Laurie Anderson Describes Lou's Last Days

Laurie Anderson, silent since the death of her husband Lou Reed, has spoken in the form of a note/obit in their local newspaper in their out-of-Manhattan home near East Hampton.  In full:

To our neighbors:

What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.

Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.

Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!

Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.

Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.

— Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal frienda

 Also re: Lou.  Did I edit his first published piece when I was at Crawdaddy?  Also:  My piece on when he underwent electroshock as a teen just over the hill from my home to drive out his "homosexual tendencies."

Other Ways to Look at New Obamacare Poll

 We're already reading the usual analysis and punditry on new NBC/WSJ poll--you know, that majority of folks want the ACA repealed or, gosh, revised.  That's feature in most of the headline and TV reports.  As usual, the details reveal results that could also be the top story if viewed in the same way.

For example: Alternative an accurate headline could be, "Despite problems, only 40% says they are 'less confident' in the new law."

By 37% to 31% the numbers show Americans  feel confident that the tech problems with the site will be straightened out soon.  The rest say it's too soon to say.  So pundits and headline writers could just as easily shout,  "only 31% hitting web site problems!"

Then there's this: just 24% want the ACA eliminated.  So your headline:  "76% reject repeal of Obamacare despite problems!"

Meet the Beatles' Fans

Amazing project by Ringo--he asked for someone to ID five early Beatles fans in his old photo at JFK Airport in New York--and now they've posed again in same positions, via the Today Show.  Some joke the sixth figure at far right hidden in shadows in original is...Pete Best.

BTW, I met Ringo a couple of times during the 1970s when for nearly all of the decade I was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.  Nice chap.   And consider ordering one of many and ebooks over on the right on this blog, just clock on a cover, thanks!

The Missing My Lai Story

Everyone knows that most famous atrocity photo from Vietnam--the naked girl with napalm on her skin running down a road in terror.  Not long ago I posted here about an amazing update on the photo at the terrific site that focuses on news photos, Bag News Notes.  Now they've just posted an in-depth and important piece, by Valerie  Wieskamp, on another famous photo from the war--the one showing frightened villagers at My Lai just moments before getting gunned down by U.S. troops.

What this piece reveals is the largely "missing" story--that villagers were also raped or sexually brutalized just before the shootings.   One of them, in fact, is the young woman in the right rear of this photo, who is shown buttoning up her blouse.  The rapes were clearly documented at the time--by the photographer, a reporter, and later by the official commission--but downplayed by the media back then, and now almost always ignored when today's media revisit the tragedy.  Why? Especially with the image of a young woman re-buttoning her blouse.    There's much more in the piece, so read it now.

Premiere of Our Beethoven Movie Last Night--Now Moving Downtown!

We had a terrific sold out evening last night at Lincoln Center for the NYC premiere of Following the Ninth, our unique film on the amazing influence of Beethoven's final symphony (I am co-producer).  After it drew multiple bursts of applause from the audience, I moderated a panel with director Kerry Candaele and conductor George Mathew.  Now the film opens for a full week at the Quad Cinema downtown on 13th St. starting Friday.   It's old home week for me, as the Quad is still half a block from my old Crawdaddy office and I was there for its opening--in 1972.  Kerry and I will be speaking Friday, with Robert Jay Lifton added Saturday, all co-sponsored by The Nation.  Full details, trailer, ticket info here. (Photo at left of the panel by Hal Weiner)

Where's John Hodgman?

Don't miss series of new commercial vs. Obama featuring, you know, big fat sloppy Obamacare guy and sleek Private Sector Guy.   Four spots here but check out the one below.  Funniest bit is how easy, as you know all know, it is to get your insurance company on the line right away and fixing your issues in a flash.

Lou Reed, Getting Electro-Shock, Just Over the Hill

Just learning today that there's a local connection, so to speak, to Lou Reed here in Nyack, N.Y.: As a teen, his parents sent him to the Rockland Psychiatry Hospital, just over the hill a few miles from my home, for electro-shock treatments--to cure him of homosexual tendencies.  (How did that work out?) He wrote about it in an interview for a history of Punk, naturally slamming it for causing some memory loss and more.  And he later wrong a song about it, titled, "Kill Your Sons."

Keller vs. Greenwald

My new piece at The Nation on the great debate over future of journalism, and reaction to it.

When Lou Returned to Doo Wop Roots

Few may know that Lou Reed's first love was '50s doo-wop and in 1987 he got a chance to back up Dion on the classic "Teenager in Love."  Oh he had a little help: Paul Simon, Springsteen, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Ruben Blades.

Lou Reed's Rock 'n Roll High School

Amazing but true, but Mickey Kaus, as class president, somehow got the Velvet Underground to play an assembly and lunchroom in 1968 at...Beverly Hills High.  They had just recorded their third album and, as few know, they were NOT a popular band at all.   Steve Wasserman stood up and danced and was disciplined, Kaus says.   There's even a photo that he directs you to here.  It shows a post-concert rap at the school where the school shrink complains to Lou that his music is too damn loud. 

If Politico Covered Lincoln

Very funny parody at The New Republic imagining how Mike Allen's Playbook would have covered Lincoln on the day he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  Too many highlights to mention but here's a bit: 

FORMER GEN.-IN-CHIEF GEORGE MCCLELLAN, on 'MORNING JEHOSEPHAT': “Lincoln has flip-flopped once again on emancipation…. Washington politicians are doing an end run around the Constitution… I think we need less polarization and divisiveness during a civil war. A leader needs to stand up to extremists and reach out across the aisle. Lincoln has not led.” 1864 TEA LEAVES: “I am not ruling anything out, but I’m not ruling anything in.”

**A message from Union-Pacific: Manifest destiny is within reach. But Congress needs to act fast to enable ambition and economic growth. Tying up railroad innovators in red tape will cost jobs***

NEW BATTLEGROUND POLL: Lincoln’s negatives are “through the roof” in Va., N.C., S.C., Ga., Miss., Ala., Louisiana, Ark., Tenn.  PLAY-BOOK TRUTH BOMB: Lincoln is not going to improve these numbers if he refuses to press the flesh. A playbooker telegraphs: “I don’t know what happened to the gregarious guy we saw in 1860. Jeff Davis hasn’t been invited to the White House for cocktails once since Abe became president!”

Lou Reed at Play

My son Andy Mitchell sends along something I would, of course, miss:  60-second official commercial for PlayStation 4 featuring Lou's "Perfect Day."  Hysterical.

Lou Reed, Roadrunner, With the Radio On

Earliest overt Velvet Underground tribute, from Jonathan Richman.   Jonathan crashed on couch of Velvets' manager when he came to NYC in '69 and John Cale later produced the first Modern Lovers sessions.

