Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 154

The Death of the Death Penalty?

Back in 2000, my second book written with Robert Jay Lifton (after our Hiroshima in America) was published, this time on capital punishment, titled Who Owns Death?  We boldly predicted that the practice would slowly expire in the U.S., even though polls did not then offer firm evidence.  In many cases they still don't, yet the death count has been steadily declining.  As we noted back then, Americans like to tell pollsters that they back the death penalty but are uneasy about voting for it on juries, and judges (and lawmakers) feel much the same.  Also, we noted then, that the rising adoption of life-without-parole sentencing would also have an impact.

Today, one of the few major media outlets to consistently oppose the death penalty, the NYT weighs in with an editorial marking the latest year of "progress" on this front.   Here's an excerpt.  Also see my ebook on the subject, Dead Reckoning, including a compact history of death penalty in the USA and current debates. 

In 2013, Maryland became the sixth state to end capital punishment in the last six years. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have abolished the penalty, and it is dormant in the federal system and the military. Thirty states have had no executions in the last five years.

As it becomes less frequent, the death penalty also becomes more limited to an extremely small slice of the country, and therefore all the more arbitrary in its application.

Headline of the Day

Or make that headline variations.   Here's the story.   Yes, in Beaverton, Oregon. I first saw it via OregonLive as:  "Ore. man on meth fights off 12 cops while masturbating in bar." Which, when you come to think of it, would be pretty hard to do, as described (and some wags asked if they were sure he didn't "beat off" the cops).  NY's Daily News had a slight variation:  "Oregon man on meth fights off cops while masturbating in bar: police."  Huff Post:  "Andrew Frey, Man 'High On Meth, Fights Off 15 Police Officers While Masturbating."  Webpro News: "Meth-Head Masturbator Man Subdued By 15 Cops." We'll spare you the "jack off" heads, so to speak.

Ode to Joad

Tom Morello joined Bruce to do an electric studio version of "Ghost of Tom Joad" on the new Springsteen compilation album just out this week--here's conclusion of an earlier live version that is one of my all-time faves. 

Randy Pete

For many years--from the early weeks of our invasion of Iraq until about 2009--I wrote often about the suicides of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, or back home when they returned.  For a long time I was among the very few reporting these tragic stories and clamoring for more support of damaged souls.  (My book So Wrong for So Long includes some of these stories.) Today a mother who lost a son in this way sent me a note after she read one of my old reports.  Seems like I should post the link where she writes about her "Randy Pete" here.  Of course, the suicides go on, even as the U.S. toll in battle declines. 

'Treme' and 'Tipitina'

Tonight will be final episode of final season for often uneven but much enjoyed Treme.  The series has rightly highlighted by David Simon's use of what I have long promoted as our true "national anthem." It was featured right in the first episode, and at length to close last season's finale.  I'll expect to hear it in some form tonight. 

But perhaps many of you have never actually seen Fess perform it, so here he is, with the Meters, no less.

Beethoven Goes Top 40

Somehow yours truly, of all people, was not aware of a popular Union J song called "Beethoven."  Now exactly a tribute, as it simply asks the girl to play the guy like an instrument, like Beethoven might.  Maybe meaning, "going too far as usual, making a big of a mess of things, but, ahem, breaking barriers...."  For something a little more elevated, our new film and book.

Benghazi: No Al-Qaeda

Massive NYT probe, with graphics, just posted online on that fatal night, with several "chapters." 

The United States waded deeply into post-Qaddafi Libya, hoping to build a beachhead against extremists, especially Al Qaeda. It believed it could draw a bright line between friends and enemies in Libya. But it ultimately lost its ambassador in an attack that involved both avowed opponents of the West and fighters belonging to militias that the Americans had taken for allies.

Months of investigation by The New York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi.

And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.

A fuller accounting of the attacks suggests lessons for the United States that go well beyond Libya. It shows the risks of expecting American aid in a time of desperation to buy durable loyalty, and the difficulty of discerning friends from allies of convenience in a culture shaped by decades of anti-Western sentiment. Both are challenges now hanging over the American involvement in Syria’s civil conflict.

The attack also suggests that, as the threats from local militants around the region have multiplied, an intensive focus on combating Al Qaeda may distract from safeguarding American interests.

My Annual 15 Best Movie List

And away we go, as usual, a bit prematurely.  I haven't yet seen The Wolf of Wall Street, but find Scorcese inevitably overrated so don't expect that to make an updated list (and see very personal attack on it here).  Another I haven't seen, just out,  The Invisible Woman (Ralph Fiennes as Dickens), might very well make the final list, however. Same for the much-lauded The Act of Killing--and The Armstrong Lie.  Her has a good shot.  I suspect for Dallas Buyers Club it will be close but no cigar.

Inside Llewyn Davis was perfectly okay, nothing more.  Ditto for Blue is The Warmest Color.

So here's where we are now, in no particular order.   Note: The notion that this was "a great year for American movies" is hooey.  Unless your idea of consistently "great directors" are Scorcese, Coen Brothers, David Russell, Woody Allen.  Not to mention the Anderson boys, Wes and Paul Thomas.

"Short Term 12," "Blackfish," "12 Years a Slave," "The Attack," "Stories We Tell," "Before Midnight," "Philomena," "The Other Son," "Nebraska," "Place Beyond the Pines," "Wadjda," "Cutie and the Boxer," "No,"  "20 Feet from Stardom," "Fruitvale Station," "What Maisie Knew," and my own, of course, "Following the Ninth."

On the Road with Ronstadt

Unusual NYT travel piece, as Lawrenece Downes tools around Linda Ronstadt's girlhood home--with the singer (and bestselling author) herself. 

The ghost stories — and howling coyotes and pitch-black landscape that surrounded her family’s home — left an impression. “I am really scared of the dark.”

Actually, as we drive through the night in the Sonoran Desert, what she really seems to be is delighted. She can’t stop laughing.

When Linda thinks of home — meaning where your soul inhabits the soil, wherever else your body might be — it’s not Southern California, the place forever associated with her professional life, as Queen of Rock in the land of Byrds and Stone Poneys and Eagles. Nor is it San Francisco, where she lives now.

The Band, 42 Years On

One of the epic live gigs ever opened tonight at NYC's Academy of Music in 1971, featuring The Band (plus Allen Toussaint leading the horn section).  And  I was there one night.  A box set appared a couple of months ago.  A highlight: