We want to hear from you throughout this morning. We are going to put the numbers up on the screen. Republicans, 202 5853881. Democrats, 202 5853880. Independents, 202 5853882. Make a comment about some of the politics and history, terrorist threats and other issues surrounding the olympics, you can do it via social media. Is our twitter handle. You can make a comment on , or send us cspan an email at journal cspan. Org. Vlad the headline and abler. You think sochi looks bad now. Dead dogs, broken toilets. User usually what you find in cities after they host the olympics. Amidst tales of construction nightmares, toxic sludge and the stray dogs hiding in fear for their lives in the wake of the citys campaign to seek and exterminate the animals. Has anyone seen any homeless yet in sochi . Just asking. I come not to bury sochi, but to praise it. They may be the greatest host city ever for the games, place that embodies the olympic ideals graft, corruption and scandal. They should hold the Winter Olympics every four years in sochi. Years from now, sochi maybe russias economic chernobyl. The economic promises made by russian officials to the International Olympic to midi were promises made on the backs of children of children who have not been born yet. Partner isioc as a like doing business with tony soprano. Got 10 grand on the rents and then subtly you in debt and doing things you couldnt have possibly imagined. A little bit more from the column this morning. The irony is and what they dont tell you when they are organizing committees and selling the populist on the glory of the game, is that hosting the olympics picks the pockets of those that are promised streets of gold. In salt lake city, the mayor went on local Television Every Night to plead with people to come into town to eat at local restaurants. Those restaurants were empty and losing money. In sydney, host of the 2000 summer olympics, businesses went bankrupt after expanding, looking forward to reaping the rewards addicted by olympic organizers, only to find that more people typically leave a city during the games men come there. To be aium turned out bigot flowerpot for years after the games were gone. We know what happened to greece, which spent 11 billion to host the 2004 summer games and wound up in economic ruin. Washington wants to host the summer olympics . Folly. Soviet rulers feared the damage hosting the 1980 games would leave behind. Leonid brezhnev wrote a letter about the enormous amount of money to be spent hosting the olympics. Besides the enormous cost, there may be all sorts of scandals that could disgrace the soviet union. Maybe we should reconsider this issue and refused to hold the topics. The olympics did help the soviet economy go into a tailspin. What is seen as the effect of the orbix. Theant the effect of olympics. We want to hear from you. The numbers on the screen. Republicans, 202 5853881. Democrats, 202 5853880. Independents, 202 5853882. If youre watching from outside the u. S. , we want to hear from you as well. 202 5853883. You can make a comment on social media. Twitter, facebook, and email. Times is on the olympic says well. A spotlight on mr. Putins russia. The Olympic Games are intended to be the fulfillment of president Vladimir Putins quests for prestige and power on the worlds stage. Mr. Putin and russia conflict starkly with the olympic ideals and fundamental human rights. Heres how they conclude the editorial this morning. The olympics cannot but put a spotlight on the host country. A more efforts to make pleasant image of the state, mr. Putin is facing more growing protests. More than 200 authors published a letter denouncing the chokehold they said the new antigay and blasphemy laws placed on freedom of expression. That is the New York Times. Putin games. In its wisdom, the international 2007ic committee in awarded the winter games to the one subtropical spot in chile russia. What could go wrong . Great toe of peter the headline the opening speaks to reception, but in sochi, he has been more of a latterday potemkin. Russia estimated the cost of converting a beach resort into a worldclass ski and Winter Sports center at 12 billion. The final tab came to 50 billion, more than every previous Winter Olympics combined and even the 2008 beijing summer games. The games are a case study in political and economic method. The road up from the coast to the ski resort cost 9. 4 billion. Million dollars or kilometer. That makes it the most expensive road in the world. Well have paid it in platinum or caviar. Been ics have dozens of people have died in terrorist strikes in southern russia in the lead up to sochi. Doublehas deployed about the security used to protect the 2012 london olympics and locked sochi down. The world has put faith in mr. Putins ability to protect athletes, yet persistence of domestic terrorism is one of mr. Putins failings. We want to get your view on the sochi a love picks. We are going to be the olympics. We are going to begin in south carolina. Caller i was listening to you read from the Washington Post before you read from the New York Times. It seems that everything youre passingbout russia debts onto children and newdchildren and then the york times is all about the power of corruption. Is there any difference if you change those names to the u. S. And to everything we are doing to our kids and our grandkids and the corruption in our government. Cost overruns . Russia doesnt know what cost overruns are. They should see what were doing. It is funny these two National Papers can spot on what is happening in russia but are so blinded to what is happening here. Host thank you. This is robert, springfield, oregon. Just wanted to say how much i appreciate the intelligent conversation this time of the day. I am three hours behind you. Anyway, i think the press is pretty ignorant of foreign cultures and certainly parts of Eastern Europe area they dont. Nderstand the economics i am not a big fan of russia. What