Pale Blue Eyes

David Byrne recalls his years interacting with Lou going back to CBGB.   AP chats with Patti Smith about her friend Lou Reed and first seeing the Velvets in 1970 (same year I did).  I posted last night but here again, she chose to close CBGB a few years ago with song she talk about in piece, "Pale Blue Eyes."  And in contrast, below that,  A Sheryl Crow-Emmylou Harris version.  And epic meeting of Lou and Pete Townshend. 

When Truman Censored First Hollywood Movie on Hiroshima--And Fired an Actor!

My recent piece at The Nation explores this amazing episode, which began after a screening in D.C.  67 years ago this week.  Oddly, what got it going was a letter from actress Donna Reed.  I explore the entire episode in my current e-book Hollywood Bomb.   Here's the opening of my article:  "One of the great tales of Hollywood censorship remains little known today, more than sixty-five years after it transpired. And who was right at the center of it? None other than President Harry S. Truman. He even got rid of the actor playing him in the MGM movie.

"The 1947 MGM film, The Beginning or the End, deserves special review, however, as its filming overlapped with the suppression of the only film footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US military and the Japanese and other moves to hide key evidence of what happened there. (See my book Atomic Cover-up.) Indeed, the MGM film emerged, after many revisions as a Hollywood version of the official Hiroshima narrative: the bomb was absolutely necessary to end the war and save American lives."

White Light/White Heat/White Reed

Jack White with Lou Reed, priceless 56 seconds.

Lou Reed, Warhol, 1966

Hysterical NYT article from that year on Andy, Edie, Nico and the Velvets invited to an annual dinner for shrinks at NY's Delmonico.   Velvets played set during dinner, described as everything from "short-lived torture" to "cacophony" to "Egyptian belly dancing music."  Classic. 

79 Years Ago This Month: Hollywood Took Its First All-Out Plunge Into Politics

How did Hollywood get so "liberal"?  It all started when author and ex-socialist Upton Sinclair swept the Democratic primary for governor of California in 1934, as I explore in my book and ebook The Campaign of the Century, winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award.  Hollywood's response, including the creation of the first "attack ads" for the screen by none other than Irving Thalberg--you can watch excerpts below--destroyed Sinclair but also led to the rise of the "liberal" movie industry we see today.

MGM chief Louis B. Mayer  responded to Sinclair's upset victory--he had inspired one of the greatest mass movements in U.S. history--by promising in the movie trades to do everything possible to defeat him.  Fellow mogul Joseph Schenk landed in Florida, and  threatened to move the entire industry to that state if Sinclair won (well, it already had a city named Hollywood).  That threat was spready widely and wildly by the conservative press--meaning newspapers almost everywhere in the state. 

Later, nearly all of the studios docked employees, including top actors, one day's pay, to go to Sinclair's GOP foe  (Jimmy Cagney,  rebelled, but Katharine Hepburn and others went along with it).  Finally, MGM produced three fake newsreels, using shots from old movies and Hollywood actors, that sparked riots in theaters.  Thalberg (left) later admitted producing the newsreels.  "Nothing is unfair in politics," he explained.  Sinclair supporters, including Charlie Chaplin and Dorothy Parker, vowed revenge.

Indeed, outrage over the abuses in 1934 sparked a massive surge for the actors' and screenwriters' guilds--and the new activism played a key role in Democrats electing a governor in 1938.  As I explore in my book, virtually all of the techniques that make up the modern political campaign (such as putting "spin doctors" and advertising wizards in charge) were invented in the wild anti-Sinclair effort.  It was the birth of modern politics.  Here's the Thalberg shocker:

Lou Reed at the White House

Paul Begala, the former top Clinton aide, just tweeted:  "When Vaclav Havel came to White House, he asked Pres. Clinton to invite Lou Reed. Lou rocked the East Room & blew several minds. RIP."
Hilary Rosen:  Memory: Was w/ #LouReed playing LOUD at the Bill Clinton/Lech Walesa State Dinner.  WH staff worried about the shaking chandeliers."

Born to Rock

Full PBS bio-doc on Lou Reed, R.I.P.    Grew up playing classical piano.   Like me, he was Ricky Nelson fan.  Wrote "Heroin" in college.  And then.  See my numerous other Lou things below.

This Is the Beginning...of A New Age

With Lou Reed's passing.  His Velvets' classic, 'New Age," as he did it in 1983 with Quine.  Below that,  the 9-minute "What Goes On," what I consider the greatest live track by U.S. band; then "Sweet Jane," with direction by Julian Schnabel.  A wild video for "Venus In Furs."  And finally Patti Smith on closing night of CBGB does "Pale Blue Eyes." 


Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground from Brian Fejer on Vimeo.

Lou and Leonard

Watch Lou Reed induct Leonard Cohen into the Rock "'n Roll Hall of Fame.  "We are so lucky to be alive when Leonard Cohen is."  Leonard:  "I inducted you into my own Hall of Fame years ago."

When Lou Reed Backed Occupy

Two years ago, at Lincoln Center, after performance of Philip Glass's Satyagraha, with mic-check.  An anonymous commenter writes (see below):  "I live across the street from Lou. He had big Letters O W S in his windows facing the West Side Highway for a while."

Lou Reed Dead at 71

Terrible news, if not unexpected.  He had liver transplant recently.  Last time I saw him, at a Radio City show for Leonard Cohen a few months back,  he looked awful--moving slowly and older than years.  First intro to Lou was from seeing that WTF yellow banana cover on the record racks in college in '66.  Never interviewed him but helped arrange piece by him in Crawdaddy in '71 about being a star and warnings about the same.  (Lisa of "Lisa Says" fame also writing for us at the time.) Then there was the night backstage at a very early Springsteen show in Rhode Island where Lou looked rather Frankensteinish--in makeup, even off-stage. 

Of course, we heard various sordid tales about Lou back then, though not necessarily true.  Later, in his more mature years, I went with David Corn to see Lou give a poetry reading at the West Side Y in New York.   Was it just two years ago when he spoke up for Occupy after a Philip Glass night at Lincoln Center and video went viral?  Also, much to his credit, he inducted Leonard Cohen into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Watch full 85-minute PBS doc here.

Just yesterday I touted the Velvets' Live 69 as one of the two or three greatest live albums.  And they were certainly the greatest and most influential NY band ever.  (Yet I see young 'uns on Twitter who seem to think "Perfect Day" is true Lfou.)  A few selections from that period below, plus live "Heroin" here and live "New Age," "Venus in Furs" and Patti Smith doing "Pale Blue Eyes"  here.  And "Sweet Jane" directed by Julian Schnabel here.

The Royal Teeny Bombs

Welcome parody of very overrated Wes Anderson flicks.  Edward Norton as Owen Wilson.  I love the New York Times blurb: "They had me at...Wes Anderson."

