Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 130

Pussy Riot Detained in Sochi

Two of the freed members, in town to film another anti-Putin song, taken in with other activists--for the third time in three days.   The bust happened at a...McDonalds.  This time they were questioned about a theft at a nearby hotel.  "We were detained on the 16th at 7:00, spent 10 hours with FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service) on the 17th, and today (we are) in a paddy wagon, accused of theft," one tweeted later.  (Russian snowboarder, left, with Pussy Riot image on his snowboard in protest earlier.)

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/02/18...

Just Win, Baby

If you missed, Lebron James kicked up a storm a couple days ago when he named the four heads that would be etched on his b-ball "Mount Rushmore," with the claim that he'd be there himself one day (probably true).  But his four icons did not include Mr. Bill Russell (nor, for that matter, Wilt).   He named Jordan, Bird, Oscar, Magic.   Russ replied perfectly:

“Hey, thank you for leaving me off your Mount Rushmore. I’m glad you did. Basketball is a team game, it’s not for individual honors. I won back-to-back state championships in high school, back-to-back NCAA championships in college, I won an NBA championship my first year in the league, an NBA championship in my last year, and nine in between. That, Mr. James, is etched in stone.”

When I tweeted this, Charles P. Pierce replied: "He sent that back like it was a weak-ass Walt Bellamy hook."

Lebron's too used to pushover NBA centers today.  Would love to watch him drive the lane on Russ in his prime.  And, among other things, Russ averaged over 22 rebounds per game in his career--and a staggering 24.9 per game in his 165 playoff games.  Led league in bounds four times--even though Wilt was also in the league.  In an eleven-year period he never finished lower than 4th in MVP voting.  In same period he was the #1 defensive player--based both on stats and observation--in the league.  In the 1961 playoffs, he averaged 29.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 19.9 points.   I'm old enough to have watched him play, on TV, dozens of times. Lebron might re-shuffle his pantheon if he'd ever played him. 

Miley and Monica

Yes, Ms. Cyrus in her big new show rides a giant hot dog, twerks a car, and...simulates going down a la Lewinsky on a Bill Clinton impersonator.  Close, but no cigar. It's all here:

'Masters of Sex' Has No Spirit of St. Louis?

Self-professed architecture geek Toby Weiss has a delightful post at his blog B.E.L.T. St. Louis (The Built Environment in Laymen's Terms) on the real-life locations depicted in Showtime's Masters of Sex series, about the groundbreaking research by William Masters and Virginia Johnson.
Weiss spoke with Thomas Maier, author of the book on which the series is based, and learned the Masters of Sex producers have yet to visit St. Louis, which he says accounts for  the many architectural discrepancies. (That atomic-age, sleek home that Bill and wife Libby Masters occupy in the series? Not--they lived in a two-story brick colonial.) And though Weiss has tried hard to find the brothels that played such a key role in Master's early research, he's not found an actual location yet. (Fun fact: Maier notes that St. Louis Chief of Police H. Sam Priest protected Masters, who delivered one of his children, and made sure the prostitutes in the study did not get busted while it was going on.) One thing is certain: the brothels used would have been considerably less picturesque than the one in the series. For help, Weiss entreats his readers: "If you’re as curious as I am about finding Bill’s cathouse, and know someone who knows these kinds of things, please let me know. The seedy underbelly of St. Louis was deep and vivid, and in this particular case, led to major scientific discoveries that permanently and positively altered the sexual landscape. If those brothel buildings still stand, they deserve an historic marker, don’t you think?"  h/t @sarahkendzior   -- Barbara Bedway

Speaking Frankly: Nerd Prom Re-visited

To celebrate the new "House of Cards" season here's the Kevin Spacey "House of Nerd Prom" video for last year's White House Correspondents Dinner.

