DE SADE On Heroism

"...when whole nations, at first guided by priests, after having slaughtered each other in the name of their chimerical divinities, later take up arms for their king or country, the homage offered to heroism counterbalances the tribute paid to superstition; not only do they then most rightly substitute these new heroes for their gods, but they also sing their warrior's praises as once they had sung the praises of Heaven..."

The Marquis de Sade,
Reflections on the Novel

The Marquis de Sade as artistic giant
Quills has verve. A macabre ending to old charmer's life
MATT RADZ , The Gazette

de Sade references and essays

Marquis de Sade

The Marquis de Sade: A Life

The Marquis de Sade: The Biography Project

The Complete Marquis de Sade - Google Books

The Marquis De Sade: A Very Short Introduction - Google Books

Marquis De Sade: His Life and Works - Google Books

The Marquis de Sade » Read Now by Simone de Beauvoir. 242 pgs.

Marquis de Sade eBooks

Marquis de Sade Quotes

Wealth and Pleasure be yours! If my scribblings have brought you a measure of both, set me to advantage on your bookshelf. If I have bored you, accept my apologies and consign me to the flames. -- The Marquis de Sade

Yes, I am a libertine, I admit it freely. I have dreamed of doing everything that it is possible to dream of in that line. But I have certainly not done all the things I have dreamt of and never shall. Libertine I may be, but I am not a criminal, I am not a murderer. -- The Marquis de Sade

Big Solar: Where do large solar power plants pay off?

Are solar power plants only profitable in the desert or also in gray northern Europe? 

Can the sun provide sufficient energy to factories?

 And where are we going to find space for PV modules? Some answers for the future.



Some of the world's largest solar plants are located in China


Solar energy has become extremely cheap. In the desert of Saudi Arabia electricity from solar modules is now generated for just $0.01 (€0.009) per kilowatt hour (kWh), and in Portugal for $0.014 cents per kWh.

An increasing number of large solar parks are being built across the globe to help solve the planet's energy needs.
Just how cheap is solar electricity?

Production costs for solar energy have dropped by 90% between 2009 and 2020, according to US investment bank Lazard.

In 2020, electricity from large-scale solar plants cost a global average of just $0.037/kWh. By comparison, the costs of generating electricity from new coal-powered plants was three times that at $0.112/kWh, while natural gas cost $0.059, nuclear $0.163, and wind $0.04/kWh.

"We're going to see solar power plants all over the world. It's the cheapest energy source in the world, with a few exceptions. In some places, wind power is still a bit cheaper," said Christian Breyer, a professor of solar economy at LUT University in Finland.

With large solar farms, Breyer says, production costs can be as low as $0.01 in locations with lots of sunlight, and up to $0.04 elsewhere. He and other experts expect that new and more efficient solar panels will lower costs even more, by 5 to 10% per year.
How big are large solar farms?

The world's largest solar parks have a capacity of 2,000 - 2,200 megawatts (MW), most are located in desert regions in China, India, and the Middle East, Egypt being a prime example. There are also big plants with over 500 MW in the US, Mexico, and southern Europe.




The modules at Benban solar park in the Egyptian desert tilt towards the moving sun, so they can produce more energy

One of the largest solar parks, known as Al Dhafra PV2, is scheduled to begin supplying the United Arab Emirates' national energy provider beginning next year. Under construction to the tune of $1 billion, the 2,000 MW plant will be comprised of four million modules installed over an area of 20 square kilometers near the capital, Abu Dhabi.

Most other solar parks around the world are smaller than the giant facilities in the desert. Germany's largest solar park, for example, located in Weesow near Berlin, has an output of just 187 MW. Its 465,000 solar modules supply the electricity needs of about 50,000 households.




Solar energy for a gold mine in a remote region of Mali that used to be powered by a diesel generator

But even in densely populated countries like Germany, larger plants with a capacity of several thousand megawatts are conceivable. One place where they could be built are the quarries of abandoned open-cast lignite mines.
Where is solar power worthwhile for industry?

