Rudy Giuliani"s Shameful MSNBC Appearance On Dallas Shooting

Donald Trump"s Legacy In Atlantic City | All In | MSNBC

As a friend said, NBC should just pay Williams his money and make him narrate Dateline or something. He has been terrible at being a breaking news anchor.

And someone over there also needs to tell Brian Williams that remaining mute while a former NYC mayor goes off on racist tangents about blacks to defend the police is not a good thing either.

Rudy Giuliani joined MSNBC Live, hosted by Brian Williams earlier today, and the former Republican presidential candidate was simply despicable throughout, blaming the Black Lives Matter movement for helping murder five people in Dallas as well as making other blacks hate the police so much that they will turn to violence against he men in blue.

Giuliani said this, "When you talk about Black Lives Matter, well you know, the black young boy who is killed by another black young boy is just as dead as a black young boy who was killed by the police officers."

WTF is he talking about? He"s using the excuse of black-on-black crime to justify his complaints against BLM.

Crime is one thing, Rudy. That"s what the police force is there to protect us from, not up the body count. When that happens, and the police are culpable, law enforcement needs to be held accountable too.

Just like everybody else in this country and it"s not a crime to voice that opinion.

But when countless conservative politicians and pundits like Rudy apologize for all police violence, it creates the environment for protest actions to be born.

Then Giuliani firmly blamed Black Lives Matters for the heinous mass murder in Dallas last night.

"I think the reason there"s a target on police officers backs is because of groups like Black Lives Matter. They make it seem like all police are against blacks."

No, Rudy, you cretinous jackass.

Americans have the right to voice their opinions and form protest groups. Especially when they feel an injustice has taken place, repeatedly.

In this case, African Americans have a right to show their frustration about police brutality, especially when there"s video evidence that civilians are gunned down by police officers for doing nothing at all.

Yesterday afternoon the nation was once more reeling from news of police officers shooting black men, one in deep south big city Louisiana and one in the upper midwest suburban Minnesota. These two cases are a little bit different from the ones we"ve dealt with in the recent past in that both men were legally armed but from what we could tell were not threatening the police. Louisiana, where Alton Sterling was shot point blank while on the ground in police custody, is an open carry state meaning that anyone is allowed to have a gun on their person in public with no questions asked. Minnesota, is a concealed carry state and the other victim, Philando Castile, was shot after telling the officer that he was licensed and armed.

Williams for his part, sat like a stone statue throughout the segment and let this babbling fool blame blacks for being murdered by law enforcement and then criticized the groups that are outraged by that violence.

The only time Williams uttered a word in this segment I cut was when he mentioned that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said he didn"t believe Philando Castile would have been killed if he was white.

This riled Rudy up to the point where he became indignant of Gov. Dayton and said, "That"s a heck of an assumption, though and not appropriate by the governor."

No it isn"t you pompous fool.

What"s not appropriate is MSNBC giving you an uninterrupted platform to voice your thoughtless, hateful and racist ideas.

But he didn"t stop there.

Rudy continued, "white people get killed also by police officers in the United States."

Wow, they certainly do, Rudy. What a poignant opinion to have.

He then listed a litany of terrible white groups like the mafia and Russia crime syndicates that get shot by the police. Clearly, if anybody is supposed to get shot, it"s hardened criminals, not innocent civilians, you moron.

Brian, are you awake? Hello, anybody home!

Rudy continued on by making bogus analogies that aren"t pertinent to the recent tragedies and said, "a confrontation with the police is an inherently dangerous situation, whether you"re white or black. If you resist, a police officer is immediately going to become concerned for his own life."

Absolutely, Rudy, but where did Alton Sterling and Philando Castile resist?

"When a police officer tells you something, do what he says. it doesn"t matter if you"re white or black."

When a police officer has his gun drawn and pointing at you, that"s great advice, but Giuliani is stumping for a fascist police state, where citizens are supposed to subjugate their will to a uniform, in every situation. That"s not what America"s democracy stands for.

Rudy says he does want to prosecute all those officers, "beyond a reasonable doubt" that are guilty, but have you ever seen him come on TV to discuss a case like that on?

And he believes we must teach our black children that the police are the ones actually saving their lives! Kudos!!!

Then he goes to a place where no man should go.

Giuliani said, "because the real danger to you is that black kid is going to shoot you on the street cause that happens many, many more times than police officers.

Again, the police are supposed to protect people, not execute them.

This isn"t a math quiz, Rudy.