Bridge School Benefit Streaming

The annual cool Neil Young with big star guests is at You Tube live this year. And you can go back and see what came before (Neil opened with "Heart of Gold," e.g.).  Sunday Update:  Can watch whole thing, from Elvis Costello and Graham Nash to acoustic Arcade Fire with "The Suburbs" and "Wake Up" starting about 5:45 and CSNY.

'Rock of Ages': Ageless

Writer Andrew Romano of The Daily beast argues that The Band's Rock of Ages (just out in expanded edition) from 1971 is the greatest live album ever.  Won't get a lot of argument from me or Charles P. Pierce.  Though hard to top Velvet Underground '69. And Dylan '66. But I was at one of the "Rock of Ages" concerts.   Here's what it looked like: 

No Woman, No Drive

Hysterical tribute video for the brave women who tried to drive in Saudi Arabia today, by a Saudi activist, with new lyrics to the Bob Marley tune.

Bragging About Beethoven

One of the highlights of Kerry Candaele's new doc (I am co-producer) about the influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony here and around the world is Billy Bragg's performance of his version of the "Ode to Joy" with his own lyrics, and his commentary on playing it--for the Queen.   The film premieres in NYC next week, read all about it and watch trailer right here.  For now here's the audio of Billy singing it:

Friday Night Duck Blogging

My photo of best-looking quack this side of Palin.   Duck-on-Hudson, Nyack, N.Y.

Today's Tale from Gun Nutty USA

For a change, in this space, no one died, not even a kid or baby wounded.  Still, scary enough.  Man in California sits in his living room cleaning his prized new handgun when--and he accidentally  fires off a round.  It zooms through his front window--and through the back window of a passing car.  Gun confiscated.  Likely he can just go out and buy another.

Top Ten (Fine) New Orleans Eateries

Brett Anderson, the longtime without peer Times-Picayune restaurant critic, weighs in today with his annual Ten Best list for NOLA--while carefully noting that this is limited to "fine" eateries, not necessarily the real joys of the city (see po' boy joints).  Anyway, I've dined at a few of these, and it's nice to see Commander's still makes the list--it's too easy to dismiss it as too "touristy."   And this gives me excuse to show you my photo of the kitchen in action there.

'Daily Show' Viral Star Loses Job

That North Carolina Republican who unwisely went on "The Daily Show" and more or less copped to voter suppression and enjoying hateful anti-Obama stuff has left his post after national mockery.  Here's segment if you somehow missed:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Sleepless Nights

For those out there, at 3 a.m.   Gram and Emmylou, outtake from final album.

Another Poll Shows Most Back ACA--Or Want it Expanded

Last week a poll that showed--contrary to GOP, and many media, claims--most Americans actually support Obamacare or, if anything, feel it does not go far enough.  A minority, it turns (contra Fox and Tea Party)  feel it goes too far.  This was very upsetting to conservatives and questioned.

Now another poll, just out from CBS, and based on polling just this week--note to pundits, after the explosion of criticism of all those tech problems--confirms the earlier survey with virtually the exact same numbers:  29% feel the law is okay, 22% think it doesn't go far enough, and 43% say it goes too far.   And that's despite the fact that the same poll shows that most Americans are not convinced they will pay less under the new law nor get better care.

Packing a Lunch? No, Packing a Gun

Boy, 11, in state of Washington wanted to help out a friend being bullied so...he brought to school a gun and 400 rounds of ammo. Also a couple of knives from home.

The boy was also found to be carrying two loaded .22 caliber magazines, according to the probable cause document. Officers said that the boy had “claimed in the presence of school officials that a ‘voice in his head’ was telling him to kill” another student after he had called the boy’s friend “gay,” the document states.

In an interview with police, the boy “stated a voice told him killing [another student] was a good idea; however he planned to just shoot [the student] in the arm and then shoot himself in the head,” according to the probable cause document. “After making theses (sic) admissions he asked to speak to his mother and his request was granted.”

Fire Spreads

Arcade Fire just posted full new album and video--an hour and twenty-five minutes!  Set in Haiti one presumes.  With full lyrics. Apparently they heard the album had been leaked so they push this out early. 

Stars Call for End to NSA Snooping

UPDATE  New leak via Snowden, says U.S. monitored calls not just by France and German leaders but 35 leaders of countries in all. 

New video ad stars everyone from my friend Dan Ellsberg to Oliver Stone, John Cusack, Lawrence Lessig and three whistleblowers.

Man in Black Comes Around Again

Robert Hilburn, famed L.A. Times music writer, has just finished a 700 (count 'em) page bio of Johnny Cash, and here's a Q & A that previews it, though hard to say what will be truly new.  Here's one of my favorite late Cash and one of greatest by anyone.  Also, covering Springsteen here (h/t @HarrySiegel).

 

Today's Tragedy from Gun Nutty USA

Once again brought to you by the great (nutty) state of Texas:  a young babysitter, age 19, for some reason packing heat, places semi-automatic on coffee table, where 5-year-old finds and shoots herself to death.  Well, at least the sitter is being charged and held on $250,000 bail--and the six-month-old nearby was not injured! This is just the latest in series of such tragedies.  And:

According to the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 703 children under the age of 15 died in accidental firearms deaths between 2001 and 2010, the latest year for which data are available.  During the same period, 7,766 children under the age of 14 suffered accidental firearm injuries -- about one injury for every million children.

The Animated Chomsky

Famed director Michel Gondry has just sold rights to Sundance for his unexpected animated doc on...Noam Chomsky.  Teaser here:

Banksy at Hustler Club

Latest from the artist in his epic NYC tour, outside the Hustler Club in Hell's Kitchen.  Love this one.  Well-dressed sad man with flowers, red petals on ground.

BBC Branded

You may have seen snippets of this, but here's full epic Russell Brand interview by Paxman on BBC. 

Unlikely Album of the Year

Billie Joe of Green Day teams up with...Norah Jones...in remake of a 1958 album by....The Everly Brothers.   Not even a greatest hits tribute.  Billy Joe's idea.  Everlys were great, true.   Here's background and preview of one cut (not their best).  And Don and Phil:

Another Teacher Slain

Thursday update:  It seems he used a box cutter.  Also:  Went to screening of movie afterward.  Oddly, Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmime."


Update:  Student IDed--he is 14.   The usual:  "soft-spoken," nice.  Will be charged as adult.

Earlier:  So we had the middle school teacher gunned down by kid, age 12, in Nevada and now, in Mass., a young math teacher slain and body just found in the woods near school, with a student in custody.  Her Twitter feed here and excitement about what she teaches.  "Find something good in every day."  And:  "Go Sox!"

The body of the teacher, identified as Colleen Ritzer, 24, was found just after midnight in the woods near Danvers High School, about a half-hour outside Boston. Blood was found in a second-floor bathroom at the school, authorities said. Authorities said their murder investigation was connected to their search for a missing 14-year-old boy the day before, but they did not explicitly say that he was the juvenile charged in the killing.

