Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 25

A Dylan Sitcom?

Sadly, wildly, this seems all too true:  Larry Charles, director of first "Borat" film and Larry David collaborator, discusses for first time details of writing a sitcom for HBO with Bob Dylan, plus incredible pitch meeting that Bob sort of attended--in black gunfighters outfit while Larry dressed in his PJs.  And more. And they sold the idea.

Whole Lotto Love

John Oliver on state lotteries last night.  Do we all lose?  UPDATE: Oliver also claimed that he bought the newly available domain name for michaelbloombergisawiener.nyc.  He said the correct "weiner" spelling was gone.  Well, it's all true, and yes, he posted a photo of Mayor Mike with an apparent erection.

'NYT' Excited About Civilian Slaughter

William Broad, whose many articles on nuclear weapons I have read for decades--and often objected to--with another clanker tonight, picturing the next "excitement" over new images of the "dawn" of the nuclear era--that is, scientists assembling for use the first atomic weapons that destroyed two large cities in Japan.  That's bad enough but perhaps to not dull the excitement Broad severely underestimates the death tolls in the two cities, which was twice what he claims in the photo essay that's also posted.  See my extended look at images he omitted. 

Better Than a Wall

As I've noted a couple times earlier, thousands of ballons lit in Berlin tonight (and only tonight) to mark miles of routes where the Berlin Wall stood, and fell, exactly 25 years ago this weekend. Watch a bit below.  And if you missed the news on my book and movie deal focusing on those who dug UNDER the wall.

Catman, Do

If you were a kitten, oh how you would annoy folks.


Post by BuzzFeed Video.

Matt Taibbi Gets Back....

...where he once belonged, to Rolling Stone, with new feature.  Chase whistleblower.  Yippee.

Across the Great Divide

To go with upcoming cover story, Rolling Stone brought Garth Hudson back to the basement at Big Pink, for first time since he left, 46 years ago.

Nixon's Small Talk

Third episode of Harry Shearer's great new series, again intro by David Frost.  Nixon on dirty tricks: "We have too many nice guys around."  Need someone to kick people "in the ribs... scare the hell out of them."  Negroes not smart enough for espionage but Jews "are up to the necks in it."

Drake's Voyage

For 4oth anniversary of death of the great and influential  Nick Drake.

Amnesty Hits Israel on War Crimes--as Rudoren Goes Into Spin Mode

Jodi Rudoren, the NYT bureau chief in Jerusalem, operated as a virtual propaganda arm of the Israel IDF during the recent Gaza war, and is at it tonight, trying to spin a new Amnesty International report accusing Israel of war crimes.   Nearly half the story covers Israel's indefensible defense.  And the two photos at top show both Palestinians and Israelis under fire (to further "balance" message of report).  But she can't help but note:

During the 50-day war, six civilians, including a 4-year-old boy, were killed on the Israeli side, along with 67 soldiers. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including more than 500 children, were killed in Gaza, according to the United Nations; some 100,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

“The repeated, disproportionate attacks on homes indicate that Israel’s current military tactics are deeply flawed and fundamentally at odds with international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement accompanying the report, which was released just after midnight.

Amnesty's report here. Revealing: Rudoren did not link to it in first version.  She also barely quotes it. So here:

Israeli officials have failed to give any justification for carrying out these attacks. In some of the cases in this report Amnesty International has not been able to identify any possible military target. In those cases it appears that the attacks directly and deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects, which would constitute war crimes.

In all of the cases researched by Amnesty International no prior warning was given to residents of the homes which were attacked. If it had been given, excessive loss of civilian lives could clearly have been avoided....

Israel has so far failed to even acknowledge any of the attacks detailed in the report and has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for explanations of why each of these attacks took place....

“Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes, displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“The report exposes a pattern of attacks on civilian homes by Israeli forces which have shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, who were given no warning and had no chance to flee.”