Globally, the industrial sector requires lots of energy. In Germany for instance it consumes about half of all electricity generated. To save costs, companies are turning to photovoltaics. International mining companies for instance have started replacing diesel power with solar power in remote locations. And more and more chemical companies, aluminum plants, car factories, cement manufacturers, and data centers are getting their power from solar farms.

One example is Facebook's data center in the state of Tennessee, located in the southeastern US, which will get about 110 MW of electricity from a solar park with a capacity of 150 MW. The park is being built and operated by the German power company RWE.


Another example: starting in 2022, several Bayer Group's chemical plants will run on 100% green electricity from a 590 MW-solar power plant in southern Spain.

The energy-intensive steel industry is also reorienting itself. Low-cost solar power is in demand there, as is "green" hydrogen generated by solar and wind power, which is needed for the blast furnace process. Low-cost energy supply is a decisive factor when planning the location of new steel mills.

Solar power is even proving to be worth the investment in regions with less exposure to the sun's rays. One example is Poland's largest solar park in Witnica, which has a capacity of 65 MW. It supplies the neighboring cement plant.




Solar energy for a gold mine in a remote region of Mali that used to be powered by a diesel generator

"This is the best proof that solar power, without any subsidies, can be competitive with power from conventional energy sources. Even in a European country as far north as Poland," says Benedikt Ortmann from power plant operator BayWa r.e.
Where should we build solar power plants?

Experts estimate that in the near future, photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of around 60 million MW will be needed to supply the entire world with cost-effective electricity. That's 70 times more than all the existing solar capacity so far.




Poland's largest solar park (65 MW) powers a cement factory in Witnica

The area required for solar panels would then be equivalent to 0.3% of the world's land area.

"On a global average, you don't have to worry about land availability," said Christian Breyer of LTU Finland. But if the energy is to be generated as close as possible to cities and large factories, he says, it's a bit more tricky, especially in densely populated regions.

One solution would be to use roofs and facades. According to Breyer, some 20% of the world's solar power demand could be generated there.




A roof of solar panels protects the berries growing below while generating energy

So-called agrivoltaics, with solar roofs installed above fields, are also becoming increasingly important.

Another option: building solar panels that float on water. According to a World Bank study, the global potential of floating PV is 400,000 MW even if only one percent of the area of reservoirs is used for this purpose.




The floating PV in Cixi, China, generates 320 MW of power, while fish are are grown in the lakes

So far, the largest solar plants on inland lakes have been built in China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan. There are also smaller plants on lakes and reservoirs in many other countries, including the Netherlands, Israel and Indonesia. India is currently planning a large-scale floating plant with 1000 MW.

Meanwhile, research is underway in the Netherlands to find solutions for installing floating solar farms in the rough North Sea to povide energy for the national grid. But salt water, strong currents and winds still pose huge challenges.

Smaller floating facilities in offshore waters already exist, such as in the Maldives, where they provide electricity to vacation islands.

This article was adapted from German.

DW RECOMMENDS

How many solar panels do we need to save the climate?

A zero-carbon-emissions energy system will rely mostly on low-cost solar electricity, experts say. About 100 giant solar panel factories must be built by 2025 for the world to "defossilize" its energy supply by 2035.

Why doesn't Pakistan tap its solar power potential?

Pakistan's sunny climate makes it a perfect place to develop solar power. But it still depends on dirty fossil fuels, and is building more coal power plants.

MASTER MECHANICS & EVIL WIZARDS:

SCIENTISTS and the AMERICAN IMAGINATION

The America of the 1950s was indeed a nation of watchers. The paranoia which pervades nearly every discourse of that anxious decade has become something of a cultural cliché,just as the word ëMcCarthyism' has become so overdetermined as to stand in danger of loosing its power to instruct.Yet this widespread American fearfulness of the 1950s did not, as one might expect, coincide with the Russian acquisition of the A-bomb in 1949. In fact, the undercurrent of nervousness and dread begins several years before that, on the eve of our victory in the Pacific, appearing instantly and ubiquitously following our first use of the Atomic bomb against Japan.