they are doing in the ukraine is heinous. That is what they have to work with to execute those things. I believe the poor trails in the press do not recognize how much stability there is in an economy that has turned itself and 20 years. Thank you. Thank you for calling in. Here are some of the comments on our Facebook Page. This is from susie. The worst place for the olympics. Is an uncivilized, disgusting person. Karen says sochi was the worst place to choose. They had to create snow . Chris says, hopefully it is the athletes Opening Ceremony and not putins Opening Ceremony. If you would like to make a comment, facebook. Com cspan. Award. Ng olympic sochis troubles. Autocratic regimes are bad host. Sochi has become a symbol of the corrupt access and misplaced priorities of mr. Putins regime , which squandered a record 51 billion on the caucasian resort and yet fail to complete hotels and other needed to sell it is by this week. Stolen billions were according to opposition leaders. It is hard to reconcile this stalinist excess with russias needs, as an emerging economy, for private and foreign investment. Even more disturbing is the shadow cast over the games by repellent embrace of homophobia. Gays will be welcome in sochi, he said, provided they leave kids alone. Sochi will have designated protest zones, but russian dissenters who managed to security deployment and obtain an official partner will find themselves seven miles from the nearest olympic site. Many athletes and spectators that attend will be worried about the possibility of terrorist attacks, especially following reports that black widows have infiltrated the city. While such threats are an unfortunate aspect of all olympics, they have been compounded by mr. Putins promotion of sochi, which lies adjacent to caucasian republics, where brutal repression by Russian Security forces has spawned one of the worlds most beer real and homegrown terrorist virulent homegrown terrorist movements. The do you think about sochi a limit . Olympics . Caller i wish the best for them. We made a president. He was [indiscernible] we try to get the olympics for illinois. We didnt get that. We didnt get nothing. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It seems like we are overlooking olympics that we should be having in the summer. I wish the olympians the best. Guest do think it is wors do do think it is worth the investment . And wholeey built city around the olympics. They may have needed it for a boost. Chicago really needed it. It is the wrong place for the olympics. We had it in salt lake city. We had a couple of incidents where things were behind schedule. If Everything Else goes fine, that is what we are hoping for. Host thank you for calling in. Chicago is one of the finalists for the 2016 summer games. For leakingrussia profane call. This is from the wall street journal. The u. S. Strongly suggests russias involvement in the leak of a recording of a top diplomat referring profanely to americas allies, comments that lay bare growing frustrations between the u. S. And europe as they try to forge a solution to the political crisis in ukraine. Victoria nuland is apparently her divorcing her exasperation eu. Aying f the she has apologized for the reported comments. And you spokeswoman declined to comment on the recording, saying only that the uas engaged in helping the people of the ukraine through the current political crisis. The u. S. Official said an aid in deputyice of russias Prime Minister was the first to send a twitter message about the recorded phone call between ms. Pyatt, thegeoffrey u. S. Ambassador to ukraine. President putin expressed his dissent against tos bringing their ideas this country. Tohink he has that right express his dissent against gays. I would like you to have a segment on the unemployment conversation. I have been depressed and i am on my last check and i have not found a job yet. I would like you to have a what then that and see holdup is for these American People that is unemployed. Thank you. Host paul, and branson, missouri. What do you think . Is sad thatink it some cannot go. Shaun white has decided he cannot go. Host he is there. I think he just dropped out of an event. Caller my bad. I just thought it was ironic that he says it is okay for gays to, as long as they dont as long as they leave the kids alone. That mean it is okay for heterosexual pedophiles to show up . He is so out there. He does not show a lot of sense. Figure,e a popular riding around with his shirt off, being a jock. Russia is in trouble economically and to spend 50 billion on this is it does not show good sense. Olympics arek the too political . Caller i do. Too political and too expensive. It could have been done in the angeles coliseum. Thank you. We will go to baton rouge, louisiana. Do ar i think we should topic about how the United States is viewed now, over the world. Five or 67 years ago, everyone was going to love us and we were going to love everybody. Now we are telling our allies to f you . That is remarkable. The quorum ofc on your administration. Host what you think about the Olympic Games . It is another example of a socialist country that cannot put on a sporting event. That is remarkable. This is richard. I think they got good security over there and stuff like that. I would agree with the first caller that came on. We talk about russia and it seems like wed like to pick on russia all the time. Really, truly is corrupt. Pushingwe should stop all of this. Has the right to do what he is doing in his own country. I think the security will be fine. Thank you very much for listening to me. Have a good day. U. S. Womens hockey team meets putin. If they win a gold medal, they could receive an information an invitation to meet president obama. We told him we played hockey and his lies his eyes lit up. He was dressed in world leader attire. Meredith, athens, georgia. What are your thoughts . Caller a lot of people have been talking about the getaway i guess it is a for the lead of the russians. I am wondering if maybe put in is putting a steel ring around that area. He is not a dummy. I like his leadership ability. Thank you. Host this is from cnn. Sochi winter 2014 sochi Winter Olympics fast facts. Seven countries submit bids for the 2014 olympics. The ioc selects the final three and 2006. Sochi, salisbury, and p yeongchang. Theioc chooses sochi as 2014 host during 2007. They raise 1. 