Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 239

Trailer For Upcoming Assange Flick Released

I've written about this a few times, but now the movie is nearly here--yes, Benedict Cumberbatch IS Julian Assange.   First major drama.  From Dreamworks.  With Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney.  A lot of DDB in the trailer, no Bradley Manning on screen. Assange has already knocked.

Trayvon and 'The Newsroom'

Fun piece at The Onion urges that HBO's The Newsroom get axed before it gets a chance to cover the coming (in its timeline) shooting of Trayvon Martin and uproar and trial that followed. “Honestly, I just don’t know if I can make it through Will McAvoy’s self-righteous monologue criticizing other news outlets for selectively editing Zimmerman’s 911 call, or listen to an articulate new black staff member’s passionate, perfectly rehearsed speech to the rest of the News Night team at ACN about what it feels like to be racially profiled, or see how a heated office debate over race in America will somehow affect Jim and Maggie’s relationship. I just won’t be able to handle that, okay? So please, please let the show be canceled by then.”

Idiot Marine Who Urinated on Corpse Wants to Do It Again

Remember that U.S. Marine who was demoted for urinating on dead Afghans in 2011, with other troops, captured in a video--which naturally inflamed both our allies and enemies over there, endangering U.S. lives? Now says he'd do it again, because Marines aren't "Boy Scouts." And he's planning a book to brag about it.   His penalty was merely demotion, not court-martial, and fined $500. 

Countdown to Hiroshima, July 16, 1945: The Day After Trinity

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August 6 and Augut 9, 1945),  marking events from the same day in 1945.  I began last week with this report on the only real effort to halt the  use, led by atomic scientist Leo Szilard sending  petition to President Truman.   I've written  three books on the subject:  Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton),  Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military) and Hollywood Bomb   (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

July 17, 1945:  Secretary of War Stimson writes in his diary that he has carried the secret message of the successful test to President Truman, at Potsdam, who is "delighted" with it.  Now Truman will feel he can really be tough with Stalin--what Robert Lifton and I in our book call "the Trinity power surge"--and no longer desires Russia's entry into the war against Japan, set for early August.  Eyewitness accounts of the test by top scientists  here.

Anyone who thinks the U.S. would be surprised by the force of the coming blast over Hiroshima--a city of 300,000 overhwelmingly populated by women and children--and its radiation dangers, might consider this immediate official assessment, including this:  "Partially eviscerated dead wild jack rabbits were found more than 800 yards from zero, presumably killed by the blast. A farm house 3 miles away had doors torn loose and suffered other extensive damage."

July 16, 1945:  The Nuclear Age began this morning, with the Trinity test of the first weapons in the New Mexico desert--and already amid secrecy, cover-ups and radiation dangers (including a drifting radioactive cloud).  Oppenheimer speaks his famous words, "I am become death/Destroyer of Worlds."   See my full piece at The Nation. 

July 15, 1945:  The first bomb is readied for the first top-secret test at Trinity--just a day off.   Few plans to warn nearby residents about drifting radioactive cloud. Truman, heading for Potsdam, awaits results, which will help dictate how tough he is vs. the Russians.  Meanwhile, Oak Ridge scientists sign Leo Szilard petition calling on Truman to re-consider any use of the bomb (see below).   They change the terms a bit, however, to:   "We respectfully petition that the use of atomic bombs, particularly against cities, be sanctioned by you as the Chief Executive only under the following conditions:  1. Opportunity has been given to the Japanese to surrender on terms ensuring them the possibility of peaceful development in their homeland.  2. Convincing warnings have been given that a refusal to surrender will be followed by the use of a new weapon.  3. Responsibility for use of atomic bombs is shared with our allies."

July 13, 1945:  "The Gadget" is carefully placed on top of the detonation tower at the Trinity and nearly ready to be set off in the first atomic test, but thunderstorms are in the forecast.

Washington intercepts and decodes a cable from Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo to his Ambassador in Moscow that states, "Unconditional surrender is the only obstacle to peace." Secretary of Navy  James Firrestal writes in his diary: "The first real evidence of a Japanese desire to get out of the war came today through intercepted messages from Togo, Foreign Minister, to Sato, Jap Ambassador in Moscow, instructing the latter to see Molotov if possible before his departure for the Big Three meeting and if not then immediately afterward to lay before him the Emperor’s strong desire to secure a a termination of the war."

July 12, 1945 :  Headline in Wash Post:  "U.S. Brushes Jap Peace Feelers Aside."  Indeed, this was the case, awaiting (possibly) successful first test of the atomic bomb at Trinity.   The U.S. was demanding "unconditional surrender" while the Japanese were attaching one large condition:  that they be allowed to keep their Emperor, at least as a symbolic leader.  The U.S. would firmly reject that (a month later, after use of the two new weapons, they would accept it, for our own ends, and still call the surrender "uncondtional").

July 11, 1945 :   Truman was heading to Potsdam to meet with Stalin and Churchill, where he would issue the final ultimatum for a Japanese surrender.   But he awaited word on whether the new weapon  would work in its first test, due in a few days, weather permitting, knowing that it might allow him to dictate terms to the Soviets in the postwar world.  The first two targets for use of the bomb had been picked--two large cities in Japan previously not bombed, which would allow experts to assess the full power of the new device.   The bombs would be dropped over the center of the cities,  now occupied mainly by women and children, for the same reason.

The assembly of the first atomic bomb, called by scientists "The Gadget," began at the Trinity test site in the desert near Alamagordo, N.M., starting with installation of the explosive lens, trhe urnaium reflector and the plutonium core.  Video below:

Dylan: A New 'Self-Portrait'?