They said the 14-year-old charged with murder would be arraigned later Wednesday. They did not discuss a motive, nor how the teacher was killed.

Still Waiting for THIS Correction

A lot of attention this morning to a hysterical Wash Post correction, called by some "the best ever," in which they admit that a guy's build should not have been described as "heavy set" but instead "muscular."  Love to have tape of his call when he complained.  And now comes word that the print and online versions of the correction are different.  My view:  Come on folks, Wash Post's "best correction ever" would be:  "We blew coverage of the run-up to Iraq invasion, and our editorials and columnists were awful and wrong, and hundreds of thousands died."

Pro Publica Questions Claims of NSA Spying Stopping Terror Attacks

Important piece just posted by ProPublica on those claims by President Obama and others that various forms of NSA spying have "thwarted" over 50 terror attacks--the exact number is usually given as 54--a number I've questioned (without clear evidence) for a long time.  Now ProPublica writers say,   "there's no evidence that the oft-cited figure is accurate.  The NSA itself has been inconsistent on how many plots it has helped prevent and what role the surveillance programs played. The agency has often made hedged statements that avoid any sweeping assertions about attacks thwarted....Asked for clarification of the surveillance programs' record, the NSA declined to comment."

Famed Tweeter Outed as White House Official

You may have heard of the mysterious snarky @NatSecWonk.  Tonight Daily Beast reveals:

Jofi Joseph, a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House, has been surreptitiously tweeting under the moniker @natsecwonk, a Twitter feed famous inside Washington policy circles since it began in February, 2011 until it was shut down last week. Two administration officials confirmed that the mystery tweeter was Joseph, who has also worked at the State Department and on Capitol Hill for Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Joe Biden. Until recently, he was part of the administration's team working on negotiations with Iran.

During his time tweeting under the @natsecwonk name, Joseph openly criticized the policies of his White House bosses and often insulted their intellect and appearance. At different times, he insulted or criticized several top White House and State Department officials, including former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Secretary of State John Kerry, and many many others.

On the other hand, he also called Jennifer Rubin and Sarah Palin nuts.  So there's that.

Sarah...Smile

If you're a fan--NBC let Sarah Silverman today post for all to see her failed pilot for a series, in its 23-minute entirety.  Below.

Another Parody of Apple....Parodies

The folks at Funny or Die know it's easy and popular to make a parody of a new Apple product rollout so they...make a parody of that.

The New Apple iPad Announcement Parody - watch more funny videos

Reporter Charges 'Epic Media Failure' on Iraq Rape Case

Remarkable and extensive story just posted by Washington Monthly catching up with the sensational Jamie Lee Jones rape case in Iraq.   You remember, the one where KBR worker was allegedly gang-raped then tossed in a shipping container by KBR.  She received massive media coverage, from 20/20 and Maddow to the film Hot Coffee, and helped spark a very valuable law introduced by Sen. Al Franken.

For most people, that's where the story stops.   Hot Coffee still shows on HBO and none of the media programs have revisited or admitted any errors.  But now Stephanie Mencimer brings you up to date, and a lot of people may not like it.   Read the piece yourself and then weigh in.

Mencimer, who covered the case early and often for her main outlet, Mother Jones, admits she was among those in the media who (in her view now) got it all wrong.  In fact, she labels it "an epic media failure."  After much research, she does not believe  Jones' claims, which were also dismissed by a jury--she was even ordered to pay KBR's legal expenses.  And Mencimer  strongly hits fellow reporters and TV hostgs for not doing their own mea culpas, or even discussing this with her for the story (Jones herself does talk to her at length).    Here's one excerpt but you really need to read the whole thing and make up your own mind.

In June 2012, I attended the Washington, D.C., premier of Hot Coffee, along with Al Franken. During the event, producer Susan Saladoff informed the audience that the Jones trial was under way. Since I was unable to cover the trial in person, the dates had slipped my mind. But as I walked out of the theater and listened to people fuming about the injustice heaped on Jones and ticking off the damning evidence—the shipping container, the lost rape kit, etc.—I decided to look at the trial records to see what sort of smoking guns Jones’s lawyers had come up with.

As it turned out, I found smoking guns, but not of the sort I was expecting. The next morning, I started looking through the filings posted online on PACER, the federal judiciary’s Web site. There I found expert witness reports filed by KBR, psychological evaluations of Jones conducted by workers’ comp companies, medical records, and much of what later came out at trial about her many previous rape claims and complicated mental health history. The trial record was so at odds with Jones’s public story that I was simply dumbfounded.

At the same time, she certainly wouldn’t have been the first deeply flawed individual to change the law for the better.

This Crud's for You

If a beer commercial aimed at young folks was forced to be honest.

AP Reporter and Editor Who Muffed Terry McAuliffe Story Lose Jobs

Tuesday updates:  Wash Post asks if punishment fit the crime here.  Points out no one fired over misreporting on, say, Iraq, Katrina, and on and on.   I'd caution:  we don't know details on this case, how and why APers screwed up.  Could be a ticking time bomb.

Mike Calderone reports that a third APer has been fired, which has the Guild alarmed -- but also makes you wonder what happened that went beyond usual such screw-up.  Truth will be interesting. 

You remember that horrid incident a couple weeks back where the AP got a story terribly wrong about Terry McAuliffe, frontrunner in the current governor's race in Virginia.  I predicted at the time that the reporter, veteran Bob Lewis,  might well lose his job and it happened today apparently.  McAuliffe's team was quick to say they did not call for this and felt it was water under the bridge.  UPDATE:  An AP editor was also canned. 

In the article, which the AP retracted less than two hours after it was published Oct. 9, Lewis reported McAuliffe may have “lied to a federal official” looking into the candidate’s investment ties with  known felon. As it turned out, the “T.M.” referenced in the documents did not stand for Terry McAuliffe.

HRW and AI Report on Drone Strikes

You may have read about one of the other today but two major orgs released their first reports today  "targeted killing" in Pakistan and Yemen, so here's a valuable  Just Security summary of both.   No surprise, they reveal civilian deaths beyond what is admitted by U.S., and "unlawful" use of drones (though they can also aid "compliance").    For starters:

HRW concluded that two of the strikes violated international law (pp. 54, 67), four may have (pp. 30, 39, 43, 60), and none of the six appeared to have complied with Obama’s May 2013 Presidential Policy Guidance (p. 89).  AI reviewed all 45 reported Pakistan strikes between January 2012-August 2013, and investigated nine in detail.  AI’s legal findings include that “evidence indicates” that an October 2012 strike unlawfully killed a grandmother and injured eight children (p. 23), and AI had “serious concerns” that a July 2012 strike that killed 18 and injured 22 (p. 24) may have been a war crime or extrajudicial execution (p. 27).  AI also investigated a number of strikes on apparent rescuers (those who came to the scene of a first strike to help the wounded), which it concluded may have been illegal (pp. 28-30).  Neither report seeks to assess the total number or rate of civilian casualties for all strikes. 