Immediate reaction to the news of the A-bomb's use was a mixture of awe and apprehension. The New York Times reported on August 8, 1945, that the bomb had caused "an explosion in men's minds as shattering as the obliteration of Hiroshima."[1] However, what seemed most shattered was our own sense of security.A sampling of the mood from various periodicals yields largely a refrain of doom and gloom: "[The bomb had] cast a spell of dark foreboding over the spirit of humanity." Christian Century; "The entire city is pervaded by a kind of sense of oppression." New York Sun; "[There is a] curious new sense of insecurity, rather incongruous in the face of military victory." The New Republic..On the very night the bomb was dropped, H. V. Kaltenborn was already warning that "For all we know, we have created a Frankenstein!"

But why were we afraid? America was in every sense better off after the war than before it. Our economy had been re-built, our cities and countryside were untouched, our casualties were a fraction those of our allies and enemies. And above all else, we were the sole possessors of the most powerful weapon the world had ever known, the Atomic Bomb the very "terror weapon" the Germans had been frantically searching for in the closing days of the War. And yet, ironically, America seemed the one nation most terrorized.

The advent of the Security State is the authoritarian response of the State to its crisis. For years after WWI it existed as a crisis State putting out economic and political crisises through out the short 20th Century. Guerrilla war begins in earnest after WWII with the success of nationalist mobilization in the Pacific against Japanese Imperialism led quite naturally to a generalized anti-Imperialism against all masters; the United States, Britain, France, Holland, Portugal etc. 

Quintessentially the later half of the twentieth century was both a Cold War and lots of little hot ones. Terrorism and the State are old acquintences. The modern Police State or international State of policing originates in fin de sicle Europe and America in response to Anarchist bombers.

EP

COVID and the coup: Myanmar in the grip of double crisis

Myanmar has one of the weakest health care systems in the world, and the combined effect of COVID and a military coup has stretched it to a point of total collapse.



Myanmar's health system easily became overwhelmed by COVID, having to deal with thousands of new infections daily

About four months before the third wave of the coronavirus struck Myanmar, killing hundreds of people daily, Soe Moe Naung (name changed), a businessman, posted on social media that he and his family had gotten vaccinated at a public inoculation center.

He also urged his fellow citizens to get the shots.

But the message drew strong rebuke and name-calling, forcing Soe Moe Naung to temporarily hide the post.

His critics believe that getting vaccinated legitimizes, in some ways, the military coup in February that led to the overthrow of the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Soe Moe Naung, himself a supporter of the NLD, at the time explained the reasons why he agreed to receive the shots. "The vaccines were acquired by the NLD government for the people of Myanmar. It is a citizen's right… vaccination is a different issue and is not related to politics."

Soe Moe Naung may be pragmatic, but his views are shared only by a minority of people in Myanmar.
Defying the military by not getting vaccinated

Since the coup on February 1, many people all across Myanmar have been refusing to receive vaccines as an act of defiance against the military.

"My mother, despite her old age, did not get vaccinated, probably because her son, my brother, said 'the revolution is not over,'" Hnin Yee Aung, a middle-aged woman from Yangon (name changed), told DW.


Her brother is a doctor working at a public hospital and has been participating in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) for months.

Some others have chosen not to get vaccinated out of fear of blowback from pro-democracy groups and ostracism. Those who got vaccinated have often become victims of a social media backlash involving naming and shaming.

Many in the health care sector were among the first to stop working and join the CDM against the military.

Other public sector employees followed suit, dealing a huge blow to the administration and prompting the junta to ramp up pressure on government workers to return to work.