My G*d. That"s your reasoning? My cops don"t kill as many blacks as criminals do so it"s all good.

What an embarrassing moment for Rudy, MSNBC and our national discourse.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-amato/rudy-giulianis-shameful-msnbc-appearance-on-dallas-shooting_b_10895690.html

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Raonic first Canadian man to reach final

2016, Day 9 Highlights, Roger Federer vs Marin Cilic

WIMBLEDON (CNN) - When Roger Federer saved three match points against Marin Cilic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals Wednesday, you couldn"t help but wonder if destiny was on the seven-time champion"s side.

It didn"t take long to get the answer, and if you were one of the millions of Federer fans around the world, that answer wasn"t very appetizing.

Federer confronted a similarly towering, big-serving rival in the semifinals in Milos Raonic, and this time exited in five sets to quash the 34-year-old"s hopes -- not to mention those of his faithful, adoring supporters -- of becoming the first man to claim eight Wimbledon titles.

Whereas 2014 U.S. Open champion Cilic will feel he should have ousted Federer, the latter leaves SW19 thinking he should have prevailed against the sixth-seeded Raonic.

"This one clearly hurts because I felt I could have had it," he told reporters. "So close. It was really so, so close.

"There were opportunities there."

As is sometimes the case when Federer loses, he went from the court to the interview room almost immediately, not wanting to linger, even if he was at his second home.

"Yeah, so opportunities were all around the fourth set. I think I pushed him on a few service games to get the break. But somehow I couldn"t get it done."

Instead Raonic triumphed 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 4-6 7-5 6-3 to become the second Canadian to reach a grand slam singles final after Eugenie Bouchard did it here at Wimbledon two years ago.

Coming up short in his previous two grand slam semifinals -- once to Federer at SW19 in 2014 and to Andy Murray at the Australian Open this year as injury surfaced -- his time has arrived at the age of 25.

"Obviously what happened here two years ago, I was very disappointed with," Raonic told reporters. "Today I sort of persevered. I was sort of plugging away. I was struggling through many parts of the match. He gave me a little opening towards the end of the fourth. I made the most of it.

"The attitude kept me in the match. I think that"s what made the biggest difference. I was quite vocal, but I was always positive. I was always looking for a solution."

On Sunday, Raonic meets British second seed Murray, his conqueror in the final of the grass-court warmup at London"s Queen"s Club last month.

The 2013 champion brushed aside 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-3 in Friday"s second semi.

Murray, unlike Raonic, is a veteran of grand slam finals but is desperate to try to better an unflattering 2-8 mark.

Those assembled on Centre Court witnessed history Friday: It was the first time Federer lost a Wimbledon semifinal in 11 attempts. It was probably the first time, too, that Federer called the trainer for two different issues.

At the end of the fourth set his right thigh needed attention, and then at 1-2 in the fifth he slipped -- a further anomaly -- almost rolling his left ankle and appearing to tweak his left knee.

Both incidents may have played a considerable part in the outcome.

Was the thigh bothering Federer in the last game of the fourth set, when he inexplicably dropped serve from 40-0, hitting consecutive double faults from 40-15? Federer, who also double faulted on break point in the first set, didn"t produce one double fault against Cilic.

When he returned to the court in the fourth game of the fifth following the slip, the first point he faced was a break chance for Raonic. Although he saved it, Federer was broken later in the game following a riveting exchange near the net that culminated with Raonic"s forehand passing shot.

Down 3-1, Federer never recovered and Raonic registered a second straight win over the 17-time grand slam winner.

"I had missed my chances by then already, enough," he said. "Maybe I could have stuck around better if I would have saved break points. Very disappointing half an hour there for me, getting broken at 6?5, getting broken again at 2?1, having the slip.

"Who knows what happens there. But it was a very disappointing end to the match for me."

Indeed. Federer led on Raonic"s booming serve four straight times in the fourth, including 15-40 at 2-2 and 0-30 at 5-5, unable to gain what would have been the terminal break. Overall, he went 1-for-9 on break points.

Despite Raonic mixing things up by serving to Federer"s body, his overall serving numbers -- 23 aces and 11 double faults -- suggest this wasn"t his greatest delivery day.

Carlos Moya, one of Raonic"s grand slam-winning coaches -- three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, who came on board last month, is the other -- pointed to the conclusion of the fourth as the turning point.

"Roger, I would say he kind of opened the door for Milos to have the chance to come back -- and at this stage of the tournament you pay for that," Moya told a group of reporters. "That"s what I think because Milos was struggling a little bit on Roger"s serve and as soon as he had the chance there and he converted, in the fifth set he had a slight advantage (after) coming from behind and probably that game was key."