Here's today's NYT story on the AI report and how the strikes have terrorized village.  New song by Simeon Peebler, "Don't Cross That Red Line."

Colbert: Fired Up

Arcade Fire, aka "The Reflektors," played a new song on Colbert last night, after a Win and Will put-on interview, and now Stephen offers another tune as a Web exclusive:

Another School Shooting, This Time Nevada

Tuesday update:   Parents of shooter may face charges, as he clearly had access to gun.  USA Today in editorial calls for law mandating "locks" on guns.

Earlier:  Happened about six hours ago but details still slim.   Seems that kid in middle school fired on math   teacher, shot him dead, wounded two other students (at least one seriously), then died--self-inflicted or shot by cops.   School evacuated and it's over.  Motive unknown.  Some refer to teacher as hero but unclear why if true.   Name of shooter and victim not released.  

Update: Teachers' name released.  He was also in the National Guard.  Now witnesses say it started with the student shooting a classmate at or near a basketball court and the teacher came to investigate and was shot there.  

Update #2: Police now say kid used semi-automatic handgun, and then killed himself.  Remember this is middle school. Teacher had served tours in Afghanistan--then gunned down in a USA school for pre-teens.

Update #3: Witness  on CNN claims shooter was "nice kid" had complained about bullying, even during shooting asked, "Why are you making fun of me?"  Used parents' gun. 

Transcendent, in 40 Parts

Amazing afternoon today at New York's (largely) hidden gem, the Cloisters in upper Manhattan, a birthday pick by my lovely wife.  In the castle they presented their first ever contemporary art piece that has drawn raves:  an eleven-minute piece titled the "Forty Part Motet," featuring Tudor composer Thomas Tallis's Spem in alium.  Sound comes from a separate speaker for each of the 40 singers in the choir, arrayed in a large oval in an ancient chapel.  So you can sit inside the sound and let it wash over you--or stand in front of one of the speakers and listen to one of the singers come and go.  Visitors stand or sit and enter deep contemplation or reverie.  A short video here captures some of it.   If you're in NYC area, don't miss this.  And the Cloisters is (are) cool anyway.  Here's a video of when it was done in a different setting:

Hidden Truth About Public Opinion on Obamacare

One of the many disgraceful aspects of the media coverage of Obamacare--and criticism of it, and the Tea Party faction in general--is the rote depiction of the ACA as "unpopular" or "opposed by most Americans according to polls" because it goes too far or because people are happy with the health care system as is, and so on.  In other words, repeating the GOP line.

Now, those who have supported the law have long claimed that the simple bottom line poll numbers are misleading.  Yes, those numbers generally show that, say, 51% don't like the ACA and only 44% approve.   Yet, as we know (but perhaps most in the media fail to recognize), a lot of Dems and libs are unhappy, wisely, because the law doesn't go far enough, or that President Obama didn't fight for the public option or single payer or Medicare for all.   So how many of them are included in that "oppose" the ACA but from the left?

Polls have indicated there's a fair number but now there's a new one today that CNN actually took the trouble--at the end of its online report, true--to break out.  And, lo and behold, it turns out that fully 12% of those opposed feel the law doesn't so far enough.  So, as they note, that means that instead of just over 50% being against the law because it goes too far--the impression most in the media have left--at least 53% actually back the law or believe it should go further.  And the poll was taken amidst the current widespread complaints about the roll-out of the ACA sign up provisions.

The other numbers in the poll bear this out, as they show that the shutdown caused growing unpopularity for the GOP and John Boehner but Obama's standing remained the same.

Murder Charges for 'Bloody Sunday' Soldiers

This would be a shocker.  The Sunday Times of London reports that British troops or "paras"accused of doing the shooting that took the lives of 14 people in Derry in the infamous "Bloody Sunday" incident may actually end up having to face charges, three decades later.  Just last year it seemed like a miracle when the long-awaited report on the case finally condemned the killings and affirmed that none of the victims were armed.

I got especially interested in the episode a few years back after viewing the film Bloody Sunday, one of the great movies of the past decade--by then-unknown Paul Greengrass (James Nesbitt got an Oscar nomination and yes, the U2 song closes the film).  I followed the inquiry, read the excellent book by (and chatted with) Don Mullen, and more.  Here's a clip from the film:

A Staple in Stones' Repertoire?

If you're wondering where the Stones got chorus and vocal inflection for early hit "The Last Time."  Uncredited.  Then again, this is a traditional song and they only used part of it. But the Staples' rendition is fantastic in any case:

'NYT' Review Hits WikiLeaks Flick--Which Is Bombing

Update:  NYT on Sunday refers to it as a "bomb" and part of "weekend wreckage"--with equal bomb, that Stallone-Arnold S. flick.


Variety late Friday says the film is tanking, at the box office, with the 2nd worst Friday opening for any major film all year.  But it seems to be helping the Gibney doc, viewed by many reviewers as better.

A.O. Scott's review just posted and it's not exactly a rave, not a good sign for a movie that may be  box office (not to mention factually) challenged to begin with.  UPDATE: As more reviews pour in, Rotten Tomatoes has it with very poor 31% favorable rating.

This version of the WikiLeaks story, directed by Bill Condon from a script by Josh Singer, is a moderate snoozefest, undone by its timid, muddled efforts at fair-mindedness....

As we zoom from squatter apartments to newsrooms to government offices (where Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie worry about their jobs and their diplomatic contacts), the picture grows fuzzier, and the vital questions it wants to raise about privacy, transparency and security grow muddier. 

Of course, the Times is part of the story--but that's an old, and long, story.    See my two books on WikiLeaks and Manning over on the right rail of this blog.

Your Daily USA Child Gun Tragedy

Today's example from gun nutty Fayetteville, NC, where a girl, 2, shoots and kills herself with loaded handgun. "According to police, the girl's father was inside the home at the time of the shooting. No one else inside the home was injured." Police say it was an "accident."  No, not really, right?

A Heart Needs a 'Homeland'?

Rolling Stone writer IDs 7 ways to save Homeland, now stinking in its 3rd season (after sinking in its 2nd).   It's true, Brody needed to die at the end of season one.  I gave up on it last week.  So will miss the fun if Carrie does sleep with Quinn.  Oh, Mandy, you gave without taking!

Bird Brains Bigger Than Little Betty's?

Nick Kristof's Sunday column, just up, recalls his days as a farm boy, arguing, in the wake of the latest salmonella outbreak, that geese are more moral than humans and chickens smarter at math than the average toddler--on the way to declaring that we treat our farm birds too cruelly in how they are raised and slaughtered and maybe we should not eat them at all.

