support from people who grasp what mental health means in sports, and people who support Black women in general. And she will also be met with hate from people who not only don’t understand what mental health really means, but also have no desire to learn. For the latter group, the words “quit,” “pressure” and “breakdown” are thrown around like a soapy lather while they bathe in their own ignorance.

https://www.sfgate.com/olympics/article/simone-biles-olympics-mental-health-column-16346412.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

Absolutely fine for an athlete to bail on a competition for any reason. It merely lays out what their competitors need to do to beat them in the future.

Totally fine for an athlete to back out of a competition for whatever reason they want. It serves to lay out what their competitors need to do to beat them the next time around.

@27:

I don't think most of the commenters in here have any clue about a lot of things - but, that doesn't stop them from sharing their worthless opinions about them...

@28: I totally agree.

@18 Morty: Well said. Thank you for daring to make this common sensical but predictably unpopular observation.

If Biles chooses to bail at showtime that’s her right, but enough with the convolutions that this is somehow “heroic.”

@11 mike blob: Spare us the melodrama. If a gymnast feels that a given maneuver is too risky for comfort, she is more than welcome to change her routine. Also,” fat-assed American fuckwads…sit(ting) on their couches cramming cheeseburgers and Coors party balls down their McOrifices” tend to watch monster truck rallies and Wrestlemania, not Olympic gymnastics. Your caricatures are ridiculous.

I have a feeling that if US swimmer Chase Kalisz had bailed on his events, we would be hearing nonstop about white male cowardice and entitlement.

"For many Americans, Biles’s choice not to keep flinging herself around the gymnasium despite her uncertainty about where she would land was a grievous offense, an affront to their hard-earned right to chant “U-S-A!” in their living rooms. With the Olympic medal count meaning little to nothing for any period except these particular two weeks every four years — and with the United States leading in that count anyway — it’s hard to imagine why so many people are so incensed at her decision. And yet, they are.
“She probably could have just competed and just kind of checked the boxes and they would have got a gold medal,” conservative commentator Charlie Kirk said during his radio show. After quoting Biles talking about her decision, he called her a “selfish sociopath.

The right-wing blog the Federalist wrote multiple articles attacking Biles, one lamenting that “for some U.S. athletes, the Olympics has become all about them.” Others compared her unfavorably to other elite athletes engaged in less risky situations, like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady. Over and over, the implication was that Biles had acted selfishly or unpatriotically."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/28/many-right-perceived-toughness-outweighs-patriotism/

I predict that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry & Meghan will grow jealous of Biles’s limelight and arrange a photo shoot for her to cry on their shoulders.

Also, Morty's long been one of my favorite commenters on here and I don't want to pile on him. And honestly, he could conceivably be correct that someone as (relatively) young as Biles, who's achieved so incredibly much success on the Olympic stage, and so rarely had to deal with failure there, may simply not be equipped to handle what that entails and so took the easy way out and withdrew. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be conclusively proven, and there's a good amount of evidence to support her claims of overwhelming mental stress and fatigue, and so I think it makes sense to simply take her at her word.

And IF she is being sincere, then the threat she would've posed to herself by continuing to compete is absolutely real. If you don't want to take it from me, then do so from an elite former gymnast.

“Simply, your life is in danger when you’re doing gymnastics,” Sean Melton, a former gymnast who experienced the twisties told the Washington Post. “And then, when you add this unknown of not being able to control your body while doing these extremely dangerous skills, it adds an extreme level of stress. And it’s terrifying, honestly, because you have no idea what is going to happen.”

https://www.king5.com/article/sports/olympics/twisties-mental-health-gymnastics-physical-danger/507-f402dcd3-af68-49c9-be96-c3e696f9a246

@18,

"She's not afraid of getting hurt; she's afraid of getting beat. Only in America is this extolled as heroic, strong and brave. If that's so, what is the athlete that powers through life's challenges and stress, gets it together and competes? Stupid? Cowardly? Weak?"

You're only speculating of course. But let me ask you this: What would you call her if she powered through her challenges and stress, got it together and competed... and then broke her neck and became a quadriplegic?

What would you say about her and about her coaches and medical staff if she was gruesomely injured or killed after "powering through her stress and competing" even though she actually did not feel ready?

Just wondering.

By the way, anyone who's unfamiliar with Elena Mukhina, a Soviet gymnast who was pushed to compete when she wasn't ready, and subsequently broke her neck and became paralyzed for life, should check it out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Mukhina