Entering Wimbledon, Federer perhaps would have been happy enough to make the semifinals given he skipped the French Open and other chunks of the campaign due to back and knee injuries.

But his good fortune against Cilic and the absence of nemesis Novak Djokovic in the second week -- he was upset by Sam Querrey in the third round -- might have got Federer thinking about landing an 18th major and first since beating Murray in the Wimbledon final four years ago. From Murray"s perspective, he"ll be relieved that Djokovic isn"t standing across the net Sunday.

Federer must now focus on new targets -- or pre-existing ones that had nothing to do with Wimbledon.

"It"s not my only reason why I play tennis, just to be clear, otherwise I"ll go in a freeze box now and come out before Wimbledon next year," he said. "I know Wimbledon is important, but it"s not everything, everything. There are a lot of things that I"d like to achieve besides winning Wimbledon."

One, presumably, is winning a first Olympic singles gold medal in Rio next month, having settled for silver against Murray at London 2012.

This year at Wimbledon, though, Murray or Raonic will be doing the winning on the day it matters most.

Source: http://www.ksat.com/sports/milos-raonic-upsets-roger-federer-to-reach-wimbledon-final

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Ex-Rep. Joe Walsh defends tweet threatening "war" on Obama

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Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois and now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted in the wake of the Dallas shootings, "3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded. This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you."

Walsh later explained on Twitter that he wasn"t calling for violence against Obama or Black Lives Matter activists. But he told CNN"s Don Lemon Friday night that he stands by his words and that Twitter "shut me down."

"Twitter said the only way you"ll open your account is if we get rid of that tweet," Walsh claimed.

Twitter would not comment on Walsh"s claims, citing privacy and security reasons. But spokesman Nu Wexler noted a Twitter policy that says users "may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism."

Lemon asked Walsh if he stood by his words on Twitter.

"Yeah. Oh, absolutely, because I stand by what I meant, Don," Walsh said. "I didn"t intend to say everybody go threaten Barack Obama or incite violence against Barack Obama. I don"t know of a sane person that would do that. That"s not what I meant, Don."

He told Lemon he made that remark because he"s "p****d off" and "there really is a war on our cops."

"The last couple of years, Barack Obama has done nothing but hate on cops. Accusing cops of being bad and racist," Walsh said, citing Obama"s comments in the wake of Philando Castile"s shooting death in Minnesota. The President had said minorities are more likely to be pulled over, searched or shot at by police.

"But that"s not accusing cops of being racist," Lemon countered. "He"s actually pointing out a fact there is systemic racism in this country and there are police departments that need to be reformed."

"He said cops were racist," Walsh replied. "Think about this. He said cops were racist after he found out that a young black man in Ferguson, Missouri, attacked a cop. Instead of going after the young black man who attacked a cop, he criticized the cop and Don, ever since then, ever since we"ve had one of these incidents, his impulse, his reflex, is always to go after the cop. Always."

Walsh added, "When he said there"s systemic racism in the police department after the Minneapolis shooting, he"s telling people on the streets that police officers are racist. Now, maybe you and I can make that distinction, but when people on the street hear the President of the United States time after time say that there is racism in police departments all over the country, man, that kind of hating leads to what you got in Dallas."

Five Dallas law enforcement officers were shot and killed by a sniper at a protest over police violence in the deadliest attack on law enforcement since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The protest was part of a national wave spurred by back-to-back police shooting deaths of two African-American men.

Walsh"s tweet Thursday night went viral after New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg spotted the deletion early Friday morning and urged people to retweet it.

"Joe Walsh decided to delete this tweet. So let"s all retweet it," Rosenberg tweeted. By 8 a.m. ET Friday morning, it had been retweeted more than 20,000 times.

Walsh later explained on Twitter, early Friday morning, that, "I wasn"t calling for violence, against Obama or anyone. Obama"s words & BLM"s deeds have gotten cops killed. Time for us to defend our cops."

Friday afternoon, Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King also criticized Obama over the shootings, tweeting that the Dallas incident "has roots in first of anti-white/cop events illuminated by Obama...Officer Crowley. There were others."

King was apparently referring to Cambridge, Massachusetts, police Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested prominent black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 2009 following a report of a break-in at Gates" home. Obama attracted controversy at the time when he said police "acted stupidly" during the episode.

