What a week! The floodwaters in Louisiana are humbling, and the wildfires so close to the Rocker and Ms Cait are frightening – but the lies, the lies in Rio are just plain weird.
Why would Ryan Lochte tell Billy Bush he was held up at gunpoint if it didn’t really happen? Inquiring minds really want to know. Lochte has returned to North Carolina, leaving his fellow swimmers to face the music; a move I always warned my children against, leave no one behind:
The three U.S. Olympic swimmers (Bentz, Conger and Feigen) are cooperating with authorities and in the process of scheduling a time and place today to provide further statements to the Brazilian authorities,” USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said in a statement Thursday. “All are represented by counsel and being appropriately supported by the USOC and the U.S. Consulate in Rio.”
The ongoing incident has presented an unwelcome distraction for organizers of the troubled Summer Olympics, already beset by issues with logistics, venues and security. The closing ceremony for the Games is Sunday.
I have an idea. And it’s not “boys will be boys,” or some other such nonsense. What if it really happened? Or maybe, they were a bit tipsy, which in those circumstances would be normal, and they had a little too much fun in a gas station restroom, and one thing lead to another, and all of a sudden their high jinks looked strangely real when a gun was pulled out in the wee small hours of the morning. What were they to think?
But why is this “Breaking News?” There is a child sitting in an emergency room in Syria. Battered and bloodied. This should be Breaking News…
Russia is flying planes out of Iran to bomb Aleppo…the same way we flew out of England to bomb Libya. Yes, I was sitting in the upper part of a London bus when the news was announced about Reagan and the Iron Lady in 1986…I had no idea what it meant. I had accompanied Bob on an international conference of catastrophe physicians (Emergency Medicine Physicians) – but I knew the Brits were very unhappy with us. We were simultaneously trumpeted into dinner in the Great Hall, and snickered at behind our backs.
Do you think the Iranians hate the Russians for using their airspace and airfields?
Can we ever step away from war?
I have nothing against Russia. If Russia would like to see Trump win our election, what would that mean? If we could actually unite with Russia, and Iran and stop the bloodshed in Syria maybe we could stem the tide of terrorist recruitment in Europe, and make our own country safer…I just wish Putin saw the potential in Hillary. Maybe he does, but we are not allowed to know. How many lies must we hear, before this election?
Is Trump the Manchurian Candidate of the 21st Century? I prefer to think the Cold War is over. The Mideast may not be ready for democracy today, but for a little while, maybe it’s ready for a cease fire? Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen. People are dying. I keep waiting to pull the curtain back, to see who is really controlling our international policy. I am waiting for someone, anyone, to speak the truth.
Children cannot continue to be the pawns of war. 
MountainMornings 
Scary world we’re leaving our grandchildren.