Look, farmbirds are not Einsteins. But evidence is mounting that they’re smarter than we have assumed, and just because they don’t have big brown eyes doesn’t mean that they should be condemned to spend their lives jammed into tiny cages in stinking, fetid barns, with bodies of dead birds sometimes left rotting beside live ones.

Patti, the Notorious Mr. Brooks, and 'CBGB'

Wild:  Patti Smith in 1979 clip from children's show singing (after brief interview) "You Light Up My Life" with the composer Joe Brooks at the piano. Yes, that Joe Brooks--charged a few years ago with numerous felonies related to him luring women to his apartment via Craig'sList and then sexually assaulting them.  He committed suicide before trial started.

BTW, I saw that widely-panned CBGB film last night because son of a friend (who once appeared in a school play directed by my son) plays Tom Verlaine, and very well.  Among the howlers:  They Patti Smith singing "Because the Night" as an unknown in 1974, when she was already a star when the tune (written with Springsteen) was released in 1978.  

The Know-Nothing Parties

All you need to know about the viral cluelessness--so damaging to the country--of GOPers and especially Tea Partiers is revealed starkly in a new Bloomberg poll.  Think about the ramifications of this (as we've just seen):

Two-thirds of regular Republicans believe the federal budget deficit has grown this year and 93 percent of Tea Party Republicans agree.

Both are wrong; the budget deficit is projected to fall this year from $1.1 trillion to $642 billion.

Van the Man With a Plan

I posted here earlier this week about the new Van Morrison five disc set of alt-takes and outtakes for his classic Moondance album.  Now Twitter friend Ray @Radlein points me to something I have somehow missed despite my Van fandom for lo these many decades:  To fulfill and get out of his contract with Bang records in '67 he recorded over 30 one-minute "songs" in a session that took less than an hour and was a goof from start to finish.  Songs had titles like "Do You Want a Danish" (he rhymes sandwich with danish) and "You Say France and I Whistle."   And the pointed, "Big Royalty Check."  Here's perhaps the greatest of them all, the immortal "Ringworm."

New Details on Sandy Hook Shooting

Hartford Courant just now with sad, haunting details, from what was found in Lanza's room to what happened when one pupil shouted for his friends to escape.  Six did, but he was shot down.

When the shooting started, school janitor Rick Thorne ran through the school warning teachers to close their doors and then used a master key to lock many of the doors for them. The state police SWAT team that was clearing the school after the shooting had to get the key from Thorne to open some of the rooms. The key was so worn from use that morning it snapped in one of the doors.

A source with knowledge of the probe said that when Lanza drove to the Sandy Hook Elementary School he parked his car in a way that could have set him up to ambush responding police officers. He parked with the passenger's side facing a small brick wall near the front entrance. His shotgun was left leaning against the passenger's side door.

The spot gave him potentially a perfect line of sight to shoot at unsuspecting police driving down the long driveway, around a curve and into his line of fire. It also provided him cover since the school and woods were behind him.

Colbert, Zinging Again

One of the (few) comic highlights of the U.S. war in Iraq was Stephen Colbert's infamous demolition of President Bush, to his face, at that White House Correspondents Dinner.   Stephen is still in form at such events, as he proved last night at NY's annual Al Smith Dinner, which brings together top politicos, Catholics and media.  Some juicy barbs directed at everyone from his friend the Cardinal to Andrew Cuomo.  Examples:  On Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: “Tiny, tiny man. The real reason he doesn’t want drink cups larger than 16 ounces is because he’s afraid he might drown in one.”  On Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker who lost the Democratic primary for mayor: “New York City is the only place in the world where the lesbian candidate is too conservative.”

The Truthiness of Mr. Paul

Jill Lawrence of The National Journal on how Rand Paul doesn't let the facts get in his way. 

Rand Paul was talking with University of Louisville medical students when one of them tossed him a softball. "The majority of med students here today have a comprehensive exam tomorrow. I'm just wondering if you have any last-minute advice."

"Actually, I do," said the ophthalmologist-turned-senator, who stays sharp (and keeps his license) by doing pro bono eye surgeries during congressional breaks. "I never, ever cheated. I don't condone cheating. But I would sometimes spread misinformation. This is a great tactic. Misinformation can be very important."

He went on to describe studying for a pathology test with friends in the library. "We spread the rumor that we knew what was on the test and it was definitely going to be all about the liver," he said. "We tried to trick all of our competing students into over-studying for the liver" and not studying much else.

"So, that's my advice," he concluded. "Misinformation works."

But that's just for starters.

Best Song for the Autumn?

And it simply has to be the Kinks' wacky 1967 "Autumn Almanac."

'Experts' Wrong Again?

We heard so much blather for weeks from national security "experts," pundits and GOPers and Dems alike that "surely" Edward Snowden had either turned over NSA files to the Russkies or had them seized off laptops from him.   Tonight James Risen at NYT reports:  Snowden says there weren't even any files to seize when he arrived in Moscow.

Mr. Snowden said he gave all of the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong, before flying to Moscow, and did not keep any copies for himself. He did not take the files to Russia “because it wouldn’t serve the public interest,” he said.

“What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward?” he added.

And there's much more in the interview on his stop in Hong Kong and feelings about the Chinese. 

Scahill on Joining New Greenwald Venture

His first in-depth interview about it, from Germany.  UPDATE  And an interesting piece at Reuters by reporter who worked for, and its turns out, with, Pierre Omidyar on his Honolulu news project.  Revealing.

Bizarre Episode After Historic Vote

UPDATE:  Naturally the woman talks to a Fox reporter.  Says the "holy spirit" made her do it.   Look for her to get own Fox show next week.

In an email to Fox's Chad Pergram, Reidy explained that Holy Spirit instructed her to deliver the outburst: "For the past two and a half weeks, the Holy Spirit has been waking me up in the middle of the night and preparing me (through my reluctance and doubt) to deliver a message in the House Chamber. That is what I did last night." Her husband Dan said in a separate email, “My wife is a sweet, level-headed wonderful woman of God. I am proud of her." 

Earlier:  After the House finally voted to end the shutdown tonight, a longtime staffer, who had been acting as a stenographer of the proceedings, tooks to the dais an started shouting into the microphone about this not being a nation under God, and never was, and something about he Freemasons, and so on, before being dragged away.  This link has text, video and audio.  Her name is Dianne Reidy and she is now being interviewed by police.  Vid and audio below.