CNN"s Ashley Killough and Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/08/politics/joe-walsh-obama-war-tweet/

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Miesha Tate"s perseverance rewarded with UFC 200 star role

Miesha Tate explains weigh-in scare ahead of UFC 200

LAS VEGAS (AP) Until this year, Miesha Tate seemed destined to spend her career in Ronda Rousey"s shadow. She persevered for several years as the second-best fighter in her emerging sport, twice failing to stop Rousey"s remarkable rise to stardom.

Everything changed in the past few months after Tate finally got her break, choking Holly Holm unconscious to win the UFC bantamweight title.

And then this week, she got a few more breaks. Thanks to Jon Jones" positive drug test, Tate suddenly finds herself in the incredible position of fighting in the main event at the landmark UFC 200.

"It"s such a great opportunity to deliver an excellent performance and really represent women"s MMA," Tate said of the chance to fight on the main pay-per-view card. "That"s what I"m all about. I want to go out there and I want to defend my belt, and I want to make a statement that women"s MMA is awesome."

UFC 200 was absolutely stacked with stars even before Anderson Silva agreed to replace Jones on two days" notice against Daniel Cormier. Nine current or former UFC champions are on the biggest pay-per-view show of the summer.

But on a night also featuring Brock Lesnar"s return from a 4 1/2-month MMA absence and a tantalizing interim featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, Tate"s bantamweight title defense against Amanda Nunes has been promoted to the main event Saturday. UFC President Dana White said he wanted to show respect to Tate, the only undisputed champion risking her belt.

"I feel there"s a lot pressure on me, but the thing that I really like about that is I know it," Tate said. "I accept it, and I know that I thrive well under pressure."

Just four months after winning the belt that Holm took from Rousey, Tate is on top of the 135-pound division at the moment it gets hit with mixed martial arts" brightest spotlight.

And then Tate (18-5) barely made weight Friday morning, desperately cutting ounces until she jumped on the scale moments before the deadline. After a few hours to hydrate, Tate was reinvigorated by the thought of fighting Nunes (12-4).

"I"m going to go out there (Saturday) and I"m going to rip her heart out of her chest and stomp on it," Tate said with a grin.

Not much has come easy for Tate, but she perseveres.

She picked up MMA in 2005 after a high school wrestling career, and she fought in a series of minor-league promotions for little more than pride.

Tate fought Rousey in 2012 and 2013, losing by armbar both times. She seemed stuck unable to beat the biggest star in the sport, but better than just about everybody else. But Tate kept grinding and won her next five fights.

When Holm thrashed Rousey, the star boxer seemed unbeatable but Tate beat her in March with patience and canny fighting skills, luring the superior striker into an inescapable choke. At 29, she was finally a champion.

Tate has been enjoying the spoils of her title, appearing on "Good Morning America" and "Conan." Yet she also turns down many more opportunities, including chances to add to her fledgling acting credits after appearing in a recent film.

Tate is mindful of the way Rousey"s public persona exploded shortly before Holm kicked her in the head and ended her title reign.

"You have to keep your eyes focused on the task at hand," Tate said. "You have to ask yourself, "What do I really want?" To me, the most important thing is to defend my belt. It"s not making movies. If those things can fall into place in a time when it makes sense, then great. But in the middle of my training camp, you"ve just got to tell them no."

Her current task is Nunes, a Brazilian veteran on a three-fight winning streak. Tate claims she was surprised when her next bout wasn"t a rematch with Holm, but she accepted the matchup.

She also hopes for a third fight with Rousey, who hasn"t fought since losing in November and shows little indication that she"s hungry to get back on the MMA grind.

"I would be disappointed if (Rousey) doesn"t come back, if I don"t get that opportunity," Tate said. "There would be a void that didn"t get filled. I hope that"s not the case. But if it is, life goes on."

UFC 200"s pay-per-view card begins with heavyweights Cain Velasquez and Travis Browne. The undercard features former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and several other title contenders alongside surefire crowd-pleasing fights featuring Joe Lauzon, Diego Sanchez, Jim Miller and Takanori Gomi.

Source: http://lewistownsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/1216682/Miesha-Tate-s-perseverance-rewarded-with-UFC-200-star-role.html?isap%3D1%26nav%3D5017

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Tens of Thousands Attend Pakistani Philanthropist"s Funeral

Philando Castile"s Fiancee Breaks Down Over Dallas Shootings

Tens of thousands of people attended the state funeral for Pakistan"s legendary philanthropist, Abdul Sattar Edhi, in Karachi on Saturday, officials said.

