Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 281

Terror Plot in Minnesota Broken Up

UPDATE:  "Police Chief Adam Christopher told ABC News that Rogers had started a group called the Black Snake Militia, an organization with anti-government tendencies. Two senior law enforcement sources told ABC News Rogers appears to be a 'militia'-type suspect whose targets potentially included local authorities.

Earlier: Police find pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails and more in guy's trailer in Minnesota and say target was picked and plans set.  But because guy is named "Buford"--that's first name--and not Ali or some such we may not hear much about it.  Stay tuned.   He had assault rifle--illegally, since he is a felon.  AP story this afternoon.   FBI  "declined to elaborate about the location of the alleged target, other than to say it was believed to be in Montevideo, a city of about 5,000 people about 130 miles west of Minneapolis. He also declined to say whether Rogers was believed to be acting alone or as part of a group, or if other arrests were expected." Local paper seems to think this is his Facebook page.

Town Where Kid, 5, Shot Baby Sister Wants You to STFU

NYT visits Kentucky spot where now-infamous incident happened last week.  Town folks ask not to be judge and none of your business, bub.  Meanwhile--I take from the following that it was Trip Gabriel who was threatened:

After the funeral service, two men advanced across North Main Street toward a single television crew present, from the German network RTL, and punched the cameraman, bloodying his face and knocking him down.

Two other men told a newspaper reporter, “If you had any sense, you’d get out of here. You’re next, buddy.”  

'The Queen' Berates Madmen Drummers

NYT with account of the great Helen Mirren stalking out of theater where where was performing to berate street drummers who were wrecking performance.  Video below captures her, in costume, shouting (profanities, so it's said) and waving arms, but no words heard.

Tom Waits for Everyone

Never thought I'd see this, but old bud Tom Waits joined the Stones for "Red Rooster" over the weekend.

Iraq WMD Re-visited at "NYT'

My new piece at The Nation.   Gordon, Friedman, Keller on board--where's Judy Miller.

Tough Guy Soft on Kitty

[image error] Raymond Chandler, master of hardboiled detective fiction, was often featured with his cat in  photos, now here's one of his acecdotes (h/t Barbara Bedway).

"Our cat is growing positively tyrannical. If she finds herself alone anywhere she emits blood curdling yells until somebody comes running. She sleeps on a table in the service porch and now demands to be lifted up and down from it. She gets warm milk about eight o’clock at night and starts yelling for it about 7.30. When she gets it she drinks a little, goes off and sits under a chair, then comes and yells all over again for someone to stand beside her while has another go at the milk. When we have company she looks them over and decides almost instantly if she likes them. If she does she strolls over and plops down on the floor far enough away to make it a chore to pet her. If she doesn’t like them, she sits in the middle of the living room, casts a contemptuous glance around, and proceeds to wash her backside."

Rebels Used Chemical in Syria? As 'NYT' Promotes War

UPDATE #2  Hail, hail, the gang's all here!  Paging Judy Miller!   Bill Keller, self-proclaimed "hawk" on invading Iraq in 2003, is out with op-ed tonight at NYT declaring that our mistakes in that country should not prevent us from intervening in Syria, which is "not Iraq."   He says he was gun-shy after his Iraq flub--but no more!  Now he derides Obama for "looking for excuses to stand pat." Concludes: "Whatever we decide, getting Syria right starts with getting over Iraq." Then we can get over Syria--with Iran?  Remember when Iraq was supposed to help us "get over" Vietnam?

See my new piece at The Nation. 

UPDATE  Despite the below, David Sanger of NYT still promoting tonight U.S. attack tonight--mentions chemical threat and John McCain's latest calls in first three grafs.   He and others have had one misleading story after another in past days, following Israel's lead. Read his whole piece tonight and see repeated references to chemical weapons.  And of course we had Tom Friedman's helpful call this morning for an international force to quickly occupy all of Syria.  To re-live our Iraq adventure see my book, just out in new e-book edition, So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.

Earlier:  As I suspected, U.N. probers have found that if sarin was used in Syria it was by the rebels, not the government.  But hey, John McCain and other hawks, let's go to war anyway!   NYT news section pushing for war may have to fall back (or perhaps not). As with Iraq WMD, they are noting this report faintly while promoting its other chem stories on front page or at top of site.   Reuters:

U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

Greg Mitchell's is the author of more than a dozen books.  His latest: So Wrong for So Wrong  and Hollywood Bomb.

Chemical Used in Syria: By Rebels?

UPDATE  Hail, hail, the gang's all here!  Paging Judy Miller!  Now Bill Keller, self-proclaimed "hawk" on invading Iraq in 2003, is out with op-ed tonight at NYT declaring that our mistakes in that country should not prevent us from intervening in Syria, which is "not Iraq."   He says he was gun-shy after his Iraq flub but no more!  No he derides Obama for "looking for excuses to stand pat."  Concludes: "Whatever we decide, getting Syria right starts with getting over Iraq."

UPDATE  Despite the below, David Sanger of NYT still promoting tonight U.S. attack tonight--mentions chemical threat and John McCain's latest calls in first three grafs.   He and others have had one misleading story after another in past days, following Israel's lead. Read his whole piece tonight and see repeated references to chemical weapons.  And of course we had Tom Friedman's helpful call this morning for an international force to quickly occupy all of Syria.

Earlier:  As I suspected, U.N. probers have found that if sarin was used in Syria it was by the rebels, not the government.  But hey, John McCain and other hawks, let's go to war anyway!   NYT news section pushing for war may have to fall back (or perhaps not).  Reuters:

U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

'Obama' Target Removed

Who could be surprised that someone at the NRA confab was selling a target (that actually bleeds) with an evil face that looked oh so much like our President (left).  After protests, it was finally removed from view but still for sale, although Taliban and Nazi figures now missing their buddy.  Also see video.  "When asked if the Obama likeness was intentional the worker said, 'Let's just say I gave my Republican father one for Christmas.'" 

Dead But Loving It

This is either the greatest obit ever or one of the funniest hoaxes.   It opens with: "Waffle House lost a loyal customer on April 30, 2013." An elderly lady died in Miss. and two days ago this death notice appeared in the NYT no less.  Some people have assumed that a Times staffer wrote it--no such luck!  It's in the paid (classified) obit section, which gives folks artistic and comedic freedom.  Now, reading it, I presumed the woman was just a fictional character, but a Google search seems to show  a lady of this name living in Bay St. Louis city.  Also, her son (from the obit) has a Twitter feed (@jflarrouxiii)  that noted her passing with this: "No one wearing black will be admitted to the funeral!" But all part of a long-planned hoax?  I guess not.  Jim Romensko reports today: "I called the funeral home and the director said he’d try to get the author’s name. The Larroux memorial was going on when I talked to him. About 400 people were there, he said."

 I will research further but for now enjoy, gems such as this:

Any sendoff for Toni would not be complete without mentioning her lifelong buddy Myrtle Jane Wingo Haas and her adopted daughters Liz & Laura. She considered Aaron Burrell to be a distant grandson (not distant enough) and had the ability with family pets to usher them toward heaven at an unrivaled pace. Her favorite activity was sipping hot tea on her back porch with friends seated around her porch ensemble from Dollar General (again, not kidding.) This will be sold to the highest bidder at her garage 'estate' sale. Any gifts in her honor should be made to the Hancock County Library Foundation (to the overdue book fund.)

See comments section with obit--journalism prof planning to use it, others aspire to live a life that could be captured this way.