Deeper Into the Mystic

I've written twice previously about the upcoming (now here) five-disc package related to the classic 1970 Van Morrison album, Moondance.  Yes, it's overblown, with so many alt takes, but can there really be too much Van the Man?  (He says, yes, as he has disassociated himself from this project.) Anyway, what's new and exciting is that Rolling Stone today gives you one of the disc, with 11 cuts, and you can listen here now, along with the latest rundown.  There's even "take 22" of "Moondance." And don't miss one of my faves, "I've Been Working," with extra funk, different lyrics, a vocal that sounds like Van from "T.B. Sheets" era.

Beyond Panda Cam

Yes, everyone's happy that it's back at National Zoo, post-shutdown, but there are plenty of other unusual cams out there not at the mercy of GOP crazies.   So, first, from California (in contrast to the cute pandas)--a Shark lagoon.  Then, from Germany--inside a honey bee hive, black and white but still sweet.

Live streaming video by Ustream
Live streaming video by Ustream

Cats Sleeping in Doggie Beds

There's a metaphor here somewhere, or just laugh:

Cats Stealing Dog Beds

The News Is Out, All Over Town: You Win Again

The Nation breaks with what it calls the Beltway "consensus" in declaring in an editorial that the GOP actually, on important levels, "won" the showdown, even if not in the polls.  Or as I tweeted: "Can kicked down road hits boy on way to Head Start this morning."

Surrender? Any more “victories” like this and Democrats will end up paying tribute into the GOP’s coffers.

This debate started in 2011 when the president accepted that he couldn’t get support for jobs programs and instead called for “balanced” deficit reduction that included tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and spending cuts. In response, Republicans threatened to default on America’s debts, forcing through the Budget Control Act, which cut nearly $1 trillion in spending over ten years with no tax increases and exacted another trillion in cuts either by agreement of a “supercommittee” or, failing that, automatic across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion over ten years. Now the Republicans’ “surrender” locks in that sequester while pushing for further reductions to basic safety net programs—all while tax increases remain off the table and the threat of default is still pointed at the country’s head. Tea Party zealots may have lost their bid to torpedo healthcare reform, but the right continues to set the terms of the debate.

Friedman's Wurst

I was going to take my own rip at Tom Friedman's horrid (is that redundant?) column today but never got around to it and now Bob Kuttner has done it, and better.  In fact, he calls it Friedman's worst ever--as if such a thing is possible.  There are so many points to contest but just one:  I had to laugh with Friedman blaming us senior or near-senior Boomers for mooching off young folks with super-generous Social Security payments.   Funny, I remember contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to SS over the past 40 years.  My son, age 26, to mention one example, has contributed a few thousand.  And he's funding me in years to come?

Anyway, something from Kuttner, on Friedman's friend and billionaire star of his column:

Some seniors, of course—Mr. Drukenmiller’s cohort—are making out like bandits. Here’s a variant on a Bill Gates joke: Stanley Druckenmiller and I walk into a bar. On average, we’re billionaires. But the average retired American is not the one described in the Friedman column.

Contrary to this sort of propaganda, the economic-injustice problem in America is not about generations. It’s about class. Specifically, Stanley Druckenmiller’s class. But Druckenmiller, approvingly quoted by Friedman, blames the diminished horizons of the young on “current spending on my generation” as if he had anything whatever in common with the people reliant on Social Security.

Four Beethoven

The wonderful New York pianist Lisa Yui is featured in DVD/Blu-Ray playing three of Beethoven's most famous piano sonatas (plus one from earlier in his career) that's coming in December, and she's just posted a trailer (below) plus, even, a behind-the-scenes video including "bloopers."  I can vouch that the DVD, which includes commentary,  will be terrific because I hosted her playing the same program here in Nyack a few months back.

Greenwald Exits 'Guardian'

Wednesday Updates:  Pierre Omidyar just out with his own statement.  Among other things:
"I developed an interest in supporting independent journalists in a way that leverages their work to the greatest extent possible, all in support of the public interest. And, I want to find ways to convert mainstream readers into engaged citizens. I think there’s more that can be done in this space, and I’m eager to explore the possibilities."

 Jay Rosen just interviewed Omidyar, and here's one except:  

His interest in launching a new kind of news organization, capable of sustaining investigative work and having an effect with it, intensified throughout the summer as news from the Snowden files continued to pour forth.

Attempts to meet with Greenwald to discuss these plans and to find out more about how he operates were unsuccessful until this month. When they finally were able to talk, Omidyar learned that Greenwald, his collaborator Laura Poitras, and The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill had been planning to form their own journalism venture. Their ideas and Omidyar’s ideas tracked so well with each other that on October 5 they decided to “join forces” (his term). This is the news that leaked yesterday. But there is more.

Omidyar believes that if independent, ferocious, investigative journalism isn’t brought to the attention of general audiences it can never have the effect that actually creates a check on power. Therefore the new entity — they have a name but they’re not releasing it, so I will just call it NewCo — will have to serve the interest of all kinds of news consumers. It cannot be a niche product. It will have to cover sports, business, entertainment, technology: everything that users demand.

At the core of Newco will be a different plan for how to build a large news organization. It resembles what I called in an earlier post “the personal franchise model” in news. You start with individual journalists who have their own reputations, deep subject matter expertise, clear points of view, an independent and outsider spirit, a dedicated online following, and their own way of working. The idea is to attract these people to NewCo, or find young journalists capable of working in this way, and then support them well.

The usually reliable Mike Calderone at Huff Post claims he's confirmed Scahill and Poitras will indeed be joining Greenwald in the new venture. 

Tuesday Updates:  Wash Post claims the new outlet is seeking to hire Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill.   They have not commented.

Reuters with this scoop on man behind the offer:  "Glenn Greenwald, who has made headlines around the world with his reporting on U.S. electronic surveillance programs, is leaving the Guardian newspaper to join a new media venture funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, according to people familiar with the matter."

Earlier: Glenn in this case is sort of a victim of a leak. News about him leaving the Guardian, apparently on okay terms, got out before he had a chance to decide how he would describe the new media venture he is starting or joining.  What this means about the future of further Snowden stories we do not know.

Greenwald declined to comment on the precise scale of the new venture or on its budget, but he said it would be “a very well-funded… very substantial new media outlet.” He said the source of funding will be public when the venture is officially announced.

“My role, aside from reporting and writing for it, is to create the entire journalism unit from the ground up by recruiting the journalists and editors who share the same journalistic ethos and shaping the whole thing — but especially the political journalism part — in the image of the journalism I respect most,” he said.

Greenwald will continue to live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he said, and would bring some staff to Rio, but the new organization’s main hubs will be New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, he said.

Throw the Bums Out (Except My Rep)

Another laughable Rasmussen poll "finds" that 78% of American favor getting rid of the entire Congress right now.  Of course they do--except, if tradition holds, their own pathetic congress member, who they will (again) re-elect, perhaps by a wide margin.  In other words:  They mainly want to get rid of the guys they don't like.   Their own fella of gal? Not so much.

