Of course Leon Marchand is now a national hero of France.  But there were others totally capturing the imagination of their home country. For the USA, Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Ryan Crouser have long been heroes. Crouser?   Sure, he won his third straight Olympic gold medal in the shot put.   Cole Hocker , winner of the 1500 meters in Olympic record time deserves special mention, and so does the  bronze medal Womens' Rugby team .    As does Noah Lyles who, won a gold in the 100 meter race, but also got bronze for the 200 meter event while suffering from COVID-19.  A gold is better than a bronze, but there are certain circumstances, such as those, where the color is besides the point. Then there are those from places of war: Israeli athletes won a best-ever seven medals, including Tom Reuveny’s gold in men’s iQFoil sailing, despite some antisemitic protests at events where Israelis competed. Ukraine won 11 medals including golds in fencing (women’s team saber), track (Yaroslav

  This has been a memorable Summer Olympics.    None more so than the effort of Noah Lyles . He tested positive for COVID-19 three days ago.  Suffering from asthma anyway, he should have gone to the hospital.  He said he had symptoms and did not feel well, coughing a lot.   But he wore a mask indoors and, with only his inner circle knowing, chose to compete in the 200m dash.  He made it through to the finals, but finished "only" third.  He collapsed and was in agony lying on the track after the race ended, placed in a wheelchair to leave. His summer olympics competition is over, and he is overjoyed. He might have already contracted COVID-19 when he won the 100m race by 0.005 seconds. Remarkable. Heard of Quincy Wilson? Say you are 16 years old, and a junior in high school. Youngest USA track Olympics member ever. He already did poorly for the USA just qualifying for the 4x400 meter finals tomorrow.  He might be replaced, but probably not.  Watch the event. There are younger c

SORRY FOR THE DELAY.  THE INTERNET IN THIS BUILDING WAS OUT MOST OF THE DAY. This was a generally bad Monday for much of humanity, and tomorrow could well be pivotal.  Today is August 5, with the U.S. presidential election three months away on November 5.  I'll start with Mike Lukovich's latest cartoon, indicating what is happening to the Trump presidential campaign, which I guess is good news for Freedom. The world stock market might well be crashing: The  U.S.  Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1,030.5 points ( -2.72% ), with the Nasdaq Composite  -3.38% and S&P 500 -3%. But the  Japan Nikkei had its worst day since 1987, falling 12.4% , mainly caused by disappointing U.S economic data. Some blamed the Federal Reserve for not acting expeditiously last week. European markets  were all down around 2% today. Is this a sign of a coming recession? Republicans will benefit from what is happening.   But it would have been worse for Democrats if this occurred in September, as