Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 255

Michael Hastings, R.I.P.

UPDATE  Rolling Stone has just added its own obit.  L.A. Times speculates on the accident--and carries details and photo of site--but they're not sure that's really it.  Ethics? Local TV covered the same crash.  UPDATE #2  LAPD sources now confirm that this was indeed the "fiery crash" that took Hastings' life.

Rachel Maddow's tribute tonight:



Earlier: The courageous journalist, formerly of Newsweek, more recently Rolling Stone and Buzzfeed, has died at the age of 33 in an auto accident in L.A., Buzzfeed reports tonight.  Much will be written about him.  I don't have much to add, except recalling that we exchanged several emails back in the days before he made such a fuss with his Stanley McChrystal scoop.  It was maybe six or seven years ago, and he was back from Baghdad, I was editing Editor & Publisher and writing almost daily stories on Iraq and the media and my book So Wrong for So Long, and he needed some advice...well, relatively few know about his first book, about his courtship and life with a woman (who worked for Air America), who both ended up in Iraq, where she lost her life.  The book was, I Lost My Love in Baghdad, and it was pretty much ignored until his later fame.  So here's a reminder.

Serena on Steubenville

From new Rolling Stone profile of the tennis superstar (with a huge platform),  Ms. Williams, just posted:

We watch the news for a while, and the infamous Steubenville rape case flashes on the TV—two high school football players raped a 16-year-old, while other students watched and texted details of the crime. Serena just shakes her head. "Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you: don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember? It could have been much worse. She's lucky. Obviously I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that's different."

One Case Judge Judy Won't Hear

Wild case in my neck of the woods, which is only reason I know about it:  The live-in trainer of Putnam County D.A. Adam Levy--that's in upstate New York just north of Westchester--has been arrested and charged with twice violently raping the 12-year-old daughter of his then-girlfriend.  He calls it fabricated and an attempt  to bring down Levy.   You'll probably hear more about this because Levy is the son of "Judge Judy" Sheindlin.  

Terror Buddies No More

Remember when Sarah Palin, and many others GOPers and/or Foxers, claimed that Obama liked to "pal around with terrrorists"--such as Bill Ayers?   Now Barack's old "buddy" says he deserves to be tried for war crimes, for the way he has used drones.   Some friend.

Oh: Deer

Ten minutes ago in front of the old house...

Dial KSM for Murder

Molly Crabapple with amazing sketches from pre-trial hearing for KSM at Gitmo.  She blanks out faces of guards.  Another drawing shows KSM applying cream to his beard...

Branded

If you haven't caught up with Russell Brand on Morning Joe yesterday, here's your chance, including mocking his lame hosts and taking over the program (dropping the names of Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning) to show them how a real "professional" works.  Reduces Mike to stuttering, although he compliments her hair--"Like Princess Diana--when she was alive."

Vice and Virtue

Go figure:  Jezebel slams Vice's "breaktakingly tasteless" spread depicting famous female writers suicides--while showing every photo from it (complete with slit wrists, gun in mouth, etc.), in large size, no less.  Lo and behold, Vice pulls the entire spread ("We will no longer display 'Last Words' on our website and apologize to anyone who was hurt or offended.")--and Jezebel is still showing all the photos, starting with Sylvia Plath (left) contemplating her kitchen oven.  Some commenters there object to Jezebel doing this, others ask why they don't just post one photo if they really feel the need to offer a flavor, but not all of them.

From 'Shrek' to 'Dreck'

So, yes, there was a Leonard Cohen reference on "Veep," this week, as top POTUS aide claims to have sung that song as "Jalapeno" at a drunken karaoke night.  Hey, eve enjoy a "broken jalapeno"?  True, at times there has been nothing on my tongue but jalapeno. Did they rip off this guy below?

Not Exactly Frost/Nixon

I tweeted some of the Obama interview on Charlie Rose show last night but here's full NYT report on what he said about the two key issues I've been following most closely, Syria intervention and NSA snooping.  One tidbit I noted:  Rose twice asks Obama if the FISA court has EVER turned down a request--he refused to answer but remarks make clear answer is No.

"The White House hoped to use the interview to calm concerns about the surveillance programs, and Mr. Obama emphasized that intelligence agencies were not listening in on Americans’ telephone calls without court orders. A new CNN/ORC International poll suggested that many Americans were uncomfortable with his handling of surveillance, and in the wake of several recent controversies, his approval rating had slipped to 45 percent from 53 percent."