While the military started to arrest dissident health care professionals, many of them went into hiding.

Some doctors affiliated to the CDM initially treated patients in private establishments, but stopped after witnessing the deployment of soldiers and police near their private clinics.
COVID meets a weak and overwhelmed health system

This meant that when the third wave of COVID struck, Myanmar's widely hated military was left in charge to tackle the crisis with a health care system that was facing major shortages in terms of not only essential drugs and equipment but also medical workers.

The system was soon overwhelmed by the scale of the emergency, with thousands of new infections and rising deaths.

On July 25 alone, 355 people died due to COVID-related illnesses and the total death toll now stands at over 7,100, according to official data, which only takes into consideration deaths in hospitals.

The chief of the military, Min Aung Hlaing, recently issued a public appeal to dissident health care professionals to return to work, saying that all health care workers should work together to tackle the COVID emergency.

CDM-affiliated health workers, however, have rejected the call, triggering social media memes like: "We will come back when you go back to your barracks," calling on the military to abandon the coup and return power to the democratically elected government.
Pressure on the people again

Myanmar already has one of the weakest health care systems in the region, and the combined effect of COVID and the coup has stretched it to a point of total collapse.

In recent weeks, there have been severe shortages of medical oxygen at hospitals, with disturbing images circulating of desperate relatives scrambling to secure oxygen supplies for their loved ones.

In an open letter to the international community, Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG), formed by opponents of the coup to create an internal government-in-waiting, pointed out that "there are growing reports on the shortage of oxygen, as well as the blatant and inhumane seizure of oxygen production facilities by security forces."

Accusations have also been leveled against security services that they often seize oxygen supplies and prevent people from securing them, allegations the military government says are false and politically motivated.

In a recent meeting to assess the COVID situation, the junta chief said that the health emergency is being misused and misrepresented on social media for political gains, government-owned media reported.

Authorities also said that the government has imported adequate supplies of portable oxygen concentrators and other COVID-related equipment to meet the rise in demand.

Meanwhile, the public vaccination program resumed on July 25 after vaccines from China arrived recently. Pressure is again on the people who are yet to get their shots to decide whether to receive them or not.

"I will urge my mother to take vaccine shots this time. However, it is up to her and my family," Hnin Yee Aung said.

Myanmar junta cancels results of 2020 polls won by Suu Kyi's party

Issued on: 26/07/2021 - 

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party trounced the military-aligned opposition in the vote Ye Aung THU AFP/File

Yangon (AFP)

Myanmar's junta on Monday cancelled the results of 2020 polls won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, announcing they were not "free and fair" almost six months after deposing the Nobel laureate in a coup.

Investigations had uncovered more than 11 million cases of fraud in the elections in which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy trounced the military-aligned opposition, the junta's election commission said.

"They (the NLD) attempted to take state power from non-NLD parties and candidates by misusing Covid-19 restrictions," said commission chairman Thein Soe.

"[It] was not free and fair, that is why the result of 2020 election is cancelled."

He did not say whether fresh polls in the country of 54 million would be held.

The junta has previously said it would hold new elections within two years, but has also threatened to dissolve the NLD.

Suu Kyi has been detained since the coup, and faces an eclectic raft of charges, from flouting coronavirus restrictions to illegally importing walkie talkies, that could see her jailed for more than a decade.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military's power grab, with more than 900 killed in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

A resurgent virus wave has caused deadly havoc across the country, striking with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff.

Myanmar's economy is expected to shrink by 18 percent in 2021, the World Bank said Monday, as a result of massive unrest following the coup and a third coronavirus wave.

The NLD saw their support increase in the 2020 vote compared to the previous election in 2015.

In a report on the 2020 polls, the Asian Network for Free Elections monitoring group said the elections were "by and large, representative of the will of the people".