Thousands more couldn"t get to the stadium where the funeral was held with a military honor guard, said local government official Nasir Habib.

The 88-year-old charity worker died Friday after a prolonged illness.

Pakistan"s top civilian and army leadership offered funeral prayers at the stadium, as the country mourned the loss of a man commonly known as the "Angel of Mercy" for his internationally-acclaimed social work. A 19 gun salute was given, Pakistan"s army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa, tweeted.

Edhi donated his eyes and asked his family to bury him in the clothes he wore at the time of his death, his son Faisal Eidhi said. As part of his commitment to living simply, Edhi would never own more than a few items of clothing and a pair of shoes, his son said.

Later in the day, Edhi was buried in the graveyard he established on the city"s outskirts for unclaimed bodies.

Despite the vast sums of money that passed through his charitable foundation, Edhi lived modestly with his family in a two-room apartment adjacent to the headquarters of his foundation.

He established the foundation almost six decades ago that he oversaw with his wife, Bilquis Edhi.

The foundation owns and runs Pakistan"s largest ambulance service, nursing homes, orphanages, clinics and women"s shelters, along with rehabilitation centers and soup kitchens.

His work earned him numerous awards at home and abroad, including the Gandhi Peace Award, the 2007 UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize, the 2011 London Peace Award, the 2008 Seoul Peace Award and the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Service.

Edhi never finished school but later said that the world of suffering became his tutor.

In Pakistan, tributes poured in for Edhi. "We the poor lost our father today," Rafiq Ahmad, a 45-year-old who attended the funeral, told reporters.

Associated Press Writer Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tens-thousands-attend-pakistani-philanthropists-funeral-40455570

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ESPYs Host John Cena Admits He"s Not the "Perfect" Boyfriend to Nikki Bella: "I Eff Up a Lot"

WWE: John Cena vs Triple H vs Edge

John Cena is a hero in the ring, but he"s human in real life. The WWE superstar, who will host the 2016 ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 13, tells Us Weekly exclusively how he and girlfriend Nikki Bella make their relationship work despite their lives in the limelight.

Celebrities Dating Athletes

Cena, 39, says that he has something "extremely special" in the Total Divas star, 32, and points out that she doesn"t let his myriad female fans bother her. The pair have been dating since 2012.

Here"s What Rio Olympic Athletes Will Wear

"Shes truly the love of my life, and she deserves to be treated as such," the Trainwreck actor tells Us. "Because were in the same industry, she truly understands that there will be fans that are looking for a different sort of admiration, but it takes two to be disrespectful, and I would like to think that in most every encounter, I try to treat her with as much respect as I can."

Stars They"re Just Like Us!

"And Im not perfect," he continues. "I eff up a lot, but that always goes through my head, to try to treat her with respect."

Cena reveals that he is currently "full-blast in preparation mode" to get ready for his first time hosting the ESPYs, which honors the year"s athletic accomplishments. He hopes to give fans a "spectacular show" that is "inspirational and motivational."

Return to Amish"s Kate Glad She "Cut Ties" With All Her Friends Amber Rose Pleads With T-Swift for Party Invite by Mocking Kanye! "Escaping Polygamy" Star, 18, Defends Dating Her Cousin, 30

The hunky American Grit star, who is also set to host Fox"s Teen Choice Awards on July 31, says that he shed tears recently while watching a clip from the 2012 ESPYs of University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt accepting the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Summitt died at age 64 on June 28, 2016, after battling Alzheimer"s.

"I was just watching some pieces today on that obviously because of the recent news the Pat Summitt piece as an Arthur Ashe recipient, and I just started crying my eyes out," he says. "Its a wonderful show that can get you to laugh and cry at the same time."

The ESPYs ceremony airs on ABC Wednesday, July 13, at 8 p.m. ET.

Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/john-cena-is-not-a-perfect-boyfriend-i-eff-up-a-lot-w212472

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Simone Biles Leads Olympic Trials, While Gabby Douglas Falters

Olympic Gymnastics Trials | Gabby Douglas Scores 14.650 On Floor

By Chrs McDougall | July 09, 2016, 2:30 a.m. (ET)

Simone Biles competes on the floor exercise at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials For Women"s Gymnastics at SAP Center on July 8, 2016 in San Jose, Calif.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Ashton Locklears knees began going numb. Madison Kocian started off her night a little jumpy. Simone Biles worried she might pass out in the middle of her floor routine.

The 12 gymnasts who competed in their first U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Friday night and the two returning Olympians tried to treat the event like any other competition. Ever-present signage and an energetic, sold-out crowd at the SAP Center made that difficult.

