code

For years, Katie Uhlaender had a goal that few athletes even dare to dream — to compete in both the Winter and Summer Olympics.

An injury derailed that attempt. Now another dream appears to have been dashed for the daughter of former major league baseball player Ted Uhlaender — representing the United States in a record sixth consecutive Winter Olympics.

Team Canada was found to have manipulated the outcome of the Lake Placid North American Cup in early January. Uhlaender, 41, won the race in skeleton, but the manipulation kept her from getting the requisite points to qualify for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games.

An investigation by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) found that Canada purposely withdrew four athletes from the competition, reducing the number of points that could be awarded and making it mathematically impossible for Uhlaender to earn enough points to qualify.

Why did Canada hold back four athletes from competing? Because it ensured that a second Canadian would qualify for the Olympics rather than Uhlaender.

Canadian skeleton athlete Madeline Parra admitted as much, telling The Canadian Press that her coaches “explained to us that it would be in the best interest for the way points had worked for [Canadian skeleton racer Jane Channell], so that we as a team can qualify two spots to the Olympics.”

Yet despite the IBSF finding that Canada breached its Code of Ethics, no action has been taken because IBSF rules also state that National Federations may withdraw athletes from competition at any time.

The IBSF said it will “possibly suggest adjustments to the rules” when its sport committee meets in the spring, but that doesn’t help Uhlaender. The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 6.

“This is about the integrity of sport and code of ethics that upholds sportsmanship, fair play, integrity, respect and community,” Uhlaender said in a post on X.

A petition by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accept Uhlaender as a discretionary entry was supported by 12 other countries, but the request was denied. Discretionary Olympic spots are infrequent, but in 2023, fencer Olga Kharlan received a place at Paris 2024 from former IOC President Thomas Bach.

Uhlaender also felt a personal betrayal because she described Team Canada coach Joe Cecchini as a longtime friend and former fellow skeleton competitor. Cecchini called Uhlaender the night before the race to inform her that four Canadians were pulling out.

“I cried when I found out he went through with this plan,” Uhlaender said. “I didn’t know if it hurt more that my friend of 20 years just nailed my coffin, my Olympic dream is over. Or, that my best friend of 20 years is doing something so horrible that hurts so many people.”

Disappointment seems to haunt Uhlaender. In 2009, she shattered her kneecap in a snowmobiling accident and required eight surgeries, but she recovered in time to compete at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

She finished in 11th place in those Games, saying the death of her father in 2009 to cancer impacted her even more than recovering from the surgeries. Ted Uhlaender was considered one of the top center fielders in MLB from 1965-1972 for Minnesota, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The injury ended her attempt to make the summer U.S. Olympic team as a weightlifter, a sport in which she had risen to a world-class level in the women’s 63-kilogram division. Uhlaender continued to dominate in skeleton, where a racer rides a small sled up to 80 mph head-first and face-down along a steep, banked ice track.

Although Uhlaender has not won an Olympics medal — coming closest with a fourth-place finish at the 2014 Sochi Games — she won the skeleton World Championship in 2012 and World Cup titles in 2007 and 2008.

The U.S. will send Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro to the Milan Olympics in skeleton. Uhlaender’s last hope for a discretionary berth is an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Should that fail, Uhlaender’s final Olympics impact might be a change in IBSF rules to prevent a recurrence of Canada’s scheme.

The IBSF alluded to the problem in its ruling that Canada was free to hold back its racers, regardless of motive: “The Canadian coach and the National Federation shall be reminded that, whilst acting within the letter of the IBSF Code of Conduct, it is expected that all parties concerned should also act within the spirit of the Code, whose aim is to promote fair play and ethical conduct at all times.”

WASHINGTON — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment — actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden — is everywhere.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posed with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.

The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: “F— Joe Biden.” It’s all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals they’re in sync with the party’s base.

Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Trump’s often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech.

But how did Republicans settle on the Brandon phrase as a G-rated substitute for its more vulgar three-word cousin?

It started at an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Brandon Brown, a 28-year-old driver, had won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out. The reporter suggested they were chanting “Let’s go Brandon” to cheer the driver. But it became increasingly clear they were saying: “F— Joe Biden.”

NASCAR and NBC have since taken steps to limit “ambient crowd noise” during interviews, but it was too late — the phrase already had taken off.

When the president visited a construction site in suburban Chicago a few weeks ago to promote his vaccinate-or-test mandate, protesters deployed both three-word phrases. This past week, Biden’s motorcade was driving past a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner as the president passed through Plainfield, N.J.

And a group chanted “Let’s go Brandon” outside a Virginia park Monday when Biden made an appearance on behalf of the Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. Two protesters dropped the euphemism entirely, holding up hand-drawn signs with the profanity.

Friday morning on a Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque, the pilot signed off his greeting over the public address system with the phrase, to audible gasps from some passengers.

