Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 152

Bearing the Cold

Next week's New Yorker cover leaked just now, captures today's weather.

Weed: Rather Not?

The jokes are already flying fast over David Brooks' new NYT column--someone asked dudes who smoked weed with Dave the Rave to email Gawker, like, right now. In the confession  he reveals that he was a bit of a pothead as a youth but quickly grew out of it and doesn't want others (for example, in Colorado) to waste their lives watching their potential go up in smoke, etc.  You mean Brooks wasn't high when he was writing all those let's-invade-Iraq  pieces?   And don't tell me he wasn't baked as recently as in the photo at left.

So let the jokes continue but let me ask a serious question: I have kept up on the latest medical claims about the down side of reefer so feel free to fact-check Brooks on all this:  "We didn’t give it up for the obvious health reasons: that it is addictive in about one in six teenagers; that smoking and driving is a good way to get yourself killed; that young people who smoke go on to suffer I.Q. loss and perform worse on other cognitive tests."

Wasted Lives--Iraqis and Americans

Ready to be depressed--and enraged?  NYT reports on Sunni militants aligned with al-Qaeda starting a serious uprising in Anbar province in Iraq and threatening to take over Ramadi and Fallujah.  You remember those cities--scenes of so much bloodshed in the year's after our trumped up invasion.  In fact, one of three American lives lost in the war expired in "pacifying" Anbar.  What a tragedy, what a waste. 

The violence in Ramadi and Falluja had implications beyond Anbar’s borders, as the Sunni militants fought beneath the same banner as the most hard-line jihadists they have inspired in Syria — the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.  That fighting, and a deadly bombing in Beirut on Thursday, provided the latest evidence that the Syrian civil war was helping breed bloodshed and sectarian violence around the region, further destabilizing Lebanon and Iraq while fueling a resurgence of radical Islamist fighters.

Obama: Beheading for Trouble?

It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic and revealing.  PolitiFact actually took the time and effort (a questionable in its own right) to investigate the latest rightwing meme about the evils of Obamacare--that it will usher in legal...beheading.   One of their subheds is actually: Why Obamacare isn’t implementing beheading.   Then, as if for laughs--but who is laughing?--they tick off the reasons why not, including  "A doctor can’t bill an insurer for a beheading." Concluding:

Bloggers have recently offered posts headlined like this one: "Obamacare Medical Codes Confirm: Execution by Beheading To Be Implemented in America." But the coding system in question long predates Obama, and the "beheading" classification is only relevant for death statistics, not for insurance billing that would be under Obamacare’s purview.

Finally, the beheading code is for statistical purposes, not for setting policy. Any change in legal execution methods would have to be approved by the states, not by the federal government. Bloggers, in a game of telephone, have turned a questionable claim into a ridiculous one. Pants on Fire!

'NYT' Calls for Justice for Snowden--And Portrays Officials as Criminals

Update:  Margaret Sullivan, the Times' fine public editor, just posted her take, revealing that the editorial was weeks in the making.   She hears from editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal about the timing and the "vitriolic" response from the right and adds her two cents:  "Like The Times’s editorial board, I believe that Mr. Snowden has done the United States, and in fact, the world, a great service."

And a Glenn Greenwald vs. Ruth Marcus debate on CNN this afternoon. 

Earlier:  Didn't see this coming: a NYT editorial, posted just now, calling Edward Snowden (right in its headline)  "whistleblower," hailing his contributions and pleading for a clemency or favorable plea deal.  Pundits and politicians are likely to reject this view, but Glenn Greenwald quickly pre-empted via Twitter:  "How many media people who object to NYT editorial on ground that 'lawbreaking must be punished' will mention Clapper, torturers or Wall St?"   More reactions at The Nation.

And The Guardian today calls for a pardon.  

The Times:

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community.

Concludes:

The shrill brigade of his critics say Mr. Snowden has done profound damage to intelligence operations of the United States, but none has presented the slightest proof that his disclosures really hurt the nation’s security. Many of the mass-collection programs Mr. Snowden exposed would work just as well if they were reduced in scope and brought under strict outside oversight, as the presidential panel recommended.

When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government. That’s why Rick Ledgett, who leads the N.S.A.’s task force on the Snowden leaks, recently told CBS News that he would consider amnesty if Mr. Snowden would stop any additional leaks. And it’s why President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden’s vilification and give him an incentive to return home.

 

Kluwe Says He Was Fired By "Two Cowards and a Bigot"

Update: The Viking released a statement just now basically denying everything but saying they will look into the charges. 

: You probably read a bit last year about the punter for the Minnesota Vikings, Chris Kluwe, who had broken ranks with most of his peers to take a public stance in favor of marriage equality.  Eyebrows were raised when he was released by the Vikings in the off-season but Kluwe did not sound off much.  Now he's written a full piece for Deadspin, where he claims that he was cut thanks to "two cowards and a bigot" on the coaching staff.  His motivation for writing apparently is to keep the alleged bigot from getting a head coaching job.  This is a guy who, according to Kluwe, said all gays should be shipped to a remote isle--and "nuked."

Beinart Joins 'Haaretz'

The liberal-leaning Israeli daily announced today that the D.C. writer has joined them to write a weekly column and more on the "U.S.-Israel-Jewry-Diaspora nexus."  His first column has now appead under the heading:  "The year of living dangerously? || In 2014, American Jewish leaders might lose control of the Israel debate.   Washington’s failure to clinch two-state deal would shift Palestinian focus to international groups and college campuses where organized Jewry holds little sway."

Vietnam War, Forty Years On

Another demonstration of moving global influence of the "Ode to Joy":  Last night fireworks marked the New Year in Saigon--with a joint U.S. Army-Saigon Police band playing it!  And more proof: see our new film and book.

New Year's Day Cat Blogging

Zoe in the window.  Meet the new year, same as the old year.

When Townes Became the Late Great

As I noted here last night, today marks the sad 61st  anniversary of the death of Hank Williams in the back seat of his Caddy.  But another of America's greatest songwriters ever also passed away on this date back in 1997--Townes Van Zandt.  Here he is, voice failing in his hotel room, doing of his best, "Nothin'."  And below that, perhaps his greatest (tied with another dozen), "High, Low and In-Between." And finally, my favorite cover, Lyle Lovett doing "Flying Shoes" (which he also did at Townes' funeral).