Provided the lie advances a left-wing narrative, of course.
Remember that thing last week that was such a much bigger deal than Hillary’s influence peddling and pathological lying? That thing where some US Olympic swimmer said that some men claiming to be police pulled guns on them and tried to rob them? And the Brazilian police said, “No, the ugly Americans vandalized one of our beautiful Brazilian gas station men’s rooms and made up the story about armed robbery.”
And remember how our media talking heads waved the story as an exampled of how our athletes “typified the stereotype of the ugly American abroad.”
Well….
Ryan Lochte and the US Olympic Swim Team were probably telling the truth; the corrupt, third-world socialist police force was probably lying. Why do you think the American Left was so skeptical of the former, and so willing to believe the latter?
Lochte told TMZ that he has yet to make a decision about whether to seek help for his drinking. In his first televised mea culpa on NBC, he admitted he was “still intoxicated” when he made the initial robbery claim during an appearance on the network on Aug. 14.
“It’s definitely something that I’m going to have to be more responsible about,” Lochte told TMZ when asked about his drinking. “Everything that happened in Rio, I’m definitely going to learn from it. We’re human, we learn from our mistakes.
I thought it was a former reality “star” SJW taking a fall so that the media would stop covering the raw sewage & failures of the multicultural paradise of BRAZIL. Since that’s what happened. Sadly the US will not do as well as Brazil when its die verse city reaches the same levels.
So, we’re supposed to believe that four well-known American celebrity Olympic swimmers — while at the Olympics — ignored knowledge common to most young children that gas stations routinely have surveillance cameras…
Got wasted, made a huge drunken public scene in front of gas station employees on tape, then to press the message home, randomly trashed the gas station bathroom… then paid for the damages (mixed reports on whether or not they were forced to pay for the damage at gunpoint)… again, all on camera… and again, while being olympians at the Olympics?
But that’s not all!
Then when they got caught, in a highly publicized removal from their plane home to the U.S., ringleader Ryan Lochte now admits he lied about what happened using the exact same plot of what actually did happen to a foreign athlete who was robbed at gunpoint by military police in Rio just a few weeks before the Olympics started?
Anyone notice the Syrian ambulance has words in ENGLISH?
It’s like when I correct people calling blacks African Americans, by saying “No wonder the world hates Americans, its the African Americans burning thousands of cars in Paris, & having shoot outs with swat teams in London. That explains the UGLY American myth”
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/footage-of-syrian-boy-from-aleppo-is-opportunistic-vile-propaganda-from-western-media_082016
“It is rather clear that the child is being used as a stage prop. After being passed to the medical “attendants,” little Omran is placed in an orange chair facing the camera and immediately left alone. He is not treated, no one else is being lifted into the ambulance, and no one is even in the vehicle with him. Instead, he is left to face the “activists” outside the vehicle and their cameras for what seems like too long a time to be anything other than a photo op for the “activists” videotaping him.”
It does sound as though there was a shakedown by the Brazilians. However, the four American swimmers did two stupid things: they were drunk, and they took a taxi, not secure Olympic vehicles. When you are in a third world country that is corrupt, one cannot act as though you are in a Western country that has the rule of law. Just saying.
I saw a brief bit on the news as I was getting ready this morning. There is now a CCTV tape showing them on their knees, with police pointing guns at them. Seems the swimmers stories might have some truth to them.
@ davinci38 @4 — Ultimately, what you are saying (and I agree) is that the stupid they did was attending the Rio Olympics at all.
The Rio story is not over, but the media narrative has been cast.
It may well be that the evidence coming forth supports the swimmers more than the screaming news crawlers at the bottom of the TV screen during the “live” coverage.
The world is full of fools who can not judge the dangerous things they do. The swimmers did not have to go anywhere to party, but they chose to strut their stuff in a very dangerous place at a very dangerous time and while hammered.
The media far prefers to have endless chatter about Lochte losing his Speedo sponsorship than to help rehabilitate the on air tsk-tsking they piled on him as they played their ratings game. Now they move on to giggling like 7th grader about Lochte losing his Speedos.
Still waiting on the National media retraction and the sponsors to warmly welcome the swimmers back.
Read the full official statement, released by Feigen’s attorney The Hull Firm, below:
First and foremost I would like to apologize for the serious distractions from the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, and Team USA. It was never my intent to draw attention away from the tradition of athletic competition and the symbolic cooperation of countries participating in the Olympic games. I want to thank the IOC and the people of Rio de Janeiro for their hospitality in hosting these games. I have nothing but respect for the city in undertaking the massive responsibility of hosting the Olympics and I feel their performance was exemplary.
I also apologize for the delay in this statement as I just arrived back home late Saturday evening. That being said, I would like to take the time to explain my thoughts on the events that began on August 14th.
