For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when seeing a picture of the U.S. Olympic swim team should be excitement for a group of athletes who get to live a lifelong dream.

But for a group of ever-bitter liberals, there is a problem with the U.S. Olympic swim team: It is too white.

The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials concluded Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and the roster of U.S. athletes who will swim at the 2024 Paris Olympics was finalized.

A longtime swimming powerhouse, the United States’s swim team features stars such as Katie Ledecky, Lilly King, Regan Smith, Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, and Ryan Murphy, alongside a number of newcomers who will surely make their mark on Olympic history.

In a post on X, Georgetown University law professor Janel George claimed the legacy of Jim Crow and segregation is the reason that so many people on the team are white.

“When people say that Jim Crow was so long ago, it’s important to remember the lasting effects of segregated spaces — like segregated swimming pools — and the continued impact across generations,” she wrote, sharing a picture of the team. “This visual reflects that legacy.”

Now, it should be noted that there are a couple of nonwhite swimmers on the team. Simone Manuel, an Olympic medalist from the last two games, will return to swim the 50 freestyle and participate in a relay, while University of Texas standout Shaine Casas will make his Olympic debut in the 200 individual medley.

While George is correct that Jim Crow was not all that long ago, the implicit nature of her remark is that the U.S. Olympic swim team is discriminating against black swimmers and she would rather have a more racially diverse team than the one who can win the most medals.

But this Georgetown law professor would never make the same remark about the U.S. Olympic track and field team, which is overwhelmingly nonwhite. Nor would she say the same about the basketball and tennis teams, two other sports that have a history of segregation but have a number of black athletes.

There is a saying that the U.S. Olympic swim team is the hardest team to make in the world. Only two athletes from a single nation are allowed to compete in each individual event, and there are only four swimmers on each of the seven relay teams, many of whom come from the roster of athletes who made the team in an individual event. In 2024, the U.S. Olympic team has a total of 46 swimmers, 20 women and 26 men, with a number of athletes, including Ledecky, Smith, and Dressel, qualifying to swim multiple events.

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The development of highly competitive swimmers and the breadth of talent in the U.S. is so robust that multiple swimmers who competed at the trials missed out on a spot on the team but would otherwise have had a legitimate shot at winning an Olympic medal. It could easily be argued that the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials are, in some events, more competitive than the Olympics.

Swimming doesn’t discriminate by race. It discriminates only against those who don’t touch the wall first.

The reelection campaign of President Joe Biden may be spiraling into chaos since last week’s debate, but the radio silence from the campaign of former President Donald Trump could prove to be a bit of a double edged sword.

Since Biden turned in the worst debate performance of any candidate in recent memory at last week’s CNN debate, the Trump campaign and even Trump himself have proved content with watching their political rivals panic and wonder if their nominee is fit to win the presidential election.

Conventional wisdom would say you should never interrupt your enemy when he is hurting himself, and that is how the Trump campaign has operated to this point. But such a strategy could prove to be a double-edged sword if the focus on Biden becomes so intense that he withdraws from the race in favor of another candidate.

Now Trump should be considered the favorite to win the election, regardless of who the Democratic Party nominates. His polling lead over Biden is substantial at this point, and hypothetical polling against potential replacement candidates is only marginally better for Democrats.

Still, Trump and the Republican Party want to face off against Biden, not simply because it will afford voters the chance to redo the 2020 election but because he is by far the weakest candidate the party could select. His approval ratings are mired in the mid-30s, and typically safe Democratic states such as Virginia and Minnesota are suddenly competitive.

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This is where the Trump campaign’s radio silence could be too smart. At a certain point, whether it is by announcing his running mate or something else, Trump needs to inject himself back into the news cycle and distract the media and the Democratic Party from Biden’s feebleness.

At some point, Biden will show his senility again, and the panic around the president’s ability to win the election among the Democratic Party will once again bubble over. But to avoid Biden being replaced, Trump may want to think about turning the news cycle back on himself.

One of the few entities with the power and authority to hold Boeing accountable for its many fatal failures is attempting to give the company an absurdly light slap on the wrist.

The Department of Justice is reportedly planning to file criminal fraud charges against Boeing, the world’s most successful airplane manufacturer. The charges stem from the company’s failure to comply with a 2021 agreement with federal prosecutors that was supposed to insulate the company from charges related to two fatal crashes of its notorious 737 Max passenger jets.

The charges come just months after Boeing planes have been continually plagued by dangerous malfunctions, most notably in January when the emergency door on an Alaska Airlines jet abruptly flew off mid-flight, forcing an emergency landing.

But even as the DOJ attempts to file the criminal charges it did not pursue three years ago, it is still trying to pursue a sweetheart deal that will insulate the company and major government contractor from any real accountability.

In the coming days, Boeing will decide whether or not to plead guilty to the fraud charge. If the company elects to admit wrongdoing, the DOJ intends to make a mockery of the 346 victims of the company’s failures by leveling a pathetic $243.6 million fine and require the company to hire a corporate monitor for three years.

For a company worth more than $110 billion, this minuscule fine is nothing. It is an insult to the hundreds of people who died because of the company’s failures, and it does nothing to address the corporate culture of Boeing that has allowed shoddy manufacturing to endanger the lives of pilots, crews, and passengers all over the world.

Already, the families of Boeing’s victims are planning to object to the plea deal.

“The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people,” attorney Paul Cassell told Bloomberg. “The families will strenuously object to this plea deal.”

The families that Cassell represents are urging the DOJ to issue a fine of $25 billion, a far heavier punishment that will force Boeing to reckon with its callous disregard for human life. But under the terms proposed by the families, the majority of the fine would be suspended if Boeing hired a corporate monitor and overhauled its safety systems so the culture of shoddy workmanship and cost cutting is purged from the company.

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If the reported plea deal is approved, the very integrity of Boeing’s airplane manufacturing is at stake. If the company gets nothing more than a light scolding from the DOJ, the government is sending a clear message that such corporations are beyond true accountability.

The DOJ must back off its sweetheart deal and force Boeing to take accountability for the lives it has cost. If the company continues on its current course, the millions of people that board Boeing jets each year will be left anxiously wondering if their plane will be the next one to fall out of the sky.