2 billion in sponsorships and on june 30, 2013, the russian antigay propaganda law, which passed overwhelmingly and is signed by the publicutin, bans discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear or see it. Those found in breach of it can be fined and, if they are foreign, deported. July, 2013, global protests. Allows nsa leaker Edward Snowden to remain in his country and if you continue ,upporting Bashar AlassadLindsey Graham suggests a boycott of the olympics. In august 20 13, president obama rejects calls to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics unless the law is repealed, saying it would who haveican athletes trained and sacrificed to make it to the lyrics. If russia does not have gay or lesbian athletes, that would probably make their team weaker. Also, Russias Interior Ministry confirmed the antigay law will be enforced at the olympics. Finally, last month, the u. S. Military will have up to two war ps under a contingency plan to help evacuate officials and athletes if ordered. On january 22, 2014, olympic officials in a number of countries received email warnings of a terrorist threat to sochi visitors. Credible. Viewed as that is a little bit of the timeline from the cnn report. From the Christian Science monitor, the Winter Olympics by the numbers. 425 thousand people live in sochi. 14,000 people will carry the olympic torch. That torch will travel 40,000 miles, including up to space. Sochies is how far stretches along the black sea. 40,000 Police Officers and troop will troops will provide security. That is compared to 16,000 in vancouver. If the 500 new surveillance cameras have been installed in sochi. David, new york, good morning. Caller the last caller made my comment for me. Sign up therettle on your show that said make a suggestion. I have been watching cspan for a long time. Think, every morning it seems like someone calls in with a 9 11 comment. Why dont you let those guys on there and let them talk it out or whatever. Let someone counter them and bring it to a reality. What do you think about those calls . Caller i dont know. I dont know if they are completely offbase or if they i honestlyl, but dont have much of an opinion on them. It seems like they are considered persistent. I dont know if it is an organization that is pestering you or if they just want to get it seems like they are not going away. They have been added for quite some time. Host thanks for the suggestion. What do you think about the olympics . Are you going to watch them . Caller i like the olympics. It is too bad that it has turned into such a political mess. I feel sorry for the athletes. And have trained so hard then all of a sudden, they go in under this shroud of controversy. I think the russians are kind of handling the whole thing wrong. The antigay thing, it seems a lot of the United States just passed things were gays can get married now. All of a sudden, they say we dont want them to come over here and participate in the sports. It is too bad that it has to be such a political thing. To get to the olympic level, that takes a huge level of dedication and then to go there for an event that might turn into something ugly, it is a huge disappointment. I dont know. I hope it turns out good. That is all i can say. Host thank you for calling in. Om the daily caller a little bit from this article. If you know about Vladimir Putin is what you learn from bob costas thursday night. Night, you might be excused from thinking he is a great these maker on the world stage. To bringvideo montage viewers up to speed on the russian president as the went begin the winter games in sochi. It looked awful lot like a russian propaganda network, at least in how it portrayed putin as a leader in the international arena. He helped bring iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear intentions. Remnickely, david provided perspective. The world stage, he is an autocrat. He is no democrat. He has no interest in lgbt issues or human rights. All the things that are being discussed. Ashley, houston. When it comes to the sochi olympics, what do you think . Think it is being made into a political football. I think it should be about the athletes and kept that way. Everyone knows what putin is. That is not our business. We should be supporting our athletes. We should be trying to say decent things around about people sometimes and not let everything turn into a negative and a political football. That is all i have to say. Thank you. Host are you going to watch them . Caller i am. I am for the athletes. That is what it is about. It should not be about politics. It should be about supporting them. They trained so hard and they work so hard. I think it should be about them. Thank you. Host thomas, granite falls, north carolina. Caller people calling in and talking about russia cannot afford this their financial system, what about us . We are 17 trillion over and counting. Rides to themb Space Shuttle off of russia. Stuff sexual throwing it in their face, i think they have a right to live the way they want to over there. Forink maybe they see it what it is. It is nothing but sexual perversion. From cbs. Is a report s girlfriend may light sochi olympic torch. You can read that it for yourself. Jodi says that maybe putin should have consulted mitt romney for some insight to make the appearance of a prophet. Profit. Russias needs to look human rights abuses against gays, artists, and dissidents in the face. The best tweet of the morning. Peter, shouldnt you be in the b