The Loophole That Ate the World

Very worth your time is Matt Taibbi's deep-dive in the February 27 issue of Rolling Stone into how a teeny-tiny provision in the vast de-regulatory hand-out to Wall Street known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 has led to "a wholesale merger of high finance with heavy industry," and higher prices for everything from food products to metals. Not even lawmakers like then-Congressman Sherrod Brown--who voted for the bill and is now a leading voice against those hidden provisions--realized their votes were giving Wall Street the go-ahead for "ruthless campaigns of world domination." And all it took were these five words allowing commercial banks to delve into any activity that  is “complementary to a financial activity and does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of depository institutions or the financial system generally.”
From the article:

Today, banks like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs own oil tankers, run airports and control huge quantities of coal, natural gas, heating oil, electric power and precious metals. They likewise can now be found exerting direct control over the supply of a whole galaxy of raw materials crucial to world industry and to society in general, including everything from food products to metals like zinc, copper, tin, nickel and, most infamously thanks to a recent high-profile scandal, aluminum. 
Allowing one company to control the supply of crucial physical commodities, and also trade in the financial products that might be related to those markets, is an open invitation to commit mass manipulation. It’s something akin to letting casino owners who take book on NFL games during the week also coach all the teams on Sundays.

--Barbara Bedway

Billy and Pete (and Ludwig)

One of the highlights of our new film Following the Ninth is Billy Bragg singing (and talking about) his new version of the "Ode to Joy" with new updated "political" lyrics.  But I should note that Paul Robeson sang his own version many decades ago--and here's the great Pete Seeger's version, with new lyrics and banjo.   Below you can hear Billy sing the whole thing, and here are the lyrics.  Also, a full chapter on Billy in our book, "Journeys With Beethoven."

See now like a phoenix rising
From the ashes of the war
Hope of ages manifested
Peace and freedom evermore!
Brothers, sisters stand together
Raise your voices now as one -
Though by history divided
Reconciled in unison

Throw off now the chains of ancient
Bitterness and enmity
Hand in hand let's walk together
On the path of liberty
Hark, a new dawn now is breaking
Raise your voices now as one!
Though by history divided
Reconciled in unison

What's to be, then, oh my brothers,
Sisters, what is in your heart?
Tell me now the hopes you harbor
What's the task and where to start
Though we speak in a million voices
Every word is understood
Furnish every heart with joy
And banish all hatred for good

Furnish every heart with joy
and banish all hatred for good.

Angelina's Next

Promo ad for Angelina Jolie's second directorial effort, coming next Christmas, aired in a three-minute spot during NBC's Olympics coverage (narrated, I think, by Tom Brokaw).  Apt, I guess, since the hero is a 1936 U.S. Olympian who went on to survive years as POW in World War II.  It's Unbroken. the Coen brothers wrote a or the script,  and here's the spot:

A Little Richard

A friend got me going over at Facebook, acting surprised when I wrote that I liked "Vincent Black Lightning" fine but preferred at least 30 other Richard Thompson songs.  He sort of dared me to name them.  So I've started to do it.  Here's the first maybe 20, plus "Vincent," in link form, on video below.  UPDATE  And now word that coming this year is a Thompson Family album w. Richard, Linda, Teddy and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dk2G0yCvR8 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g35D5jwpbpM 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqViJyweNV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdr...
http://bit.ly/14UGZAq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa569wY1HzE 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJf_zoIWnDA  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKnk09YuQU
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3h7e...
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTZWXrVWtvg 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63mkAyU4PLQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftvenY0zLMs 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_LDcyPqAgw 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXiQJ1gm9h8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxSBqmX5mBI 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyV8gV7HYp4  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9mOpJjV-3Q 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLSZXHXFsss 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8rnhvgKEo 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfLr5AOVKQ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4FVt5PdtV0  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtXaxliQKbs 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9-lAOdQrGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMjCX_QBWM 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtTkBdATS0 

 

Snake Handling Pastor Dies--From Snake Bite

AP just reported it.   And his name was Jamie Coots of Kentucky.  In this vid he said he wouldn't seek medical attention if bitten. And he kept this word.