© 2021 AFP

Lebanon's Mikati, billionaire and veteran premier

Najib Mikati, seen in this 2013 handout photo, is a Lebanese parliamentarian and two-time premier who was picked to form a new cabinet on Monday after months of stalled negotiations - 

DALATI AND NOHRA/AFP/File
Issued on: 26/07/2021 - 

Beirut (AFP)

Najib Mikati, a billionaire businessman and Lebanon's latest premier-designate, is a political veteran viewed by some as emblematic of the crony politics that steered the country towards collapse.

The parliamentarian and two-time premier who was picked to form a new cabinet on Monday after months of stalled negotiations, returns to power amid a financial crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the world's worst since the mid-19th century.

The 65-year-old Sunni Muslim who hails from Tripoli, a northern city and one of Lebanon's poorest, was accused by a state prosecutor in 2019 of illicit enrichment -- a charge he denies.

In Tripoli, which emerged as a hub for a 2019 protest movement demanding the removal of politicians deemed inept and corrupt, Mikati was a favourite target for demonstrators who ripped his portraits off walls and even attacked his home.

Mikati is considered to be Lebanon's richest man and one of the wealthiest in the Middle East, with a net worth of $2.7 billion according to Forbes.

Along with his brother and business partner Taha, the magnate owns the M1 Group, an international investment holding group with shares in South Africa's telecom MTN Group and French fashion line Faconnable, and has interests in real estate, oil and gas and other industries.

Earlier this month, Mikati's M1 Group purchased one of the largest mobile phone operators in Myanmar, with critics accusing the company of having ties to the military junta.

At home, some see Mikati as a symbol of a politico-business elite that enshrined a system of clientelism and cronyism in the country's politics.

He first emerged as prime minister in 2005, when he headed a three-month interim government formed in the wake of the murder of former premier Rafic Hariri.

In 2011, he came back at the helm of a government dominated by the powerful Shiite Hezbollah movement and which had to deal with the spillover effects of the Syrian war next door.

Critics branded Mikati, who was known to have good relations with Damascus, as a Hezbollah puppet -- an image he repeatedly tried to dispel.

In 2013, he resigned amid deep polarisation between the country's political camps over the conflict in Syria and as infighting in his own government led to a paralysing political impasse.

Born on November 24, 1955, Mikati is a graduate of the American University of Beirut's business school and also studied at the prestigious universities of INSEAD and Harvard.

Along with his brother Taha, he founded his business empire in 1982, selling satellite phones at the height of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

The business duo then expanded into Africa, where they built cellphone towers in Ghana, Liberia and Benin, among other countries.

Mikati first entered Lebanese politics in 1998 when he was appointed minister for transport and public works, a post he held until 2004, under three consecutive cabinets.

He first landed himself a seat in parliament in 2000, and was voted back in the last legislative elections in 2018.

© 2021 AFP

Vaccine maker BioNTech to use mRNA tech behind its COVID-19 vaccine to target malaria


Windows are illuminated at the headquarters of the German

 biotechnology company BioNTech in Mainz, Germany, 

Nov.10, 2020. (AP/Michael Probst)

The Associated Press
Published: 26 July ,2021

Pharmaceutical company BioNTech said Monday that it wants to use the mRNA technology behind its coronavirus vaccine to target malaria.

The Germany-based company, which developed the first widely approved coronavirus shot together with US partner Pfizer, aims to begin clinical trials for a “safe and highly effective malaria vaccine” by the end of next year.

BioNTech said it is also seeking to establish an mRNA vaccine production facility in Africa, which is among the regions that have struggled to get sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The company said it is working with partners to “evaluate how to establish sustainable mRNA manufacturing capabilities on the African continent to supply African countries with vaccines.” Once built, such a facility would be able to make various mRNA-based vaccines.

BioNTech and Pfizer have said they will deliver 1 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to middle- and low-income countries this year, and another billion doses in 2022.

Last week, the two companies announced that a South African firm, the Biovac Institute, will become the first on the continent to start producing their coronavirus vaccine.