Columbia just announced volume ten in its valuable Bob Dylan Bootleg Series--and they are boldly going where some hoped they would never go--35 "rarities" and "outtakes," mainly from one of his most derided albums, Self-Portrait, from 1970.   Greil Marcus in Rolling Stones had famously asked, "What is this shit?" about this double-lp collection of covers, old folk songs, a few live cuts with The Band.  The new CDs also covers the album that followed,  New Morning, which started him on the road back.  One thing's for sure:  Dylan's painting ability, if not his singing,  has improved greatly.  Here's their promo trailer:

A Novel Experiment

Folks, as I've warned for a few months:  I have just finished writing, and revising, my first (comic) novel, Too Much of Nothing, after authoring something like fourteen non-fiction books.  Desiring some instant feedback, though I might regret this, I am making the first chapter available in its entirety if you go here.  Or if you  request it and send me an email,  I will then reply with the opening chapter as an attachment.  The only requirement:  You read it within a week and send me some comment, even if it's just one word, such as "Hilarious!" or "Disappointing!"

Like most fiction writers, even those new to it, I don't want to really say "what it's about" or "give too much away," but obviously my many years as senior editor at Crawdaddy are kicking in.  A capsule:  A one-hit wonder former star, who now lives in one of the most famous rock 'n roll houses, goes out on the road at last, searching for his muse--and his suddenly missing wife.  Meanwhile, eco-guerillas are after him.  Humorous (and dangerous) settings include the village of Woodstock, Key West, and New York City.  Now I've said too much already.  But if you're interested,  read it now here or drop me a line today at:  epic1934@aol.com.  Guaranteed:  A few laughs.  Thanks.

Zimmerman Juror Drops Book Deal

So it won't be "buy George" after all.  Campaign sparked via Twitter to protest to juror, her literary agent, and would-be publisher.  They pulled back and then she announced she was dropping project, after announcing it on CNN just a few hours earlier.   "Now that I am returned to my family and to society in general, I have realized that the best direction for me to go is away from writing any sort of book and return instead to my life as it was before I was called to sit on this jury.”

Countdown to Hiroshima, July 16, 1945: The First Test at Trinity

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August 6 and Auguzt 9, 1945),  marking events from the same day in 1945.  I began last week with this report on the only real effort to halt the  use, led by atomic scientist Leo Szilard sending  petition to President Truman.   I've written  three books on the subject:  Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton),  Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military) and Hollywood Bomb   (how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

July 16, 1945:  The Nuclear Age began this morning, with the Trinity test of the first weapons in the New Mexico desert--and already amid secrecy, cover-ups and radiation dangers.  See my full piece at The Nation. 

July 15, 1945:  The first bomb is readied for the first top-secret test at Trinity--just a day off.   Few plans to warn nearby residents about drifting radioactive cloud. Truman, heading for Potsdam, awaits results, which will help dictate how tough he is vs. the Russians.  Meanwhile, Oak Ridge scientists sign Leo Szilard petition calling on Truman to re-consider any use of the bomb (see below).   They change the terms a bit, however, to:   "We respectfully petition that the use of atomic bombs, particularly against cities, be sanctioned by you as the Chief Executive only under the following conditions:  1. Opportunity has been given to the Japanese to surrender on terms ensuring them the possibility of peaceful development in their homeland.  2. Convincing warnings have been given that a refusal to surrender will be followed by the use of a new weapon.  3. Responsibility for use of atomic bombs is shared with our allies."

July 13, 1945:  "The Gadget" is carefully placed on top of the detonation tower at the Trinity and nearly ready to be set off in the first atomic test, but thunderstorms are in the forecast.

Washington intercepts and decodes a cable from Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo to his Ambassador in Moscow that states, "Unconditional surrender is the only obstacle to peace." Secretary of Navy  James Firrestal writes in his diary: "The first real evidence of a Japanese desire to get out of the war came today through intercepted messages from Togo, Foreign Minister, to Sato, Jap Ambassador in Moscow, instructing the latter to see Molotov if possible before his departure for the Big Three meeting and if not then immediately afterward to lay before him the Emperor’s strong desire to secure a a termination of the war."

July 12, 1945 :  Headline in Wash Post:  "U.S. Brushes Jap Peace Feelers Aside."  Indeed, this was the case, awaiting (possibly) successful first test of the atomic bomb at Trinity.   The U.S. was demanding "unconditional surrender" while the Japanese were attaching one large condition:  that they be allowed to keep their Emperor, at least as a symbolic leader.  The U.S. would firmly reject that (a month later, after use of the two new weapons, they would accept it, for our own ends, and still call the surrender "uncondtional").

July 11, 1945 :   Truman was heading to Potsdam to meet with Stalin and Churchill, where he would issue the final ultimatum for a Japanese surrender.   But he awaited word on whether the new weapon  would work in its first test, due in a few days, weather permitting, knowing that it might allow him to dictate terms to the Soviets in the postwar world.  The first two targets for use of the bomb had been picked--two large cities in Japan previously not bombed, which would allow experts to assess the full power of the new device.   The bombs would be dropped over the center of the cities,  now occupied mainly by women and children, for the same reason.

The assembly of the first atomic bomb, called by scientists "The Gadget," began at the Trinity test site in the desert near Alamagordo, N.M., starting with installation of the explosive lens, trhe urnaium reflector and the plutonium core.  Video below:

Harvey Keen

Thanks to my son, and longtime Mets fan, now out in L.A., send me this clip of Jimmy Fallon getting new Mets star Matt Harvey to ask the men-in-the-street what they think of ...Matt Harvey.  No one recognizes him.

Home Run 'Back in the Day' Derby

They're getting ready to go in NY tonight with the annual show but forgive me for returning to my youth--when the whole concept gained notice with this weekly TV series, around 1960, featuring all of the future HOF sluggers of the day.   Here's a few minutes of Mickey Mantle vs. Harmon Killebrew.