From Brian Beutler on Twitter: “So, what he’s saying– hear me out– is that not standing up during a ceremonial event is one way to protest something unrelated to the event…”
Watching a rerun of sorts now. 
A little bit overdone on the fireworks, but the five kiddos showing Korea - love it.
I remember the Seoul olympics. Local news people came and met with the American “soft news” journalists after the first few days and let them know how insulted they were by the American coverage. They were upset that the American coverage had included stories that were critical about S. Korea, including one about when many babies there were given up for adoption.
“You don’t insult a lady on her wedding day”, one of them said. It really struck me. Cultural differences are important to respect. I bet they are very insulted by Mike Pence not standing. He was not exactly subtle. Honestly, he could have stood, done a little golf clap, and shown a tight smile and it would have gotten the message across without being so insulting.
What message was he trying to send? We all know Kim Jong Un is a bad actor, but South Korean speed skaters and North Korean hockey players are not bad actors, so why did he insult them? This doesn’t even make sense. Pence made Americans look petty and mean before the whole world, for no reason.
Someone can have or acquire more than one citizenship. You may be thinking of someone born in the US representing Ireland. Ireland has relatively generous citizenship by descent laws (including being able to register as an Irish citizen if one has an Irish citizen grandparent born in Ireland), and neither Ireland nor the US prohibits its citizens from holding another citizenship.
Unfortunately Canada does not have the same citizenship by descent laws. 
I think the Ireland-US dual citizenship might have ended. My boss was born in Ireland and I remember a few years ago, she was going around filing paperwork for her husband and kids to get their Irish citizenship and she told me she thought that the rules might be changing. I am not 100% certain though. H’s grandfather was born in Ireland but he has never had any interest in even getting a passport, let alone dual citizenship.
One girl on the Korean hockey team was adopted as an infant. Her sister is on the US (maybe canadian?) team.
There were similar names in other places in the past:
Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia during Khmer Rouge rule)
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (USSR-supported government – politics about such military support resulted in partial boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 summer Olympics)
Democratic Republic of Madagascar
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
Present examples (Freedom House ratings):
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (3/100)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (16/100)
Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (69/100)
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (55/100)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (12/100)
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (55/100)
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (12/100)
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria (35/100)
Love the Mexican flag bearer’s hat! And I want the Latvian team hat and scarf! Who said the Germans’ coats where meh? A perfect canvas for accessorizing. B-)
Those who don’t have it seem to feel the need to claim it…Too bad they don’t practice it.
Two thumbs up for Toyota’s “let’s keep our winters winters” commercial.
@twoinanddone - The sisters skating one for the US and one for the Korean women’s hockey team were in my S2’s high school class. Here is a link to their story.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/house-divided-brandt-sisters-suit-opposing-teams
Dang. Italy looks so awesome in their outfits. Let me say Armani outstyled the rest. B-)
I find it interesting that Mike Pence boycotted an NFL game due to disrespect, then he appears to be disrespectful towards the host country.
I did appreciate the honesty in the NBC coverage: some of what you’re seeing is augmented reality…we’ve edited out some of the ceremony due to time constraints…this was recorded earlier because of weather concerns…
I wonder if some of the “relative” nationality athletes have done anything more that a quick visit to the country they represent? So many athletes train in other countries. For example, I’m pretty sure that I heard the Israeli team lives and trains in Hackensack NJ. Other athletes train in Maine. I know there were lots of summer athletes from around the world training in the San Diego area.
The five kids did a very nice job throughout, and we loved the drone skier. I do miss the old days when we saw the athletes and judges take their oaths.
Anybody still up to watch the Nordic race tonight? 
That glass of vino I had while watching the opening ceremony might eventually put me to sleep tonight… zzzz… I really want to stay awake!
C’mon, Jessie!
It doesn’t bother me really what flag an athlete competes under or where they train. I just like to cheer on good athleticism. I don’t really get the focus on competition between countries o medal count and all that nationalistic pride stuff. I think it’s a hangover from the cold war era. Maybe its just me but may the best (wo)man win!