Veteran GOP ad maker Jim Innocenzi had no qualms about the coded crudity, calling it “hilarious.”

“Unless you are living in a cave, you know what it means,” he said. “But it’s done with a little bit of a class. And if you object and are taking it too seriously, go away.”

America’s presidents have endured meanness for centuries; Grover Cleveland faced chants of “Ma, Ma Where’s my Pa?” in the 1880s over rumors he’d fathered an illegitimate child. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were the subject of poems that leaned into racist tropes and allegations of bigamy.

“We have a sense of the dignity of the office of president that has consistently been violated to our horror over the course of American history,” said Cal Jillson, a politics expert and professor in the political science department at Southern Methodist University. “We never fail to be horrified by some new outrage.”

There were plenty of old outrages.

“F— Trump” graffiti still marks many an overpass in Washington, D.C. George W. Bush had a shoe thrown at his face. Bill Clinton was criticized with such fervor that his most vocal critics were labeled the “Clinton crazies.”

The biggest difference, though, between the sentiments hurled at the Grover Clevelands of yore and modern politicians is the amplification they get on social media.

“Before the expansion of social media a few years ago, there wasn’t an easily accessible public forum to shout your nastiest and darkest public opinions,” said Matthew Delmont, a history professor at Dartmouth College.

Even the racism and vitriol to which former President Obama was subjected was tempered in part because Twitter was relatively new. There was no TikTok. As for Facebook, leaked company documents have recently revealed how the platform increasingly ignored hate speech and misinformation and allowed it to proliferate.

A portion of the U.S. was already angry before the Brandon moment, believing the 2020 presidential election was rigged despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, which has stood the test of recounts and court cases. But now it’s more than that to die-hard Trump supporters, said Stanley Renshon, a political scientist and psychoanalyst at the City University of New York.

He cited the Afghanistan withdrawal, the Southern border situation and rancorous school board debates as situations in which Biden critics feel that “how American institutions are telling the American public what they clearly see and understand to be true, is in fact not true.”

Trump hasn’t missed the moment. His Save America PAC now sells a $45 T-shirt featuring “Let’s go Brandon” above an American flag. One message to supporters reads, “#FJB or LET’S GO BRANDON? Either way, President Trump wants YOU to have our ICONIC new shirt.”

Separately, T-shirts are popping up in storefronts with the slogan and the NASCAR logo.

And as for the real Brandon, thing haven’t been so great. He drives for a short-staffed, underfunded team owned by his father. And while that win — his first career victory — was huge for him, the team has long struggled for sponsorship and existing partners have not been marketing the driver since the slogan.

A flight attendant has shared the tell-tale signs that a passenger is a nightmare aboard the aircraft

The role of a flight attendant appears simple and glamorous – jetting off to exotic locations, while their main duty involves upholding health and safety standards and providing top-notch service. However, cabin crew frequently deal with entitled and discourteous passengers.

In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, an anonymous British flight attendant revealed how certain passengers’ disruptive behaviour would disrupt operations and cause problems for staff. This specific type of traveller would be identified using a simple code word.

The cabin crew member explained: “There are a lot of things and icks from passengers that we can overlook, but if we say the word ‘precious’ it generally means that they’re acting like a ****.”

The “precious” passenger will be identified among the entire crew, which may affect the level of service that the individual receives.

However, the anonymous employee stressed that alternative codes might exist across different airlines that she’s never used with her colleagues.

For instance, speaking to The Sun, one flight attendant disclosed: “If you’re labelled a ‘Philip’ then you’ve done something wrong and should probably expect to get bad service for the rest of the flight.

“That name originated from the term PILP – Passenger I’d Like to Punch – but has changed over time to become slightly more subtle.”

Another discreet signal concerns crew members noticing an attractive passenger. The flight attendant, who boasts two years’ experience, disclosed: “This is an old one I’ve heard, but if we find you attractive, we would say ‘cheerio’ when you’re leaving instead of goodbye.

“Obviously, we have to be discreet and can not outwardly be like ‘hey, you’re hot’, but that’s a fun way to secretly flirt.”

The cabin crew member explains that countless codes exist chiefly for operational efficiency. While there are different ways to identify passengers for various reasons, staff will never refer to you by your real name.

She clarified: “If we are referring to passengers, we do not use your name; we use your seat number. So if someone wanted something, we wouldn’t say ‘Mary, sat in row 50, wants a coffee’. We would say, ’50 Delta, 50 Kilo or 50 Charlie’. We use seat numbers and the phonetic alphabet; it’s just easier.”

This shouldn’t spark any concern or intrigue, as cabin crew are simply working out how best to assist you without causing any commotion or gossip. However, do pay attention if you’re being branded a “precious Philip” – you might want to apologise for your behaviour.