BioNTech has previously said it is working on a vaccine candidate for tuberculosis, with clinical trials aimed for 2022, and therapies for several forms of cancer.

 FEMINIST WAGNER

Girl power at the Bayreuth Festival

The festival opened with an electrifying staging of Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman," with singer Asmik Grigorian and conductor Oksana Lyniv outshining the men.

    

Oksana Lyniv is the first woman to conduct in the Bayreuth

 Festival's 145-year history

Police guarded the access roads, and bags were checked. Only those wearing colored wristbands were granted admission, based on prior registration and a negative COVID test. It was also mandatory for the audience to wear FFP2 masks.

Typically, the annual Bayreuth Festival in Richard Wagner's Festspielhaus — or the Bayreuth Festival Theater — attracts more than 60,000 visitors from Germany and abroad. This year however, only 911 seats of 1,974 are being filled for every performance, with audiences seated apart from one other in a checkerboard pattern.

Angela Merkel, a Wagner fan, attended the Bayreuth Festival in her last year of office as German Chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel — an avowed Wagner fan — and Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder attended opening night, although this year the red carpet wasn't rolled out.

However, the audience's resounding applause was reserved mainly for two women: Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv and Lithuanian singer Asmik Grigorian, who plays the role of Senta in this year's opening opera, The Flying Dutchman. 

Grigorian wowed the audience with her magnificent vocals, while Lyniv made history by becoming the first woman to conduct the orchestra in the festival's 145-year run — a fact that reportedly also pleased Merkel. The 43-year-old conducted the orchestra for a new interpretation of The Flying Dutchman directed by Russian Dmitri Tcherniakov.

The Flying Dutchman: a synopsis

As in many Wagner operas, "redemption" is a major theme in The Flying Dutchman — in this case, a man is redeemed from fate by the unconditional love of a woman.

The Flying Dutchman is a former sea captain who is condemned to roam the seas for having made a deal with the devil. However, every seven years he is cast ashore, and if he wins the love of a faithful woman willing to sacrifice her life for him, he will be released from his curse. Tempted by the Dutchman's wealth — and unaware of his true identity and destiny — a Norwegian sailor named Daland agrees to give the Dutchman his daughter Senta's hand in marriage. 

Daland (Georg Zeppenfeld) with his helmsman (Attilio Glaser)

Senta happens to have long been fascinated by the legend of the Flying Dutchman. When her father introduces the stranger to her, she immediately promises her eternal fidelity to the mysterious man. However, the Dutchman later overhears a bitter argument between Senta and her former boyfriend, Erik, who still loves her.

Convinced he has been betrayed, the Dutchman reveals the nature of his curse before setting sail again in his quest for redemption. Desperately in love, Senta throws herself into the sea, thus saving the Dutchman's soul.

In later reworked versions, Wagner had the two ascend to heaven, alluding to the romantic notion of unconditional love in death and beyond.

Surprises in Tcherniakov's version

However, director Tcherniakov has dispensed with this ending, as with Wagner's mysticism in general. There is also no ship in the whole opera. Tcherniakov's stage instead reflects the cool atmosphere of a black-and-white 1960s thriller. The brick houses of the village have a lifeless feel, even when the sailors set up their folding tables and chairs in front of a drinking hall. 

The dreary village, home of the Flying Dutchman

There's even a sadness to the women's choir rehearsing their singing in the street with Senta's governess, Mary (Marina Prudenskaya), and the color scheme is muted. Only Senta, with a striking red and blue streak in her hair, stands out from the crowd with her hoodie and her exuberant movements.

Senta as a rebellious teenager

"My Senta is an angry teenager, maybe between 14-15 years old. She reminds me of myself at that age," Grigorian told DW. 

At times Senta is bored by what the other women are saying, at other times wildly determined to assure the Dutchman of her fidelity, while being dismissive towards her boyfriend, Erik. Grigorian has put her heart and soul into the role.

