Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 272

Updated: After Stonewall, Hate Crime, Murder

UPDATE   Suspect arrested--cops find assault weapon in his home (he had served ten years in prison).

Earlier: Now labeled "hate crime"--man shouts gay slurs, kills man--near the Stonewall in Greenwich Village.  Updated here.  It was a chaotic scene that involved a suspect who had seemingly been out looking for trouble, two unsuspecting men who had the misfortune of encountering him and a wild police chase that ended with the suspect being taken into custody on the corner of West Third and MacDougal Streets as scores of clubgoers and bar hoppers looked on in shock."

Postively 'Go Forth' Street: New Coen Flick Finally Arriving

UPDATE  Film debuts at Cannes and NYT gives it glowing, feel-good review.

Earlier: Feels like I've been writing about the Coens' Inside Llewyn Davis film for years (and I have), going back to when they were filming in the Village near where I lived for so long.  Now it's debuting at Cannes although, alas, not in theaters here until "fall."  This is the folkie era flick with Carey Mulligan, Omar Isaac, Justin Timberlake etc.   Here's the brand new trailer, with early Dylan soundtrack.

Jon Karl: 'Played'--or a Willing Patsy?

Important Jay Rosen piece on ABC's hack Jon Karl getting "played" hy GOP hacks on the Benghazi email and now refusing to fess up, despite hits from his peers.  But ABC also now taking action.  "Jon Karl has dragged the entire news division at ABC (and now George Stephanopoulos) into his self-dug pit. He got played. His colleagues at other news organizations know it. His friends at the network, were they real friends, would try to talk him out of this disastrous state of denial."  FAIR feels Karl was more willing patsy than just getting played.

Karl Maligned--No Rebound?

Important Jay Rosen piece on ABC's hack Jon Karl getting "played" hy GOP hacks on the Benghazi email and now refusing to fess up, despite hits from his peers.  But ABC also now taking action.  "Jon Karl has dragged the entire news division at ABC (and now George Stephanopoulos) into his self-dug pit. He got played. His colleagues at other news organizations know it. His friends at the network, were they real friends, would try to talk him out of this disastrous state of denial."  FAIR feels Karl was more willing patsy than just getting played.

Saturday Night Music Pick

The great Professor Longhair with a very dirty song, if you get it.

Letter of the Week

Tim Weiner to The New Yorker .  Can't resist printing whole thing:

Steve Coll, in his article on drone warfare, cites my history of the C.I.A., “Legacy of Ashes,” in noting that American Presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon used the C.I.A. to oust foreign leaders (“Remote Control,” May 6th). Not one of the C.I.A.’s assassination plots against a foreign leader succeeded. Since then, President Bush and President Obama have made the C.I.A. a killing machine for counter-terrorists. Murder, however, is not the role of an intelligence agency in a democracy. Its role is to conduct espionage in order to know our enemy’s thinking, intentions, and capabilities. The C.I.A. should give the Pentagon back its missiles under the laws of war and return to its true mission. Know your enemy: that’s intelligence. The C.I.A. failed in that mission in Iraq and in Afghanistan. If it now botches its mission in Syria, no sniper’s rifle will save us from our inability to harmonize our military, diplomatic, and intelligence instruments of war. If we go to war in Syria, the goal will have to be the death of President Assad. Killing foreign leaders is a bad business; so said Richard Helms, who ran the C.I.A. under Johnson and Nixon. If you try to kill theirs, he said, why shouldn’t they try to kill yours?

Tim WeinerNew York City

Updated: After Stonewall: Hate Crime, Murder

Now labeled "hate crime"--man shouts gay slurs, kills man--near the Stonewall in Greenwich Village.  Updated here.  It was a chaotic scene that involved a suspect who had seemingly been out looking for trouble, two unsuspecting men who had the misfortune of encountering him and a wild police chase that ended with the suspect being taken into custody on the corner of West Third and MacDougal Streets as scores of clubgoers and bar hoppers looked on in shock."

Rummy Ruled

Great Marketplace radio interview with Donald Rumsfeld as he flacks new book.  Takes no prisoners.   Just six minutes.   Even asks Rummy to apologize for Iraq. 

Friday Night Music Picks--Request Night!

Perhaps crazily I have offered to take requests this week for this regular feature.  First up, someone wanted to hear some Bruce Cockburn, and as it happens, he recorded one of the great albums of the 1990s, Charity of Night, here's the kickoff track. Poetic, plus Rob Wasserman on bass.  Below that, Wall of Voodoo does "Ring of Fire" live 1982.  Below that, Taj Mahal, who turned 71 today, does some Leadbelly, still topical.   Then we find Joe "King" Carrasco doing "Buena."  Below that, Richard and Linda Thompson from 1975 with their great "A Heart Needs a Home."  Then "Miss Sarajevo" live with U2, Eno, Pavarotti. And Paul Robeson with "Ol Man River," from the movie.

'Action Jackson'

That's what we used to call Phil back when he was Knick 40 years ago--with his floppy hair, wide shoulders and careening around the court, ready for a quick rebound or point or diving for a ball.  Anyway:  NYT just posted upcoming magazine profile basically on the question, what the hell is he up to now?  "What I can confirm, because I saw it with my own eyes, is that on the afternoon of Friday, May 3, Phil Jackson went shopping for groceries." Inaction or in action?