Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 240

That Hastings Crash

Smart, detailed, piece at WhoWhatWhy on claims that Michael Hastings' car crash was not an accident but some kind of assassination plot.  Writer, a former crime reporter who came upon the scene just after the crash and viewed surveillance video just after with cops, starts out skeptical but finally seems convinced--"just" an accident, at speeds of 80 mph or greater.  Explosion pretty easy to explain--ruptured fuel line due to what car struck underneath. And more.  Writer still wants to know, of course, why Hastings was driving so fast. 

Bean Bags and Rubber Bullets in L.A.

Monday Update:  L.A. Times puts it this way: "nonlethal" rounds used.  Few arrests, little violence.   City-wide "tactical alert" called off today.

 
UPDATE #1:  CBS in L.A. says police confirm they used rubber bullets.  Live NBC view. Live KABC aerial view here.

Local TV reports that real trouble broke out at Trayvon protest when "mob" (their words) blocked a freeway this evening.   At a minimum cops fired bean bag projectiles--protestors claim also rubber bullets, but not confirmed. "Protesters marched onto the eastbound Interstate 10 near Arlington Avenue (map) on Sunday, shutting down the freeway for nearly an hour and leading to confrontations with police, authorities said. Los Angeles Police Department officers fired bean bags at protesters after some people threw bottles and other objects at officers, LAPD Commander Andrew Smith told NBC4."

Several people were struck by bean bags in a shopping center near 10th Avenue and Washington Boulevard in Mid-City, said Jasmyne Cannick, who tweeted photos of the protesters and said she and an attorney were observing the rally. "They're in pain and I don't know what's going to happen to them," Cannick said.

 A lot of action, as usual, in Oakland.  Livestream from NYC.

Trayvon Protest in NYC Tonight

Marches and skirmishes still going on, with reports of 20 arrests.  Tim Pool livestream and below that, photo at Times Square. 

Athletes Respond to Verdict

My colleague Dave Zirin at The Nation collects twitter responses from athletes to the Trayvon verdict.  Not typical, but  Victor Cruz of the football Giants tweeted then deleted:  "Zimmerman doesn't last a year til the hood catches up to him." Heartfelt responses but a few over the line: 

Some reacted with a rage many of us also feel in our hearts today, but will undoubtedly earn them calls from team management. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White wrote, "All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid."

Update: Sad Time Has Come Today

Disturbing news that Lester Chambers, 73, a founder of the classic '60s group The Chambers Brothers (the immortal psychedelic/soul "Time Has Come Today" and much more) was attacked on stage by a white woman at a blues festival this weekend and badly hurt--after he dedicated "People Get Ready" to Trayvon Martin.  Details murky and trying to confirm timing of attack but here's report so far (see update below). Lester seems to be feeling better now with bruised ribs and more.    His Facebook page here with condolences and photo of damage.   Picture of him back then and now at left.

Sadly he had just started a comeback (he's long claimed he was screwed over for royalties) aided by musician support groups and Kickstarter.   Lester goes all the way back to mid-'60s, when the group appeared with Joan Baez at Newport.  The 11-minute "Time Has Come Today" appeared in numerous movie soundtracks, most famously (in its entirety, or so it seemed) at climax of Coming Home.  Appeared with John Lennon when John co-hosted Mike Douglas Show during a famous week in the '70s.  And so on.

UPDATE:  First mainstream account here.  Woman, 43,  arrested and charged with battery.   Chambers' family firmly believes it was racial incident.

Sad Time Has Come Today

Disturbing news that Lester Chambers, 73, a founder of the classic '60s group The Chambers Brothers (the immortal psychedelic/soul "Time Has Come Today" and much more) was attacked on stage at a blues festival this weekend and badly hurt--after he dedicated "People Get Ready" to Trayvon Martin.  Details murky and trying to confirm timing of attack but here's report so far.  Lester seems to be feeling better now with bruised ribs and more.    His Facebook page here with condolences and photo of damage.   Picture of him back then and now at left.

Sadly he had just started a comeback (he's long claimed he was screwed over for royalties) aided by musician support groups and Kickstarter.   Lester goes all the way back to mid-'60s, when the group appeared with Joan Baez at Newport.  The 11-minute "Time Has Come Today" appeared in numerous movie soundtracks, most famously (in its entirety, or so it seemed) at climax of Coming Home.  Appeared with John Lennon when John co-hosted Mike Douglas Show during a famous week in the '70s.  And so on.

Zimmerman Verdict

Quite a contrast--returned from great Emmylou Harris-Rodney Crowell concert across the river to find not guilty verdict (which I predicted --given the law, the botched prosecution effort, etc.).  No time for more for now, but only laughs supplied inadvertently by NYT as they collect quotes from  "key figures involved" in the Zimmerman case--including Lena Dunham! Cable news covers protests, in San Francisco, New York, D.C., elsewhere, but n violence yet.

Countdown to Hiroshima, July 13, 1945: Assembling 'The Gadget'

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 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:

Springsteen With Strings

In Rome this week, rarely played "New York City Serenade," with strings.  I was one of first to ever him perform this, December 1972.  I believe it was titled "Vibes Man" at that point.  (h/t @DennisLockard

Texas Abortion Debate Live, As Bill Passes

The Senate about to pass abortion bill, as protesters raise hell out in the rotunda. Much God talk.   UPDATE: Bill passes anyway, as expected.  Planned Parenthood responds.  Erick Erickson actually suggests women go out and buy coat hangers now.