Erik tries to dissuade Senta from her infatuation with the Flying Dutchman

Swedish baritone John Lundgren, who stars as the Flying Dutchman,  plays the role as a silent observer harboring a psychological trauma that bursts out of him at the end. "Often the 'Dutchman' is staged as the story of Senta, the strong woman. For me, it was about telling the story of the Dutchman," Tcherniakov told DW.

The unexpected twist

In Tcherniakov's version, when the Flying Dutchman overhears Senta and Erik arguing and no longer believes in Senta's fidelity to him, he pulls a pistol from his coat and fires into the crowd. His men also shoot, flames burst from the windows of the buildings, and dead bodies litter the village square.

When Senta nevertheless swears her unwavering fidelity to him until death, her governess Mary appears with a rifle and shoots the Dutchman. Senta survives, and the two women embrace.

It is an unexpected ending devoid of the shared love and redemption — which some die-hard Wagner fans must have been waiting for, leading to a few boos aimed at the director.

The twist was well thought out but did not always seem coherently realized. Furthermore the cold, retro-inspired atmosphere hardly allowed emotionally charged moments to play out. 

Senta had promised to love the Flying Dutchman unto death

Festival director Katharina Wagner had told the press a day before the opening that she wants to focus more on young people, and on exciting and unusual ideas at the Bayreuth Festival. This also includes the topic of digitalization.

In 2023, for example, there will be a complete production of Parsifal with action both on stage and via virtual reality glasses, to attract younger audiences to the Festspielhaus.

 

This article was adapted from the German by Brenda Haas.

Newsmax panel gloats over losses by 'social justice warrior' US athletes in the Olympics

Matthew Chapman
July 26, 2021

RAW STORY

Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield (Screengrab).

The Olympic Games, for all the problems and controversies surrounding this year's competition, are often a moment of civic pride for participating countries as their athletes fight for the gold.

But on the far-right cable network Newsmax on Monday, the loss of the U.S. Men's Basketball Team to France was a cause for hilarity from host Grant Stinchfield, conservative commentator and former NRATV host. Why? Because in his reckoning, it validates the right's complaints that "cancel culture" and liberalism have made America too soft.

"It's not often that I'm happy a USA team loses in the Olympics," said Stinchfield. "I found myself rooting against not just Megan Rapinoe and her merry band of America-hating female soccer players, they lost one game in the last few days. But I took pleasure in the men's basketball Team USA's first team loss since 2004 ... the collection of whiny, overpaid social justice warriors are very hard to root for."

Later in the segment, guest Alice Clark of Turning Point USA took things even further and suggested that the loss of Team USA to France is karma for Hollywood moving to cut Looney Tune skunk Pepe Le Pew from the new Space Jam movie, over concerns about his nonconsensual pursuit of women.

"Remember how the Woke Left wanted to cancel Pepe Le Pew a few months ago? I think this was revenge for Pepe Le Pew!" said Clark, to which Stinchfield laughed and replied, "It could be, because they stunk up the court, that's for sure!"

Watch below:

Olympics: Tattoos on display in Tokyo despite cultural stigma

Gymnast Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece sports an Olympic tattoo on his back. 

Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo 

July 26 (UPI) -- Tattoos are widely on display among athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games, despite the country's longstanding taboos against skin markings.

Japanese law forbids visible tattoos in public locations, such as bathhouses, saunas, public swimming pools, beaches, gyms and some restaurants, but ink has been on display without athletes being asked to cover up as the games have begun.

Swimmers Adam Peaty of Britain and Caeleb Dressel of the United States both don full-arm sleeves, while Team USA basketball stars Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum have tattoos clearly visible from underneath their sleeveless jerseys.

Many Olympians also get tattoos of the Olympic rings, including swimmer Chase Kalisz of Team USA and gymnast Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece.