The energy in the arena was, like, ridiculous, said Biles, the three-time defending world all-around champion. Theres nothing you can compare it to; even worlds are not as hyped as that.

For Biles, whose score of 61.85 outpaced the first night of competition by a point, the key was a pep talk to herself before her floor exercise routine.

I was like, If I dont slow my adrenaline down Im probably going to pass out in the middle of this routine, she said.

The message, she said, was private. But it worked. Her floor score of 15.7 was the best of the night, and she also had the top vault score and the second-best balance beam score despite a sloppy landing on vault and nearly falling off the balance beam during a routine spin.

I tried to calm myself down as best as possible and tell myself Ive done this so many times, and its just another meet, she said, even though its the Olympic Trials, like the words are everywhere.

Biles, second-place Laurie Hernandez (60.85) and third-place Aly Raisman (59.95) came into the trials as favorites to make the five-person Olympic team, which will be named at the conclusion of the competition on Sunday night. Gabby Douglas, the defending Olympic all-around champion, was a heavy favorite too, although that standing might have slipped after a late fall on balance beam dropped her to seventh place on the night.

A focus coming into the trials was on the expected battle for the fifth Olympic spot, with uneven bars standouts Madison Kocian and Ashton Locklear the most likely contenders.

The adrenaline hit Locklear hardest before the pre-meet introductions, when each gymnast ran through a cloud of smoke to the screams of 17,904 fans.

I was like, Oh my gosh, is this it? she said. It was crazy.

Locklear, who only competes on bars and beam, found herself looking at U.S. Olympic Team Trials signs all around the arena and had to remind herself to calm down and focus.

For Kocian, that excitement from introductions carried into the first rotation, when she stepped out of bounds on a floor routine pass.

I tried to take deep breaths before each routine to slow down your breathing, slow down your nerves and everything, she said. And I think that helped me.

Both were ready for their marquee event.

Locklear, competing uneven bars in the second rotation, glided through her routine with her characteristic grace and elegance before sticking the dismount. Her score of 15.75 surpassed the two she posted last month when claiming the U.S. title at the P&G Gymnastics Championships in St. Louis.

The bar was set, and Kocian a 2015 world champion in the event matched it exactly in the third rotation. The 15.75 score was her highest of 2016.

Now their battle continues with the stakes even higher on Sunday.

I think that the energy of the crowd helped me a lot, Locklear said, and Im ready for Day 2.

Download the Team USA app today for breaking news, the latest Olympic roster, videos and more.

One gymnast who claimed to be unfazed by the gravity of the moment was Hernandez, who at age 16 is competing in her first season on the senior level.

Did she notice the attention?

Ehhh, kind of, not really, she said.

There was one instance just before performing on the balance beam when the moment did start to get to her, she admitted. Though, in retrospect, she noted that it was her coach Maggie Haney who noticed it.

I do this thing where I guess I roll my ankles a lot, and she was just like, Stop moving, just breathe, Hernandez said. And as soon as I did that, it was this whole calmness in my body.

Hernandez went on to post the highest beam score on the night at 15.5.

With one competition left for gymnasts to prove themselves to national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, Hernandez is where she wants to be. Biles and Raisman can say the same thing.

As Douglas works to regain her top form and prove she still belongs on the Olympic team and does so after switching which one of her coaches works with her on the podium at trials MyKayla Skinner is making a late push. She jumped to fourth place after finishing 10th in St. Louis, and is one of the United States top scorers on vault and the only one, aside from Biles, who competes two vaults.

Kocian and Locklear are as competitive as ever, too, and both represent a big step up from the next best American on the uneven bars.

The door could be closing on Maggie Nichols, however. Competing in her first all-around since arthroscopic knee surgery in April, Nichols, last years U.S. all-around runner up, fell off the balance beam in the third rotation and ended up in eighth place.

Nothing is official until Sunday night, though. And with the stakes higher than ever, Hernandez said the key will be to ignore them.

Me and all the girls, we were talking about, lets just pretend its the P&Gs, thats it, and you know its just another meet, Hernandez said. This will not change anything, youve just got to go out there and youve got to give it your all.

Chrs McDougall has covered the Olympic movement for TeamUSA.org since 2009, including the gymnastics national championships and Olympic Trials every year since 2011, on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc. He is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

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Source: http://www.teamusa.org/News/2016/July/09/Simone-Biles-Leads-Olympic-Trials-While-Gabby-Douglas-Falters

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