This unfortunate incident began after leaving a celebration at the French House. We left the party at around 5:00 am in a taxi to travel back to the Athlete Village. On our way back we asked the cab driver to pull over so we could relieve ourselves. We pulled over to a gas station to use the bathroom but the door was locked. We did not force entry into the bathroom, nor did we ever enter the bathroom. We did, however, make the regrettable decision to urinate in the grass behind the building.
On our way back to the cab, Ryan Lochte pulled a poster in a metal frame off a wall. I got back into the cab and waited for the others. One of my teammates told me that a man with a gun was standing outside the cab. The man with the gun spoke with the cab driver, who got out of the cab. We then got out of the cab and I paid the driver the fare. As I walked away, the man with the gun pointed it at me and my teammate and ordered us, in Portuguese, to sit. This was the first time I have ever had a gun pointed at me and I was terrified.
I put my hands up and sat down on the curb. It became apparent that the man with the gun was telling us to pay, and I was unsure if they were affiliated with the gas station. Gunnar Bentz and I gave the man some money. We were then allowed to leave and we took another cab to the Village, arriving around 7:00 am. Later that day, a Rio police detective came to the USA House to take a statement. Since I was the only person available, I was told by a USOC official to provide a statement.
In this statement, I omitted the facts that we urinated behind the building and that Ryan Lochte pulled a poster off the wall. This statement was written by the officers in Portuguese, and I was then asked to sign the statement without seeing it translated into English. I realize that I made a mistake by omitting these facts. I was trying to protect my teammates and for this I apologize.
On the day I was scheduled to leave Rio, I was told that the police were investigating the matter and my passport was to be held until further information was provided. I was asked to stay in the country so I voluntarily provided my passport to the police and waited while the matter was investigated. I contacted lawyers in the United States and in Rio de Janeiro and awaited instruction.
I was informed by my Brazilian attorney that the police were requesting I make a follow-up statement. I provided the statement at the police station, which included the previous omissions. From there I was taken to the Brazilian court. I waited outside while my attorney, the prosecutor, and the judge met to decide what to do.
I was eventually given two options. Option one was to remain in Brazil while the police continued the investigation. This process was estimated to take at least a month and I would be required to remain in Brazil. Option two was pay a fine of R$100,000.00 ($31,250.00 USD) for the return of my passport and perform fifteen days of community service. I called my American attorneys to discuss what to do. We decided that this amount was unreasonable and due to safety concerns, this offer was also rejected. The prosecutor’s response was to increase the fine to R$150,000.00 ($46,875.00 USD).
Finally, all parties agreed to a R$35,000.00 ($10,800.00 USD) fine. This fine was to be paid within three days. If it was not paid, the fine would be increased back to R$150,000.00. I was able to contact my family in the United States along with my American attorneys and we were able to satisfy the payment of the fine the next day. My passport was returned to me after payment was received, and I was able to return home.
The support of my family, friends, and attorneys was paramount in my ability to return home. I am so sorry for the drama this has caused in everyone’s lives. I am very thankful to be home in the United States with my family and that this ordeal has come to an end.
Since the story first broke, I’ve noticed a trend, mostly on the conservative side of the fence, to adopt a contrarian point of view as it relates to Swimmergate. I’m not sure what the attraction is, other than not wishing to join the pile-on, but I don’t think the right candidate for exoneration was picked.
I’ve not read any of the magazine cover stories over the past four years about Ryan Lochte, but it appears that outside of the pool, he’s kind of a douche not to mention a Mama’s Boy. Or as a WaPo sports columnist puts it, he’s emblematic of the ‘bro’ culture. As she points out, he’s not a kid anymore, but a 32-year-old man who could be an uncle to some of his younger teammates. While the teammate he seems to want to replace on the Olympic high pedestal, Michael Phelps, has a fiancée and a young son, he appears to suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. He participates in and appears to be the ringleader in bad behavior, lies about it, calls mommy to elicit her help (which she unquestioningly provides), encourages his teammate participants to join in the charade, and once the jig is up, high tails it out of town, leaving his co-conspirators to face the music. That’s hardly role model behavior.
Now it’s true that the local authorities in Rio de Janeiro are probably not going to receive any international law enforcement awards, but at the same time, visitors are interlopers on their turf and should behave as visitors are expected to behave. (“When in Rome…”) It’s clear that those involved in Swimmergate did not do that. Additionally, all Olympic participants were advised to remain in the Olympic Village and not venture into the city proper, which is well-known to most who visit as having definitively unsafe areas, including famous beaches also famous for harboring petty thieves. While the forbidden fruit is the most appealing, there are plenty who heeded the advice and did not get into any type of international incident.
As for the loss of sponsorships, that’s the price for behavior which one shouldn’t engage in. It is rather stunning that Speedo would be one of those to cut ties, as for a swimmer that’s equivalent to a boxer being dumped by Everlast or a basketball player being dropped by Spaulding. At any rate, he will hopefully contemplate his next purchase of $6000 suede shoes very carefully, lest he be reduced to teaching swim lessons at a random Boys & Girls Club in the not-too-distant future.