The taboo surrounding tattoos may have been lessened because of the absence of spectators in the stands as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the country has raised the issue during past sporting events.

Ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, New Zealand's All Blacks players volunteered to cover their tattoos in response to the social stigma.

British swimmer Adam Peaty shows ink on both arms. 

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

The stigma stems from an 18th-century practice in which the government tattooed the arms or foreheads of criminals to identify them. Over time, tattoos became associated with organized crime.

While public bans remain, a landmark ruling by Japan's Supreme Court in 2019 favored tattoo artists in declaring that tattooing someone without a medical license is not a violation of medical practitioners' law.


American swimmer Caeleb Dressel, with a full-sleeve tattoo, celebrates after winning the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo


Some tattooed people who live in Japan gather for the annual meeting of the Irezumi Aikokai, or Tattoo Lovers Association, in Tokyo.

The group's head, Hiroyuki Nemoto, told the BBC the gathering is important because its members are most often forced to hide their tattoos from society.

"But just once a year, we can proudly show off our tattoos and show each other what new tattoos we've gotten," he said.

Neff leads Olympic-first Swiss sweep of mountain bike podium


Getty Images
Photo by: Getty Images
Jolanda Neff of Team Switzerland celebrates winning the gold medal

By: Liam Nee
Posted Jul 27, 2021

Mountain biker Jolanda Neff of Switzerland took the lead on the first lap Tuesday in Japan and never looked back, capturing her nation’s first gold in the women’s event by more than a minute to front a first-ever Olympic podium sweep by one country in the discipline's history.

Neff's compatriots Sina Frei and Linda Indergand earned silver and bronze, beating the next pack of riders by about a minute themselves, in what's bound to be among the most dominant performances by a team at these Tokyo Games.

Switzerland’s first and only other Olympic women’s mountain biking medal before Tokyo was earned by Barbara Blatter, a silver at the 2000 Sydney Games. With its all-at-once medal trio won Tuesday the Swiss pass the Germans and Canadians, both at three apiece, for most all-time with four.

A first across all sports at the Tokyo Games, the Swiss Olympic Team's sweep is its first since the 1936 Berlin Olympics when it won all three medals in the gymnastics men’s floor exercise. Three cycles before that, at the 1924 Paris Games, it did the same in the men's pommel horse.

SEE MORE: Pidcock unseats Schurter for gold, 1st GBR mountain bike medal

Neff, who broke her hand in a race just last month, led at each full circuit split to finish in 1:15:46. The 2017 world champion and her fellow countrywomen commanded more than half the race together, particularly the last three laps. Her winning gap – 1:11 – tops Italian Paola Pezzo's 1:07 from 1996 for the widest in the event's Games history.

Before the race start, officials altered the Izu ITB Course from six to five laps due to “extreme weather conditions” and added a ramp to Sakura Drop, the site of Monday’s solo crash involving Dutch medal contender Mathieu van der Poel, who ultimately didn’t finish.

Austrian Laura Stigger led through the start loop before being overtaken by France’s Loana Lecomte at the start of the first full circuit, followed by a four-rider chase pack.

Later on in a tricky part of the course, while others struggled in the dirt, Neff took advantage of a separate path to take the lead.

SEE MORE: France's Ferrand-Prevot crashes at Chopsticks rock incline

Lecomte’s teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the two-time reigning world champion, then traded the lead position with Neff until an unlucky slip at the Chopsticks rock incline. She tried to take the shortest line up the formation but her bike slid out, losing precious time while it dropped down to the bottom.

Neff led through the first lap and controlled the rest of the way, increasing her lead to 50 seconds at the end of the second circuit and holding it for the third, fourth and fifth.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not at all, the Swiss trio finished first, second and sixth at the Olympic test event in October 2019.

Haley Batten, 22, was the top American in ninth place. Her teammate, 2018 world champion Kate Courtney, who fractured an ulna in May, was 15th.

[Full Women's Mountain Biking Results]