Vote the Rock

Nominees announced for next year's induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame (with several no-brainers for a change, including Nirvana).  Fans can vote, probably fruitlessly.  I don't really care but its fun to hear the arguments so go for it.  

Tea Party Drafting Palin to Run for Senate

They claim she's just crazy enough for Alaska to do it.  Just got this email from the Tea Party Leadership Fund, with as usual the accent on Fund.  (Note:  My ebook on the Obama-Romney 2012 race here.) 

Today, we're another step closer to drafting Sarah Palin to run for US Senate!

A brand new poll released today by your Tea Party Leadership Fund shows Palin with a clear path to the Republican nomination.

It has been a busy week for our strategists at The Tea Party Leadership Fund.

We just received the results, and I wanted to make sure you would be the first to hear about it.

So, what did we find? Sarah leads the field of potential Republican nominees, but her advantage is small.

According to the memo drafted by our pollsters, Sarah's lead is not quite two percent over the others in the GOP field--good news, but a clear sign that we have lots of work to do.

Ted Fucking Yoho

An epic Charles P. Pierce rant today over the utter absurdity and evil in the shutdown/debt ceiling debate, in which his targets range from Tea Partiers to Blue Dog Dems to Chris Matthews and Andrew Sullivan, and more.  Concludes with this:  "This means all of you who went along for the ride on torture, and on Iraq, and who hid under the bed after 9/11. This is how the power came to rest with Ted Yoho, who is a fool and a know-nothing. This is how historical inevitability is created. This is how its momentum becomes unstoppable. This is how the wreckage piles up."

"Government is the problem," said Saint Reagan in his first inaugural. And everybody, all of you sorry bastards, cheered, and made completely predictable the moment in which the power of the government would come to reside in...

Ted fking Yoho.

A guy who should be a minor annoyance at zoning board meetings in Florida is suddenly capable of helping to bring down the financial stability of the world. A guy who should be railing at his local drive-time talk-jock is giving quotes to The New York Times about the essential dismantling of the institutions of self-government.

Ted fking Yoho.

It's his world now. We just live in it.

Two Girls Charged With Felonies in Bullying Case

Even as we focus on the Maryville, Mo. sexual assaults, comes word that two girls, 12 and 14, have been charged with felonies related to the suicide of classmate after a year of bullying.  One girl has taken "credit" for the suicide on Facebook and laughed about it.

The Facebook post, Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County said, was so offensive that he decided to move forward with the arrest immediately rather than continue to gather evidence. With a probable cause affidavit in hand, he sent his deputies Monday night to arrest two girls, calling them the “primary harassers.” The first, a 14-year-old, is the one who posted the comment Saturday, he said. The second is her friend, and Rebecca’s former best friend, a 12-year-old.

Both were charged with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony and will be processed through the juvenile court system. Neither had an arrest record. The older girl was taken into custody in the juvenile wing of the Polk County Jail. The younger girl, who the police said expressed remorse, was released to her parents under house arrest.

Another 'Steubenville' in Missouri?

Update #3  Anderson Cooper with another CNN report, with both girls and moms.  Sheriff confirms the boys confessed and agrees a sexual assault took place.  Daisy says she attempted suicide "numerous" times.  CNN's Tuchman tries to interview the prosecutor Robert Rice but not allowed.  Melinda Coleman says prosecutor wanted her to say that her daughter wouldn't press charges to get him off the hook, but she says she didn't agree to that.  More news on the Lt. Gov. calling for case to be re-opened.

Update #2  Daisy Coleman and the second girl in the case both on Erin Burnett show on CNN, with their moms.   Daisy says that, yes, she was at one time nervous about going ahead with trial because she might face underage drinking charge--but felt that was okay because at least the perp would also suffer.  Her mother again claims prosecutor covering up now.

Then the local sheriff hits state Lt. Gov. for saying the case was "disappointing" and should be looked at again.  Sheriff says:  "No doubt in my mind that everyone would be vindicated from outrageous charges" being leveled now if it was re-opened.  Says their work was "flawless."  Burnett asks about report that shows they inspected iPhone that had, or once had, video on it, plus photos, texts, and wonders where it is now.  He doesn't say but  claims never saw video. 

Buzzfeed story on Justice4Daisy movement and video of girl and mother on CNN with Erin Burnett last night.

 In a surprising response--that is, that they responded at all--the college now attended by the accused young man in the case replied to numerous posts about the case on the school's Facebook page with this reply there:  The university is required to allow all qualified and eligible students to pursue an education. The university is strongly committed to continuing to create a safe and supportive campus environment free from harassment and hostility. Read about the resources available to the UCM community. http://bit.ly/1bRusVP

The local Maryville paper has re-posted all of its stories on the case.  Note how they repeatedly refer to neither girl being "physically injured."   Apparently two footballers who were also at party were suspended.  The father of one of them then erected two large signs calling the school board chief the "anti-christ" and a "Hitler." 

Tuesday Update #1:  Interviews with the two girls or their parents may air tonight on CNN (Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett).   As promised, Anonymous already at work.  Hacktivists took down the county Web site last night and #OpMaryville announced via statement.  After others called for action to re-open case, via Reddit and elsewhere, Facebook account of accused perp was IDed, then taken down, as were those of friends.   L.A. Times with update.  Rally to re-open case planned for Oct. 22.  Anonymous video.  They claim the girl, Daisy Coleman, 15, backs their efforts.

Don't know if accurate, but after a Maryville restaurant was IDed as either owned by the alleged perp's family or that he or the second boy worked there (take your pick), people started posting nasty or darkly humorous "reviews" of the eatery at Yelp.  Note: The K.C. Star published the victim's name with full permission of family, which seeks justice.  Today the family of the 13-year-old girl also in the case gave okay for use of her name, now that more "believe" in her story.   The Star in editorial calls for a grand jury to be convened.

Prosecutor, pressed in recent days,  and local sheriff claim the Coleman family refused to cooperate fully and this torpedoed their case. The family denies this.

Monday:
Truly shocking story in the KC Star on a case that seems to follow a pattern: young girl gets mixed up with older (football) player, trusts him as they drink to excess, and then gets sexually assaulted (or, in his view, have consensual sex).  In this case, she gets dumped on her doorstep for two hours, passed out in 22 degree temps.  An iPhone likely captured some of this on video and is passed around.  Town folk side with the football player.  The girl's mom loses her job.  Charges are dropped, unlike in Steubenville,  even though authorities believe they had a strong case.  The boy is well-connected, the girl is not.  (Oh, on same night, a girl, 13, seems to have sex with a boy, 15.)  The family moves out of town, then their old house burns down for some reason.  The girl, who had been a cheerleader and beauty queen and got mainly A's in school,  tries to commit suicide twice.  Read it and weep.  Earlier story with photos.